Etymology Journal · W
Well, knock me over with a feather!
Meaning
- Used to express that something is so surprising it could cause you to collapse from shock. The image of a giant man being toppled by a soft feather is inherently funny.
Dramatic, playful
Used in a sentence
- Well, knock me over with a feather, you actually quit your job.
- Well, knock me over with a feather, look at how big the garden grew.
- You came back early? Well, knock me over with a feather.
The backstory
An old idiomatic expression of profound weakness caused by shock. It has appeared in various forms of English literature for centuries.
Heard in
Nationwide
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