smart as a whip

smart as a whip idiom
Very intelligent or clever, as in Little Brian is smart as a whip; he's only three and already learning to read. This simile alludes to the sharp crack of a whip. [Mid-1900s] Also see mind like a steel trap.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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