in the weeds | Idiomator

Meaning: (idiomatic)Immersedorentangledindetailsorcomplexities.2003December 29,Michael Duffy,Mark Thompson, “Secretary of war”, inCNN, retrieved 21 Sept 2013:It was in a series of such back-and-forth sessions that Rumsfeld crafted the war on Iraq. . . . [G]enerals were alarmed to see a Defense Secretary get so far downin the weedsof a military operation.2009December 5,Peter Baker, “How Obama Came to Plan for ‘Surge’ in Afghanistan”, inNew York Times, retrieved 21 Sept 2013:Mr. Obama devoted so much time to the Afghan issue — nearly 11 hours on the day after Thanksgiving alone — that he joked, “I’ve got more deeplyin the weedsthan a president should, and now you guys need to solve this.”2012May 19, Stephen Foley, “Business: Jamie Dimon has become Exhibit A in the case for regulation”, inThe Independent, UK, retrieved 21 Sept 2013:In order to ban prop trading, you first have to define it, and when you try, you are immediatelyin the weeds.; (idiomatic,restaurant slang,of a cook, bartender, or server)Overwhelmedwith diners' orders.1998June 24,Eric Asimov, “The First Job: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire”, inNew York Times, retrieved 21 Sept 2013:Anger may be the only recourse when you're "in the weeds," as chefs call the nightmare of not being ready when orders pour in and you fall behind and can't see a way out.2001, Jonathan Franzen,The Corrections:She saw that she wasin the weedson every front. There were unanswered phone messages from a food writer at theTimes, from an editor atGourmet, and from the latest restaurateur hoping to steal Brian’s chef.2009October 22, “'Top Chef' Las Vegas Power Rankings: 'Restaurant Wars'”, instarpulse.com, retrieved 21 Sept 2013:She took on way too much work in the kitchen and didn't know when to say when. . . . Like one of the judges said, "No matter how great a chef you are, once you getin the weeds, it's over."

Examples:

EN: She's the one who made noises in the ruins... and the one who stood up in the weeds.
ES: Era ella la que hacía ruido en las ruinas. Era ella quien se alzaba entre la hierba.
EN: We found these in the weeds over by the radio store.
ES: Las encontramos en el hierbajo cerca de la tienda de radios.
EN: - Caught in the weeds.
ES: - Atrapado en la maleza.
EN: Get up on that rise. Make sure them devils don't lay out in the weeds and wait till dark to come killing.
ES: ¡Súbete a esa loma, asegúrate de que no se esconden entre las matas!
EN: "I am certain that there is a malignant intelligence in the weeds."
ES: "Estoy seguro de que hay una inteligencia maligna en las malezas."
EN: I have seen them throw guys in the weeds, they would be starving!
ES: Ha tenido que ser una buena juerga. Estarían hambrientos, pero no borrachos.
EN: And he was burning down in the weeds.
ES: Y él ardía entre las hierbas.
EN: - Resting in the weeds nearby, clothes battered and dusty.
ES: ... yacía entre los arbustos, con el traje desgarrado.
EN: I'd rather be dieing out in the weeds, than stand here watching you pining away.
ES: Prefiero morirme en un callejón a estar aquí y ver sus caras de pena.
EN: See you in the weeds.
ES: Ha fumado hierba.
EN: They'll find me in the back of a car somewhere in the weeds.
ES: Van a encontrarme en un coche en medio del monte.
EN: I think you're all great waiters and waitresses. And you should be able to rely on one another when you're in the weeds.
ES: Todos son excelentes meseras y meseros y deben poder contar unos con otros cuando estén en aprietos.
EN: I was down there in the weeds, kind of waiting for the damn smoke to get blowed away.
ES: Estaba en las matas, esperando a que el humo desapareciera.
EN: Give me your eyes. We're gonna call this play "warthog in the weeds."
ES: A esta jugada la llamaremos el jabali entre las hierbas
EN: Cerrano, he's lying in the weeds.
ES: - Cerrano está tranquilo...

Note: the examples for non latin scripts have a high likelihood of mistakes, we do not own any of this data and it is sourced from Wiktionary, the NLLB database and Opensubtitles. Please help us improve this by contributing correct examples. We will be working to fix this issue over time however it is a bigger issue due to the the difficulties in dealing with non latin scripts and grammatical structures(non-romantic/european languages have lower resources as well ).