in a twinkling


in a twinkling

At once; very quickly or suddenly or nearly immediately. Our storewide sale will only be available as supplies last, so be sure to hurry—these deals are going to be gone in a twinkling! When faced with the need to save costs, the management decided the fates of lower-level workers in a twinkling, without any serious deliberation.See also: twinkling

in a twinkling (or the twinkling of an eye)

in an instant; very quickly. A twinkling is the time taken to wink or blink an eye. The phrase can be traced back to 1 Corinthians 15:52: ‘In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed’, and it has been in figurative sense since medieval times.See also: twinkling