Definition

Noun: 1. A handcart used for selling apples and other fruit in the street: A small, wheeled cart from which a vendor sells produce. 2. A state of orderly plans or affairs: This meaning is almost exclusively used in the idiom "upset the applecart," referring to the disruption of carefully made plans or a stable situation.

Usage Examples

• Literal Meaning:
  • The vendor pushed his applecart down the cobblestone street, calling out to customers.
• Idiomatic Meaning (in the phrase "upset the applecart"):
  • The sudden resignation of the manager upset the applecart for the entire project timeline.
  • We had everything arranged, but the new regulations completely upset the applecart.

Advanced Usage

• The word applecart is rarely used on its own in modern English. Its primary function is within the fixed idiom "to upset the applecart."
• This idiom implies spoiling a plan, disturbing the status quo, or causing disorder in a situation that was previously well-organized.

Variants and Related Words

• Handcart (n): A small cart pulled or pushed by hand.
• Pushcart (n): Another term for a handcart, often used by street vendors.

Synonyms

• Plan (n): When referring to the idiomatic sense of orderly affairs.
• Status quo (n): The existing state of affairs, which can be disrupted.

Related Idioms

• Upset the applecart: To ruin carefully laid plans; to cause disorder in a settled situation.
  • He didn't mean to upset the applecart; he was just asking an honest question.
• Tip over the applecart: A less common variant with the same meaning as "upset the applecart."

Noun

1. a handcart from which apples and other fruit are sold in the street
2. the planning that is disrupted when someone `upsets the applecart'