fetch-and-carry
See also: fetch and carry
English
Etymology
From fetch and carry.[1]
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /ˌfɛt͡ʃ n̩ ˈkæɹi/
- Rhymes: -æri
- Hyphenation: fetch-and-car‧ry
Adjective
fetch-and-carry (not comparable)
- (dated) Gossipy, tale-bearing.
- 1818 July 25, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter XII, in Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume IV, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, OCLC 819902302, page 247:
- [H]e declared, he would bequeath Willingham and all its lands to a hospital, ere that fetch and carry tell tale should inherit an acre of it.
Translations
gossipy, tale-bearing — see gossipy
Noun
fetch-and-carry (plural fetch-and-carries)
- gerund of fetch and carry: the act of fetching and carrying.
- (figuratively) A person who serves obsequiously.
Translations
act of fetching and carrying
person who serves obsequiously
References
- “fetch-and-carry, n.” under “fetch, v.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2021.