banana skin


noun
  1. the soft outer covering of a banana

  2. informal something unforeseen that causes an obvious and embarrassing mistake

Origin of banana skin

1
sense 2 from the common slapstick joke of a person slipping after treading on a banana skin

Words Nearby banana skin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use banana skin in a sentence

  • A flower petal falling on the floor acts as a banana skin would, making a slip and a bad fall possible to anyone on the stage.

  • And you fell on a banana skin once yourself, and wanted to thrash the fellow who left it!

    The Second Violin | Grace S. Richmond
  • "I thought you hadn't been listening," put in Banana-Skin in a quiet and torturing way.

    Tell England | Ernest Raymond
  • Everybody considered Banana-Skin to have elicited a damning admission.

    Tell England | Ernest Raymond
  • Lift one section of a banana skin, remove fruit, fill with any desired salad and replace section of skin.

    Games For All Occasions | Mary E. Blain