over the transom
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Received unexpectedly or without prior announcement
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
nhận được một cách bất ngờ hoặc không có thông báo trước
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: through a window over a door
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The manuscript arrived over the transom just before the deadline.
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “over the transom” mean?
Received unexpectedly or without prior announcement Literally: through a window over a door
Is “over the transom” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.