like cheese at fourpence
English
editEtymology
editFrom the mill towns of Lancashire, where fourpence was considered expensive for cheese and hence cheese for sale at that price would not be bought.
Pronunciation
editAudio (General Australian): (file)
Adjective
edit- (idiomatic) Of a person: waiting idly or timewasting.
- 1989, Colin Dunne, Hooligan, page 38:
- Don't stand there like cheese at fourpence.
- 2003, Rachel Wyatt, Time's Reach, page 75:
- "Why are you standing there like cheese at fourpence?"
- 2010, Ruth Hamilton, Mersey View, page 89:
- Then you can stay sat there like cheese at fourpence till Mrs Henshaw gets back with her lawyer.