save the furniture

Meaning: (idiomatic,UK,Canada,Australia)Tosalvagesomething positive from acalamitoussituation, especially one involving thereputationorfateof apolitical party.2013October 4, Christopher Drew, “Why the Greens were the real election losers”, inABC News, Australia, retrieved4 December 2016:[S]winging progressives were keen to consolidate the diving Labor vote andsave the furnitureso that a reasonably-sized progressive opposition party could live to fight another day.2015October 4, Gloria Galloway, “Mulcair touts NDP as only way for western Canadians to oust Tories”, inGlobe and Mail, Canada, retrieved4 December 2016:A week after a headline in a Montreal newspaper suggested the NDP Leader’s numbers are so low it is time to “save the furniture,” he is still battling aggressively.2016March 9,John McTernan, “Jeremy Corbyn's days are numbered if MPs stand firm”, inTelegraph, UK, retrieved4 December 2016:In other words, the PLP could unite behind an experienced figure who would take them to a dignified defeat but wouldsave the furniture.

Examples:

EN: You know, it'll save the furniture.
ES: Así no lo hace con los muebles.
EN: You really want to save the furniture, Kel?
ES: ¿Quieres cuidar los muebles?
EN: If the house Is already on fire, it's mad to try to save the furniture.
ES: Si la casa está ya ardiendo, es una locura intentar salvar los muebles.
EN: Hopefully, young people not only come before him. You are here to save the furniture, not Frank?
ES: En lo que respecta a la seguridad... espero tengas todo bajo control, ¿Frank?
EN: We managed to save the furniture, except for the stools, which burned down during the coup. There were only 4 stools.
ES: Pudimos recuperar el conjunto del mobiliario, salvo los taburetes, que se quemaron durante el saqueo del golpe de Estado.
EN: After Andrew Jackson's inauguration, so many drunken admirers crowded into the White House, the celebration had to be moved out onto the lawn to save the furniture.
ES: Después de la toma de posesión de Andrew Jackson, hubo tantos simpatizantes ebrios en la Casa Blanca, que la celebración tuvo que trasladarse al césped para salvar el mobiliario.
EN: I prefer to save the furniture than burn it for firewood.
ES: Prefiero salvar lo mínimo que prenderle fuego.
EN: To save the furniture from the dam, I have come here. But evolution is not like I thought, his "dead" once lost, almost "died" again.
ES: Vine aquí para salvar a Tu Siyi, pero la trama es un poco diferente de lo que pensaba.
ID: Aku datang ke sini untuk menyelamatkan Tu Siyi, tetapi alur ceritanya sedikit berbeda dari apa yang Aku pikirkan.
EN: Had my parents had time, they would have been able to save the furniture.
TE: ఎలక్ట్రిసిటీ డిపార్ట్మెంట్ వాళ్లు సమయానికి స్పందించి ఉంటే నేను నా కుటుంబాన్ని రక్షించుకుని ఉండేవాడ్ని.

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 ).