without batting an eye

without batting an eye idiom
Showing no emotion, acting as though nothing were unusual. For example, Richard ate the snails without batting an eye. A related phrase is not bat an eye, as in He didn't bat an eye when she told him he was being laid off. These expressions, which use bat in the sense of “blink,” date from about 1900.

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.

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