(one) didn't just fall off the turnip truck

One is not some awkward, naïve, or unsophisticated bumpkin, as is being suggested or implied. A: "OK, just be sure not to make lewd remarks like that during the dinner party." B: "Hey, I know how to act around decent folk! I didn't just fall off the turnip truck, you know." You're wearing jeans to a fancy event—good luck convincing the boss that you didn't just fall off the turnip truck. I may have grown up in a small town, but I didn't just fall off the turnip truck—I actually went to college in New York City.

See also: fall, just, off, truck, turnip

built like a Mack Truck

cliché Having an extremely large, muscular, and physically imposing physique. Refers to American truck-manufacturing company Mack Trucks, Inc. Primarily heard in US. Man, you're built like a Mack Truck! You'd be a great addition to the football team as a linebacker! Did you see that bouncer? He's built like a Mack Truck—there's no way we're getting past him! The Owls' defensemen are built like a Mack Tuck, so our smaller forwards better keep their heads up, or they're gonna get crushed.

could drive a truck through (something)

Could easily show or exploit the flaws in something. Primarily heard in US. Oh please, I could drive a truck through that lawyer's incoherent argument, and I plan to do just that in court tomorrow. I really thought we had a sound take on the issue. But apparently the other debate team could drive a truck through it—and boy did they. Are you seriously trying to justify plagiarizing that paper? Well, I could drive a truck right through that argument—where should I start?

fall off a truck

Of goods or merchandise, to be acquired by illegal or dubious means; to come into (someone's) possession without being paid for. Danny says he has several laptops and smartphones he wants to sell for cheap—sounds like they fell off a truck to me. A: "Jake's been peddling a bunch of flat screens for a great price." A: "They probably fell off a truck then. I wouldn't go for them, if I were you." These prices seem a little too good to be true. You sure this stuff didn't fall off a truck?

fall off the back of a truck

Of goods or merchandise, to be acquired by illegal or dubious means; to come into (someone's) possession without being paid for. Danny says he has several laptops and smartphones he wants to sell for cheap—sounds like they fell off the back of a truck to me. A: "Jake's been peddling a bunch of flat screens for a great price." A: "They probably fell off the back of a truck then. I wouldn't go for them, if I were you." These prices seem a little too good to be true. You sure this stuff didn't fall off the back of a truck?

fall off the cabbage truck

To be gullible, naïve, or unsophisticated. The subject is often a person from a rural or rustic background. Mary has no idea about how to act in polite society, always behaving as if she just fell off the cabbage truck. I may have grown up in a small town, but I didn't just fall off the cabbage truck—I actually went to college in New York City. A: "OK, just be sure not to make lewd remarks like that during the dinner party." B: "Hey, I know how to act around decent folk! I didn't just fall off the cabbage truck, you know."

fall off the turnip truck

To be gullible, naïve, or unsophisticated. The subject is often a person from a rural or rustic background. Mary has no idea about how to act in polite society, always behaving as if she just fell off the turnip truck. I may have grown up in a small town, but I didn't just fall off the turnip truck—I actually went to college in New York City. A: "OK, just be sure not to make lewd remarks like that during the dinner party." B: "Hey, I know how to act around decent folk! I didn't just fall off the turnip truck, you know."

gut truck

slang A food truck, a truck or van outfitted to be a mobile kitchen used to prepare and sell food at various locations. Everyone in the office likes to get food from the gut truck that parks outside at lunchtime, but I don't really care for anything they serve. There's a gut truck that always comes around to the dorms and frats in the evening to sell munchies to the stoned college students. A: "Where are we going to get food at this hour? Everything's closed!" B: "Nah, I know there's a few gut trucks we could hit."

have no truck with (someone or something)

To not be involved with someone or something. Oh, I have no truck with him anymore, not since our fight. I can call them, sure, but I doubt I'll get anywhere. I haven't worked at that place for years—I have no truck with them anymore. That lowlife has no truck with us, so tell him not to come around here anymore.

See also: have, no, truck

have truck with

To work well with or associate with someone. The phrase is most commonly used in the negative ("have no truck with") to describe someone or something that will not work together. Let me call that office—I used to work there, so I have truck with them. That lowlife has no truck with us, so tell him not to come around here anymore. Oh, I have no truck with him anymore, not since our fight.

keep on trucking

A phrase of encouragement that one keep going or persisting with something, Come on, the project is not a total failure—keep on trucking! Keep on trucking, honey—tomorrow's another day.

