List of Sports Idioms - U

U

under the wire

Horse racing: At the very last moment; in the nick of time; barely within some accepted parameters or limits. "The report was handed in just under the wire." Or, "At five-foot-five, he was under the wire for the height requirement for enlistment." From the practice of stretching a wire over the finish line at a racetrack. AHDI dates to the first half of the 20th century; OED dates the horse-racing term to 1889 and the figurative sense to 1929.