Idiom for frustrating someone else's plans by taking what the other person wanted in the first place

Question

There's an idiom in Argentina translated roughly as "to sleep someone" (dormir a alguien), which is used when someone frustrates the plans of someone else by taking what the other person wanted in the first place and who obtains the benefit knows it. This may cover different situations, for example:

• If you walk ahead in the street to hail the taxi another person was about to hail.

• If you start dating someone another person you know was eager to ask for a date and you knew it.

• If you take the last slice of a pizza someone who went for a drink said was going to take.

I'm looking for an idiom in English which describes this kind of behavior or situations.

Answer 1

I believe the closest idiom is beat someone to the punch. The idiom is originated from boxing, where it literally means a boxer lands a punch before their opponent could. Another version is beat someone to the draw. I think it has a similar metaphoric connection with the Spanish idiom dormir a alguien 'put/send someone to sleep' (which could also mean knock someone out).

MW definition:

to do or achieve something before someone else is able to

OED definition in extended use:

to anticipate or forestall a person's speech or action.

Answer 2

steal someone's thunder means to do what someone else was going to do before they do it, especially if this takes success or praise away from them.

Examples:

You have a significant part to play in your own career success, so don't let anyone else steal your thunder.

I had put in a lot of effort to produce a perfect analysis, but in the end, a colleague of mine stole my thunder.

Origin:

The origin of this phrase is attributed to an English playwright John Dennis. In 1704, he had invented a new method of creating the sound of thunder and used it in his play “Appius and Virginia”. The play was unsuccessful. Shortly afterwards, the thunder method was used in a performance of Macbeth. Dennis was not pleased and said “Damn them! They will not let my play run, but they steal my thunder.”

Answer 3

The metaphorical broadening of 'cut in on' has the meaning 'take another's [rightful / better deserved / established] place':

cut in [intransitive verb] [often on someone]

1: to thrust oneself into a position between others or belonging to another

[Merriam-Webster]

Examples appearing on the internet:

• a group of white businessmen decided to cut in on the profits [Hackney Music Development Trust]
• Chinese automakers cut in on Japanese rivals in Indonesia. [Financial Times]
• Prosecutors allege co-defendant Wes Doughty killed the couple shortly after they moved in because he thought Greenlaw was going to cut in on his drug business. [NBC Boston]

The term is often used in dancing circles, for instance

• Emily Post dictated that cutting was an almost universal practice, so if someone cut in on a man, for the time being he just had to live with it.... Men were allowed to 'rescue' their dates by cutting back in if ....

['Great Depression and the Middle Class: Experts, Collegiate Youth and ...'By Mary C. McComb]

Where the infringement is serious, 'muscle in on' is an informal alternative:

muscle in [on] [phrasal verb with muscle as simplex verb] [informal]

to force your way into a situation and make certain you are included, although you are not wanted

[Cambridge Dictionary]

• Cohen complained that Kravis was muscling in on his deal [Collins]

Answer 4

The question as asked: ..."which is used when someone frustrates the plans of someone else by taking what the other person wanted in the first place and who obtains the benefit knows it"

To thwart someone's plans.

Cambridge Dictionary to stop something from happening or someone from doing something: Our vacation plans were thwarted by the airline pilots' strike Synonyms

Answer 5

Colloquially, to get scooped by someone means that someone else has beaten you to a particular achievement or accomplishment, typically in a competitive or time-sensitive context. This term is often used in journalism, research, and various fields where being the first to report or discover something is important.

For example:

• In journalism: If one news outlet publishes a breaking news story before another, the second outlet might say they got "scooped" by the first, indicating that they missed the opportunity to report the news first.

• In scientific research: If one group of researchers publishes a groundbreaking discovery before another group, the second group might feel they got "scooped" because they were working on a similar project but were not the first to publish their findings.

• In business: If one company launches a new product or service before another with similar plans, the second company might feel they got "scooped" in the market, potentially affecting their success.

In essence, getting "scooped" means losing out on the chance to be the first to achieve or report something, often resulting in missed opportunities or a diminished impact compared to the competitor who acted first.

I think it's applicable to all your examples:

• I ran ahead and scooped their taxi.
• Someone in my class scooped my date for the prom.
• When they went for a drink, I scooped the last slice of pizza.

In the dictionary, you typically only see the usage as it pertains to journalism. But I think it applies well colloquially in these other contexts, but it sounds quite informal.

Answer 6

This may not be the best answer out of the ones that have already been provided, but given the context of sleeping in your original translation, I'd like to offer:

You snooze, you lose

link

This is said by the person who frustrates the other, as a justification for why they were entitled to take the [resource] that they know the other person also wanted.

A more verbose meaning would be "if you sleep, be too late and lose out on [it] because someone else now had the chance to take it".

Answer 7

Gazump

make a higher offer for a house than (someone whose offer has already been accepted by the seller) and thus succeed in acquiring the property.

"the trio are fuming after they were gazumped by a property speculator"

The formal usage is as above but it also has a metaphorical usage of taking an opportunity that rightfully belongs to someone else.

Cutting someone’s grass

Getting/flirting with someone who your friend has already gotten with or 'shotgunned'.

