hatch

Don't make plans based on future events that might not happen. When my mom heard that I was preparing my campaign before even being nominated, she warned me, "Don't count your chickens before they're hatched." Why are you begging to drive my car to school tomorrow when you still need to take your license test in the morning? Don't count your chickens before they're hatched, babe!

To prepare for a challenging situation. While this originated as a nautical phrase, it is now used for any sort of imminent problem. There's a tornado coming—batten down the hatches! My mother-in-law is coming to town this weekend, so I better batten down the hatches.

Fig. to prepare for difficult times. (From a nautical expression meaning, literally, to seal the hatches against the arrival of a storm. The word order is fixed.) Here comes that contentious Mrs. Jones. Batten down the hatches! Batten down the hatches, Congress is in session again.

Fig. to plan how to utilize good results of something before those results have occurred. (The same as Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.) You may be disappointed if you count your chickens before they hatch.

I am about to drink this.; Let's all drink up. (Said as one is about to take a drink, especially of something bad-tasting or potent. Also used as a jocular toast.) Bob said, "Down the hatch," and drank the whiskey in one gulp. Let's toast the bride and groom. Down the hatch!

to aid in releasing an animal from an egg. They hatched lots of ducks out at the hatchery. The farmer hatched out hundreds of chicks each month.

to prepare yourself for a difficult period by protecting yourself in every possible way When you're coming down with a cold, all you can do is batten down the hatches and wait for the body to fight it off.

something that you say before drinking an alcoholic drink, especially when you are going to drink it all without stopping And a whisky for you. Down the hatch, as they say.

Prepare for trouble, as in Here comes the boss-batten down the hatches. This term originated in the navy, where it signified preparing for a storm by fastening down canvas over doorways and hatches (openings) with strips of wood called battens. [Late 1800s]

Make plans based on events that may or may not happen. For example, You might not win the prize and you've already spent the money? Don't count your chickens before they hatch! or I know you have big plans for your consulting business, but don't count your chickens. This expression comes from Aesop's fable about a milkmaid carrying a full pail on her head. She daydreams about buying chickens with the milk's proceeds and becoming so rich from selling eggs that she will toss her head at suitors; she then tosses her head and spills the milk. Widely translated from the original Greek, the story was the source of a proverb and was used figuratively by the 16th century. Today it is still so well known that it often appears shortened and usually in negative cautionary form ( don't count your chickens).

Drink up, as in " Down the hatch," said Bill, as they raised their glasses. This phrase, often used as a toast, employs hatch in the sense of "a trap door found on ships." [Slang; c. 1930]

Drink up. Often used as a toast.

To prepare for an imminent disaster or emergency.