a bolt from the blue
Something completely unexpected or surprising; that which occurs without any warning. We always thought of Michael as a lifelong bachelor, so it was a bolt from the blue when he returned from his vacation sporting a wedding ring! News that they were going to dissolve our company came like a bolt from the blue. We're all still in shock from it. We all thought Grandma was healthy as can be, so her cancer diagnosis came like a bolt from the blue.
a bolt out of the blue
Something completely unexpected or surprising; that which occurs without any warning. We always thought of Michael as a life-long bachelor, so it was a bolt out of the blue when he returned from his vacation sporting a wedding ring! News that they were going to dissolve our company came like a bolt out of the blue. We're all still in shock from it. We all thought Grandma was healthy as can be, so her cancer diagnosis came like a bolt out of the blue.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
bolt from the blue
Fig. a sudden surprise. (Alludes to a stroke of lightning from a cloudless sky.) Joe's return to Springfield was a bolt from the blue. The news that Mr. and Mrs. King were getting a divorce struck all their friends as a bolt from the blue.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
bolt from the blue, a
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]
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.
a bolt from the blue
COMMON If an event or a piece of news is, or comes like, a bolt from the blue, it is completely unexpected. A Foreign Office spokesman had described the coup as `a bolt from the blue'. Note: You can also say that something is, or comes like, a bolt out of the blue. Mrs Thomas says the arrest had come `like a bolt out of the blue'. Note: This expression usually describes unpleasant events or pieces of news. Note: This expression compares an unexpected event to a bolt of lightning from a blue sky. The expressions `out of a clear blue sky' and `out of the blue' are based on a similar idea.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
a bolt from the blue
a sudden and unexpected event or piece of news. The phrase refers to the unlikelihood of a thunderbolt coming out of a clear blue sky.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
a ˌbolt from the ˈblue
an event or a piece of news which is sudden and unexpected; a complete surprise: She had given us no warning she was going to leave; it came as a complete bolt from the blue.This refers to a flash of lightning (= a bolt) coming from a clear blue sky.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
bolt from the blue
A sudden, shocking surprise or turn of events.
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.
bolt from the blue, a
A sudden, unexpected event, usually of a catastrophic nature. The term refers to a bolt of lightning or thunder that comes from a blue (cloudless) sky and hence is not anticipated. Although “blue” was a poetic allusion to the sky by 1700, the precise expression dates from the early nineteenth century. It appears in Thomas Carlyle’s description of chaotic events of the French Revolution: “Arrestment, sudden really as a bolt out of the blue, has hit strange victims” (1837).
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer