wait for the other shoe to drop
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.14 in modern English
43
Scrabble Score
25
Letters
5
Syllables
12
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To await a seemingly inevitable event, especially one that is not desirable.
Example Sentences
- "After the tournament, Player admitted that all through the final round he had been nervously waiting for more trouble. "It was like waiting for the other shoe to drop.""
Etymology
A common experience of tenement living in apartment-style housing in New York City and other large cities during the manufacturing boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Apartments were built with very similar designs, with the bedrooms located directly above and underneath one another. Thus, it was normal to hear a neighbor removing their shoes in the apartment above. As one shoe made a sound hitting the floor, the expectation for the other shoe to make a similar disturbance was created.