"too big for one's britches" meaning in English

See too big for one's britches in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Audio: En-au-too big for one's britches.ogg
Etymology: US origin, 19th c. Etymology templates: {{C.|19}} 19th c. Head templates: {{en-adj|-}} too big for one's britches (not comparable)
  1. (idiomatic) Disturbingly confident, unacceptably cocky. Tags: idiomatic, not-comparable Synonyms: too big for one's boots
    Sense id: en-too_big_for_one's_britches-en-adj-16iV-AJB Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 63 37 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 65 35 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 68 32
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: Too large to fit into one's pants. Tags: not-comparable Synonyms: too big for one's breeches
    Sense id: en-too_big_for_one's_britches-en-adj-9h1JkVcm Categories (other): &lit not valid pagename

Alternative forms

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        {
          "ref": "1989 May 22, Edwin M. Reingold, “Hard Times for Teflon Tom”, in Time:",
          "text": "A diffident, dedicated man, Bradley seemed the personification of rectitude. He never got too big for his britches.",
          "type": "quote"
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        "Disturbingly confident, unacceptably cocky."
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        "(idiomatic) Disturbingly confident, unacceptably cocky."
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        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: Too large to fit into one's pants."
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          "word": "too big for one's breeches"
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          "ref": "1989 May 22, Edwin M. Reingold, “Hard Times for Teflon Tom”, in Time:",
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        "Disturbingly confident, unacceptably cocky."
      ],
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        "(idiomatic) Disturbingly confident, unacceptably cocky."
      ],
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        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: Too large to fit into one's pants."
      ],
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}

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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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