all one's ducks in a row, get/have
get one's ducks in a row
Fig. to get one's affairs in order or organized. Jane is organized. She really gets all her ducks in a row right away. You can't hope to go into a company and sell something until you get your ducks in a row.
See also: duck, get, row
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
all one's ducks in a row, get/have
Be completely prepared and well organized. This colloquialism from the second half of the 1900s alludes to lining up target ducks in a shooting gallery. Sue Grafton used it in R Is for Ricochet (2004): “The trick is not to alert him until we have all our ducks in a row.”
See also: all, duck, get, have
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- have all (of) (one's) ducks in a row
- get (one's) ducks in a row
- get ducks in a row
- get one's ducks in a row
- get your ducks in a row
- get/have your ducks in a row
- have (one's) ducks in a row
- in order
- just so
- be before somebody's time