bike

(just) like riding a bike

Easy to resume doing after a long break, as of a previously learned skill. I was shocked that I instinctually remembered how to knit after all these years. I guess it's like riding a bike. If you had a lot of swim lesson as a kid, I bet swimming will be just like riding a bike for you. I actually couldn't really ride a bike as an adult—I just couldn't get the balance part together. For me, riding a bike was not, in fact, just like riding a bike!

See also: bike, like, riding

bikeshedding

Wasting time on peripheral, usually trivial matters. A reference to British historian C. Northcote Parkinson's "law of triviality," the assertion that people tend to focus disproportionately on insignificant, marginal issues. (His hypothetical example was of people planning a nuclear power plant who would spend the majority of their time planning the power plant's bike shed instead.) You guys are too focused on choosing the right font for the app, considering there are pretty obvious bugs that need fixing. Come on, enough with the bikeshedding! There's no correct way to hang Christmas lights, so quit bikeshedding and decorate the house already! Wait, the boss is upset that the color on the sign is less clementine and more apricot? Well, since they're very similar shades of orange, this sounds like a case of bikeshedding to me.

get off (one's) bike

To become angry or irritated. Primarily heard in Australia, Ireland. Don't get off your bike—I wasn't trying to insult you. Hey, don't get off your bike! I'm not the one who started the rumor about you! I don't know why you're getting off your bike—it was just a joke!

See also: bike, get, off

get on (one's) bike

To go out in pursuit of a job. Primarily heard in UK. You really need to get on your bike before all of your money runs out. Because I could sense that the company wasn't doing well, I got on my bike proactively. The office is closing, so I have to get on my bike for the first time in 10 years.

See also: bike, get, on

on your bike

Go away and stop being annoying. (Often stylized as "on yer bike!") God, what a dreadful pun—on your bike! All right kids, on yer bikes, you're starting to get on my nerves!

See also: bike, on

the town bicycle

vulgar slang A promiscuous female. (A town's communal bicycle would be ridden by many people.) I'm not surprised he slept with Nicole. That girl's basically the town bicycle. Why am I the "town bicycle" when Jack, who—newsflash—has slept with twice as many people as me, is revered as a stud?

See also: bicycle, town

the village bicycle

vulgar slang A promiscuous female. (A village's communal bicycle would be ridden by many people.) I'm not surprised he slept with Nicole. That girl's basically the village bicycle. Why am I the "village bicycle" when Jack, who—newsflash—has slept with twice as many people as me, is revered as a stud?

See also: bicycle, village

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

On your bike!

 and Go to your room!

Sl. imperative. Get out of here!; Get on your bike and get out! What a bad joke! No puns allowed here! On your bike! That was a ridiculous remark. Go to your room!

See also: on

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

get off your bike

AUSTRALIAN, INFORMAL

If someone gets off their bike, they become so angry or upset that they cannot control themselves. It was just an accident — there's no need to get off your bike!

See also: bike, get, off

get on your bike

BRITISH, INFORMAL

1. People sometimes say get on your bike to tell someone that they no longer have a job. By the end of the week Neilsen had been told to get on his bike by new boss Jim Dale. Note: This expression is sometimes written `get on yer bike', to represent an informal pronunciation of `your'. `Get us promoted or get on yer bike!' That's Derby's ultimatum to their manager Andy Cox after their disappointing season.

2. If you get on your bike, you make an effort to find work, travelling to different places. He will for ever be remembered for telling the unemployed to "get on your bike" even though he never said it.

See also: bike, get, on

on your bike

BRITISH, INFORMAL

People sometimes say on your bike to tell someone angrily to go away. Go on, on your bike, mate! Note: This expression is sometimes spelled `on yer bike', to represent an informal pronunciation of `your'. I've had enough! On yer bike!

See also: bike, on

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

get off your bike

become annoyed.Australian & New Zealand informal

1939 Xavier Herbert Capricornia ‘I tell you I saw no-one.’ ‘Don't get off your bike, son.—I know you're tellin' lies.’

See also: bike, get, off

on your bike!

1 go away! 2 take action! British informal

Sense 2 became a catchphrase in 1980s Britain, when it was used as an exhortation to the unemployed to show initiative in their attempt to find work. It was taken from a speech by the Conservative politician Norman Tebbit in which he said of his unemployed father: ‘He did not riot, he got on his bike and looked for work.’

See also: on

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

on your bike!

(British English, informal) a rude or humorous way of telling somebody to go away: ‘Can I borrow some money, Dave?’ ‘On your bike!’

See also: on

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

bike

n. a motorcycle; a bicycle. You have to wear a helmet with a bike that size, don’t you?

bike boys

n. cops; the police. Look out! Here come the bike boys.

See also: bike, boy

On your bike!

and Go to your room!

imperative Get out of here!; Go away and stop bothing me. (Neither is to be taken literally.) What a bad joke! No puns allowed here! On your bike! Nasty mouth! Such talk! Go to your room!

See also: on

McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.