before you can say Jack Robinson

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).

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.

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In rushes the story-teller with love, marriage, jealousy, disillusion, and suicide all served up together before you can say Jack Robinson.

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Before you can say Jack Robinson—or Beelzebub, if you prefer it—we may have a swarm of Arabs round us with Mauser rifles and explosive bullets.

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"I'll have a bed for you before you can say 'Jack Robinson.'"

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"Now watch me find your old hat before you can say Jack Robinson fifty times," he boasted, as he started to hustle about.

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