plain as day

Idioms and Phrases

Also, plain as the nose on your face . Very obvious, quite clear, as in It's plain as day that they must sell their house before they can buy another , or It's plain as the nose on your face that she's lying . These similes have largely replaced the earlier plain as a packstaff or pikestaff , from the mid-1500s, alluding to the stick on which a peddler carried his wares over his shoulder. The first term, from the late 1800s, is probably a shortening of plain as the sun at midday ; the variant dates from the late 1600s.

Related Words

• conspicuous
• indisputable
• noticeable
• obvious
• palpable
• unmistakable
• visible