twenty-four seven
2
3.4
- idiom
- Informal
:
veinticuatro siete
- The store is open twenty-four seven, so you can shop whenever you need.
Examples
-
She is available for help twenty-four seven, ready to answer any questions.
-
I swear, he's on her back about me twenty-four seven.
Fiction book (1997) -
I love it twenty-four seven, every day and anytime!
-
Twenty-four seven, you know that.
Fiction book (2000) -
Also, I was with Streeter twenty-four seven.
Fiction book (2001) -
I'm just realizing that uh... morning sickness happens- it can hit you twenty-four/seven.
-
Do you think I relish the fact that I have to act like Mary Sunshine twenty-four seven, so I can be considered a "lady"?
Fiction book (1999) -
And my grades are going up, so can't we ease up on the twenty-four/seven study thing?
Fiction book (1999) -
She probably does a sterling job and is fully knackered, twenty-four seven.
Blog text (3) -
That's nice of you to be concerned, Marianne, but honestly, no need to be, because I'm here twenty-four/seven.
Synonyms
Working all the time without rest
Antonyms
How Often
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase uses transparent numeric constituents but omits the time units: it is an abbreviated form of '24 hours a day, 7 days a week'. A B1 learner who only knows the words '24' and 'seven' would probably not automatically map them to continuous time without exposure, though the logic is recoverable and cross-linguistically common, so the expression is only partially predictable.
Etymology
The phrase twenty-four seven comes from signs that said twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and people wrote this as '24/7' on shops and services. So it now means 'all the time' or 'without stopping'.