stand on ceremony
stand on ceremony
To observe or adhere strictly or insistently to formalities or traditional protocol. We've all been acquainted already, so there's no need to stand on ceremony for this interview. Please, don't stand on ceremonies on my behalf—keep eating!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
stand on ceremony
to hold rigidly to protocol or formal manners. (Often in the negative.) Please help yourself to more. Don't stand on ceremony. We are very informal around here. Hardly anyone stands on ceremony.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
stand on ceremony
insist on the observance of formalities; behave formally.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
stand on ˈceremony
(British English) behave in a very formal way: Come on — don’t stand on ceremony! Start eating or the food will get cold!Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
stand on ceremony, to
To behave very formally. This term, in which stand on has nothing to do with rising to one’s feet but rather means “to insist on,” dates from the nineteenth century. It appeared in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey (1798): “I never stand upon ceremony.”
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer