dot the i's and cross the t's

Slang definitions & phrases for dot the i's and cross the t's

dot the i's and cross the t's

verb phrase

To work meticulously, esp to make something clear and accurate: Extraneous to my investigation, but I like to dot the i's and cross the t's (1885+)

Idioms and Phrases with dot the i's and cross the t's

dot the i's and cross the t's

Be meticulous and precise, fill in all the particulars, as in Laura had dotted all the i's and crossed the t's, so she wondered what she'd done wrong. This expression presumably began as an admonition to schoolchildren to write carefully and is sometimes shortened. William Makepeace Thackeray had it in a magazine article (Scribner's Magazine, 1849): “I have . . . dotted the i's.” [ Mid-1800s ]