to fall off one's chair
1
6.4
- idiom
- Informal
:
caerse de la silla
- Don't fall off your chair or anything.
- fell off my chair laughing
- almost fell off my chair
Examples
-
I absolutely agree with your predictions for the future, but the picture at the top almost made me fall off my chair.
Blog text (20) -
Peter laughs and almost falls off his chair.
Fiction book (1990) -
When that signal went off, I nearly fell off my chair.
-
I just fell off my chair, sir.
-
Wow, I almost fell off my chair when I read this.
Blog text (32) -
I mean, you'll fall off your chair, it's so funny.
-
But Dad nearly fell off his chair when Mr. Hammill finished by quoting Dad, only better.
-
I just about fell off my chair when I heard that last Saturday—and that was before Akin.
Blog text (20) -
When I heard the punchline, I nearly fell off my chair from laughing so hard.
-
She fell off her chair when the comedian made that unexpected joke.
Synonyms
8
2.4
To suddenly start laughing loudly and not be able to stop
4
7.3
To become very excited or surprised
1
8.8
To be so surprised that you almost cannot react
1
3.5
To make loud sounds you cannot stop because something is very funny
1
9.7
To laugh very hard at something funny online
1
4.0
To laugh in a way you cannot stop because you find something very funny or feel embarrassed
Laugh so hard that your body shakes
To laugh so hard you almost choke
Feel so amused that you fall over and move on the floor
How Surprised
5
7.0
- Informal
1
6.4
21
2.7
357
1.0
9
4.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is clearly built from literal parts (fall + off + one's + chair), so a learner will readily picture someone physically falling from a chair; however, its common use as a hyperbolic reaction meaning 'be extremely surprised or amused' is a metaphorical extension of that image and not fully predictable from the parts alone. Because the idiomatic, exaggerated meaning requires pragmatic or cultural knowledge beyond the literal constituents, it is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The idiom fall off one's chair comes from a simple picture of someone so shocked or amused that they actually fall off their chair. That's why it now means 'to be extremely surprised or amused'.