слово за слово

• СЛОВО ЗА СЛОВО coll

[Invar; adv or indep. clause]

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1. слово за слово (разговориться, познакомиться, расспросить и т. п.) (to get to talking) in a gradual, natural manner, with each participant's remarks eliciting a response from the other; (to get to know s.o., question s.o. etc) in a gradual, natural manner in the course of a conversation:

- [in past contexts] one word (thing) led to another;

- as the conversation progressed (one got to know s.o. <asked s.o. sth. etc >);

- little by little (one got to talking with s.o. <convinced s.o. of sth. etc>).

     ♦ Да, так встретились [дед и запорожец]. Слово за слово, долго ли до знакомства? Пошли калякать, калякать так, что дед совсем уже было позабыл про путь свой (Гоголь 5). So they [Grandad and a Dnieper Cossack] met. One word leads to another, it doesn't take long to make friends. They fell to chatting and chatting, so that Grandad quite forgot about his journey (5a).

     ♦ [Кашкина:] Как это вы вдруг... разговорились? [Шаманов (насмешливо):) Да так, очень просто. Я сделал ей комплимент, она... Да, вот так, слово за слово... (Вампилов 2). [К.:] How come you two suddenly started., talking? [Sh. (Mockingly):] Oh, it was very simple I paid her a compliment, and she. ... And then, one thing led to another (2b).

     ♦ ...Слово за слово, [Пидорка] уговорила старуху идти с собою (Гоголь 5). ...Little by little, she [Pidorka] persuaded the old hag to go home with her (5a).

2. слово за слово (рассориться, разругаться и т. п.) [usu. used with pfv verbs]

⇒ (to quarrel, have an argument with s.o. etc) with increasing intensity:

- one word provoked another;

- one hard (harsh) word brought another;

- one thing led to another;

- (the argument became more heated <one became more brash etc>) with every word.

     ♦ ...Ребров потерял равновесие. Слово за слово - и все, будто только того и ждали, закрутились в эту воронку (Трифонов 1). Не [Rebrov] lost his self-control. One word provoked another, and this seemed to be all that was needed for the volcano to erupt (1a).

     ♦ "Разозлившись на то, что мать и сестра не хотят, по его наветам, со мною рассориться, он [Лужин], слово за слово, начал говорить им непростительные дерзости" (Достоевский 3). "Angry that my mother and sister did not want to quarrel with me over his calumny, he [Luzhin] became more unpardonably rude to them with every word" (3c).