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
Iwan	EE-wan (Welsh), EE-vahn (Polish)	Welsh, Polish
Dudley	DUD-lee	English
Zaid	-	Arabic
Sachin	-	Indian, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Telugu
Anouska	-	Various
Sally	['sæli]