Turn/twist the knife British informal verb phrase
If you "turn/twist the knife", you purposely make someone's sufferings, grief even worse.
He has just been fired by his boss, and his girlfriend has turned the knife by breaking up with him.
I was given a bad grade and my friends twisted the knife by telling my parents about it.
He is boasting about getting into Yale which will twist the knife if others are rejected.
The verbs "turn" and "twist" should be conjugated according to their tense.
Derived from the fact that the act of literally twisting a knife that is still inside someone who has just been stabbed will widen the wound and make it even more painful.
To keep optimistic or have hope that something positive will occur and simultaneously prepare for a negative outcome
All I can do is hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.