"before you can say knife" meaning in English

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      "expansion": "before you can say knife",
      "name": "head"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
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          "kind": "other",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1893, Rudyard Kipling, “Judson and the Empire”, in Many Inventions",
          "text": "'Oh, we'll pull you off before you can say knife. Take care of His Excellency. I shall try to get a little sleep now.'",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1926, W. Somerset Maugham, “The Letter”, in More Far Eastern Tales, Random House, published 2010",
          "text": "‘Ginger, Ginger, before you can say knife she'll make you into a damned missionary.’ I don't know that I'd mind that so much if we had a little mission of our own.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Very quickly; quicker than one expects."
      ],
      "id": "en-before_you_can_say_knife-en-phrase-Fe1lgyWD",
      "links": [
        [
          "quickly",
          "quickly"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "before you can say Jack Robinson"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "ennen kuin ehdit kissaa sanoa"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "en moins de temps qu’il ne faut pour le dire"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "ehe man sichs versieht"
        },
        {
          "code": "ro",
          "lang": "Romanian",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "cât ai zice pește"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "\"máma\" skazátʹ ne uspéješʹ",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "\"ма́ма\" сказа́ть не успе́ешь"
        },
        {
          "code": "gd",
          "lang": "Scottish Gaelic",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "mun canadh tu deis-dè"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "en menos de lo que canta un gallo"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "innan man vet ordet av"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "before you can say knife"
}

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      "expansion": "before you can say knife",
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1893, Rudyard Kipling, “Judson and the Empire”, in Many Inventions",
          "text": "'Oh, we'll pull you off before you can say knife. Take care of His Excellency. I shall try to get a little sleep now.'",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1926, W. Somerset Maugham, “The Letter”, in More Far Eastern Tales, Random House, published 2010",
          "text": "‘Ginger, Ginger, before you can say knife she'll make you into a damned missionary.’ I don't know that I'd mind that so much if we had a little mission of our own.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Very quickly; quicker than one expects."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "quickly",
          "quickly"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "before you can say Jack Robinson"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "ennen kuin ehdit kissaa sanoa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "en moins de temps qu’il ne faut pour le dire"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "ehe man sichs versieht"
    },
    {
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "cât ai zice pește"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "\"máma\" skazátʹ ne uspéješʹ",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "\"ма́ма\" сказа́ть не успе́ешь"
    },
    {
      "code": "gd",
      "lang": "Scottish Gaelic",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "mun canadh tu deis-dè"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "en menos de lo que canta un gallo"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "innan man vet ordet av"
    }
  ],
  "word": "before you can say knife"
}