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of course

of course idiom

In the customary or expected order, naturally, as in The new minister did not, of course, fire the church secretary. This usage, first recorded in 1548, employs course in the sense of “ordinary procedure.”
Certainly, as in Of course I'll answer the phone, or Are you going to the meeting?—Of course. [Early 1800s] Also see matter of course.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.