Corridor

corridors of power

The places or positions occupied by those with authority, especially in the upper levels of government. I want to be in the corridors of power someday—I'm sick of having to take orders from other people.
See also: corridor, of, power
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

corridors of power

The offices of powerful leaders. For example, As clerk to a Supreme Court justice, Jim thought he'd get his foot inside the corridors of power . This term was first used by C.P. Snow in his novel Homecomings (1956) for the ministries of Britain's Whitehall, with their top-ranking civil servants. Later it was broadened to any high officials.
See also: corridor, of, power
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

the corridors of power

the senior levels of government or administration, where covert influence is regarded as being exerted and significant decisions are made.
This expression comes from the title of C. P. Snow 's novel The Corridors of Power ( 1964 ). Although most usual with power , the phrase can be more specifically applied to the most influential levels of the hierarchy within a particular place or organization, especially when they are regarded as operating covertly. The French word coulisse (meaning ‘the wings in a theatre’ and ‘corridor’) has a similar figurative sense of the corridor as a place of negotiation and behind-the-scenes scheming.
See also: corridor, of, power
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

the corridors of ˈpower

the places where important decisions in government are madeThis expression comes from the title of a book by C.P. Snow, published in 1964.
See also: corridor, of, power
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

corridors of power

The places or positions from which people in authority wield power.
See also: corridor, of, power
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.

corridors of power

The highest echelons of government bureaucracy. This term was coined in the 1956 novel Homecomings by C. P. Snow, who later used it as the title of another novel, Corridors of Power (1964). By that time Snow realized it had become a cliché, but said, “If a man hasn’t the right to his own cliché, who has?” (quoted by William Safire, New York Times, May 14, 2000). However, it is heard less often today.
See also: corridor, of, power
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • corridors of power
  • the corridors of power
  • however
  • as much as
  • popcorn
  • (as) busy as popcorn on a skillet
  • (as) busy as a one-armed paperhanger (with an itch)
  • hanger
  • itch
  • paperhanger
References in classic literature
Together we repaired to the first tier of corridors beneath the main floor of the buildings, and here Perry and Ghak halted to await me.
At the Earths Core
Back and back it slid for ten feet until it had disclosed at its right a narrow doorway leading into a dark and narrow corridor that paralleled the outer wall.
Down the corridor at some distance I saw the faint reflection of a light, and toward this we made our way.
Here was another doorway leading into a corridor which ran directly down a steep incline.
We had proceeded but a few yards along the corridor that had given us entrance to this strange maze when Woola gave mouth to a most frightful roar, at the same time dashing against the clear partition at our left.
Warlord of Mars
A great, jagged hole was torn in the ceiling, and the wall toward the corridor had been blown entirely out.
We could not escape the way that we had entered the apartment, for not only was the corridor now choked with debris, but beyond the corridor there were doubtless many members of the emperor's household who would stop us.
The Lost Continent
"They seldom traverse the underworld at night, for then it is that the great banths prowl the dim corridors seeking their prey.
Then the corridors and chambers are filled with guards passing to and fro; slaves from the temples above come by hundreds to the granaries and storerooms.
The Gods of Mars
It would be difficult to guess at the time we spent wandering through those black corridors, climbing steep ascents, feeling our way along the edges of bottomless pits, never knowing at what moment we might be plunged into some abyss and always haunted by the ever-present terror of death by starvation and thirst.
There were ages during which the trend of the corridors was always upward.
The cave had been damp and cold; but as we crawled through the aperture, the muggy warmth of the Caspakian air caressed and confronted us; even the rain was warmer than the atmosphere of those dark corridors. We had water now, and warmth, and I was sure that Caspak would soon offer us meat or fruit; but as we came to where we could look about, we saw that we were upon the summit of the cliffs, where there seemed little reason to expect game.
The People That Time Forgot
I was on the point of stepping boldly out into the room when a slight noise behind me warned me back into the shadows of a recess in the corridor. Dragging Woola after me I crouched low in the darkness.
Princess of Mars
D'Artagnan waited, walking about the corridor in no enviable mood.
The Man in the Iron Mask
He waited a moment to see whether the cornet would answer, but he turned and went out of the corridor.
War and Peace