in nothing flat
1
7.0
- idiom
- Archaic
:
en un abrir y cerrar de ojos
- He completed his homework in nothing flat, giving him the rest of the evening free.
Examples
-
Go through them in nothing flat.
-
With two of us digging, we'll have Harry up out of here in nothing flat.
-
Larry said he knew karate; he could handle him in nothing flat.
Fiction book (1991) -
In nothing flat, the reader will understand something about your poem and its intentions.
Academic text (2010) -
Finding it, she pulls a lock pick from her fabulous coiffure and picks the lock in nothing flat.
Fiction book (1998) -
If he so much as squirmed the wrong way, he found himself plucked up, transported to a toilet, stripped down, and ready to go in nothing flat.
Blog text (3) -
The repairs to the car were finished in nothing flat, so we could leave immediately.
-
She solved the puzzle in nothing flat, impressing her friends with her speed.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
At once without waiting
330
1.0
Right away without any delay
174
1.3
Very quickly, in a short time
50
3.3
Very quickly, in almost no time
35
2.5
Very quickly in a single moment
13
3.5
Very quickly without delay
3
3.0
It happens very quickly with little effort
1
8.5
Very quickly without delay
In a very short time
Very quickly, in almost no time
Happens very quickly
Antonyms
How Fast
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal parts 'nothing' (not at all) and 'flat' (plainly) do not transparently combine to mean 'very quickly'; the phrase 'in nothing flat' is an idiomatic temporal expression whose meaning ('in no time') cannot be predicted from the constituents. This historical/colloquial idiom is therefore unlikely to be understood by a B1 learner who only knows the individual words.
Etymology
In nothing flat may come from the image of moving over ground that is level, with nothing in the way and flat under your feet. That's why the phrase means 'very quickly'.