that's about the size of it

English

Phrase

that's about the size of it

  1. (idiomatic, colloquial) That is the situation; that is how it is. [from mid 19th c.]
    • 1848 (first performed), Robert Barnabas Brough, William Brough, Camaralzaman and Badoura; or, the Peri Who Loved the Prince: An Extravagant Arabian Night's Entertainment (play; pamphlet), London: National Acting Drama Office; Nassau Steam Press, →OCLC, act II, scene i, page 26:
      Emp. […] And p’r’aps you really think to win the prize of it.
      Dan. To use a strong expression, that’s the size of it.
    • 1874 January, “Sundry humbugs”, in American Agriculturalist, volume 33, number 1, New York, →OCLC, page 6:
      This is “about the size of it” as they say in California: […]
    • 1937, Agatha Christie, Dumb Witness, London: Collins Crime Club, published 1969, Pan Books, →OCLC, page 143:
      ‘The different-coloured balls are the different lies I tell – eh?’ ‘That’s about the size of it.’
    • 1977, Joan Didion, A Book of Common Prayer, New York: Simon & Schuster, →OCLC, page 235:
      “Here’s-your-hat-what’s-your-hurry, seems about the size of it.”
    • 2011, Stephen King, 11/22/63, New York: Scribner, →ISBN, page 23:
      You’re also thinking it’s about time you grabbed your cell phone and called for the men in the white coats. That about the size of it, buddy?
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