Also, cut another’s lunch.

Specifically related to dating/sex.

Answer 8

The closest idiom I can think of is "to steal a march" on someone. From the Cambridge Dictionary:

If you steal a march on someone, you get an advantage over that person by acting before they do:

• Our rival company managed to steal a march on us by bringing out their software ahead of ours.

Answer 9

pre-empt [or preempt] v trans.

4. to forestall or prevent (something anticipated) by acting first; preclude; head off:
   an effort to preempt inflation.

Answer 10

The early bird catches the worm

a saying that means someone will have an advantage if they do something immediately, or before other people do it: (Cambridge Dictionary)

The following is the translation of the Italian proverb “l’occasione fa l’uomo ladro". In its metaphorical sense, the expression claims a person will take illicit advantage if the opportunity arises.

opportunity makes the thief

Answer 11

It's not a perfect match, and depends as much on the other person/people being offended as it does on the action itself, but several of the examples in the question suggested the phrase "to tread on someone's toes".

Collins has "to offend or insult someone, esp by infringing on his or her sphere of action, etc ". Merriam Webster keeps it as vague as possible with "to do something that upsets or offends (someone)", but the implication is you've gone into their space and caused them annoyance or discomfort.

It might also be unintentional / inadvertent, and people might be trying to avoid doing it. thefreedictionary has an example "Now that we have proper job descriptions we are less likely to tread on each other’s toes."

Answer 12

They are a claim-jumper

In a literal sense, a "claim" is a legal right to extract mineral resources from a parcel of land. A claim-jumper is someone who tries to control the land another person has a legal claim to, or who works the land without attempting to control it.

In an idiomatic or metaphorical sense, a claim-jumper is someone who takes something that someone else has claimed; either the claimant or social convention has established them as the future owner, but the jumper moves in first and obtains the good or benefit knowing that they are violating norms.

This use of "claimed" can be seen in The Walking Dead episodes "Claimed" and "Us".

A century ago, such a person might have been called a "sooner":

a person settling on land in the early West before its official opening to settlement in order to gain the prior claim allowed by law to the first settler after official opening

However, this has since fallen out of general idiomatic use and now mostly refers to a specific historical context

In the specific example of:

If you start dating someone another person you know was eager to ask for a date and you knew it.

This is a violation of the "dibs" rule in the bro code, although I don't know a specific idiomatic expression for someone who violates the bro code.

Answer 13

Pipped at the post would be my pick. Collins Dictionary defines it as follows:

PHRASE If someone is pipped at the post or pipped to the post they are just beaten in a competition or in a race to achieve something. [British, informal] I didn't want us to be pipped to the post.

Answer 14

If you and someone else both want the same thing, and you take it, depriving the other person of it as a side-effect, then ermanen's suggestion of "beat them to the punch" is probably best.

However, there is a particular idiom for the related scenario where you don't particularly want the thing, and your main motivation is to deprive the other person: in that case you are being "a dog in the manger". This comes from a Greek fable (sometimes attributed, probably incorrectly, to Aesop).

Answer 15

This is similar to stymie (which can be either a noun or verb). Unlike the others, it refers to blocking another person from progressing by getting closer than them to the goal, without having achieved it yet. Merriam-Webster gives the following explanation:

Golf was being played in Scotland as early as the 15th century, but it wasn't until the 19th century that the sport really caught on in England and North America. It was also in the 19th century that the word stymie entered English as a noun referring to a golfing situation in which one player's ball lies between another ball and the hole on the putting green, thereby blocking the line of play. Later, stymie came to be used as a verb meaning "to bring into the position of, or impede by, a stymie." By the early 20th century, the verb was being applied in similarly vexing non-golf contexts.

Modern golf no longer allows this: the first player would today remove the ball and place a marker, such as a coin, so as to remove the obstacle.

Answer 16

Maybe "throw someone under the bus"?

TFD gives:

throw (one) under the bus

1. To exploit one's trust for an ulterior purpose, advantage, or agenda; to harm one through deceit or treachery.

Senator Davis was supposed to be working with me to bridge the gap between Democrats and Republicans on the issue of gun control, but, instead, she threw me under the bus to get a boost in the polls with her constituency.

The investment company threw its clients under the bus when it chose to redirect their hard earned money into various Ponzi schemes that benefited only a few board members at the top.

Answer 17

Aside from your second example, "If you start dating someone another person you know was eager to ask for a date and you knew it", which does pair better with the term "stole their thunder", I'm genuinely surprised no one has just suggested the word "foiled". It seems the most applicable to the other two situations. You "foiled their plans".

Answer 18

Per your comment:

I think the emphasis of the related idiom shouldn't be on the behavior of who took the benefits but on the passivity of the other person.

This would describe what happened to them:

Fell asleep at the wheel

informal: not attentive or alert; inactive.

But this would describe the action which led them there:

Reveal (one's) hand

To make one's plans, intentions, ideas, or resources known to others, especially those that were previously hidden or kept secret.

Answer 19

The early bird gets the worm, is something the doer of the transgression would likely call out so maybe the is room for creating an idiom to fill the void.