in the twynklyng of an iȝe

Etymology
From the Bible, 1 Corinthians 15:52, translating the Latin in ictu oculi, from the Greek ἐν ῥιπῇ ὀφθαλμοῦ.

Prepositional phrase

 * 1)  Immediately; instantaneously.
 * 2) * c. 1300, Anonymous, St. Bernard's Saws, MS. Digby 86, "Ubi sonnt…":
 * And in a twincling of an eye / Hoere soules weren forloren
 * 1) * c. 1303,, Handlyng Synne, "Sacrylage":
 * And, as yn twynkelyng of an ye, / Yn-to þe cherche gun þey flye
 * 1) * 1382, 1395,, Bible, 1 Corinthis 15:52:
 * "enm"

- In a moment, in the twynklyng of an iye, in the laste trumpe


 * 1) * c. 1385,, The Compleynt of Mars:
 * And then hir Ioye, for oght I can espye, / Ne lasteth not the twinkeling of an ye
 * 1) * c. 1387-1400, ———, The Canterbury Tales, "The Clerk's Prologue":
 * But deeth, that wol nat suffre us dwellen heer, / But as it were a twynklyng of an ye