What does bolt from the blue mean?

Definition of bolt from the blue

: a complete surprise : something totally unexpected.

Why is it called bolt from the blue?

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 are bolts from the blue?

A "Bolt from the Blue" is a cloud to ground lightning flash which typically comes out of the back side of the thunderstorm cloud, travels a relatively large distance in clear air away from the storm cloud, and then angles down and strikes the ground.

What does the idiom in the blue mean?

C1. If something happens out of the blue, it is completely unexpected: One day, out of the blue, she announced that she was leaving.

What is the synonym of a bolt from the blue?

Words Related to bolt from the blue. shock, thunderclap.

What does bolt out of the blue mean?

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 we call thunder in English?

thunder in American English

1. a loud, explosive, resounding noise produced by the explosive expansion of air heated by a lightning discharge. 2. any loud, resounding noise. the thunder of applause.

What does coming out of the blue mean?

phrase. If something happens out of the blue, it happens unexpectedly. One of them wrote to us out of the blue several years later.

What does it mean to call someone out of the blue?

When something happens out of the blue, it is a complete surprise. If you get a phone call out of the blue from an old friend, it's utterly unexpected. Use the phrase out of the blue when you need a casual way to describe something that surprises you and possibly seems to come from nowhere.

Is out of the blue a metaphor?

Out of the blue is an English idiom meaning “suddenly and unexpectedly”. You can use it when you are surprised by something that was not expected to happen. For example, I haven't seen her since childhood.

How common is bolt from the blue?

Strange as it may sound, “bolts from the blue,” as they're known, are not as rare as one may think. In fact, they're a relatively common across the United States during the summer months.

What happens when a lightning bolt out of the blue occurs?

When an unexpected event happens people describe it as a “bolt from the blue”. The phrase is actually based on real weather phenomena where a lightning bolt will strike an area with no overhead clouds. While bolts from the blue don't originate from blue sky, they occur infrequently, are unexpected, and can be deadly.

How do you use bolt from the blue in a sentence?

It comes like a bolt from the blue, and our shipping could be put off the seas. That decision to sell came like a bolt from the blue. That has hit the public like a bolt from the blue. But this cannot be done if like a bolt from the blue we close collieries at short notice.

What is the meaning of the idiom a bolt out of a clear sky?

Fig. suddenly and without warning. (Alludes to a bolt of lightning coming out of a clear blue sky.) The news came to us like a bolt from the blue.

What does chip off 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 having a green thumb mean?

: an unusual ability to make plants grow.

What means out of the red?

phrase​informal. DEFINITIONS1. into​/​out of a situation in which you are not making enough money.

What does yellow streak mean?

yellow streak. noun. informal a cowardly or weak trait, characteristic, or flaw in a person's nature.

What does green with envy mean?

Definition of green with envy

: very envious They were green with envy over the neighbors' new boat.

Has a screw loose meaning?

Definition of have a loose screw

informal. : to be crazy You've got to have a loose screw to think that's a good idea. You've got to have a few loose screws to think that's a good idea.

What does stealing someone's thunder mean?

Definition of steal someone's thunder

: to prevent someone from having success or getting attention, praise, etc., by doing or saying whatever that person was planning to do or say I didn't mean to steal your thunder, but I just had to tell your mom about your promotion.

Why is it spelled lightning?

Back then, in Middle English, spelling was different from our Modern English spelling. Lightning was spelled with a y and a letter we don't even use today called a yogh that kind of looks like the number 3 and was eventually replaced with our current letters gh.

What is the meaning of the idiom a snake in the grass?

Definition of snake in the grass

: a secretly faithless friend.