packed like sardines

English

WOTD – 21 November 2023

Etymology

Sardines tightly packed into cans ready to be sealed.

Referring to sardines packed closely together in a tin (or can).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pækt laɪk sɑːˈdiːnz/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /pækt laɪk sɑɹˈdinz/

• Audio (General American):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -iːnz
• Hyphenation: packed like sard‧ines

Adjective

packed like sardines (not comparable)

1. (simile, informal) Densely packed; tightly squeezed together; crammed.

   I'm pretty claustrophobic, so I didn't wanna hop in the elevator with them all packed like sardines in there.

   • 2022 March 23, “Network News: Passengers Unwilling to be ‘Packed Like Sardines’”, in Rail, number 953, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 22:

     Passengers are no longer "willing to be packed into trains like sardines", says London TravelWatch.

Related terms

• packed to the gills
• sardinewise

Translations

densely packed

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 水洩不通／水泄不通 (zh) (shuǐxièbùtōng, literally “even water cannot flow”)

• Finnish: kuin sillit suolassa
• French: comme des sardines (fr), comme des harengs en caque (fr), comme harengs en caque (fr)
• Galician: como sardiñas en banastra
• German: dicht gedrängt wie die Sardinen, wie die Ölsardinen (literally “like sardines in oil”)
• Japanese: 鮨詰め (すしづめ, sushizume, literally “packed like sushi in a container”)
• Macedonian: сти́снати ка́ко сарди́ни (stísnati káko sardíni), зби́ени ка́ко сарди́ни (zbíeni káko sardíni)
• Norman: patchi coumme des sardinnes (Jersey), sèrré coumme des sardinnes (Jersey)
• Polish: jak śledzie w beczce
• Romanian: înghesuit ca sardinele
• Russian: как се́льди в бо́чке (ru) (kak sélʹdi v bóčke)
• Spanish: apretados como sardinas m pl, apretadas como sardinas f pl, como sardinas en lata
• Swedish: som packade sardiner, som packade sillar
• Vietnamese: chật cứng

See also

• not enough room to swing a cat