English

Noun

string to one's bow ‎(plural strings to one's bow)

1. (idiomatic) A skill, ability or resource.
   • 1932, Western Australia. Parliament, Parliamentary Debates

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

   • 2013, Michelle Flatt, Wish It Wasn't M.E.: Living With Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), Xlibris Corporation (ISBN 9781483636979), page 122

     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.

   • 2014, Bear Grylls, Extreme Food - What to eat when your life depends on it..., Random House (ISBN 9781473509641), page 65

     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.

2. (idiomatic) A lover, paramour or suitor.
   • 1837, Honoré de Balzac, Massimilla Doni, Delphi Classics (ISBN 9781908909664)

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

   • 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 9781443846936), page 152

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

   • 2014, Calvin Henderson Wiley, Alamance - The Great And Final Experiment, Jazzybee Verlag (ISBN 9783849643768)

     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.