Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary by Collins

23mm spine

130x197mm

Collins

idioms

Thousands of British, American, Canadian, Australian and South African idioms explained in simple, natural English

Up-to-date examples from the Collins Corpus show how idioms are used in everyday English

dictionary

A brand new supplement listing British English idioms and their equivalents in American English

4th EDITION

Hundreds of notes help you understand the meaning and origins of idioms

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Self-study exercises help you remember idioms and how to use them

Free worksheets available to download

www.collins.co.uk/elt facebook.com/collinselt @CollinsELT ISBN 978-0-00-837545-4

Use the COBUILD Learnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dictionary at www.collinsdictionary.com

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4th EDITION

The source of authentic English

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IDIOMS

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Fourth Edition 2020

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ISBN 978-0-00-837545-4

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Acknowledgements We would like to thank those authors and publishers who kindly gave permission for copyright material to be used in the Collins Corpus. We would also like to thank Times Newspapers Ltd for providing valuable data.

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Contents Introduction

How to find an idiom in the dictionary

viii

Guide to the dictionary entries

About the dictionary entries

Idioms Dictionary

1–498

1–32

British and American idioms

499

Topic index

505

Exercises

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Fourth Edition Senior Editor Penny Hands Corpus Research Julie Moore

For the Publishers Maree Airlie Lisa Todd Sarah Woods

Third Edition

Senior Editors Elizabeth Walter Kate Woodford

Managing Editor Penny Hands

Project Managers Mary O’Neill Lisa Sutherland

For the Publishers Lucy Cooper Kerry Ferguson Elaine Higgleton Susanne Reichert

Computing Support Thomas Callan

Founding Editor-in-Chief John Sinclair

We would like to thank the following people for their contributions to previous editions of the text:

Maree Airlie, Jane Bradbury, Ted Carden, Michela Clari, Jeremy Clear, Sue Crawley, Michelle Devereux, Gwyneth Fox, Lucille Glassman, Professor Malcolm Goodale, Bob Grossmith, Keith Harvey, Zoe James, Lorna Knight, Tim Lane, Michael Lax, Alison Macaulay, Carol McCann, Héloïse McGuinness, Jill McNair, Duncan Marshall, Clare Marson, Rosamund Moon, Sue Ogden, Dr Julia Penelope, Luisa Plaja, Debbie Posner, Elizabeth Potter, Robin Rosenberg, Lynsey Roxburgh, Maggie Seaton, Debbie Seymour, Sue Smith, Mike Stocks, Mark Taylor, Richard Thomas, Miranda Timewell, John Todd, Jenny Watson, Laura Wedgeworth, Deborah Yuill

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Introduction

This new edition of Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary is the result of much research with teachers and students of English. We listened to what you told us, and we have presented the information in this book in the most helpful way – the layout of each entry is attractive and easy to follow, explanations and examples are concise and easy to understand, and extra information about, for example, pragmatics appears in a separate box so it is easy to see. The Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary also offers useful supplementary information which arranges idioms by topic, and new for this edition, there is a list of equivalent British and American English idioms.

Like all other COBUILD dictionaries, it is based on a long and careful study of the Collins Corpus, a corpus of 4.5 billion words of contemporary English speech and writing, and so its compilers are in a unique position to describe idioms in current English. Idioms are interesting because they are colourful and lively. At the same time, they are difficult because they have unpredictable meanings or collocations and grammar, and often have special connotations. Idioms are frequently neglected in general dictionaries and in classroom teaching, because they are considered marginal items which are quaint but not significant. Yet research into idioms shows that they serve an important role in spoken language and in writing, in particular in expressing speaker attitudes. The Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary sets out to give detailed coverage of these roles.

What is an idiom?

An idiom is a special kind of phrase. It is a group of words which have a different meaning when used together from the meaning it would have if the meaning of each word were taken individually. If you do not know that the words have a special meaning together, you may well misinterpret what someone is saying.

Idioms are typically metaphorical: they are effectively metaphors which have become ‘fixed’ or ‘fossilized’. In some cases, it is fairly easy to see how the idiomatic meaning relates to the literal meaning. For example, kill two birds with one stone means ‘achieve two things at the same time’, and the image in the metaphor supports this meaning. In other cases, the literal meanings may make no sense at all. For example, move heaven and earth literally describes an action which is physically impossible. In a few further cases, the metaphors in the idioms are peculiar, so it is very difficult to see how or why the idioms have come to have their current meanings.

The dictionary contains information about the origins of many of the idioms, but it is important to remember that there are only a few histories and origins we can be certain about. In some of these cases, we provide a brief explanation of the key words in the idiom, to help the learner gain a better understanding of the image.

The scope of the dictionary

The Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary covers many of the idioms which people are likely to find in everyday English, including a large number of new idioms that have come into the language since the last edition was published. It covers traditional English idioms such as spill the beans and a red herring. It also includes some very common multi-word metaphors such as the acid test and brownie points; proverbs such as every cloud has a silver lining and in for a penny, in for a pound; common similes such as white as a sheet and old as the hills; and some other expressions which have a strong pragmatic meaning, such as famous last words and that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

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We have also included expressions which are combinations of phrasal verbs (verbs and fixed particles) and fixed or semi-fixed noun phrases, for example give up the ghost, put someone off their stroke and throw the baby out with the bath water. To make it easy to find an idiom among the vast number included in the dictionary, a comprehensive system of cross references is in place in this edition. For example, if you look up the idiom long as your arm under arm, a cross reference will direct you straight to the entry where the idiom appears, in this case long.

Idioms in use The Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary represents what we have learned about idioms in the Collins Corpus.

Idioms have often been associated with conversation and informal language. However, the evidence in the Collins Corpus suggests that they are also very common in journalism and magazines, where writers are seeking to make their articles and stories more vivid, interesting, and appealing to their readers, and to get their opinions across effectively.

Another point is that although idioms are sometimes described as ‘fixed’, they are often not fixed at all. Many idioms have two or more alternative forms, without any change in meaning: for example, burn your bridges and burn your boats, or up the ante and raise the ante. Sometimes, these different forms reflect differences between British and American English: for example, burn your bridges is used in both varieties, whereas the form burn your boats is used only in British English. In many cases, there are several different verbs which can be used in an idiom: for example, ‘sit’ is the verb most commonly used in the idiom sit on the fence, and so we have given this as the main form, but verbs such as ‘stay’ and ‘be’ can be used instead of ‘sit’. Similarly, prepositions or syntax can vary: for example, have your back to the wall and have your back against the wall, or feel something in your bones and have a feeling in your bones. The Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary shows these variations and gives the range of possibilities.

Idioms, pragmatics, and context

The examples in this edition are all up to date, authentic, and drawn from the Collins Corpus. Minor changes have been made to some examples to make them as simple as possible without affecting their authenticity or their meaning, so every example will give a clear understanding of the meaning and usage of each idiom.

Pragmatics is the study of the way in which people use language to achieve different goals: in making suggestions or offers, in thanking, in expressing emotions and opinions, or in making commitments. Idioms have important pragmatic functions in language. They are less often used purely to convey factual information and more often to convey attitude. They typically convey evaluations: they are used as ways of expressing approval and admiration, or disapproval and criticism. In addition to conveying evaluations, idioms have other functions in texts and interactions. For example, idioms are used to give emphasis or to organize discourse, or in conveying thanks or refusals. The Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary gives explicit guidance on this, in order to help learners of English (and their teachers) understand idioms more fully and be able to use them more confidently.

People often use idioms in order to create a sense of ‘camaraderie’ with the people they are speaking to or writing for: idioms make language seem more lively and interesting, more friendly and more

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informal. In fact, idioms are often used in contexts which are not really informal at all. In this dictionary, we have only labelled as [informal] those idioms which are very informal and which might cause offence if used in the wrong situations. As a general rule, learners should be careful how they use idioms in formal contexts and in formal writing. A list of labels used in this dictionary is given on page xiii.

British and American idioms

There are some distinctions between the idioms used in British English and the idioms used in American English, although the majority of idioms are used in both varieties. We have widened our coverage of both British and American idioms in this dictionary, and we show where there are variations in form or usage.

Widespread access to the internet has led to the distinction between British and American English becoming less clear-cut over time; however, there are still some important differences in idiom use. To learn more about idioms in British and American English, go to page 499, where you will find a brand-new supplement listing British English idioms and their equivalents in American English.

The situation with Australian English is more complicated, since Australian English includes idioms from both British and American English. When we comment that an idiom is only used in British English or only used in American English, we are neither including nor excluding Australian English. We have, however, included Australian English idioms which our evidence suggests are used more widely now, as well as those from other varieties of English, such as South African English. By including these idioms we have created a dictionary that is truly international in its scope.

The topic index

To provide even more help in finding an appropriate idiom for the context, this new edition of the Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary contains a topic index featuring 18 different topics. This index lists the most common and useful idioms within a particular area of meaning, for example ‘starting and stopping’ or ‘money’.

Exercises and downloadable worksheets

Teachers told us how important it is that a learner consolidates his or her knowledge of language through practice and use. With this in mind, in the centre of the dictionary there are 32 pages of self-study exercises that will help the learner really understand what idioms mean and how to use them. Teachers will also want to download the activity worksheets to accompany the book that are available on the Collins Language website, ready to be printed off and taken straight to lessons. These cover topics such as ‘food and clothes’ and ‘success and failure’, and reinforce students’ knowledge of idioms through exercises, crosswords and word searches. Go to www.collins.co.uk/cobuild-resources.

Finally… Since the last edition of the dictionary, the research we have carried out among teachers and students of English has proved invaluable, and we have benefited greatly from it. Now we hope to pass the benefits on to you, with a new edition of the Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary that is more useful, easy to use, and even more interesting and informative than ever before.

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How to find an idiom in the dictionary To find an idiom in the Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, you should identify the key word in the idiom and go straight to that entry in the dictionary. Look at the guidelines below to help you decide what this key word is. If the idiom you want is not explained in the entry, you will find a note – called a cross-reference – telling you where in the dictionary you will find the explanation.

Headwords in the dictionary

The idiom entries in the main dictionary text are each attached to a headword, which is normally one of the lexical words in the idiom. Headwords are arranged alphabetically. This is to help you find idioms as easily as possible. For example, spill the beans is under the headword beans. Note that if the word we choose as headword is a plural noun or a verb participle, then the headword will also be in that form, rather than in the base form of the noun or verb. This is why spill the beans is under beans rather than bean. Generally, the word we choose as headword is a noun: for example, rock the boat is under the noun boat as headword, and sit on the fence is under fence. If there are two nouns, then the headword is the first noun: for example, it’s raining cats and dogs is under the headword cats and cost an arm and a leg under arm. If there is no noun in the idiom, then the headword will be the verb, unless the idiom contains an adjective or adverb that is more ‘meaningful’ than the verb (the idiom see red is under the headword red). If the idiom contains no nouns or verbs, then the headword will be either an adjective or an adverb.

There are four main exceptions to these general rules: the word chosen as headword is normally a fixed word in the idiom: that is, it never varies. In some cases, the only noun in the idiom varies, and so we have chosen to put the idiom under another word which is fixed. For example, beat your breast has a common variation beat your chest, and so you will find the idiom under the verb beat.

2. occasionally, our rules for choosing headwords would mean that two idioms which contain similar words would end up in very different parts of the dictionary. In this case, we put them under the same headword. For example, we put both a fair crack of the whip and to crack the whip under the headword whip.

3. if an idiom contains two nouns, but the first noun is a very general word such as ‘end’ or ‘top’, then the idiom will be found at the second noun. For example, the thin end of the wedge is under wedge.

4. finally, similes such as white as a sheet and old as the hills are always dealt with under their adjectives – white and old in these cases – rather than under their nouns. This is because they generally reinforce or emphasize the meaning of the adjective.

The order of idiom entries

Idioms are arranged in alphabetical order under each dictionary headword. This is the case even if the idiom is followed by a cross-reference to another headword. Note that the words ‘a’, ‘an’ or ‘the’ are not taken into account. Note also that only the main forms of idioms are alphabetized. This means that any variant forms given at the beginning of an entry for an individual idiom may appear to be out of alphabetical order. For example, fall on your feet, a variation given at the idiom land on your feet, appears out of alphabetical position.

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Guide to the dictionary entries grass Idiom

The definition tells you what the idiom means and gives you more information about its context and how to use it

Notes explain the history behind the idiom

be put out to grass If someone is put out to grass, they are made to retire from their job, or they are moved to a less important job, because people think that they are too old to be useful. ❑ As for the presenters of the show, they should have been put out to grass long ago. ❑ The Prime Minister refused to be put out to grass. Asked if he would quit, he replied ‘The answer is no.’ ➜ compare with put someone out to pasture When horses have reached the end of their working lives, they are sometimes released into fields to graze. the grass is always greener or the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence If you say the grass is always greener or the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, you mean that other people often seem to be in a better situation than you, but in reality their situation may not be as good as it seems. ❑ You know what it’s like – the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. I’m always looking at jobs advertised online and thinking I’d be better off somewhere else. ✪ the grass roots The grass roots of an organization or movement are the ordinary people who form the main part of it, rather than its leaders. ❑ The revolution is actually coming from the grass roots and I think eventually the authorities will follow. ❑ This was a truly socialist party, ultimately controlled by its grass roots. ● Grass-roots or grassroots can be used before a noun. ❑ The proposal is backed by grass-roots activists. ❑ The president won the election after a grassroots campaign. ❑ The leadership has become detached from what’s going on at grassroots level. green as grass ➜ see green kick something into the long grass [british, journalism] If someone kicks an idea or plan into the long grass, they refuse to deal with it immediately, often because it will create problems for them.

Common variation of the main idiom: the same idiom with a slightly different wording, used with the same meaning Examples from the Collins Corpus show you how the idiom is really used

Labels tell you more about the context in which the idiom is used

Crossreferences tell you where to find an idiom that is similar but has a different meaning

Follow-on paragraphs give further information about variations and how to use the idiom

A star highlights the most common idioms

Headwords are organized in alphabetical order. Idioms are listed under a headword

Crossreferences tell you where to find the idiom you are looking for

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About the dictionary entries Idiom headwords and variations

Under each large blue headword in the dictionary, you will find a list of idioms in blue. Each idiom has a main form, and idioms are arranged in alphabetical order of these main forms. We use ‘someone’, ‘something’, and ‘somewhere’ to show that the idiom has to be completed with a word referring to a person, a thing, or a place. Similarly, we use words such as ‘you’, ‘your’, ‘yourself ’, and ‘their’ to indicate that a personal pronoun or possessive adjective should be used in the idiom. Where an idiom has variations, we give the commonest form as the first, main form of the idiom. If a variation is almost as common as the main form, we give the variation as a second idiom immediately below this main form. We also mention these variations in the definitions:

fly the nest or leave the nest When children fly the nest or leave the nest, they leave their parents’ home to live on their own.

Where the variations are less common, we mention them in a follow-on paragraph at the end of the definition and examples. These paragraphs start with a black dot, so you can spot them easily:

pick holes in something If you pick holes in something such as an argument or a piece of work, you find Cob Idioms A-Z_4th proofs.indd mistakes in it to 312-313 show that it is wrong or of poor quality. ❑ They’ve been picking holes in the evidence ever since the report was published. ❑ It’s easy to pick holes in a piece of work so long after its publication. ● Verbs such as poke and shoot can be used instead of pick. ❑ The defense lawyers attempted to poke holes in her evidence.

● Less often, people describe someone as

a sheep in wolf ’s clothing, meaning that a person seems dangerous or powerful, but in fact is harmless or ordinary. ❑ She

Occasionally, the variations in follow-on paragraphs come from the main idioms but have a different structure or meaning. These may be included with special comment. For example, the entry for the idiom a wolf in sheep’s clothing has this follow-on paragraph:

More information about variations can be found in the examples, which reflect the range of forms we have found in the Collins Corpus.

Geographical variations If a variation shows a difference between British and American English, we give the variation as a second headword below the main one:

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â&#x153;Ş sugar the pill [british] or sugar-coat the pill [american] However, if an idiom is similar in both British and American English, and one of the forms can be found in more detail in another part of the dictionary, it is given in a box at the end of the entry. For example, at the American idiom sweep something under the rug, you will find: The usual British expression is sweep 10/05/2012 13:24 something under the carpet.

Definitions and meanings

The definitions in this dictionary, as in other COBUILD dictionaries, are written in full sentences. The language of the definitions is kept as simple as possible, explaining the idioms in context with their typical structures and collocations.

In addition to describing the meanings of idioms, definitions often give information about the contexts in which they are used. For example, the definition for neck and neck:

In a race or contest, if two competitors are neck and neck, they are exactly level with each other, so that it is impossible to say who will win. This definition shows that the idiom is typically used in the context of races and contests, and is also used to describe competitors in the race or competition.

If an idiom has two or more meanings, the entry for the idiom is divided into separate, numbered sections.

Sometimes follow-on paragraphs show slight changes in meaning or usage that cannot be classed as completely different meanings. For example, the main definition of change hands is: If something changes hands, one person or organization gets it from another, usually by buying it.

amount of money, you say that amount of money changes hands.

â&#x2014;? When something is sold for a particular

and the follow-on paragraph is:

Inflections and grammar

We show in the definitions and examples which words in idioms inflect and the structures in which an idiom is commonly used. By using these as guidelines, learners will be able to produce their own sentences with idioms. For example, the definition for the first meaning of a clean bill of health begins: 29/05/2012 10:10

If someone is given or gets a clean bill of health, they are told that they are completely fit and healthy.

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Changes in syntax that allow you to use an idiom in another way are sometimes shown in follow-on paragraphs, preceded by a black dot. For example, at neck and neck, the main definition shows that the idiom is used after a verb:

In a race or contest, if two competitors are neck and neck, they are exactly level with each other, so that it is impossible to say who will win.

The follow-on paragraph shows a syntax change: ● You can use neck-and-neck before a noun. ❑ Polls suggest a neck-and-neck race between the Liberals and Conservatives.

Collocations

Definitions give information about collocations as well as about syntax. For example, the definition for the idiom pick holes in something is:

If you pick holes in something such as an argument or a piece of work, you find mistakes in it to show that it is wrong or of poor quality.

This definition shows that the ‘something’ in the idiom headword is typically a word which means ‘argument’ or ‘piece of work’.

Examples also give information about collocations. The examples for neck and neck show that the idiom is typically used after a verb such as ‘run’ or ‘be’, as well as showing that the competitors can be mentioned together as the subject of the verb, or one can be mentioned as the subject of the verb and the other after the preposition ‘with’:

❑ The latest opinion polls show both parties running neck and neck. ❑ Leeds are currently

It shows that the idiom is typically used after the verb ‘give’ or ‘get’ and typically in the passive. This is supported by the examples.

10:10 neck-and-neck with Manchester United29/05/2012 for the Championship.

Pragmatics

● This expression is used humorously.

Pragmatics information tells you more about the intention of the speaker or writer who uses a particular idiom. This is shown explicitly in a follow-on paragraph after a dot, for example, after the idiom shock horror:

Where an idiom has a more subtle pragmatic function, this is shown in the dictionary definition. For example, here is the definition of all over the place: If you say that someone is all over the place, you mean that they are confused or disorganized, and unable to think clearly or act sensibly. [mainly british, informal]

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Finally, a few of the idioms in this dictionary are speech acts: that is, a speaker uses them to express good wishes or thanks, an acceptance or refusal, and so on. For example: People say break a leg to a performer who is about to go on stage as a way of wishing them good luck.

Style, register, and usage The dictionary definitions give information about the likely contexts in which idioms are used, in particular where there are restrictions. Some idioms are used only or mainly by English speakers in one geographical area. Some idioms are used only or mainly in a particular kind of writing, such as journalism, novels, or other literary writing. Another kind of restriction relates to date and currency. Some idioms in the dictionary are described as old-fashioned, which means that they are generally used nowadays by older people rather than young people. The final kind of restriction relates to levels of formality. In most cases this is because an idiom is only used in informal situations, or may be considered rude. These idioms should be used very cautiously. In some cases, we describe an idiom as formal. This means that it is mainly used in formal contexts, such as serious journalism and other kinds of formal writing.

We show all of the above information in the dictionary by adding a label in small capital letters and square brackets describing the restriction that applies. If a label appears after a blue idiom, it means the use of that idiom is restricted as shown. If more than one form of an idiom is given, and only the last form of the idiom has a label, the label applies to the idiom in all those forms. If a restriction only applies to one meaning of an idiom, the label is given at the end of the definition. The labels we use are listed below:

used mainly in the US used mainly in Australia used mainly in Britain used mainly in official situations used mainly in informal situations, conversations, and personal letters used mainly in newspapers, television, and radio used mainly in novels, poetry, and other literature likely to offend people no longer in general common use used mainly to describe words which some people consider taboo used mainly in speech used mainly to describe words which some people consider taboo

american australian british formal informal journalism literary offensive old-fashioned rude spoken very rude

The formula ‘If you say that…you mean that…’ in a definition shows that this idiom is used to convey an opinion or evaluation.

Spelling and pronunciation

Individual words in idioms may have two or more spellings: for example, they may be spelled 29/05/2012 10:16 differently in British and American English. We give this information in a box at the beginning of the idiom entry. ‘Nosey’ is sometimes spelled ‘nosy’.

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Sometimes, a box at the beginning of an entry gives the pronunciation of a word in the idiom, so it can be used confidently in spoken English: ‘Bow’ is pronounced with the same vowel sound as the word ‘how’.

Cross-references

Cross-references are given when an idiom can be found at another place in the dictionary. These are clearly indicated by an arrow, for example at dust: dry as dust ➜ see dry

Cross-references are occasionally given at the end of an explanation of an idiom. These cross-references draw attention to other idioms which are very similar or which may be confused. For example, after the explanation of fly the nest:

➜ compare with fly the coop

Frequency stars

We have given this cross-reference because fly the coop seems similar in form to fly the nest, although it has a different meaning.

The dictionary shows the most frequent idioms, as they are found in the Collins Corpus. These key idioms are highlighted using the symbol ✪. It is these idioms which should have priority for teachers and learners, as they are the idioms most likely to be encountered in English. Examples include the acid test, hot air, a claim to fame, not take no for an answer, and up the ante. 10/05/2012 13:24

Origins and explanations

This expression was originally used to refer to people buying and selling goods. To ‘chop’ meant to trade or barter, and ‘change’ came from ‘exchange’.

Many of the idioms in the Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary contain additional information about their origin. These notes are shown after the explanation of an idiom to tell you more about its history and where it has come from, and you can identify them by the vertical line beside them, for example at the idiom chop and change:

Some explanatory notes appear in boxes at the beginning of an entry. These give more information about the particular meaning of the main entry word that is being used in some, or all, of the idioms below. Under the headword bean, for example, you will find information that helps explain the meaning: In the following expressions, ‘bean’ means money. 10/05/2012 13:24

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Aa SA A

accident

✪ from A to B

✪ an accident waiting to happen

People talk about getting from A to B when they are referring generally to journeys, without saying where the journeys are. ❑ Cars are for getting people from A to B in maximum safety. ✪ from A to Z From A to Z means from the beginning to the end of an activity or including everything in a situation. ❑ I made a detailed plan and followed it from A to Z. ❑ Staff members were sent to assist the families with pretty well everything they needed from A to Z.

easy as ABC ➜ see easy

ABC

If you describe a situation or activity as an accident waiting to happen, you mean that they are likely to be a cause of danger in the future. ❑ A lot of the city’s buildings are accidents waiting to happen. ❑ The sudden explosion of a real bullet on stage during the play was an accident waiting to happen. If you describe a person as an accident waiting to happen, you mean that they are likely to cause trouble or have bad problems. ❑ He was getting a reputation for being wild – an accident waiting to happen.

accidents

✪ accidents will happen

People say accidents will happen to mean that accidents are a normal part of life get above yourself [british] and you should not blame anyone or be If someone gets above themselves, they too upset about them. act as if they are more important than ❑ One of the things our society will not they really are. appreciate is that accidents will happen. We still ❑ I just think you’re getting a little bit above look for meaning when pointless tragedy occurs. yourself. ❑ I did not like the way he had clearly got above himself. accord not be above doing something ✪ of your own accord [formal] If someone is not above doing something, If you do something of your own accord, they are prepared to do it, even if it is you do it without being asked or forced. something usually done by someone of a ❑ He did not quit as France’s prime minister of his lower status, or even if it is wrong. own accord. ❑ There was always the chance that the girl had simply chosen to run away of her own ❑ I’m not above doing my own cleaning. ❑ He is accord. not above telling a few white lies.

above

conspicuous by your/its absence If someone or something is conspicuous by their absence, people notice that they are not there. ❑ He played no part in the game and was conspicuous by his absence at the post-match celebrations. ❑ Mathematics and science were conspicuous by their absence at the university.

Cob Idioms A-Z Final.indd 1

account

absence

settle an account or settle accounts If you settle an account or settle accounts with an enemy or opponent, you bring your fight or argument to an end by defeating them. ❑ She had an account to settle with her family. ❑ He told me to give up my desire to settle accounts with the person who had injured me.

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ace ● The verb square is sometimes used instead of settle. ❑ The team was determined to square the account in this match.

ace In many card games, the ace is the card with the highest score.

Achilles an Achilles heel Someone’s Achilles heel is the thing that causes problems for them, especially because it gives other people a chance to attack or criticize them. ❑ Horton’s Achilles heel was that he could not delegate. ❑ The economy was from the start the Achilles heel of his regime. This expression comes from the Greek myth in which the baby Achilles is dipped in the river Styx to protect him from being killed by an arrow. Because his mother held his heel to do this, his heel was not protected and he was killed by a poisonous arrow in it.

the ace in your hand [british] The ace in your hand is something which you can use to gain an advantage when you need it. ❑ In politics, you have to convince your opponent that you have the ace in your hand. come within an ace of something [british] If you come within an ace of something, you very nearly succeed in doing it. acid ❑ She had just watched her hero come within an ✪ the acid test ace of a place in the quarter finals. If you call something the acid test, it ● You can also say that someone is within will prove how effective or useful an ace of something ❑ They were within an something is. ace of solving the problem. ❑ The acid test for the vaccine will be its In this expression, ‘ace’ refers to a score performance in the south, where the disease is of one on a dice, rather than a playing more widespread. ❑ So far, I don’t feel too bad card. but I’m waiting for my first really stressful day have an ace in the hole when things go wrong. That will be the real acid If you have an ace in the hole, you have test. something which you can use to gain an Nitric acid can be used to test whether advantage when you need it. a metal is pure gold because it ❑ He doesn’t usually risk much unless he thinks damages most metals but does not he has an ace in the hole. affect gold. In ‘stud’ poker, you have an ace in the acquaintance hole when you have an ace as your ‘hole’ a passing acquaintance with someone card: see ‘hole card’ at hole. If you have a passing acquaintance with play your ace someone, you know them slightly. If you play your ace, you do something ❑ To those with only a passing acquaintance he is clever and unexpected which gives you an charming and engaging. advantage over other people. ● You can also say that you have a nodding ❑ He told us that he was a very important acquaintance with someone. ❑ And of criminal lawyer who had defended men on heavy course, he can now claim – after his first summit charges. And then he played his ace. He also had a as head of government – more than a nodding number of clients who were involved in the gold acquaintance with his fellow leaders. business. ● You can call a person a passing aces acquaintance or a nodding acquaintance hold all the aces if you know them slightly. ❑ He was no If you hold all the aces, you have more more than a passing acquaintance of Wright. advantages and more power than anyone a passing acquaintance with something else. If you have a passing acquaintance with ❑ When I was a teenager, I thought girls held all something, you only know a little about the aces. ❑ They hold all the aces; they are the it. champions and the best team in the country, and ❑ These days a theatre-goer needs more than have a full-time manager. a passing acquaintance with science. ● You can also say that you have a In many card games, the ace is the card with the highest score. nodding acquaintance with something.

Cob Idioms A-Z Final.indd 2

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actions ❑ We chatted for a little about poetry, with which he showed considerably more than a nodding acquaintance.

❑ We’re going to be 22 points down by Monday, and we’ve got to get our act together. ❑ The State

Opposition is beginning to get its act together after a long period of muddling through. ✪ a hard act to follow an act of God If someone is a hard act to follow, they An act of God is an event that is beyond are so good at what they do that it will be human control, especially one in which difficult for anyone else to be as something is damaged or someone is successful. hurt. ❑ The Prince always knew that his mother would ❑ The President described the disaster as an act be a hard act to follow. of God. ❑ The manmade financial crisis came on ● Adjectives such as tough and difficult top of an act of God, a terrible winter of heavy can be used instead of hard. ❑ There’s no snowfall and ice. doubt Alex Ford’s vision and hard work have ● This expression is sometimes used in played a major role in the museum’s success. He’ll legal documents such as insurance be a tough act to follow. documents. ✪ in on the act [informal] a balancing act If you are in on the act, you are involved in If a situation is a balancing act, you have or taking advantage of something that is to decide what to do when different also being done by other people. people want different things or when you ❑ The authorities knew they couldn’t control this have to be aware of different situations trading because all their officials were in on the which could be affected by what you do. act too. ❑ The leader is performing a delicate balancing ● You can say that someone gets in on the act. He talks of reform, but clings to old habits. act when they start to be involved in an ❑ This issue is a typical balancing act between activity. Other verbs, such as come or individual rights and community rights. muscle are sometimes used instead of be caught in the act get. ❑ In the 1970s Kodak, anxious to get in on If you are caught in the act, someone sees the act, launched its own instant camera. you doing something secret or wrong. action ❑ The men were caught in the act of digging up ✪ a piece of the action [informal] or buried explosives. a slice of the action [mainly british, In this expression, ‘act’ refers to the act informal] of doing something. If someone wants a piece of the action or a class act a slice of the action, they want to get If someone is a class act, they are very involved in an activity which seems likely good at what they do. to be very successful or profitable. ❑ This player is a class act. He’s got great control ❑ More than 27.3 million shares in mobile phone and can hit passes from one side of the pitch to companies changed hands as dealers scrambled the other with amazing accuracy. ❑ Sheeran’s to get a piece of the action. ❑ Within five years, songs have been recorded by class acts like every car manufacturer was at it. The hatchback Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift. explosion had begun and everyone wanted a piece clean up your act of the action. ❑ As the British rap scene grows in If a person or organization cleans up strength, the Americans are becoming keener to their act, they stop behaving badly or grab a slice of the action. illegally.

act

SA ✪

✪

❑ The Minister warned the press that privacy laws would be implemented unless newspapers cleaned up their act. ❑ There is enormous corruption in the game, but the game does not want to clean up its act. ✪ get your act together [informal] If you get your act together, you organize yourself effectively so that you can deal successfully with things.

