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Glite Dictionary
cutting onions

cutting onions

8.0
A joking way to say someone seems to be crying from strong feelings
  • noun
  • Informal
translation icon : cortando cebollas
  • Don't mind me, I'm just cutting onions after seeing that heartwarming reunion video.

Examples

  • The movie's ending was so touching that it felt like someone was cutting onions in the room.

  • Whenever he talks about his late dog, you can tell he's not just cutting onions.

  • Are you cutting onions again?

  • Stop cutting onions in front of me!

  • Don't mind me, I'm just cutting onions after seeing that heartwarming reunion video.

  • The movie's ending was so touching that it felt like someone was cutting onions in the room.

  • Whenever he talks about his late dog, you can tell he's not just cutting onions.

Synonyms

ninjas cutting onions
vscutting onions
  • Informal
9.9

A joking excuse for tears when something makes you feel emotional

uses a simple humorous excuse for tears without imaginary agents

How Tearful

wailing
5 3.5
sobbing
69 1.0
crying
38 1.0
cutting onions
  • Informal
8.0
tearing
1 1.4

Surface Forms

cutting onions singular
cutting onions plural
cutting onion singular

Morphology

cut + onion

The figurative use 'cutting onions' (to refer to someone crying) is directly and transparently derived from the literal idea that cutting onions makes eyes water, so a learner who knows 'cut' and 'onion' can plausibly infer the idiomatic sense. This causal/metaphorical mapping is common across languages and is a straightforward, context-dependent extension rather than an arbitrary idiom.

Etymology

Cutting onions comes from the real act of cutting onions, which makes your eyes water. So when someone seems to cry at a touching moment, people jokingly say 'cutting onions' to mean 'crying'.