See also: keep, on, truck

off the back of a truck

Likely by illegal or dubious means. Said of the way something has been gotten. Primarily heard in US, Australia. A: "Jake's been peddling a bunch of flat screens for a great price." A: "He probably got them off the back of a truck. I wouldn't go for them, if I were you." Danny says he has several laptops and smartphones he wants to sell for cheap—sounds like they fell off the back of a truck to me.

truck in

1. To arrive by truck. Soldiers came trucking in to help deal with the crisis.

2. To transport someone or something in(to something or some place) by truck. A noun or pronoun is used between "truck" and "in." There was no potable water in the cabin, so we had to truck in a month's worth of bottled water. They trucked dozens of laborers in to help build the new rig as quickly as possible.

truck out

1. To leave by truck. Dozens of workers trucked out to the fields to begin the harvest season.

2. To transport someone or something out (of something or some place) by truck. A noun or pronoun is used between "truck" and "out." The mining company has so far trucked out nearly 500 tons of earth and stone from the new excavation site. They trucked us out to the crash site to investigate the incident.

want no truck with (someone or something)

To want to avoid someone or something. I hope Ned won't be there—I want no truck with him since our fight.

have no truck with something

Rur. to have nothing to do with something. After the way Mary treated me, I'll have no truck with her. We only show good, wholesome movies at this theater. We have no truck with most of that Hollywood trash.

See also: have, no, truck

just fell off the turnip truck

Rur. ignorant; unsophisticated. He stood there gawking at the buildings in town like he just fell off the turnip truck. My cousin acts like she just fell off the turnip truck.

See also: fell, just, off, truck, turnip

keep on trucking

Inf. to continue to do well; to continue to try. Just keep on trucking, man. All I can do is keep on trucking.

See also: keep, on, truck

have no truck with

Have no dealings with, as in The doctor said he wanted no truck with midwives. This term was first recorded in 1868, although truck in the sense of "dealings" dates from the early 1600s.

See also: have, no, truck

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.

can drive a truck through something

AMERICAN, INFORMAL

If you can drive a truck through something such as an agreement, contract or argument, it has serious weaknesses or faults. In my view, Miller's fiscal plan is so thin you could drive a truck through it. Note: You can also say that something has weaknesses big enough to drive a truck through. Clearly, there were loopholes in the system big enough to drive a truck through.

See also: can, drive, something, through, truck

have no truck with something/someone

COMMON If you have no truck with something or someone, you disapprove of them and refuse to become involved with them. As an American, she had no truck with the formality of English life. Great efforts were made to get him on the side of the rebels. He had no truck with them. Note: The verbs want and hold are sometimes used instead of have. Most traditional doctors hold no truck with these ideas. Note: `Truck' is an old term which referred to trading goods by bartering. `To have no truck with someone' literally means to have no dealings with them.

See also: have, no, someone, something, truck

have (or want) no truck with

1 avoid dealing or being associated with. 2 be unsympathetic or opposed to.

The earliest sense of truck was ‘trading by the exchange of commodities’ (from French troquer , meaning ‘barter’), from which developed the sense ‘communication or dealings’.

See also: have, no, truck

keep on trucking

used as an encouragement to keep going, not to give up. informal

2004 Something Awful His most prized possession is a Denny 's dinner plate which was signed by Gene Roddenberry reading, ‘Dear Harlan, keep on trucking, some day you'll get the hang of this whole writing thing, sincerely Gene.’

See also: keep, on, truck

have/want no ˈtruck with somebody/something

(British English) not want to deal with or be involved with somebody/something: He’ll have no truck with anyone on the political left.

See also: have, no, somebody, something, truck, want

Keep on trucking

sent. Keep doing what you are doing.; Keep taking care of business. Keep on trucking. Things’ll get better.

See also: keep, on, truck

fall off the cabbage truck

To be a nai¨ve newcomer. Imagine a flatbed farm wagon laden with fresh produce arriving in a city. Sliding off the back was a country bumpkin whose brain, or so smug sophisticated urbanites would agree, contained no more clue about worldly ways than a head of cabbage that might roll off the vehicle. A similar expression was to say that someone “just got off the boat,” a reference to immigration in the days of steamship passage when new arrivals were thoroughly ignorant of New World customs. Among the snappy denials to being called a hick or greenhorn were “I wasn't born yesterday” or “I might have been born at night, but not last night” or the wonderfully imaginative Midwestern comeback, “Hey, what makes you think I just got off the noon balloon from Rangoon?”

have no truck with

Avoid. “Truck” came from the French woes for “barter.” Originally, if you had no truck with somebody, you refused to trade with him or her. By extension it came to mean you refused to have anything to do with the person.

See also: have, no, truck

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