packed like sardines
English edit
Etymology edit
Referring to sardines packed closely together in a tin (or can).[1]
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /pækt laɪk sɑːˈdiːnz/
- (General American) IPA(key): /pækt laɪk sɑɹˈdinz/
Audio (GA) (file) Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -iːnz
- Hyphenation: packed like sard‧ines
Adjective edit
packed like sardines (not comparable)
- (simile, informal) Densely packed; tightly squeezed together; crammed.
- I'm pretty claustrophobic, so I didn't wanna hop in the elevator with them all packed like sardines in there.
- 2022 March 23, “Network News: Passengers Unwilling to be ‘Packed Like Sardines’”, in Rail, number 953, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 22:
- Passengers are no longer "willing to be packed into trains like sardines", says London TravelWatch.
Related terms edit
Translations edit
densely packed
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See also edit
References edit
- ^ “to be packed (in) like sardines, phrase” under “sardine, n.2”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2023; “packed like sardines, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.