bet a dollar to a doughnut

present singular third person bets a dollar to a doughnut · participle present betting a dollar to a doughnut · alternative bet a dollar to a donut · alternative bet dollars to doughnuts · alternative dollars to donuts

1. figurativelyhumorousmildlyTo declare with confidence.

   I bet a dollar to a doughnut that fellow Lopez sold us out.

   1911, Peter B. Kyne, chapter 19, in Captain Scraggs

   4 more examples

   There's places where a dago-dazzler doesn't cut much ice, but it was dollars to doughnuts that the Sultan'd have a kindly feeling for it when I had Mungo explain that it was from the President of the U. S. A., telling him to treat his Uncle Phineas good and white, and he'd do the same by him some day.

   1917, Walter Alleyne Ireland, Beating 'em to it: Or, The Sultan and the Sausages

   ‘Even if Kong follows, he has to travel overland, and it’s dollars to doughnuts we beat him.’

   1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 119

   [S]aying that environmental concerns are a major factor . . . Mr. Mulroney said "you can bet a dollar to a doughnut" that acid rain would feature in the campaign.

   1988 April 25, John F. Burns, “Canada Losing Patience With U.S. on Acid Rain”, in New York Times, retrieved 25 Apr 2015

   I'll bet a dollar to a doughnut Usain Bolt is not the fastest human on the planet.

   2010 September 13, Red Shannon, “The Greatest Athlete Who Never Was”, in Bleacher Report, retrieved 25 Apr 2015

   Synonyms: a pound to a penny, bet a dollar to a dime, bet one's boots, bet one's bottom dollar, bet the farm, take to the bank, Lombard Street to a China orange, wager a dollar to a doughnut