rough and ready
Meaning: Crude but good enough for the purpose.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “The shed has a rough and ready kitchen with a camping stove.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: First recorded in the early 19th century; the American general Zachary Taylor was nicknamed "Old Rough and Ready" in the 1840s, which spread the phrase.
Equivalents in other languages
- Spanish: para andar por casa — literally: for walking around the house
More idioms — Daily Life
- keep up appearances — To behave as if nothing is wrong, to protect one's reputation.
- at the stroke of a pen — By one quick official decision.
- not on your life — Absolutely not.
- make a clean break — To end something completely rather than gradually.
- a bit on the side — A secret lover; an affair.
- look out for number one — To put one's own interests first.
More English idioms
- grow like wildfire — To spread very fast.
- tread carefully — To act with great caution in a delicate situation.
- pull the other one — Said to someone telling an obvious lie.
- use someone as a cat's paw — To get someone else to do one's dirty work.
- lose one's marbles — To go crazy.
- with only the clothes on one's back — With no possessions at all.
From our untranslatable words
- Gigil — The overwhelming urge to squeeze or pinch something unbearably cute.
- Iktsuarpok — The restless anticipation that makes you keep stepping outside to see if someone is final…
- Meraki — Pouring your soul, love, and creativity into whatever you do — cooking, art, anything.