по блату

• ПО БЛАТУ достать, получить что, устроить кого-что и т.п. coll

[PrepP; Invar; adv]

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⇒ (to get, receive, arrange sth., get s.o. a desired position etc) by using connections, with the help of influential friends, contacts etc, illicitly:

- by pulling strings;

- through <thanks to> one's connections;

- by (through) knowing the right people;

- use influence (to get sth. etc);

- (one got (obtained etc) sth.) because one has pull (connections).

     ♦ Она курила длинные иностранные сигареты, которые доставала по блату... (Войнович 6). She smoked long foreign cigarettes that she got through her connections (6a).

     ♦ Мазила на выставку попасть не смог. Неврастеник, попавший на неё по блату, сказал, что выставка, конечно, любопытная. Но стоять часами в очередях из-за неё не стоит (Зиновьев 1). Dauber didn't manage to get in [to the exhibition] at all. Neurasthenic, who did manage to get in thanks to his connections, said that the exhibition was interesting enough, but not so interesting as to be worth queuing for hours to see (1a).

     ♦ Видно, друзья по блату устроили ему однодневный пропуск (Искандер 3). Evidently some friends had used influence to arrange a one-day pass for him (3a).

     ♦ ...Растление литературы дошло до того, что совершенно стёрлись всякие грани между профессиональным писателем и пришедшим по блату (Войнович 1). The corruption of literature has gone so far as to have obliterated all the boundary lines between the professional writer and those who are published because they have pull (1a).