like a tin soldier
- idiom
- Informal
- He froze like a tin soldier when the spotlight hit him on stage.
Examples
-
During the inspection, she stood like a tin soldier without moving a muscle.
-
The children lined up like a tin soldier when the teacher walked in.
-
He stood like a tin soldier during the ceremony.
-
Why are you standing like a tin soldier?
-
During the inspection, she stood like a tin soldier without moving a muscle.
-
He froze like a tin soldier when the spotlight hit him on stage.
-
The children lined up like a tin soldier when the teacher walked in.
Synonyms
119
1.0
Stay upright in one place without moving
33
3.0
Completely still with no movement, like a statue
10
4.2
Hold the body straight with feet together and arms at the sides like a soldier
1
4.0
Without moving at all
Antonyms
How Rigid
Surface Forms
Morphology
The simile is directly interpretable from its parts: 'like' signals similarity and 'tin soldier' evokes the common image of a rigid, upright toy soldier, so a learner who knows the constituent words can infer the stiff, motionless posture. This compositional image is culturally accessible (many languages use toy-soldier metaphors), so the meaning is immediately derivable rather than idiomatic.
Etymology
Like a tin soldier may come from small metal toy tin soldiers that stood very straight and could not move by themselves. The picture of those stiff toys helps explain why the phrase means 'standing perfectly still and upright' or being very rigid.