висеть в воздухе

• ПОВИСАТЬ/ПОВИСНУТЬ В ВОЗДУХЕ

[VP; fixed WO]

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1. [subj: usu. рука, нога]

⇒ having interrupted a movement before it is completed, to remain motionless in that position:

- рука <нога> повисла в воздухе ≈ s.o.'s arm (leg) remained (was left) suspended in midair.

2. coll. Also: ВИСЕТЬ В ВОЗДУХЕ coll [subj: human or abstr (дело, поездка, планы etc)]

⇒ to be in a state of uncertainty, in an indefinite position:

- X повис в воздухе{{}}≈ X was left hanging;

- X was up in the air;

- X was in (a state of) limbo.

     ♦ Из-за маминой болезни моя командировка в Прагу повисла в воздухе. Because of my mother's illness, my business trip to Prague is up in the air.

3. [subj: слова, возражения etc]

⇒ (of s.o.'s remarks, objections etc) to receive no reaction, response, or support (from others):

- X повис в воздухе{{}}≈ X fell on deaf ears;

- X was of (to) no avail.

     ♦ [Бывший партийный работник] стал агитатором в каком-то техникуме, в Ленинграде... Пришёл поторопить своих подопечных в день выборов - никто идти не хочет. Он говорит: "Вам надо с нас пример брать - мы революцию делали"... А ему отвечают: "А кто вас просил революцию делать? Раньше лучше жилось..." Вся его революционная фразеология повисла в воздухе... (Мандельштам 1). ...Не [a former Party official] had taken on the job of giving political instruction in a Leningrad technical college. ...On one election day he had come to the college early to get all the students out to vote, but none of them wanted to. He said they should take an example from people like himself who had "made the Revolution."...To this they replied that nobody had asked him to make a revolution and that people had been better off before. This had left him speechless, and the whole of his "revolutionary" claptrap had been to no avail (1a).