acre

40 acres and a mule

1. Something given by the government. The phrase refers to a promise made during the Civil War by Union general William T. Sherman that freed slaves would receive 40 acres of land and a mule. However, after the war that land was given back to its original owners. I'm doing just fine on my own—I don't need 40 acres and a mule from Uncle Sam.
2. A promise or assurance that proves to be false. I think he's just tempting us with that offer, and it'll turn out to be 40 acres and a mule.
See also: 40, acre, and, mule

all over hell's half acre

Spread out across a great distance or area; all over the place. Primarily heard in US, South Africa. I missed my turn when I was driving out to meet you, and I was all over hell's half acre before I was able to find the right road again! We'll never find all the papers we dropped, the wind has scattered them all over hell's half acre by now.
See also: acre, all, half, over

God's acre

A nickname for a church graveyard. The phrase comes from the German word Gottesacker, meaning "God's field" or "God's seed field," an allusion to the notion that believers are "sown" in it. Well, we'll all be buried in God's acre someday.
See also: acre

wiseacre

1. noun, slang Someone who is insolently overconfident in their own intelligence or wit. Oh, don't listen to that wiseacre. He just likes the sound of his own voice. Quit being such a wiseacre and listen for a change!
2. adjective, slang Of or indicating such a person. The film focuses on a no-nonsense detective after he is paired with a young wiseacre partner. I'm getting pretty tired of all her wiseacre comments.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

God's acre

a churchyard. archaic
This phrase comes from the German word Gottesacker meaning ‘God's seed field’ in which the bodies of the dead are ‘sown’.
See also: acre

hell's half acre

a great distance. North American
See also: acre, half
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

God’s acre

n. a cemetery. When I end up in God’s acre, I want everything to go on without me.
See also: acre

wiseacre

n. a jerk; a wiseguy. We’ve got ways of dealing with a wiseacre like you!
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

Forty acres and a mule

A a government handout; a broken promise. As Union general William T. Sherman marched through Georgia and other parts of the confederacy during the Civil War, he promised freed slaves the gift of forty acres of South Carolina and Georgia farmland and an army mule with which to work the soil. Following the war, however, President Johnson rescinded Sherman's order, and the appropriated land was restored to its owners. While most citizens adopted the phrase as a metaphor for either any form of government handout (or a trifling salary or bonus from their employer), African-Americans who remembered the expression's history used it as a rueful reminder of a offer that was reneged upon.
See also: acre, and, forty, mule

God's acre

A churchyard burial area. The phrase is a translation of the German word, Gottesacker, “God's field” where the souls of the faithful are sown. The phrase also been used for the dedication of a portion of a farm field or a garden plot to growing food that will be given to the needy. The phrase should not be confused with Erskine Caldwell's 1933 novel, God's Little Acre.
See also: acre
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price
See also:
  • 40
  • 40 acres and a mule
  • forty
  • Forty acres and a mule
  • like Grant took Richmond
  • off the reservation
  • it ain't over till/until the fat lady sings
  • it isn't over till the fat lady sings
  • it isn't over till/until the fat lady sings
  • it isn't over until the fat lady sings
References in periodicals archive
S-26, spread over an area of 3.47 acres on Gulbai Maripur Road, into a football ground.
Sindh transport dept struggles to retrieve occupied land worth billions
Another 2,870 acres were allocated for Nairobi National Park through Proclamation Number 46 of 1946.
Over half Ngong Forest gone, water tower dying
1 Deh Abodrio 125-07 Three years Rs.5,000/ - per acre per annum -do-
AUQAF DEPARTMENT GOVERNMENT OF SINDH AUCTION NOTICE
/ acre (5.35 and 6.00%) Advance (monomehypo) 5 G @ 10 Kg /acre (5.66 and 6.20%) Padan (cartap) 4 G @ 10 Kg /acre (5.75 and 6.40%) and Trichogramma eggs @ 60000/ acre (6.85 and 7.30%)were found relatively less effective but significantly better than check(12.33 and 14.10%) respectively.
EFFECT OF CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL CONTROL MEASURES AND THEIR INTEGRATION AGAINST SUGARCANE BORERS
Green planned to put houses on the property, and the city eventually bought the land for $40,000 an acre, mostly with bond measure funds.
City considers land deal fair
What is the average number of acres burned each year between 2001 and 2005?
Fiery numbers
The sale included the warehouse facility and the approximately 58 acres on which it is situated.
BPG Properties sells Valley Forge distribution center
The United States loses 1 million acres of forests annually, an area larger than all of Rhode Island, according to the U.S.
Timberlands in turmoil: as timber companies divest, carefully managed forestland is up for grabs, and it portends an invisible--but staggering--crisis for the U.S
But that's just part of the message Heritage Acres organizers want consumers to receive when they purchase their natural pork with the tagline, "food raised with care on family farms." Market research has provided the guidance the Ozark Mountain Pork Cooperative in Missouri needs to build their Heritage Acres brand from the barn up.
Building brands from the barn up: Heritage Acres finds success in local approach
After four generations in Cuba, where their family empire included 150,000 acres of cane, 10 sugar mills and three alcohol distilleries, their businesses were nationalized by Fidel Castro in 1959.
Bitter sweets: a politically connected industry devastates the Everglades
One project is paying half the cost to redirect swampbound water back to irrigation systems on about 1,600 acres of farmland.
A better way to water. (Innovative Technologies)
Just 70 people control nearly 2.5 million acres from the Pentland Firth to Perthshire - half the Highlands.
ESTATE OF AFFAIRS: HANDFUL OWN HALF THE HIGHLANDS; The last outpost of feudalism - and who exactly owns it
The IRS determined a deficiency of almost $100,000 against Schlicher, arguing that only one acre of the Clayton property was used for residential purposes.
Major acreage qualifies as residential for tax break
Sen (1966) initially pointed out that data in India showed an inverse relationship between operated area and output per cultivated acre. Small farms appeared to have a higher level of input use per acre and so a higher output.
Profitability, productivity and contractual choice in agriculture *
The total cultivated area in the sultanate reached 259,000 acres by the end of 2018 compared to 240,000 acres by the end of 2017, an increase of eight per cent, according to the data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
259,000 ACRES CULTIVATED FOR DIFFERENT CROPS IN 2018: NCSI