Wiktionary

on the spot

See also: on-the-spot

English

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Pronunciation

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Prepositional phrase

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on the spot

  1. (idiomatic) At that very moment.
    Synonyms: right away, then and there
    He liked the house, so he made an offer on the spot.
    • 1739, Samuel Sharp, “Of Amputation” (chapter XXXVII), in A Treatise on the Operations of Surgery, London: J. Brotherton, page 221:
      There are in the Armies a great many Inſtances of Gun-ſhot Wounds of the Arm near the Scapula, which require Amputation at the Shoulder; but the Apprehenſion of loſing their Patients on the Spot by the Hæmorrhage, has deterred Surgeons from undertaking it.
  2. (idiomatic) Having to answer or decide without warning or preparation.
    All the sudden questions put him on the spot and he had to think quickly.
  3. (idiomatic) In a particular place.
    Synonyms: in place, on location, on site, on the premises, in the room
    This report comes from our man on the spot in Gaza.
    We exercised by jumping up and down on the spot.
    • 1928, Dorothy L. Sayers, “The Abominable History of the Man with Copper Fingers”, in Lord Peter Views the Body:
      I had accepted an engagement to go out with Mystofilms Ltd. in Fake of Dead Man's Bush—the dwarf-men picture, you know, taken on the spot among the Australian bushmen.
    • 1945 September and October, C. Hamilton Ellis, “Royal Trains—V”, in Railway Magazine, pages 251–252:
      […] on October 29, 1888, the Russian imperial train was derailed at Borki by defective track, and twenty-one persons were killed. Although these did not include the Emperor Alexander III, who escaped with a bruising, a footman serving coffee to him at the critical moment, and his dog, which was lying on the floor beside him, were both killed on the spot.

Translations

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