be still my heart
- idiom
- Informal
:
¡oh, Dios mío!
- He smiled at me from across the room—be still my heart.
Examples
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When I saw the puppy, I thought, be still my heart!
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Oh, be still my heart!
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As the orchestra began to play my favorite song, I whispered, be still my heart.
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When I received the unexpected invitation, I thought, be still my heart!
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As the orchestra began to play my favorite song, I whispered, be still my heart.
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He smiled at me from across the room—be still my heart.
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When I received the unexpected invitation, I thought, be still my heart!
Synonyms
321
6.6
A short exclamation people use to show surprise or strong feeling
Antonyms
How Moved
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal sense — telling one's heart to become motionless — is directly suggested by the constituents, so a learner could infer it relates to strong emotional arousal or the need to calm down. However, its conventionalized use as an exclamatory formula expressing admiration or being overwhelmed is pragmatic and idiomatic, so the exact meaning and function are not fully predictable from the parts alone.
Etymology
Be still my heart may come from old love poems where someone tells my heart to be still — to stop racing with excitement. That image of calming the heart is why we say it now to show we are 'overwhelmed' or 'amazed' by a strong feeling.