on the heels of
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Preposition
[edit]- (idiomatic) In close pursuit of; close behind.
- 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 219, column 2:
- A quarrelsome band of footsore sulky niggers trod on the heels of the donkey.
- 1915, Jack London, chapter 5, in Mutiny of the Elsinore:
- On the heels of the little lop-sided man appeared an overgrown dolt of a fat youth, followed by another youth.
- 2001, Yonatan Netanyahu, The Letters of Jonathan Netanyahu, →ISBN, page 288:
- [T]he men got out quickly, the first ones running on the heels of those who had gotten out of the Mercedes.
- 2023 April 5, Philip Haigh, “Comment: Pay deal a positive result”, in RAIL, number 980, page 3:
- Hard on the heels of of punctuality and reliabilty comes capacity. That's either trains frequent enough to meet demand, or long enough.
- (idiomatic, of events, facts, etc.) Closely following; in succession immediately after.
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii]:
- One woe doth tread upon another's heel.
- 1644, J[ohn] M[ilton], chapter 4, in The Doctrine or Discipline of Divorce: […], 2nd edition, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, book 2:
- To avoid these dreadful consequences, that tread upon the heels of those allowances to sin, will be a task of far more difficulty.
- 1870–1871 (date written), Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter LXXVII, in Roughing It, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company [et al.], published 1872, →OCLC, page 553:
- [A] familiar voice chimed instantly in on the heels of my last word, […]
- 1917, Upton Sinclair, chapter 32, in King Coal:
- [W]hen such accidents kept happening, one on the heels of another, even the most callous public could not help asking questions.
- 2012 October 13, “Pakistan’s politics: The peace and love tour”, in The Economist:
- As it happened, the shooting came on the heels of a two-day “peace march” against American drone aircraft targeting suspected Islamist militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas close to the border with Afghanistan.
Usage notes
[edit]Commonly preceded by such verbs as follow, tread, come.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]in close pursuit of
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