thin air


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thin air

A figurative phrase used to suggest nothingness or nonexistence. I had no idea she'd researched the budget so thoroughly—she pulled that report out of thin air. I didn't see Mike leave the party, he just disappeared into thin air.
See also: air, thin
References in periodicals archive ?
Finally, on 1 May this year, Thin Air went out into the world.
How I achieved my ambition to have a novel published; CREATIVE VIEW: Lisa Gray
CRITICISM: Strictly Come Dancing's Brendan Cole accused X Factor of creating careers 'out of thin air', Above, Brendan with with Anita Dobson.
BRENDAN HITS OUT AT X; Strictly star slams rival TV show
In fact, in theory, the government could abolish all taxes and pay all its bills through the creation of money out of thin air. But such an approach would make obvious the fact that inflation is a tax.
McCain & Obama's ongoing debate on taxes ignores inflation tax
And the chiefs can hardly feed our army thin air, so they're forced to buy the food in.
Letter: Your say - NO wonder the credit crunch
The work mentioned above is simply stuff Neil and I picked out of thin air, but you might require other custom features to suit your needs, What really drives the price up is custom work done just for looks.
Final thoughts?
My big gripe is why, when these children attend special schools, does the education authority think they disappear into thin air when they leave?
Letter: Your Say - Specials let down
OUT OF THIN AIR: Dinosaurs, Birds, and Earth's Ancient Atmosphere PETER D.
Out of Thin Air: Dinosaurs, Birds, and Earth's Ancient Atmosphere
Others have carved niches out of thin air. A year ago, one cruise line opened for business and decided to really do its own thing.
New horizons: small cruise lines get innovative to take market share from the heavyweights across the region
A team of researchers has found that the thin air inside airplanes does not trigger blood clots.
Travel Safety Update
The result: Century 21 has become one the most profitable stores per square foot in Manhattan, thanks in part to this additional 5,000 square feet built into thin air.
Century 21 ad-on blends with 1930s architecture
In their film Stories Are Propaganda, 2005, a sequence of images shot in China--of a smokestack belching black plumes, of ocean waves crashing to shore, of a rabbit appearing out of thin air in a magician's box--is accompanied by a child's long monologue.
Biennale d'Art Contemporain de Lyon: various venues
The article also failed to mention the glitches in PayPal's transferring programs that would randomly make a customer's money vanish into thin air. PayPal would not be able to find what happened to the money and often apparently didn't care, resulting in many more "frivolous" lawsuits.
Who Killed PayPal?
The net result would be increased productivity, seemingly out of thin air.
How to breed innovation, commercialization
(that are grabbed out of thin air by pampered, self-indulgent, hedonistic special interest groups.) Continuing a theme he has been developing in books, articles, and interviews over the last few years, he warned again of the advance of anti-Christian secularism both outside and within the Church.
From Robert A. Jason
INTO THIN AIR is an intriguing military police romantic mystery in which readers know Kelsey witnessed a murder, but Julian firmly believes she banged her head and imagined the whole thing.
Into Thin Air
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