Cob Idioms A-Z Final.indd 3

actions

✪

✪ actions speak louder than words If you say that actions speak louder than words, you mean that people show what they really think and feel by what they do, rather than by what they say. ❑ Tom, who’s a shy chap at heart, firmly believes that actions speak louder than words and has, therefore, been demonstrating his love for Jean by

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Adam taking her dog to the vet, washing her car each week, and decorating each room in her house. ❑ Things are still likely to get worse before they get better. If governments would like to prevent that, they had better understand that actions speak louder than words. ● People often use this expression when they want to criticize someone who says one thing but does something else.

age

Adam

not know someone from Adam If you don’t know someone from Adam, you do not know them at all. ❑ We have one contact, who is simply a voice on the phone to us. I don’t know him from Adam. ❑ These people were friends of a friend, who didn’t know me from Adam. According to the Bible, Adam was the first human being.

ado

turn something to your advantage If you turn a situation to your advantage, you get a benefit from it, especially when it might be expected to harm or damage you. ❑ The government have not been able to turn today’s demonstration to their advantage. ❑ The need to move with your husband’s job can sometimes be turned to your advantage.

much ado about nothing [journalism] If you describe a situation as much ado about nothing, you mean that people are making a lot of fuss about something which is not very important. ❑ French newspapers described the international row as ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. ❑ After one year, I dropped out of the course because it was much ado about nothing really. It was all about style, not about content. ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ is the title of a play by Shakespeare. without much ado If something happens without much ado, no fuss is made about it. ❑ The second set proceeded without much ado, ending in a tie-break.

act your age If you tell someone to act their age, you are telling them to behave in a way that is suitable for their age, because they are behaving in a childish way. ❑ One patient complained that the nurse had told her: ‘Act your age and pull yourself together.’ ● This expression is used to express disapproval of someone’s behaviour. come of age If something comes of age, it reaches an advanced stage of development and is accepted by a large number of people. ❑ Waste reduction is an issue that has come of age in Britain in the last decade. When someone comes of age, they become legally an adult. ❑ The company was to be held in trust for Eddie until he came of age. the golden age of something The golden age of a particular field of activity is a period of time during which it was very successful or of a very high quality. ❑ You grew up in the golden age of American children’s books. ❑ The Middle Ages were the golden age of the spice trade.

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✪ a hidden agenda

If someone has a hidden agenda, they are secretly trying to achieve something while they appear to be doing something else. ❑ The unions fear these tactics are part of a hidden agenda to reduce pay and conditions throughout the company. ❑ The hidden agenda of the Government’s policy seems to have been exposed. An agenda is a list of things that need to be dealt with, for example at a meeting.

If someone takes advantage of you, they treat you unfairly for their own benefit, especially when you are trying to be kind or to help them. ❑ They infiltrated the young pop star’s life and took advantage of him. ❑ ‘I hope Simon’s paying you for this,’ she said. ‘Don’t let him take advantage of you.’ ✪ take advantage of something If you take advantage of something, you make good use of the opportunities it gives you. ❑ I intend to take full advantage of this trip to buy the things we need. ❑ While I’m gone take advantage of my absence – have some friends over.

agenda

✪ take advantage of someone

advantage

agony prolong the agony If someone or something prolongs the agony, they make an unpleasant

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air situation last longer than it needs to. ❑ The job just wasn’t working out so, rather than prolong the agony, I felt it was better to go.

agree

agree to differ or agree to disagree If two people who are arguing about something agree to differ or agree to disagree, they decide to stop arguing because neither of them is going to change their opinion. ❑ I find some of his views very curious and we’ve agreed to differ on some things. ❑ You and I are going to have to agree to disagree on this issue.

aid

✪

air

aid and abet [formal] If someone aids and abets another ✪ person, they help or encourage them to do something criminal or wrong. ❑ His wife was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for aiding and abetting him. ● This expression is often used in legal contexts.

✪ be left hanging in the air

If a question or remark is left hanging in the air, it is not answered or discussed. ❑ The presenter made intelligent points but never ✪ challenged anybody, so we were left with a lot of questions hanging in the air. ❑ He looked at neither of them but left his remark hanging in the air. ● You can also say that a question or remark hangs in the air. [literary] ❑ ‘We are losing our sense of the eternal. I think it’s a loss that has done a great deal of damage to modern art.’ His words hung enigmatically in the ✪ air. be walking on air If you are walking on air, you feel very happy or excited. ❑ As soon as I knew I was in the team I was walking on air. ● You can also say that you are floating on air. ❑ I can’t believe that I’ve won. I’m floating on air! ✪ clear the air If something such as an argument or a discussion clears the air, it makes bad feelings between people go away. ❑ I get angry and frustrated with Hannah’s behaviour, but I’m a great believer in expressing my feelings to clear the air. ❑ Some groups in our community seem to suffer from discrimination.

An independent inquiry could clear the air and sort out the problem. ● You can also talk about air-clearing. ❑ Goalkeeper Edwards said that the half-time air-clearing session turned the game round. ● Journalists sometimes talk about clear-the-air meetings or talks. ❑ He is determined to have a clear-the-air meeting with Murray this weekend. free as the air ➜ see free hot air If something that someone says or writes is hot air, it is not sincere. ❑ All their talk about co-operation is just so much hot air. There are still endless disputes. ❑ Parliament is often full of hot air, mock insults and fake hostility. in the air If something such as a change, idea, or feeling is in the air, people are aware of it or think it is going to happen even though it is not talked about directly. ❑ I might never have said ‘Yes’, if it hadn’t been for the sense that political change was in the air. ❑ Great excitement was in the air that week in London. ❑ As the band plays, and with romance in the air, Mr. Li recalls how he came to Panzhihua. into thin air If someone or something disappears or vanishes into thin air, they disappear completely and nobody knows where they have gone. ❑ He took their two children and disappeared into thin air for years. ❑ Needless worry can vanish into thin air once you accept the things you cannot change. out of thin air If something appears out of thin air, it appears suddenly and unexpectedly. ❑ A crisis had materialised out of thin air. ❑ Auster spins stories out of thin air. ● You can also say that something appears from thin air. ❑ Thirteen years ago, with her children almost grown up, she found herself having to conjure a career from thin air. pluck something from the air If someone plucks a figure from the air, they say it without considering it carefully or using correct information. ❑ There seems little point in trying to keep statistics when figures are plucked from the air in order to support any given claim. ● You can also say that someone plucks a figure out of the air or plucks a figure out

Cob Idioms A-Z Final.indd 5

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airs

of thin air. ❑ So few buildings are coming to market that accurate valuations are becoming almost impossible to make. Numbers are simply being plucked out of the air. ❑ The figure of 40% was not plucked out of thin air. ● Verbs such as pull or pick can be used instead of pluck. ❑ She pulled a figure out of the air, an amount she thought would cover several months’ rent on an office. ✪ up in the air If an important decision or plan is up in the air, it has not been decided or arranged yet. ❑ At the moment, the fate of the people is still up in the air. ❑ This project is very much up in the air.

airs

airs and graces [british] If someone has airs and graces, they behave in a way which shows that they think they are better or more important than other people. ❑ I have never liked him – and his daughter is so full of airs and graces. ❑ Ian is such a nice bloke. He has no airs and graces. ● You can also say that someone puts on airs and graces. ❑ In Liverpool I can still be myself, I don’t have to put on any airs and graces here. put on airs If someone puts on airs, they behave in a way which shows that they think they are better or more important than other people. ❑ She thought the coat was far too grand. “People will think I’m putting on airs.” ❑ He put on no airs, but his charisma was enormous.

an albatross round your neck [british] If you describe something as an albatross around your neck or round your neck, you mean that it causes you great problems from which you cannot escape, or it prevents you from doing what you want to do. ❑ Being the son of a major criminal was an albatross around my neck. ❑ He agrees the song is a musical albatross around their necks. This is a reference to the poem ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in which the character who shot an albatross (= a large, white sea bird) has to carry the bird hung around his neck.

alec People sometimes spell ‘alec’ and ‘aleck’ with capital initials, as names.

a smart alec [british] or a smart aleck A smart alec or a smart aleck is someone who is very clever and who is often able to answer questions in a clever way. ❑ They’ve got some smart alec of a lawyer from London to oppose bail. ● You can use smart alec and smart aleck before a noun. ❑ Back then I was an eighteen-year-old, loud-mouthed, smart-aleck kid. ● You use this expression to show that you find someone annoying. Alec or Aleck is a shortened form of the name Alexander.

alarm bells start to ring ➜ see bells

albatross an albatross around your neck [british, american] or

Cob Idioms A-Z Final.indd 6

If someone or something is alive and kicking, they are still active or still exist. ❑ I’m alive and kicking and still going strong. ❑ Romance is still alive and kicking for a couple who will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this week. eat someone alive If you say that someone or something will eat you alive, you mean that they will seriously harm or criticize you. ❑ If a president does not introduce new measures, he’s going to be eaten alive by Wall Street. ❑ He was certain Sid would be eaten alive by the hardened criminals at the jail. If something such as an illness or a problem is eating you alive, it is causing you great pain or distress. ❑ The pain ate him alive; the world was nothing

alarm

✪ alive and kicking

be rolling in the aisles If people in an audience are rolling in the aisles, they are laughing a lot at something. ❑ They loved him – they were rolling in the aisles. ● You can also say that you have an audience rolling in the aisles. ❑ It’s all good knockabout stuff that has them rolling in the aisles. ❑ His shows still have them rolling in the aisles. The aisles in a theatre or cinema are the gaps between the blocks of seats.

aisles

alive

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altar

but fire and pain. ❑ I know and she knows that If you get the all-clear from a doctor, the nursing home is the only solution. But it is the doctor tells you that you are healthy. eating me alive. ❑ Yesterday, I had my check-up and I got the If you are eaten alive by insects, you are all-clear. ● You can also say that someone gives you repeatedly bitten by them. ❑ We’ve been sleeping on the floor; we have no the all-clear. ❑ A month ago she was given the water. It’s been easily 100, 125 degrees. We’ve been all-clear. They can’t even find the bruise where the eaten alive by bugs. ❑ ‘Can we go out?’ – tumour was. ‘Outside? The mosquitoes will eat us alive.’ alley skin someone alive ✪ a blind alley If someone is able to skin you alive, A blind alley is a way of acting or thinking they are much stronger or more powerful that is not effective and will not achieve than you and may harm you. progress. ❑ They are fiercely competitive. If they can skin us ❑ Sooner or later they will have to realize that this is alive in business, they will. ❑ Anyone who reads a blind alley and that they need to rethink their own your finance pages will see that shareholders in strategies. ❑ Did she regard her job as a blind alley? some major banks have been skinned alive. A blind alley is a street which is closed at If someone threatens to skin you alive, one end. they are threatening to punish you right up your alley [mainly american] severely. If something is right up your alley, it is ❑ Who let the dog out? You catch that animal, the kind of thing you like or know about. Ernie, or you’ll get skinned alive. ❑ This should be right up my alley but, despite all the film’s special effects, I found it rather boring. be all that [american, informal] ❑ I thought this little problem would be right up If someone or something is all that, your alley. ● You can also say that something is right they are very impressive and of a high quality. down your alley. [american] ❑ My boyfriend thinks he’s all that. ❑ I read the ❑ I’ll need whatever information you can turn up book because my friend thinks it’s all that. within the week. This case seems right down your get away from it all alley. If you get away from it all, you take a The usual British expression is right break from your usual routine and go on up your street. holiday. all-singing ❑ Holidays should be about fun, relaxation and all-singing, all-dancing [mainly british] getting away from it all. If you describe something as all-singing, that’s all she wrote [american] all-dancing, you mean that it is very You say that’s all she wrote when there is modern and advanced, with a lot of no more to say or when something is additional features. finished. ❑ He showed us their new all-singing, ❑ That was all she wrote. He got hurt, and he all-dancing website. ❑ The previous venue has didn’t play much anymore. now been replaced by a lavish all-singing, all-clear all-dancing stadium, due to open in April. get the all-clear ● This expression is often used If you get the all-clear from someone in humorously to show that you think the authority, they give you permission to do features are not necessary. something, usually after a problem has The phrase originally appeared on a been sorted out. poster advertising the first ever ❑ We can’t make a move on this until we’ve got Hollywood musical film Broadway the all-clear from the boss. Melody (1929), described as ‘all talking, ● You can also say that someone gives all singing, all dancing’. you the all-clear. ❑ Finally, work was

under way, but there were constant scares because the government still hadn’t given it the all-clear.

Cob Idioms A-Z Final.indd 7

altar

be sacrificed on the altar of something If someone or something is sacrificed on

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ambulance

the altar of a particular belief or activity, they suffer or are harmed because of it. ❑ They promised that the interests of farmers wouldn’t be sacrificed on the altar of free trade. ❑ Let us hope that these children’s education will not be sacrificed on the altar of social experimentation. ● You can also say that someone or something is a sacrifice on the altar of a particular thing. ❑ He was just another sacrifice on the altar of celebrity. An altar was a large stone on which animals were killed during the worship of a god or goddess in former times. The killing of an animal in this way was called a sacrifice.

ambulance

an ambulance chaser An ambulance chaser is a lawyer who contacts people who have been injured to try to get work by giving them legal advice. ❑ They describe the lawyer as a shameless ambulance chaser claiming that he makes money suing people. ● This expression is used to express disapproval.

a dusty answer ➜ see dusty ✪ have a lot to answer for If someone or something has a lot to answer for, they are responsible for something bad that has happened. ❑ My God, his mother’s got a lot to answer for! She waited on him all her life. ❑ Every word of this conversation would be sent within minutes to her close friends – mobiles and email have a lot to answer for. ✪ not take no for an answer If someone won’t take no for an answer, they do not accept that someone has refused what they have asked for. ❑ Five reporters who wouldn’t take no for an answer entered U.S. quarters without authorization. ❑ She told me that she had, of course, refused, but that he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

ante In card games such as poker, the ante is the amount of money which each player must place on the table before the game begins.

✪ up the ante

angels on the side of the angels If someone is on the side of the angels, they are doing or supporting what is morally right.

a fallen angel If someone is a fallen angel, they were once well-behaved, but are now badlybehaved. ❑ She went from shy posh girl to fallen angel, before going all the way to tragic heroine. If a company or a sports team is a fallen angel, they were once successful, but are now unsuccessful. ❑ The firm was a fallen angel that halved in value but has since recovered.

angel

In an argument or contest, if you up the ante, you increase the demands that you are making or the risks that you are taking. ❑ The secretary of state last night upped the ante by refusing to accept the election results. ❑ Whenever they reached their goal, they upped the ante, setting increasingly complex challenges for themselves. ● You can also say that you raise the ante. ❑ These judges have raised the ante by challenging the authority of the Chief Justice. If you are gambling or investing money in something and you up the ante, you increase the amount of money you are offering. ❑ Its network television division upped the ante by paying an estimated $2 million a year for an overall deal. ● You can also say that you raise the ante. ❑ My defeat came when I was unable to persuade my backer to raise the ante.

American as apple pie If something or someone is as American as apple pie, they are typical of the American way of life. ❑ Jeans are as American as apple pie, and old jeans show a touch of class. Apple pie is a traditional dessert that is thought of as typically American.

Cob Idioms A-Z Final.indd 8

comes to racial tolerance and the environment.

answer

American

❑ The President’s on the side of the angels when it

ants have ants in your pants [informal] If someone has ants in their pants, they cannot keep still.

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apples

the appetite. ❑ The series is entertaining, and it certainly whets the appetite. To whet a knife means to sharpen it.

❑ They all had ants in their pants, incapable of sitting in their seats for more than six minutes at a stretch.

apple

apart

take someone/something apart If you take apart a person, idea or argument, you criticize them strongly by explaining their faults. ❑ He proceeded to take apart every preconception anyone might have ever had about him. ❑ The committee took her apart, criticizing every aspect of her work.

ape

go ape [informal] If someone goes ape, they start to behave in an uncontrolled way, usually because they are very excited or very angry. ❑ The crowd went ape. ❑ Is he never tempted to break away, to go ape for a period? ● You can also say that someone goes ape crazy. ❑ You don’t get the chance to go ape crazy. ● You can also say that someone goes apeshit. [informal, very rude] ❑ If we mentioned the incident, she would literally go apeshit. People who behave in a violent or uncontrolled way are being compared with apes.

the apple of your eye If someone is the apple of your eye, you love them very much and are very proud of them. ❑ I was the apple of my father’s eye. ❑ Penny’s only son was the apple of her eye. In the past, the pupil in the eye was sometimes called the apple. ✪ a bad apple or a rotten apple If someone is a bad apple or a rotten apple, they are very dishonest or unpleasant, and they have a bad influence on the people around them. ❑ It’s an opportunity for them to make clear that they are not going to tolerate a bad apple in the United States Senate. ❑ In any profession, there’s always the rotten apple, isn’t there? If a rotten apple is stored with good apples, it causes the good ones to rot.

applecart

appearances

✪ keep up appearances

upset the applecart If someone or something upsets the applecart, they do something which causes trouble or which spoils a satisfactory situation. ❑ It will only upset the applecart and confuse the issue if the topic is raised too soon. ● You can also say that someone or something overturns the applecart. ❑ She still has the power to overturn the applecart by the sheer force of her personality and vocabulary.

If something whets your appetite for a particular thing, it makes you want it. ❑ Winning the World Championship should have whetted his appetite for more success. ❑ Her appetite already whetted by the book, she took a trip to England. ● You can also say that something whets

Cob Idioms A-Z Final.indd 9

in apple-pie order [old-fashioned] If a place is in apple-pie order, everything in it is very tidy and well-organized. ❑ Apart from the scaffolding and plastic sheeting that still remained, they found everything in apple-pie order. ❑ On the upper deck everything was very much in apple pie order. This expression is thought to come from the French for ‘from head to foot’, referring originally to a well-kept suit of armour or military uniform. American as apple pie ➜ see American

✪ whet someone’s appetite

apple-pie

appetite

If you keep up appearances, you pretend that a situation is good and as it should be, even though it is not. ❑ I was determined to keep up appearances by pretending nothing was wrong. ❑ The marriage was failing, but we tried to keep up appearances for the sake of the children. If you keep up appearances, you try to behave and dress in a way that people expect of you, even if you can no longer afford it. ❑ His parents’ obsession with keeping up appearances haunted his childhood.

apples apples and oranges If you say that two things are apples and oranges, you mean that they are

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apron completely different and cannot be compared. ❑ We really can’t compare the data any more, it’s not the same – it’s just apples and oranges. ● You can also say that comparing two things is like comparing apples with oranges. ❑ To compare one with the other is to make the mistake we were all warned about in third grade, not to compare apples with oranges.

apron

be tied to something’s apron strings If one country or organization is tied to another’s apron strings, the first country or organization is dependent on and controlled by the second when it should be independent. ❑ The country was little more than a colony, tied to Canada’s apron strings. be tied to your mother’s apron strings If someone is tied to their mother’s apron strings, they are still dependent on their mother when they should be independent. ❑ A man who is still tied to his mother’s apron strings is no use to me. cut the apron strings If a person, a country or an organization cuts the apron strings, they become independent. ❑ At 21, I was still living the life I’d been living when I was 15. I just had to get away from that, to cut those apron strings. ● Verbs such as loosen or let go of can be used instead of cut. ❑ Don’t give up on university. It will be good for her as well as you for you to loosen the apron strings now.

from oil, they’re not made from rubber any more; that went out with the ark. According to the Bible, the ark was the boat in which Noah and his family survived the flood.

arm

✪ at arm’s length

If one person or organization is at arm’s length from another, they are not closely connected, for example because it would be wrong for them to influence one another. ❑ The prison service is moving towards becoming a self-regulating agency at arm’s length from government. ❑ Relations between the bank and the committee will be at arm’s length until the report is delivered in July. chance your arm [british] If you chance your arm, you do something risky or daring in order to get something you want. ❑ Sport is about going out and giving it your best shot, chancing your arm for glory. ❑ Instead of going on the dole I chanced my arm on a business. cost an arm and a leg If something costs an arm and a leg, it costs a lot of money. ❑ It cost us an arm and a leg to get here. But it has been worth every penny and more. ● Verbs such as pay, charge and spend are sometimes used instead of cost. ❑ Many restaurants were charging an arm and a leg for poor quality food. give an arm and a leg for something If you say that you would give an arm and a leg for something or to do something, you mean that you want it very much. ❑ I’d give an arm and a leg for a cup of tea. ❑ Any jazz professional would give an arm and a leg for half an hour playing with Wynton Marsalis. give your right arm If you say that you would give your right arm for something or to do something, you mean that you want it very much. ❑ There are not many jobs I would give my right arm for. ❑ I can do nothing but think about my ex-husband. I would give my right arm to be able to start again. Most people are right-handed, and so consider their right arm to be more important than their left. keep someone at arm’s length If you keep someone at arm’s length, you avoid being friendly with them or getting

If you call something a grey area, you mean that it is unclear. ❑ There are many grey areas in the law affecting stolen animals. ❑ Tabloid papers paint all sportsmen as heroes or villains. There is no grey area in between.

ark out of the ark [british] If something is out of the ark, it is very old-fashioned. ❑ He drove a car that was straight out of the ark. ● You can also say that something went out with the ark. ❑ You know tyres are made

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✪ a grey area

‘Grey’ is usually spelled ‘gray’ in American English.

area

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arrow

emotionally involved with them. publicly humiliated, and his sponsors are up in ❑ Brian felt more guilt than grief. He’d tried to get arms. ❑ Politicians from both sides of the House close, but his father had kept him at arm’s length. were up in arms at her strongest ever criticism of the long arm of the law the New Deal. People use the long arm of the law to ‘Arms’ in this expression means describe the power of the police and the weapons. ✪ welcome someone with open arms legal system to find and punish If you welcome someone with open arms, criminals. ❑ He was determined that Laing would not you show that you are very pleased to see escape the long arm of the law and drove him them or meet them. ❑ People in Sidon welcomed them with open arms directly to a police station. and rice and flowers. long as your arm ➜ see long ● You can also say that you greet someone put the arm on someone [american] If you put the arm on someone, you try to with open arms or receive someone with force them to do what you want. open arms. ❑ We got out of the trucks to greet ❑ I know you got James to put the arm on Lily. them with open arms. ❑ Women like you are not only writing checks, welcome something with open arms but you’re putting the arm on other people to give If you welcome an event or new as well. development with open arms, you are very pleased about it. twist someone’s arm ❑ Watchdog organizations welcomed today’s If you twist someone’s arm, you try hard to persuade them to do something. guidelines with open arms. ❑ The store ranks as ❑ I had to twist their arm to get them to start Palo Alto’s fourth largest sales tax generator. working with me, but once they did, it went well Certainly many communities would welcome it from there. ❑ I didn’t twist your arm to make you with open arms. ● You can also say that you accept come. You wanted to because you sensed a story. ● You can also talk about arm-twisting. something with open arms or embrace ❑ He borrowed 70 per cent of the money from his something with open arms. ❑ The Council banks, after some arm-twisting. did the right thing in getting him to carry out the study. They have accepted it with open arms and armchair will, they say, progress with it. an armchair something

arms

✪ up in arms If someone is up in arms about something, they are very angry about it and are protesting strongly. ❑ More than one million shopkeepers are up in arms against the new minimum tax. ❑ This is a very delicate situation. Frank feels he has been

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around

the armpit of somewhere If you describe a place as the armpit of somewhere, you mean that it is the most unpleasant place there. ❑ While being, arguably, the armpit of Europe, it does look spectacular from a distance.

you and whose army? [informal] People say you and whose army? to tell someone who has threatened them that they will not be able to do what they have threatened because they are not strong enough. ❑ ‘I’ll make you sorry.’ – ‘Oh yeah? You and whose army?’

armpit

army

An armchair critic, fan, traveller, etc. is interested in a particular subject and may talk about it, but does not have any real experience of it. ❑ The last thing we need are words of wisdom from an armchair critic. ❑ This great book is ideal for both the travelling supporter and the armchair fan.

have been around [informal] If someone has been around, they have had a lot of experience of different people and situations. ❑ He knows what to do. He’s been around. ❑ He’s been around a long time and has acquired a number of skills.

arrow a straight arrow [mainly american] If you describe someone as a straight arrow, you mean that they are very conventional, honest, and moral. ❑ I was very much a product of my environment.

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arse I was very traditional, a real straight arrow in lots of ways. ❑ Several friends describe Mr. Menendez as ‘a straight arrow’ who rarely drank and was close to his family. ● You can use straight-arrow before a noun. ❑ It was impossible to imagine such a well-scrubbed, straight-arrow group of young people rioting over anything. straight as an arrow ➜ see straight

arse

‘Arse’ is a very rude word for a person’s bottom.

and will not pay any attention to what they want or say. ❑ I just want to say to all the critics who are going to write something nasty about me tomorrow that they can kiss my arse. work your arse off ➜ see work

art have something down to a fine art [british, american] or have got something down to a fine art [british] If you have or have got an activity down to a fine art, you know the best way of doing it because you have done it a lot. ❑ They’ve got fruit retailing down to a fine art. You can be sure that your pears will ripen in a day. ❑ Shopping for food is the biggest problem, though she has it down to a fine art. ‘I go to the cheapest shops and buy only frozen or canned goods’.

arse about face [british, very rude] If something is arse about face, it happens or is done in the opposite way to how it should happen or be done. ❑ You seem determined to do this arse about face. ❑ I got unemployment benefits while I was working, which was a bit arse about face. be talking out of your arse [british, article informal, very rude] the genuine article If someone is talking out of their arse, If you describe something or someone what they say is complete nonsense.❑ He as the genuine article, you mean that accused a government official of talking out of his they are the original, rather than a copy, arse. or are a real and good example of ● Other words such as backside can be something. used instead of arse. ❑ Much as I ❑ His watch was a cheap imitation of a Cartier. appreciate today’s team, Dennis is talking out ❑ Their goalkeeper is the genuine article and of his backside when he says they’re the best gives the team confidence between the ever. goalposts. get your arse in gear ➜ see gear ashes kiss someone’s arse ➜ see kiss be raking over the ashes ➜ see rake lick someone’s arse [british, informal, very rude] ask If one person licks another’s arse, they try ask for it very hard to please the second person or If something bad happens to someone or say nice things about them. is done to someone and you say that they ❑ I don’t feel bad about slagging Jim off since asked for it, you mean that they deserved everybody else is licking his arse. it. ● This expression is used disapprovingly. ❑ I may have been cruel to Brian on occasions, ● You can call someone who does this an but he asked for it. arselicker. The activity of doing this is ✪ be asking for trouble called arselicking. ❑ Everett, you’re not the If someone is asking for trouble, they are arselicker everybody thinks you are. behaving in a way that makes it very ❑ Meanwhile, we were down on our hands and likely that they will have problems. knees arselicking all day, because if you upset ❑ To go ahead with the match after such clear somebody you had nowhere else to go. advice was asking for trouble. not know your arse from your elbow a big ask ➜ see elbow If you describe something that someone someone can kiss my arse [british, very has asked you to do as a big ask, you mean rude] that it will be difficult to do. If someone says that someone else can ❑ It’s a pretty big ask to run faster in the second kiss my arse, they are rudely saying that half of the race. ❑ Two hours without a comfort they do not care about that person at all, break was a big ask for many.

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axe this light can cause skin cancer. ● This expression can be varied, for

example by using get or be told instead of have. ❑ I’m told on good authority that you will be successful in your examinations.

ass A person’s ass is their bottom.

chew your ass [american, informal, rude] If someone chews your ass, they tell you angrily that your behaviour has upset or annoyed them. ❑ Well, come on in then, don’t stand there in the hall while the old man chews my ass. ❑ They’re going to chew my ass because each of them has a lousy thousand dollars in this business. get your ass in gear ➜ see gear have/put someone’s ass in a sling ➜ see sling kick ass ➜ see kick kick someone’s ass ➜ see kick kiss someone’s ass ➜ see kiss not know your ass from your elbow ➜ see elbow save someone’s ass ➜ see save

attitude

awakening

✪ a rude awakening If you have had a rude awakening, you have been forced to realize the unpleasant truth about something. ❑ Such details as have emerged about the new economic package suggest that these citizens are indeed in for a rude awakening. ❑ Johnson was confident he could make a quick profit. But, instead of quick profits, he got a rude awakening.

axe ‘Axe’ is spelled ‘ax’ in American English. an axe hanging over someone If there is an axe hanging over someone, they are likely to lose their job soon. ❑ I wouldn’t say there’s an axe hanging over him but he’s only got another season to put everything right. an axe hanging over something If there is an axe hanging over something, that thing is likely to be destroyed or ended soon. ❑ The axe was hanging over 600 jobs at the oil company last night. get the axe or get the chop If someone gets the axe or gets the chop, they lose their job. ❑ Business managers, executives and technical staff are all getting the axe. ❑ I’ve often wondered whether I’d have got the chop, if I’d stayed long enough to find out. ● You can also say that someone is given the axe or is given the chop. ❑ She was last night given the axe from the hit TV show. If something such as a project or part of a business gets the axe or gets the chop, it is ended suddenly. ❑ That is one of the TV shows likely to get the axe. ❑ Services to major towns and cities across England are getting the chop or being reduced. ● You can also say that something is given the axe or is given the chop. ❑ A few days previously, the Westoe Colliery, the last pit in the region, was given the axe.

with attitude If you describe a thing as something or someone with attitude, you mean that they are more impressive or confident than a normal example of that thing. ❑ This is going to be sailing with attitude. ❑ Patti Smith and Janis Joplin were women with attitude and talent.

❑ I have it on good authority that there’s no way

I ask you People say I ask you to show that they disapprove of someone or something. ❑ The impudence of it. I ask you!

have something on good authority If you have something on good authority, you believe it is true because you trust the person who told you about it.

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authority

under the auspices of someone/ something or under someone’s/something’s auspices [formal] If something is done under the auspices of a particular person or organization, or under a person or organization’s auspices, it is done with their control, support and approval. ❑ The study was carried out by a medical student under the auspices of the Centre for the Study of Alternative Therapies. ❑ Look at the manuscripts that were produced under his auspices.

auspices

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axe ✪ have an axe to grind

● You can also say that you have no axe to

grind to deny that your strong opinions about something are based on personal reasons. ❑ The unions insist they have no axe to grind, because they will represent operators wherever they work. There are several explanations for the origin of this expression. One is a story told by Benjamin Franklin about a man who managed to get his own axe sharpened by asking a boy to show him how his father’s grindstone worked.

If someone has an axe to grind, they have particular attitudes about something, often because they think they have been treated badly or because they want to get an advantage. ❑ Lord Gifford believed cases should be referred by an independent agency which, as he put it, doesn’t have an axe to grind. ❑ He didn’t have a critical ax to grind. He was very open-minded about other people’s work.

