wild blue yonder
- noun
- Literature
- The pilot pointed out the clouds against the wild blue yonder as we ascended into the air.
- go into the wild blue yonder
Examples
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"Up we go into the wild blue yonder."
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As we flew higher, the wild blue yonder stretched before us, a vast expanse of blue sky.
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Here we are, off to the wild blue yonder.
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Into the wild blue yonder.
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Santa Claus took off into the wild blue yonder for an early start.
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While you glamour boys were up in the wild blue yonder... -...I was down in a tank.
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The siren call of the impossible would lure me from my doubt into the open space of maybe, into the wild blue yonder of possibilities.
Fiction book (1994) -
The plane climbed and banked, shimmering as if relieved, if not amazed, at its own ability to lunge, once again, into the wild blue yonder.
Fiction book (2001) -
♪ Let's go ♪ ♪ Saddle up your horses ♪ ♪ We got a trail to blaze ♪ ♪ Whoa ♪ ♪ Through the wild blue yonder ♪
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♪ Off we go in a wild blue yonder ♪ ♪ Climbing high into the sun ♪ ♪ Here they come ♪ ♪ Zooming to meet our thunder ♪ ♪ At 'em boys ♪ ♪ Give 'er the gun ♪
Synonyms
Sky that looks clear and blue during the day
The sky you see during the day
A very large open sky that seems to invite travel or adventure
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase's meaning ('the open/distant sky') is directly compositional from 'blue' (the color of the sky) and 'yonder' (over there/in the distance), with 'wild' serving as an intensifier describing vastness. Although poetic and somewhat archaic in register, the referential image is predictable from the constituent meanings, so a learner who knows the words can infer the overall sense.
Etymology
The phrase wild blue yonder paints a picture of a wide, wild blue sky stretching far away, like pilots flying off into it. One popular story says it became well known from an old Air Force song, so today it means 'the open sky' or 'going off into the unknown'.