let one's short back and sides down

English

Verb

let one's short back and sides down (third-person singular simple present lets one's short back and sides down, present participle letting one's short back and sides down, simple past and past participle let one's short back and sides down)

1. To let one's hair down, especially on the part of a man who is very straight-laced.
   • 2008, Tom Gleeson, Playing Poker with the SAS: A Comedy Tour of Iraq and Afghanistan, →ISBN:

     It's on the way home that they let their hair down.' Well, only as much as you can let short-back-and-sides down.

   • 2012, Jeff Dawson, Back Home: England And The 1970 World Cup, →ISBN:

     Even a military man, though, can let his short back and sides down when national pride is to be celebrated.

   • 2013 September 11, Wilfrid, “Juni: Shaun Hergatt's Second Act”, in At the Sign of the Pink Pig:

     I'd like to see chef Shaun let his short back-and-sides down and serve that sauce over a rolled, braised veal breast, or a veal cheek (there's a pig's cheek on the 10 course menu).