PL SE

U LY

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Bb SA babe

a babe in arms [mainly british] If you describe someone as a babe in arms, you mean that they are very young. ❑ The family have always cycled, and Chris has been going to races since he was a babe in arms. ❑ I first appeared on stage as a babe in arms, and my mother just assumed I would become an actor. ‘Babe’ is an old-fashioned word for a baby or small child. a babe in the woods You call someone a babe in the woods if they have little experience of life, and they are involved in a difficult situation that they do not understand. ❑ By this time I wasn’t such a babe in the woods, and one thing I insisted on was that they provide a contract. ‘Babe’ is an old-fashioned word for a baby or small child. An old story tells of two young orphans (= children with no parents) who were left in the care of their uncle. If the children died, the uncle would get their money. The uncle ordered a servant to take them into a wood where they died and their bodies were covered with leaves by the birds. There is a pantomime (= play for children) based on this story.

or are responsible for it. ❑ He’s open to ideas for the movie, but it’s his baby. ❑ There’s no doubt Fashion Week is her baby. throw the baby out with the bath water If someone throws the baby out with the bath water, they reject an idea completely, even though some parts of it are good. ❑ Even if we don’t necessarily like the whole scheme, we’re not going to throw the baby out with the bath water. ❑ In rejecting traditional values, they have thrown the baby out with the bathwater. wet the baby’s head [informal] If you wet the baby’s head, you have an alcoholic drink to celebrate the birth of a baby. ❑ I had a few drinks on Sunday to wet the baby’s head.

be someone’s baby If you say that something is someone’s baby, you mean that they have created it

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The usual American expression is be left holding the bag.

be left holding the baby [british] If you are left holding the baby, you are made responsible for a problem that nobody else wants to deal with. ❑ If anything goes wrong on this, Agnes, it’s you and I who’ll be left holding the baby. ❑ More often than he liked, Taylor was left holding the baby.

back and fill [old-fashioned] If someone backs and fills, they keep changing their opinion or failing to make a decision. ❑ They backed and filled for over six weeks until I told them that I would do the job myself. ● People also talk about backing and filling to refer to this kind of behaviour. ❑ The markets are nervous, so we are likely to see some backing and filling. the back of beyond You describe a place as the back of beyond when it is very far away from towns or cities. ❑ How did my brother come to be living in a cottage in the back of beyond? ✪ be glad to see the back of someone or something [mainly british] If you are glad to see the back of someone or something, you are pleased that they have gone. ❑ Nick said last night that Carter was an awful man. He added: ‘We are glad to see the back of him.’

baby

back

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back

● Adjectives such as pleased or happy are ➜ compare with on someone’s back sometimes used instead of glad. ❑ Most get someone’s back up [informal] or politicians will be as pleased to see the back of put someone’s back up [british, him as the voters. informal] break the back of something If someone or something gets your back If you break the back of a task, you deal up or puts your back up, they annoy you. with the main or most difficult parts of it. ❑ What does get my back up is a boss who is ❑ The new government hopes to have broken the constantly emailing me at weekends. ❑ I thought back of the economic crisis by the middle of this before I spoke again. The wrong question was year. going to get her back up. ❑ The appointment To break the back of something means took the whole office by surprise and at first to do something which will destroy or seemed to put people’s backs up. end it. This expression may refer to the way ❑ They would all like to be known as the cats raise their backs when they are politician who broke the back of global poverty. angry. ❑ The government made a big effort late last year ✪ get your own back [british, informal] to break the back of the black market. If you get your own back on someone, you break your back take revenge on them because of If you break your back to do something, something that they have done to you. you work extremely hard to try to do it. ❑ You’re only interested in getting your own back ❑ When you’re breaking your back to make a on Terence. ❑ I was bullied at school and I want business work, it’s going to cut into your time to get my own back. with family. ❑ ‘I had been travelling all over the go behind someone’s back country, breaking my back just to get a job,’ she If someone goes behind your back, they says. do something secretly or without your cover your back ➜ see cover permission. ✪ do something behind someone’s back ❑ Leonard, you haven’t been completely open If someone does something behind your with me. You think I wouldn’t know when you go back, they do it secretly, to harm you. behind my back? ❑ They go behind our backs, ❑ It’s horrible to have people laughing at you they withhold information, they talk down to us behind your back. ❑ He’s been arranging all this like idiots. behind my back. ➜ compare with do something behind fall off the back of a lorry [british, someone’s back informal] ✪ have your back to the wall or If you say that goods have fallen off the have your back against the wall back of a lorry, you mean that they are If you have your back to the wall or have stolen goods. your back against the wall, you are in a ❑ We bought some really excellent wine from a very difficult situation, which will be woman who clearly caught the bottles as they fell hard to deal with. off the back of a lorry. ❑ The government has its back to the wall and ● You can also say that you got or bought must make a difficult decision. ❑ The regime something off the back of a lorry. ❑ Pete really has its back against the wall. We are seeing once bought the boys a bicycle cheap off the back the beginnings of a revolution. ● You can also say when your back is to of a lorry. get off someone’s back [informal] the wall or with your back to the wall. If you tell someone to get off your back, ❑ When their backs are to the wall, women fight you mean that you want them to stop as hard as men. ❑ With my back to the wall, I criticizing you and leave you alone. agreed to the decision. ❑ He kept on at me to such an extent that know something like the back of your occasionally I wished he would get off my back. hand ➜ see hand ❑ He wanted his mom to get off his back about on someone’s back marriage. If someone is on your back, they are ● You can also say that you get someone criticizing you a lot or trying to persuade off your back. ❑ I decided that I would get you to do something. them off my back and out of my life. ❑ The crowd aren’t forgiving – as soon as you

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backs

● You can also talk about back-stabbing, make a mistake they’re on your back. ❑ If they meaning talk or gossip which is intended find out you’re weak, they’re on your back straight to harm someone. ❑ People begin to avoid away. one another, take sides, be drawn into gossip and ➜ compare with get off someone’s back back-stabbing. on the back of an envelope ✪ turn your back on someone If a piece of work was written or planned If someone turns their back on you, they on the back of an envelope, it was ignore you and refuse to help you. prepared too quickly, with little thought or care. ❑ We appeal to this conference – do not turn your ❑ These proposals were sketched out on the back back on the poor. ❑ Our job is to protect children of an envelope. ❑ The screenplay sounds as if it’s and we can’t just turn our backs on them. been written on the back of an envelope. ✪ turn your back on something ● You can also talk about a back-of-anIf you turn your back on something, you envelope calculation or account to talk reject it or stop being involved in it. about something that is not accurate. ❑ He had turned his back on his Communist past ❑ According to his back-of-an-envelope and formed a completely new party. ❑ The calculation, a solar square of mirrors of this size organisation says that young people are would provide enough energy to supply the whole increasingly turning their backs on marriage. state. when your back is turned on the back of a postage stamp If something happens when your back is If you say that everything someone knows turned, it happens when you are away or about a subject could be written on the involved with something else. back of a postage stamp, you mean they ❑ The problem is, I never know what she’s going know very little about it. to do when my back is turned. ❑ What she knew about children would have ● You can also say as soon as you turn your fitted on the back of a postage stamp. back. ❑ They stand there, very quiet and polite, put your back into something [informal] but as soon as you turn your back, they go crazy. If you put your back into something, you ➜ compare with turn your back on work very hard to do it. something ❑ Eighty miles across the mountains could be you scratch my back and I’ll scratch done in six days walking, if she put her back into yours or it. ❑ It just shows what can be achieved when I’ll scratch your back if you’ll scratch people commit to something and put their backs mine into it. People say you scratch my back and I’ll say something behind someone’s back scratch yours or I’ll scratch your back if If someone says something about you you’ll scratch mine to describe the way that behind your back, they say unpleasant one person helps another because they things about you to other people. know that person will help them in return. ❑ Friends were criticizing him behind his back. ❑ For these people, commitments are based on ❑ ‘Stop talking about me behind my back,’ said common interest: I’ll scratch your back if you’ll Susannah, and burst into tears. scratch mine. ➜ compare with go behind someone’s ● You can also talk about back-scratching, back meaning help that one person gives to ✪ stab someone in the back another so that they will be helped in If someone that you trust stabs you in the return. ❑ There was a lot of mutual backback, they secretly do something which scratching between directors and executives. hurts and betrays you. ● This phrase is often used to show ❑ She was incredibly disloyal. She would be your disapproval. friend to your face, and then stab you in the back. ❑ She felt betrayed, as though her daughter had backs live off the backs of someone stabbed her in the back. ● You can also talk about a stab in the If one group of people lives off the backs of another group, the first group uses the back, meaning an action or remark which money and resources of the second group hurts and betrays someone. ❑ It’s a stab in to survive, and gives nothing in return. the back for all Manchester United fans.

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backwards ❑ For too long the rich have lived off the backs of the working-class.

backwards

✪ bend over backwards or

you mean that they are extremely thin. ❑ Physically, she seemed lighter suddenly – a bag of bones in his arms. a bag of nerves ➜ see nerves be left holding the bag [american, informal] If you are left holding the bag, you are made responsible for a problem that nobody else wants to deal with. ❑ If a project goes bust, investors are left holding the bag. ❑ And then he made another deal, and they were left holding the bag.

bend over backward If you bend over backwards or bend over backward, you try very hard to help or please someone, even though it causes you trouble. ❑ We bent over backwards to make them feel welcome and they didn’t thank us once. ● You can also say that someone leans The usual British expression is be left over backwards or leans over backward. holding the baby. ❑ You’ve done your duty – you’ve leaned over backwards. They have nothing to complain about. ✪ in the bag know something backwards [mainly If something is in the bag, it is certain british] or that you will get it or achieve it. know something backwards and ❑ Between you and me, Paul, it’s in the bag. forwards [mainly american] Unofficially, the job’s yours. ❑ After being If you know a subject backwards or you 23-16 up at the break, it seemed victory was in know it backwards and forwards, you the bag. know a lot about it. The bag referred to here is a hunting ❑ I thoroughly enjoy lecturing and know my bag, in which hunters carry home the subject backwards. ❑ He will be very much in animals and birds they have shot. demand. He knows the business backwards. ✪ a mixed bag ❑ They know company personnel policy If something is a mixed bag, it contains backwards and forwards. things that are of very different types or qualities. backyard ❑ The newspapers carry a mixed bag of stories on not in my backyard ➜ see yard their front pages. ❑ The programmes are a mixed bacon bag as they have to cater for all tastes. save someone’s bacon [mainly british, The bag referred to here is a hunting bag informal] containing the different kinds of If you save someone’s bacon, you get them animals and birds that the hunter has out of a dangerous or difficult situation. shot. ❑ Your mother once saved my bacon, did you not be someone’s bag [informal] know that? She lent me money when I needed it. If something is not your bag, you are not One explanation for this expression is interested in it or are not good at it. that ‘bacon’ is related to an old word for ❑ They’re a very successful band – they’re just not ‘back’, so to save your bacon meant to my bag. ❑ ‘Being an umpire is not my bag,’ says save your back from a beating. Another Anders. ‘I’d rather be a player.’ is that in the past, bacon stored during This expression may have originated in the winter had to be guarded from the slang spoken by American jazz hungry dogs. A third explanation is that musicians. They sometimes referred to the expression was in the past thieves’ the type of jazz they played, or to their slang meaning ‘to escape’. own style of jazz, as their ‘bag’. bad someone’s bag of tricks my bad [very informal] Someone’s bag of tricks is the set of People say my bad to mean that special techniques or methods that they something is their fault. use in their work. ❑ Whoops! Sorry dudes! My bad! ❑ This is a great film with the director going bag through his bag of tricks to brilliant effect. a bag of bones ❑ Let’s see what he can pull out of his bag of If you describe someone as a bag of bones, tricks in tonight’s match.

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ball This expression refers to the bag in which a conjurer (= someone who does magic tricks) carries the equipment they need for their performances.

bags

✪ pack your bags

bail

If you pack your bags, you suddenly leave where you live or work, or stop being involved in something, usually because of a disagreement. ❑ After a huge row she packed her bags and never came back. ❑ If things go wrong and our conditions are not met, we will simply pack our bags and leave.

or done in exactly the way that they wanted you to react. ❑ Adrina tried to provoke me, but I refused to rise to the bait. ❑ Julia told him that she had fallen off a horse as a child and lost her confidence. Hewitt immediately took the bait, offering to teach her to ride. In fly-fishing, the fish rise to the surface of the water to take the bait, and so they get caught.

baker a baker’s dozen [old-fashioned] A baker’s dozen of things is thirteen of them. ❑ To help you decide where to go, we’ve picked out a baker’s dozen of top events between April and September. Bakers in medieval England (= England between 1000 and 1500) had a bad reputation for cheating their customers by selling loaves of bread that were too light. After laws were introduced to fix the standard weight of loaves, bakers began to add a thirteenth loaf to each dozen to make sure they were not breaking the law.

jump bail or skip bail If someone who is accused of a crime jumps bail or skips bail, they fail to appear in court when they should. ❑ He jumped bail and fled America the day before he was due to stand trial for murder. ❑ He was sentenced to an additional three months for skipping bail and going on the run for nine months. ‘Bail’ is money paid to an official in balance exchange for freedom until a court ✪ in the balance appearance. If a situation is in the balance, it is not bait clear what is going to happen. bait and switch [american] ❑ The career of the Scotland captain is now in Bait and switch is a method of attracting the balance following this latest injury. customers by making a good offer, but ● You can also say that a situation hangs then the customer is sold something of in the balance. ❑ With the destruction of so lower quality. much of the rainforest, the fate of these animals ❑ The live performances were not shown often, now hangs in the balance. and no doubt some viewers considered it a bait A balance is a set of scales (= device for and switch. ❑ The bar really sells 11 dishes for the weighing things) which consists of advertised price at lunch. There’s no bait and two dishes hanging from a horizontal switch here. bar. fish or cut bait [american] If you tell someone to fish or cut bait, you ✪ throw someone off balance If something that you are not expecting mean they should stop wasting time and throws you off balance, it suddenly make a decision to do something. confuses or surprises you. ❑ Morale was low after seven weeks without ❑ His visit had thrown her off-balance. ❑ Her progress – the time had come to fish or cut bait. directness seemed designed to throw him off The literal meaning behind this balance. expression seems to be that it is time for ● Verbs such as knock and catch are someone to make a definite decision sometimes used instead of throw. either to start fishing, or else to prepare ❑ Mullins knocked me off balance with his the bait so that other people can fish. sudden change of subject. rise to the bait or

take the bait If you rise to the bait or take the bait, you react to something that someone has said

Cob Idioms A-Z Final.indd 19

ball a ball and chain You describe something as a ball and

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ball

chain when it limits your freedom to do ✪ have a ball [informal] what you want. If you have a ball, you enjoy yourself very ❑ Our national debt is an economic ball and much. chain dragging us down, keeping long-term ❑ I thought I’d be travelling the world by now, interest rates high. having a ball. ❑ I’ve enjoyed every minute of In the past, prisoners were sometimes politics. I’ve had a ball. chained by the leg to a heavy metal ball In this expression, a ‘ball’ is a formal to prevent them from escaping. dance. ✪ the ball is in your court keep the ball rolling If the ball is in your court, it is your If someone or something keeps the ball responsibility to decide what to do next in rolling, they make sure that a process a particular situation. continues. ❑ We’ve made him an offer but now he has to ❑ We realised we would need outside funding to decide whether to accept: the ball is in his court. keep the ball rolling. ❑ We made good progress at This expression refers to the game of the end of last year and now I am hoping I can tennis. keep the ball rolling. behind the eight ball [american] on the ball If someone or something is behind the If someone is on the ball, they are alert and eight ball, they are in trouble or in a deal with things quickly and intelligently. difficult situation. ❑ Some clubs struggle to raise money. A few ❑ If a child doesn’t get the basics in primary are on the ball and make a professional job of it. school, they are way behind the eight ball. ❑ I need to be on the ball with the Deputy Prime In the game of pool, the ‘eight ball’ is a Minister visiting. ball with a number 8 on it, which In football, the player who is on the ball players have to pot (= put in the net) last. has the ball at their feet and is in control If the eight ball is between the cue ball of it. (= white ball that you hit) and the ball pick up the ball and run with it or which the player is trying to hit, the take the ball and run with it player is likely to hit the eight ball first, If you pick up the ball and run with it or which is a foul shot. take the ball and run with it, you use an ✪ a crystal ball idea or plan that someone else has started You talk about a crystal ball when you are and develop it, in order to see if it will be saying how difficult it is to predict the successful. future. ❑ In a couple of months all our efforts will be ❑ What you really need to help you select your forgotten unless other people pick up the ball and new car is a crystal ball to tell you how much it run with it. will be worth in three or four years’ time. The game referred to here is American ● You can call the activity of predicting football. the future crystal ball gazing. ❑ Can I ask ✪ play ball you now to do a bit of crystal ball gazing? How If someone plays ball, they do what you high do you think the price of oil could go? want them to do. A crystal ball is a glass ball used by some ❑ If they still won’t play ball with us, we will have traditional fortune-tellers (= people no choice but to take them to court. ❑ They who predict what will happen to you in thought they could use him for their propaganda, the future). They say that they can see but he refused to play ball. visions of future events within the The usual American expression is play ball. hardball. drop the ball [mainly american] ✪ set the ball rolling or If someone drops the ball, they make a start the ball rolling mistake or do something silly. If you set the ball rolling or start the ball ❑ Some say the Academy dropped the ball last rolling, you start an activity or you do year by failing to recognise the film in the Best something which other people will join Animated Feature category. ❑ There are people in with later. who’d like to see me fall, I know that. But I’m not afraid. I won’t drop the ball. ❑ Evans set the ball rolling with a £1 million donation

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balls

to the charity. ❑ I’ve already started the ball rolling. I’ve set up meetings with all sorts of people. ● Verbs such as get and keep are also used. ❑ Once you get the ball rolling, everyone wants to be involved. throw someone a curve ball ➜ see curve the whole ball of wax [american] If you talk about the whole ball of wax, you mean the whole of something, including everything connected with it. ❑ Perry wanted it all – the fame, the money, the glamour – the whole ball of wax. The usual British expression is the whole caboodle.

a whole new ball game or a different ball game If you describe a situation as a whole new ball game, or a different ball game, you mean that it is completely different from what came before. ❑ I’m working with kids now, which is a whole new ball game. ❑ If military force were to be used, then that would be a completely different ball game. ‘Ball game’ is often used in American English to refer to a game of baseball.

a ballpark figure or a ballpark estimate A ballpark figure or a ballpark estimate is an approximate figure or quantity. ❑ But what are we talking about here – a few thousand, millions, two bucks? Give me a ballpark figure. ❑ I think just in a ballpark estimate – about 60-40. Sixty would support, 40 percent would be opposed. in the ballpark If someone or something is in the ballpark, their ideas, actions, or estimates are approximately right, although they are not exactly right. ❑ General manager J. P. Taylor received some offers, but none of them was in the ballpark. ❑ We estimate that a four-year undergraduate degree will cost in the ballpark of $60,000 by 2025. ❑ Doctor Adams pointed out that it cost about £5 – an underestimate, maybe, but in the right ballpark. in the same ballpark If one person or thing is in the same ballpark as another, the first person or thing is similar to the second, or is as good as the second. ❑ As a general investigative agency, they’re not in the same ballpark as the FBI. ❑ Their outlets aren’t in the same ballpark as the larger superstores.

the balloon goes up [mainly british] If the balloon goes up, something happens that causes a situation suddenly to become very serious. ❑ On the Saturday the balloon went up. Henry said he would be going out and not returning until the Sunday afternoon. Sara told him to take all his things and not to return at all. ❑ On the line was his solicitor warning that the balloon was about to go up. In the First World War, balloons were used both to protect targets from air attacks, and to observe the enemy. The fact that a balloon had gone up therefore indicated that trouble was coming. go down like a lead balloon ➜ see lead

break someone’s balls [informal, very rude] If someone breaks your balls, they frequently annoy you or put pressure on you to do things. ❑ Behind the scenes, this sweet-faced girl was breaking his balls. ● You can call someone who behaves in this way a ball-breaker, and describe their behaviour as ball-breaking. ❑ Steve Jobs achieved his cult leader status partly by being a single-minded, uncompromising ball-breaker. ❑ The heroine of the movie is a ball-breaking champion of the truth.

balloon

balls

go ballistic [informal] If someone goes ballistic, they get extremely angry. ❑ They claim the singer went ballistic after a member of his band failed to show up for a sound check. ❑ She’ll go ballistic when she finds out. This expression uses the image of a ballistic missile, and the powerful explosion which it causes. ➜ compare with go nuclear

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A ballpark is a park or stadium where baseball is played.

ballistic

ballpark

These expressions are often used to refer critically to women who seem to enjoy destroying the sexual confidence of men. In this expression, ‘balls’ refers to a man’s testicles.

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banana

keep balls in the air or juggle balls in the air If you keep or juggle a lot of balls in the air, you deal with many different things at the same time. ❑ They had trouble keeping all their balls in the air. In management terms, they were trying to do too much and things were starting to break down. ❑ I really am juggling a hundred balls in the air at the same time and it isn’t easy. This expression uses the image of juggling, where someone has to keep throwing and catching a number of balls at the same time.

banana

Comedies and cartoons traditionally show a character slipping on a banana skin, falling over, and looking foolish.

bananas go bananas [informal] If someone goes bananas, they become very angry, upset or excited. ❑ I tried to ask about Jack. She went bananas. ❑ The audience went bananas – anything for a bit of excitement. go bananas over something [informal] If you go bananas over something, you become very enthusiastic about it. ❑ Everyone went bananas over his new TV show.

band

banana oil [american, informal] ✪ a one-man band If you call what someone says banana oil, If you describe a man or an organization you mean that it is only said to gain an as a one-man band, you mean that one advantage and is not sincere. man does every part of an activity ❑ All the things he said about her qualities of himself, without help from anyone else. leadership were just banana oil. ❑ He seemed to be a one-man band, taking second banana [mainly american, orders, and cooking and serving at table. ❑ I’m a informal] one-man band, Mr Herold. At present I haven’t If you call something or someone even got a secretary. ● A woman who is like this is sometimes second banana you mean they are the next most important or popular person or described as a one-woman band. ❑ I am no thing after the most important or popular better at being in two places at once than the next one-woman band. person or thing. A one-man band is a street entertainer ❑ While hockey is king in Canada, the sport has who plays several different instruments to play second banana south of the border to at the same time. Major League Baseball. A second banana is a performer who bandwagon performs with someone else who has a ✪ jump on the bandwagon bigger part in the performance. If someone jumps on the bandwagon, ❑ Carney returned to radio as second banana on they suddenly become involved in an comedy shows. activity because it is likely to succeed or it ➜ compare with play second fiddle is fashionable. ✪ slip on a banana skin or ❑ There will always be people ready to jump on slip on a banana peel [british, informal] the bandwagon and start classes in whatever is If an important or famous person slips on fashionable, with little or no training. ❑ Why are a banana skin or slips on a banana peel, so many stars now jumping on the commercial they say or do something that makes bandwagon? them look stupid and causes them ● Verbs such as climb, get, leap and join problems. are sometimes used instead of jump. ❑ A ❑ Most of the nation would enjoy seeing the lot of people are climbing on the bandwagon of football team slip on a banana skin in front of selling clothing for dogs. ● These expressions are usually used in a millions. ❑ You can be walking across Westminster Bridge full of noble thoughts at one disapproving way. ● You can also say that someone is moment and slipping on a banana peel the next. ● You can also call something that causes bandwagon-jumping. ❑ We welcome any someone to look stupid or have problems campaign on safety issues, but we don’t like the a banana skin or a banana peel. ❑ Insiders bandwagon-jumping of this organization. ● Bandwagon is also used in other watched in horrified fascination as the President lurched from one banana peel to another. phrases such as someone’s bandwagon is

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baptism

rolling, to mean that an activity or movement is getting increasing support. ❑ The team believe his bandwagon is rolling with support coming from both sides of the party. In American elections in the past, political rallies often included a band playing on a horse-drawn wagon (= a covered vehicle pulled by horses). Politicians sat on the wagon and those who wanted to show their support climbed on it.

thousands of disappointed festival-goers left early. ● You can also say that something happened with a bang and not a whimper to mean the opposite. ❑ Should the monarchy go, it would be with a memorable bang and not a whimper. This is the last line of T.S. Eliot’s poem ‘The Hollow Men’ (1925): ‘This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper.’

bank

bang

be laughing all the way to the bank If someone is laughing all the way to the bang goes something [mainly british, bank, they are making a lot of money very informal] easily. If you say bang goes something, you ❑ Investors who followed our New Year share tips mean that it is now obvious that you will are laughing all the way to the bank. not be able to do or achieve something. ● You can also say that someone is crying ❑ This means I’m going to have to work till all the way to the bank when something midnight. Bang goes my early night! ❑ Bang bad happens to them but they make a lot goes his influence, maybe his job, if the two of money from it. ❑ With compensation countries can’t reach an agreement. claims for injuries like these, people are crying all get a bang out of something [american, the way to the bank. informal] This expression was used by the If you get a bang out of something, you American entertainer Liberace when he enjoy it because it is exciting. was asked how he felt when he read bad ❑ ‘I get a bang out of seeing what you can reviews of his shows. achieve,’ he says. ❑ He got a bang out of all the ✪ not break the bank trouble he caused. If something will not break the bank, it more bang for your buck or will not cost too much money. more bang for the buck [informal] ❑ Porto Cervo is expensive, but there are other If you get more bang for your buck or restaurants and bars that won’t break the bank. more bang for the buck, you get a bigger ❑ With self-catering holidays, you can enjoy a quantity or better quality of something refreshing change without breaking the bank. for the same amount of money. If one gambler (= someone who risks ❑ While desktop computers still give you more money in order to win more) wins all bang for your buck, today’s notebooks are capable the money that a casino has set aside to of more than just basic office work. ❑ Companies pay all the winning bets, they are said to are scrambling to find new ways of delivering have broken the bank. more bang for the client’s buck. ● You can also say that someone gets a baptism bigger bang for their buck or a bigger ✪ a baptism of fire bang for the buck. ❑ I think it’s very, very If your first experience of a new situation important for those governments to do whatever is a baptism of fire, it is very difficult or they can to get a bigger bang for the buck. unpleasant. ● You can also say that someone gets little ❑ They have given themselves a baptism of fire by bang for their buck or for the buck, when playing the four best teams in the world. they get less than they expected for the ❑ Having never managed a team before, I was amount of money they spent. ❑ The suddenly managing thirty people. It was a company is getting little bang for its buck. baptism of fire. not with a bang but a whimper [literary] This expression originally referred to the If something happens not with a bang but deaths of martyrs (= people who die because a whimper, it is less effective or exciting of their beliefs) by burning. It was later than people expected or intended. used by the French Emperors Napoleon ❑ The film festival approached its climax Bonaparte and Napoleon III to refer to yesterday not with a bang but a whimper, as someone’s first experience of battle.

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bar bar bar none You use bar none to emphasize that someone or something is the best of their kind. ❑ He is simply the best goalscorer we have ever had, bar none. ❑ Coronation Street is the best programme on TV, bar none.

bark

your bark is worse than your bite If someone’s bark is worse than their bite, they seem to be much more severe or unfriendly than they really are. ❑ My bark is definitely worse than my bite. When people get to know me, they’ll tell you I’m just a big softy really.

barn

barrel

close the barn door after the horse has bolted ➜ see door

be scraping the barrel or be scraping the bottom of the barrel If someone is scraping the barrel or is scraping the bottom of the barrel, they are using something or doing something that is not good, because they cannot think of anything better to use or do. ❑ They must really be scraping the barrel if they want to employ him! ❑ The game designers were scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas when they came up with this one. ❑ I can accept him shouting at me, but now he’s really scraping the barrel by criticizing our players. have someone over a barrel If someone has you over a barrel, they have put you in a situation where you are forced to do what they want. ❑ The unions wish they had more options. Jobs are tight, they know that, and they feel management has them over a barrel. ❑ And now this time they’ve got them over a barrel. This expression may refer to a method used in the past to save someone who had almost drowned. The person was placed face down over a barrel, which was then rocked gently backwards and forwards until all the water had drained from their lungs. not be a barrel of laughs If you say that someone or something is not a barrel of laughs, you mean that they are boring, too serious, or not enjoyable. ❑ John’s personal life hasn’t always been a barrel

of laughs. ❑ The habit of constant self-control has taken its toll; Weddington is the first to admit she’s not exactly a barrel of laughs. ● Sometimes people say that someone or something is a barrel of laughs to mean that they are fun or enjoyable, but this expression is more often used humorously to really mean the opposite. ❑ ‘We spent the day at the War Museum.’ – ‘That sounds a barrel of laughs.’

barrelhead

on the barrelhead or on the barrel [american] If you pay cash on the barrelhead or on the barrel, you pay for something immediately and in cash. ❑ Customers usually pay cash on the barrelhead, so bad debts aren’t much of a problem. The most likely explanation for this expression comes from the days when people first started living in the American West. Saloons (= places where you could buy and drink alcohol) often consisted of just a room with a barrel (= wooden container) of drink in it, and customers who wanted to drink had to put their money on the top of the barrel before being served.

The usual British expression for this is on the nail.

give someone both barrels [informal] If you give someone both barrels, you criticize them fiercely and with force. ❑ She was angry and gave him both barrels. ● You can also attack or criticize someone with both barrels. ❑ Let him have it with both barrels and then get out of the situation while you can. This expression refers to the firing of both barrels of a double-barrelled gun.

base

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barrels

In baseball, players have to hit the ball and then run round all four corners or bases to score a run. get to first base If you get to first base, you begin to make progress with your plans. ❑ We couldn’t get to first base with any U.S. banks. They didn’t want to take the risk. ❑ We wonder why there are so few women in leadership – they get criticized before they even get to first base.

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bat

If someone gets to first base, they basics succeed in kissing a boyfriend or get back to basics or girlfriend or touching them as a way of go back to basics starting a sexual relationship. [mainly If you get back to basics or go back to american, informal, rude] basics, you concentrate on simple, ❑ It takes Declan, the ladies’ man of the cast, important ideas or activities. until the third episode to get to first base with ❑ It helps to get back to basics and say explicitly how any of his co-stars. we want to satisfy our target customer. ❑ This is ✪ off base [mainly american] about going back to basics, learning about a If someone’s judgment or opinion is off healthy diet and approaching food in a new way. base, it is mistaken or wrong. ● Back-to-basics can be used before ❑ I don’t think the church is off base at all in nouns. ❑ We need a new back-to-basics drive to taking a moral stand on this. ❑ For him to blame raise standards of literacy in our schools. his mother for this is really off base. basket In baseball, if a player is caught off base, ✪ a basket case a member of the opposite team gets If a country or organization is a basket them out while they are between bases. case, its economy or finances are in a very touch base bad state. If you touch base with someone, you ❑ The popular image about this region a few contact them, often when you have not years ago was that it was a basket case. ❑ In the spoken to them or seen them for a long seventies, the Post Office was regarded as a time. basket case, doomed to decline by the ❑ Being there gave me a chance to touch base competition from phone, fax and modem. with some old friends that I hadn’t seen for a year. If a person is a basket case, they are ❑ A brief phone-call is often made during the very anxious or easily upset. [informal] month to touch base and update the parent on ❑ I keep bursting into tears – I tell you, I’m any changes in the basic treatment plan. turning into a basket case. In baseball, batters have to touch the This expression was originally used to first, second, and third bases to score a describe someone, especially a soldier, run. who had lost all four limbs. It may have bases come about because some of these people touch all the bases or had to be carried around in baskets. touch all bases bat If someone or something touches all the go to bat for someone or bases or touches all bases, they deal with go in to bat for someone [mainly american] or include all the different things that If you go to bat for someone or go in to they should. bat for them, you give them your support ❑ His speech was short but he touched all the or help. bases. ❑ The simple menu touches all bases: ❑ She was just fabulous in going to bat for me, in meat, fish, veggie dishes and pasta. not being judgmental, and helping me work it ● You can also say that someone or out. ❑ I wasn’t ashamed to go in to bat for Matt. something covers all the bases or covers I had faith his acting talent would justify it. all bases. ❑ The boss covers all bases when he This expression refers to a baseball sets up a job. player who joins in the game and takes In baseball, batters have to touch the the place of another batter. first, second, and third bases to score a like a bat out of hell [informal] run. If you go somewhere like a bat out of hell,

bash have a bash [british, informal] If you have a bash at something, you try to do it. ❑ He’s prepared to have a bash at discussing it intelligently. ❑ They asked me to be in the play, so I said I’d have a bash.

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you go there very quickly. ❑ She tore across the highway like a bat out of hell. I nearly ploughed right into her. In this expression, ‘bat’ is used to refer to a small, flying mammal. Bats are often associated with the devil, probably because they usually fly at night.

