be packed (in) like sardines

To be very tightly or snugly packed together, especially in a small space. Alludes to the way in which sardines are packed closely together during canning. We didn't want to take more than one car, so we had to be packed like sardines in Jeff's little sedan for the four-hour drive to Moab. Having a concert in our friends café was such a good idea! Sure, we were packed in like sardines, but everyone had a great time. The airline doesn't care if we're packed in like sardines, so long as they get our ticket fare.

See also: like, packed, sardine

be squashed (in) like sardines

To be very tightly or snugly packed together, especially in a small space. Alludes to the way in which sardines are packed closely together during canning. We didn't want to take more than one car, so we had to be squashed like sardines in Jeff's little sedan for the four-hour drive to Moab. Having a concert in our friend's café was such a good idea! Sure, we were squashed in like sardines, but everyone had a great time. The airline doesn't care if we're squashed in like sardines, so long as they get our ticket fare.

like sardines

Very tightly or snugly packed together, especially in a small space. Alludes to the tightly packed manner of sardines in a can. We didn't want to take more than one car, so we had cram like sardines into Jeff's little sedan for the four-hour drive to Moab. Having a concert in our friends' café was such a good idea! Sure, we were squashed in like sardines, but everyone had a great time.

pack (someone or something) (in) like sardines

To fit many people or things very tightly or snugly into a small space. Alludes to the way in which sardines are packed closely together during canning. We didn't want to take more than one car, so Jeff packed us like sardines in his little sedan for the four-hour drive to Moab. Having a concert in our friends café was such a good idea! Sure, we had to pack people in like sardines, but everyone had a great time. I wish you would just let us buy you a bigger backpack! It makes my own back hurt watching you pack those books like sardines into your little shoulder bag.

packed (in) like sardines

Very tightly or snugly packed together, especially in a small space. Alludes to the way in which sardines are packed closely together during canning. We didn't want to take more than one car, so we had to drive for about four hours packed like sardines in Jeff's little sedan. Having a concert in our friends café was such a good idea! Sure, we were packed in like sardines, but everyone had a great time.

See also: like, packed, sardine

squash (someone or something) (in) like sardines

To fit many people or things very tightly or snugly into a small space. Alludes to the way in which sardines are packed closely together during canning. We didn't want to take more than one car, so Jeff squashed us like sardines in his little sedan for the four-hour drive to Moab. Having a concert in our friends café was such a good idea! Sure, we had to squash people in like sardines, but everyone had a great time. I wish you would just let us buy you a bigger backpack! It makes my own back hurt watching you squash those books like sardines into your little shoulder bag.

squashed (in) like sardines

Very tightly or snugly packed together, especially in a small space. Alludes to the way in which sardines are packed closely together during canning. We didn't want to take more than one car, so we had to drive for about four hours squashed like sardines in Jeff's little sedan. Having a concert in our friends café was such a good idea! Sure, we were squashed in like sardines, but everyone had a great time.

pack someone or something (in) like sardines

Fig. to squeeze in as many people or things as possible. (From the way that many sardines are packed into a can.) They packed us in like sardines. There was no room to breathe. They packed in the people like sardines. Dave got a box and packed old negatives in like sardines.

packed (in) like sardines

Fig. packed very tightly. It was terribly crowded there. We were packed in like sardines. The bus was full. The passengers were packed like sardines.

See also: like, packed, sardine

packed in like sardines

Extremely crowded, as in I could barely breathe-we were packed in like sardines. This term, alluding to how tightly sardines are packed in cans, has been applied to human crowding since the late 1800s.

See also: like, packed, sardine

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.

packed like sardines

If a group of people are packed like sardines, they are standing very close together because there is not enough room in an enclosed space. We were packed like sardines in the ship and could barely move. Note: Other words such as crammed, jammed or squashed are sometimes used instead of packed. The male sauna was really packed. There were about five people squashed in there like sardines. Note: The image here is of tinned sardines which have been tightly packed.

See also: like, packed, sardine

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

packed like sardines

crowded very close together.

