捉襟见肘

zhuō jīn jiàn zhǒu

stretched too thin; not enough to go round

Character by character

捉zhuō
pull

襟jīn
lapel

见jiàn
show

肘zhǒu
elbow

资金有限，项目一多就捉襟见肘。

Funds are tight; take on too many projects and we're stretched thin.

Tone: neutral.

Straighten your lapels and your elbows poke out. For money, staff or time.

Learn it in context

This idiom and thousands more are in Learn Chinese with Bao, with audio, pinyin and drills that make them stick.