lay it on thick
Meaning: To exaggerate, especially praise or flattery, far too much.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “Saying my soup was the best meal of his life was laying it on a bit thick.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: An offshoot of "lay it on with a trowel" (see that entry): the image is of paint or plaster spread heavily. The shorter "thick" form is later; its first use has not been traced precisely.
Equivalents in other languages
- French: beurrer épais — literally: to butter thick
More idioms — Daily Life
- stake one's life on it — To be absolutely certain that something is true.
- chase skirts — To pursue women constantly and flirtatiously.
- not know which way to turn — To be so overwhelmed or confused that one does not know what to do.
- watch one's step — To be careful how one behaves, to avoid trouble.
- mend fences — To repair a damaged relationship after a disagreement.
- play one's last card — To make a final attempt, using the last resource one has.
More English idioms
- welcome with open arms — To greet or accept someone with great warmth and enthusiasm.
- count on the fingers of one hand — To be very few in number, five or fewer.
- give someone an earful — To scold someone at length, or tell them angrily what one thinks.
- one's eyes pop out of one's head — To be astonished, often at something striking or desirable.
- turn one's stomach — To make someone feel sick, physically or with disgust.
- have eyes in the back of one's head — To notice everything, even what happens behind one's back.
From our untranslatable words
- Natsukashii — A warm, nostalgic rush triggered by something from the past — a smell, a song, a sight. N…
- Yugen — A profound, mysterious sense of the universe that is too deep for words — the feeling of…
- Koi no yokan — The intuitive feeling upon first meeting someone that you will inevitably fall in love wi…