"look as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards" meaning in English

See look as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /ˌlʊk‿əz‿ɪf ˈwʌn həz bɪn ˈdɹæɡd θɹuː‿ə hɛd͡ʒ ˈbækwɜːdz/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˌlʊk‿əz‿ɪf ˈwʌn həz bɪn ˈdɹæɡd θɹu‿ə hɛd͡ʒ ˈbækwɝdz/ [General-American] Forms: looks as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards [present, singular, third-person], looking as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards [participle, present], looked as if one had been dragged through a hedge backwards [participle, past], looked as if one had been dragged through a hedge backwards [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|look<> as if one has<has,has,had> been dragged through a hedge backwards}} look as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards (third-person singular simple present looks as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards, present participle looking as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards, simple past and past participle looked as if one had been dragged through a hedge backwards)
  1. (intransitive, British, simile, humorous, informal) To look extremely dishevelled. Tags: British, humorous, informal, intransitive Categories (topical): Appearance Synonyms: look like something the cat dragged in Translations (to look extremely dishevelled): näyttää aivan sotkuiselta (Finnish), и́згледа нави́стина неу́редно (ízgleda navístina neúredno) (Macedonian)

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "looks as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "looking as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "looked as if one had been dragged through a hedge backwards",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "looked as if one had been dragged through a hedge backwards",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "look<> as if one has<has,has,had> been dragged through a hedge backwards"
      },
      "expansion": "look as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards (third-person singular simple present looks as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards, present participle looking as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards, simple past and past participle looked as if one had been dragged through a hedge backwards)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "look"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English similes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Macedonian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Appearance",
          "orig": "en:Appearance",
          "parents": [
            "Perception",
            "Body",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1865, R. H. Copperthwaite, “Turf Topics”, in The Turf and the Racehorse […], London: Day and Son, […], →OCLC, pages 78–79:",
          "text": "Bill is right, for I heard him say myself she [a racehorse] couldn't stay; he'd eat her if she won: drawn too fine; was on the go; done too much work; had a bad night, and looked as if she was dragged through a hedge backwards, and hadn't eaten a feed of corn for a month.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1875, Mary Neville, “[A Little Heiress.] Chapter VI. Leaves from an Old Diary.”, in Alice Godolphin and A Little Heiress. Two Stories. […], volume II, London: Samuel Tinsley, […], →OCLC, page 57:",
          "text": "\"Papa wants you in the library,\" she said, coldly; \"but I advise you not to go downstairs till you have smoothed your hair. You look as if you had been dragged through a hedge backwards.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, Harry Turner, “High Fashion 1947 Style”, in Growing Up in Fulham: Memories of SW6 1940–1953, London: Janus Publishing Company, published 2006, →ISBN, page 215:",
          "text": "\"I want the waist to be narrow,\" I told the tailor at Huntsmans, \"I don't want to look as if I've been dragged through a hedge backwards.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "[2018, Brian Luff, Jack and the Magical Beanstalk: A Traditional Family Pantomime, [London]: Fit2Fill, →ISBN, act I, scene ii, page 22:",
          "text": "Fasten that top button, Kosh. […] And tidy up that bearskin! You look like you've been dragged through a hedge backwards.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "[2021 August 18, Martha Cliff, “Hair scare: I spent £500 on ‘princess hair’ – but as soon as I got it wet I looked like I’d been ‘dragged through a hedge backwards’”, in The Sun, London: News Group Newspapers, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-11-15:",
          "text": "A nail technician was mortified after splurging £500 on 'princess hair' only to end up looking like she'd been \"dragged through a hedge backwards\" – after getting in a hot tub. […] The teen confesses that advice is to avoid chlorinated water, wearing your hair in a bun or sleeping with wet hair after having extensions fitted – and she managed to do all three in one night.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To look extremely dishevelled."
      ],
      "id": "en-look_as_if_one_has_been_dragged_through_a_hedge_backwards-en-verb-uyInq1GG",
      "links": [
        [
          "humorous",
          "humorous"
        ],
        [
          "look",
          "look#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "extremely",
          "extremely"
        ],
        [
          "dishevelled",
          "dishevelled#Adjective"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "simile",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, British, simile, humorous, informal) To look extremely dishevelled."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "look like something the cat dragged in"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "humorous",
        "informal",
