To cut the mustard
Meaning: To meet the required standard; to succeed.
Language: English
Literally: To cut the mustard
Category: Food & Drink
Origin: American slang around 1900, where 'mustard' meant the genuine, top-quality article — to cut it was to be up to the mark.
More idioms — Food & Drink
- To chew the fat — To chat idly and at length.
- Eine Extrawurst verlangen — To expect special treatment.
- Importar un pepino — To not care in the slightest.
- Avere le mani in pasta — To be deeply involved in something.
- お茶を濁す (ocha o nigosu) — To dodge a question with a vague, evasive answer.
- Encher linguiça — To pad something out with filler to take up space or time.
More English idioms
- By the skin of your teeth — By the narrowest possible margin.
- To rain on someone's parade — To spoil someone's plans or happy moment.
- To have a chip on your shoulder — To harbor a grudge or a defensive sense of grievance.
- To cost an arm and a leg — To be extremely expensive.
- To burn the midnight oil — To work late into the night.
- Once in a blue moon — Very rarely.
From our tongue twisters
- Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter. — A 'b / t / tt' plosive drill that bounces between Betty, butter, and bitter.
- She sells seashells by the seashore. — The definitive 's' versus 'sh' alternation — the tongue has to switch place of articulati…
- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. — A relentless 'p' plosive drill; a peck is an old dry measure of about nine litres.