in one fell swoop
to do something all at once
TRANSLATION
in one fell swoop = auf einen Schlag, auf einen Streich --- GOOGLE INDEX in one fell swoop: approximately 650,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
I want to reassure investors that when the Fed raises rates next year, as many economists and analysts speculate, it will most likely be done incrementally over the course of several months rather than IN ONE FELL SWOOP.
(Business Insider)
---
But the deal is also a rare opportunity for 21st Century Fox to acquire a host of sports rights IN ONE FELL SWOOP.
(New York Times)
(Business Insider)
---
But the deal is also a rare opportunity for 21st Century Fox to acquire a host of sports rights IN ONE FELL SWOOP.
(New York Times)
Did you
know?
in one fell swoop
idiom
- all in one go
(Oxford Dictionary)
---
In act 4, scene 3 of Shakespeare's Macbeth, Macduff finds out his family has been murdered and says:
He has no children. All my pretty ones?
Did you say all? O hell-kite! All?
What, all my pretty chickens and their dam
At one fell swoop?
Although we can't be sure this was the first time this expression was ever used, Shakespeare certainly popularized it. While it's a common phrase, even many native English speakers are likely unaware of the origin.
Apart from being the past tense of "fall," fell was once used as an adjective meaning "vicious, cruel, sinister." As a noun "swoop" refers to a very rapid descent through the air, much like what birds of prey do when hunting. A "fell swoop" could thus be interpreted literally as a merciless assault. By adding "in one" in the sense of all at once, the phrase "in one fell swoop" originally referred to a sudden and vicious attack.
Over time the vicious element disappeared and the expression assumed the neutral sense of doing something all in one go. It's also expressed as "at one fell swoop."
---
SYNONYMS
all at once, altogether, en masse, in concert, in one piece, in one stroke, simultaneously
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Investors can lose their savings in one fell swoop if the stock market crashes."
idiom
- all in one go
(Oxford Dictionary)
---
In act 4, scene 3 of Shakespeare's Macbeth, Macduff finds out his family has been murdered and says:
He has no children. All my pretty ones?
Did you say all? O hell-kite! All?
What, all my pretty chickens and their dam
At one fell swoop?
Although we can't be sure this was the first time this expression was ever used, Shakespeare certainly popularized it. While it's a common phrase, even many native English speakers are likely unaware of the origin.
Apart from being the past tense of "fall," fell was once used as an adjective meaning "vicious, cruel, sinister." As a noun "swoop" refers to a very rapid descent through the air, much like what birds of prey do when hunting. A "fell swoop" could thus be interpreted literally as a merciless assault. By adding "in one" in the sense of all at once, the phrase "in one fell swoop" originally referred to a sudden and vicious attack.
Over time the vicious element disappeared and the expression assumed the neutral sense of doing something all in one go. It's also expressed as "at one fell swoop."
---
SYNONYMS
all at once, altogether, en masse, in concert, in one piece, in one stroke, simultaneously
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Investors can lose their savings in one fell swoop if the stock market crashes."
