What does it mean by upsetting the apple cart?
spoil everything
Spoil carefully laid plans, as in Now don’t upset the applecart by revealing where we’re going. This expression started out as upset the cart, used since Roman times to mean “spoil everything.” The precise idiom dates from the late 1700s.
Who said Don’t upset the apple cart?
What’s the origin of the phrase ‘Don’t upset the apple-cart’? This allusory phrase is first recorded by Jeremy Belknap in The History of New Hampshire, 1788: “Adams had almost overset the apple-cart by intruding an amendment of his own fabrication on the morning of the day of ratification” [of the Constitution].
Where did upset the applecart come from?
The earliest version of this saying is attributed to the Romans, who would exclaim Perii, plaustrum perculi, or “I am undone; I have upset my wagon!” In other words, the person whose wagon, or cart, was overturned (or the person who overturned the cart) had managed to spoil everything.
What is the meaning of pinch of salt?
Definition of ‘to take something with a pinch of salt’ If you take something with a pinch of salt, you do not believe that it is completely accurate or true. The more miraculous parts of this account should be taken with a pinch of salt.
What does insult to injury really mean?
Definition of add insult to injury : to do or say something that makes a bad situation even worse for someone People were forced to work longer hours, and to add insult to injury, the company decided not to give pay raises.
What is the story behind the idiom Penelope’s web?
Refers to The Odyssey, in which Odysseus’s wife Penelope weaves and unweaves Laertes’s burial shroud each day, so as to avoid having to choose a suitor. (She is expected to choose a suitor after finishing the shroud.)
What’s the meaning of the phrase Don’t Upset the Apple Cart?
What’s the meaning of the phrase ‘Don’t upset the apple-cart’? To ‘upset the apple-cart’ is to cause upset – to create a difficulty. What’s the origin of the phrase ‘Don’t upset the apple-cart’? This allusory phrase is first recorded by Jeremy Belknap in The History of New Hampshire, 1788:
Where did the expression upset the Applecart come from?
upset the applecart. Spoil carefully laid plans, as in Now don’t upset the applecart by revealing where we’re going. This expression started out as upset the cart, used since Roman times to mean “spoil everything.”. The precise idiom dates from the late 1700s.
When did Plautus say upset the Applecart?
Both Plautus and Lucian used “You’ve upset the cart” to mean “You’ve spoiled everything.” Specifying “applecart” dates from the late eighteenth century, and the changed phrase is the one that survives.
What does cart piled high with apples mean?
The use of a cart piled high with apples as a metaphor for a satisfactory but possibly precarious state of affairs is recorded in various expressions from the late 18th century onwards. 1996 Business Age The real test will be instability in China…Another Tiananmen Square could really upset the apple cart.