once-over-lightly
[ wuhns-oh-ver-lahyt-lee ]
/ ˈwʌnsˌoʊ vərˈlaɪt li /
noun Informal.
a hasty or superficial treatment, look, examination, etc.; once-over: The maid gave the room the once-over-lightly.
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RELATED WORDS
outwardly, scan, read, peruse, skim, feed, survey, graze, nibble, leaf, thumb, apparently, carelessly, casually, hastily, ostensibly, partially, externally, extraneously, frivolously
Nearby words
once in a while, once more unto the breach, dear friends, once over lightly, once upon a time, once-over, once-over-lightly, oncer, onchocerca, onchocerciasis, oncidium, onco-
Origin of once-over-lightly
First recorded in 1940–45
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Idioms and Phrases with once over lightly
once over lightly
Cursorily, quickly, as in I did go over the program once over lightly, but perhaps I should read it more carefully. [Colloquial; mid-1900s]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.