ENGLISH
REFERENCE

holy buckets

idiom
Meaning

An exclamation of surprise or astonishment.


Origin

disputed origin

Possibly a minced oath from phrases beginning with holy (e.g. holy cow) and a rhyme with fuck it. Alternatively, possibly a punning allusion to a broken bucket being holey (having a hole).

Examples
SIMPLE

Holy buckets, that is a huge spider!

CONTEXTUAL

Holy buckets, I cannot believe you actually finished that difficult project in just one hour.

COMPLEX

Holy buckets, the sheer scale of the mountain range took his breath away as he reached the summit.

Anchors to
Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    holy catfish

    Expressing terror, awe, surprise, astonishment, etc.

  2. 02

    holy cow

    An exclamation of surprise or astonishment.

  3. 03

    holy crap

    An expression of amazement: holy cow, holy shit.

  4. 04

    holy crap on a stick

    Emphatic form of holy crap.

  5. 05

    holy crickets

    An expression of surprise or astonishment.

  6. 06

    holy crud

    holy crap; holy shit

  7. 07

    holy doodle

    An expression of surprise.

  8. 08

    holy fuck

    Expression of terror, awe, surprise, shock, etc.

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