Phrase guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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prep_phrase
Of a work submitted for publication, unsolicited.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: idiomatic
Topics: media, publishing
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
prep_phrase
Meeting a deadline by delivery after the day of the deadline but before opening of business the following business day.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: idiomatic
Topics: government, law
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
A transom is a lintel or crosspiece over a door; likely an alteration of Latin trānstrum (“crossbeam”). Refers to the idea of a writer tossing a manuscript through the open window over the door of the publisher's office. Alternatively, a "transom" is the nautical term for the back of a small boat. Something which "came in over the transom" would have suddenly (and presumably, surprisingly) entered through the "back door" of the craft, metaphorically.
