corridor

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corridors of power

The places or positions occupied by those with authority, especially in the upper levels of government. I want to be in the corridors of power someday—I'm sick of having to take orders from other people.

See also: corridor, of, power

corridors of power

The offices of powerful leaders. For example, As clerk to a Supreme Court justice, Jim thought he'd get his foot inside the corridors of power . This term was first used by C.P. Snow in his novel Homecomings (1956) for the ministries of Britain's Whitehall, with their top-ranking civil servants. Later it was broadened to any high officials.

See also: corridor, of, power

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

the corridors of power

the senior levels of government or administration, where covert influence is regarded as being exerted and significant decisions are made.

This expression comes from the title of C. P. Snow 's novel The Corridors of Power ( 1964 ). Although most usual with power , the phrase can be more specifically applied to the most influential levels of the hierarchy within a particular place or organization, especially when they are regarded as operating covertly. The French word coulisse (meaning ‘the wings in a theatre’ and ‘corridor’) has a similar figurative sense of the corridor as a place of negotiation and behind-the-scenes scheming.

See also: corridor, of, power

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

the corridors of ˈpower

the places where important decisions in government are madeThis expression comes from the title of a book by C.P. Snow, published in 1964.

See also: corridor, of, power

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

corridors of power

The places or positions from which people in authority wield power.

See also: corridor, of, power

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

corridors of power

The highest echelons of government bureaucracy. This term was coined in the 1956 novel Homecomings by C. P. Snow, who later used it as the title of another novel, Corridors of Power (1964). By that time Snow realized it had become a cliché, but said, “If a man hasn’t the right to his own cliché, who has?” (quoted by William Safire, New York Times, May 14, 2000). However, it is heard less often today.

See also: corridor, of, power

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References in classic literature ?

After a time I came to a passage that seemed in some mysterious way familiar to me, and presently, chancing to glance within a chamber which led from the corridor I saw three Mahars curled up in slumber upon a bed of skins.

But I was too quick for it, and so, half hopping, half flying, it scurried down another corridor with me close upon its heels.

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At the bottom of a flight of narrow steps the corridor turned sharply back upon itself, immediately making another turn in the original direction, so that at that point it formed a perfect letter S, the top leg of which debouched suddenly into a large chamber, illy lighted, and the floor of which was completely covered by venomous snakes and loathsome reptiles.

The simple fact that we had found no reptiles in the corridor through which we had just come was sufficient assurance that they did not venture there.

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At the bottom was a short corridor with a closed door at the end.

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"They seldom traverse the underworld at night, for then it is that the great banths prowl the dim corridors seeking their prey.

Then the corridors and chambers are filled with guards passing to and fro; slaves from the temples above come by hundreds to the granaries and storerooms.

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His hands smelt of that peculiar odour which he had first noticed that morning in the corridor. He thought his muffin tasted of it too.

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Before they departed with their torches, I saw that I had not been conducted to the farthest extremity of the cavern, for a dark and gloomy corridor led beyond my prison room into the heart of the cliff.

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I had not dared fire the weapon for fear that its report would bring the larger guard stationed at the farther end of the corridor.

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After wishing them good night, he waited in the corridor until he saw them enter the fatal corner-room--and then he called abruptly to his brother, 'Come out, Stephen, and let us smoke!'

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"He escaped my blade, and ran down this corridor," replied Kar Komak.

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I was on the point of stepping boldly out into the room when a slight noise behind me warned me back into the shadows of a recess in the corridor. Dragging Woola after me I crouched low in the darkness.

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D'Artagnan waited, walking about the corridor in no enviable mood.

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Just as Prince Andrew met Nesvitski and Zherkov, there came toward them from the other end of the corridor, Strauch, an Austrian general who on Kutuzov's staff in charge of the provisioning of the Russian army, and the member of the Hofkriegsrath who had arrived the previous evening.