sure as shooting

Idioms & Phrases

sure as shooting

Most certainly, as in It's going to snow tonight, sure as shooting, or That grizzly is sure as shooting going to make dinner out of us. This idiom has replaced the older sure as a gun, dating from the mid-1600s, a time when guns fired with far less certainty. [Second half of 1800s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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