Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb idiomatic Deal with the
important details.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Unknown. Earliest attestation in 1863 US, specifically Texas. A theory is that it comes from the brass tacks in the counter of a hardware store or draper’s shop used to measure cloth in precise units (rather than holding one end to the nose and stretching out the arm to approximately one yard).
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