mean business
Be in earnest. For example, He really means business with this deadline. This idiom uses business in the sense of “a serious endeavor.” [Mid-1800s]
Words Nearby mean business
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
How to use mean business in a sentence
Her brown-velvet eyes often soothed me, although her eyebrows added to her every demand: “I mean business!”
‘Tracing the Blue Light’: Read Chapter 1 of Eileen Cronin’s ‘Mermaid’ | Eileen Cronin | April 8, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTJohn Kerry means business, and though their comments were brief, it seems that Livni and Erekat also mean business.
Death of the I-mean-business-older dude (and subsequent substance abuse).
She'll soon wilt when she sees we mean business—either go, or take a chaperon, or marry the man, whichever she prefers.
Ancestors | Gertrude AthertonI glanced from this Goliath to his little, bird-eyed spouse, and wondered if he had ever tried to mean business with her.
The Red One | Jack London
A bill stamp is a thing that often turns up convenient with gents as mean business like Mr. Vavasor and you.
Can You Forgive Her? | Anthony TrollopeThe first thing I heard Mr. Davis say, was "Damn mean business."
It was equivalent to saying to the officer that the execution of the law was a mean business.
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