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MATTER OF COURSE
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
An inevitable ending
Synonyms:
foregone conclusion; matter of course
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("matter of course" is a kind of...):
conclusion; ending; finish (event whose occurrence ends something)
Context examples:
Quite as a matter of course he ducked, and the fist flew harmlessly past, pivoting the man who had driven it.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
I had read sea-romances in my time, wherein figured, as a matter of course, the lone woman in the midst of a shipload of men; but I learned, now, that I had never comprehended the deeper significance of such a situation—the thing the writers harped upon and exploited so thoroughly.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
I did as I was bid, though I would much rather have remained somewhat in the shade; but Mr. Rochester had such a direct way of giving orders, it seemed a matter of course to obey him promptly.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
The two families were so continually meeting, so much in the habit of running in and out of each other's house at all hours, that it was rather a surprise to her to find Mary alone; but being alone, her being unwell and out of spirits was almost a matter of course.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
Had you seen her this morning, Mary, he continued, attending with such ineffable sweetness and patience to all the demands of her aunt's stupidity, working with her, and for her, her colour beautifully heightened as she leant over the work, then returning to her seat to finish a note which she was previously engaged in writing for that stupid woman's service, and all this with such unpretending gentleness, so much as if it were a matter of course that she was not to have a moment at her own command, her hair arranged as neatly as it always is, and one little curl falling forward as she wrote, which she now and then shook back, and in the midst of all this, still speaking at intervals to me, or listening, and as if she liked to listen, to what I said.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
“And why as a matter of course, Mr. Maldon?” asked Mr. Wickfield, sedately eating his dinner.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
One day only had passed since Anne's conversation with Mrs Smith; but a keener interest had succeeded, and she was now so little touched by Mr Elliot's conduct, except by its effects in one quarter, that it became a matter of course the next morning, still to defer her explanatory visit in Rivers Street.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
This ceremony I performed; and the Doctor begging Mr. Dick, whensoever he should not find me at the coach office, to come on there, and rest himself until our morning's work was over, it soon passed into a custom for Mr. Dick to come on as a matter of course, and, if we were a little late, as often happened on a Wednesday, to walk about the courtyard, waiting for me.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
“Quite so,” returned the other, “—would only have to say, that she wanted such and such a thing to be so and so; and it would be so and so, as a matter of course.”
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Sometimes of an evening, when I looked up from my writing, and saw her seated opposite, I would lean back in my chair, and think how queer it was that there we were, alone together as a matter of course—nobody's business any more—all the romance of our engagement put away upon a shelf, to rust—no one to please but one another—one another to please, for life.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
