an angel passes
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English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Phrase
[edit]- Used to denote an awkward pause.
- 1936, Agatha Christie, Cards on the Table, →ISBN, page 17:
- There was a momentary silence. Mrs. Oliver said: "Is it twenty-to or twenty past? An angel passing . . . My feet aren't crossed—it must be a black angel!"
- 1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 4:
- As Case was picking up his beer, one of those strange instants of silence descended, as though a hundred unrelated conversations had simultaneously arrived at the same pause. […] Ratz grunted. “An angel passed.”
Usage notes
[edit]- This phrase is not particularly common in English. Its origins possibly lie in Plutarch, referencing the passage of Hermes.
Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]used to denote an awkward pause
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