in two shakes

• in a brace of shakes
• in a few shakes
• in two shakes of a cow's tail
• in two shakes of a dog's tail
• in two shakes of a duck's tail
• in two shakes of a lamb's tail
• in two shakes of a rabbit's ass

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

in two shakes

1. (dated, idiomatic) Very quickly; without delay.
   • 1906, Edith Nesbit, chapter 2, in The Railway Children:

     She tried to get the case open. . . . "I wish Father was here," said Phyllis; "he'd get it open in two shakes."

   • 1910, William MacLeod Raine, chapter 5, in A Texas Ranger:

     I'll have coffee ready in two shakes of a cow's tail.

   • 1922, Agatha Christie', chapter 19, in The Secret Adversary:

     I'll be back in two shakes of a dog's tail.

   • 1922, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 16, in Right Ho, Jeeves:

     In two shakes of a duck's tail Gussie, with all that lapping about inside him, will be distributing the prizes at Market Snodsbury Grammar School .

   • 2005 December 15, Adrian Higgins, “And All the Trimmings”, in Washington Post, page H01:

     Skilled sheep shearers can get the wool off a ewe in two shakes of a lamb's tail.