chief cook and bottle washer

chief cook and bottle washer

One who is involved in many aspects of a particular situation. Because so many people have left our department recently, I'm the chief cook and bottle washer, doing every little task that comes up.

See also: and, bottle, chief, cook, washer

chief cook and bottle washer

Fig. the person in charge of practically everything (such as in a very small business). I'm the chief cook and bottle washer around here. I do everything.

See also: and, bottle, chief, cook, washer

chief cook and bottlewasher

A person in charge of numerous duties, both vital and trivial, as in We have no secretaries or clerks; the department head is chief cook and bottlewasher and does it all . [Slang; c. 1840]

See also: and, bottlewasher, chief, cook

chief cook and bottle-washer

a person who performs a variety of important but routine tasks. informal

See also: and, chief, cook

chief cook and bottle washer

verb

See head cook and bottle washer

See also: and, bottle, chief, cook, washer

chief cook and bottle washer

Individual who has most of the many and quite varied responsibilities in an enterprise. This slangy Americanism originated in the first half of the 1800s. Alluding to kitchen duties, the term is used far more broadly, as in “Mr. Miller described himself as the ‘president, chief cook and bottle washer’ of his company” (New York Times, Nov. 7, 1992).

See also: and, bottle, chief, cook, washer