spring to attention

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spring to attention

To quickly or hurriedly assume a military posture in which one stands with one's body erect, one's heels together, one's arms at one's sides, and one's eyes facing forward. We all sprang to attention when Admiral Holt entered the barracks.
See also: attention, spring, to
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

spring to attention

to move quickly to assume the military posture of attention. The recruit sprang to attention.
See also: attention, spring, to
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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References in periodicals archive ?
His floppy ears sprang to attention. I saw a spark of excitement ignite in his sad brown eyes as his tail waved a hesitant greeting.
THE YELLOW BENCH
She sprang to attention with her cover of Mark Ronson's 'Uptown Funk',' which became the first XFactor live recording to hit number one on iTunes.
X-Factor star joins the line-up at Ricoh MTV Crashes
RATING: 3/5 DIANE BIRCH - SPEAK A LITTLE LOUDER MICHIGAN-born singer-songwriter Diane Birch sprang to attention with her 2009 debut, Bible Belt, a collection of DIANE BIRCH - SPEAK A LITTLE LOUDER MICHIGAN-born singer-songwriter Diane Birch sprang to attention with her 2009 debut, Bible Belt, a collection of songs that suggested she''d packed plenty into her life.
albums
RATING: 3/5 DIANE BIRCH - SPEAK A LITTLE LOUDER MICHIGAN-born singer-songwriter Diane Birch sprang to attention with her 2009 debut, Bible DIANE BIRCH - SPEAK A LITTLE LOUDER MICHIGAN-born singer-songwriter Diane Birch sprang to attention with her 2009 debut, Bible Belt, a collection of songs that suggested she''d packed plenty into her life.
albums
Arms were raised, bodies bounced, neck hairs sprang to attention and throats went a little lumpy as thousands of voices sang along on a grey London day on the Marshes.
Band who are now on their way to the top; Entertainment Editor GORDON BARR catches up with Rudimental's Kesi ahead of their gig tonight at the O2 Academy Newcastle
The Serbian first sprang to attention when he was ejected from the US Open in 2000 for abusing staff about the price of a salmon lunch.
Tomic takes place among sport's bad dads
But the museum authorities sprang to attention and supplied a stone fig leaf which was clipped on when royals visited (an absurdity which continued until the demise of Queen Mary in 1953).
Changing attitudes in the flesh; Richard Edmonds discovers the role of the male nude in art through the centuries
NANNY rustled her apron strings, and grey men from Health & Safety sprang to attention.
Snow hopers; TOO MANY MATCHES WERE CALLED OFF FAR TOO SOON: ON HOW FOOTBALL GAVE IN TO WEATHER
The 44-year-old Londoner was making decent progress after mixing birdies and bogeys down the front nine, but only sprang to attention as the leading home player with birdies on the last two holes.
Kendall skips clear
Our plants sprang to attention with that and began to put out all that we had hoped for.
Our greenhouse refuge. (The garden)
His whistling reached such a peak that sheepdogs throughout Derbyshire sprang to attention while even the ball-boys felt his wrath when one had the audacity to chuck Spurs the ball a touch too promptly for Gregory's liking.
Football: GREGORY'S 'S PRIDE N' JOY; Derby's new miracle-man has fans eating out of his hand
He sprang to attention when he ran in three tries in the 56-11 win over Emerging Wales the following year and made his sixth appearance at A level against France last weekend.
Rugby: I feel I've won my first cap all over again
She sprang to attention and headed towards the intruder.
A day in the dreams of Dulcie Downe
He sprang to attention last year after he started uploading videos of sting operations on YouTube.
Vigilante Vigilante 'has got people talking' says expert
Les first sprang to attention in 1965 when he beat Acocks Green's Peter Dee (now Radio 2's Johnnie Walker) to win an Evening Mail DJ competition.
Shock as Ross set to leave WM radio
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