piggy in the middle

English

Noun

piggy in the middle (countable and uncountable, plural piggies in the middle)

1. A game where one group has to keep an object, normally a ball, within their group and away from another group or individual.
2. (by extension) Keeping something between one's own group, away from others.
3. (countable) A person caught in an awkward situation between two other people.
   • 2009, Susan Rice Lincoln, Mastering Web 2.0:

     Millions of us who work in companies of all sizes are piggies in the middle. We are trussed up, torn between the old and the new, and just trying to make things work.

See also

• keep-away