string to one's bow

plural strings to one's bow

1. idiomaticA skill, ability or resource.

   McGough has not a string to his bow. He had no friends behind him; that was the trouble.

   1932, Western Australia. Parliament, Parliamentary Debates

   2 more examples

   I feel doing the course would provide me with another string to my bow, and hopefully alongside the jewellery and card making, I would be able to be a freelance therapist and make the workload and times workable for me.

   2013, Michelle Flatt, Wish It Wasn't M.E.: Living With Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 122

   Knowing how to identify certain edible mushrooms is not only a pleasure, it's also a great string to your bow when it comes to wild food survival.

   2014, Bear Grylls, Extreme Food - What to eat when your life depends on it..., Random House, →ISBN, page 65

2. idiomaticA lover, paramour or suitor, especially one of many.

   Massimilla was no coquette. She had no second string to her bow, no secondo, no terzo, no patito.

   1837, Honoré de Balzac, Massimilla Doni, Delphi Classics, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   Grisi now had another string to her bow in the form of the tenor, Mario, who was fast becoming putty in her hands.

   2014, Barbara Kendall-Davies, Life and Work of Pauline Viardot Garcia, vol. I: The Years of Fame 1836-1863 Second Edition, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, →ISBN, page 152

   Miss Artemesia, believing that she had three strings to her bow, and having mentally arranged her suitors into a sort of sliding scale, at the top of which was the judge, and at the bottom Phil Blister, was not in a hurry to make up her mind in regard to the latter's proposals.

   2014, Calvin Henderson Wiley, Alamance - The Great And Final Experiment, Jazzybee Verlag, →ISBN