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

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before you can say Jack Robinson

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

Get three of them together and before you can say Jack Robinson they’re building a play.

From Blue Ridge Country by Erskine Caldwell

"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 W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham

"You say you'll take it," Henley laughed, though the edges of his mouth were drawn tensely from some inner cause, "and I'll close the deal before you can say Jack Robinson."

From Dixie Hart by Will N. (William Nathaniel) Harben

Look at him now—he's on the quarterdeck and will be down in the cabins before you can say Jack Robinson.

From Agatha Webb by Anna Katharine Green