A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

Note:
The expression is not equivalent in meaning to the phrase
have one’s back against the wall
—(also: be up against the
wall) have run out of options; be pushed to the last extremity: I
don’t give up easy and have had my back against the wall be-
fore. I don’t intend to give up without a battle.
run one’s head into a brick wall —(coll.) persist with smth.
without making any progress (also: run one’s head into a stone
wall): Trying to persuade him to change his plans is like run-
ning your head into a brick wall.
come up against someone • run up against
 someone
come up against someone —(also: go up against someone) chal-
lenge a competitor in a contest, election, etc: Although he
rode very well, he came up against an opponent who tactically
rode even better.
come to a pretty pass
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run up against someone—
1
. meet a person, especially by ac-
cident: You can’t go anywhere in London without running up
against him. 2. = come up against someone: I also had the sense
that Tony would be a formidable adversary if you ran up
against him in court.
come up daisies • push up daisies
come up daisies —(also: come up roses) turn out extremely
well, especially when things seemed to be going badly at first:
Once you’ve implemented an active job search, everything
will come up daisies.
push up daisies —(sl.) be dead and buried: We could argue
about the details of science and politics till we pushed up
daisies — and yet we would not come any closer to concilia-
tion.
come up for air • go up in the air
come up for air —(U.S. sl.) take a break; have a rest: George
decides to revisit the place in order to “come up for air” and
remember what the good life used to be.
go up in the air —(coll.) become angry; lose one’s temper:
He is so irritable these days that he goes up in the air for no
reason at all.