once-over-lightly

[ wuhns-oh-ver-lahyt-lee ]

noun

, Informal.

1. a hasty or superficial treatment, look, examination, etc.; once-over:

   The maid gave the room the once-over-lightly.

Word History and Origins

Origin of once-over-lightly¹

First recorded in 1940–45

Idioms and Phrases

Cursorily, quickly, as in I did go over the program once over lightly, but perhaps I should read it more carefully . [ Colloquial ; mid-1900s]

Example Sentences

Early in our relationship he had forwarded me the results of a personality test he had taken as a child that warned of a lack of interest in“more searching answers” to life’s bigger questions, and that “‘once over lightly’ seems to be the rule.”

From New York Times

This is because professors are looking for depth of thought on some issue, rather than the “once over lightly” on everything covered.

From New York Times

Six days a week he eyes the sports field once over lightly, knocks out a chatty, chummy column called the Morning After.

From Time Magazine Archive

On Dallas' station WFAA, his Opera Once Over Lightly is beamed directly at "the taxi-driver who likes Figaro, but doesn't know why."

From Time Magazine Archive

Her pretty posturing, pouts, stunned, exotic stares are meaningless when she tries to do them once over lightly.

From Time Magazine Archive

Related Words

• flip through
• leaf through
• peruse
• read
• scan
• skim