mile a minute
5
3.9
- idiom
- Informal
:
a mil por hora
- Nick opens the door and Dorothea rushes in, out of breath, talking a mile a minute.
- talking mile a minute
- going mile a minute
- beating mile a minute
Examples
-
"My heart was going a mile a minute!"
Fiction book (1991) -
I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out, but my mind is going about a mile a minute trying to wrap my head around everything.
Blog text (15) -
My heart is going a mile a minute.
-
The children talk a mile a minute, and the father listens to every word.
Fiction book (1998) -
Turner fires questions at Sam—a mile a minute.
Fiction book (2001) -
During the presentation, she was talking mile a minute, barely giving anyone time to ask questions.
-
After drinking too much coffee, his thoughts were racing mile a minute, making it hard for him to focus.
-
The kids were running around mile a minute, full of energy as they played in the park.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Moving or happening quickly
∞
1.0
At a fast speed or without delay
446
1.4
In a very short time
10
2.5
A speed that is quicker than usual for a task or activity
6
2.9
A speed of progress much faster than usual
6
3.6
Happening or moving very quickly
1
3.2
Moving or working much faster than usual
1
5.1
To happen or be done very quickly
1
6.0
Moving at a fairly fast speed
1
8.0
In a very quick way, like someone running fast
Antonyms
How Fast
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'very fast' is directly derivable from composing 'mile' (a distance) with 'minute' (a unit of time) to yield a high distance-per-time rate; the phrase evokes covering a mile in a minute, which clearly implies great speed. This measurement/per-time pattern is common and cross-linguistically familiar, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents should be able to infer the adverbial sense.
Etymology
The phrase mile a minute paints a strong picture: going a mile in a minute, which would be almost impossible and extremely fast, so we use it to say someone speaks or moves 'very fast'.