"wait for the other shoe to drop" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "A common experience of tenement living in apartment-style housing in New York City and other large cities during the manufacturing boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Apartments were built with very similar designs, with the bedrooms located directly above and underneath one another. Thus, it was normal to hear a neighbor removing their shoes in the apartment above. As one shoe made a sound hitting the floor, the expectation for the other shoe to make a similar disturbance was created.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "waits for the other shoe to drop",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "waiting for the other shoe to drop",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "waited for the other shoe to drop",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "waited for the other shoe to drop",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*",
        "head": "wait for the other shoe to drop"
      },
      "expansion": "wait for the other shoe to drop (third-person singular simple present waits for the other shoe to drop, present participle waiting for the other shoe to drop, simple past and past participle waited for the other shoe to drop)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "67 33",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "51 49",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English predicates",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "66 34",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "73 27",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "78 22",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "75 25",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "76 24",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Hungarian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "74 26",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "78 22",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To defer action or decision until another matter is finished or resolved."
      ],
      "id": "en-wait_for_the_other_shoe_to_drop-en-verb-tiJxgJ75",
      "links": [
        [
          "defer",
          "defer"
        ],
        [
          "action",
          "action"
        ],
        [
          "decision",
          "decision"
        ],
        [
          "finish",
          "finish"
        ],
        [
          "resolve",
          "resolve"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To defer action or decision until another matter is finished or resolved."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "defer action pending another resolution",
          "word": "odottaa seuraavaa vaihetta"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "51 49",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English predicates",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1969 August 29, “Golf: The Confidence Man”, in Time:",
          "text": "After the tournament, Player admitted that all through the final round he had been nervously waiting for more trouble. \"It was like waiting for the other shoe to drop.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To await a seemingly inevitable event, especially one that is not desirable."
      ],
      "id": "en-wait_for_the_other_shoe_to_drop-en-verb-ip-Z0IcQ",
      "links": [
        [
          "await",
          "await"
        ],
        [
          "inevitable",
          "inevitable"
        ],
        [
          "desirable",
          "desirable"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To await a seemingly inevitable event, especially one that is not desirable."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "7 93",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "to await an undesirable inevitability",
          "word": "提心吊膽"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "7 93",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "tíxīndiàodǎn",
          "sense": "to await an undesirable inevitability",
          "word": "提心吊胆"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "7 93",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to await an undesirable inevitability",
          "word": "odottaa seuraavaa iskua"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "7 93",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "to await an undesirable inevitability",
          "word": "várja az elkerülhetetlent"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "7 93",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "trepetátʹ ot stráxa",
          "sense": "to await an undesirable inevitability",
          "word": "трепета́ть от стра́ха"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-wait for the other shoe to drop.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/21/En-au-wait_for_the_other_shoe_to_drop.ogg/En-au-wait_for_the_other_shoe_to_drop.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/En-au-wait_for_the_other_shoe_to_drop.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "wait for the other shoe to drop"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English predicates",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with Hungarian translations",
    "Terms with Mandarin translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "A common experience of tenement living in apartment-style housing in New York City and other large cities during the manufacturing boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Apartments were built with very similar designs, with the bedrooms located directly above and underneath one another. Thus, it was normal to hear a neighbor removing their shoes in the apartment above. As one shoe made a sound hitting the floor, the expectation for the other shoe to make a similar disturbance was created.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "waits for the other shoe to drop",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "waiting for the other shoe to drop",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "waited for the other shoe to drop",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "waited for the other shoe to drop",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*",
        "head": "wait for the other shoe to drop"
      },
      "expansion": "wait for the other shoe to drop (third-person singular simple present waits for the other shoe to drop, present participle waiting for the other shoe to drop, simple past and past participle waited for the other shoe to drop)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To defer action or decision until another matter is finished or resolved."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "defer",
          "defer"
        ],
        [
          "action",
          "action"
        ],
        [
          "decision",
          "decision"
        ],
        [
          "finish",
          "finish"
        ],
        [
          "resolve",
          "resolve"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To defer action or decision until another matter is finished or resolved."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1969 August 29, “Golf: The Confidence Man”, in Time:",
          "text": "After the tournament, Player admitted that all through the final round he had been nervously waiting for more trouble. \"It was like waiting for the other shoe to drop.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To await a seemingly inevitable event, especially one that is not desirable."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "await",
          "await"
        ],
        [
          "inevitable",
          "inevitable"
        ],
        [
          "desirable",
          "desirable"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To await a seemingly inevitable event, especially one that is not desirable."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-wait for the other shoe to drop.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/21/En-au-wait_for_the_other_shoe_to_drop.ogg/En-au-wait_for_the_other_shoe_to_drop.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/En-au-wait_for_the_other_shoe_to_drop.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "defer action pending another resolution",
      "word": "odottaa seuraavaa vaihetta"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "to await an undesirable inevitability",
      "word": "提心吊膽"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "tíxīndiàodǎn",
      "sense": "to await an undesirable inevitability",
      "word": "提心吊胆"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to await an undesirable inevitability",
      "word": "odottaa seuraavaa iskua"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "to await an undesirable inevitability",
      "word": "várja az elkerülhetetlent"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "trepetátʹ ot stráxa",
      "sense": "to await an undesirable inevitability",
      "word": "трепета́ть от стра́ха"
    }
  ],
  "word": "wait for the other shoe to drop"
}