stone the crows
1
9.9
- idiom
- Archaic
:
¡caramba!
- - Stone the crows!
Examples
-
Stone the crows.
-
Well, stone the crows! I can't believe you won the lottery!
-
When I heard the news, I thought, stone the crows!
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She exclaimed, stone the crows, after seeing the breathtaking view.
Synonyms
4
9.9
A short informal word people say when they feel surprise, shock, or annoyance
An old cry showing strong surprise or disbelief
A short shout that shows surprise or shock
A word people say to show strong surprise
How Surprised
- NSFW
31
9.9
- Archaic
1
9.9
- Archaic
- Archaic
9
7.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
The exclamatory meaning ('express surprise or astonishment') cannot be derived from the literal constituents: an imperative to 'stone' (throw stones at) 'the crows' does not map onto expressing surprise. This is a regional/idiomatic formula with no predictable compositional logic, so a B1 learner who knows the words would not reliably infer the intended sense.
Etymology
The exclamation stone the crows may come from a picture of people throwing stones at noisy crows to scare them away. That sudden, strong action turned into a way to show 'surprise' or 'disbelief'.