under the stars
23
3.2
- idiom
:
bajo las estrellas
- We'll go out, we'll camp out under the stars, we'll come back, we'll be the first couple of the new day.
- nights under the stars
At night, lying down to sleep among the others under the stars, he thought, It is as if I were dead.
- At night, lying down to sleep among the others under the stars, he thought, It is as if I were dead.
- Most of the time, though, the men bivouacked in improvised straw and wood shelters or under the stars, or were billeted on households along the line of March.
- It's like under the stars and all that.
- I'm calling because I'm right under the stars.
- And and you go there and you see great matches, that's under the stars.
Examples
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After supper, we spent an evening under the stars viewing constellations and reflecting on our day.
Blog text (1) -
We had an amazing meal, like on a floating barge under the stars in Mexico with no one around.
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At night, lying down to sleep among the others under the stars, he thought, It is as if I were dead.
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-City girl wanted a night under the stars, huh?
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It's beautiful under the stars.
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But I manage just fine under the stars.
Fiction book (2001) -
Maybe we go down to the beach and swim or surf cast under the stars and moon.
Fiction book (1997) -
I was at a Girl Scout camp high in the mountains where we slept under the stars, night after night.
Academic text (1993) -
All he wanted to be was a cowboy, out branding cattle, sleeping under the stars.
Fiction book (1993) -
We enjoyed a romantic dinner under the stars, wrapped in blankets.
Antonyms
How Outdoors
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'outdoors at night' is directly and literally derivable from combining 'under' (beneath/covered by) with 'the stars' (night sky), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer the MWE. Although it can carry romantic or poetic connotations, the spatial composition is transparent and common across languages, making the expression immediately comprehensible.
Etymology
The phrase under the stars creates a clear picture of people sitting or sleeping outside with the night sky and bright stars above them. That's why it means 'outdoors at night' and often feels 'romantic' or full of 'wonder'.