before you can say Jack Robinson

Idioms  

1. Also, quicker than you can say Jack Robinson. Almost immediately, very soon, as in I'll finish this book before you can say Jack Robinson. This expression originated in the 1700s, but the identity of Jack Robinson has been lost. Grose's Classical Dictionary (1785) said he was a man who paid such brief visits to acquaintances that there was scarcely time to announce his arrival before he had departed, but it gives no further documentation. A newer version is before you know it, meaning so soon that you don't have time to become aware of it (as in He'll be gone before you know it).

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Example Sentences

Both of them start real, real small and then ... woop, zoop, sloop ... before you can say Jack Robinson they’ve gone and grown a lot bigger than you ever thought they could.

From "Bud, Not Buddy" by Christopher Paul Curtis

I'll have you as snug as a bug in a rug before you can say Jack Robinson.

From The Prince of Graustark by McCutcheon, George Barr

You must and shall get that fortune between you, or we shall be bivouacking in the workhouse before you can say Jack Robinson!

From The Fortunes of the Farrells by Vaizey, George de Horne, Mrs.

"My word, if the Squire's son sees you he'll make you an offer of marriage before you can say Jack Robinson."

From Of Human Bondage by Maugham, W. Somerset (William Somerset)

"You're having a good time before you can say Jack Robinson, aren't you?"

From Little Busybodies The Life of Crickets, Ants, Bees, Beetles, and Other Busybodies by Marks, Jeannette Augustus