Word.ws English Dictionary

on the double

on the double prepositional phrase: rapidly or immediately.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (idiomatic) Rapidly or immediately.
    • Fortunately, help arrived on the double, and the victim's injuries were soon treated.
    • My boyfriend's back and you're gonna be in trouble. / You see him comin'; better cut out on the double.1963, “My Boyfriend's Back”, in My Boyfriend's Back, performed by The Angels

Questions about on the double

What does on the double mean?
On the double means rapidly or immediately.
What part of speech is on the double?
On the double is a prepositional phrase.

Words near on the double in the dictionary

  1. on the district
  2. on the DL
  3. on the docket
  4. on the door
  5. on the dot
  6. on the double
  7. on the down-low
  8. on the downlow
  9. on the drum
  10. on the dry
  11. on the earie

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on the double (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-on the double.ogg.

Cite this entry: “on the double.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/on_the_double. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.