What does the phrase stop on a dime mean?
idiom. to be able to stop almost immediately, even when moving very quickly: He runs up the field and stops on a dime to catch the ball.
Origin. Used since at least the 1920s. The dime, or American ten-cent piece, is used here as a metaphor for a small distance. When referring to a motor vehicle, the expression invokes an image of the wheels of the vehicle coming to a halt precisely on a dime, without actually rolling over the dime.
In a very small space, suddenly, as in That horse is so well trained it can turn on a dime. This expression alludes to the fact that the dime is the smallest-size U.S. coin. [ Early 1900s]
This stems from the 1979 movie ''10,'' starring Bo Derek, and is rooted in ''On a scale from 1 to 10, she's a 10. '' She is now a dime.
The term drop a dime first appeared in detective novels in the 1920s-1930s. The idiom drop a dime conjures the image of someone putting a dime in a payphone to call the police and betray or “rat out” a criminal.
“Dime” is based on the Latin word “decimus,” meaning “one tenth.” The French used the word “disme” in the 1500s when they came up with the idea of money divided into ten parts. In America, the spelling changed from “disme” to “dime.”
Definition of time flies
—used to say that time passes quickly Your son is in high school already? My, how time flies!
idiom. If you do something at the drop of a hat, you do it immediately without stopping to think about it: People will file lawsuits at the drop of a hat these days. SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases.
dime piece (plural dime pieces) (slang) A beautiful woman.
The dime was first minted in 1796. In the 1800s, many goods such as eggs or apples were advertised to cost a dime a dozen in the United States. A phrase that began as a way to tout good value for the money evolved into a phrase that means something nearly worthless by virtue of its commonness and easy availability.
Is dime a dozen an insult?
This idiom means that something is easy to find or obtain. Since it's easy to find, it doesn't have a lot of value and is considered cheap or ordinary.
Inform on or betray someone, as in No one can cheat in this class—someone's bound to drop a dime and tell the teacher.
(euphemistic, slang) To release feces into a toilet; to defecate.
Quote by Stephen King: “Life turns on a dime.
If you say that you are ready to do something at the drop of a hat, you mean that you are willing to do it immediately, without hesitating.
If something or someone turns on a dime, they suddenly change completely or do something completely different from what they were doing before.
- Raise revenues fairly. ...
- End the cycle of gimmicks. ...
- Invest in our future economic success. ...
- There is so much more to be done.
