need (something) like a hole in the head
To have absolutely no need or use for something. I'm perfectly happy having a cell phone that just makes phone calls. I need a fancy new smartphone like a hole in the head! We need an audit like a hole in the head right now. We have enough problems with the business as it is.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
need something like a hole in the head
not to need something at all. I need a house cat like I need a hole in the head! She needs another car like she needs a hole in the head.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
need like a hole in the head
Have neither a need nor a desire for something, as in I needed that extra work like I need a hole in the head. This expression has such ancestors as "As much need of it as he has of the pip [a disease] or of a cough," from John Ray's English Proverbs (1678), and "As much need of it as a toad of a side pocket," from Francis Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785). [Slang; c. 1940]
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.