Language: en
Meaning: (idiomatic)Adeptorcompetent, especially at one'soccupation.Synonym:worth one's weight in saltAny doctorworth their saltshould be able to correctly diagnose the illness.1786,A[lexander] Dalrymple,A Fair State of the Case between the East India Company and the Owners of Ships Now in Their Service.[…], London: Printed by George Bigg[...]; and sold by J. Sewell,[…],→OCLC,pages46–47:[T]he encouragement for Shipwrights continues great at the Capital; to which all young People are naturally deſirous to come, whenever they fancy their abilities would diſtinguiſh them, or find a deſire to improve themſelves in their profeſſion; which two claſſes comprehend all the Shipwrights that will ever beworth their salt!1857, [Thomas Hughes], “The Fight”, inTom Brown’s School Days.[…], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire:Macmillan & Co.,→OCLC, part II,pages312–313:Everyone who isworth his salthas his enemies, who must be beaten, be they evil thoughts and habits in himself, or spiritual wickedness in high places, or Russians, or Border-ruffians, or Bill, Tom, or Harry, who will not let him live his life in quiet till he has thrashed them.1881–1882,Robert Louis Stevenson, “Narrative Continued by the Doctor: End of the First Day’s Fighting”, inTreasure Island, London; Paris:Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883,→OCLC, part IV (The Stockade),page142:It did all our hearts good to see him spit in his hand, knit his brows, and make the blade sing through the air. It was plain from every line of his body that our new hand wasworth his salt.1966May, Arnold H. Maremont, “Public Relations—the Tail that Wags the Dog?”, inMichigan Business Review, volume XVIII, number 3, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Graduate School of Business Administration,University of Michigan,→ISSN,→OCLC,page11, column 1:Every executiveworth his salthas his own private charity, ranging all the way from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to raising money for organizations concerned with better sex education in our public schools.2000, Ronald W. Maris,Alan L[ee] Berman, Morton M. Silverman[et al.], “The Empirical Foundations of Suicidology”, inComprehensive Textbook of Suicidology, New York, N.Y.; London:Guilford Press,→ISBN, part I (Foundations of Suicidology),page62:Surely any "science"worth its saltought to try to be true to its name and be as objective as it can, make careful measurements, count something.2010March, Wendy Wax,Magnolia Wednesdays, New York, N.Y.:Berkley Books,→ISBN,page400:Those were the kinds of story elements that any network would pay big bucks for, that any investigative journalistworth her saltwould kill for. This story was an automatic ticket back to the top of network news.2018December 12, Charles Bramesco, “A Spoonful of Nostalgia Helps the CalculatedMary Poppins ReturnsGo Down”, inThe A.V. Club[2], archived fromthe originalon24 May 2019:She does the same thing as any parentworth their salt, and gets rambunctious youngsters engaged in daily drudgeries by refashioning the quotidian as adventure.2021January 13, Christian Wolmar, “Read all about London's Cathedrals of Steam”, inRAIL, issue 922, page62:Every rail companyworth its saltwanted to connect with London. Interestingly, it was largely that way around - provincial entrepreneurs wanting to connect with the capital, rather than London capitalists seeking to spread outwards.
No examples available.
Validation Count: 0
Sourced from Wiktionary