think on one's feet

React quickly, be mentally agile, as in Reporters bombarded him with difficult questions, but Bill was very good at thinking on his feet . This expression uses on one's feet in the sense of "wide awake, alertly." [First half of 1900s]

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Erskine	UR-skien	Scottish, Irish, English (Rare)
Yarbrough	['ja:brə]
Levente	-	Hungarian
AgÁTa	-	Czech
Mahala	-	English
Freyde	-	Yiddish