on it like a car bonnet

English

WOTD – 26 August 2016

Etymology

English on it with the fanciful elaboration like a car bonnet, the latter part chosen because it rhymes with the first part.

Pronunciation

• Audio (RP)

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• Audio (AU)

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• Hyphenation: on it like a car bon‧net

Prepositional phrase

on it like a car bonnet

1. (simile, humorous) Synonym of on it (“actively working to solve a problem, etc.”)
   • 2015, Jeff Gill, Will Medd, Get Sorted: How to Make the Most of Your Student Experience, Palgrave, →ISBN, page 49:

     Students have described being focused like... / ... An eagle watching its prey ... a footballer with their eye on the ball ... ‘on it like a car bonnet’ ... catching a wave ... ‘just do it’ ... rolling your sleeves up ... keeping the rhythm in a band ... in the zone ... in a bubble ...a tiger

   • 2015, Peter James, You Are Dead, New York, N.Y.: Minotaur Books, →ISBN:

     ‘I had my researchers check the files on all the mispers and cold cases five years either side of that date estimate, on females of that approximate age. This is what they found. Fill your boots.’ He took a large gulp of his drink. / ‘I’m impressed, you've been moving fast.’ / ‘On it like a car bonnet, mate.’

   • 2016 July, J. L. Merrow, Blow Down: The Plumber's Mate, Cincinnati, Oh.: Samhain Publishing, →ISBN:

     We'll spin it that you and me were having a friendly chat over a pint, and you just happened to mention the victim hiring you to find a necklace. Whereupon I, seeing as how I knew stuff you didn't, was on it like a car bonnet and got you to sing like a canary what's won the X Factor and got top billing at the Royal Opera House.