touch and go

touch and go (comparative more touch and go, superlative most touch and go)

1. Precarious, delicate, risky, sensitive; of uncertain outcome (by analogy with a ship in shallow water).

   His condition was touch and go for a time after the accident, but they think he will recover.

   I could sense it was touch and go whether I could get the lay.

touch and go (third-person singular simple present touches and goes, present participle touching and going, simple past touched and went, past participle touched and gone)

1. (aviation) To perform a touch-and-go landing.
2. (nautical) To touch bottom lightly and without damage, as a vessel in motion.