needlestack

English

Etymology

Blend of needle +‎ haystack, from the metaphor of a needle in a haystack.

Noun

needlestack (plural needlestacks)

  1. (figurative) A stack of needles. Represents the task of finding one thing among a large number of very similar things.
    • 1988 April 15, James Krohe Jr., “Where Has All the Flora Gone?”, in Chicago Reader‎[1], archived from the original on 17 October 2011:
      Unless their flag of a flower is waving, finding such plants is like finding a needle in a needlestack.
    • 2004, Dennis Rumley, Sanjay Chaturvedi, Geopolitical Orientations, Regionalism And Security In The Indian Ocean‎[2], page 43:
      In those decades of European peace and unchallenged British ascendancy, this small number of ships was enough to keep watch on the French ports and the major sea routes of the world, but not to hunt for needles in needlestacks and make all slavers and pirates quake with fear.
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