English · Idiom Attested

busy as a one-armed paperhanger

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Extremely busy.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Bận rộn đến cực độ

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Where it’s used: Used American English

Sources & notes

Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).

Common questions

What does “busy as a one-armed paperhanger” mean?

Extremely busy.

Is “busy as a one-armed paperhanger” formal or informal?

busy as a one-armed paperhanger is generally informal.