bankrupt cart

obsolete A chaise pulled by one horse. Refers to such carts' use by people with lavish spending habits. That frivolous fool, of course he would hire a bankrupt cart. He can't just ride to town on horseback, of course not. I have no need for a bankrupt cart, thank you. It's a short walk, and my legs are just fine. Richard, I know you're trying to be romantic, but we shouldn't waste what little money we have on a bankrupt cart.

cart away

To remove someone or something from a particular place or area, especially because it is a nuisance or is going to be discarded. A noun or pronoun can be used between "cart" and "away." The police carted the burglar away after they caught him fleeing the scene of the crime. I'm going to have someone from Records come and cart away all these old files. If you don't come get all your junk out of the garage, I'm going to have the trashmen cart it all away!

cart off

To remove someone or something from a particular place or area, especially roughly or dismissively, typically because it is a nuisance or is going to be discarded. A noun or pronoun can be used between "cart" and "off." The police carted off the burglar after they caught him fleeing the scene of the crime. I don't need half the junk that's in my new office, so I'm going to ask one of the cleaning guys to cart it all off. I'm going to have someone from Records come and cart off all these old files.

crash cart

The cart of medical equipment used when a patient "crashes" (experiences cardiac arrest). Get a crash cart in here, this patient needs immediate attention! I was so completely terrified that I had to look away as the doctors rushed into my mother's room with a crash cart. There always needs to be a crash cart close to the recovery room, in the event that a patient becomes unstable after surgery.

don't put the cart before the horse

proverb Don't do things preemptively or out of the proper order; don't get ahead of yourself. Don't put the cart before the horse and pick out your dream car before you have any money saved up for a down payment. A: "I've got a few ideas of in-app purchases we can implement." B: "Whoa, whoa, don't put the cart before the horse. Let's focus on actually finishing the app first." We can't start planning the fundraiser before we know how much we need. Come on, don't put the cart before the horse.

See also: before, cart, horse, put

don't set the cart before the horse

proverb Don't do things preemptively or out of the proper order; don't get ahead of yourself. Don't set the cart before the horse and pick out your dream car before you have any money saved up for a down payment. A: "I've got a few ideas of in-app purchases we can implement." B: "Whoa, whoa, don't set the cart before the horse. Let's focus on actually finishing the app first." We can't start planning the fundraiser before we know how much we need. Come on, don't set the cart before the horse.

down with his apple-cart

obsolete slang Knock him down; throw him to the ground. (Apple-cart being an antiquated slang term for a person's body.) I tell you, lads, down with his apple-cart and take what you can from his pockets! A: "That's it—down with his apple-cart!" B: "What? No, he's just an innocent old man!" I took off running when I heard those thugs shout, "Down with his apple-cart!"

go to hell in a handcart

To be in an extremely and increasingly bad or ruinous condition; to be on the inevitable path to utter failure or ruin. With this new president in office, our country is going to go to hell in a handcart! After our funding was cut, our project went to hell in a handcart. The whole department has gone to hell in a handcart ever since you stepped down as manager.

have carte blanche

To have the freedom to do whatever one wants or deems necessary, especially with a particular task or assignment. The phrase "carte blanche" comes from French, literally meaning "blank card." I can't believe we have carte blanche to organize the conference. The boss is usually such a micro-manager about these things! Look, just because I'm giving you some flexibility in how to complete the assignment doesn't mean you have carte blanche to do whatever you like. That project has needed an overhaul for a long time, so I'm glad Janet finally has carte blanche to restructure it.

honey cart

A vehicle that collects and transports excrement. Driving a honey cart must be one of the crappiest jobs out there—sorry for the pun. If you don't know what a "honey cart" is, you're better off—because it's just about the grossest vehicle in existence. Somebody's gotta drive the honey cart. How do you think airplane bathrooms stay functional?

honey wagon

1. A vehicle that collects and transports excrement. Driving a honey wagon must be one of the crappiest jobs out there—sorry for the pun. If you don't know what a "honey wagon" is, you're better off—because it's just about the grossest vehicle in existence. Somebody's gotta drive the honey wagon. How do you think airplane bathrooms stay functional?

2. A truck that transports beer. Looking for a bar? Just follow the honey wagon. A: "Let's hope it's a slow night at the bar because the honey wagon was delayed." B: "Ah, so that explains the dwindling supply of beer." I've gotta take this call, but the honey wagon just pulled up. Can you out and sign for the beer?

in the cart

obsolete In trouble; in a very bleak or grim situation. All of those recent layoffs point to a company in the cart yet again. I was in the cart there for a while, but I'm feeling much better after my hospital stay. The business will be in the cart if it doesn't start turning a bigger profit soon.

put the cart before the horse

To do things out of the proper order. Starting the fundraiser before we know how much we need is putting the cart before the horse.

