coin a phrase

To create a new expression. It is typically used jocularly to indicate the opposite (i.e. that one has just used a well-known or trite saying). Don't try to coin a phrase, just write a straightforward headline. Well, we can't do anything about it now, so "que sera sera," to coin a phrase. Yeah, we have a lot to get done by Saturday, but we'll just have to put our noses to the grindstone, to coin a phrase.

to coin a phrase

set phrase Said after one uses a new expression. It is typically used jocularly to indicate the opposite (i.e. that one has just used a well-known or trite saying). Well, we can't do anything about it now, so "que sera sera," to coin a phrase.

See also: coin, phrase, to

coin a phrase

Fig. to create a new expression that is worthy of being remembered and repeated. (Often jocular.) He is "worth his weight in feathers," to coin a phrase.

to coin a phrase

You say to coin a phrase to show that you are using an expression that people will know. Stunned Jackson was, to coin a phrase, `sick as a parrot'. Note: To coin a new word means to invent it or use it for the first time. In this expression, the term is being used ironically.

See also: coin, phrase, to

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

to coin a phrase

1 said ironically when introducing a banal remark or cliché. 2 said when introducing a new expression or a variation on a familiar one.

See also: coin, phrase, to

to coin a ˈphrase

used for introducing an expression that you have invented or to apologize for using a well-known idiom or phrase instead of an original one: Oh well, no news is good news, to coin a phrase.

See also: coin, phrase, to

coin a phrase, to

To fashion an expression. This term, dating from the 1940s, is often used ironically to apologize for using a cliché, as in “He acts like the cock of the walk, to coin a phrase.” Of course it can also be used straightforwardly and refer to inventing an expression, a usage dating from the late 1500s.