Idioms are expressions with greater meaning. Phrases like "nick of time" or "in other words" or "for heaven's sake". Definition: a group of words in a fixed order that have a particular meaning that is different from the meanings of each word understood on its own:
Noun. old college try (plural old college tries) (informal) A vigorous, committed attempt or effort, often in the context of a nearly hopeless situation where failure is expected. Source
Origin
The expression give it the old college try came not from the college campus, but from the baseball diamond. At the turn of the century, a player was said to give it the old college try when attempting to make a play like a heroic attempt at catching a fly ball that was very far out of the player’s reach. Source
A wild and desperate attempt to make a play. Sometimes the term carries a hint of showboating.
Babe Ruth (Babe Ruth’s Own Book of Baseball, 1928) defined “giving it the old college try” as “playing to the grandstand or making strenuous effort to field a ball that obviously cannot be handled.”
The term was quickly applied to any effort with limited chances of success.
In a column that appeared in the Columbus (Ohio) Citizen (Nov. 26, 1927) and was quoted in American Speech (Apr. 1930), Billy Evans wrote that “I gave it the old college try” is a term “often used in big league baseball, when some player keeps on going after a fly ball, usually in foul territory, with the odds about ten to one he would never reach it. Teammates of such a player often beat him to it by shouting in unison with the thought of humor uppermost: ‘Well, kid, you certainly gave it the old college try,’ as he falls short of making the catch. When some player does something that a professional player might not ordinarily attempt, such as colliding with a fielder who had the ball ready to touch him out, in the hope that he might make him drop the ball, regardless of the danger he was courting, someone is sure to say, often ironically, if the speaker happens to be one of the players in the field: ‘That’s the old college spirit.'” by akkartik April 10, 2009
One-upmanship, also called “one-upsmanship”, is the art or practice of successively outdoing a competitor. The term has been extended to a generic, often punning extension, upmanship, used for any assertion of superiority: for instance, photon upmanship, Native Upmanship, and so on. Wikipedia
Find another word for one-upmanship. In this page you can discover 22 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for one-upmanship, like: bettering, artfulness, cageyness, canniness, competitive-advantage, competitive edge, cunning, cutthroat, outfoxing, outsmarting and outwitting. Read more
a commotion or fuss, especially one caused by conflicting views. For example, “there was a kerfuffle over the chairmanship”.
a disturbance or commotion typically caused by a dispute or conflict. “In all the kerfuffle, nobody seemed to have noticed Harry, which suited him perfectly”.
Example: “Given Noah’s social media kerfuffle with Kanye West, viewers should also be attuned to any biting commentary.” — Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY, 30 Mar. 2022
Synonyms
disturbance, hoo-ha, to-do, commotion, flutter, hurly-burly, disruption, hoo-hah and brouhaha.
Origin
The root of “kerfuffle” is the very old Scots verb “fuffle,” which first appeared in print in the early 16th century and means “to throw into disorder.” The Oxford English Dictionary suggests that the “ker” part of “kerfuffle” may hare come from the Gaelic word “car,” meaning “to twist, bend or turn around.” In the case of “kerfuffle,” that would serve as a sort of intensive element, giving us the sense of “a twisted up, confused ruckus or dispute.” Sounds like every “kerfuffle” I’ve ever seen.