See also: like, packed, sardine

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

packed (together) like sarˈdines

(informal) (of people) pressed tightly together in a way that is uncomfortable or unpleasant: On the tube in the rush hour the passengers are packed like sardines.

Sardines are a type of fish that are usually sold packed tightly together in small tins.

See also: like, packed, sardine

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

packed in like sardines

Close together, crowded. Canned sardines are jammed together as tightly as practically any such object. The condition was transferred to human crowds by the late nineteenth century. Spike Milligan played with it in his poem “Sardines” (A Book of Milliganimals, 1968): “A baby Sardine saw her first submarine, She was scared and watched through a peephole, ‘O come, come, come, come,’ said the Sardine’s mum, ‘It’s only a tin full of people.’”

See also: like, packed, sardine

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References in periodicals archive

The latest report by IMARC Group, titled "Sardine Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2019-2024", estimates that the market reached a volume of 3.50 Million Tons in 2018.

Sardine Fish Market Report, Global Industry Overview, Growth, Opportunities and Forecast 2019-2024

When the sardines vanished previously, Harty got an email stating: may have caused you."

Harty's sardine din

In its own assessment, Laban Konsyumer claimed 14 brands of canned sardines raised prices from P0.50 to P1.70 per 155 grams; four iodized salt brands, from P0.35 to P0.90 per pack; and six bottled water brands, from P1 to P4 per bottle.

Despite slowing inflation, prices may still rise as production costs spike

The project is planned to produce 72 thousand tons of sardines and 17 thousand tons of tuna in the year.

TSPP Potential Shareholders Meet

Sardine is a species of high commercial value for human consumption and bluefin tuna farming in Baja California (Del Moral-Simanek et al., 2010).

Blood parameters and parasitic load in Sardinops sagax (Jenyns, 1842) from Todos Santos Bay, Baja California, Mexico

This last round, the mystery baskets contained Tomato Brisling Sardines from King Oscar; Q Cup Quinoa from NOW Foods; canned artichoke hearts from Chandler's Chop House; French bread crumbs from Gonnella Baking Co.; and Sun-Dried Tomato & Basil Chicken Sausage from Greenridge Farm.

Cook of the Week Challenge Home cooks face a mixed bag and they some with round 4 ingredients

The director-general also cautioned all importers not to import the affected canned sardines into the country.

Canned sardine: NAFDAC cautions public against consumption of 2 brands

A Bernama story published on June 27, said the Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services has revealed that it found worms that could cause the anisakiasis disease in humans in samples of a brand of sardines from China brought in through the North Butterworth Container Terminal in Penang on May 14.

Six more sardine brands yanked from market

With sardine herrings worth just five dollars a hogshead, weir fishermen in Maine and New Brunswick became, in just three years, a class among the working poor.

Becoming a Dependent Class: Quoddy Herring Fishermen in the 1920s

The increase of the ocean surface temperature, the "El Nino" phenomenon and the food abundance affects the reproduction and distribution of the sardine (Hammann et al., 1988; Bakun & Broad, 2003; Felix-Uraga et al.).

Thermal Effect of Acute and Chronic Stress on Hepatic and Renal Tissue of the Pacific Sardine, Sardinops sagax caeruleus (Jenyns, 1842)/ Efecto del Estres Termico Agudo y Cronico Sobre el Tejido Hepatico y Renal de la Sardina del Pacifico, Sardinops sagax caeruleus (Jenyns, 1842)

Scaled sardines typically remain inside bays and estuaries longer than threadfins of similar age.

Whitebait or threadfin? It's the time of year for sardines and herrings to invade Florida bays and rivers

"What really sets us apart is that we can a fresh sardine, within eight hours of harvest, and 99.9% of sardines out there are a frozen sardine," Scherz says.

Big fish in a little can

We've never done a "sardine job'' on a car, that I'm aware of.

We 'smell' a prank in the works here

8 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BIGHT AERIAL SURVEY TO ASSESS PACIFIC SARDINE DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE

Southern California bight aerial survey to assess Pacific sardine distribution and abundance