soup

*easy as A, B, C and *easy as falling off a log; *easy as rolling off a log; *easy as (apple) pie; *easy as duck soup

very easy. (*Also: as ~.) If you use a cake mix, baking a cake is easy as A, B, C. Mountain climbing is as easy as pie. Finding your way to the shopping center is easy as duck soup. Getting out of jail was easy as rolling off a log.

See also: easy

*in the soup

Fig. in a bad situation. (*Typically: be ~; get [into] ~.) Now I'm really in the soup. I broke Mrs. Franklin's window. I make a lot of mistakes. It's easy for me to get into the soup.

*thick as pea soup

[of fog] very thick. (*Also: as ~.) This fog is as thick as pea soup. You can't see ten feet in front of you.

See also: pea, thick

alphabet soup

initialisms and acronyms, especially when used excessively. The names of these government agencies are just alphabet soup. Just look at the telephone book! You can't find anything because it's filled with alphabet soup.

duck soup

Fig. very easy; an easy thing to do. For Maria, knitting a sweater is duck soup. Jill: This jar is stuck. Could you open it for me? Jane: Sure. Duck soup.

See also: duck

everything from soup to nuts and everything from A to Z

Cliché almost everything one can think of. For dinner we had everything from soup to nuts. In college I studied everything from soup to nuts.

See also: everything, nuts

soup something up

to increase the power of something. He souped his car up so it will do nearly 120 miles per hour. If only I could soup up this computer to run just a little faster.

See also: up

Soup's on!

Rur. The meal is ready to eat. (Said for any food, not just soup.) Tom: Soup's on! Bill: The camp chef has dished up another disaster. John: soup's on! Come and get it! Mary: Well, I guess it's time to eat again.

souped up

made more powerful. That souped-up car of John's sure makes a lot of noise. Why do all cars driven by males under the age of twenty have to be souped up?

See also: up

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be duck soup  (American informal)

to be very easy to do Winning your case in court ought to be duck soup.

See also: duck

be in the soup  (old-fashioned)

to be in trouble This team know that if they lose on Saturday, they'll really be in the soup.

from soup to nuts  (American informal)

from the beginning to the end She told us everything about the trip, from soup to nuts.

See also: nuts

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(as) easy as A, B, C See: (as) easy as pie

See also: easy

in the soup

experiencing a difficult situation As soon as the airlines started to make a profit, they put themselves right back in the soup with a new round of mergers.

Usage notes: often used with right back, as in the example

soup up something also soup something up

to make something more powerful They had to soup up the air-conditioning to keep her computers from overheating in the summer.

Usage notes: usually used to describe an improvement to a car or other machine

See also: up