take one's breath away

take (one's) breath away

To cause someone to feel intense, typically pleasant, astonishment or awe. Did you see Kathy's gorgeous new dress? It took my breath away. The play is stunning—it will take your breath away!

take one's breath away

Astonish or shock one, with pleasure, surprise, or some other emotion. For example, That beautiful display just takes my breath away. This idiom alludes to the way one holds one's breath when overcome with sudden emotion. [Mid-1800s]

take one's breath away, to

To astound. This expression is pure hyperbole: one is so flabbergasted that one stops breathing. (The same idea is conveyed in the adjective breathtaking.) In the mid-nineteenth century Robert Browning used the term in Dramatis Personae (1864): “He never saw . . . what was able to take his breath away.”

See also: breath, take

The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer

See also:

take (one's) breath away
take breath away
take somebody's breath away
take someone's breath away
take your breath away
make (someone's) jaw drop
zowie
knock (one) on the floor
knock (one) on the ground

References in classic literature

The great Admiral and good seaman could read aright the signs of sea and sky, as his order to prepare to anchor at the end of the day sufficiently proves; but, all the same, the mere idea of these baffling easterly airs, coming on at any time within half an hour or so, after the firing of the first shot, is enough to take one's breath away, with the image of the rearmost ships of both divisions falling off, unmanageable, broadside on to the westerly swell, and of two British Admirals in desperate jeopardy.

Mirror of the Sea

词组	take one's breath away
释义	take one's breath away take (one's) breath away To cause someone to feel intense, typically pleasant, astonishment or awe. Did you see Kathy's gorgeous new dress? It took my breath away. The play is stunning—it will take your breath away! See also: away, breath, take Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. take one's breath away Astonish or shock one, with pleasure, surprise, or some other emotion. For example, That beautiful display just takes my breath away. This idiom alludes to the way one holds one's breath when overcome with sudden emotion. [Mid-1800s] See also: away, breath, take The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. take one's breath away, to To astound. This expression is pure hyperbole: one is so flabbergasted that one stops breathing. (The same idea is conveyed in the adjective breathtaking.) In the mid-nineteenth century Robert Browning used the term in Dramatis Personae (1864): “He never saw . . . what was able to take his breath away.” See also: breath, take The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer See also: take (one's) breath away take breath away take somebody's breath away take someone's breath away take your breath away make (someone's) jaw drop zowie knock (one) on the floor knock (one) on the ground References in classic literature The great Admiral and good seaman could read aright the signs of sea and sky, as his order to prepare to anchor at the end of the day sufficiently proves; but, all the same, the mere idea of these baffling easterly airs, coming on at any time within half an hour or so, after the firing of the first shot, is enough to take one's breath away, with the image of the rearmost ships of both divisions falling off, unmanageable, broadside on to the westerly swell, and of two British Admirals in desperate jeopardy. Mirror of the Sea
随便看	be easy meat be easy on the ear be easy on the eye(s) be eating (one's) dust be eating (someone's) dust be economical with the truth beef beef about beef about (someone or something) beef about someone/something beefcake beefed out beef-head beef-hearts beef something up beef to (the) heel beef to (the) heel like a Mullingar heifer beef to the hoof beef up bee in bonnet bee in one's bonnet bee in one's bonnet, to have a beejer beeline beeline it for (some place)