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bath

off your own bat [british] If you do something off your own bat, you choose to do it and no one else tells you to do it. ❑ Whatever she did, she did off her own bat. It was nothing to do with me. In cricket, players can score runs either by hitting the ball themselves, or when their partner hits it, or when the ball is not hit at all but goes beyond the wicket. play a straight bat [british] If you play a straight bat, you try to avoid answering difficult questions. ❑ But last Saturday her interviewee played a straight bat, referring all inquiries to his solicitors. If you play a straight bat, you do things in an honest and simple way because you have traditional ideas and values. [old-fashioned] ❑ Amit, then 14, was a little shocked to find that playing a straight bat was not considered important in his new school. In cricket, to play a straight bat means to play very correctly and with great care, in order not to risk being out. right off the bat [mainly american] If something happens right off the bat, it happens immediately or at the very beginning of a process. ❑ I learned right off the bat that you can’t rely on anything in this business. ❑ Right off the bat I had a problem that meant I had to stop work. The image here is of a ball bouncing quickly off a baseball bat.

company, which entered bankruptcy proceedings 18 months ago.

baton

pass the baton or hand over the baton If you pass the baton or hand over the baton to someone, you give them responsibility for something. ❑ Does this mean that the baton of leadership is going to be passed to other nations? ❑ Last year, he handed over the baton to his younger colleague. ● You can also say that you pick up the baton, meaning that you take over responsibility for something from someone else. ❑ Now, Colin’s daughter, Kate, has picked up the baton and the company has a bright future. In a relay race, team members pass on a baton as they finish running their stage of the race.

bats

have bats in the belfry or have bats in your belfry [old-fashioned] If someone has bats in the belfry or has bats in their belfry, they are not sensible or reasonable. ❑ Don’t say that to anyone else or they’ll think you’ve got bats in the belfry! The belfry is the top part of a church tower where the bells are kept, and bats resting there would fly about wildly when disturbed by the bells being rung. In this expression, the belfry represents the person’s head.

bath

an early bath [british] batteries ✪ recharge your batteries If a football or rugby player has an early If you recharge your batteries, you stop bath, they are sent off the pitch before the working for a short period in order to rest end of the game, because they have so that you have more energy when you broken the rules. start working again. ❑ When it is a midfield player who takes an early ❑ After playing in the Divisional Championship, I bath, the impact is almost zero. ❑ Ref Graeme took a long break from the game to recharge my Allison had no hesitation in sending the batteries. ❑ He wanted to recharge his batteries 16-year-old for an early bath. and come back feeling fresh and positive. In football and other sports, players who When people recharge batteries, they are sent off cannot return to the field put an electrical charge back into the and so can take a bath before the game batteries by connecting them to a is finished. machine that draws power from take a bath [journalism] another source of electricity. If a person or a company takes a bath, they lose a lot of money on an investment. battle ❑ It is America’s third-biggest bank failure and its ✪ the battle lines are drawn stockholders have taken a bath. ❑ Investors in If the battle lines are drawn between the company took a 35 million dollar bath on the opposing groups or people, they are ready

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beam

to start fighting or arguing, and it has become clear what the main points of conflict or disagreement will be. ❑ The battle lines were drawn yesterday for the fiercest contest in the history of local radio. ❑ Battle lines were already being drawn up for a future power struggle. a battle of nerves ➜ see nerves a battle of wills If an argument or conflict is a battle of wills, the person with the strongest beliefs or personality will win. ❑ It was a battle of wills, and Grace’s was the stronger. ❑ All that was left was a mutual struggle, a battle of wills, which became totally exhausting. a battle of wits If a competition or disagreement is a battle of wits, each person involved in it uses their intelligence to beat their opponents. ❑ With chess you’re involved in a battle of wits from start to finish. ✪ be fighting a losing battle If you are fighting a losing battle, you are trying to achieve something, but you are very unlikely to succeed. ❑ Recent research by doctors in Los Angeles suggests that very overweight dieters may be fighting a losing battle. ❑ Theatres compete with the movies and streaming services and they’re fighting a losing battle. join battle If you join battle with someone, you decide that you will try to defeat them in an argument or contest. ❑ Carter led the challenge against the Prime Minister and now finds himself joining battle with two of the party’s most admired figures. ❑ European finance ministers will join battle this weekend in a new row over who should represent the Euro on the international stage. ✪ a running battle A running battle with someone is an argument or fight that you have over a long period of time. ❑ The government’s running battle with the media took a significant new turn yesterday. ● You can also say that someone has or fights a running battle with or against someone. ❑ ‘For the last four years I’ve fought a running battle against vandals and thieves,’ Mr Hearsum said. win the battle, but lose the war If you win the battle, but lose the war,

you achieve a small thing but in achieving that, lose or fail to get something which is more important. ❑ The strikers may have won the battle, but they lost the war. ● You can also say that you lose the battle, but win the war, meaning the opposite. ❑ Betty Hyde may have lost the battle, but she won the war and took her business to another bank.

bay

✪ keep something/someone at bay or

hold something/someone at bay If you keep something or someone at bay or hold them at bay, you stop them from attacking you or harming you. ❑ By salting the meat, bacteria were kept at bay, preserving the meat for future use. ❑ Tooth decay can be held at bay by fluoride toothpaste and good dentistry. ❑ A dozen American soldiers held the crowd at bay until the helicopter lifted off. When a hunted animal is at bay, it is trapped by the hounds (= hunting dogs) and forced to turn and face them to defend itself. However, if the animal is successfully defending itself in this position, you can say that it is holding the hounds at bay. This second use seems the most likely origin of the expression.

bead

be-all

✪ not the be-all and end-all

Cob Idioms A-Z Final.indd 27

draw a bead on someone/something or take a bead on someone/something [mainly american] If you draw a bead on a target or take a bead on it, you aim your weapon at it. ❑ He had entered my office with a loaded gun and had drawn a bead on my heart. ❑ The small pale eyes squeezed shut as if he were taking a bead on her. The bead is the small marker on top of the end of the barrel on some guns, which is used to aim at the target.

If something is not the be-all and end-all, it is not the only important thing in a particular situation. ❑ Results are not the be-all and end-all of education. ❑ My career is important, but it’s not the be-all and end-all.

beam be way off beam [british] If something is way off beam, it is completely wrong or mistaken. ❑ Some of his remarks were way off beam.

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bean This refers to the use of a radio signal or beam to direct aircraft which were coming in to land. A radio transmitter on one side of the runway transmitted dots, or short tones, while one on the other side transmitted dashes, or long tones. If pilots were coming in on the right course, the dots and dashes merged and the pilots heard a continuous tone.

five, they are intelligent and sensible. ❑ Most parents want their children to be taught the basics, so they can talk nicely, spell properly and know how many beans make five. This is a very old expression which is used by the Spanish writer Cervantes in his novel ‘Don Quixote’ (1605). It may be based on a riddle. not amount to a hill of beans or not be worth a hill of beans If something does not amount to a hill of bean beans or is not worth a hill of beans, it In the following expressions, ‘bean’ has no value, importance or use. means money. ❑ In this world the problems of people like us a bean counter don’t amount to a hill of beans. ❑ To the sceptics, If you call someone a bean counter, you political polls aren’t worth a hill of beans. mean that they are only interested in how ● You can also say that something does much money a business makes and not amount to a row of beans or is not spends. worth a row of beans. ❑ If you’re not ❑ The reason for our failure is that we have bean interested in a subject, training isn’t worth a row counters running our companies. The Japanese of beans. have engineering and manufacturing people. Beans are sometimes planted in groups ❑ Medical bean counters don’t think it is in a little mound of earth, although cost-effective to detect this type of cancer in the they are usually grown in rows. older age groups. ✪ spill the beans [informal] ● You can call this type of approach bean If you spill the beans, you reveal the truth counting. If someone does this, you can about something secret or private. say they count the beans. ❑ He is angry ❑ He was scared to death I was going to spill the with the Hollywood establishment – the beans to the cops. ❑ Come on, spill the beans! ‘bean-counting producers, the idiot studio heads Whose fault was it? and the lawyers.’ ❑ Those who count the beans in This expression has a number of our society have all the power, and will do for the possible explanations. One is derived foreseeable future. from an ancient practice of voting by ● These expressions usually show placing coloured beans in one of a disapproval. number of jars or pots, then tipping the not have a bean [british, old-fashioned] beans out and counting them. Another If you do not have a bean, you have no is an informal description of vomiting. money.

beans full of beans If you are full of beans, you are very happy and energetic. ❑ Jem was among them, pink-cheeked and full of beans after his long sleep. ❑ He’s a likable extrovert, full of beans. This originally referred to a horse that was well-fed and therefore full of energy. know how many beans make five [british, old-fashioned] If someone knows how many beans make

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british, informal] If someone is like a bear with a sore head, they are being very bad-tempered and irritable. ❑ What was wrong with Mario this afternoon? He was like a bear with a sore head! ❑ He’s like a bear with a sore head in the mornings. loaded for bear [american, informal] If you are loaded for bear, you are eager to start doing something difficult or to argue with someone. ❑ The president arrived at the meeting loaded for bear. Someone who is loaded for bear has weapons which are powerful enough to

a bean so we bought all our furniture secondhand.

bear ❑ It’s quite incredible to think that he now like a bear with a sore head [mainly hasn’t got a bean. ❑ When we married we hadn’t

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bed kill a bear, even though they may be hunting smaller animals.

beast

no use to man or beast or no good to man or beast [literary] If someone or something is no use to man or beast or no good to man or beast, they are completely useless. ❑ Much against his will, he took with him six complete beginners, of no use to man or beast. This is part of the old saying, ‘When the wind is in the east, ‘tis neither good for man nor beast.’

beat

✪ beat your breast or

beat your chest If someone beats their breast or beats their chest, they publicly show regret or anger about something that has happened. ❑ At this month’s meeting of the party’s Central Committee, the party leader beat his breast with ritual self-criticism. ❑ Why don’t you both stop beating your chests and do something productive? ● You can describe the action of doing this as breast-beating or chest-beating. ❑ His breast-beating on behalf of the working classes always seemed false to me. ● You usually use these expressions to suggest that the person is not being sincere but is trying to draw attention to himself or herself. if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em [informal] People say if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em to mean that if you cannot change what someone is doing, you should start to do it yourself. ❑ It became a case of ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em’, and I ended up working there too. ● This expression is often varied, for example by saying things such as if you can’t beat ‘em, you should join ‘em, or by using the whole word them instead of ‘em. ❑ Conscious of rising support for these policies, the Liberal party decided that if it couldn’t beat them, it should join them. not miss a beat If someone does not miss a beat, they always know what is happening and so are able to take advantage of every situation. ❑ This time we played like machines. The longer the game went the stronger we got, and we never missed a beat.

The ‘beat’ referred to here is probably a heartbeat, although it may refer to a beat in music. without missing a beat or not missing a beat If someone says or does something without missing a beat or not missing a beat, they continue to speak or do something without pausing. ❑ ‘Are you jealous?’ – ‘Only when I’m not in control,’ he says, without missing a beat.

beaver

an eager beaver [informal] If you describe someone as an eager beaver, you mean that they are very enthusiastic about work and want very much to please other people. ❑ There are always eager beavers, people who stay behind after the talk to ask penetrating questions. ❑ Ed was the first to arrive at the office, the eager beaver! ● Eager-beaver can also be used before a noun. ❑ If fraud became an issue, he might interest an eager-beaver lawyer in the case. ● You usually use these expressions to show that you find someone’s behaviour foolish or annoying. Beavers are often associated with hard work, as they spend a lot of time building shelters and dams (= walls across rivers) out of mud and wood. be at someone’s beck and call If someone is at another person’s beck and call, they are always ready to do what that person wants them to do, even when it is not reasonable. ❑ Your child has to understand that you can’t always be at his beck and call for every little thing. ❑ He had a host of servants at his beck and call. ‘Beck’ is an old word meaning a gesture, for example a nod or a movement of the hand or forefinger, which represents a command such as ‘Come here.’

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beck

bed fall out of bed [american, informal] If the level or value of something falls out of bed, it becomes lower very quickly. ❑ The stock market fell out of bed yesterday. get into bed with someone If one person or group gets into bed with another, they make an agreement to work together.

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bedbug ❑ There’s not much chance of them getting into

bed with a bank of that size. ● You can also say that a person or group is in bed with another, meaning that they are already working together. ❑ He was clearly in bed with the government. ● This expression is usually used to show disapproval. get out of bed the wrong side or get out of bed on the wrong side If someone got out of bed the wrong side or on the wrong side, they are in a bad mood all day and there is no obvious reason for it. ❑ Sorry I was so grumpy when I arrived this morning. I must have got out of bed the wrong side. This relates to the old superstition that it was unlucky to put your left foot on the ground first when getting out of bed. ‘Get off on the wrong foot’ is based on a similar belief. not be a bed of roses ➜ see roses put something to bed If you put a plan or task to bed, you achieve it or complete it successfully. ❑ Before putting the agreement to bed, we still had to satisfy the client. On an old-style printing press, the bed is the flat part that holds the type. If journalists talk about putting a newspaper or magazine to bed, they are talking about making the final changes before printing. you’ve made your bed, now lie on it or you have made your bed and will have to lie on it If someone says you’ve made your bed, now lie on it or you have made your bed and will have to lie on it, they are telling you in an unsympathetic way that you have to accept the unpleasant consequences of your actions or decisions. ❑ She came home one evening, after yet another blazing row, to find that Ian and their two children had left. Her parents responded, ‘You’ve made your bed, my girl. Now lie on it.’

to should not tell anyone else what you have said. ❑ Between you, me and the bedpost, I’d say he was completely confused. ❑ Between you, me and the gatepost, they’d be better off apart. ● People also sometimes use fencepost instead of bedpost. ❑ That’s my opinion, between you, me and the fencepost.

bee

the bee’s knees [british, old-fashioned] If something or someone is the bee’s knees, they are extremely good. ❑ I loved this jacket when I bought it – I thought it was the bee’s knees. Some people believe that this expression refers to the way in which bees transfer pollen (= the powder that flowers make) from their bodies to pollen sacs on their back legs. However, it seems more likely that it dates from the 1920s, when other similar expressions such as ‘the cat’s pyjamas’ began to be used. have a bee in your bonnet If you have a bee in your bonnet about a subject, you feel very strongly about it and keep talking about it. ❑ Daley has a bee in her bonnet about the state of popular music. ❑ There was no arguing with the boy when he’d got a bee in his bonnet. ● This expression suggests that you think the subject that a person keeps talking about is not important. The expression is considered old-fashioned in American English. Two images are suggested by this expression. The first is of thoughts moving around inside someone’s head like bees. The second is of someone who has a bee trapped in their hat and is anxious to get it out before they are stung. a busy bee If you describe someone as a busy bee, you mean that they enjoy doing a lot of things and always keep themselves busy. ❑ ‘I enjoyed being a busy bee, getting things done,’ she said in her confident way. ● You can also say that someone is as busy as a bee. ❑ He is busy as a bee designing every production in London.

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between you, me and the bedpost or between you, me and the gatepost If you say that something you say is between you, me and the bedpost or between you, me and the gatepost, you mean that the person you are talking

crazy as a bedbug ➜ see crazy

bedpost

bedbug

beeline make a beeline for something If you make a beeline for something, you go straight to it without any hesitation or delay.

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bell ❑ The kids all made a beeline for the soft play area. ❑ I made a beeline for the exit.

✪ small beer [british]

People use to think that bees, having collected the pollen (= powder made by flowers), flew back to the hive in a straight line. In fact, this belief has been proved to be incorrect. ‘As the crow flies’ is based on a similar idea.

been

✪ been there, done that

People say been there, done that to show that they themselves have had an experience that someone is talking about. ❑ Rick wants to go backpacking in India, but I’ve been there, done that. ❑ Divorce? Been there, done that. ● People sometimes say been there, done that, got the T-shirt to emphasize the expression. ❑ ‘I’ve tried so many diets in my life.’ – ‘Oh yeah, been there, done that, got the T-shirt.’ ● This expression is sometimes used to show that you do not find the thing being talked about interesting because you have already experienced it. have been there [informal] If someone tells you about an experience or a situation and you say that you have been there, you mean that you have had the same experience yourself. ❑ He admitted he had a problem and wanted to work on it, and we said, ‘Look, we’ve all been there, probably worse than you have, so if you want some help we’ll help you.’

If something is small beer, it is unimportant compared with another thing. ❑ The five million pound subsidy is, however, small beer compared to the amounts that European governments give their film industries. ❑ The present series of royal scandals makes the 1936 abdication look like pretty small beer. ‘Small beer’ originally meant weak beer.

beet

red as a beet ➜ see red

beetroot

red as a beetroot ➜ see red

beggars

beggars can’t be choosers You say beggars can’t be choosers to mean that you should not reject an option if it is the only one which is available to you. ❑ Initially I’d take any job that was offered me – beggars can’t be choosers. ❑ There are some apartments available, and beggars can’t be choosers, but they’re not very nice.

begging

go begging If something goes begging, it is available to be used or bought, but nobody seems to want it. ❑ Nearly half a million holidays for the busiest six weeks of the year are still going begging. ❑ Paintings by pop artist Andy Warhol went begging for the second night in a row last night at the auction house.

clear as a bell ➜ see clear ring a bell If something rings a bell, it is slightly familiar to you and you know you have heard it before, but you do not remember it fully. ❑ The name rings a bell but I can’t think where I’ve heard it. ❑ ‘I’ll check and see if we’ve anything on him,’ said the sergeant. ‘It doesn’t ring a bell at the moment.’ ring someone’s bell [mainly american, informal] If someone or something rings your bell, you find them very attractive, exciting or interesting. ❑ I saw one or two episodes of the series but it didn’t exactly ring my bell. saved by the bell You say saved by the bell when you are in

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bell

cry into your beer If someone cries into their beer, they are upset about something. ❑ Before a divorce you need endless discussions where you can cry into your beer while your best buddy pretends not to be bored. ● People often use names of other drinks instead of beer. ❑ I remember her sitting on the side of the bed and crying into her cup of cocoa. not be all beer and skittles [british] If something is not all beer and skittles,it is not as enjoyable or as easy as other people think it is. ❑ Others are keen to make clear that City life is not all beer and skittles. ❑ It’s not all beer and skittles when you get to be famous. The game of skittles is associated with beer because it is traditionally played in pubs.

beer

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bells

a difficult situation and at the last moment, something happens which allows you to escape from it. ❑ There was another period of silence. It was broken by the sound of Eleanor’s car pulling up outside the front door. ‘Saved by the bell,’ I said. This expression refers to the bell which signals the end of a round in a boxing match. sound as a bell ➜ see sound

bells

✪ alarm bells start to ring

be there and are very enthusiastic about it. [american] ❑ We are sure that if you really care about your children, you will be here with bells on, helping out.

bellyful have had a bellyful [informal] If you have had a bellyful of something, you have experienced too much of something annoying or boring. ❑ I’ve had a bellyful of his excuses. It’s always someone else’s fault.

If alarm bells start to ring, you begin to be belly-up aware of a problem in a situation. ✪ go belly-up [informal] ❑ It was when the headaches suddenly got a lot If a company goes belly-up, it fails and worse that alarm bells started to ring. does not have enough money to pay its ● You can also say something sets alarm debts. bells ringing, meaning that something ❑ Factories and farms went belly-up because of makes you start to be aware of a problem. the debt crisis. ❑ His absence from work for three days had set This expression may refer to dead fish alarm bells ringing. floating upside down near the surface of ● You can also say warning bells start to the water. ring. ❑ He didn’t understand the half of it but belt warning bells were starting to ring in the back of below the belt his mind. If someone says something that is below ● You can also say something sets the belt, they say something cruel and warning bells ringing meaning that unfair. something makes you start to be aware of ❑ He made a joke about her appearance, which I a problem. ❑ There was something in the way thought was a bit below the belt. she spoke that set warning bells ringing in Brak’s In boxing, it is against the rules to hit an head. opponent below the level of their belt. bells and whistles belt and braces [british] You can call special features of something If someone has a belt and braces bells and whistles if they are not approach to doing something, they take necessary parts of something, but are extra precautions to make sure that it will added to make the thing more attractive work properly. or interesting. ❑ A trawl of the computer system should reveal if ❑ A lot of people want anxiety-free products – customers were charged too much. ‘It’s a belt and simple items without lots of fancy bells and braces approach to check for irregularities,’ said whistles and complex instructions. the bank. ❑ He described airport security as an In the past, organs were played in overly belt and braces approach, at huge cost to cinemas when silent films were shown. industry. Some of these organs had devices Trousers that are held up by a belt as attached to them which produced well as a pair of braces (= two straps over sound effects such as bells and whistles. the shoulder) are less likely to fall down. with bells on ✪ tighten your belt People say with bells on to emphasize If you tighten your belt, you make an how extreme or successful something is. effort to spend less money. ❑ We wanted a speaker who could make a ❑ Clearly, if you are spending more than your difficult subject interesting. Simon Singh income, you’ll need to tighten your belt. ❑ He succeeded with bells on. ❑ At Disney you get the recently announced the club will have to tighten fun factor with bells on. its belt next season, saying he will lower wages People say they will be somewhere with and sell players. ● You can also talk about belt tightening. bells on to mean that they will definitely

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bets

them a wide berth. ❑ Having lived all my life in Africa I have a very healthy respect for snakes and give them a wide berth. A berth is the amount of space which a sailing ship needs to manoeuvre safely.

❑ Yesterday’s vote means that the country is prepared to accept a period of belt tightening.

❑ The nation’s second largest bank announced a series of layoffs and other belt-tightening measures today to counteract heavy losses. ✪ under your belt If you have something under your belt, you have already achieved it. ❑ He’ll need a few more games under his belt before he’s ready for international football. ❑ Today, with the Nobel Peace Prize under her belt, she is a stateswoman of world renown.

best

the best of both worlds ➜ see worlds

bet

✪ a good bet or

SA bend

drive someone round the bend If a situation or someone’s behaviour drives you round the bend, it makes you extremely bored or angry. ❑ Can you make that tea before your fidgeting drives me completely round the bend? go round the bend [mainly british, informal] If someone goes round the bend, they become extremely bored or frustrated. ❑ It’s a lovely little place to visit, but I’d go round the bend if I had to live there. ✪ round the bend [mainly british, informal] If someone is round the bend, their ideas or behaviour are very strange or foolish. ❑ I actually used to look at mountaineers and think they were a little bit round the bend. ❑ If anyone told me a few months ago that I’d meet a marvellous person like you, I’d have said they were round the bend.

benefit

✪ give someone the benefit of the doubt

a safe bet If something is a good bet or a safe bet, it is a sensible or useful thing to do or use. ❑ If you’re after something smart to wear to a friend’s wedding, a smart suit has to be a good bet. ❑ When you’re unfamiliar with your guests’ likes and dislikes, soup is a safe bet for the starter. ● You can also say that something would be a better bet or a safer bet, meaning that it would be more sensible or useful than another possibility. ❑ I was going to buy an apartment but I’m now thinking a house might be a better bet. ❑ Basing a drama series on a book is a far safer bet than commissioning a brand new one. ● You can also say that something is someone’s best bet or safest bet, meaning that it is the most sensible or useful thing to do. ❑ If you really want to keep your home safe from robbery, your best bet is still to buy a dog. If something is a good bet or a safe bet, it is very likely to happen. ❑ With these players, this team looks a good bet to reach the final for the first time since 1978. ❑ They won’t enjoy reading this book; it’s a safe bet that few will read more than 100 pages.

If you give someone the benefit of the bets doubt, you decide to believe that what all bets are off they are saying is honest, even though it You say all bets are off, to mean that it is is possible that they are not telling the impossible to say how a particular truth. situation will develop. ❑ As to whether she deliberately lied or got the ❑ This election year all bets are off. No one knows facts wrong, I suppose we could give her the what’s going to happen. ❑ It’s the director’s first benefit of the doubt. period drama, so all bets are off until we see how If you give someone the benefit of the the cast cope in the costumes. doubt, you decide to believe that what they ✪ hedge your bets are doing is right, even though it is possible If you hedge your bets, you are careful not that they are doing something wrong. to commit yourself to one thing, so that ❑ I am basically a trusting person. I make it a you do not make a mistake whichever practice to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. way the situation develops. berth ❑ He is hedging his bets on whether Clark is give someone/something a wide berth the leader the Church needs in troubled times. If you give someone or something a wide ❑ Political forecasters are hedging their bets berth, you deliberately avoid them. about the likely outcome of this Saturday’s ❑ I don’t mess with people like that, not me. I give Louisiana governor’s race.

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better When bookmakers accept a large bet, they often try to protect themselves against heavy losses by laying bets with other bookmakers. This practice is called ‘hedging’.

better

be better off doing something If you say that someone would be better off doing something, you are giving them advice about what to do in a situation. ❑ I think we’d be better off walking. ❑ You’d be better off going by yourself. better late than never People say better late than never to mean that it is better for something to happen later than planned or wanted than not to happen at all. ❑ I didn’t fall in love until I was 50, but better late than never! ❑ Perhaps I should have started the project years ago, I said to myself, but maybe it is better late than never. ● This expression is often used to show that you think that something should have been done sooner.

bib

bike get off your bike [australian, informal] If someone gets off their bike, they become so angry or upset that they cannot control themselves. ❑ It was just an accident – there’s no need to get off your bike! get on your bike [british, informal] People sometimes say get on your bike to tell someone that they no longer have a job. ❑ By the end of the week Neilsen had been told to get on his bike by the new boss. ● This expression is sometimes written ‘get on yer bike’, to represent an informal pronunciation of ‘your’. ❑ ‘Get us promoted or get on yer bike!’ That’s the club’s ultimatum to their manager after their disappointing season. If you get on your bike, you make an effort to find work, travelling to different places. ❑ He will for ever be remembered for telling the unemployed to “get on your bike” even though he never said it. on your bike [british, informal] People sometimes say on your bike to tell someone angrily to go away. ❑ Go on, on your bike, mate! ● This expression is sometimes spelled ‘on yer bike’, to represent an informal pronunciation of ‘your’. ❑ I’ve had enough! On yer bike!

stick your bib in or poke your bib in [australian, informal] If someone sticks their bib in or pokes their bib in, they interfere in a situation or an argument. ❑ I wish he wouldn’t keep sticking his bib in. ● You can also say that someone sticks or pokes their bib into something. ❑ They want to limit the right of unions to stick their bibs into disputes where none of their members is actually involved. your best bib and tucker [old-fashioned] If you are wearing your best bib and tucker, you are wearing very smart, formal clothes. ❑ The conference guests all turned up on time in their best bib and tucker. In the past, a ‘bib’ was the part of an apron which covered the chest. A ‘tucker’ was a decorative part of a woman’s dress, covering her neck and shoulders.

If someone is too big for their boots or too big for their britches, they behave as if they are more important or clever than they really are. ❑ I was often accused of being too big for my boots. ❑ If you ask me, he’s too big for his britches since he struck it rich. ● You can also say that someone gets too big for their boots or gets too big for their britches. ❑ In Britain, people seem to have a thing about not letting someone get too big for their boots. ❑ Getting too big for their britches, kids these days. They think the whole universe should revolve round them. Britches are trousers which reach as far as your knees.

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too big for your boots [british, informal] or too big for your britches [mainly australian, informal]

In the second expression, ‘britches’ is also spelled ‘breeches’.

big

bill be sold a bill of goods [american] If you are sold a bill of goods, you are deceived or told something that is not true. ❑ I began to realize that I’d been sold a bill of

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bird

goods, that I wasn’t in any way incompetent or lazy. bill and coo [literary, old-fashioned] If two lovers bill and coo, they kiss and talk together in a loving way. ❑ I just have to stand there grinding my teeth while they bill and coo. In this expression, lovers are being compared to a pair of doves touching their beaks or bills together and cooing. ✪ a clean bill of health If someone is given or gets a clean bill of health, they are told that they are completely fit and healthy. ❑ He had a full medical late last year and was given a clean bill of health. ❑ The Great Britain coach, delighted to receive a clean bill of health for his 19-man squad, names his side today. If something is given or gets a clean bill of health, it is examined and then judged to be in a satisfactory condition. ❑ Fourteen seaside resorts failed to meet the environmental and safety standards, while 43 were given a clean bill of health. ❑ At the end of that intensive study, the chemical industry got an environmental clean bill of health. A bill of health was a certificate which was given to a ship’s master to present at the next port the ship arrived at. It stated whether or not there was an infectious disease aboard the ship or in the port it was departing from. ✪ fit the bill or fill the bill If someone or something fits the bill or fills the bill, they are exactly the right person or thing for a particular situation. ❑ I wanted someone who really knew their way around film-making and I knew that Richard would fit the bill. ❑ Finding somewhere peaceful to paint was their main priority when it came to finding a home – and their 17th-century house on a remote hillside certainly fits the bill. ❑ ‘Tea? Coffee?’ – ‘Coffee would just fill the bill.’ The ‘bill’ in this expression is a public notice advertising something such as a show or a play. ✪ foot the bill If you foot the bill for something, you pay for it. ❑ Police will have to foot the bill for the damage to both cars. ❑ If the insurance industry were to foot the entire bill for pollution, it would bankrupt it.

This expression may come from the practice of someone paying a bill and signing it at the bottom, or ‘foot’.

billyo like billyo or like billy-oh [informal] If someone is doing something or something is happening like billyo or like billy-oh, it is being done or happening to a great degree and with a lot of energy. ❑ They were swinging their partners around like billyo. ❑ It is still very wet and so everything is growing like billy-oh

bind

a double bind If you describe a situation as a double bind, you mean that the situation is impossible, because you have a problem that you cannot solve without causing another problem. You can also say that you are in a double bind or are caught in a double bind. ❑ These lawyers are in a double bind. They cannot afford to take on trainees, but if they want a future, they cannot afford not to.

bird

the bird has flown If you say the bird has flown, you mean that the person you are looking for has escaped or disappeared. ❑ He’d been told to wait till the woman left work. Instead he’d wandered off, come back at her normal leaving time and found the bird had flown. a bird in the hand You say a bird in the hand to mean that it is better to keep what you already have than to try to get something better and risk having nothing at all. ❑ The question now is will Carmichael live to regret turning down such a lucrative offer? A bird in the hand … ● You can also use the phrase a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. ❑ A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, so holiday resorts will reward you for booking early. a bird of passage If you call someone a bird of passage, you mean that they never stay in one place for long. ❑ Most of these emigrants were birds of passage who returned to Spain after a relatively short stay.

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birds

a bird’s-eye view ➜ see view an early bird If you call someone an early bird, you mean that they get up early in the morning to do things. ❑ We’ve always been early birds, up at 5.30 or 6am. ● Early-bird can also be used to describe things that are available to people who get up early. ❑ The early-bird rate for parking (in by 10 a.m., out by 7 p.m.) at the Millennium Park Garage is $14 weekdays. If you call someone an early bird, you mean that they succeed in doing something before other people. ❑ Florida has been an early bird in terms of presidential voting for some time. ● Early-bird can also be used to describe things that are available to these people. ❑ An early-bird discount is sometimes available at the beginning of the season. the early bird catches the worm You say the early bird catches the worm to mean that if you want to succeed in doing something, you should start as soon as possible. ❑ If you’re going to make it to the Senate, you need to start right now. The early bird catches the worm. You say the early bird catches the worm, to mean that people who get up early achieve more in their lives. ❑ Most of the serious buying at these markets happens between six and eight o’ clock in the morning – the early bird catches the worm. eat like a bird If you eat like a bird, you eat very little. ❑ She ate like a bird, refused a glass of wine, and was only interested in talking about her work. ❑ My younger son eats like a bird. free as a bird ➜ see free give someone the bird [mainly american] If someone gives you the bird, they make a rude and offensive gesture with one hand, with their middle finger pointing up and their other fingers bent over in a fist. ❑ Chip took a break from telling various adoring females how beautiful their eyes were to surreptitiously give Alex the bird. If an audience gives an entertainer or sports player the bird, they shout at them to show their disapproval of them. [british, old-fashioned] ❑ He made a couple of mistakes and the crowd immediately gave him the bird.

