for toffee

1 9.9

Not at all able to do something well

idiom
/fɔː təʊfi/

: no servir para nada

He can't dance for toffee, but he always tries at parties.

Examples

I wouldn't trust him to fix a bike for toffee.
I can't understand this math problem for toffee.
She can't cook for toffee, yet insists on hosting dinner every month.
He can't cook for toffee!
No, she couldn't cook for toffee.
A new girl in the laundry couldn't fold the sheets for toffee.
She can't sing for toffee, despite taking lessons.

Synonyms

for the life of one

vsfor toffee

Informal

8.0

Cannot do something no matter how hard you try

is used in negatives to stress a complete lack of ability

Antonyms

successful

∞ 1.6

You have achieved what you wanted

capable

945 1.4

Able to do something well because of skill or training

How Able

skilled

172 3.5

capable

945 1.4

for toffee

1 9.9

unable

809 1.0

Surface Forms

for toffee positive

Morphology

for + toffee

The sense 'completely unable' in 'can't cook for toffee' cannot be derived from the literal meanings of 'for' and 'toffee' — there is no transparent compositional link between doing something and a confectionery item. This is a dialectal idiomatic intensifier (related to sayings like 'not worth a toffee') and so would be unpredictable to a B1 learner who only knows the constituent words.

Etymology

For toffee probably comes from the idea of offering toffee, a sweet, as a reward; if someone 'can't do it for toffee' then not even a sweet treat would make them able. That's why the phrase is used to mean 'not at all' or 'no use'.