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• once-over-lightly
  once-over-lightly

  noun

  a hasty or superficial treatment, look, examination, etc.; once-over.
• 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]

once-over-lightly

American  

[wuhns-oh-ver-lahyt-lee] / ˈwʌnsˌoʊ vərˈlaɪt li /

noun

Informal.

1. a hasty or superficial treatment, look, examination, etc.; once-over.

   The maid gave the room the once-over-lightly.

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once over lightly Idioms  

1. Cursorily, quickly, as in I did go over the program once over lightly, but perhaps I should read it more carefully. [Colloquial; mid-1900s]

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Etymology

Origin of once-over-lightly

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

This once-over-lightly approach is perhaps appropriate, given that Stritch was not inclined to introspection.

From Washington Post • Oct. 24, 2019

She was not one for a once-over-lightly look at what the policy team was advocating.

From Washington Post • Oct. 15, 2016

Mr. Southerland’s once-over-lightly, picture-postcard production provides an ideal means for sampling a nearly forgotten show that tunefully flirts with tastelessness.

From New York Times • Feb. 4, 2015

It all adds up to an entertaining 88 minutes, despite the film’s ramshackle construction and its once-over-lightly approach to political, cultural and athletic history.

From New York Times • Jul. 21, 2011

News stories of the two shows were crammed with lists and statistics, from pinhead-sized ball bearings to four-motored bombers, passed over the new automobiles with a once-over-lightly.

From Time Magazine Archive

Related Words

• flip through
• leaf through
• peruse
• read
• scan
• skim