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bolt from the blue, a
Idioms and Phrases
Also, a bolt out of the blue . A sudden, unexpected event. For example, Bill's dropping his life insurance was a bolt from the blue for his wife . This metaphoric term alludes to totally unforeseen lightning or thunder from a cloudless (blue) sky. [First half of 1800s]Example Sentences
Of “Windermere,” the Oxford literary critic and cultural historian Michèle Mendelssohn writes: “The comedy’s success seemed like a bolt from the blue, a first-timer making a huge hit on his initial outing on the comic stage.”
Carillion's collapse was for many people a bolt from the blue - a large UK company that had no obvious problems went bust in a little more than a year.
Just as she was growing resigned to her loss, the postman rang with a bolt from the blue—a letter from overseas that was signed with her husband’s signature and urged her frantically to disregard any bad news concerning him.
The unselfconscious catchiness of “HandClap” was a bolt from the blue – a new way to think about writing.
But it's a sign of the relative dearth of such performers these days that Crutchfield as Waxahatchee feels like a bit of a bolt from the blue, a splash of freshness amid all the wannabe soul belters and glossy melisma addicts.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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