pot

for the pot for food or cooking.

1992Doris LessingAfrican Laughter That was when we shot for the pot, just shooting what we needed.

go to pot deteriorate through neglect. informal

☞ The idea here is of chopping ingredients up into small pieces before putting them in the pot for cooking, and from this comes the sense 'be ruined or destroyed'.

keep the pot boiling: seeboiling.

not have a pot to piss in: seepiss.

the pot calling the kettle black someone making criticisms about someone else which could equally well apply to themselves.

2009Guardian In what can only be described as a case of the pot calling the kettle black, HBOS chairman Lord Stevenson described its record in June last year as 'exceptionally bad'.

pot of gold: seegold.

put someone's pot on inform on a person. Australian & New Zealand informal

shit (or piss) or get off the pot used to convey that someone should stop wasting time and get on with something. vulgar slang

2018Linwood BarclayA Noise Downstairs Look, maybe he'll actually do it … But at some point, we have to-what did my father always like to say?-shit or get off the pot.

take pot luck take a chance that whatever is available will prove to be good or acceptable.

☞ The original idea behind the expression is of someone invited to an ordinary everyday family meal which will consist of whatever happens to be in the cooking pot that day.