apple-pie order

noun

1. excellent or perfect order.

   Her desk is always in apple-pie order.

apple-pie order

noun

1. informal,  perfect order or condition

Word History and Origins

Origin of apple-pie order¹

First recorded in 1770–80

Idioms and Phrases

Extreme neatness, as in David keeps his financial records in apple-pie order. This term is generally believed to be an English corruption of the French nappes pliées, “neatly folded linen.” [Early 1600s]

Example Sentences

He was carrying the fighting harness, which was strapped up in apple-pie order according to his own dodges and wrinkles—for, from now on, he was Lancelot’s squire.

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That need to have everything in apple-pie order doesn’t reconcile with a spaceship that acts like a toddler when it chooses to act at all, “squealing, puking, dumping, and stealing.”

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The identity of their opponents means this is more than a mere box-ticking exercise but, similarly to several others, the primary interest around Chelsea now is in establishing apple-pie order for their incoming manager Antonio Conte.

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That exertion was easy compared with getting the farm in apple-pie order.

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Lilian had put the hotel in apple-pie order, and given finishing touches to the guests' rooms, and Fairy had performed her part by inducing Mrs. Hickox to let them have an extra lot of flowers.

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