snap to attention

snap to (attention)

1. To suddenly or abruptly begin paying attention. I was lost in a daydream, but I snapped to when the teacher called my name. The kids snapped to attention when I slammed the ladle down on the kitchen table.
2. To quickly assume military attention. You become trained to snap to attention when a superior officer enters the room.
See also: snap
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

snap to (attention)

in. to come to attention; to look alert immediately. When they realized what was happening, they began to snap to.
See also: attention, snap
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • snap to
  • snap to (attention)
  • grip (one's) attention
  • attention
  • get (one's) attention
  • turn (one's) mind to (something)
  • call (one) to attention
  • call to attention
  • hold (one's) attention
  • hold attention
References in periodicals archive
She acts as the Fagin to a crew of teenage car parts thieves, and the Serpents all snap to attention when she gives them an order, reported The Hollywood Reporter.
So if you want to make your synapses snap to attention, settle down on a warm, cloudless day and pay close attention to The Order of Time (Penguin Audio, 4.5 hours), Carlo Rovelli's latest explication of a confounding and complex concept, narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch in his elegant, honeyed voice.
Why should the concept of driverless cars make the insurance industry snap to attention? Well, along with the ethical issues surrounding this new technology which we discuss herein, it represents a huge shift in liability.
Now 58 years old, he looks many years younger and commands a high level of respect amongst the team, who all snap to attention when he walks in.
New Labour giants are on the sidelines: Tony Blair, Peter Mandelson and Alastair Campbell have all given stark warnings of the consequences of a Corbyn victory for their party but there is little sign that Labour supporters now snap to attention at these utterances.
I am nothing but supportive of food as high art, and even though there is as much self-validation as there will be showcasing and performance at the three-day event, it's nice to see our culinary talents snap to attention and push their talents to the limit of possibility.
Whenever Fletcher enters a room at the school, he bursts into it like a force of nature, and all of the musicians snap to attention. The camera follows his black shoes in motion, up through the rest of his stylish black outfit.
Elections are one of the few occasions when the public can get the political class to snap to attention, when they can expect to find candidates on their doorstep ready to hear their concerns.
Announcing a coalition before its members are on board is an amateurish way of operating, because it makes the local players -- Arab governments of already mixed legitimacy in this case -- look like hapless fools who snap to attention when an American gives the order.
Some brain cells need a jolt of stress to snap to attention. Cells called astroglia help regulate blood flow, provide energy to nearby cells and even influence message movement between nerve cells.
The best way to deal with this is to stand up for yourself and refuse to snap to attention just because they expect this of you.
Not long ago, Republicans would uniformly snap to attention when Goldman Sachs or Bank of America spoke.
"Jurors who are disinclined to take the time to review complex documents will often snap to attention when a document appears on a monitor, with key excerpts blown up and highlighted.
The normally busy road is closed to traffic so that thousands of mourners can line the route - officially renamed the Highway of Heroes - while uniformed cops and firefighters snap to attention and salute.
Oligarchs snap to attention in his presence and Forbes magazine ranks Sechin among the world s top 50 most powerful people, one notch above Kremlin chief Dmitry Medvedev, widely regarded as junior to Putin.