tall order

plural tall orders · comparative taller order · superlative tallest order

1. idiomaticA big job; a difficult challenge.

   Guess they'd find it a pretty tall order trying to interfere with an American citizen.

   1911 October, E[dward] Phillips Oppenheim, “The Night Train from Vienna”, in Havoc, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown, and Company, →OCLC, page 26

   5 more examples

   [W]e must come, consequently, to the impressive conclusion that to live on potatoes alone[…], a man must eat at least 30 lbs. of potato a day—which would be rather a tall order, even for an Irishman.

   1871, W. W. Hall, “Are Vegetable Foods Difficult to Digest?”, in Health by Good Living, New York, N.Y.: Published by Hurd and Houghton […], →OCLC, footnote, page 92

   We suggest that your committee assume the responsibility for establishing a definite long range construction program for the American Merchant Marine. This is a tall order but one of extreme urgency. An entire indusry is now suspended in the balance between war and peace, and upon you and your committee depends which way the scales will tip.

   1947 November, ““Dear Chairman Weichel”: An Open Letter to Chairman Weichel of the House Committee on the Merchant Marine Suggesting a Program for the Next Session of Congress”, in Murray Morse, editor, The Log, volume 42, number 12, Los Angeles, Calif.: Miller Freeman Publications, page 33, column 2

   The present writer was once asked to name what he considered to be "the most typically English railway approach to a town": a somewhat tall order, especially as such matters will always be, in the last resort, of individual opinion. But the unhesitating answer to this question (which has not been altered after many years of extended travel throughout England) was "Sudbury, in Suffolk."

   1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 705

   These are tall orders, but they are, in part, the responsibilities you assumed when you donned the mantle of manager. When you accepted this position, your implied promise, assuming you want to be the best leader you can be, was to be an effective teacher, a sensitive counselor, and a master gardener.

   2002, Jack H. Grossman, J. Robert Parkinson, “Introduction”, in Becoming a Successful Manager: How to Make a Smooth Transition from Managing Yourself to Managing Others, Contemporary Books, →DOI, →ISBN, page 2

   Frank Macedo, an electrical engineering consultant who used to oversee transmission planning at the former Ontario Hydro, said creating that many jobs in three years is "a tall order." As it is, utilities such as Hydro One and Ontario Power Generation are already struggling to replace thousands of boomer-age employees who will be retiring over the next few years.

   2009 February 25, Tyler Hamilton, “50,000 green jobs ‘a tall order’”, in Toronto Star, Toronto, Ont., archived from the original on 11 Aug 2016

   Synonyms: big ask · Antonyms: bagatelle, waltz, walk, breeze, cake and gingerbread, cakewalk, child's play, cinch