● You can also say that the entertainer or

sports player gets the bird. ❑ Eddie had once been top of the bill. And then one evening, he got the bird. a little bird told me [old-fashioned] If you say a little bird told me a piece of information, you mean that you will not tell someone how you found out about it or who told it to you. ❑ Incidentally, a little bird tells me that your birthday’s coming up. a rare bird [literary] If you call someone or something a rare bird, you mean that they are very unusual. ❑ Diane Johnson’s book is that rare bird, an American novel of manners. ‘A rare bird’ is a translation of the Latin expression ‘rara avis’, which was used by the Roman writer Juvenal in the 2nd century AD to describe a black swan. At the time, black swans were unknown, although they were later discovered in Australia.

birds

the birds and the bees If you tell a child about the birds and the bees, you explain to them about sex and sexual reproduction. ❑ At the age of 16 I remember having yet another discussion about the birds and the bees with my father. ● This expression is often used humorously. People sometimes explain sex and sexual reproduction to children by telling them how animals reproduce. birds of a feather If you describe two or more people as birds of a feather, you mean that they are very similar in many ways. ❑ Nancy and my mother were birds of a feather. You felt something special between them that left you out. ❑ We’re birds of a feather, you and me. ● You can also use the full expression birds of a feather flock together to mean that similar people like to be with each other. ❑ Birds of a feather flock together. Basically, people seek out neighbourhoods that are most congenial to them. for the birds [american, informal] If something is for the birds, it is stupid, boring, or has no value. ❑ This journal business is for the birds. It’s a waste of time. ❑ This idea that everybody can

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bite

go to college and pay it off by public service is for the birds. This expression refers to horse manure, which is of use only to small birds in search of nest material or food such as seeds. kill two birds with one stone If you kill two birds with one stone, you manage to achieve two things at the same time. ❑ We can talk about Union Hill while I get this business over with. Kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. ❑ He went to the store, both to buy some cucumbers for his mother and – to kill two birds with one stone – to seek out Mr Halloran.

birthday

biscuit

in your birthday suit [informal] If you are in your birthday suit, you are not wearing any clothes. ❑ I could go out there in my birthday suit and nobody would even notice. ● This expression is used humorously.

bite

take the biscuit [british, informal] If someone or something takes the biscuit, they represent the most extreme example of something stupid or bad. ❑ For dirty tricks I can assure you it is the medical practice that really take the biscuit. ❑ I’ve heard some odd things in my time but that took the biscuit. ❑ This ban takes the biscuit. The whole idea is ridiculous and bureaucratic and not fair on the children. This expression has a similar origin to ‘take the cake’, which refers to the practice in the past of awarding cakes as prizes in competitions. ➜ compare with take the cake

a bit of all right [informal] If you describe someone as a bit of all right, you mean that they are physically attractive. ❑ ‘He’s a bit of all right, isn’t he?’ said Isadora, looking at a tall man near the door. get the bit between your teeth If you get the bit between your teeth, you become very enthusiastic and determined about doing a particular task. ❑ You’re persistent when you get the bit between your teeth, I’ll say that for you. ● You can also say that someone has the bit between their teeth or has got the bit between their teeth. ❑ It’s going to be difficult against Leeds United but the lads have got the bit between their teeth. ❑ Others sense that the prime minister has the bit between his teeth and believe that action will follow. The bit should be put at the back of a horse’s mouth, behind its back teeth. When a horse bolts (= runs away very fast), it sometimes takes the bit between its teeth, which makes it very difficult for a rider or driver to use the reins to control it.

bite off more than you can chew If you bite off more than you can chew, you try to do a task that is too big for you or too difficult. ❑ I didn’t know if I could even memorize a text of that length and started to worry that I had bitten off more than I could chew. ❑ Don’t bite off more than you can chew simply because everything is going so well. put the bite on someone [american, informal] If you put the bite on someone, you ask them for something, especially money. ❑ If you talk to them, they’ll put the bite on you for a cigarette and bus fare. a second bite at the cherry or a second bite of the cherry [british] If you get a second bite at the cherry or a second bite of the cherry, you have a second chance to do something, especially something that you failed at the first time. ❑ We might, if we push hard enough, get a second bite at the cherry in two years’ time. ● You can also say that someone has another bite at the cherry or another bite of the cherry. ❑ Several senior England players keep bidding farewell only to come back for another bite at the cherry.

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be champing at the bit or be chomping at the bit If you are champing at the bit or are chomping at the bit, you want to do something now and feel impatient because you are being prevented from doing so. ❑ Foremen had been champing at the bit to strike before next week’s meeting. ❑ He had three of Goldman’s best clients chomping at the bit to get a piece of this deal.

In the first and third expressions, a ‘bit’ is a piece of metal which is held in a horse’s mouth by the bridle and reins.

bit

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biter

● The phrase a bite at the cherry or ✪ in black and white a bite of the cherry is used in several If someone judges or shows a complex different structures connected with issue or situation in black and white, they attempting something. ❑ I’ve had two judge or show it as if it is obvious what is bites of the cherry. It was great because all the morally right and wrong. mistakes I made with the first one, I hope I ❑ Try not to see these things purely in black and haven’t repeated. ❑ He wanted to ensure that white. ❑ She is still a champion of only the top news outlets got first bite at the oversimplification, seeing issues in black and cherry. white. ● You can also talk about a black and take a bite out of something [american] white situation, issue or judgment. If something takes a bite out of a sum of ❑ People think this is a very straightforward money or other quantity, it takes away a black and white issue and it just isn’t. ❑ This part of it. case is not as black and white as the media have ❑ There will be higher taxes, so they will be taking said. a bigger bite out of people’s income than before. ● These expressions are usually used to ❑ But some of us, myself included, think we criticize people who judge or show ought to have additional cuts in order to take a complex subjects and situations in a very bigger bite out of the deficit. simple way. biter If you say that something is in black the biter gets bit [british, and white, you mean that you have old-fashioned] written proof of it. You say the biter gets bit to mean that ❑ You know, we’ve seen it. It’s written right here someone suffers as a result of their own in black and white. ❑ We have a strict, clear rule actions, especially when they were in black and white, that this sort of behaviour will intending to hurt someone else. not be tolerated. ❑ Sympathy seldom abounds when the biter ✪ in the black gets bit. If a person or organization is in the black, ‘Biter’ is an old word meaning a they do not owe anyone any money. swindler (= person who cheats people ❑ At the moment, banking is free for current out of money). account customers who stay in the black. ❑ Last bitten year, the company was back in the black, showing once bitten, twice shy or a modest pre-tax surplus of £4.6 million. once bitten This expression comes from the practice You say once bitten, twice shy or once in the past of using black ink to fill in bitten to mean that a bad experience entries on the credit side of a book of makes you not want to become involved accounts. in a similar situation in the future. ➜ compare with in the red ❑ I’m certainly not looking for a new boyfriend. the new black Once bitten, twice shy. ❑ Tokyo’s punters, once If you say that a particular colour is the bitten, twice shy, will not come rushing back for new black, you mean that that colour has more. become fashionable. ❑ Brown is the new black, and works wonders for black figures and complexions. ✪ black and blue People say that something is the new If a part of your body is black and blue, black to mean that it is suddenly it is badly bruised. fashionable or popular. ❑ I didn’t realise how clumsy I am. I was black ❑ In art and culture, at least, death is the new and blue for three months. ❑ I was released from black. ❑ Intelligence is the new black, and hospital the next day with minor head and neck reading matter with an intellectual content is injuries. My face was black and blue. ● You can also say that someone beats making a comeback. ● This expression is often varied, using someone black and blue, meaning that other words instead of black. ❑ ‘Listen they hit them repeatedly until they are honey,’ I said. ‘Forty is the new thirty. Everyone badly bruised. ❑ They pulled my hair out and beat me black and blue. knows that.’ ❑ Comedy is the new rock’n’roll.

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bleed

❑ The attackers continued to fire blanks against

not as black as you are painted [informal] If someone is not as black as they are painted, they are not as bad as people generally consider them to be. ❑ I’m really not as black as I’m painted,’ he said pointedly.

Liverpool and it was left to the full-back to provide United’s first goal. Blanks are gun cartridges which contain explosive but do not contain a bullet, so that they do not cause any injuries or damage when the gun is fired.

blank

blast

Originally, to draw a blank meant to be given a losing ticket in a lottery.

a blast from the past [informal] A blast from the past is something that ✪ draw a blank reminds you of an earlier time. If you are trying to find someone or ❑ Originally presented between 2000 and 2010, something and you draw a blank, you these movies are still funny and a true blast from cannot find them. the past. ❑ Cricket legend Allan Border gave fans ❑ I searched among the bottles and drew a blank. a blast from the past when played for the If you are trying to find out about Australian team against England in Hobart something and you draw a blank, you fail yesterday. to find out about it. ✪ full blast ❑ We asked if they’d been in. We drew a blank. If something is on or happening full blast, If you draw a blank, you are unable to it is on or happening as loudly or as much remember something or to answer a as possible. question you are asked. ❑ Adam turned the heater on full blast. ❑ The ❑ Asked what her son’s first words were, Deirdre radio was playing full blast. drew a blank. ❑ Why do we recognise a face, but ● People often also say that something is sometimes draw a blank when it comes to the on or happening at full blast. ❑ Playing name? Coldplay albums at full blast is hardly going to In a sporting contest, if a team or help now, is it? competitor draws a blank, they do not have a blast score any goals or points, or win any races. When people have a blast, they have a [mainly british, journalism] lot of fun. ❑ The bottom-placed team drew a blank at home ❑ It was an amazing experience – I had an yet again. ❑ He now leads Pat Eddery, who drew absolute blast. ❑ They were having a blast a blank in the title race. trying on outfits and dancing to 80s pop songs. blanket a wet blanket [informal] blaze If you call someone a wet blanket, you in a blaze of glory mean that they stop other people from If you do something or something enjoying themselves by being boring or happens in a blaze of glory, you do it miserable. or it happens in a very successful and ❑ ‘Hey’, said Thack, looking at Michael. ‘Stop impressive way. being such a wet blanket.’ ❑ I’m sorry if I’ve been ❑ It would be great to go out in a blaze of glory a wet blanket today. and I would love to win the championship before I throw a wet blanket over something finish. ❑ We’ve reached the point where we need [american] a final burst of publicity in order to reach our If something throws a wet blanket over target in a blaze of glory! an event or situation, it makes it less bleed successful or enjoyable. ✪ bleed someone dry or ❑ Cool, rainy weather has thrown a wet blanket bleed someone white over Michigan’s tourism season. If someone or something bleeds, a person,

blanks fire blanks [british] If someone fires blanks, they try hard but fail to achieve something.

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organization, or country dry or bleeds them white, they take all of their money or resources from them. ❑ The first two interest payments had bled him dry.

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blessing ❑ His realm had been bled dry by years of war with France. In the past, doctors often treated patients by bleeding them, which involved removing some of their blood.

blessing

✪ a blessing in disguise

If an event is a blessing in disguise, it causes problems at first, but later brings greater advantages. ❑ Franklin’s illness proved a blessing in disguise, for it gave him courage which he had not had before. ❑ The defeat might be a blessing in disguise – she now avoids a quarter final clash with the American. ❑ Other observers feel the split may be a blessing in disguise for the organization.

in the blink of an eye If something happens or is done in the blink of an eye, it happens or is done very quickly. ❑ It was all over in the blink of an eye. ● People sometimes use in the blinking of an eye with the same meaning. ❑ Almost in the blinking of an eye, everything we owned had gone for ever. on the blink [british, informal] If a piece of machinery is on the blink, it is not working properly. ❑ We had to have the washing done at the laundry because our machine was on the blink. The usual American expression is on the fritz.

block

blind

blink

be flying blind ✪ on the block [american] If someone is flying blind, they do not If something is on the block, it is offered have any knowledge to help or guide for sale, sometimes at an auction. them in a particular situation. ❑ Two Basquiat paintings were on the block on ❑ We will be flying blind into a world we don’t Tuesday, May 5. know anything about. ❑ Without this ● You can also put something on the information, the company is flying blind and block. ❑ Last week, after months of rumors, likely to crash. the company officially put itself on the block. A pilot is flying blind when they are ❑ The team’s money worries had forced them to piloting an aircraft without using put the club on the block. visual navigation, but relying solely on The usual British expression is under their instruments. the hammer. blind as a bat If someone is as blind as a bat, they put your head on the block or cannot see well. put your neck on the block ❑ Without my glasses I’m as blind as a bat. If you put your head on the block or put Most bats are active only at night and your neck on the block, you risk your find their way by sending out sounds reputation or position by taking a and sensing objects from the echoes, particular course of action. rather than by using their eyesight. ❑ When the Prime Minister called a by-election the blind leading the blind in his own constituency, he put his head on the If you describe a situation as the blind block. ❑ He really put his neck on the block leading the blind, you mean the person there and it’s great to see his bravery being who is trying to show someone what to do rewarded. ● You can also say that you put your head has skills or knowledge that are no better than the person they are helping. or your neck on the chopping block. ❑ I’m ❑ If Cedric was going to work with Eric, it would not going to be the one who puts my head on the be the blind leading the blind. ❑ They don’t know chopping block. anything about human rights. It’s like the blind The ‘block’ here is a special piece of leading the blind. wood on which a prisoner was made to This expression comes from one of the place his or her head before being stories told by Jesus in the Bible: ‘Let beheaded. them alone: they be blind leaders of the ✪ a stumbling block blind. And if the blind lead the blind, If you describe something as a stumbling both shall fall into the ditch.’ block, you mean it is a problem which stops you from achieving something. (Matthew 15:14)

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blood

❑ It’s their attitude that’s the biggest stumbling block. ❑ Cost is a major stumbling block in the

be baying for someone’s blood or be baying for blood [british] If people are baying for someone’s blood hunt for a vaccine. or baying for blood, they want someone This expression comes from the Bible: to be punished or hurt. ‘…that no man put a stumbling block or ❑ Eight thousand supporters were baying for the an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.’ manager’s blood after a 5-0 loss to Grimsby. (Romans 14:13) ❑ The travel company had just buried itself with blocks debts of more than £12m and thousands of These expressions come from disappointed holidaymakers were baying for athletics, where sprinters (= runners blood. of fast, short races) put their feet This expression compares the people’s against pieces of equipment called demands to the sounds that dogs make starting blocks to help them start on a hunt. quickly when the race begins. blood and thunder [british] If you talk about blood and thunder in a off the blocks or performance, you mean powerful out of the blocks emotions, especially anger. If someone is quick or slow off the blocks ❑ Coach Berti Vogts grew increasingly frustrated or out of the blocks, they are quick or slow with an absence of blood and thunder from his to do something, and if they are first or team. last off the blocks, they are first or last to ● You can also talk about a blood-anddo something. thunder performance or performer. ❑ In a ❑ Both newspapers were quick off the blocks to blood-and-thunder speech, he called for sacrifice put the minister’s remarks on their front page. from his people. ❑ The Liberal Democrats were first off the blocks ✪ blood is shed or with their manifesto on Monday. blood is spilled [literary] ● You can also say off the starting blocks If blood is shed or blood is spilled, instead of off the blocks. ❑ Buyers who were people are killed in fighting. a little slow off the starting blocks to bid for the ❑ So much blood has been shed in this conflict. property now have another chance. ❑ Angry words have passed between both sides, ● You can also say something gets off the but so far no blood had been spilt. blocks, meaning that something starts, If blood is shed or blood is spilled when especially despite difficulties. ❑ That should change happens, suffering or trouble is be an interesting project, if it ever gets off the blocks. caused. blood ❑ A good deal of political blood was spilled over after your blood the deficit reduction package. If someone is after your blood, they want blood is thicker than water to harm or punish you, because you have You say blood is thicker than water, to done something bad to them. mean that someone’s loyalty to their ❑ Adam has upset Broderick, who is after his family is greater than their loyalty to blood. ❑ The entire street-gang network of New anyone else. York is after their blood. ❑ Families have their problems and jealousies, ✪ bad blood but blood is thicker than water. ❑ ‘If Colonel If there is bad blood between two people Roosevelt is a candidate,’ he told a reporter, ‘I will or groups, they have hostile feelings not run against him. You know blood is thicker towards each other because of the than water.’ arguments they have had in the past. blood on the carpet ❑ The situation has reached crisis point because If there is blood on the carpet, there is of the bad blood between the two. ❑ Mr Levy said trouble within an organization as a result his relations with officials have been very friendly. of a struggle between people or groups. There is no bad blood. ❑ ‘There will be blood on the carpet,’ commented People used to think that feelings such one insider, ‘if this scheme fails’. ❑ They seemed as anger and resentment were carried in to be able to work together without too much the blood. blood on the carpet.

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blood ✪ blood, sweat, and tears

traditional in your family or culture. ❑ Trilok has music in his blood. ‘I was born into a If a task involves blood, sweat, and tears, family of musicians.’ ❑ The sea was in his blood it is very hard to do and involves a lot of – his father had been a marine. effort or suffering. like getting blood out of a stone [british] ❑ It’s almost as if the end product – the songs or themselves – are less important than the blood, like getting blood out of a turnip sweat and tears that went into them. ❑ He [american] started work at the company which his wife, Pat, If you say something is like getting blood had spilled blood, sweat and tears to form. out of a stone or like getting blood out of This expression is originally from a a turnip, you mean it is extremely wartime speech by the British Prime difficult to persuade someone to give you Minister Winston Churchill in which money or information. he said, ‘I have nothing to offer but ❑ Getting a response from Pritchard’s office was blood, toil, tears and sweat’. He used the like getting blood out of a stone. expression several times in other ● You can also say like getting blood from wartime speeches. a stone or like getting blood from a draw first blood [journalism] turnip. ❑ Getting money back from the seller is If someone draws first blood in a game or like getting blood from a stone. conflict, they are the first to score or ✪ make your blood boil succeed. If you say something makes your blood ❑ The Scots drew first blood with a drop goal from boil, it makes you very angry. Greig Laidlaw. ● You can also say first blood to someone. ❑ This statement is untrue and makes my blood boil. ❑ It makes my blood boil. He doesn’t like the ❑ Then came the mistake that ensured first blood players yet he’s always trying to interfere. to England. ● You can also simply say that your blood have blood on your hands or boils, meaning you are very angry. ❑ My have someone’s blood on your hands blood boiled, but I tried to answer as simply and If someone has blood on their hands or directly as possible. has someone’s blood on their hands, they In medieval times, some people believed are responsible for the death of a person that certain emotions changed the or people. temperature of the blood. ❑ The crowd that gathered outside his residence make your blood run cold or claimed he had blood on his hands. ❑ I want him make your blood freeze to know he has my son’s blood on his hands. If something makes your blood run cold ✪ in cold blood or makes your blood freeze, it frightens If a person kills someone in cold blood, or shocks you very much. they kill them in a calm and deliberate ❑ The rage in his eyes made my blood run cold. way, rather than in anger or ❑ It makes my blood run cold to think what this self-defence. poor, helpless child must have gone through. ❑ They murdered my brother. They shot him down ● You can also simply say that your blood in cold blood. ● You can describe a killing or a killer as runs cold or your blood freezes. ❑ Then his blood froze. For there in the crowd was the one cold-blooded. ❑ This is just another attempt face he didn’t want to see. to excuse the cold-blooded murder of an innocent ● You can use blood-freezing before a woman. ❑ It was clear to Blackburn that she was noun, to say that something is extremely a cold-blooded killer. ● People use these expressions to express frightening or shocking. ❑ It’s a blood-freezing image of corrupted innocence. shock or horror at a killing. In medieval times, some people believed In medieval times, some people believed that certain emotions changed the that certain emotions changed the temperature of the blood. temperature of the blood. ✪ new blood or ✪ in your blood fresh blood If something is in your blood, it is a very If you talk about new blood or fresh important part of you and seems natural blood, you mean new people who are to you, for example because it is

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blow

● You can also talk about young bloods, brought into an organization to introduce new ideas and energy. meaning the young people in an ❑ It’s reported that the directors want to bring organisation or doing a particular new blood to the management team. ❑ This is a activity. ❑ Floyd proved he could still compete chance to freshen up the government and make with the young bloods by becoming the oldest way for new blood. ❑ Hopefully I’ll be able to winner of the US Open at 43. bring fresh blood to the team and a new ➜ compare with new blood perspective. bloodied ➜ compare with young blood bloodied but unbowed ➜ see unbowed out for blood blot If someone is out for blood, they are a blot on the landscape trying to find someone to blame and If a building or other structure is a blot on punish for something bad that has the landscape, it is very ugly and spoils a happened. place which is otherwise attractive. ❑ We’re not out for blood, we’re out for justice. ❑ The power station is both a blot on the landscape If people are out for blood, they are and a smear on the environment. ❑ Urban violent and want to attack someone. cemeteries, it seems to me, are blots on the landscape. ❑ There were gangs of men in the city centre and a blot on your escutcheon or they were out for blood. a blot on the escutcheon [british, scent blood old-fashioned] In a competitive situation, if you scent If there is a blot on your escutcheon, you blood, you sense a weakness in your have damaged your reputation by doing opponent and take advantage of it. something wrong. ❑ Right-wing parties, scenting blood, have been ❑ For the leaders, this is probably a blip rather holding talks aimed at building an alternative than a blot on the escutcheon. coalition. An escutcheon is a shield, especially a ● You can also say that someone gets a heraldic shield displaying a coat of arms. scent of blood. ❑ The market has got the scent of blood and, having sniffed it, they are going for it. blow be blown away by something [informal] sweat blood [informal] If you are blown away by something, you If you sweat blood, you work very hard to are extremely impressed by it. achieve something. ❑ I was blown away by the tone and the quality of ❑ I’ve been sweating blood over this report. the story. ❑ I can remember being blown away by ❑ I sweat blood to write songs with tunes that the song when he first played it to me. you can remember. a blow-by-blow account taste blood A blow-by-blow account of an event If you taste blood, you have a small describes every stage of it in great detail. victory and this encourages you to think ❑ She wanted a blow-by-blow account of what that you can defeat your opponent happened. completely. ✪ soften the blow ❑ The real opposition to the Government If something softens the blow, it makes continues to be its own backbenchers who have an unpleasant change or piece of news now tasted blood for the first time. ● You can also say that someone seem less unpleasant and easier to accept. ❑ Attempts were made to soften the blow, by gets a taste of blood. ❑ That experience reducing what some people had to pay. changed him, gave him a taste of blood, a taste ● You can also say that something of real power. cushions the blow. ❑ The firm is offering to young blood cushion the blow with a £4,000 cash handout If you talk about young blood, you mean spread over two years. new, young people who are brought into ✪ strike a blow for something an organization to introduce new ideas If you strike a blow for something such as and energy. a cause or principle, you do something ❑ The family business was badly in need of young which supports it or makes it more likely blood. ❑ The selectors have gone for some young blood, fielding a side whose average age is just 26. to succeed.

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blows ❑ His appointment as Prime Minister would strike a blow for women’s rights. ❑ Aged 83 and

blushes

✪ spare someone’s blushes or still working, he is also striking a blow for older save someone’s blushes [british] actors. ❑ The ruling struck a blow for free If someone spares your blushes or saves speech. your blushes, they do something that ● You can also say you strike a blow stops you from being in an embarrassing against something, meaning you succeed situation. in weakening the harmful effect of ❑ A birdie on the last hole spared his blushes , something. ❑ ‘We have struck a major blow leaving him ten shots off the lead. against online fraud,’ claims Inspector Ian board Woodward. ✪ above board blows If a situation or business is above board, ✪ come to blows it is honest and legal. If two people come to blows, they ❑ Anyone who wants to inspect our books disagree so much about something that can see for themselves that we are totally above they start to fight. board. ❑ Two smartly-dressed women came to blows on ● You can use above-board before nouns. a crowded commuter train yesterday, amazing ❑ If this export had been conducted in an honest onlookers. ❑ Local residents nearly came to and above-board fashion, they would have had no blows over the proposal. difficulty in reclaiming tax paid on the gold. This expression comes from card games blue in which players place their bets on a ✪ out of the blue board or table. Actions above the table, If something happens out of the blue, it where other players can see them, are happens unexpectedly. ❑ Then, out of the blue, a solicitor’s letter arrived. probably fair. ❑ Turner’s resignation came out of the blue after ✪ across the board his team’s shock 5-0 defeat at Portsmouth. If a policy or development applies across ❑ Can the disease really strike out of the blue? the board, it applies equally to all the This expression compares an people or areas of business connected unexpected event to a bolt of lightning with it. from a blue sky. The expressions ‘out of a ❑ It seems that across the board all shops have clear blue sky’ and ‘a bolt from the blue’ cut back on staff. ❑ This proposal will reduce are based on a similar idea. funding across the board for community development grants, student loans and summer bluff schools. ✪ call someone’s bluff ● You can also talk about an across-theIf someone has made a threat and you call board policy or development. ❑ There is an their bluff, you tell them to do what they across-the-board reduction in the amount of are threatening to do, knowing that they meat eaten by young people. probably will not do it. This was originally an American ❑ The dean warned that he would deal severely expression which was used in horse with any protest actions in the universities. racing. If someone bet across the board, Now that the students have called his bluff, they bet on a horse to win or to come it remains to be seen what he can do. ❑ The second, third, or fourth. Socialists have finally decided to call the ✪ back to the drawing board opposition’s bluff, and it looks as if they have If you have to go back to the drawing succeeded. board, something which you have done In poker (= a card game), a player who is has not been successful and you will have bluffing is playing as though they have to try another idea. good cards when in fact they have bad ❑ His government should go back to the drawing cards. If another player calls the first board to rethink their programme in time to player’s bluff, they increase their stake return it to the Parliament by September. (=the amount of money that is risked) to ❑ Failing to win means going back to the the required amount and ask the first drawing board, identifying shortcomings and player to show their cards.

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body

attempting to improve on them. boat, they are in the same unpleasant or difficult situation. Drawing boards are large flat boards, on ❑ If baldness is creeping up on you, take heart which designers or architects place – 40 per cent of men under 35 are in the same boat. their paper when drawing plans or ❑ We were two mums in the same boat and able designs. to make each other feel better. go by the board [british] or miss the boat ➜ see miss go by the boards [american] push the boat out [british] If a plan or activity goes by the board or If you push the boat out, you spend a lot goes by the boards, it is abandoned and of money in order to celebrate something forgotten, because it is no longer possible or have a very enjoyable time. to carry it out. ❑ I earn enough to push the boat out now and ❑ Although you may have managed to persuade again. ❑ Keep an eye on James. He’s likely to him, while he was at school, to do some revision push the boat out among his friends. before examinations, you may find that all your This expression may come from people efforts go by the board when he is at university. having a farewell party before setting ❑ I think we probably all forget that President sail on a voyage. Lincoln suspended habeas corpus. There were a ✪ rock the boat lot of civil rights went by the boards. If someone rocks the boat, they do ‘To go by the board’ originally meant to something which causes trouble or fall or be thrown over the side of a ship. problems in a stable situation. stiff as a board ➜ see stiff ❑ He was careful not to rock the boat with any sweep the board [british] criticism. ❑ Diplomats are expecting so much If someone sweeps the board in a instability after his death that they argue it’s competition or election, they win all the unwise to rock the boat now. prizes or seats. ● You can also talk about boat-rocking. ❑ The women’s team has been quite outstanding, ❑ I’m sometimes critical of the organization, sweeping the board in swimming, diving, cycling which is seen as boat-rocking, upsetting a and weight-lifting. ❑ The government swept the comfortable arrangement. board in yesterday’s first contested National Bob Assembly elections. Bob’s your uncle [british] This expression comes from card games You can say Bob’s your uncle to show that where players place the money they are something is easy and quick to achieve. betting on a board or table. The image is ❑ You just tag along with a trainer for a while, of the winner sweeping his or her arm and in a year, Bob’s your uncle, you are a trainer across the table to collect all the money. too. ❑ If the boiler ever gets too hot, the safety ✪ take something on board [british] valve releases all the excess steam, and Bob’s your If you take an idea, suggestion, or fact on uncle. No problem. board, you understand it or accept it. This expression dates back to a political ❑ I shall be hoping that the council will take that scandal in Britain in 1886. The Prime message on board. ❑ I listened to them, took Minister Robert Cecil gave his nephew their comments on board and then made the the position of Chief Secretary for decision. ❑ We’ve never really taken on board the Ireland, and many people criticized him fact that we’re in the computer age. for this. The name ‘Bob’ is short for The literal meaning of this expression is ‘Robert’. to take something onto a boat or ship.

boat

body

float someone’s boat [informal] If something floats your boat, you find it exciting, attractive, or interesting. ❑ Create a space for yourself: light candles, burn incense, run a bath – whatever floats your boat. ❑ I can see the band’s appeal. But it doesn’t float my boat. ✪ in the same boat If two or more people are in the same

You use body and soul to say that you believe strongly in something and are using all your effort to do it or support it. ❑ They worked body and soul to make this day a success. ❑ She was now committed to the band, body and soul. ✪ a body blow [mainly british, journalism] A body blow is something which causes

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✪ body and soul

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boil

someone great disappointment or difficulty. ❑ The sport received a body blow when the schools programme was virtually halted. ❑ The result will deliver a body blow to Conservative party confidence. ❑ These tax concessions could soon be abolished, which will be a body blow to the manufacturers. In boxing, a body blow is a punch above the waist. keep body and soul together If you do something to keep body and soul together, you do it to earn enough money to buy the basic things that you need to live. ❑ 20-year-old Rafael says he’s selling firewood to keep body and soul together. ● You can also say that you hold body and soul together. ❑ For a while he held body and soul together by working as a migrant laborer. over my dead body You use over my dead body to say that you will do everything you can to prevent something happening. ❑ They will destroy Penbrook Farm only over my dead body. ❑ Arnold Schwarzenegger’s wife told him he would go into politics ‘over her dead body’.

✪ boil down to something

bold bold as brass [informal] If someone does something bold as brass, they do it without being ashamed or embarrassed. ❑ Their leader, bold as brass, came improperly dressed, wearing a lounge suit while all the others were wearing black ties. ❑ Barry has come into the game bold as brass, brash and businesslike. This expression may be based on an incident that occurred in Britain in 1770, when the newspaper the London Evening Post illegally published a report of Parliamentary proceedings. As a result, the printer was put in prison. The Lord Mayor, Brass Crosby, released him and was punished by being imprisoned himself. There were public protests and Crosby was soon released.

boil

If a feeling or situation goes off the boil, it becomes less strong or active. ❑ If a relationship seems to be going off the boil, it is a good idea to talk about it. ❑ Since the riots, discontent had rarely been off the boil; and demonstrations had continued throughout the decade. on the boil [british] If a person is on the boil, they are performing very successfully. ❑ All three players are obviously on the boil at the moment in the Italian league. If a situation or feeling is on the boil, it is very strong or active. ❑ A word here, a phrase there were enough to keep tempers on the boil almost to the end. ❑ Across the border, a similar debate is on the boil.

