applecart
[ap-uh l-kahrt]
- a pushcart used by a vendor of apples.
Show More
- upset the/someone's applecart, to ruin plans or arrangements; spoil something: He was making a fantastic profit until a competitor upset the applecart by cutting prices.
Show More
Origin of applecart
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
applecart
- a cart or barrow from which apples and other fruit are sold in the street
- upset the applecart to spoil plans or arrangements
Show More
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Idioms and Phrases with upset the applecart
upset the applecart
Spoil carefully laid plans, as in Now don't upset the applecart by revealing where we're going. This expression started out as upset the cart, used since Roman times to mean “spoil everything.” The precise idiom dates from the late 1700s.
Show More
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.