- English translation
Off like someone who just heard, 'Nimra, your brother Za'irab is dead!'
- Literal wording
Like the call: 'O Nimra, your brother Za'irab has died.'
- Meaning and lesson
The saying describes someone rushing along at breakneck pace, refusing to stop, turn aside, or take notice of anything on the way. The hurry is total and blind, as if nothing exists except pressing forward.
The shouted news of Za'irab's death serves as the trigger in the comparison: one alarming cry that sets off a headlong, heedless dash. The words themselves only announce a death; the sense of reckless speed comes from the comparison, not from any single word.
- When it is used
Use it to describe a person moving in a headlong rush, so hurried that nothing around them registers or slows them down, as though they had bolted at the sound of a startling cry.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: Off like someone who just heard, 'Nimra, your brother Za'irab is dead!'