Dictionary

beer and skittles en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Found as early as 1837, in Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, where it appears in the form, “It’s a reg’lar holiday to them—all porter and skittles”. The most common form, as a negative admonition, appears to have been popularized by Thomas Hughes in Tom Brown's School Days (1857, see quotation below).

Meanings

1. (UK, idiomatic, plural, plural-only) Fun times; pleasure and leisure.
   • His plight reveals a truth that's often obscured by the envy of newspaper readers; that it's not all beer and skittles in restaurant-critic land. 2012 March 24, John Walsh, “The perils of reviewing restaurants”, in The Independent:
   • Such highly intensive deployment left little wriggle room, something with which Dunster is all too familiar. "It hasn't all been beer and skittles," he says dryly. 2022 October 5, Nick Brodrick, “Pendolinos: a huge role to play”, in RAIL, number 967, page 41:
   • Being a soldier's wife isn't all beer and skittles. 1911, Anthony Hope, chapter 22, in Mrs. Maxon Protests, page 259:
   • Well, well, we must bide our time. Life isn't all beer and skittles—but beer and skittles, or something better of the same sort, must form a good part of every Englishman's education. 1857, Thomas Hughes, chapter 2, in Tom Brown's School Days:

Forms

Deriveds

life is not all beer and skittles

Relateds

good times

Synonyms

beatitude · delectation · ecstasy · delight · peaches and cream · bliss · lust · bed of roses · rapture · nirvana · bowl of cherries · pleasure · transport · euphoria · ravishment · sunshine and rainbows

Translations (9)

fi hauskanpito (fun times) · es no todo el monte es orégano (fun times) · nl rozengeur en maneschijn (fun times) · fr bon temps (fun times) · is jólin (fun times) · ca flors i violes (fun times) · sv dans på rosor (fun times) · pl zabawa (fun times) · pl przyjemność (fun times)