        "intransitive"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to look extremely dishevelled",
          "word": "näyttää aivan sotkuiselta"
        },
        {
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "roman": "ízgleda navístina neúredno",
          "sense": "to look extremely dishevelled",
          "word": "и́згледа нави́стина неу́редно"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌlʊk‿əz‿ɪf ˈwʌn həz bɪn ˈdɹæɡd θɹuː‿ə hɛd͡ʒ ˈbækwɜːdz/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌlʊk‿əz‿ɪf ˈwʌn həz bɪn ˈdɹæɡd θɹu‿ə hɛd͡ʒ ˈbækwɝdz/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "look as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "looks as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "looking as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "looked as if one had been dragged through a hedge backwards",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "looked as if one had been dragged through a hedge backwards",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "look<> as if one has<has,has,had> been dragged through a hedge backwards"
      },
      "expansion": "look as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards (third-person singular simple present looks as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards, present participle looking as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards, simple past and past participle looked as if one had been dragged through a hedge backwards)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "look"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "British English",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English humorous terms",
        "English informal terms",
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English similes",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with Macedonian translations",
        "en:Appearance"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1865, R. H. Copperthwaite, “Turf Topics”, in The Turf and the Racehorse […], London: Day and Son, […], →OCLC, pages 78–79:",
          "text": "Bill is right, for I heard him say myself she [a racehorse] couldn't stay; he'd eat her if she won: drawn too fine; was on the go; done too much work; had a bad night, and looked as if she was dragged through a hedge backwards, and hadn't eaten a feed of corn for a month.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1875, Mary Neville, “[A Little Heiress.] Chapter VI. Leaves from an Old Diary.”, in Alice Godolphin and A Little Heiress. Two Stories. […], volume II, London: Samuel Tinsley, […], →OCLC, page 57:",
          "text": "\"Papa wants you in the library,\" she said, coldly; \"but I advise you not to go downstairs till you have smoothed your hair. You look as if you had been dragged through a hedge backwards.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, Harry Turner, “High Fashion 1947 Style”, in Growing Up in Fulham: Memories of SW6 1940–1953, London: Janus Publishing Company, published 2006, →ISBN, page 215:",
          "text": "\"I want the waist to be narrow,\" I told the tailor at Huntsmans, \"I don't want to look as if I've been dragged through a hedge backwards.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "[2018, Brian Luff, Jack and the Magical Beanstalk: A Traditional Family Pantomime, [London]: Fit2Fill, →ISBN, act I, scene ii, page 22:",
          "text": "Fasten that top button, Kosh. […] And tidy up that bearskin! You look like you've been dragged through a hedge backwards.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "[2021 August 18, Martha Cliff, “Hair scare: I spent £500 on ‘princess hair’ – but as soon as I got it wet I looked like I’d been ‘dragged through a hedge backwards’”, in The Sun, London: News Group Newspapers, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-11-15:",
          "text": "A nail technician was mortified after splurging £500 on 'princess hair' only to end up looking like she'd been \"dragged through a hedge backwards\" – after getting in a hot tub. […] The teen confesses that advice is to avoid chlorinated water, wearing your hair in a bun or sleeping with wet hair after having extensions fitted – and she managed to do all three in one night.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To look extremely dishevelled."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "humorous",
          "humorous"
        ],
        [
          "look",
          "look#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "extremely",
          "extremely"
        ],
        [
          "dishevelled",
          "dishevelled#Adjective"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "simile",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, British, simile, humorous, informal) To look extremely dishevelled."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "look like something the cat dragged in"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "humorous",
        "informal",
        "intransitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌlʊk‿əz‿ɪf ˈwʌn həz bɪn ˈdɹæɡd θɹuː‿ə hɛd͡ʒ ˈbækwɜːdz/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌlʊk‿əz‿ɪf ˈwʌn həz bɪn ˈdɹæɡd θɹu‿ə hɛd͡ʒ ˈbækwɝdz/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to look extremely dishevelled",
      "word": "näyttää aivan sotkuiselta"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "roman": "ízgleda navístina neúredno",
      "sense": "to look extremely dishevelled",
      "word": "и́згледа нави́стина неу́редно"
    }
  ],
  "word": "look as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards"
}

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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 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). 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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