A bolt from the blue is a metaphorical phrase referring to a lightning bolt suddenly coming from a clear sky, something you wouldn't expect. The word bolt refers to a lightning bolt (a flash of lightning), and the blue refers to a clear sky (a stormy sky might be grey or black).
What does bolt from the blue mean?
Definition of bolt from the blue
: a complete surprise : something totally unexpected.
Where does the saying bolt from the blue come from?
Wayne Howard of Hanahan, S.C., writes:
An ordinary bow shoots an arrow, but a crossbow shoots a projectile called a bolt. The crossbow had a much longer range than regular bows, and the person who was targeted sometimes couldn't see the shooter, hence, “a bolt from the blue” when the projectile landed.
Why is it called out of the blue?
The phrase out of the blue means without warning, completely unexpectedly. It is from a bolt out of, also from, the blue, denoting a sudden and unexpected event, a complete surprise, with reference to the unlikelihood of a thunderbolt coming from a clear blue sky.
What does the term in the blue mean?
Urban Dictionary defines "in the blue" as: When an iMessage conversation you're having with someone you're interested in is really one sided so your blue text overwhelms her/his grey text.
39 related questions foundWhat does the ? emoji mean?
?️ doesn't actually mean anything, it's just an emoji that Gunna is using to promote his new song Pushin P. In his bio, he has the words “CAPITAL ?️” and he often uses the emoji in his captions too. Essentially, every time he writes something with the letter 'p' in it, he replaces it with ?️.
What does blue mean in British slang?
Be depressed or sad, as in I was really feeling blue after she told me she was leaving. The use of blue to mean “sad” dates from the late 1300s.
What does out the box mean?
[mainly US] if you come out of the box in a particular way, you begin an activity in that way. If you are first out of the box, you are the first person to do something. Winning in Australia straight out of the box proved that my and the team's preparation had been good. . Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary.
What's another word for Out of the blue?
In this page you can discover 9 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for out-of-the-blue, like: unprepared for, unlooked-for, unforeseen, surprising, unanticipated, not predicted, unexpected, unplanned and unexpectedly.
What does small world mean?
Definition of (it's a) small world
—used to show surprise when one meets someone one knows at an unexpected place or finds out that one shares a friend, acquaintance, etc., with another person You know him, too? Wow, it's a small world.
What does a fish out of water mean?
A person away from his or her usual environment or activities. For example, Using a computer for the first time, Carl felt like a fish out of water, or On a hiking trail, Nell was a fish out of water. This expression alludes to the fact that fish cannot survive for long on dry land. [ Late 1300s]
What does a bear with a sore head mean?
We use this expression to say that someone is in a bad mood.
What does a chip of the old block mean?
Definition of chip off the old block
An expression used of people who closely resemble their parents in some way: “Mark just won the same sailboat race his father won twenty years ago; he's a chip off the old block.”
What does it mean to take a French leave?
Definition of French leave
a departure without ceremony, permission, or notice: Taking French leave, he evaded his creditors.
What is the meaning of he is a rough diamond?
1. : a person who has talent or other good qualities but who is not polite, educated, socially skilled, etc. — called also (British) rough diamond. 2. : something that is in poor condition but that is likely to become valuable with appropriate care or attention.
What is the meaning of the idiom a bolt out of a clear sky?
Answer: 'A bolt out of a clear sky' is used figuratively to convey that something or someone has startled or surprised me. Something shockingly unusual happening to me on a normal day.
Whats it called when something comes out of nowhere?
unexpectedly. adverbin an unexpected way. out of the blue. unawares.
What's it called when you do something out of nowhere?
appearing, arriving, happening, etc. quickly or unexpectedly
Synonyms: To appear slightly, suddenly or temporarily. emerge. pop up. break through.
What is out of the blue moon?
To do something “once in a blue moon” is to do it very rarely: “That company puts on a good performance only once in a blue moon.” The phrase refers to the appearance of a second full moon within a calendar month, which actually happens about every thirty-two months. QUIZ YOURSELF ON “ITS” VS.
What is a word for someone who thinks outside the box?
Alternate Synonyms for "out-of-the-box thinking":
divergent thinking; thinking; thought; thought process; cerebration; intellection; mentation.
What is the meaning of thinking outside the box?
Definition of think outside the box
: to explore ideas that are creative and unusual and that are not limited or controlled by rules or tradition To solve this puzzle, you'll have to think outside the box.
Is wall to wall hyphenated?
When words form a compound adjective before the noun they modify, they are hyphenated, such as deep-blue sea, house-to-house search, and wall-to-wall carpeting.
What part of speech is the word stinky?
Definition of stinky
adjective, stink·i·er, stink·i·est.
Why is blue rude?
Slang authority John Camden Hotten, in his 1859 publication, A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words, suggested that the base or indecent connotation of blue had its origins in the French Bibliothèque bleue, popular literature published between the early 17th and mid-18th centuries on low-quality paper ...
What does it mean to cuss a blue streak?
The use of the phrase blue streak to mean rapidly first occurred in American English in the 1830s, and is a reference to the speed of a bolt of lightning. To curse a a blue streak means to curse rapidly in a constant, unending stream of curse words.
