by guess or by gosh
- idiom
- Informal
:
a ojo
- Sometimes you have to make decisions by guess or by gosh when there's no clear answer.
Examples
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The expedition was planned by guess or by gosh, with little preparation.
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He tried to repair the car by guess or by gosh and hoped for the best.
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He decided to do it by guess or by gosh.
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We will figure it out by guess or by gosh!
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Sometimes you have to make decisions by guess or by gosh when there's no clear answer.
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The expedition was planned by guess or by gosh, with little preparation.
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He tried to repair the car by guess or by gosh and hoped for the best.
Synonyms
1
8.5
Acting on instinct rather than careful planning
Antonyms
How Certain
Surface Forms
Morphology
The first half 'by guess' is fairly compositional (by + guess → by guessing), so a learner who knows 'guess' can infer part of the meaning, but 'by gosh' uses 'gosh' as an exclamation/minced oath and does not transparently encode manner. The whole phrase is a rhyming, formulaic idiom whose general sense (acting without a clear plan or by guesswork) is partly inferable but not fully predictable from the constituents.
Etymology
The idiom by guess or by gosh may come from an old rhyming pair that puts guess, meaning trying by chance, next to gosh, a mild word for 'God'. It gives the picture of doing something either by guessing or by a quick prayer, so it means 'doing something without a clear plan or enough knowledge'.