beyond a joke
prep_phrase1
Idiomatic Increasingly serious or harmful.
- 'I may say that I noticed you in court today, sir, and putting one thing and another together—' 'Quite right,' assented Carrados. 'It is about today's case. These post office hold-ups are getting beyond a joke, inspector.'1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries:
- Related terms
- no joke