dragged through a hedge backwards
- idiom
- UK
:
parecer desaliñado
- She arrived at the meeting looking as if she'd been dragged through a hedge backwards.
Examples
-
You look dragged through a hedge backwards today.
-
His suit was so wrinkled, he appeared to have been dragged through a hedge backwards.
-
After the long flight, I felt like I had been dragged through a hedge backwards.
-
After the wild party, I felt like I had been dragged through a hedge backwards.
-
After the long flight, I felt like I had been dragged through a hedge backwards.
-
She arrived at the meeting looking as if she'd been dragged through a hedge backwards.
-
His suit was so wrinkled, he appeared to have been dragged through a hedge backwards.
Synonyms
4
7.0
Dirty and untidy, often wet after being in rain or mud
Seem very untidy and messy
Wet and dirty as if pulled through mud
Very untidy so hair and clothes look messy
Antonyms
How Messy
- UK
13
5.1
21
6.1
23
3.8
233
1.0
11
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
drag + through + a + hedge + backward
The phrase evokes a clear literal image — being dragged backwards through a hedge would tangle hair and clothes and leave someone dishevelled — so a learner who knows 'drag', 'through', 'hedge' and 'backwards' can plausibly infer the meaning 'looking extremely messy'. The composition follows a transparent pictorial metaphor rather than an arbitrary idiom, making the sense predictable to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Dragged through a hedge backwards gives a strong image: imagine someone pulled backwards through a low, prickly bush so their hair and clothes are torn and covered in leaves. So the phrase means 'looking very messy or untidy' because a person would really look like that after such a rough ride.