set back on one's heels

Surprise, shock, or disconcert, as in The news of their divorce set us back on our heels. This idiom, with its graphic image of someone being pushed back, dates from the first half of the 1900s.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Emyr	-	Welsh
Savitri	-	Hinduism, Indian, Hindi, Marathi
Adalfuns	-	Ancient Germanic
Nanna (1)	NAN-nah (Danish), NAHN-nah (Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic)	Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Norse Mythology
Cicely	SIS-ə-lee	English
ViŠNja	VEESH-nyah	Croatian, Serbian