at Her Majesty's pleasure
1
9.9
- idiom
- UK
:
a disposición de Su Majestad
- Those found guilty of serious crimes may be held at Her Majesty's pleasure for an indefinite time.
Examples
-
In certain cases, individuals can be detained at Her Majesty's pleasure without a set term.
-
The judge sentenced him to remain in prison at Her Majesty's pleasure until further notice.
-
It's confinement at Her Majesty's pleasure.
Fiction book (1998)
Synonyms
A person who is kept in prison by the law
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
at + her + Majesty's + pleasure
The components are common words and 'at someone's pleasure' can be interpreted as 'at someone's will/discretion', so a learner who knows the words might infer that the situation depends on the monarch's decision. However, the phrase is a formal legal idiom referring specifically to indefinite detention or tenure until authorities decide, and that precise legal/constitutional sense and the royal reference are not fully predictable from the constituents for a B1 learner.
Etymology
At Her Majesty's pleasure comes from a time when the queen or king could decide how long someone stayed in a job or in prison, and being Her Majesty's pleasure meant you stayed as long as the ruler wanted, not for a fixed time. So today it means being kept 'for an indefinite time' or 'until the authorities decide'.