Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun the planning that is disrupted when someone "upsets the applecart".
  • noun a cart from which apples and other fruit are sold in the street.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A barrow from which apples and other fruit were formerly sold in the street
  • noun A planned situation. Back-formation from upset the applecart.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the planning that is disrupted when someone `upsets the applecart'
  • noun a handcart from which apples and other fruit are sold in the street

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

apple +‎ cart

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Examples

  • At the very moment when the underdeveloped countries of the world need our united and intelligently planned help more than ever before, the African applecart is not only being upset, but overturned.

    Some Important Aspects of Canada's International Trade 1960

  • "jurisprudence constante", which means "don't rule on a whim". (no lawyer can understand a concept until it's been translated into Latin) Don't upset the applecart is the conservative frame of mind.

    CUUMBAYA 2008

  • "jurisprudence constante", which means "don't rule on a whim". (no lawyer can understand a concept until it's been translated into Latin) Don't upset the applecart is the conservative frame of mind.

    UUpdates - All updates 2008

  • It looked as if he were about to upset not just the applecart but the entire market.

    Tomas Berdych wilts while Novak Djokovic is empowered by pressure 2011

  • Sam Leith has written of the Waughs' "patrilineal inability to pass an applecart without giving it a shove" and Alec was a bit of a rebel.

    My life as a Waugh 2011

  • PARIS—Gustave and Martial Caillebotte were born into a large, wealthy Parisian family in the mid-19th century, just as the city was in the ferment of transformation: Baron Haussmann was turning medieval streets into wide boulevards, steam trains revolutionized travel and the Impressionists were upsetting the art world's academic applecart.

    A Delightful Window Into Caillebotte Brothers' Private World Judy Fayard 2011

  • Last week, the Florida Republican Party decided to flout Republican National Committee rules and upset the delicate applecart of American political tr...

    After Florida, The Next Primary To Move Will Be ... The Huffington Post News Team 2011

  • In particular nothing will be done to upset the applecart of us being 'at the heart of Europe', a badge which our leaders wear, for a while, to signify that they are important people, taken seriously by the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and the rest of the EU gangster crew, for Cameron is one who has an even greater desire to be loved than does Tony Blair.

    Archive 2009-08-30 2009

  • This kind of impact causes contusions in the front and back areas of the brain and can create microscopic bleeding and shearing of neural pathways, causing synapses to misfire, upsetting the applecart of your brain, sometimes forever.

    The Memory Palace Mira Bartók 2011

  • He said that he and his colleagues in the intelligence community were extremely concerned that the continued investigation by the Swiss authorities threatened to upset a very volatile applecart.

    Fallout Catherine Collins 2011

Comments

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  • For God's sake don't upset this.

    November 24, 2010

  • They can be vicious when they're upset.

    November 24, 2010