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Phrase(s): *down-to-the-wire
Fig. waiting until the very last moment; right up to the deadline. (*Typically: be ~; get ~.) • It came down-to-the-wire before I turned the proposal in. • We went right down-to-the-wire on that one.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
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To the last minute; to the very end. For example, We're just about down to the wire with this project. This term comes from horseracing, where it was long the practice to stretch a wire across and above the track at the finish line. It was extended to figurative use about 1900.
American Heritage Idioms