as you please
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However you wish, whatever you choose, as in We can have meat or fish tonight, as you please, or Go or don't go—do as you please. This idiom was introduced about 1500 and inverted what was then the usual order, which was “as it pleases you.”
Very, extremely, as in After winning the contract he was smug as you please, or She sat there in her new dress, as pretty as you please. [First half of 1900s]
QUIZZES
QUIZ YOURSELF ON PARENTHESES AND BRACKETS APLENTY!
Set some time apart to test your bracket symbol knowledge, and see if you can keep your parentheses, squares, curlies, and angles all straight!
Question 1 of 7
Let’s start with some etymology: What are the origins of the typographical word “bracket”?
First appeared around 1750, and is related to the French word “braguette” for the name of codpiece armor.
First appeared in 1610, based on the French word “baguette” for the long loaf of bread.
First appeared in 1555, and is related to the French word “raquette” for a netted bat.
TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT Words nearby as you please
asynergia, asynergy, Asynjur, asyntactic, As You Like It, as you please, asystematic, asystole, Asyut, at, -ata
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.