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no great shakes

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no great shakes

Inf. someone or something that is not very good. (There is no affirmative version of this.) Your idea is no great shakes, but we'll try it anyway. Ted is no great shakes when it comes to brains.

See also: great, shake

no great shakes

not very good He was a very creative chef but no great shakes at managing a business.

See also: great, shake

no great shakes

Nothing out of the ordinary, mediocre, as in I'm afraid the new pitcher is no great shakes, or What I did with this decorating project was no great shakes. This term possibly alludes to the shaking of dice, which most often yields a mediocre result, but there is no evidence to support this theory. [Early 1800s]

See also: great, shake

no great shakes

phr. someone or something not very good. (There is no affirmative version of this.) Your idea is no great shakes, but we’ll try it anyway.

See also: great, shake

no great shakes

Slang

Unexceptional; ordinary: "stepping in between the victim and the bully, even when the victim happens to be no great shakes" (Louis Auchincloss).

See also: great, shake