sure as shooting

Idioms  

1. Most certainly, as in It's going to snow tonight, sure as shooting, or That grizzly is sure as shooting going to make dinner out of us. This idiom has replaced the older sure as a gun, dating from the mid-1600s, a time when guns fired with far less certainty. [Second half of 1800s]

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sure as shooting

All sweeping statements should be qualified or trouble will ensue, sure as shooting.

From Time Magazine Archive

And you sure as shooting don’t need an outhouse if you don’t have folks living nearby.

From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney

But sure as shooting, this was the other person the Preacher said we were gonna have to go see.

From "Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis

Mrs. Deane thinks a heap of Hillman’s, and she’ll fall for it as sure as shooting.

From The Turner Twins by Ralph Henry Barbour

I'll bring one of them home to sail on the bay—I will, as sure as shooting.

From Sharing Her Crime by May Agnes Fleming