on the spot
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: on-the-spot
Pronunciation
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Prepositional phrase
- (idiomatic) At that very moment.
- Synonyms: right away, then and there
- He liked the house, so he made an offer on the spot.
- 1739, Samuel Sharp, “Of Amputation” (chapter XXXVII), in A Treatise on the Operations of Surgery, London: J. Brotherton, page 221:
- There are in the Armies a great many Inſtances of Gun-ſhot Wounds of the Arm near the Scapula, which require Amputation at the Shoulder; but the Apprehenſion of loſing their Patients on the Spot by the Hæmorrhage, has deterred Surgeons from undertaking it.
- (idiomatic) Having to answer or decide without warning or preparation.
- All the sudden questions put him on the spot and he had to think quickly.
- (idiomatic) In a particular place.
- Synonyms: in place, on location, on site, on the premises, in the room
- This report comes from our man on the spot in Gaza.
- We exercised by jumping up and down on the spot.
- 1928, Dorothy L. Sayers, “The Abominable History of the Man with Copper Fingers”, in Lord Peter Views the Body:
- I had accepted an engagement to go out with Mystofilms Ltd. in Fake of Dead Man's Bush—the dwarf-men picture, you know, taken on the spot among the Australian bushmen.
- 1945 September and October, C. Hamilton Ellis, “Royal Trains—V”, in Railway Magazine, pages 251–252:
- […] on October 29, 1888, the Russian imperial train was derailed at Borki by defective track, and twenty-one persons were killed. Although these did not include the Emperor Alexander III, who escaped with a bruising, a footman serving coffee to him at the critical moment, and his dog, which was lying on the floor beside him, were both killed on the spot.
Descendants
- → Irish: ar an spota (calque)
Translations
at the very moment
|
having to answer or decide without warning
|
See also
- hit the spot
- on the dot
- on-the-spot (adjective)
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