Meanings
phrase
- informalTrouble will happen soon.
If the dear old emotional, pig-headed, Rule-Britannia! public had got it that French spies were stalking through the land at this crisis, then, indeed, the fat would have been in the fire!
1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC
Cite this entry
APA
the fat is in the fire. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/the%20fat%20is%20in%20the%20fire
MLA
“the fat is in the fire.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/the%20fat%20is%20in%20the%20fire. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “the fat is in the fire,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/the%20fat%20is%20in%20the%20fire.
Source: the fat is in the fire on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.