take the biscuit
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
(UK) To be particularly bad, objectionable, or egregious.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
This really takes the biscuit!!
HAVE heard many stories of people running into old school friends after a number of years, but this one takes the biscuit.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Imported from Wikipedia “English-language idioms” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29), pending review.
Common questions
What does “take the biscuit” mean?
(UK) To be particularly bad, objectionable, or egregious.
Is “take the biscuit” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.