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Upset the apple-cart

Meaning

To cause upset - to create a difficulty.

Origin

This allusory phrase is first recorded by Jeremy Belknap in The History of New Hampshire, 1788:

"Adams had almost overset the apple-cart by intruding an amendment of his own fabrication on the morning of the day of ratification" [of the Constitution].

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The meaning and origin of the expression: Upset the apple-cart

Upset the apple-cart

Meaning

Origin