maybe

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Related to maybes: MABES

I don't mean maybe

I'm not joking about this; do what I'm asking or demanding without question or protest. I told you to go clean your room, and I don't mean maybe! Hey, you need to answer me, and I don't mean maybe. Why do you smell like cigarette smoke? You're still feeling sick? OK, you really need to call the doctor, and I don't mean maybe.
See also: maybe, mean

mama's baby, papa's maybe

colloquial It is typically easy to know who a baby's biological mother is, while the father is not always known for sure. Primarily heard in US. But how can you know he's your kid unless you take a paternity test? After all, mama's baby, papa's maybe.
See also: maybe

maybe another time

1. A polite way to refuse an invitation. A: "Would you like to go out for dinner tonight?" B: "Sorry, maybe another time. I have a lot of work I need to catch up on."
2. A polite response to such a refusal. A: "I wish I could come to your house for dinner, but I told my sister I would babysit for her." B: "That's all right, maybe another time."
See also: another, maybe, time

maybe some other time

1. A polite way to refuse an invitation. A: "Would you like to go out for dinner tonight?" B: "Sorry, maybe some other time. I have a lot of work I need to catch up on."
2. A polite response to such a refusal. A: "I wish I could come to your house for dinner, but I told my sister I would babysit for her." B: "That's all right, maybe some other time."
See also: maybe, other, time

maybees don't fly in June

It doesn't do any good to be so indecisive; quit thinking about hypothetical outcomes and make a decision. A pun on "maybe" and "bees," which are most prevalent in the summer months. A: "I think I prefer green, but maybe blue would be a better color for this room." B: "Look, maybees don't fly in June. Just pick one."
See also: fly, June, maybe
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

I don't mean maybe!

Inf. I am very serious about my demand or order. Bob: Do I have to do this? Sue: Do it now, and I don't mean maybe! Father: Get this place cleaned up! And I don't mean maybe! John: All right! I'll do it!
See also: mean

Maybe some other time.

 and We'll try again some other time.
a polite phrase said by a person whose invitation has just been turned down by another person. Bill: Do you think you can come to the party? Bob: I'll have to beg off. I have another engagement. Bill: Maybe some other time. John: Can you and Alice come over this Friday? Bill: Gee, sorry. We have something else on. John: We'll try again some other time.
See also: maybe, other, time
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

I don’t mean maybe!

exclam. I am not kidding! You get over here right now, and I don’t mean maybe!
See also: mean
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Maybees don't fly in June

Stop changing your mind so much. “Maybees” is a pun on “maybes,” as in “If I do X, then maybe Y will happen, but if I don't do X, then maybe Z will happen . . . I just can't decide.” When someone used to hesitate in such a fashion, someone else would be sure to pipe up with the reminder that “maybes don't fly in June.”
See also: fly, June, Maybe
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price Copyright © 2011 by Steven D. Price
See also:
References in classic literature ?
Maybe she make fun, too, so I say, 'Let me see thousand dollars.' And that woman, that young woman, all alone on the trail, there in the snow, she take out one thousand dollars, in greenbacks, and she put them in my hand.
Her waist is small, and when she stand up, when she walk, or move her head or arm, it is - I do not know the word - but it is nice to look at, like - maybe I say she is built on lines like the lines of a good canoe, just like that, and when she move she is like the movement of the good canoe sliding through still water or leaping through water when it is white and fast and angry.
After that we will have bad cough, and maybe next spring will come pneumonia.' But they are CHECHA-QUO.
"Before we start, I talk maybe two minutes with the priest at Anvig.
And Sitka Charley, standing upright, maybe falls down and stands upright again.
"Maybe; but I never did set much store by black hair--shows gray too soon," retorted Mrs.
I've got to go, now, but I'll think and think all the way home; and maybe the next time I come I can tell it to you.
Maybe the alarm clock'll go off and wake me up in a couple of minutes.
"I know I'm awake now, but I don't know but maybe I dreamed all the rest, and I just want to make sure."
With a seven-point gap to safety and a game in hand on Swansea City, the relegation specialists are still just about in the land of maybes but the blessed relief of certainty does not look far away.
Maybe they should be pleased it is coming to an end.
Maybe Sunderland's do not see the point - Short wants to sell.
Maybe he'll wear something that shows off his blue eyes.
I expect him to maybe wave, if anything, but he walks over to the bench.
Then I thought, as the elevator doors closed, "Perhaps, just maybe I'm one of those being axed." My brain started having a conversation saying "No, it's not possible.