bar none




bar none :




when the band begins to play

when matters become serious



jump on the bandwagon

join others in doing something or supporting a cause that is fashionable or likely to be successful.

Bandwagon was originally the US term for a large wagon able to carry a band of musicians in a procession.



bang for your buck = bang for the buck

value for money

performance for cost - US informal

1995 - Desktop Publishing Journal - These additions to Run Share... will surely give you the most productive network, the most bang for your buck.



bang goes

used to express the sudden or complete destruction of something, especially a plan or ambition

1895 - George Bernard Shaw - Letter – Somebody will give a surreptitious performance of it and then bang goes my copyright.



bang on

exactly right - British informal



bang people's heads together

reprimand people severely, especially in the attempt to make them stop arguing.



get a bang out of

derive excitement or pleasure from - North American informal

1931 - Damon Runyon - Guys and Dolls - He seems to be getting a great bang out of the doings.



go with a bang

happen with obvious success



break the bank

(in gambling) win more money than is held by the bank.

Cost more than you can afford – informal



under the banner of

claiming to support a particular cause or set of ideas

as part of a particular group or organization



a baptism of fire

a difficult introduction to a new job or activity

A baptism of fire was originally a soldier's initiation into battle.

1998 - Times - Opposition spokesmen do not normally face a baptism of fire, but the Bank of England's unexpected decision... provided the Shadow Chancellor with an opportunity to make an early mark.



bar none

with no exceptions

1866 - M.E. Braddon - Lady's Mile - Your Aspasia is the greatest picture that ever was painted bar none.



the bare bones

the basic facts about something, without any detail



would not touch someone with a bargepole = would not touch something with a bargepole

used to express an emphatic refusal to have anything to do with someone or something – informal

A bargepole is used to propel a barge and to fend off obstacles. The equivalent US expression substitutes a ten-foot pole.



bark at the moon

clamour or make an outcry to no effect.

The barking of dogs at a full moon has been a metaphor for futile activity since the mid 17th century.



bark up the wrong tree

pursue a mistaken or misguided line of thought or course of action – informal

The metaphor is of a dog that has mistaken the tree in which its quarry has taken refuge and is barking at the foot of the wrong one.

1969 - Arnold Bennett - Forty Years On – For sovereign states to conclude agreements on the basis of a mutual fondness for dogs seems to me to be barking up the wrong tree.



someone's bark is worse than their bite

Someone is not as ferocious as they appear or sound.

A similar association between barking and biting occurs in the proverb a barking dog never bites which can be traced back through 13th-century French (chascuns chiens qui abaie ne mort pas, dogs that bark don't bite) to Latin (canem timidum vehementius latrarequam mordere, a timid dog barks more furiously than it bites).




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