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.
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.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
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.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
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.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017