See also: before, cart, horse, put

set the cart before the horse

proverb To do things preemptively or out of the proper order; to get ahead of oneself. Don't set the cart before the horse and pick out your dream car before you have any money saved up for a down payment. A: "I've got a few ideas of in-app purchases we can implement." B: "Whoa, whoa, stop setting the cart before the horse. Let's focus on actually finishing the app first."

upset (one's) applecart

To ruin or interfere with one's plans or goals. Look, he's not trying to upset your applecart or anything—he just needs to meet later in the day now, that's all. I had some ideas on how they could improve things, but I didn't want to upset their applecart this late in development.

See also: applecart, upset

upset the applecart

To ruin or interfere with one's plans or goals. Look, he's not trying to upset the applecart—he just needs to meet later in the day now, that's all.

See also: applecart, upset

cart someone or something off

to take or haul someone or something away. (When used with someone the person is treated like an object.) The police came and carted her off. Let's cart off these boxes.

Don't put the cart before the horse.

Prov. Do not do things in the wrong order. (This can imply that the person you are addressing is impatient.) Tune the guitar first, then play it. Don't put the cart before the horse.

See also: before, cart, horse, put

put the cart before the horse

Fig. to have things in the wrong order; to have things confused and mixed up. (Also with have.) You're eating your dessert first! You've put the cart before the horse. John has the cart before the horse in most of his projects.

See also: before, cart, horse, put

upset the apple cart

Fig. to mess up or ruin something. Tom really upset the apple cart by telling Mary the truth about Jane. I always knew he'd tell secrets and upset the apple cart.

cart before the horse, put the

Reverse the proper order of things or events, as in Don't put the cart before the horse and give away the punch line. This expression has been used since antiquity but was first recorded in English in 1520.

cart off

Also, cart away. Transport or remove in an unceremonious way, as in The police carted them all off to jail, or We'll call the town to cart away this trash. This term owes its meaning to cart, a humble conveyance compared to a carriage. [Second half of 1800s]

upset the applecart

Spoil carefully laid plans, as in Now don't upset the applecart by revealing where we're going. This expression started out as upset the cart, used since Roman times to mean "spoil everything." The precise idiom dates from the late 1700s.

See also: applecart, upset

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

upset the applecart

If someone or something upsets the applecart, they do something which causes trouble or which spoils a satisfactory situation. It will only upset the applecart and confuse the issue if the topic is raised too soon. Note: You can also say that someone or something overturns the applecart. She still has the power to overturn the applecart by the sheer force of her personality and vocabulary.

See also: applecart, upset

put the cart before the horse

If you put the cart before the horse, you do things in the wrong order. Creating large numbers of schools before we've improved school management is putting the cart before the horse. Let's not put the cart before the horse. Let's actually find out what the problem is before we try to solve it. Note: Cart and horse are also used in many other structures and expressions with a similar meaning. They want to go down the road with the cart before the horse and spend the money before they have made it. These kids are encouraged to compete before they actually have the skills to win. We've got ourselves a cart-before-the-horse situation.

See also: before, cart, horse, put

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

upset the apple cart

wreck an advantageous project or disturb the status quo.

The use of a cart piled high with apples as a metaphor for a satisfactory but possibly precarious state of affairs is recorded in various expressions from the late 18th century onwards.

1996 Business Age The real test will be instability in China…Another Tiananmen Square could really upset the apple cart.

in the cart

in trouble or difficulty. British informal

A cart was formerly used to take convicted criminals to the public gallows and to expose prostitutes and other offenders to public humiliation in the streets.

put the cart before the horse

reverse the proper order or procedure of something.

A medieval version of this expression was set the oxen before the yoke . The version with horse and cart dates from the early 16th century.

1998 Spectator It's putting the cart before the horse. All history shows that if you want to create a political union, you do that first and the single currency follows.

See also: before, cart, horse, put

put the ˌcart before the ˈhorse

put or do things in the wrong order: Don’t plan the menu before deciding how many people to invite — it’s like putting the cart before the horse.

See also: before, cart, horse, put

upset the/somebody’s ˈapple cart

(informal) do something that spoils a plan or stops the progress of something: Another, much cheaper hairdresser has opened next door, which has upset the apple cart.

crash cart

n. a nickname for the hospital cart that carries equipment used to attempt to restore a heartbeat, such as a defibrilator. Get the crash cart to third west.

honey wagon

1. and honey cart n. any vehicle used for or designed for carrying excrement: a farm manure wagon; a tank truck used to pump out septic tanks; a tank truck used to pump out airplane toilets; a portable latrine truck used in movie making. I drove a honey cart in Hollywood for a year. How’s that for glamour?

2. n. a beer truck. What time does the honey wagon bring in new supplies?

honey cart

verb

See honey wagon

cart before the horse, don't put/set the

Don’t reverse the natural order of things. This expression no doubt dates from the time when horses first were used to draw wheeled vehicles, and began to be transferred to other affairs almost immediately. Cicero accused Homer of doing so, complaining that the Greek poet stated the moral of a story before telling the story. From the 1500s on, numerous English writers—Sir Thomas More, William Shakespeare, Charles Kingsley, to mention just a few—used this turn of phrase, which also appears in Greek, Latin, French, German, and Italian. In English it was a cliché by the 1700s.