What does "dollars to doughnuts" mean?

Search: dollars to donuts

Why: Bruce Campbell said it on "Burn Notice." (I actually watch that show.)

Answer: It means "most certainly." It comes from the idea of an outrageous bet:

Betting a dollar to a half-dollar, for instance, means that you're giving 2 to 1 odds--you're willing to risk a dollar to win only a half-dollar. Being willing to bet dollars against doughnuts (viewed as worthless) means that you're totally confident that you're right, so confident that you'll bet money against nothing.

Hey, isn't a donut actually worth a dollar? Some kinds must be. Some way more that.

The first explicit reference to betting is not found until the 1920s, in a story by "Ellery Queen"--"I'll bet dollars to doughnuts Field played the stock market or the horses."

Back then, a donut was probably worth, like, tuppence.

Source: The Mavens' Word of the Day

The More You Know: The expression is also found in a number of variants with objects considered worthless:

• Dollars to buttons
• Dollars to dumplings
• Dollars to cobwebs
• Dollars to a stack of Congo DVDs