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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

on the heels of en · ADP

Pronunciation

Meanings

  1. (idiomatic) In close pursuit of; close behind.
    • Hard on the heels of the last Ostend boat train comes the first Calais train to connect with the sailing of the Invicta from Berth 2 directly opposite the platform end. 1959 October 14, T. W. E. Roche, “Traffic Working at Dover Marine Station”, in Railway Magazine, page 680:
    • A quarrelsome band of footsore sulky niggers trod on the heels of the donkey. 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 219, column 2:
    • [T]he men got out quickly, the first ones running on the heels of those who had gotten out of the Mercedes. 2001, Yonatan Netanyahu, The Letters of Jonathan Netanyahu, →ISBN, page 288:
    • Hard on the heels of of punctuality and reliability comes capacity. That's either trains frequent enough to meet demand, or long enough. 2023 April 5, Philip Haigh, “Comment: Pay deal a positive result”, in RAIL, number 980, page 3:
    • On the heels of the little lop-sided man appeared an overgrown dolt of a fat youth, followed by another youth. 1915, Jack London, chapter 5, in Mutiny of the Elsinore:
  2. (idiomatic, of events, qualifier:facts, usually) Closely following; in succession immediately after.
    • As it happened, the shooting came on the heels of a two-day “peace march” against American drone aircraft targeting suspected Islamist militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas close to the border with Afghanistan. 2012 October 13, “Pakistan’s politics: The peace and love tour”, in The Economist:
    • To avoid these dreadful consequences, that tread upon the heels of those allowances to sin, will be a task of far more difficulty. 1643, J[ohn] M[ilton], chapter 4, in The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce: […], London: […] T[homas] P[aine] and M[atthew] S[immons] […], →OCLC:
    • One woe doth tread upon another's heel. c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii]:
    • [W]hen such accidents kept happening, one on the heels of another, even the most callous public could not help asking questions. 1917, Upton Sinclair, chapter 32, in King Coal:
    • [A] familiar voice chimed instantly in on the heels of my last word, […] 1870–1871 (date written), Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “”, in Roughing It, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company [et al.], published 1872, →OCLC, page 553:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
upon the heels of alternative lexicographic

Deriveds

hot on someone's heels

Translations (9)

pl na piętach (in close pursuit of) · fr aussitôt après (in close pursuit of) · fr sur les traces de (in close pursuit of) · pl po piętach (in close pursuit of) · sv hack i häl (in close pursuit of) · ru по пятам (in close pursuit of) · fr juste après (in close pursuit of) · pt no encalço (in close pursuit of) · ru наступа́я на пя́тки (in close pursuit of)