Etymology

pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire

Today it means: Synonym of pull someone's bacon out of the fire (“rescue someone, especially at the last moment”). Full definition →

French tirer les marrons du feu
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The story

  1. French · calque oftirer les marrons du feu
  2. English todaypull someone's chestnuts out of the fire

Calque of French tirer les marrons du feu, which comes from the fable The Monkey and the Cat by Jean de la Fontaine.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.