apple cart
Vendor's precarious transport
An apple cart is a wheeled vehicle for selling apples, now rarely seen.
The phrase survives almost entirely in upset the apple cart—to disrupt a plan or situation that was proceeding smoothly.
The image is of carefully stacked apples tumbling into chaos.
upset
Disturb, topple, or shock
- overturnReverse or invalidate
- disruptInterrupt and disorder
- destabilizeMake unsteady or insecure
shake-up · spoil · wreck · ruin · topple · derail · sabotage · interfere · obstruct · complicate
produce
Make or manufacture
vendor · fruits · pushcart · barrow · display · wheels · wooden · roadside · peddler · merchant
- chaos idiomsall hell breaks loose, pandemonium, madhouse, circus, bedlam
establishment vs. disruption
apple cartrevolution
Violent governmental overthrow
upset · overthrow · shake-up · upheaval · overturning
planning and control
apple carthouse of cards
Structure prone to collapse
powder keg · ticking time bomb · unstable equilibrium · train wreck · fiasco