gubben i lådan

Swedish

Etymology

gubben (“the older man (used in a generic "guy" sense here)”) +‎ i (“in”) +‎ lådan (“the box”)

Noun

gubben i lådan c

1. jack-in-the-box (toy)
2. (figuratively, in "dyka upp som gubben i/ur lådan") to completely unexpectedly show up

References

• dyka upp in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• gubbe in Svensk ordbok (SO)