like a bump on a log

like a bump on a log

With little motion or activity; inert. Don't just sit there like a bump on a log—help me bring in the groceries!See also: bump, like, log, on

like a bump on a log

Fig. completely inert. (Derogatory.) Don't just sit there like a bump on a log; give me a hand! You can never tell what Julia thinks of something; she just stands there like a bump on a log.See also: bump, like, log, on

like a bump on a log

Unmoving, inactive, stupidly silent. For example, Harry just sat there like a bump on a log while everyone else joined in the fun. This simile presumably alludes to the immobility of such a protuberance. [Colloquial; mid-1800s] See also: bump, like, log, on

like a bump on a log

Motionless; inactive. This simile, comparing a wooden protuberance to a stolidly inactive individual, was used by Mark Twain (1863), “You have been sitting there for thirty days like a bump on a log,” and was repeated by such popular writers as Kate Douglas Wiggin (in The Birds’ Christmas Carol, 1899).See also: bump, like, log, on