"chief cook and bottle washer" meaning in English

See chief cook and bottle washer in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-chief cook and bottle washer.wav Forms: chief cooks and bottle washers [plural], chief cook and bottle-washer [alternative], head cook and bottle washer [alternative], head cook and bottle-washer [alternative], head chef and bottle-washer [alternative]
Head templates: {{en-noun|chief cooks and bottle washers}} chief cook and bottle washer (plural chief cooks and bottle washers)
  1. (humorous, informal) Someone whose responsibilities include absolutely everything, from the highest level (chief cook) to the lowest (bottle washer). Tags: humorous, informal Synonyms: bottlewasher, do-all, factotum
    Sense id: en-chief_cook_and_bottle_washer-en-noun-8xb3oxqX Categories (other): English coordinated pairs, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, People

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "chief cooks and bottle washers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "chief cook and bottle-washer",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "head cook and bottle washer",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "head cook and bottle-washer",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "head chef and bottle-washer",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "chief cooks and bottle washers"
      },
      "expansion": "chief cook and bottle washer (plural chief cooks and bottle washers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English coordinated pairs",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonyms: man Friday, gal Friday"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1809, Bartlett Jere Whiting, quoting Abraham B. Lindsley, Love and Friendship; or, Yankee Notions: A Comedy in Three Acts, quoted in Early American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, Dramatic Repository, Shakespeare-Gallery: D Longworth, →ISBN, act II, page 40:",
          "text": "Why sometimes I acts cook, steward, cabin boy, sailor, mate, and bottle washer, for matter 'f that, for there's on'y four on us aboard on her;",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Someone whose responsibilities include absolutely everything, from the highest level (chief cook) to the lowest (bottle washer)."
      ],
      "id": "en-chief_cook_and_bottle_washer-en-noun-8xb3oxqX",
      "links": [
        [
          "humorous",
          "humorous"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(humorous, informal) Someone whose responsibilities include absolutely everything, from the highest level (chief cook) to the lowest (bottle washer)."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "bottlewasher"
        },
        {
          "word": "do-all"
        },
        {
          "word": "factotum"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "humorous",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-chief cook and bottle washer.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/cb/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-chief_cook_and_bottle_washer.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-chief_cook_and_bottle_washer.wav.mp3",
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    }
  ],
  "word": "chief cook and bottle washer"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "chief cooks and bottle washers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "chief cook and bottle-washer",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "head cook and bottle washer",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "head cook and bottle-washer",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "head chef and bottle-washer",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "chief cooks and bottle washers"
      },
      "expansion": "chief cook and bottle washer (plural chief cooks and bottle washers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English coordinated pairs",
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English humorous terms",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "en:People"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonyms: man Friday, gal Friday"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1809, Bartlett Jere Whiting, quoting Abraham B. Lindsley, Love and Friendship; or, Yankee Notions: A Comedy in Three Acts, quoted in Early American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, Dramatic Repository, Shakespeare-Gallery: D Longworth, →ISBN, act II, page 40:",
          "text": "Why sometimes I acts cook, steward, cabin boy, sailor, mate, and bottle washer, for matter 'f that, for there's on'y four on us aboard on her;",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Someone whose responsibilities include absolutely everything, from the highest level (chief cook) to the lowest (bottle washer)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "humorous",
          "humorous"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(humorous, informal) Someone whose responsibilities include absolutely everything, from the highest level (chief cook) to the lowest (bottle washer)."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "bottlewasher"
        },
        {
          "word": "do-all"
        },
        {
          "word": "factotum"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "humorous",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-chief cook and bottle washer.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/cb/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-chief_cook_and_bottle_washer.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-chief_cook_and_bottle_washer.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/cb/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-chief_cook_and_bottle_washer.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-chief_cook_and_bottle_washer.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "chief cook and bottle washer"
}

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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 2025-05-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-05-01 using wiktextract (89ebc88 and e74c913). 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.

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