on tiptoe
Idioms-
Eagerly anticipating something, as in The children were on tiptoe before the birthday party . [Late 1500s]
-
Moving stealthily, warily, as in They went down the hall on tiptoe . [Mid-1700s] Both usages transfer standing on one's toes to a particular reason for doing so; def. 2 alludes to moving more quietly in this fashion.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Our spring had always arrived on tiptoe and sat in the back row, the opposite of the ebullient temperate-zone season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 29, 2022
But if visitors stand on tiptoe to look past the marvelous fresco over the home’s jagged walls, they’ll see how the back rooms remain embedded under the newly “stabilized” unexcavated edge of Pompeii.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 20, 2022
Regan stood on tiptoe in red sneakers, straining to keep an eye on her son, as other students and parents began filing by the door, obscuring her view.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 23, 2021
The mother robin, who flies off with an angry twitter when my husband stands on tiptoe to peek into the nest, has shuffled the arrangement of the eggs.
From Salon ● May 9, 2020
I’m thinking this is a terrible presentation—because even on tiptoe I can’t see what’s on the panel — until he hits a button.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
