coin a phrase, to

To create a new expression. It is typically used jocularly to indicate the opposite (i.e. that one has just used a well-known or trite saying). Don't try to coin a phrase, just write a straightforward headline. Well, we can't do anything about it now, so "que sera sera," to coin a phrase. Yeah, we have a lot to get done by Saturday, but we'll just have to put our noses to the grindstone, to coin a phrase.

set phrase Said after one uses a new expression. It is typically used jocularly to indicate the opposite (i.e. that one has just used a well-known or trite saying). Well, we can't do anything about it now, so "que sera sera," to coin a phrase.

Fig. to create a new expression that is worthy of being remembered and repeated. (Often jocular.) He is "worth his weight in feathers," to coin a phrase.

You say to coin a phrase to show that you are using an expression that people will know. Stunned Jackson was, to coin a phrase, `sick as a parrot'. Note: To coin a new word means to invent it or use it for the first time. In this expression, the term is being used ironically.

To fashion an expression. This term, dating from the 1940s, is often used ironically to apologize for using a cliché, as in “He acts like the cock of the walk, to coin a phrase.” Of course it can also be used straightforwardly and refer to inventing an expression, a usage dating from the late 1500s.