• ЗА МИЛУЮ ДУШУ coll
[PrepP; Invar; adv]
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1. (to do sth.) very willingly, with great enthusiasm, delight:
- (be) more than happy (to do sth.);
- (be) only too glad (happy) (to do sth.);
- with great pleasure;
- happily;
- gladly;
- [in limited contexts] to one'sheartfscontent;
|| повеселиться{{}}за милую душу ≈ have the time of one's life.
♦ "А ведь она [Нинка]... и правда понесла бы их [бутылки с водкой] сдавать... А там за милу[ю] душу приняли бы за те же двенадцать копеек" (Распутин 3). "She [Ninka] really would have done it too. She'd have taken them [the bottles full of vodka] back. ... And they'd have been only too glad to give her twelve kopecks for them, same as for the empties" (3a).
♦ Тогда вой усилился, словно воющий решил во время перерыва повыть за милую душу (Аксёнов 6). Then the wailing grew louder, as though the waiter had decided that during the lunch break he would wail to his heart's content (6a).
♦ Он заговорщически подмигнул мне: не пропадем, мол, погужуемся за милую душу! (Аксёнов 6). He gave me a conspiratorial wink, meaning: We're not going to waste our stay here; we're going to have the time of our lives, aren't we?! (6a).
2. [usu. used with pfv verbs]
⇒ (to do sth.) without deliberating, immediately, with no qualms:
- without thinking twice;
- without a moment's hesitation;
- just like that;
- (right) then and there;
- [in limited contexts] in a snap.
♦ Не ввязывайся в драку с Петром - может прихлопнуть за милую душу. Don't get in a fight with Pyotr, he could kill you just like that.
♦ Эти суки могут тебя обратать и в международной зоне аэропорта, и на борту самолета запереть в сортирный чуланчик, как недавно поступили с нежной балериной В., и в братской республике захапают за милую душу (Аксёнов 12). Those animals could get him back even from the international zone or lock him into the toilet on board a plane, he knew, as they recently did with the delicate ballerina V, and they could grab him in a snap in a "fraternal republic" (12a).
3. [used with pfv verbs]
⇒ certainly, unquestionably, without any doubt:
- for (darn) sure;
- sure as anything;
- (there's <there are>) no two ways about it.
Большой русско-английский фразеологический словарь. — М.: ACT-ПРЕСС КНИГА. С.И. Лубенская. 2004.