on the heels of

English

Alternative forms

• upon the heels of

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Preposition

on the heels of

1. (idiomatic) In close pursuit of; close behind.
   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 219, column 2:

     A quarrelsome band of footsore sulky niggers trod on the heels of the donkey.

   • 1915, Jack London, chapter 5, in Mutiny of the Elsinore:

     On the heels of the little lop-sided man appeared an overgrown dolt of a fat youth, followed by another youth.

   • 2001, Yonatan Netanyahu, The Letters of Jonathan Netanyahu, →ISBN, page 288:

     [T]he men got out quickly, the first ones running on the heels of those who had gotten out of the Mercedes.

   • 2023 April 5, Philip Haigh, “Comment: Pay deal a positive result”, in RAIL, number 980, page 3:

     Hard on the heels of of punctuality and reliabilty comes capacity. That's either trains frequent enough to meet demand, or long enough.

2. (idiomatic, of events, facts, etc.) Closely following; in succession immediately after.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii]:

     One woe doth tread upon another's heel.

   • 1644, J[ohn] M[ilton], chapter 4, in The Doctrine or Discipline of Divorce: […], 2nd edition, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, book 2:

     To avoid these dreadful consequences, that tread upon the heels of those allowances to sin, will be a task of far more difficulty.

   • 1870–1871 (date written), Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter LXXVII, in Roughing It, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company [et al.], published 1872, →OCLC, page 553:

     [A] familiar voice chimed instantly in on the heels of my last word, […]

   • 1917, Upton Sinclair, chapter 32, in King Coal:

     [W]hen such accidents kept happening, one on the heels of another, even the most callous public could not help asking questions.

   • 2012 October 13, “Pakistan’s politics: The peace and love tour”, in The Economist:

     As it happened, the shooting came on the heels of a two-day “peace march” against American drone aircraft _targeting suspected Islamist militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas close to the border with Afghanistan.

Usage notes

Commonly preceded by such verbs as follow, tread, come.

Derived terms

• hot on someone's heels

Translations

in close pursuit of

• French: sur les traces de, juste après, aussitôt après
• Polish: po piętach, na piętach
• Portuguese: no encalço
• Russian: наступа́я на пя́тки (nastupája na pjátki), по пятам (ru) (po pjatam)