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English Phrase of the Day

out of the blue



Definitions

English > English
out of the blue
     1. prep. unexpectedly; without warning or preparation
           After I hadn’t heard from her in six months, she called me out of the blue to meet for lunch.
           I really can't understand how something like this could simply pop up out of the blue.
Analysis
out
           See also individual phrasal verbs such as come out, go out, put out, take out, pull out, and so on.
     1. adv. Away from the inside or the centre.
           The magician pulled the rabbit out of the hat.
     2. adv. Away from home or one's usual place.
           Let's eat out tonight
of
     1. prep. Expressing distance or motion.
     2. prep.          (now obsolete, or dialectal) From (of distance, direction), "off".
     3. prep.          (obsolete except in phrases) Since, from (a given time, earlier state etc.).
     4. prep.          From, away from (a position, number, distance etc.).
                    There are no shops within twenty miles of the cottage.
the
     1. art. Definite grammatical article that implies necessarily that an entity it articulates is presupposed; something already mentioned, or completely specified later in that same sentence, or assumed already
           I’m reading the book. (Compare I’m reading a book.)
           The street in front of your house. (Compare A street in Paris.)
           The men and women watched the man give the birdseed to the bird.
     2. art.          Used before a noun modified by a restrictive relative clause, indicating that the noun refers to a single referent defined by the relative clause.
Blue
     1. n. A letterman at Oxford or Cambridge.
     2. n. (historical) A member of the Royal Horse Guards (which merged with the 1st Dragoons in 1969)
     3. n. synonym of British Blue, , a breed of cat
     4. adj. Of the colour blue.
           the deep blue sea

Example Sentences

Well, out of the blue I don't really know. 
Then, out of the blue, I get a call from a record plugger. 



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