Idioms: Act - get in on the a.

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Idiom(s) of the day: Get in on the act; variant: get into the act

My category (Russian-to-English translation): Начало действия и остановка (Starting and stopping). Участие и заинтересованность (Involvement and interest)

Explanation(s):

Collins Cobuild Dictionary of Idioms, 2004 (CCDI):

If you get in on the act, you start doing something which was first done by someone else, usually so that you can have the same success as them, or get some advantage for yourself. You can also say that you are in on the act, or use other verbs instead of ‘get’.

Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):

become or be involved in a particular activity, in order to gain profit or advantage

to become involved in a profitable undertaking or advantageous situation in order to share in the benefits

To do something because others are engaged in the same act; join others.

Babylon (www.babylon.com):

into the act or in on the act : into an undertaking or situation as an active participant

Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary v4.7:

Translation(s):

CCDI:

Войти в дело, компанию и т.п.; заняться чем-либо, присоединившись к кому-либо.

Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):

присоединяться к кому-л., подражать кому-л., добившемуся успеха, с желанием разделить этот успех

Babylon (www.babylon.com):

Multitran (www.multitran.ru):

быть вовлечённым во что-либо

Multilex (www.multilex.ru):

Oxford English Dictionary (OED) v4.0:

… in other phrases: to get into the act (colloq., orig. U.S.), to become a participant; to involve oneself in some (successful, fashionable, etc.) venture or activity; also (to be) in on the act...

Examples:

CCDI:

Its reputation has reached the United States and American investors have been trying to get in on the act.

It’s rather like the Greens in Britain in the eighties: everyone wants to get in on the act.

It’s not enough to read the books, I want to be in on the act.

Even the lifeguards have been brought in on the act, policing the beach for reckless sunbathers.

Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):

Folks try to get in on the act whenever they can — Люди всегда стараются примазаться там, где можно что-нибудь урвать для себя He's the sort of guy that would get in on the act when my baby is around — Когда я прихожу со своей девушкой, он всегда вертится рядом How did he get in on the act? — А он-то как тут оказался? Why are you trying to get in on the act? — Что ты тут крутишься?

John's business is succeeding so well that both of his brothers want to get in on the act.

Babylon (www.babylon.com):

Oxford English Dictionary (OED) v4.0:

(b) 1947 Current Biog. 1946 168/1 The Durante quips (‘I've got a million of 'em’, ‘Everybody wants to get into da act,’‥) are ‘timelessly colorful’. 1951 ‘J. Tey’ Daughter of Time viii. Morton had been very much ‘in on the act’. 1958 Spectator 22 Aug. 239/1 President Chamoun got back into the act by announcing that they would not be asked to withdraw from the Lebanon. 1967 Listener 22 June 835/2 No one for a moment supposes that Friendly will not be in on the act. 1969 M. Puzo Godfather ii. xiii. 188 The author‥came west on Johnny's invitation, to talk it over without agents or studios getting into the act.

Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary v4.7:

British National Corpus (BNC), Mark Davies (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/): [get] in on the act; total 36

Even their parents got in on the act , when the Mercedes hired to take them to the reception blew up.

By the time Adidas and Umbro got in on the act in the late-Seventies, a shirt could be carrying up to 40 little advertisements…

Later European governments got in on the act and set about invading and colonizing large chunks of the globe.

It was then that Nigger decided to get in on the act , and launched himself the length of the hallway.

But in the wings, British Telecom wants to get in on the act .

Even British farmers have been getting in on the act , attracted by the lure of cheap agricultural land at prices half those on our side of the Channel.

Getting in on the act , [the comma seems unwarranted – AVD] is the crew of the Marton horse bus (left) who were about to become redundant.

Even Eldorado gets in on the act and two episodes of EastEnders will be screened, one on Christmas Eve and the other on Christmas Day.

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