Meaning: Very obvious (definition).

Example: The sore on his lip was as plain as the nose on your face. (Source.)

Origins: Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Thomas Hardy’s Pair Blue Eyes, 1873. (Origins.)


Rewrites: as plain as the snout on a sow as obvious as the horn on a rhino as evident as a turret on a tank as patent as whiskers on a chin as sure as cute on a kitten


Discussion: Although the idiom is mostly about everyday obviousness, you might also read it to be about plainness and certainty.