asleep at the switch
adjEtymology
Probably an allusion to the important responsibilities of a railway switchman.
Definitions
Neglectful of an important task, responsibility, or opportunity.
- His vote demonstrates that the people of Philadelphia are not asleep at the switch, are not indifferent to their political duties.
- My guardian angel had not been asleep at the switch.
- It is sometimes difficult to guess whether a sentence has been garbled by the author or the typesetter […] . In either case, the editors were asleep at the switch.
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for asleep at the switch. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA