cut the mustard
verb/kʌt ðə ˈmʌstəd/UK/kʌt ðə ˈmʌstəɹd/US
Etymology
From cut (“to exhibit (a quality)”) + the + mustard (“(originally US slang) something adding spice or zest to a situation; something setting the standard”).
Definitions
To achieve the expected standard
To achieve the expected standard; to be effective or good enough; to suffice.
- Give me the bigger hammer. This little one just doesn’t cut the mustard.
- [I]f a man gets a loan and over a period of years he has demonstrated that he cannot cut the mustard, how is he going to demonstrate it in a period of 12 months?
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for cut the mustard. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA