knee-high to a grasshopper
1
9.1
- idiom
- Informal
:
muy pequeño
- I haven't seen you since you was knee-high to a grasshopper and sneakin' in my watermelon patch.
Examples
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From the time she was knee-high to a grasshopper, as she puts it, Kathy Dickinson knit, sewed, and crocheted clothes for dolls.
Academic text (2006) -
I was a lawyer and he was but knee-high to a grasshopper.
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Darling, last time I saw you, you were knee-high to a grasshopper.
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Since he was knee-high to a grasshopper...
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So you've lived here since I was knee high to a grasshopper.
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When I was knee-high to a grasshopper, I was trying to beat games on the BBC and ZX Spectrum.
Blog text (24) -
I knowed you since you was knee-high to a grasshopper... and you ain't never done anything wrong.
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I remember when I was knee-high to a grasshopper and thought everything was possible.
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She could barely reach the counter; she was still knee-high to a grasshopper.
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He was just knee-high to a grasshopper when he started riding his first bicycle.
Synonyms
862
1.0
Young and not fully grown
20
6.8
Very small in size
1
8.2
A polite or joking way to say someone is shorter than average
Antonyms
How Small
Surface Forms
Morphology
knee-high + to + a + grasshopper
The construction is a humorous simile comparing height to a very small creature: knowing 'knee-high' and 'grasshopper' gives a learner the cue that the referent is very small. However, the fixed idiomatic phrasing and playful, non-literal comparison make the exact nuance (very small/young) somewhat unpredictable without prior exposure, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Knee-high to a grasshopper may come from the funny image of a child so small they would only reach the knee of a tiny grasshopper. That's why people use it to mean 'very small' or 'very young'.