If you say that a situation or problem boils down to something, you mean that this is the most important aspect of it. ❑ What they want boils down to just one thing. It is land. ❑ His advice boiled down to remembering to ‘dress casually and stay alert’. come to the boil [british] or come to a boil [american] If a situation or feeling comes to the boil bollocking get a bollocking [informal, rude] or comes to a boil, it becomes very strong If you get a bollocking, someone tells you, or active. in an angry way, that you have done ❑ Their anger came to the boil last week when something wrong. they officially protested at what they saw as a ❑ I thought I was going to get a bollocking for media campaign against them. ❑ The issue has staying out late, but they were just relieved to see me. come to a boil because the government has bolt threatened to seize their money. ● Someone or something can also bring a ✪ a bolt from the blue If an event or a piece of news is, or comes situation or feeling to the boil. ❑ The like, a bolt from the blue, it is completely opposition is sure to bring the dispute back to the unexpected. boil in any election campaign. ❑ A Foreign Office spokesman had described the off the boil [british] coup as ‘a bolt from the blue’. If someone goes off the boil, they are ● You can also say that something is, or less successful than they were in the past. comes like, a bolt out of the blue. ❑ Mrs ❑ I concede that I went slightly off the boil last Thomas says the arrest had come ‘like a bolt out season. ❑ It pays to go back to the fundamentals of the blue’. when your game goes off the boil.

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bone

❑ Next day the bombshell was dropped on the

● This expression usually describes

unpleasant events or pieces of news. front pages of the newspapers: the company had This expression compares an gone into voluntary liquidation. ❑ My ex-wife is unexpected event to a bolt of lightning on the phone and she drops a bombshell. Sue, our from a blue sky. The expressions ‘out of a daughter, is leaving the country. clear blue sky’ and ‘out of the blue’ are bone based on a similar idea. ✪ a bone of contention shoot your bolt [british, informal] A bone of contention is an issue that If someone has shot their bolt, they have people are arguing about. done everything they can to achieve ❑ Both players were lectured severely by the something but have failed, and now can referee, but the real bone of contention was the do nothing else to achieve their aims. injury to Montgomery. ❑ Pay, of course, is not ❑ The opposition have really shot their bolt; the only bone of contention. they’ll never ever get any more votes than this. The image here is of two dogs fighting This expression uses the idea of an over a bone. archer who has only one arrow or ‘bolt’ close to the bone and is defenceless once he has fired it. If a remark or piece of writing is close to bomb the bone, it is about things that are true be the bomb [american, informal] but which make people uncomfortable or If something or someone is the bomb, they offended. are very successful, popular or attractive. ❑ Penny said ‘Let’s talk about Christina.’ But for ❑ Her watches are the bomb with the in crowd. Buck, this was getting dangerously close to the ❑ So this is the bomb – the best superhero movie bone. ❑ This isn’t strictly satire, it’s far too close ever. to the bone to be funny. go like a bomb [british, informal] ● You can also say that a remark or a piece If a vehicle goes like a bomb, it can of writing is near to the bone. ❑ ‘We’d move very fast. better end here because this is getting…’ She did ❑ Once I had a Czechoslovakian motorbike. It not finish the sentence, but I guess she was going was built like a tank, weighed a ton, went like a to say ‘too near to the bone’. bomb and was pure joy to ride. ➜ compare with near the knuckle If a person or an event goes like a bomb, ✪ cut to the bone it is very successful. If resources or costs are cut to the bone, ❑ The show in the evening was quite fabulous. It they are reduced as much as they possibly went like a bomb and was packed out. ❑ You can be. could take a revue over there and get a few ❑ We managed to break even by cutting costs to dancers together – you’d go like a bomb. the bone. put a bomb under something [british] ● Verbs such as pare, shave, and strip are If you say that you want to put a bomb sometimes used instead of cut. ❑ The under an organization, a person or a universities feel they have already been pared to the system, you mean that you want them to bone by government cuts. ❑ Eric had taken on hurry up or completely change the way the competition by shaving his running costs to they operate. the bone and offering the lowest prices possible. ❑ One half of us admired and valued the dry as a bone ➜ see dry organization’s high standards, the other half have a bone to pick with someone longed to put a bomb under it and propel it into [informal] innovation. If you say that you have a bone to pick ● You can also say that someone or with someone, you mean that you are something needs a bomb under them. annoyed with them about something, ❑ We are ready for radical change. I have said and you want to talk to them about it. before, we need a bomb under the system. ❑ ‘I have a bone to pick with you.’ She felt justified in bringing up a matter that she had been afraid bombshell to discuss before. ✪ drop a bombshell This expression may refer to the fact If someone drops a bombshell, they that dogs often fight over bones. suddenly announce a piece of bad news.

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bones ❑ No-one has yet been brought to book for a

bones

✪ the bare bones

The bare bones of something are its most basic parts or details. ❑ We worked out the bare bones of a deal. ❑ We needed to strip the flat down to its bare bones. It was a terrific engineering and architectural challenge. ● You can use bare-bones before a noun. ❑ The mayor will have to slash the city’s already bare-bones budget. feel something in your bones If you say that you can feel something in your bones, you mean that you feel very strongly that you are right about something, although you cannot explain why. ❑ Joe, I have a hunch you’re going to lose tonight. I just feel it in my bones. ● Verbs such as know, believe, and sense are sometimes used instead of feel. ❑ No amount of argument can disguise what people across the country know in their bones. His departure is not just a sadness and a loss; it is potentially a crisis. ❑ Convention is very important – you’d think a conservative would know that in his bones. ● You can also say that you have a feeling in your bones. ❑ I’ve got a feeling in my bones we’re going to lose this by-election. ✪ make no bones about something If you make no bones about something, you do not hesitate to express your thoughts or feelings about it. ❑ Dave made no bones about resenting her presence in the house. ❑ There will be changes in this team until we get it right. I make no bones about that. This expression may refer to gambling. ‘Bones’ is an old word for dice, so a gambler who ‘makes no bones’ throws the dice after just one shake.

crime which outraged Italy. Originally, if someone was brought to book, they were ordered to prove that something they had said or done agreed with a written rule or agreement. close the book on something If you close the book on a difficult or unpleasant situation, you bring it to a definite end. ❑ The aim is a deal to pay out compensation and close the book on war damages claims. ❑ Lawyers say they are happy to close the book on one of the most frustrating chapters of the company’s history. a closed book [british] If something or someone is a closed book to you, you know or understand very little about them. ❑ Economics were a closed book to him. ❑ He is such a closed book, that guy. ➜ compare with an open book crack a book or crack open a book [american] If you crack a book or crack open a book, you open it in order to read it. ❑ He had never cracked a single book on criminal law, and yet he had to defend them in a court. ❑ Just crack open a book and try to relax. ✪ do something by the book If you do something by the book, you do it strictly according to the rules. ❑ Modern man is often dull, studious, careful, safe. He does everything by the book. ● You can also say that you go by the book or play something by the book. ❑ They could have taken control of the game, but they seemed determined to go by the book and not rush things. ❑ The manager of the shop played things by the book, so I was taken down to the police station and charged with theft. ● You can use by-the-book before a noun to describe a person or their way of doing things. ❑ He was content to follow a by-the-book approach. ● If something is done according to the rules and in the usual way, you can say that it goes by the book. ❑ As it looks now, this campaign will not go by the book. It’ll be nothing like we’ve ever seen before. ✪ in your book You use in my book to state your own belief or opinion about something. ❑ People can say what they like, but in my book he’s not at all a bad guy. ❑ I wanted him to call the

✪ be brought to book [british] If someone is brought to book, they are punished officially for something wrong that they have done.

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book

up the booay [australian, informal] If something is up the booay, it is completely wrong. ❑ Everything’s up the booay this year. ➜ compare with up the creek

booay

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boot

police. In my book a violent young person’s just as dangerous as a violent adult. ❑ Over-involvement with the client was a major crime in her book. an open book If a person’s life or character is an open book, nothing about it is kept secret. ❑ ‘Their lives are an open book,’ says a spokesman. ‘They are good people and she has always been a good kid.’ ❑ His life is an open book. You know who he’s dating, which car he’s driving. ➜ compare with a closed book read someone like a book If you can read someone like a book, you find it easy to know what they are thinking. ❑ Very clever of them, that bit. They must have read me like a book. ❑ There are a number of books on the market which suggest that it is possible to learn to read a person like a book. throw the book at someone If a person in authority throws the book at someone who has committed an offence, they punish them severely. ❑ The prosecutor is urging the judge to throw the book at Green. ❑ ‘If this is found to be true then we will throw the book at the clubs involved,’ Barry Smart, the chairman of the league, said. This expression refers to a book in which laws are written down. you can’t judge a book by its cover or you can’t judge a book by the cover You say you can’t judge a book by its cover or you can’t judge a book by the cover to mean that you should not judge someone or something by what they look like or what they seem like at first. ❑ If he loves her I’m happy for them. You can’t judge a book by its cover. ❑ We may say that we don’t believe in judging a book by the cover, but research has shown that we do, over and over again.

The ‘books’ in this expression are books of accounts. If someone cooks the books, they dishonestly change written records. ❑ The committee admitted that, in its recent trials, many officials cooked the books. in someone’s bad books [british, informal] If you are in someone’s bad books, you have done something that has annoyed them. ❑ Sir John was definitely in the Treasury’s bad books for incorrect thinking on economic prospects. ❑ Thomas gloomily speculated that he might be the next to be in Mrs Simpson’s bad books. in someone’s good books [british, informal] If you are in someone’s good books, you have done something that has pleased them. ❑ I never really was that bothered about being in the teacher’s good books. ❑ While we were out, Jamie made an attempt to get back in our good books by doing all the housework.

boot

the boot is on the other foot ➜ see foot

✪ get the boot [informal]

If someone gets the boot, they lose their job. ❑ The chief reason he got the boot was because the Chancellor didn’t trust him any more. ● You can also say that you give someone the boot. ❑ Davis was given the boot after just nine days of filming and replaced by Jonathan Kaplan. If someone gets the boot, their partner ends their relationship, often in a sudden or unkind way. ❑ Sean got the boot from his girlfriend. ● You can also say that you give someone the boot. ❑ Anyone who has been given the boot by their lover will understand this song very well. ✪ put the boot in [british, informal] If someone puts the boot in, they say very critical or unkind things about someone or something. ❑ Mr Carman uses his outstanding ability with language to put the boot in. ● You can also say that someone puts the boot into someone or something. ❑ There’s no one quite like an unpublished novelist for putting the boot into established reputations.

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cook the books If someone cooks the books, they dishonestly change the figures in their financial accounts. ❑ She knew that when the auditors looked over the books there would be no hiding the fact that she had cooked the books and £3 million was missing. ❑ Four years ago, he vowed to strike back after discovering that a promoter was cooking the books.

books

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boots ● The verb stick is sometimes used instead of put. ❑ Instead of sticking the boot into those in poverty, the Prime Minister should give everyone an equal share of the cake. If someone puts the boot in, they attack another person by kicking them. ❑ Anyone tempted to put the boot in occasionally will have to be more careful in future.

boots

be quaking in your boots If someone is quaking in their boots, they are very frightened about something that is about to happen. ❑ If you stand up straight you’ll give an impression of self confidence even if you’re quaking in your boots. ● Verbs such as shake, shiver, and tremble are sometimes used instead of quake. ❑ Someone had to tell the packed club that he wouldn’t be appearing – you can imagine me shaking in my boots. boots and all [australian, informal] If you do something boots and all, you do it with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. ❑ This is a huge fundraising opportunity for the club, so all members need to get involved boots and all. ● Boots-and-all is used before nouns to describe something or someone that is energetic and enthusiastic. ❑ He was relaxed and confident after a boots-and-all training session with the former England coach. die with your boots on If you say that someone died with their boots on, you mean that they died while they were still actively involved in their work. ❑ Unlike many businesspeople who die with their boots on, he has very sensibly left the entire running of the company to his son. This expression was originally used to refer to a soldier who died in battle. fill your boots [british, informal] If you fill your boots with something valuable, you get as much of it as you can. ❑ The fight has attracted a lot of people to the area, and traders have been filling their boots. lick someone’s boots [informal] If one person licks another person’s boots, they do things or say things to please that person, often because the second person is powerful. ❑ Even if you didn’t have an official position you’d

still be powerful locally and everybody’d be licking your boots. ● You can call someone who does this a bootlicker. ❑ Everyone in Bob’s immediate circle was a skilled bootlicker. ● You use these expressions to show that you find this behaviour unpleasant. step into someone’s boots [mainly british] In sport, if you take over from another person who has been injured or who has given up their position, you step into their boots. ❑ So it is important to have a player who can step into his boots at a moment’s notice. ● You can say that someone fills another person’s boots if they are as successful as them. ❑ It is sad that he’s gone, but if ever there was a man to fill his boots, it’s Kevin Keegan. ➜ compare with step into someone’s shoes tough as old boots ➜ see tough

bootstraps Bootstraps are straps attached to a boot which you use for pulling it on.

pull yourself up by your bootstraps If someone pulls themselves up by their bootstraps, they improve their situation by their own efforts. ❑ It was his ability to pull himself up by his bootstraps which appealed to his boss. ● Verbs such as haul, pick and lift are sometimes used instead of pull. ❑ Lift yourself up by the bootstraps, young fellow. Make yourself upwardly mobile. to your bootstraps [australian] If someone has a particular characteristic to their bootstraps, that characteristic is very strong in them. ❑ The novel’s hero is honourable to his bootstraps. ❑ Sir Robert Menzies was British to the bootstraps.

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both

you and me both People use you and me both to agree strongly with what someone has just said or to show that they have experienced the same thing. ❑ ‘Anyway, I am not an expert.’ – ‘You and me both, Tom.’

bottle hit the bottle [informal] If someone hits the bottle, they drink too much alcohol.

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box ❑ One newspaper even said I’d started hitting the bottle. Complete rubbish. ❑ These teenagers hit the bottle to rebel.

bottom

be at the bottom of something If something is at the bottom of a situation, it is the real cause of it. ❑ Remember that pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes. ● You can also say that something lies at the bottom of a situation. ❑ This decision quite probably lies at the bottom of the colony’s current discontent. be bumping along the bottom [british] If a market or an economy is bumping along the bottom, it has reached a low level of performance, and is not getting any better or any worse. ❑ He warned that the economy seemed to be bumping along the bottom. ● You can also say that something is bumping along at the bottom. ❑ People are beginning to sense that we are bumping along at the bottom, but we are not going any further down. the bottom falls out of something If the bottom falls out of a market or industry, people stop buying its products in as large quantities as they did before. ❑ But just as quickly, the bottom fell out of the American home video game market. ● You can also say that the bottom drops out of a market or industry. ❑ By the late seventies the bottom dropped out of the steel industry and heavy industry in general. the bottom falls out of your world If the bottom falls out of your world, something bad happens that changes your life and makes you very unhappy. ❑ When our son was arrested, the bottom fell out of our world. the bottom of the heap ➜ see heap from the bottom of your heart ➜ see heart ✪ get to the bottom of something If you get to the bottom of a problem or mystery, you discover the truth about it. ❑ The attack was quite severe. We intend to get to the bottom of things and, if needs be, ensure that action is brought against those responsible for it. ❑ The secrets of a truly happy couple are ultimately a private mystery, but we’ve tried to get to the bottom of it.

bounds

✪ out of bounds

If a place is out of bounds, you are not allowed to go there. ❑ The area has been out of bounds to foreigners for more than a month. ❑ I’ll make it clear that the kitchen is out of bounds. ● You can use out-of-bounds before a noun. ❑ Avoid signposted out-of-bounds areas. If a subject is out of bounds, you are not allowed to discuss it. ❑ The private lives of public figures should be out of bounds to the press and public. ❑ ‘We’ll put the subject out of bounds.’ – ‘You can’t do that. You promised me when I was twelve that I could always talk to you about anything.’

bow

‘Bow’ is pronounced with the same vowel sound as the word ‘how’.

bow and scrape If someone is bowing and scraping, they are behaving in a way that is extremely respectful towards a powerful or famous person. ❑ I’m hoping my hereditary title will not put off prospective customers. It can be a drawback because some people feel they have to bow and scrape. ● You use this expression to show that you think that this behaviour is humiliating. If you bow, you bend your body towards someone as a formal way of greeting them or showing respect. In the past, ‘scraping’ was a form of bowing which involved drawing back one leg and bending the other. take a bow [mainly british, journalism] People sometimes write take a bow before or after a person’s name when they want to congratulate that person or show their admiration for them. ❑ There are only three of them – take a bow, Grant Lee Phillips on guitar and vocals, Paul Kimble on bass and drummer Joey Peters – but they sound like an orchestra. ❑ When you’ve got the best camerawork and the best commentators – Martin Tyler, take a bow – it’s hard to go far wrong.

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box be first out of the box [american] If you are first out of the box, you are the first person to do something.

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boy ❑ They need to be able to think outside the

alternative gas for cars without catalytic converters. This refers to the game of baseball. A player runs out of the box, which is the marked area where the batter stands, towards first base after hitting the ball. a black box You can call a process or system a black box when you know that it produces a particular result but you do not understand how it works. ❑ What steroids do is currently something of a black box. ❑ The firm’s investment success lies in its black box of formulas which identify trends. In an electronic or computer system, a black box is a self-contained part. You can understand its function without knowing anything about how it works. a box of birds [new zealand, informal] If a person or animal is a box of birds, they are very healthy. ❑ He described the dogs as a box of birds. come out of the box [american] You use come out of the box to talk about how someone or something starts an activity or process. ❑ Back-to-school sales are coming out of the box very strongly. This refers to the game of baseball. A player runs out of the box, which is the marked area where the batter stands, towards first base after hitting the ball. out of the box If you buy something such as a computer or software and you can use it out of the box, you can use it immediately. ❑ These tablets are marketed as devices that can be used by a novice, straight out of the box. ❑ You can, thank goodness, also use the powder straight out of the box. out of your box [british, informal] If someone is out of their box, they are drunk or affected by drugs, or are very foolish. ❑ The guy must have been seriously out of his box! In this expression, ‘box’ refers to someone’s head. ➜ compare with out of your head think outside the box If you think outside the box, you have new and unusual ideas.

box and move their role away from a purely technical focus.

❑ Arco is definitely first out of the box with an

boy

a golden boy If you call a man a golden boy, you mean that they are very popular or successful. ❑ When the movie came out the critics went wild, hailing Tarantino as the golden boy of the 1990s. ● You can describe a popular or successful woman as a golden girl. ❑ Jacqueline du Pré, with her flowing blond hair and good looks, was the golden girl of classical music in the sixties. the old boy network [british] The old boy network is the system of contacts made by men at private schools, universities or clubs, which they use to help each other. ❑ The majority obtained their positions through the old boy network. ● This expression is used to show that you do not think that this sort of system is fair. a whipping boy If someone is a whipping boy, people blame them when things go wrong. ❑ ‘There won’t be a white paper,’ one minister said yesterday. ‘It wouldn’t solve anything. It would just make the prime minister a whipping boy for both the left and right.’ ❑ This is the story of how America’s favorite whipping boy became her favorite son. A whipping boy was a boy who was educated with a prince and was punished for the prince’s mistakes because tutors were not allowed to hit the prince. you can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy People say you can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy to mean that someone from the country always keeps the opinions and values of a country person, even if they go to live in the city. ❑ You can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy. That describes my husband perfectly – he still loves fishing and shooting. ● Other nouns are often used instead of boy and country according to the situation you are talking about. ❑ You can take a man out of the army, but you can’t take the army out of the man.

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brass

your blue-eyed boy [mainly british] or Nothing urgent. ❑ She, in turn, picked my brains your fair-haired boy [mainly american] about London as she was thinking about a trip to Someone’s blue-eyed boy or fair-haired England. ❑ He has helped me enormously over boy is a man that they like very much and the last few years. We used to travel down to give special treatment to. training together and I was always picking his ❑ He’d lost interest in Willy by that time – I was brain for information. the blue-eyed boy. ❑ For ten years you’ve been ✪ rack your brains or everybody’s blue-eyed boy. You’re one of the rack your brain best-known magistrates in the country. ❑ Okay, If you rack your brains or rack your brain, okay. I won’t do anything to hurt your fair-haired you think very hard about something or boy. And business is business. We’ll work together try very hard to remember it. as we always have. ❑ She racked her brains but could not remember ● You usually use these expressions to enough to satisfy the clerk. ❑ They asked me for show that you think the person is wrong fresh ideas, but I had none. I racked my brain, but to treat the man so favourably. couldn’t come up with anything. ● The spelling wrack is occasionally used boys instead of rack in this expression. ❑ Bob boys will be boys was wracking his brain, trying to think where he You say boys will be boys to excuse the had seen the drivers before. noisy or rough way a boy or man is ● You can refer to this activity as behaving by saying that it is normal for brain-racking. ❑ All your brain-racking is boys or men to be like this. making absolutely no contribution to the world. ❑ ‘Your troubles are just beginning,’ they would say, shaking their heads. ‘Boys will be boys.’ brakes ❑ The idea that ‘boys will be boys’ – so it’s okay to put the brakes on something do dangerous things with little regard for If someone or something puts the brakes personal safety – has to change if we are to see on or puts the brakes on something, it any improvement in the death and disease causes a process or activity to slow down statistics for men. or stop. ● You can talk about a boys will be boys ❑ He put the brakes on his social life and attitude or situation. ❑ He is not some concentrated on his work. ❑ The company needs showbiz celebrity or soccer star whose private to put the brakes on and slow things down. misdemeanours can be shrugged off with a ‘boys ● You can also say that someone or will be boys’ attitude. something puts on the brakes. ❑ I was ✪ one of the boys ready to make an offer on the house, until my wife If you describe someone as one of the put on the brakes. boys, you mean that they are accepted as brass belonging to a group of men who behave a brass farthing [mainly british, in typically masculine ways. old-fashioned] ❑ His overly enthusiastic efforts to seem just If you say that someone will not get a one of the boys were sometimes embarrassing. brass farthing, you mean that they will ❑ If she played at being one of the boys, she was not get any money at all. condemned for being brash. If she didn’t join in, ❑ The tragic fact is that most children in she was seen as aloof. lone-parent families will not gain a brass farthing ➜ compare with one of the lads through this Act. brain ● You can also say that someone has not a brain like a sieve ➜ see sieve paid a brass farthing if they have not paid get your brain in/into gear ➜ see gear any money at all. ❑ We rented the house together, but so far she hasn’t paid a brass brains farthing towards it. pick someone’s brains or the brass ring [american] pick someone’s brain [informal] The brass ring is great success or profit. If you pick someone’s brains or pick their ❑ Women who grab the brass ring and get the top brain, you ask them for advice or jobs are still few and far between. ❑ We didn’t information. ❑ I’d like to pick your brains about something. want to be on a team that went for the brass

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breach

● These expressions are often used to ring by spending three times as much as show that you think that the person’s everyone else. opinion is wrong or foolish. On some fairground rides, a brass ring ✪ bread and butter was placed just out of the reach of the If something is your bread and butter, riders. If a rider managed to grab it, they it is your most important or only source of won a free ride. income. cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass ❑ ‘Who’s your audience?’ – ‘We play maybe a monkey [british, informal, rude] hundred colleges a year. That is our bread and People say it’s cold enough to freeze the butter.’ ❑ I think I’m more controlled at work. I balls off a brass monkey when the have to be; it’s my bread and butter. weather is extremely cold. ● Your bread-and-butter business is the ❑ I went into a house this morning that was cold part of your business which produces the enough to freeze the balls off of a brass monkey. main part of your income. ❑ It’s not exactly ● You can also use brass monkey before thrilling but it’s good bread-and-butter work all nouns such as weather or day. ❑ It’s been the same. real brass monkey weather this week. The bread and butter of a situation or A brass monkey was a plate on a activity is its most basic or important warship’s deck on which cannon balls aspects. were stacked. In very cold weather the ❑ It’s the bread and butter of police work, metal shrank, causing the stack to fall checking if anybody had seen anything down. suspicious. get down to brass tacks ● You can also talk about bread-andIf people get down to brass tacks, butter issues or aspects of something. they begin to discuss the basic, most ❑ On major bread-and-butter issues, there’s little important aspects of a situation. difference between the candidates. ❑ To get down to brass tacks, what I want to bread and circuses know is, do you know anything at all about her People use bread and circuses to talk mother’s side of the family? about a situation in which a government The usual explanation for this provides people with things which seem expression is that in Cockney rhyming to make their lives more enjoyable in slang ‘brass tacks’ are facts. order to stop them complaining about breach important problems. step into the breach ❑ He limited political dissent through a policy of If you step into the breach, you do bread and circuses backed up by a fearsome secret something that someone else would police. ❑ Our children and grandchildren will usually do but is unable to do. curse us for squandering their prosperity in ❑ When Richard had to go abroad on business exchange for today’s bread and circuses. Tim Waites usually stepped into the breach and This is a translation of a phrase in a kept Emerald company. ❑ A few of the city’s satire by the Roman poet Juvenal. celebrities have stepped into the breach by It refers to the fact that, in ancient starring in commercials aimed at urging the Rome, the authorities provided the public’s participation. people with public amusements and bread food in order to prevent possible the best thing since sliced bread rebellion. If someone thinks that something is the cast your bread upon the waters best thing since sliced bread, they think [literary] it is very good. If you cast your bread upon the waters, ❑ When your programme first started I thought it you do something good or take a risk, was the best thing since sliced bread. usually without expecting very much in ● You can also say that something is the return. greatest thing since sliced bread. ❑ The ❑ You should make time to offer assistance to new mill was the greatest thing since sliced anyone who needs it. It’s a case of casting your bread and nobody was thinking about bread upon the waters – who knows how the favour will be repaid? environmental issues.

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breath

This is from the Bible: ‘Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.’ (Ecclesiastes 11:1) have your bread buttered on both sides If you have your bread buttered on both sides, you are able to benefit in two different ways in a way that people think is unfair. ❑ Now they have their independence and I wish them well but they must not be allowed to have their bread buttered on both sides. know which side your bread is buttered If you know which side your bread is buttered, you know what to do or who to please in order to put yourself in the best possible situation. ❑ Donald was a man who knew with utter clarity which side his bread was buttered. ❑ I’m in no doubt which side my bread is buttered for the present.

breadline

on the breadline People who are living on the breadline are extremely poor. ❑ These cutbacks are leaving the children and the mothers living on the breadline. ❑ They should be stripped of everything they own but the bare essentials. Let them feel what it is like to be on the breadline. ● You can use the breadline to mean a level of income where it is just possible to live. ❑ Obviously I’d want to earn enough to keep me above the breadline. ❑ Families scraping a living on low incomes and benefits are already living below the breadline. In times of hardship, particularly in the 19th century in the United States, poor people used to line up outside bakeries or soup kitchens for free or very cheap bread.

❑ Anxious families on the estate begged youngsters, ‘Give us a break’, after dozens of cars were wrecked by the gangs. give someone an even break If you give someone an even break, you give them the same chances or opportunities as other people. ❑ They know they can trust me to give them an even break, to showcase them and their talent. ● You can also say that someone gets an even break. ❑ He kept talking about how she never got an even break from the family. ● Never give a sucker an even break is a way of saying, as a joke, that you should not allow less fortunate people to have the same chances and opportunities as yourself. ❑ His philosophy may be summed up as ‘Never give a sucker an even break’. ‘Never Give a Sucker an Even Break’ is the title of a film starring W. C. Fields (1941).

breakfast

have someone for breakfast or eat someone for breakfast [informal] If you say that one person will have another person for breakfast or eat them for breakfast, you mean that the first person is much stronger and more aggressive than the second. ❑ He thinks he’s tough, but Jane Wooton will have him for breakfast. ❑ He was a kid thrown into a town where the miners could have eaten him for breakfast.

breast

✪ give me a break [informal]

that’s the breaks or them’s the breaks [american, informal] People say that’s the breaks or them’s the breaks to mean that this is the way life is and there is nothing you can do about it. ❑ Some days you don’t play so well, but that’s the breaks.

break

breaks

beat your breast ➜ see beat You use give me a break after someone make a clean breast of something has said or done something to show that If you make a clean breast of something, you think that they are being very you tell the whole truth about it. annoying or ridiculous. [mainly american] ❑ ‘But what shall I tell my parents?’ – ‘You’ll have ❑ The news item ended with comments from to make a clean breast of it, dear.’ ❑ If you make a ‘South Australian feminists’ who were ‘satisfied’ clean breast of your problems, creditors are much by the finding. Give me a break! Why do they have more likely to deal fairly with you. to quote feminists on a decision that concerns the rights of all women? Why can’t they quote breath mothers, teachers, nurses, or dancers? ✪ be holding your breath You use give me a break to tell someone If you are holding your breath, you are to stop criticizing or annoying you and waiting anxiously or excitedly to see what happens next. leave you alone.

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breeze ❑ She had been holding her breath and hoping that the agreement would be signed. ❑ The

breath as Leonardo and Michelangelo. ❑ Don’t mention him in the same breath as me! world is holding its breath as we begin to save your breath negotiate the future of our country. If you tell someone to save their breath, ● You can also say that you aren’t holding you mean that they should not bother your breath to mean that you are not saying something, because you will not expecting a particular thing to happen, or agree to it or you do not want to hear it. you can say don’t hold your breath to tell ❑ ‘If you’re going to tell me about the extra week someone that they should not expect you want to spend in New York, you can save your something to happen. ❑ ‘I’m not holding my breath,’ she said. breath’, he admits. ‘There are no guarantees in ✪ take your breath away this game.’ ❑ The Chancellor has predicted If something takes your breath away, it Britain will drag itself out of the slump – but don’t amazes and impresses you. hold your breath, because he doesn’t know when. ❑ ‘Tell me again about the picture.’ – ‘It’s be wasting your breath beautiful. It’s so beautiful it takes your breath If someone is wasting their breath, there away.’ ❑ He had never believed he would come to is no point in them continuing with what such power. The more he realized it, the more it they are saying, because it will not have took his breath away. any effect. ✪ with bated breath ❑ He wanted to protest again, but the tone of her If you wait for something with bated voice told him he was wasting his breath. breath, you wait in an anxious or excited ❑ Before I could get very far he interrupted me to way to see what happens next. tell me that I was wasting my breath. ❑ Flora and I waited with bated breath to hear ● You can say that something being said is what Evelyn considered sensible. ❑ They got the a waste of breath. ❑ He would admit to the people in the villages interested in what was thefts, but deny everything else, and her going to happen, so they were then watching with accusations would be a waste of breath. bated breath as the experiment began. ✪ a breath of fresh air ‘Bate’ is an old form of ‘abate’, which in If you describe someone or something as this context means ‘control’ or ‘hold back’. a breath of fresh air, you mean that they breeze are pleasantly different from what you shoot the breeze [american, informal] are used to. If you shoot the breeze, you talk with ❑ After the stuffy conversation we have at our other people in an informal and friendly dinner table, this is like a breath of fresh air. way. ❑ Brian never wanted to do anything. Life was ❑ Goldie does what she likes doing best: shooting stagnant. So Mike, my present husband, was a the breeze about life, love, and her bad reputation. breath of fresh air. ❑ He’s very awkward on social occasions. If you’re ✪ in the same breath sitting around a big table in the members’ dining If someone says something and then room, he won’t shoot the breeze like the rest of in the same breath they say something them. else, they are saying two things which The sense of ‘shoot’ used here is the are very different or which cannot both same as ‘shoot the rapids’, suggesting be true. riding or being carried along by the flow ❑ For politicians to demand firm immigration of a conversation. controls and argue against racism in the same

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brick

breath is a deep contradiction. ❑ Some of his old friends say he has left them behind for the rich and famous, but in the same breath that they know he would visit them in hospital. If something or someone is spoken about in the same breath as something or someone else, they are spoken about together, as if they are similar or of similar value. ❑ His contemporaries spoke of him in the same

be shitting a brick or be shitting bricks [informal, very rude] If someone is shitting a brick or is shitting bricks, they are extremely frightened or worried about something. ❑ He knew he would be fired if he was late, so he was shitting a brick. ❑ He stands there looking at Billy with a face like thunder. And Billy is shitting bricks.

