stick to the ribs

1. Be substantial or filling, as in It may not be health food but steak really sticks to the ribs. This idiom was first recorded in 1603.

Example Sentences

A relative of the Irish colcannon, English bubble and squeak, and Indian aloo palak, this is the kind of humble, stick to the ribs food just made for when the temperature dips.

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Both films stick to the ribs precisely because they face their protagonists’ conundrums.

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This is the one for the people who love the burned bits, the crispy parts, who yearn for a meal to stick to the ribs and possibly several internal organs.

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Still, if the play’s characters suffer from inertia, its themes gather beautifully and stick to the ribs.

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Blood will have blood, even if this time the verbally dashing Buffini’s just deserts don’t quite stick to the ribs.

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