you can't get a quart into a pint pot
you can't get a quart into a pint pot proverb: you cannot fit a large object or amount in something smaller.
Proverb
you can't get a quart into a pint pot
- You cannot fit a large object or amount in something smaller.
- One cannot achieve the impossible.
- They've asked me to get from London to New York by five o'clock, but it's half past four now, and you can't get a quart into a pint pot!
- The centenary of Britain's most famous train has called for a commemorative and descriptive work and in this 40-page illustrated booklet the author has tried—with some success, to pour a quart into a pint pot.1962 October, “New Reading on Railways: The Flying Scotsman 1862-1962. By C. Hamilton Ellis. Allen & Unwin. 6s.”, in Modern Railways, unnumbered page
Forms of you can't get a quart into a pint pot
| alternative form | you can't fit a quart into a pint pot |
|---|---|
| alternative form | you can't put a quart into a pint pot |
Questions about you can't get a quart into a pint pot
- What does you can't get a quart into a pint pot mean?
- You can't get a quart into a pint pot means you cannot fit a large object or amount in something smaller.
- What part of speech is you can't get a quart into a pint pot?
- You can't get a quart into a pint pot is a proverb.
Words near you can't get a quart into a pint pot in the dictionary
- you can't break a twig in a bundle
- you can't break sticks in a bundle
- you can't catch old birds with chaff
- you can't fight City Hall
- you can't fix stupid
- you can't get a quart into a pint pot
- you can't get something for nothing
- you can't go home again
- you can't judge a book by its cover
- you can't keep a good man down
- you can't live with 'em, you can't live without 'em
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: you can't get a quart into a pint pot (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “you can't get a quart into a pint pot.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/you_can%27t_get_a_quart_into_a_pint_pot. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.