Lombard Street to a China orange

== English == === Alternative forms === all Lombard Street to a China orange all Lombard Street to a china orange Lombard-street to a China orange === Etymology === Lombard Street as a metonym for all the money in British banks. A China orange as something of trifling value. === Noun === Lombard Street to a China orange (uncountable) (figurative, dated) very long odds (in favour or against an outcome) 1885 John Conroy Hutcheson On Board the Esmeralda (Chapter Fifteen. “A Little Unpleasantness.”) As Jorrocks expressed it, in the event of such a catastrophe happening, “It was all Lombard Street to a China orange we’d lose the number of our mess and sarve as food for fishes!” 1907 Herbert M. Vaughan, The Naples Riviera (Chapter II "The Vesuvian Shore and Monte Sant' Angelo") Mora has been a favourite recreation with these people almost from their cradles, and he would be a bold man indeed who would venture to challenge a Torrese at this game, for the native's skill and experience are almost bound to tell eventually in his favour, and the odds are "Lombard Street to a China orange" against the outside player. === References ===