string to one's bow

string to one's bow (plural strings to one's bow)

1. (idiomatic) A skill, ability or resource.
   • 1932, Western Australia. Parliament, Parliamentary Debates

     McGough has not a string to his bow. He had no friends behind him; that was the trouble.

   • 2013, Michelle Flatt, Wish It Wasn't M.E.: Living With Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), Xlibris Corporation →ISBN, page 122

     I feel doing the course would provide me with another string to my bow, and hopefully alongside the jewellery and card making, I would be able to be a freelance therapist and make the workload and times workable for me.

   • 2014, Bear Grylls, Extreme Food - What to eat when your life depends on it..., Random House →ISBN, page 65

     Knowing how to identify certain edible mushrooms is not only a pleasure, it's also a great string to your bow when it comes to wild food survival.

2. (idiomatic) A lover, paramour or suitor.
   • 1837, Honoré de Balzac, Massimilla Doni, Delphi Classics →ISBN

     Massimilla was no coquette. She had no second string to her bow, no secondo, no terzo, no patito.

   • 2014, Barbara Kendall-Davies, Life and Work of Pauline Viardot Garcia, vol. I: The Years of Fame 1836-1863 Second Edition, Cambridge Scholars Publishing →ISBN, page 152

     Grisi now had another string to her bow in the form of the tenor, Mario, who was fast becoming putty in her hands.

   • 2014, Calvin Henderson Wiley, Alamance - The Great And Final Experiment, Jazzybee Verlag →ISBN

     Miss Artemesia, believing that she had three strings to her bow, and having mentally arranged her suitors into a sort of sliding scale, at the top of which was the judge, and at the bottom Phil Blister, was not in a hurry to make up her mind in regard to the latter's proposals.