"all bets are off" meaning in All languages combined

See all bets are off on Wiktionary

Phrase [English]

Audio: en-au-all bets are off.ogg [Australia]
Etymology: Originally used by sports bookmakers, and in particular horseracing. The bookmaker is not taking any more bets and all existing bets placed on the competition are now null and void. This may have been because the race was cancelled, the starting lineup was substantially changed, or due to an irregularity in the conduct of the race. Head templates: {{en-head|phr|head=~bet􂀿s􂁀}} all bets are off
  1. (idiomatic) Indicates that a future event appears uncertain, especially one that before seemed more certain, and where any prior agreements are no longer valid Tags: idiomatic
    Sense id: en-all_bets_are_off-en-phrase-EI1rg9p6 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 70 30 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 72 28 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 74 26
  2. (idiomatic, by extension) Anything can happen; any previous preconceptions about what might happen are dismissed. Tags: broadly, idiomatic
    Sense id: en-all_bets_are_off-en-phrase-EVcvWW3v
{
  "etymology_links": [
    [
      "bookmaker",
      "bookmaker"
    ],
    [
      "horseracing",
      "horseracing"
    ]
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Originally used by sports bookmakers, and in particular horseracing. The bookmaker is not taking any more bets and all existing bets placed on the competition are now null and void. This may have been because the race was cancelled, the starting lineup was substantially changed, or due to an irregularity in the conduct of the race.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "phr",
        "head": "~bet􂀿s􂁀"
      },
      "expansion": "all bets are off",
      "name": "en-head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "70 30",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "72 28",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "74 26",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Indicates that a future event appears uncertain, especially one that before seemed more certain, and where any prior agreements are no longer valid"
      ],
      "id": "en-all_bets_are_off-en-phrase-EI1rg9p6",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Indicates that a future event appears uncertain, especially one that before seemed more certain, and where any prior agreements are no longer valid"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "Anything can happen; any previous preconceptions about what might happen are dismissed."
      ],
      "id": "en-all_bets_are_off-en-phrase-EVcvWW3v",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, by extension) Anything can happen; any previous preconceptions about what might happen are dismissed."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-all bets are off.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/52/En-au-all_bets_are_off.ogg/En-au-all_bets_are_off.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/En-au-all_bets_are_off.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "all bets are off"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrases",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_links": [
    [
      "bookmaker",
      "bookmaker"
    ],
    [
      "horseracing",
      "horseracing"
    ]
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Originally used by sports bookmakers, and in particular horseracing. The bookmaker is not taking any more bets and all existing bets placed on the competition are now null and void. This may have been because the race was cancelled, the starting lineup was substantially changed, or due to an irregularity in the conduct of the race.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "phr",
        "head": "~bet􂀿s􂁀"
      },
      "expansion": "all bets are off",
      "name": "en-head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Indicates that a future event appears uncertain, especially one that before seemed more certain, and where any prior agreements are no longer valid"
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Indicates that a future event appears uncertain, especially one that before seemed more certain, and where any prior agreements are no longer valid"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Anything can happen; any previous preconceptions about what might happen are dismissed."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, by extension) Anything can happen; any previous preconceptions about what might happen are dismissed."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-all bets are off.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/52/En-au-all_bets_are_off.ogg/En-au-all_bets_are_off.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/En-au-all_bets_are_off.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "all bets are off"
}

Download raw JSONL data for all bets are off meaning in All languages combined (1.8kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (1a05e46 and e3d6d4e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.