English Reference
Idiom idiom

make like a banana and split


To leave, depart.

Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.


SIMPLE

It is late, so I will make like a banana and split.

CONTEXTUAL

The party is getting boring, so let's make like a banana and split before it gets too crowded.

COMPLEX

Realizing that his presence was no longer desired, he decided to make like a banana and split before the argument escalated further.


Attested as a play on the dessert known as a banana split, the phrase functions as a pun on the slang sense of the verb split, meaning to depart. The construction relies upon the phonetic identity between the name of the confection and the instruction to leave a location.


Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    absence makes the heart grow fonder

    One feels more love or affection for those one loves when parted from them.

  2. 02

    and the like

    And other similar items; et cetera.

  3. 03

    banana nose

    A large, unusually long nose.

  4. 04

    banana republic

    A small country, especially one in Central America or the West Indies, that is dependent on a single export commodity (traditionally bananas) and that has a corrupt, dictatorial government.

  5. 05

    be like

    To say.

  6. 06

    built like a brick outhouse

    Synonym of built like a brick shithouse.

  7. 07

    built like a brick shipyard

    Synonym of built like a brick shithouse.

  8. 08

    built like a brick shithouse

    Of a man, having a muscular body, particularly with well-developed muscles of the chest, arms and abdominals.

Last updated August 10, 2026