before you can say knife

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

before you can say knife

1. Very quickly; quicker than one expects.

   Synonym: before you can say Jack Robinson

   • 1893, Rudyard Kipling, “Judson and the Empire”, in Many Inventions‎:

     'Oh, we'll pull you off before you can say knife. Take care of His Excellency. I shall try to get a little sleep now.'

   • 1926, W. Somerset Maugham, “The Letter”, in More Far Eastern Tales, Random House, published 2010, →ISBN:

     ‘Ginger, Ginger, before you can say knife she'll make you into a damned missionary.’ I don't know that I'd mind that so much if we had a little mission of our own.

• “before you can say knife”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “before you can say knife” in Idioms and phrases, TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.