Home UK English over the transom

Meaning of over the transom in English:

over the transom

phrase

informal North American

  • Offered or sent without prior agreement; unsolicited.

    • ‘the editors receive about ten manuscripts a week over the transom’
    • ‘But once everyone adjusts, those couple hundred emails will mean nothing more than the couple dozen letters that might have physically come in over the transom in the old days.’
    • ‘I get a lot of stuff over the transom, and this year I am going to do my best to thank everyone who's contributed material to the site.’
    • ‘An apology came over the transom about an hour later.’
    • ‘Did he decide to hear every preemption case that comes over the transom?’
    • ‘Meanwhile, the money coming in the door could not meet the bills flying over the transom.’
    • ‘The very large outboard engine weighed down the stern and waves were lapping over the transom.’
    • ‘So when this tape came over the transom, they were saying, ‘We've got a scoop!’’
    • ‘But it's important to keep some perspective, even as another load of subpoenas and rotten tomatoes comes in over the transom.’
    • ‘And more counterexamples are coming in over the transom all the time.’
    • ‘These projects come in over the transom in a weird way.’