vocab for the week 28

What is the meaning of ‘close on the heels of something’?

This is an expression which has been around for quite some time. When you say that something came close on the heels of something else, you mean that it came soon after or immediately after. Other expressions which have more or less the same meaning are, ’hard on the heels of something’ and ’hot on the heels of something’.

*The young couple had a baby close on the heels of buying a house.


The expression comes from the world of hunting; when a hunter is close on the heels of an animal, he is very close to his prey.