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bridges

a brick short of a load or successful or important person in a one brick short of a load [offensive] situation and never the most successful If you say that someone is a brick short of or important. ❑ Ian McEwan, favourite for every literary prize a load or one brick short of a load, you from the Booker to the Whitbread but always the mean that they are behaving in a foolish bridesmaid, finally won something for way. ❑ He doesn’t seem scared about the fight, but ‘Atonement’. ● People sometimes use the full then he is a brick short of a load. ❑ She was rushing around, one brick short of a load, expression always the bridesmaid, never upsetting everyone. the bride. ❑ Her win in this race helped to destroy the idea that she is always the built like a brick shithouse [british, informal, very rude] bridesmaid, never the bride. If you say that someone is built like a bridge brick shithouse, you mean that they are cross that bridge when you come to it extremely tall, broad, and strong-looking. If you say I’ll cross that bridge when I ❑ This guy was built like a brick shithouse, with a come to it, you mean that you will deal huge mustache and smouldering brown eyes. with a problem if it happens. ● You can use brick-shithouse before a ❑ ‘You can’t make me talk to you.’ – ‘No, but the noun to describe someone who looks like police can.’ – ‘I’ll cross that bridge when I come to this. ❑ He brought his brick-shithouse mate it.’ with him. ● You can also say things like I haven’t A shithouse is a slang word for a toilet. crossed that bridge yet or there are still A brick shithouse is a strong outside some bridges to cross when you have not toilet built using bricks instead of wood, yet dealt with a particular problem. ❑ We from the time before many houses had have not crossed that bridge yet. We are trying to indoor bathrooms. get the criminal case dealt with. ❑ There are still come up against a brick wall ➜ see wall a few bridges to cross. drop a brick [british] bridges If you drop a brick, you say something ✪ build bridges which upsets or offends other people. If you build bridges between groups of ❑ After his comments on the live TV programme, people, you do something to improve the the actor was immediately aware that he had relationship between them. dropped a political brick of the worst kind. ❑ It was our duty to help build bridges between bricks the communities involved. ❑ We are looking for hit the bricks [american, informal] ways to build bridges between our two If workers hit the bricks, they stop work organizations. in order to protest about something. ● You can call this process bridge❑ Toronto’s 7,500 secondary teachers voted in building. ❑ Do all you can to develop an open favour of hitting the bricks. mind which allows bridge-building between you. make bricks without straw ❑ Lovett took the initiative to arrange a If you make bricks without straw, you try bridge-building luncheon at which a compromise to achieve something without the could be agreed. resources that are needed for it. burn your bridges ❑ Teachers have become experts at making bricks If you burn your bridges, you do without straw. something which forces you to continue This expression is from the Bible with a particular course of action, and and refers to Pharaoh’s order that makes it impossible for you to return to the captive Israelites should not be an earlier situation. given any straw to make bricks. ❑ I didn’t sell my house because I didn’t know how (Exodus 5:7) long I would be here. I didn’t want to burn all my bridesmaid bridges. ❑ She had burned her bridges behind always the bridesmaid her; she had called Mimi to tell her she couldn’t If someone is always the bridesmaid, take the job at the Foundation and she had accepted another job offer. they are always the second most

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brief

● In British English, you can also say that bring you burn your boats. ❑ She decided to go to bring it on! Glasgow to study for a degree in astronomy. Then, People say bring it on! to show that they just before she started, she thought she might be are ready and eager to face a challenge, burning her boats and so she did physics after all. fight or difficult situation. During invasions, Roman generals ❑ ‘Are you sure about this trip?’ David asked. sometimes burned their boats or any ‘Yeah,’ said Julie, ‘Bring it on.’ bridges they had crossed, so that their broke soldiers could not retreat but were ✪ go for broke forced to fight on. If you go for broke, you put all your efforts brief or resources into a plan or idea to try to hold no brief for something [british, make it succeed. formal] ❑ I had already won the Under-16 British squash If you hold no brief for a person, championships, and I decided to go for broke and organization, activity or belief, you do not turn professional. ❑ In London’s West End there support them or respect them. is a reluctance to take risks with new plays while ❑ This newspaper holds no special brief for a going for broke on musicals. committee that has done nothing to distinguish ● Go-for-broke can also be used before a itself in the past. ❑ He holds no brief for formal noun. ❑ Three astronauts plan to walk in space education. today in a go-for-broke effort to retrieve a In law, a brief is all the papers relating to communications satellite. a particular client’s case that are If a gambler goes for broke, they put all collected by the client’s solicitor and their money on one game or on one given to the barrister who will represent hand of cards. them in court. ✪ if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it [informal] ✪ in brief You say if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it to If someone says or writes something in mean that things should only be changed brief, they use as few words as possible if there are problems with them. and do not give many details. ❑ With regard to proposals for some grand ❑ This in brief is how I see the situation at the reorganization of the intelligence community: If it moment. ❑ The disease is discussed in brief here. ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And I believe it is not broke. ● You can also say isn’t broken instead of bright ain’t broke and why fix it? instead of ✪ bright and early don’t fix it. ❑ Her outlook is ‘If it isn’t broken, Bright and early means early in the why fix it?’ She puts up with a lot I wouldn’t morning. tolerate. ❑ I’ve got to be up bright and early in the morning The word ‘ain’t’ is a form of ‘isn’t’ which to drive to Leeds. is used in informal or non-standard bright as a button [mainly british] English. The first recorded use of this If someone is as bright as a button, they are modern proverb is by the American Bert intelligent, full of energy, or very cheerful. Lance, President Carter’s Director of the ❑ She was as bright as a button. If it had been her Office of Management and Budget running the company, it might still be OK. ❑ She (1977). He was referring to governmental was in at lunch-time, bright as a button, chatting reorganization. to that gentleman.

bright-eyed and bushy-tailed If someone is bright-eyed and bushytailed, they are healthy and full of energy. ❑ But for now, go and sleep awhile. I need you bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tomorrow. ❑ This will be a busy year, so you need to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to cope. The comparison in this expression is to a squirrel.

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Bronx

bright-eyed

a Bronx cheer [american, informal] A Bronx cheer is a rude noise that you make by putting your lips together and blowing through them. ❑ He greeted the news with a loud Bronx cheer.

broom a new broom You can call someone a new broom when they have just started a new job in a

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bubble

senior position and are expected to make a lot of changes. ❑ We had a new, exceptionally young headmaster and he was a very active new broom. ❑ We need a new broom for the project to have credibility ● You can use new-broom before a noun. ❑ If everyone is in the habit of arriving ten minutes late, a new-broom manager will have a struggle to change the habit. ● You can also use the proverb a new broom sweeps clean. ❑ A new broom doesn’t always sweep clean, it just brushes some of the worst dirt under the carpet for a while. ➜ compare with make a clean sweep

brother

not your brother’s keeper ➜ see keeper

brown

brown as a berry If someone is as brown as a berry, they are very tanned because they have been out in the sun. ❑ Steve Hobbs had just come back from his holiday. Brown as a berry he was, when he came round here the following Monday. ❑ She rode out to the yacht in a launch with a basket of fresh vegetables to find Franklin brown as a berry and in his usual fine spirits. The reference may be to juniper or cedar berries, which are brown, as most other berries are red, purple, or white.

sometimes used instead of bear. ❑ The two buildings which took the brunt of the blast will probably have to be demolished.

brush tar someone with the same brush If you tar someone with the same brush you wrongly believe that they have the same bad qualities as others in a group of people they are connected with. ❑ I am a football supporter and I often have to explain that I’m not one of the hooligan sort, because we all get tarred with the same brush. ❑ In the loans business, the better operators get tarred with the same brush as the less scrupulous ones. ● You can also say that someone is tarred with the brush of something. ❑ Why should all English people be tarred with the brush of football hooliganism? This expression comes from the use of tar to mark all the sheep in one flock to distinguish them from another flock.

brushstrokes

broad brushstrokes ➜ see strokes

bubble

✪ the bubble bursts

✪ brownie points

brownie

If someone or something bears the brunt of an unpleasant or damaging event, they take the main force of its harmful effects. ❑ Station staff always bear the brunt of public anger over fare rises. ❑ When the sufferer is in pain, frustrated by their own weakness, you will bear the brunt of their anger, guilt and inadequacy. ● Verbs such as take, feel and receive are

✪ bear the brunt of something

brunt

If someone gets brownie points for doing something, they are praised and admired for it. ❑ You might want to earn brownie points by fitting in with the local traditions. ❑ These promotions allow supermarkets to score brownie points with the consumer by offering them a cheap deal. The Brownies is an organization for young girls. Members are expected to be well-behaved and helpful.

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You say the bubble bursts to mean that a very successful or happy time ends. ❑ The bubble has burst. Crowds at the team’s World League games are down from last year’s 40,000 average to 22,000. ❑ A few months later, the over-inflated dot-com bubble burst. ● You can also say that someone or something pricks the bubble when they cause something happy or successful to end. ❑ They fear to do anything that would prick the stock-market bubble. The bubble referred to in these expressions is the South Sea Bubble, a financial disaster which took its name from The South Sea Company. In the early 18th century, this company took over the British national debt in return for a monopoly of trade with the South Seas. A lot of people invested in the company, but it crashed in 1720 and many investors became bankrupt. burst someone’s bubble If someone or something bursts your bubble, they stop you being so happy or satisfied. ❑ A terrible defeat in Saturday’s match burst their bubble. ❑ Costa burst her bubble, telling her that her boyfriend had been arrested.

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buck

on the bubble [american] If someone or something is on the bubble, they are in a difficult situation, and do not know if they will succeed or fail. ❑ The energy minister is on the bubble over the ongoing complaints over energy prices. ❑ His new TV series is on the bubble for cancellation after poor ratings. The reference may be to a bubble which is about to burst, or to the bubble on a spirit level, which will move off centre if the level is not kept exactly horizontal.

buck

In poker, the buck was a marker or object which was passed to the person whose turn it was to deal the next hand. This person could either keep the marker or pass it on, in order to avoid dealing and being responsible for declaring the first stake.

✪ the buck stops here

bucket kick the bucket [informal] If someone kicks the bucket, they die. ❑ The doctor said the old girl is about to kick the bucket – got some sort of kidney infection. ❑ All the money goes to her when the old man kicks the bucket. ● This expression is used in a humorous way. The origins of this expression are uncertain. It may refer to someone committing suicide by standing on a bucket, tying a rope around their neck, then kicking the bucket away.

bud

✪ nip something in the bud

If you nip a bad situation or bad behaviour in the bud, you stop it at an early stage. ❑ It is important to recognize jealousy as soon as possible and to nip it in the bud before it gets out of hand. If you nip something good in the bud, you stop it before it can develop. ❑ The higher prices would fuel inflation and nip the consumer recovery in the bud. This expression may refer to extremely cold weather damaging a plant and stopping it flowering. Alternatively, it may refer to a gardener pruning a plant in bud to prevent it flowering.

You use the buck stops here to say that a problem is your responsibility, and that you are not expecting anyone else to deal with it. ❑ I don’t want anyone to blame the players. If you are going to point the finger at anyone, it must be at the man in charge and that’s me. The buck stops here. ● You can also say that the buck stops with someone. ❑ I approved the plan. I advised the President, but I did not advise him of the details. The buck stops with me. ❑ Only now buffers hit the buffers [british, journalism] has Taylor accepted that the buck stops with him. If something such as an idea, plan, or This expression is often associated with project hits the buffers, it experiences U.S. President Truman, who had it difficulties which cause it to fail. written on a sign on his desk in the Oval ❑ Their plans may not get very far before they Office to remind him of his hit the buffers. ❑ With a little luck Sebastien responsibilities. could also have achieved sporting fame, but ✪ pass the buck sadly his promising soccer career hit the buffers If you accuse someone of passing the early on. buck, you are accusing them of failing to Buffers are barriers at the end of a take responsibility for a problem, and of railway track. expecting someone else to deal with it bug instead. ✪ be bitten by the bug ❑ His three commanders-in-chief were arguing If you are bitten by the gardening bug, for and passing the buck to one another. ❑ When it example, or are bitten by the acting bug, comes to teaching kids about risk, many parents you become very enthusiastic about are tempted to pass the buck to schools and other gardening or acting, and you start doing organizations. ● This kind of behaviour is called it a lot. ❑ I’ve definitely been bitten by the gardening bug, buck-passing. ❑ However, his apology, in and now I love weeding and digging. ❑ Bitten by this age of buck-passing and dodging, was frank the travel bug, he set off for a working holiday in and honest.

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bums

Australia. ❑ She provides a guide to Britain’s antiques markets and a very useful reference list for those seriously bitten by the bug. snug as a bug in a rug [british, oldfashioned] If someone is as snug as a bug in a rug, they are very warm and comfortable, usually in a bed. ❑ Kitty was curled up in bed, as snug as a bug in a rug.

bull

a bull in a china shop If someone is like a a bull in a china shop, they say or do things too quickly and without considering them enough, and often upset people or damage things. ❑ In confrontational situations I am like a bull in a china shop. ❑ Although you must take charge of your life, you mustn’t go at it like a bull in a china shop. a red rag to a bull [british] or a red flag before a bull [american] If something always makes a particular person very angry, you can say that it is like a red rag to a bull or a red flag before a bull. ❑ This sort of information is like a red rag to a bull for the tobacco companies but it really needs to be exposed. ❑ It’s a red rag to a bull when my son won’t admit that he’s wrong. ➜ compare with a red flag take the bull by the horns If you take the bull by the horns, you act with determination to deal with a difficult situation. ❑ This is the time to take the bull by the horns and tackle the complex issues of finance. ● Verbs such as grasp, grab and seize are sometimes used instead of take. ❑ If marriage is what you truly want, you may have to seize the bull by the horns. In bullfighting, the matador sometimes grasps the bull’s horns before killing it.

During battles in the last century, wounded men were sometimes given a bullet to bite on while the doctor operated on them without any anaesthetic or painkillers. get the bullet [british, informal, old-fashioned] If someone gets the bullet, they lose their job. ❑ The banks are still making money but they only have to have one bad year and everybody gets the bullet. ● You can also say that someone is given the bullet. ❑ Pike was out of work for 2 ½ years after being given the bullet as the team’s youth boss.

bum

a bum steer [mainly american, informal] If you describe information that you are given as a bum steer, you mean that it is incorrect. ❑ Did you give me a bum steer about your name and address? This expression may refer to a worthless bullock, which is a young male cow. Alternatively, it may refer to someone being given directions which are not correct. give someone the bum’s rush [american, informal] If you give someone the bum’s rush, you reject them or get rid of them. ❑ He has said he doesn’t like journalists, but he’s much too nice to give anyone the bum’s rush. ● You can also say someone gets the bum’s rush. ❑ He was a TV hero last year – but he still got the bum’s rush. A bum is a person who has no permanent home or job, and very little money. This expression refers to a bum being thrown out of a place by force.

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If you bite the bullet, you accept a difficult situation or force yourself to do something unpleasant. ❑ The same stressful event might make one person utterly miserable, while another will bite the bullet and make the best of it. ❑ If your internet connection isn’t working, you’ll probably have to bite the bullet and phone the technical support department.

✪ bite the bullet

bullet

bums

bums on seats [british, informal] or butts on seats [american, informal] If a performer or performance puts bums on seats or puts butts on seats, they attract large audiences. ❑ He’s always been like that and will never change. That’s why he gets bums on seats – he’s a showman. ❑ They will pay the person who gets butts in seats and Julia Roberts does. In British English, ‘bum’ is an informal word for ‘bottom’. ‘Butt’ is an informal American word for ‘bottom’.

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bundle ❑ Long-term health care advocates worry that

bundle

a bundle of joy [informal] A bundle of joy is a baby, especially one that has just been born. ❑ Our family are all as overjoyed as we are at the early arrival of our little bundle of joy. a bundle of nerves ➜ see nerves drop your bundle [mainly australian, informal] If someone drops their bundle, they lose all hope or lose control of their emotions. ❑ At 25-6 University were losing badly, but to their credit they did not drop their bundle. ❑ If I had dropped my bundle, it would have hurt a lot of people.

bus

bunny

not a happy bunny [british, informal] If you say that someone is not a happy bunny, you mean that they are annoyed or unhappy about something. ❑ I am receiving around 1,000 spam emails a day. I am not a happy bunny. ● This expression is used humorously. ‘Bunny’ is a childish word for a rabbit, and the expression is meant to sound like part of a children’s story.

throw someone under the bus If you throw someone under the bus, you put them in a difficult position, especially in order to save yourself. ❑ One minute they’re your best friend, the next they’re quite happy to throw you under the bus.

bush the bush telegraph [british, oldfashioned] The bush telegraph is the way in which information or news is passed from person to person in conversation. ❑ No, you didn’t tell me, but I heard it on the bush telegraph. ❑ Jean-Michel had heard of our impending arrival in Conflans long before we got there. The bush telegraph on the waterways is extremely effective. This expression refers to a primitive method of communication where people scattered over a wide area beat drums to send messages to one another. not beat around the bush or not beat about the bush [british] If you don’t beat around the bush or don’t beat about the bush, you say what you want to say clearly and directly. ❑ Let’s not beat about the bush. I think these letters are worth a lot to you. In game shooting, beaters drive birds or small animals out of the undergrowth by beating it with sticks. They may have to do this cautiously as they do not know exactly where the birds or animals are.

burn

the expense will push this issue onto a back burner. ❑ In this climate, website development is an obvious candidate for the back burner. on the front burner If you put a project or issue on the front burner, you start to give it a lot of attention. ❑ By putting tourism on the front burner, the government has opened up the opportunity for a substantial growth in visitors long-term. ● Front burner is used in other structures and expressions with a similar meaning. ❑ This issue is not exactly on their front burner.

a slow burn A slow burn is a feeling or effect that develops gradually. ❑ In a single weekend the slow burn of public disgust turned into a bonfire. ❑ He promised a slow burn campaign over the next 18 months to support the idea of economic change. ● In American English, people say that someone does a slow burn if they gradually become more and more angry. ❑ Wilson, sensing a challenge to his power, did a slow burn.

If you put a project or issue on the back burner, you decide not to do anything about it until a later date. ❑ She put her career on the back burner after marrying her co-star two years ago. ❑ People’s dreams have once again been put on the back burner as they concern themselves with survival from one day to the next. ● Back burner is used in other structures and expressions with a similar meaning.

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✪ on the back burner

A burner is one of the rings or plates on the top of a cooker.

burner

bushes be beating the bushes [american] If someone is beating the bushes, they

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butterfly are trying very hard to get or achieve something. ❑ Maybe Democratic leaders should be beating the bushes to register voters to support their nominee. ❑ He was tired of beating the bushes for work, and he did not want to ask for help or accept charity.

business

business as usual You say business as usual to mean that everything is continuing in the normal way, even though something unpleasant or unexpected has happened. ❑ Asked if the President was trying to suggest it was business as usual, Mr Fitzwater replied: It is business as usual; this isn’t the kind of crisis that requires us to drop everything else. ❑ If these guys are convicted, it could be the beginning of a real change. If they’re not, it’s business as usual. in business [spoken] If you say that you are in business, you mean that you can start doing something because you have got everything ready for it. ❑ It plugs in here, right? Okay, we’re in business. Let’s see how it works, guys. ❑ It’ll be all right, Tony. With your man keeping tabs on her, we’ll be in business the moment she makes a move. like nobody’s business [informal] If someone or something is doing something like nobody’s business, they are doing it very fast, in large amounts or to a great extent. ❑ The people with this disease are dying off like nobody’s business. ❑ I’m enjoying myself like nobody’s business. If someone or something does something like nobody’s business, they do it very well. ❑ He sings like Sinatra, dances like Sammy Davis, plays piano like nobody’s business, and lays on the charm like an old pro. ✪ mean business If you mean business, you are serious and determined about what you are doing. ❑ One of them poked a shotgun at me. I could see he meant business. ❑ Now, in the wake of the student-led demonstrations, the party is trying to convince people it means business.

you can say that they are having a busman’s holiday. ❑ This is probably the best fish restaurant in the country – at least one admiring chef a week passes through the cheery dining room on a busman’s holiday. ❑ A fire crew’s Christmas outing turned into a busman’s holiday when their coach caught fire. This expression may refer to bus drivers at the beginning of the 20th century when buses were horse-drawn. Drivers sometimes spent their day off riding on their own bus to make sure that the relief drivers were treating the horses properly.

butt

kick butt ➜ see kick kick someone’s butt ➜ see kick save someone’s butt ➜ see save

butter

butter wouldn’t melt in someone’s mouth If you say that butter wouldn’t melt in someone’s mouth, you mean that although they look completely innocent, they are capable of doing bad things. ❑ He may look as though butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, but I wouldn’t trust him. ❑ To look at her you’d think that butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. You wouldn’t think she’d even heard language like that. ● You can also say that butter wouldn’t melt. ❑ Mums and dads who see their sweet son or daughter tripping off for a night’s studying at the chemistry society, looking like butter wouldn’t melt, would be advised to look closer.

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butterflies in your stomach If you have butterflies in your stomach, you feel very nervous about something that you have to do. ❑ He seemed so full of enthusiasm that I felt foolish still having butterflies in my stomach. ❑ Now I can go there as a competitor, I’m starting to feel the butterflies in my stomach already. ● Butterflies is also used in many other structures and expressions with a similar meaning. ❑ Any jockey who says he doesn’t get butterflies down at the start is telling lies. ❑ Carol felt butterflies tumbling in her guts.

a busman’s holiday [mainly british] If someone spends part of their holiday doing things they do in their normal job,

busman

butterflies

butterfly be breaking a butterfly on a wheel [british, literary] If you say that someone is breaking a

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button

butterfly on a wheel, you mean that they are using far more force than is necessary to do something. ❑ The Huglets have had their ideology combed over, examined, misinterpreted and rewritten. Talk about breaking a butterfly on a wheel. This is a quotation from ‘Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot’ (1735) by Alexander Pope. In the past, the wheel was an instrument of torture. A person was tied to it and then their arms and legs were broken or they were beaten to death. ➜ compare with a sledgehammer to crack a nut

button

✪ at the touch of a button

If you can do something at the touch of a button, you can do it very easily and quickly, usually because of new technology. ❑ Specially trained staff will be able to trace threatening calls at the touch of a button, and pass the information to police. ❑ The Powerglyde will open and close your curtains for you at the mere touch of a button. ● The nouns push and press are sometimes used instead of touch. ❑ I just typed in ‘data communications’ and was sent all this information at the press of a button. ✪ a hot button [american, informal] If a subject or problem is a hot button, people have very strong feelings about it. ❑ If crime is the city’s issue most known to outsiders, rent control is the city’s hot button for its residents. ● Hot-button can be used before a noun. ❑ These controversial, hot-button issues create hazards for politicians. on the button [american] If you talk about a time or amount being on the button, you mean that it is exactly that time or amount. ❑ He’d say he’d meet us at 10.00 on the button. ❑ We double-counted it and it’s 975,000 dollars on the button. ➜ compare with right on the button

press the right button or press the right buttons If someone presses the right button or presses the right buttons, they skilfully do the things to have the effect they want. ❑ It is hard to know if you’re pressing the right buttons because one reader’s fantasy is another reader’s yawn. ● You can also say that someone presses all the right buttons. ❑ In what it describes as a well-judged performance, the newspaper says he pressed all the right buttons to please the representatives. ● Verbs such as push and hit are sometimes used instead of press. ❑ In later talks with the CEO, he helped his cause by pushing all the right buttons. right on the button If someone says that you are right on the button, they mean that you have guessed correctly about something. ❑ ‘Am I right?’ – ‘Right on the button.’ ❑ The important thing is that the Treasury’s forecast was right on the button. ● You can also say that someone is on the button. ❑ The one who guesses on the button, picks up a big, mystery prize.

buzz

a buzz kill [american, informal] If a person or something that happens is a buzz kill, they spoil an event by making people less happy and excited. ❑ Sorry I’ve been a buzz kill tonight. ❑ They discovered his money had been stolen. Talk about a buzz kill.

let bygones be bygones If people let bygones be bygones, they agree to forget about arguments and problems that have happened in the past so that they can improve their relationship. ❑ She met him again by chance through friends and decided to let bygones be bygones for the sake of her art.

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bygones

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Cc SA

cahoots. ❑ They worked in cahoots to set the whole thing up without me knowing. the whole caboodle [british, american] or the whole kit and caboodle [british] cake If you talk about the whole caboodle or ✪ have your cake and eat it the whole kit and caboodle, you mean If someone wants to have their cake and the whole of something. eat it, they are trying to benefit from two ❑ You can borrow the tent and equipment – the different situations, when they can only whole caboodle – if you like. ❑ They have benefit from one of them. financed the whole kit and caboodle. ❑ He wants to switch to a market economy in a way which does not reduce people’s standard of The usual American expression is the living. But he can’t have his cake and eat it. ❑ You whole ball of wax or the whole can’t be married to one woman and have a close enchilada. relationship with another woman at the same ‘Caboodle’ may come from the Dutch time. That’s having your cake and eating it. word ‘boedal’, meaning ‘property’. Although ‘have your cake and eat it’ is cackle now the most common form of the cut the cackle [british, old-fashioned] expression, the original was ‘eat your If you tell someone to cut the cackle, you cake and have it’. Some people consider are telling them to stop talking nonsense. the recent version illogical, since it is ❑ They were basically told to cut the cackle and certainly possible to have a cake and get back to work. then eat it but not the other way round. cadenza take the cake have a cadenza [south african, If someone or something takes the cake, informal] they represent the most extreme example If someone has a cadenza, they become of something stupid or bad. very angry or upset. ❑ I mean, he’s done a lot of crazy things, but this ❑ He had a cadenza because he couldn’t get his really takes the cake. favourite curry. ➜ compare with take the biscuit This expression has a similar origin to cage ‘take the biscuit’, which refers to the rattle someone’s cage practice in the past of awarding cakes as If you rattle someone’s cage, you do or say prizes in competitions. something that upsets or annoys them. ❑ One thing I’ve learnt as an editor is that you cakes can’t create a truly superb magazine without cakes and ale [british, literary] rattling someone’s cage. ❑ I don’t rattle their You use cakes and ale to describe a time cages and they don’t rattle mine. or activity when you enjoy yourself greatly and have no troubles. cahoots ❑ It has not all been cakes and ale, and Harding in cahoots with someone has had his share of setbacks along the way. If one person is in cahoots another, they This expression is used in Shakespeare’s are working together secretly to do ‘Twelfth Night’. Sir Toby Belch says to something, usually something dishonest. Malvolio, ‘Dost thou think, because ❑ He was accused of being in cahoots with the thou art virtuous, there shall be no more kidnappers. ● You can also say that two people are in cakes and ale?’ (Act 2, Scene 3). ‘Cakes

caboodle

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calf and Ale’ is also the title of a novel by Somerset Maugham, which was published in 1930. sell like hot cakes ➜ see hot cakes

camper, you mean that they pleased about something. ❑ When Oisin scored that goal I was a happy camper again. ● You can also say that someone is not a happy camper if they are angry, upset or not satisfied about something. ❑ I just wasn’t a happy camper. I felt a piece of me was missing and I didn’t know what it was.

calf

kill the fatted calf If you kill the fatted calf, you do everything you can to welcome back a person who has been away for a period of time. ❑ He went away for year, and when he returned, can his family didn’t exactly kill the fatted calf. a can of worms ➜ see worms This expression comes from the story of ✪ carry the can [british] If you carry the can, you are blamed for the prodigal son which is told by Jesus something bad that has happened even in the Bible (Luke 5:3-32). In this story, a though you are not the only person young man returns home after wasting responsible for it. all the money his father has given him. ❑ It annoys me that I was the only one who However, his father is so pleased to see carried the can for that defeat. ❑ Members of the him that he celebrates his return by Government clearly decided to let Lowe carry the can. killing a calf and preparing a feast. This was originally a military expression call referring to the man chosen to fetch a call your own container of beer for a group of soldiers. If you have something to call your own, it in the can belongs to you. If a film or piece of filming is in the can, it ❑ I think you should have a place you can call has been successfully completed. your own. ❑ She has hardly had a moment to call ❑ We had to lie motionless for rehearsal after her own for the last seven years. rehearsal, take after take, until the scene was in a close call ➜ see close the can. ❑ We’ve got the interview in the can. calm Cinema film is stored in circular metal the calm before the storm ➜ see storm containers called cans.

camp

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a happy camper If you say that someone is a happy

burn the candle at both ends If you burn the candle at both ends, you try to do too much, regularly going to bed late and getting up early in the morning. ❑ Try not to exhaust yourself by burning the candle at both ends. ❑ Frank seemed to delight in burning the candle at both ends. No matter how late he stayed out, he was up at five o’clock the next morning to study. can’t hold a candle to someone/ something If you are comparing two people or things and you say that the first can’t hold a candle to the second, you mean that the second is much better than the first. ❑ None of these teams can hold a candle to the sides led by Franz Beckenbauer in the early 70s. ❑ Newspapers, books and radio cannot hold a candle to television. This expression suggests that the first person does not even deserve to hold a light to help the other person to see. not worth the candle [british, oldfashioned]

camper

candle

a camp follower You call someone a camp follower when they follow or spend time with a particular person or group, either because they admire or support them, or because they hope to gain advantages from them. ❑ Brecht was surrounded by ‘camp-followers’ – crowds of women who seemed to adore him. ❑ Even in my day as a player, we had our camp followers. ● This expression is often used to show disapproval. Originally, camp followers were civilians who travelled with an army and who made their living selling goods or services to the soldiers. pitch camp If someone pitches camp, they settle somewhere for a period. ❑ As the scandal broke, reporters pitched camp outside the family home in Faversham.

