Citations:balloon goes up

English citations of balloon goes up

						1909 1932 1963 1967 1980
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• 1909, Putnam's Magazine, quoted in OED ⎥ Oxford English Dictionary online, retrieved 22 August 2024:

‘You tell Alfonso..that one more break like that will give him a good swift start for Spain.’..‘In brief, Alfonso, cut out the musical extras or your balloon goes up.’

• 1932 August 17, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter 16, in Hot Water, Woodstock, New York, N.Y.: The Overlook Press, published 1983, →ISBN, page 209:

  This was the moment when he must put his fortune to the test, to win or lose it all. Now or never must the balloon go up.

• 1963 March 22, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter 16, in Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves (Perennial Library; P668), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Row, published 1983, →ISBN, page 129:

  "Then may I tell Harold that the balloon's going up?" said Stiffy. / "I beg your pardon?" / "I mean it's official about this vicarage?"

• 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 73:

  ”Time’s up, my chickens!” “What time?” said Fanny. “Why, the truce, of course!” said Harry. “You’ve had your twenty-four hours and longer. After dinner tonight the balloon goes up.” And go up it did.

• 1980 April 15, Joseph P[atrick] Addabbo (chairman, Subcommittee on the Department of Defense), Donald R[aymond] Keith (witness), “Army Research and Development”, in Department of Defense Appropriations for 1981: Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, Ninety-sixth Congress, Second Session […] Part 3: Research, Development, and Acquisition, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 681:

  Mr. Addabbo. […] But TACFIRE, because it is big and noisy and radiates heat, is vulnerable. If the balloon goes up TACFIRE won't last long. It is also very old technology. / […] General Keith. […] What I am saying is if the balloon goes up tomorrow, we will have something over the next few years to greatly enhance the efficiency of our field artillery. […] I cannot tell you when we will be able to say when the balloon goes up we have got something that is that much better.