Where does it come from?
2006-09-12 11:34:35 · 3 answers · asked by Jasper M 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Shaking a stick at somebody, of course, is a threatening gesture, or at least one of defiance. So to say that you have shaken a stick at somebody is to suggest that person is an opponent, perhaps a worthy one. “Nothing worth shaking a stick at” means nothing of value; “equal to any man you could shake a stick at” means that the speaker is equal to any man of consequence.
Its recorded history began—at least, so far as the Oxford English Dictionary knows—in the issue of the Lancaster Journal of Pennsylvania dated 5 August 1818: “We have in Lancaster as many Taverns as you can shake a stick at”
2006-09-12 11:36:42 · answer #1 · answered by Bad Kitty! 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
to not turn something down....
a $1000 is nothing to shake a stick at
2015-06-11 12:50:53 · answer #2 · answered by ? 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
to say it is a worthy thing (even though it may not immediately appear so...)
2016-08-08 14:05:30 · answer #3 · answered by Nick 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