beer

(all) beer and skittles

all fun and pleasure; easy and pleasant. (Skittles is the game of ninepins, a game similar to bowling. Fixed phrase.) For Sam, college was beer and skittles. He wasted a lot of time and money.

See also: and, skittle

beer up

Sl. to drink a lot of beer. Those guys are out there beering up like mad. Stop beering up and go home!

See also: up

cry in one's beer

Fig. to feel sorry for oneself. She calls up, crying in her beer, and talks on and on about her problems. Don't cry in your beer. Get yourself straightened out.

See also: cry

I've seen better heads on nickel beers.

Rur. This person is stupid. Jim's good-looking, but I've seen better heads on nickel beers. My students this term aren't what you'd call bright. I've seen better heads on nickel beers.

See also: better, head, nickel, seen

Life isn't all beer and skittles.

Prov. Life is not pleasurable all the time; you cannot always be having fun. (Skittles is a game like bowling.) I don't really mind going back to work when my vacation is over. Life isn't all beer and skittles, and I enjoy my fun that much more because I have work to compare it to. When George's parents stopped supporting him, George suddenly discovered that life isn't all beer and skittles.

See also: and, life, skittle

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not be all beer and skittles  (British & Australian old-fashioned)

if a situation or activity is not all beer and skittles, it has unpleasant parts as well as pleasant ones It's not all beer and skittles, this job. It's hard work.

See also: and, skittle

small beer  (British, American & Australian informal) also small potatoes (American & Australian informal)

something that is not important, especially when compared to something else A loan of that size is small beer - these banks are lending millions of pounds a day. And we are not talking small potatoes - building the airport means many people in the area will lose their homes.

See also: small