one fell swoop en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
After Shakespeare, in Macbeth, act iv, scene 3, where Macduff learns his wife and entire family are murdered: : Ro. Wife, Children, Servants, all that could be found. […] : Macd. […] All my pretty ones? Did you say All? Oh Hell-Kite! All? What, All my pretty Chickens, and their Damme At one fell swoope? The imagery is of a bird of prey ("hell-kite") ransacking a whole nest at one blow, fell meaning "terrible, cruel, savage." In later uses of the expression, the force of the metaphor is reduced or lost.
Meanings
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(idiomatic) One stroke; one action or event that achieves or accomplishes many results.
Changing the oil lubricates the engine and removes debris in one fell swoop.
Remember that these trains will serve Aintree on race days and both Anfield and Goodison Park (and soon Everton FC's new stadium), so there will be times when they are packed to the gunwales with passengers - albeit, disgorging their footfall at one station in one fell swoop.
2023 July 26, Pip Dunn, “Merseyrail '777s' are OK for commuters”, in RAIL, number 988, page 59:There can be few examples in the history of railways of a reduction of sixteen hours in the running time of one train, at one fell swoop, but this has been achieved by the Canadian Pacific Railway with its transcontinental train service, an advance without any parallel in the record of Canada's railways, and the first major timetable change of any sort for several decades.
1955 June, Robert F. Legget, “Dieselisation of Canadian Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 417:...they might be hanging about there or simply marauders ready to decamp with whatever boodle they could in one fell swoop at a moment's notice, your money or your life, leaving you there to point a moral, gagged and garrotted.
, Episode 16
Relateds
swoop · at one stroke · kill two birds with one stone · in one foul swoop · Gordian knot
Translations (25)
he אִבְחַת חֶרֶב (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · es de repente (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · pl za jednym zamachem (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · fr d’un coup d’un seul (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · de in einem Rutsch (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · pt de uma só tacada (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · fi yhdellä iskulla (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · fr d'un seul coup (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · ca de cop i volta (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · ja 一挙 (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · ro dintr-o lovitură (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · pt de uma só vez (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · th ในรวดเดียว (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · it in un colpo solo (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · ba һә тигәнсе (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · ca tot de cop (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · eo per unuopa svingo (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · tr tek hamlede (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · ja 一撃 (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · tr bir kalemde (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · ba күҙ асып йомғансы (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · ja 一気 (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · ru одни́м ма́хом (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · de mit einem Schlag (one stroke; one action or event with many results) · fi kertaheitolla (one stroke; one action or event with many results)