Check out my companion project: An Idiom a Day (www.twitter.com/AVDemid)
Idiom(s) of the day: Walk on air
Variation(s): Float/tread on air (tread on air appears dated, see BNC entries below)
My category (Russian-to-English translation): Счастье (Happiness)
Explanation(s):
Collins Cobuild Dictionary of Idioms, 2004 (CCDI):
If you say that you are walking on air or are floating on air, you mean that you feel very happy and excited because of something nice that has happened to you
Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):
feel elated
feel elated or exhilarated
in a state of elation : buoyantly
Babylon (www.babylon.com):
feel as if one is in the clouds, feel the rising of the wind; extremely happy, in the seventh heaven
to feel extremely excited or happy
feel extreme happiness or elation; exult, be on cloud nine, jump for joy
be extremely happy
be overjoyed
Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary v4.7:
Translation(s):
CCDI:
Очень радоваться чему-либо; быть в приподнятом настроении; ликовать; ног под собой не чуять; лететь как на крыльях (от счастья).
Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):
Babylon (www.babylon.com):
быть счастливым
ликовать, радоваться, ног под собой не чуять
парить в облаках (от счастья), быть на седьмом небе (от счастья); пребывать в экстазе
Multitran (www.multitran.ru):
"витать в облаках" от любви; "витать в облаках" от радости
смотреться женихом; ног под собой не чуять от радости
Multilex (www.multilex.ru):
Examples:
CCDI:
As soon as I know I’m in the team it’s like walking on air.
I can’t believe that I’ve won. I’m floating on air.
Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):
Sue has been walking on air since she won the prize. His father's compliment left Jed walking on air.
She has been walking on air all morning since she heard that she had passed her exams.
It was so late that he had to walk home, but it did not seem a long way, for he was intoxicated with delight; he seemed to walk on air. (W. S. Maugham, ‘Of Human Bondage’, ch. 90) — Час был поздний, и ему пришлось идти домой пешком, но дорога не показалась ему длинной: он был на седьмом небе от счастья, ноги несли его сами.
In the course of the next morning came Marcel; young, erect and happy, walking upon air. (U. Sinclair, ‘Worlds End’, ch. 12) — На другой день утром пришел Марсель, молодой, подтянутый и весь словно окрыленный.
Who is this young woman who goes out stealthily like this, and meets a young man, and comes back feeling as if she had been treading on air? (J. Galsworthy)
The execution of this arrangement so thrilled Tollifer that he felt as though he were walking on air. (Th. Dreiser)
Who is this young woman who goes out stealthily like this, and meets a young man, and comes back feeling as if she had been treading on air? (J. Galsworthy)
Babylon (www.babylon.com):
After the delivery of her baby, she was walking on air.
She felt the rush of adrenaline and sense of floating on air as the plane lifted off for a tour over the harbor.
Oxford English Dictionary (OED) v4.0:
to walk upon air: to be in an exultant state of mind.
1887 Stevenson Mem. & Portr. iv. 72, I went home that morning walking upon air.
b.B.3.b intr. In phrases, esp. in fig. sense. to tread on air, to walk buoyantly or jubilantly; cf. to walk upon air
1796 R. M. Roche Children of Abbey I. viii. 154 Such were the ideas of the innocent and romantic Amanda; ideas, which made her seem to tread on air. a 1817 Jane Austen Northang. Abb. (1818) II. xi. 223 If Wednesday should ever come!‥ It came—it was fine— and Catherine trod on air. 1874 W. Melville Uncle J. xxii, Leaving the gaol‥Mr. Lexley seemed to tread on air.
Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary v4.7:
British National Corpus (BNC), Mark Davies (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/): [walk] on air, total 18; [float] on air, total 7; [tread] on air, total 1
He understood now all those clichés about hearts singing, feeling ten feet high, walking on air, cloud nine.
An hour later Sophie left the pet shop feeling as though she were walking on air.
It was a wonderful feeling--as if I was walking on air.
Everything becomes so much easier and some people have an experience akin to walking on air or walking on the moon.
There is a curious feeling of walking on air, which I have never thought as agreeable a sensation as people try to make out.
Most couples feel they are walking on air on their wedding day…
As the car moved away, out of sight, and she walked on air up the path to the front door, she thought, Of course, I was right before, he did just feel sorry for me, and now he's regretting kissing me the way he did.
We packed up our possessions and our battered pile of equipment, walked on air , despite our load, through the butterfly and lizard gardens to the high cliff overlooking Bira's deep-water harbour.
She staggered down the gangway, shell-shocked, and walked home feeling as if she was floating on air but as Saturday approached the nervousness began.
This particular evening we'd been to see the latest Lloyd Webber musical and I was high on the music, treading on air …
Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), Mark Davies (http:// www.americancorpus.org/): [walk] on air, total 46; [float] on air, total 26; [tread] on air, total 0
And with Venus and Mars in the most romantic and passionate angle of your chart, it won't just be spring fever that has you walking on air this May.
And yet the platform here feels more like a space station than a stepping stone, so that is why, for once in my life, I am permitting myself the luxury of walking on air.
This impulsiveness is such a turn-on that I walk on air for the rest of the day.
They had a lackluster look to them, nothing like the aura of two people in love. Their feet were too tired from dancing to walk on air, and their heads were too heavy with sleep to care about clouds.
You feel aroused, you feel wonderful, you float on air.
My companion project: An Idiom a Day (www.twitter.com/AVDemid): Ever since I decided to take up writing poetry, or at least verses, again, I’ve been walking on air.
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