basket (redirected from Baskets)

basket case

Fig. a person who is a nervous wreck. (Formerly referred to a person who is physically disabled in all four limbs because of paralysis or amputation.) After that all-day meeting, I was practically a basket case. My weeks of worry were so intense that I was a real basket case afterwards.

See also: case

can't carry a tune and cannot carry a tune; can't carry a tune in a bushel basket; can't carry a tune in a bucket; can't carry a tune in a paper sack

Fig. [to be] unable to sing a simple melody; lacking musical ability. I wish that Tom wouldn't try to sing. He can't carry a tune. I don't know why Mary's in the choir. She can't carry a tune in a bushel basket. Joe likes to sing in the shower, though he can't carry a tune in a bucket. I'd try to hum the song for you, but I can't carry a tune in a paper sack.

See also: carry, tune

put all one's eggs in one basket

Fig. to make everything dependent on only one thing; to place all one's resources in one place, account, etc. (If the basket is dropped, all is lost.) Don't invest all your money in one company. Never put all your eggs in one basket. I advise you to diversify and not to put all your eggs in one basket.

See also: egg, one, put

---

a basket case 

1. (informal) someone who is crazy and unable to organize their life She'll never get a job. She's a basket case.

2. a very poor country which needs economic help from other countries, or a business that is in a very bad financial situation Twenty years ago the country was an economic basket case.

See also: case

put all your eggs in one basket

to risk losing everything by putting all your efforts or all your money into one plan or one course of action If you're going to invest the money, my advice would be don't put all your eggs in one basket.

See also: egg, one, put

---

put all your eggs in one basket

to risk your money or your reputation in support of one idea or plan I didn't want to put all my eggs in one basket, so I played five different lottery games, but lost all of them.

Etymology: based on the idea that if all the eggs you got from your chickens are in one basket ( container) and you drop it, you will lose all your eggs

See also: egg, one, put