On a plate
adverb
without requiring any effort on the part of the recipient
Examples
They handed him the world on a plate.
Usage Note
slang
adverb
In an easy situation; easily acquired: a win on a plate (1935+)
Read Also:
- On a rampage
Behaving violently, as in There was a near riot after the game, when some of the spectators went on a rampage. This term comes from the Old Scots verb ramp, meaning “to storm and rage.” [ Mid-1800s ]
- On a shingle
Related Terms shit on a shingle
- On a shoestring
adverb For very little money; on a tight budget: put the party together on a shoestring With very limited financial means, as in The newlyweds were living on a shoestring. The precise allusion in this term is unclear. One fanciful theory is that debtors in British prisons would lower a shoe by its laces from […]
- On a tangent
On a sudden digression or change of course, as in The professor’s hard to follow; he’s always off on a tangent. This phrase often occurs in the idioms fly off or go off on a tangent, as in The witness was convincing until he went off on a tangent. This expression alludes to the geometric […]
- Onate
[aw-nyah-te] /ɔˈnyɑ tɛ/ noun 1. Juan de [hwahn de] /ʰwɑn dɛ/ (Show IPA), 1550?–1624, Spanish explorer who colonized New Mexico.