thin edge of the wedge

thin edge of the wedge

1. Alternative form of thin end of the wedge
   • 1877 The Analyst, p. 381

     But the great difficulty was the getting in the thin edge of the wedge; when once they had anything to do with price they must apply it to everything.

   • 1903 Albert Shaw The American Monthly Review of Reviews, p. 196

     But at last the thin edge of the wedge of reform had been pushed in.

   • 1996, Dale Belman et al., Public Sector Employment in a Time of Transition, page 247:

     the thin edge of the wedge was further widened by the fact that a socialist party [...] broke precedent [...].