get one's shine box

verb

Etymology

Popularized by the movie Goodfellas (1990), where the character William "Billy Batts" Bentvena uses the phrase in an insulting allusion to Tommy DeVito's previous job as a shoeshiner.

Definitions

  1. Used as an insult.

    • Make note of his stubby fingers and small hands – we all know what that means. When he responds with ever-increasing insults and shushing, tell him to go get his shinebox.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for get one's shine box. 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