like anything


Extremely, vigorously, as in She cried like anything when the dog died. This idiom probably substitutes anything for a swear word. [Colloquial; late 1600s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.