keep one's eye on the ball

Idioms

Remain alert and attentive, as in The research director told her students to keep their eye on the ball when it came to accurate footnotes. This expression alludes to numerous sports in which players must watch a ball's path. [c. 1900]

Example Sentences

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keep one's eye on the ball

He is not against missiles, though sometimes quoted as being so, but he feels that in air warfare it is always necessary to keep one's eye on the ball, not on the distant future.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023