cricket

An exclamation of surprise, shock, or astonishment. Holy crickets, the bill for that dinner is nearly $200! We won the lottery? Holy crickets, that's amazing news!

A minced oath for "Jesus Christ," expressing surprise, shock, or astonishment. Jiminy cricket, the bill for that dinner is nearly $200! We won the lottery? Jiminy cricket, that's amazing news!

It's not done.; It's not acceptable. You can't do that! It's not cricket!

very happy and carefree. (*Also: as ~.) Mary is as merry as a cricket whenever she has company come to call. The little children are as merry as the day is long.

something that you say when you think something someone has said or done is not right or not fair You can't make me do the washing up after I did all the cooking - it's just not cricket!

Unfair, unsportsmanlike, as in It's not cricket to let him go without notice. This term, in which the sport of cricket is equated with upright behavior, survives in America despite the relative unfamiliarity of the sport there. [Mid-1800s]

A symbol of good luck and health. A cricket on the hearth has been a sign of household luck for millennia and in many cultures. Crickets were widely considered to bring good fortune as well as a kind of companionship. Representations of a cricket have long been included as a fireplace decoration. The expression “to find a cricket on the hearth is the luckiest thing of all” comes from Charles Dickens's novella, Cricket on the Hearth.