"Bob's your uncle" meaning in English

See Bob's your uncle in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Phrase

Audio: en-au-bob's_your_uncle.ogg
Etymology: Unknown. Several unsupported theories exist about its origin. A common explanation, involving Arthur Balfour gaining a promotion through the supposed intercession of his uncle, Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, is doubted because the expression did not appear in print until 1924. Etymology templates: {{unk|en}} Unknown Head templates: {{head|en|phrase|head=Bob's your uncle}} Bob's your uncle
  1. (UK, Commonwealth, Hong Kong, idiomatic) "No problem", "the solution is simple", "there you have it", "It's that easy", "you have what you want", "all will be well": indicates a desirable conclusion has been reached with ease. Wikipedia link: Arthur Balfour, Bob's your uncle, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury Tags: Commonwealth, Hong-Kong, UK, idiomatic Synonyms: hey presto, job's a good 'un, voilà, Robert's your father's brother [humorous, rare], Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt Translations (desirable conclusion is reached): 就這樣唄 (Chinese Mandarin), 就这样呗 (jiù zhèyàng bei) (Chinese Mandarin), klaar is Kees (Dutch), se on siinä (Finnish), le tour est joué (French), et voilà le travail (French), c’est parti mon kiki (French), und schon haben wir's (German), ennyi (az egész) (english: that's all) (Hungarian), már meg is vagy (english: reaching an outcome) (Hungarian), már ott is vagy (english: reaching a place) (Hungarian), кој ка́ко те́бе? (koj káko tébe?) (Macedonian), pronto (Portuguese), prontinho (Portuguese), está no papo (Portuguese), não tem erro (Portuguese), é batata [Brazil, colloquial] (Portuguese), vualá (Spanish), listoco (Spanish), dyna ti (Welsh), dyna chi (Welsh), dyna ni (Welsh)

Alternative forms

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          "text": "Insert the plug, press the switch, and Bob's your uncle.",
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          "text": "You want to go to the stadium? Go straight on until you reach the park, take the first left and Bob's your uncle!",
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          "ref": "1954, Brendan Behan, The Quare Fellow, act 3; republished in Cóilín Owens, Joan Newlon Radner, editors, Irish Drama, 1900–1980, 1990, page 591",
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          "ref": "2007, Preston Gralla, Big Book of Windows Hacks, O'Reilly Media, page 314",
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          "ref": "2008, Julian Knight, Wills, Probate, & Inheritance Tax For Dummies, UK, unnumbered page",
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          "ref": "2011, Lauren O'Farrel, Stitch London: 20 Kooky Ways to Knit the City and More, page 112",
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      ],
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        {
          "word": "hey presto"
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        {
          "word": "job's a good 'un"
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        {
          "word": "voilà"
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          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
          "word": "就這樣唄"
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        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "jiù zhèyàng bei",
          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
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          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
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          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
          "word": "se on siinä"
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          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
          "word": "le tour est joué"
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          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
          "word": "et voilà le travail"
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          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
          "word": "c’est parti mon kiki"
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          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
          "word": "und schon haben wir's"
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          "english": "that's all",
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          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
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          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
          "word": "már meg is vagy"
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          "english": "reaching a place",
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          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
          "word": "már ott is vagy"
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          "roman": "koj káko tébe?",
          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
          "word": "кој ка́ко те́бе?"
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          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
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          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
          "word": "prontinho"
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          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
          "word": "está no papo"
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          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
          "word": "não tem erro"
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          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
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          "word": "é batata"
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          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "note": "[и] де́ло в шля́пе ([i] délo v šljápe, literally “[and] the business is in the hat”)",
          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached"
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          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
          "word": "vualá"
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        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
          "word": "listoco"
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          "code": "cy",
          "lang": "Welsh",
          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
          "word": "dyna ti"
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          "code": "cy",
          "lang": "Welsh",
          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
          "word": "dyna chi"
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          "code": "cy",
          "lang": "Welsh",
          "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
          "word": "dyna ni"
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      "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
      "word": "就這樣唄"
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    {
      "code": "cmn",
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      "code": "nl",
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      "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
      "word": "klaar is Kees"
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      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
      "word": "se on siinä"
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      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
      "word": "le tour est joué"
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      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
      "word": "et voilà le travail"
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      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
      "word": "c’est parti mon kiki"
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      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
      "word": "und schon haben wir's"
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      "english": "that's all",
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      "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
      "word": "ennyi (az egész)"
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      "english": "reaching an outcome",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
      "word": "már meg is vagy"
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      "english": "reaching a place",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
      "word": "már ott is vagy"
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      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "roman": "koj káko tébe?",
      "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
      "word": "кој ка́ко те́бе?"
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      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
      "word": "pronto"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
      "word": "prontinho"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
      "word": "está no papo"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
      "word": "não tem erro"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
      "tags": [
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      "word": "é batata"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "note": "[и] де́ло в шля́пе ([i] délo v šljápe, literally “[and] the business is in the hat”)",
      "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
      "word": "vualá"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
      "word": "listoco"
    },
    {
      "code": "cy",
      "lang": "Welsh",
      "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
      "word": "dyna ti"
    },
    {
      "code": "cy",
      "lang": "Welsh",
      "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
      "word": "dyna chi"
    },
    {
      "code": "cy",
      "lang": "Welsh",
      "sense": "desirable conclusion is reached",
      "word": "dyna ni"
    }
  ],
  "word": "Bob's your uncle"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-09-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-08-20 using wiktextract (8e41825 and f99c758). 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.