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cap

If something is not worth the candle, it is not worth the trouble or effort which is needed in order to achieve or obtain it. ❑ Harrison has described the reforms proposed by the governor as ‘not worth the candle’. ● You can also talk about the game being worth the candle. ❑ He can boast that he married the richest woman in the world. But he must sometimes wonder whether the game was worth the candle. This expression originally referred to a game of cards where the amount of money that people were competing for was less than the cost of the candle used up during the game.

candy

✪ cannon fodder

cannon

like a kid in a candy store ➜ see kid like taking candy from a baby If doing something is like taking candy from a baby, it is very easy. ❑ In the end, they won so easily, it was like taking candy from a baby.

paddle your own canoe If you paddle your own canoe, you control what you want to do without anyone’s help or interference. ❑ With no one managing him, he was basically left to paddle his own canoe. ❑ As far as the rest of Europe is concerned we’ve just got to paddle our own canoe.

cap go cap in hand to someone [british] If you go cap in hand to someone, you ask them very humbly and respectfully for money or help. ❑ Separated from Russia and Central Asia, it had to go cap in hand to its neighbours for oil and gas. The usual American expression is hat in hand. The idea is of a servant or person of low rank removing their hat in the presence of someone important. if the cap fits or if the cap fits, wear it [british] You say if the cap fits or if the cap fits, wear it when you are telling someone that an unpleasant remark which has been made about them is probably true or fair. ❑ ‘She seemed to be suggesting I was lazy.’ – ‘Well, if the cap fits.’ put your thinking cap on or get your thinking cap on If you put your thinking cap on or get your thinking cap on, you try hard to solve a problem by thinking about it. ❑ We need to put our thinking caps on and decide what can be done to prevent the problem. ❑ We’ve got five pairs of boots to give away, so get your thinking caps on and answer the following questions. This expression may refer to the cap which judges used to wear when passing sentence or judgment. set your cap at someone [british, old-fashioned] If a woman sets her cap at a man, she tries to make him notice her, usually because she wants to marry him. ❑ If I were a little younger, I might have set my cap at him myself. The idea behind this expression is that in the past women would wear their best cap in order to attract the attention of a man they wished to marry.

You call soldiers in a war cannon fodder when they are considered unimportant and are sent to fight in the most dangerous areas, where they are likely to be killed. ❑ The 55- to 65-year-olds were sent to the front as cannon-fodder. ❑ If you’re a squaddie, you’re regarded as cannon fodder. You call people cannon fodder when they are made to do difficult, unpleasant, or dangerous tasks that their bosses do not want to do. [journalism] ❑ The average member of parliament would change parties without hesitation, and is treated by his party leaders as cannon fodder. Fodder is cheap food such as hay or straw that is used to feed animals. ✪ a loose cannon If you call someone a loose cannon, you mean that their behaviour is unpredictable and could cause problems. ❑ He was also getting a reputation for being a loose cannon; an accident waiting to happen. ❑ Thomson can be a loose cannon – he’s not easy to control. This expression refers to the cannons which used to be carried on the decks of warships. If one of the cannons was not properly fastened down, it could spin round and make a hole in the ship.

canoe

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capital capital

✪ with a capital A/B/C, etc.

You say with a capital A/B/C, etc. to mean that something has a particular quality to a great extent. ❑ You mark my words, that man’s Trouble with a capital ‘T’. You say with a capital A/B/C, etc. to mean that a particular idea or concept is being understood in only the strictest sense. ❑ The British tend to see things in terms of principles with a capital P. ❑ This is art with a capital A. ● This sense is often used slightly disapprovingly, to suggest that someone is taking something too seriously.

card in next year’s presidential election. In games such as poker, a wild card is a card that can have any value a player chooses.

cards

lay your cards on the table or put your cards on the table If you lay your cards on the table or put your cards on the table, you tell someone the truth about your feelings, opinions or plans. ❑ I will lay my cards on the table. I am an atheist. ❑ I’m going to put my cards on the table and make you an offer. The reference here is to players in a card game laying their cards face up for the other players to see. ✪ on the cards [british] or carbon in the cards [american] ✪ a carbon copy If something is on the cards, it is very If one person or thing is a carbon copy of likely to happen. another, the two people or things are ❑ Reform of the way hospitals and schools are identical, or very similar. funded is on the cards. ❑ He claims invasion was ❑ Hugh was a carbon copy of his father, Edward; never on the cards. ❑ There’s no need to look so both had the same blond hair and easy charm. ❑ The town, almost a carbon copy of Gualdo, is surprised. It’s been in the cards, as they say, for a best known for its mineral waters. long time. A carbon copy of a document is an exact This is a reference to Tarot cards, or to copy of it which is made using carbon other cards used to predict the future. paper. play your cards close to your chest [mainly british] or card play your cards close to the vest a calling card [american] If you describe what someone possesses If you play your cards close to your chest or has achieved as a calling card, you or play your cards close to the vest, you mean that it gives them an advantage. do not tell anyone about your plans or [mainly american] thoughts. ❑ An Olympic gold medal is undoubtedly a pretty ❑ Williams is playing his cards close to his chest, impressive calling card. especially in terms of his driver line-up for next If you describe something as a calling season. ❑ He plays his cards very close to the vest, card, you mean it proves that someone leaving some attorneys with whom he’s worked to has been in a place. describe him as secretive and manipulative. ❑ The hand continues to leave behind its calling ● You can also say that someone keeps card on everything it touches in the form of their cards close to their chest or keeps fingerprints. their cards close to the vest. ❑ The Prime In American English, a calling card is a Minister was said yesterday to be keeping his small card printed with your name and cards close to his chest after an informal other personal information, which you discussion at cabinet on Thursday. give to people when you visit or meet ● Other nouns are sometimes used them. instead of cards. ❑ Taylor kept his thoughts a wild card close to his chest, saying only: ‘I’m not prepared to You describe someone or something as a comment.’ ❑ I have no inside information – wild card when they cause uncertainty Dave’s playing this one close to his chest. ❑ The because nobody knows how they will military’s playing this whole operation pretty behave or what effects they will have. close to the vest – they generally don’t like to talk ❑ Some Italians think of her as a possible wild

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carrot

about future operations. although it was a Sunday, the deputy director came in especially to show us round. ❑ The red This is a reference to card-players carpet was rolled out for him during his visit to holding their cards close to their chest Berlin. so that nobody else can see them. ● You can also talk about red carpet play your cards right [mainly british] treatment or a red carpet welcome. If you play your cards right, you use your ❑ Last week he gave the red carpet treatment to skills to do what is needed in order to some of Spain’s most right-wing business people. succeed. ❑ Officials gave him a red-carpet welcome at the ❑ Soon, if she played her cards right, she would be Government Guest House. head of the London office. ❑ He was convinced he When royalty or other important guests could actually win the election provided that he visit a country, a strip of red carpet is played his cards right. often put on the ground for them to The reference here is to a player in a card walk on. game who can win the game if they use ✪ sweep something under the carpet their cards well enough. [british] stack the cards If you sweep a problem under the carpet, If you stack the cards, you give someone you try to hide it and forget about it. or something an unfair advantage or ❑ People often hope that if they sweep something disadvantage. under the carpet the problem will go away, but ❑ The Government appears to have used the that is not the case. study in order to stack the cards in favour of a new ● Verbs such as brush and push are runway at Heathrow. ❑ The current prime sometimes used instead of sweep. ❑ The minister hates me! He stacks the cards against problem has been brushed under the carpet for me. decades. A stacked deck of cards is one that has been altered before a game in order to The usual American expression is give one player an advantage. sweep something under the rug.

carpet

carrot

on the carpet [british] ✪ carrot and stick If someone is on the carpet, they are in If someone uses a carrot and stick trouble for doing something wrong. method to make you do something, they ❑ The 22-year-old bad boy of English cricket was try to make you do it, partly by offering on the carpet again this week for arguing with the you rewards and partly by threatening umpire. you. ● You can also call someone on the carpet. ❑ But Congress also wants to use a carrot and [american] stick approach to force both sides to negotiate an ❑ In my hospital, if I allowed a nurse to work end to the war. ❑ With the announcement that alongside me without wearing gloves, I’d be called the hostages are to be released, it appears that on the carpet immediately for not protecting our Washington’s new carrot-and-stick policy may staff. already have brought results. This expression may refer to a piece of ● Carrot and stick are used in many other carpet in front of a desk where someone structures with a similar meaning. stands while being reprimanded. ❑ Protests continued, however, so the authorities Alternatively, it could refer to an substituted the carrot for the stick. ❑ When the employer calling a servant into one of Security Council waves a stick at an offending the best rooms in the house, which country, the secretary-general can also offer a would have a carpet, in order to carrot as encouragement. reprimand them. The idea behind this expression is that roll out the red carpet an animal such as a donkey can be If you roll out the red carpet for someone, encouraged to move forward either by especially someone famous or important, dangling a carrot in front of it or by you give them a special welcome and treat hitting it with a stick. The carrot them as an honoured guest. represents the tempting offer and the stick represents the threat. ❑ The museum staff rolled out the red carpet;

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carry ✪ dangle a carrot in front of someone or

offer someone a carrot If you dangle a carrot in front of someone or offer them a carrot, you try to persuade them to do something by offering them a reward. ❑ The team have dangled a $17 million carrot in front of the Italian to remain in North America. ❑ He is to offer the public a new carrot by reducing petrol prices. ● The words carrot, dangle and offer are used in other structures and expressions with a similar meaning. ❑ Tax cuts may be offered as a carrot to voters ahead of the next election. ❑ The money’s dangling there like a huge carrot, and you want to grab it. The image here is of someone encouraging a donkey to move forward by holding a carrot in front of it. use something as a carrot If you use something as a carrot, you use it to try to persuade a person or people to do what you want. ❑ We show our best staff the path they can take to the top of the organization, using that as a carrot for improved performance. ● Carrot is used in many other expressions to do with persuading people to do things. ❑ The player is being offered this huge sum as a carrot to sign on with the club for another few years. The image here is of someone encouraging a donkey to move forward by holding a carrot in front of it.

other structures and expressions with a similar meaning. ❑ They want to go down the road with the cart before the horse and spend the money before they have made it. ❑ These kids are encouraged to compete before they actually have the skills to win. We’ve got ourselves a cart-before-the-horse situation.

case In the first two expressions, a case is a matter that is being dealt with by a lawyer or doctor, rather than referring to a box or suitcase.

be on someone’s case [informal] If someone is on your case, they keep criticizing you or telling you that you should do something. ❑ My parents are on my case night and day because they say I’m not studying enough. ● You can also say that someone is getting on your case. ❑ I just didn’t want Joanie getting on my case as well as everyone else. ● If someone tells you to get off their case, they are telling you in an impolite way to stop criticizing them. ❑ Get off my case, will you? be on the case If you are on the case, you are dealing with a particular problem or situation. ❑ I need to organize the party, I know – I’m on the case. ❑ Often these missions are just a chance for politicians to show the folks at home they’re on the case. a case in point A case in point is an example of something you have been talking about. ❑ Anger can harm the person who experiences it. The person who leaves after an argument and drives dangerously fast to work is a case in point. ❑ Meeting the needs of future generations may need action now. Protecting the environment is a case in point. make a federal case out of something [american] If someone makes a federal case out of something, they treat it as if it is much worse or more serious than it really is. ❑ I am not trying to make a federal case out of it, but with minor changes, you could achieve so much more.

put the cart before the horse If you put the cart before the horse, you do things in the wrong order. ❑ Creating large numbers of schools before we’ve improved school management is putting the cart before the horse. ❑ Let’s not put the cart before the horse. Let’s actually find out what the problem is before we try to solve it. ● Cart and horse are also used in many

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cart

carry all before you [british, journalism] If you carry all before you, you are very successful in a task or activity, and defeat all your rivals. ❑ He could no longer compete with the young Irishman who was carrying all before him. ❑ For much of the time it looked like an action replay of last summer when England carried all before them.

carry

cash a cash cow If you call someone or something a cash cow, you mean that it makes a lot of money.

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cat

❑ This rather unglamorous property is a cash

walked into the room. ❑ We critics variously declared the show brilliant, the cat’s pyjamas, cow, generating about $700 million a year in breathtaking, and unmissable. advertising revenue. ❑ A player like Kane is a These expressions were originally potential cash cow to dozens. American and became popular in The reference is to something that Britain during the 1920s. ‘Cat’s whisker’ produces money as freely as a cow was also the name of a fine wire in a produces milk. crystal wireless receiver. castles ✪ a fat cat castles in the air You call a businessperson or politician a If you describe someone’s plans as castles fat cat when you disapprove of the way in the air, you mean that they are not they use their wealth and power because realistic and have no chance of it seems unfair or wrong to you. succeeding. ❑ These fat cats of commerce make huge profits ❑ ‘Along the way, I intend to become very rich.’ He out of the public. ❑ Yet again privatisation shook his head in wonder at her. ‘You’re building benefits City fat cats at the expense of the castles in the air, Anne.’ ❑ This could be seen as customer. an admission that his election promises were just ● You can also use fat cat before a noun. castles in the air. ❑ Some people suggest that the fat cat executives cat will get the cream of Britain’s rail services. ❑ He be grinning like a Cheshire cat or promised to end fat-cat salaries for union bosses be smiling like a Cheshire cat and increase worker wages. If someone is grinning like a Cheshire cat, fight like cat and dog or is smiling like a Cheshire cat, they are If two people fight like cat and dog, they smiling broadly, usually in a foolish way. frequently have violent arguments or ❑ Standing on the door step and grinning like a fights with each other. Cheshire Cat was Bertie Owen. ❑ He came ❑ My brother and I were very close in age and we indoors, smiling like a Cheshire cat, expecting to used to fight like cat and dog. ❑ They had fought be congratulated. like cat and dog ever since he could remember, and ● You can also say that someone has a he wondered how they’d managed to stay Cheshire cat grin or a Cheshire cat smile. together. ❑ I complained, but Jennifer stood there with her has the cat got your tongue? Cheshire cat grin. ❑ A beaming Steve stood in the People say has the cat got your tongue? background, nodding his head up and down and when they think that someone who is wearing a Cheshire Cat smile on his face. silent should be saying something. The Cheshire cat is a character from ❑ Has the cat got your tongue? Can’t you even say ‘Alice in Wonderland’ (1865) by the hello? English writer, Lewis Carroll. This cat ● This expression is often used angrily. gradually disappears until only its huge like a cat on hot bricks or smile remains. The idea for the like a cat on a hot tin roof character may have come from Cheshire If you are like a cat on hot bricks or like a cheese, which was made in the shape of cat on a hot tin roof, you cannot keep still a smiling cat. Alternatively, it may have or relax because you are very nervous or come from hotel signs in Cheshire, UK, impatient. many of which had a picture of a ❑ Why are you shifting from one foot to the other smiling lion on them. like a cat on hot bricks? ❑ Meanwhile, Mr the cat’s whiskers or Richardson says he is like a cat on a hot tin roof as the cat’s pyjamas [british, oldthe anticipation builds. fashioned] ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ is the title of a If you describe someone or something as play by Tennessee Williams. the cat’s whiskers or the cat’s pyjamas, let the cat out of the bag you mean they are the best person or If you let the cat out of the bag, you thing of their kind. reveal something secret or private, often ❑ She had this great dress on with huge skirts, without meaning to. and she thought she was the cat’s whiskers as she ❑ ‘The Mosses didn’t tell the cops my name, did

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cat

they?’ – ‘Of course not,’ she said. ‘They wouldn’t ❑ Inside, there is no room to swing a cat, and want to let the cat out of the bag.’ ❑ She’d known everything you see is the most basic junk. she was taking a risk in letting the cat out of the ● Swing a cat is used in other negative bag about Jacobs. structures and expressions with a similar ● You can say that the cat is out of the bag meaning. ❑ It was billed as a large, luxury when a secret has been revealed. ❑ The cat mobile home, but there was barely room to swing was well and truly out of the bag. The biggest a cat. ❑ We went into the ward, and my first scandal for years was about to overtake the thought was, how is she going to sleep? You government. couldn’t swing a cat. This expression may have its origin in The ‘cat’ in this expression is probably a an old trick where one person pretended ‘cat-o’-nine-tails’, a whip with nine to sell a piglet in a bag to another, lashes which was used in the past for although the bag really contained a cat. punishing offenders in the army and If the cat was let out of the bag, then the navy. However, the expression could be trick would be exposed. connected with the practice in the past like a scalded cat [british] of swinging cats by their tails as targets If a person or animal moves like a scalded for archers. cat, they move very fast, as though they not a cat in hell’s chance ➜ see chance have been suddenly frightened. ✪ play cat and mouse or ❑ Sure enough, within minutes of the train play a game of cat and mouse pulling out, Brown was out of that seat like a In a contest or dispute, if one person or scalded cat. ❑ The Derby winner of that year set side plays cat and mouse or plays a game off like a scalded cat, and was never caught. of cat and mouse with another, the first like the cat that got the cream [british] or person or side tries to confuse or deceive like the cat that ate the canary the second in order to defeat them. [american] ❑ He would play cat and mouse with other riders, If someone looks like the cat that got the sometimes waiting until the fourth lap to come cream or like the cat that ate the canary, from behind and win. ❑ A diplomatic game of cat they look satisfied and happy with and mouse is being played between the United themselves because they have been Nations and the warring factions in the region. ● You can also talk about a cat and mouse successful or done something they are proud of. game or a cat and mouse chase or use ❑ ‘Thanks a million,’ he repeats, grinning like the other nouns in this way. ❑ Amos played a cat that got the cream. ❑ Jules stands at one end, cat and mouse game with officers for several looking like the cat that ate the canary. hours. ❑ They were arrested after a cat-andlook like something the cat dragged in or mouse chase through the fields. look like something the cat brought in The reference here is to a cat playing If someone or something looks like with a mouse before killing it. something the cat dragged in or looks put the cat among the pigeons or like something the cat brought in, they set the cat among the pigeons [british] look unpleasant or unappealing. If a remark or action puts the cat among ❑ How are we going to retain good players if the pigeons or sets the cat among the young men with promise are treated like pigeons, it causes trouble, worry or anger. something the cat has dragged in? ❑ The bank is poised to put the cat among the look what the cat’s dragged in [informal] pigeons this morning by slashing the cost of You can say look what the cat’s dragged borrowing. ❑ Once again she set the cat among in when someone arrives to express your the pigeons, claiming that Michael was lying. dislike or disapproval of them, or as a see which way the cat jumps [mainly light-hearted way of greeting them. british] ❑ In strolls Babs. ‘Now look what the cat’s If you wait to see which way the cat dragged in,’ says Jeanie, with a nod. jumps, you delay making a decision or no room to swing a cat [mainly british] taking action on something until you If there is no room to swing a cat in a know how the situation will develop. place, it is very small with very little ❑ I’m not going to do anything for a while – just space. sit tight and see which way the cat jumps.

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cats

This expression could be connected with the old game of ‘tip-cat’, in which players waited to see which way a short piece of wood called the ‘cat’ moved before hitting or ‘tipping’ it. there’s more than one way to skin a cat or there are many ways to skin a cat You say there’s more than one way to skin a cat or there are many ways to skin a cat to mean that there are several ways of achieving something, and not just the usual way. ❑ But there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Keep positive and try another method of reaching your goal. ❑ The Prime Minister has discovered that there are many ways to skin a cat. He has at last found a way to bring down interest rates. when the cat’s away or while the cat’s away If you say when the cat’s away or while the cat’s away, you mean that people behave badly when their boss or another person in authority is not there. ❑ While the cat’s away – while a supervisor was out, employees were coming in late. ❑ When the cat’s away… While Mr Schroder was on his travels his rivals were winning points at home. ● People sometimes say the whole phrase, when the cat’s away, the mice will play or while the cat’s away, the mice will play. ❑ ‘You seem to be having a good time!’ – ’While the cat’s away the mice will play.’ who’s she, the cat’s mother? People say who’s she, the cat’s mother? to show that they think it is rude when someone refers to a girl or woman as ‘she’ instead of using their name. ❑ ‘Is she coming?’ – ‘Who’s she, the cat’s mother?’

songbirds. The expression may be explained by the fact that catbirds often sit very high up in trees.

catch

be caught flat-footed If someone is caught flat-footed ,they are put at a disadvantage when something happens which they do not expect. ❑ ‘The people around were caught flat-footed,’ said Mr. Enko. ‘Nobody expected floods of such magnitude.’ ● You can also say that an event or action leaves someone flat-footed. ❑ The company outbid him with a last-ditch offer, leaving them flat-footed. be caught short [british, informal] If you are caught short, you feel a sudden strong need to urinate, especially when you cannot easily find a toilet. ❑ He came out of the nearby bathroom; he had obviously been caught short yet again. wouldn’t be caught dead ➜ see dead

Catch

a Catch 22 A Catch 22 is an extremely frustrating situation in which one thing cannot happen until another thing has happened, but the other thing cannot happen until the first thing has happened. ❑ There’s a Catch 22 in social work. You need experience to get work and you need work to get experience. ● You can also talk about a Catch 22 situation. ❑ It’s a Catch 22 situation here. Nobody wants to support you until you’re successful but without the support, how can you ever be successful? This expression comes from the novel ‘Catch 22’ (1961), by the American author Joseph Heller, which is about bomber pilots in the Second World War. Their ‘Catch 22’ situation was that any sane person would ask if they could stop flying. However, the authorities would only allow people to stop flying if they were insane.

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be sitting in the catbird seat or be in the catbird seat [american, old-fashioned] If you are sitting in the catbird seat or are in the catbird seat, you are in an important or powerful position. ❑ He’d go broke tomorrow if I left him, and I’d be sitting in the catbird seat. ❑ If the campaign is quick, short and successful, both leaders will be in the catbird seat. This expression became widely known in the 1940s and 1950s, when it was used by the baseball commentator Red Barber. Catbirds are North American

catbird

cats it’s raining cats and dogs [british, old-fashioned] If you say it’s raining cats and dogs, you mean that it is raining very heavily. ❑ You mean she wasn’t wearing a coat, even though it was raining cats and dogs?

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cattle

There are several possible explanations ❑ Sales went through the ceiling and for this expression, but none of them pharmacists began reporting shortages of the can be proved. It may refer to the days drug. when drainage in towns was so poor ➜ compare with go through the roof that cats and dogs sometimes drowned ✪ hit the ceiling in heavy rainfall. Alternatively, ‘cats and If someone hits the ceiling, they suddenly dogs’ could be a corruption or become very angry and shout at someone. misunderstanding of the Greek word ❑ When I told him what happened, he hit the ‘catadupe’, meaning ‘waterfall’, so the ceiling. expression would originally have been ➜ compare with hit the roof ‘it’s raining like a waterfall’. The origin cent may also be in Norse mythology, where not have a cent to your name ➜ see cats and dogs were sometimes name associated with the spirit of the storm. not one red cent or cattle not a red cent [mainly american] a cattle market ➜ see market If you say not one red cent or not a red cause cent, you mean no money at all. ✪ a lost cause ❑ The bank made £12,480 of interest using the If something or someone is a lost cause, couple’s money. The couple, of course, received they are certain to fail and it is impossible not one red cent! ❑ But investors have to to help them or make them succeed. remember that with many shows they won’t ❑ It would have been all too easy to write this dog get a red cent back. off as a lost cause, his trauma was so severe. ● This expression is often used in a ❑ He tried shouting for help, but he knew it was a disapproving way. lost cause. The American one-cent coin used to be made from copper, but is now caution made from a mixture of copper, tin ✪ err on the side of caution and zinc. If you err on the side of caution, you decide to act in a careful way, rather than centre take risks. ‘Centre’ is spelled ‘center’ in American ❑ It is better on your first few weights sessions to English. err on the side of caution, and start with a weight ✪ take centre stage which is lighter than you think you can handle. If someone or something takes centre ● People use other words instead of stage, they become the most significant caution, according to the subject they are or noticeable person or item in a discussing. ❑ When I discussed the matter situation. with ministers in July I said that we should err on ❑ This theme takes centre stage in his latest the side of generosity. novel. ✪ throw caution to the wind or ● Verbs such as hold and occupy are also throw caution to the winds used instead of take. ❑ She has held centre If you throw caution to the wind or throw stage for a decade now and has just enjoyed her caution to the winds, you do something biggest US hit in years. ❑ The summit is the first without worrying about the risks and time he has occupied centre stage at an important danger involved. international gathering since coming to power ❑ Perhaps I should throw caution to the wind, last year. give up my job and just go travelling. ❑ This was The stage referred to is in the theatre. no time to think, he decided. He threw caution to The centre of the stage is the position the winds and rang the bell of the ground-floor where actors are most noticeable. flat.

ceiling

✪ go through the ceiling If the level of something goes through the ceiling, it increases by a lot very rapidly.

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cents your two cents’ worth [mainly american] Your two cents’ worth is your opinion about something, even if nobody has asked you for it.

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chance ❑ Your father kept telling me to hush up but you

chalice

know me, I had to put in my two cents’ worth. An old-fashioned British expression for this is your two penn’orth.

ceremony

not stand on ceremony If you do not stand on ceremony, you act in a relaxed and informal way with someone. ❑ Do call me Amelia, dear. We don’t stand on ceremony in this family.

chaff

separate the wheat from the chaff or separate the grain from the chaff If you separate the wheat from the chaff or separate the grain from the chaff, you decide which things or people in a group are good or necessary, and which are not. ❑ The first two rounds of the contest separate the wheat from the chaff. ❑ Judges should not forget that when you separate the wheat from the chaff, you should try to keep the wheat. ● You can use sort or sort out instead of separate. ❑ It’s up to Wilkinson to sort out the wheat from the chaff and get the team back to the top of the table. ● You can refer to the good or necessary things or people in a group as wheat or grain, and to the others as chaff. ❑ There’s so little wheat in all this chaff. ❑ Was there rather less grain than chaff? ‘Chaff’ refers to the outer covers of wheat or other cereal which are separated from the grain by a process called winnowing. In the Bible (Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17), John the Baptist uses the image of someone separating the wheat from the chaff to describe how Jesus will separate those who go to heaven from those who go to hell.

a poisoned chalice [mainly british] If you describe a job or an opportunity as a poisoned chalice, you mean that it seems at first to be very attractive but in time will probably cause failure or trouble. ❑ She claims that the president appointed his former rival only in the belief that he was giving him a poisoned chalice and that he would not last more than a year. ❑ The contract may yet prove to be a poisoned chalice. A chalice is an old-fashioned cup or goblet, usually made of metal and shaped like a wine glass.

chalk

by a long chalk [british] You can use by a long chalk to make a statement stronger, especially a negative statement or one that contains a superlative. ❑ Not all of them are Republicans, not by a long chalk. ❑ Where do you think you’re going, Kershaw? You haven’t finished by a long chalk. ❑ In fact this book is by a long chalk the best biography of Sayers so far published. This expression may refer to the practice of making chalk marks on the floor to show the score of a player or team. ‘A long chalk’ would mean ‘a lot of points’ or ‘a great deal’. like chalk and cheese or chalk and cheese [british] If two people or things are like chalk and cheese or are chalk and cheese, they are completely different from each other. ❑ Marianne and Ellis are like chalk and cheese. She’s very serious and studious while he’s sporty and sociable. ❑ Our relationship works because we are very aware of our differences, we accept that we are chalk and cheese.

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chance

pull someone’s chain or yank someone’s chain [american, informal] If you pull someone’s chain or yank their chain, you tease them about something, for example by telling them something which is not true. ❑ I glared at her, and she smiled. When would I learn to smarten up and ignore her when she pulled my chain? The image here is of someone teasing a dog by pulling the chain that it is tied up with.

chain

a chance in a million ➜ see million chance would be a fine thing People say chance would be a fine thing when there is almost no possibility of doing something they might like to do. ❑ She asked if I was going to get married. Chance would be a fine thing! an eye for the main chance or an eye on the main chance [british, informal] If someone has an eye for the main chance or an eye on the main chance, they are always looking for an easy

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change

opportunity to make money or to improve ❑ Now I had two hundred and seventy-one their situation. thousand dollars and some change. ❑ A year and ❑ Are these the words of a genuine football some change ago, I lost my job with the union. reformer, or an opportunist with an eye for the ✪ a change is as good as a rest main chance? ❑ You make your own money and When people say a change is as good as a luck by being out in the world with your eye on the rest, they mean that doing something main chance. different can make you feel more ● You can also say that someone looks for energetic and lively. the main chance or takes the main ❑ Your adventure might not get you far, but a chance. ❑ He was just an idle boaster looking change is as good as a rest. for the main chance. ✪ a change of heart ✪ fat chance [informal] If you have a change of heart, your People say fat chance to show that they attitude towards something changes. do not think that something will happen. ❑ At the last minute, she had a change of heart ❑ There’s fat chance the course of true love will about selling it. It had been in her family for run smoothly. ❑ He wants to be a basketball generations. ❑ The government’s change of star, but at 5’ 6’’ there’s fat chance of that heart on debt relief for the poorest countries is happening. very good news. ✪ not a cat in hell’s chance or get no change out of someone or not get any change out of someone not a snowball’s chance in hell [british, [british] spoken] If you get no change out of someone or do If there is not a cat in hell’s chance or not not get any change out of someone, you a snowball’s chance in hell of someone get no help from them at all. doing something or of something ❑ We got no change out of them when we had happening, there is no chance at all that problems. ❑ You won’t get any change out of they will do it or it will happen. him, so don’t expect it. ❑ We haven’t a cat in hell’s chance of raising the money by the Friday deadline. ❑ Do you seriously changes think he has a snowball’s chance in hell of ✪ ring the changes [british] winning this election? If you ring the changes, you make ● You can also say that someone does not changes to the way something is have a chance in hell of doing something. organized or done in order to make it ❑ They don’t have a chance in hell of privatising different or to improve it. the economy. They have no idea how a free market ❑ I like to ring the changes with dark curtains in works. the winter, and light Indian ones in the summer. The original expression was ‘as much ❑ Choose a classic trouser suit that you can wear chance as a cat in hell without claws’. all year round, and ring the changes each season ✪ stand a chance with blouses, scarves and jewellery. If someone or something stands a In bell-ringing, to ‘ring the changes’ chance, it is possible that they will means to ring a number of church bells, succeed. each of which gives a different note, one ❑ Nathan realised that their marriage hadn’t after the other in every possible stood a chance. ❑ I obviously did stand a chance, combination. because before too long Geoff and I got chatting chapter and we spent the rest of the evening together. chapter and verse If someone or something does not If you give someone chapter and verse on stand a chance, they are certain to be a subject, you tell them all the details of killed, destroyed or defeated. it, without missing anything out. ❑ The car exploded. She didn’t stand a chance. ❑ It gives chapter and verse on how to select a change product. ❑ When we expressed doubts they and some change [american] handed us the proof, chapter and verse. People say and some change to mean a This expression refers to the practice of small additional amount of something, giving precise chapter and verse numbers usually money. when quoting passages from the Bible.

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cheese

a chapter of accidents [british, formal] If you talk about a chapter of accidents, you mean a series of unlucky events. ❑ Luckily for him, few people were witness to this chapter of accidents. ❑ In fiction, however, such a chapter of accidents can end up seeming comic. This expression has been used many times by various writers. One of the earliest uses is ‘the chapter of accidents is the longest chapter in the book’, the book being the story of a person’s life or a record of a particular event.

charity

getting something of bad quality as a result. ❑ This report warns of the dangers of trying to provide nursing care on the cheap.

check check you [south african, informal] Check you or Check you later is an informal way of saying goodbye. ❑ OK, check you later.

checks checks and balances Checks and balances are a way of organizing a system or organization so that no part of it has too much influence over the others. ❑ There are a whole lot of checks and balances that make it obvious if people are dishonest. ❑ A military court has few of the checks and balances of a civil court.

charity begins at home or charity starts at home If you say charity begins at home or charity starts at home, you mean that you should deal with the needs of people close to you before you start to help others cheek who are far away. ✪ cheek by jowl ❑ Charity begins at home. There are many tasks If people or things are cheek by jowl, they right on campus that need volunteers as well. are very close together, especially in a way ❑ There are other cases in other countries but I that seems strange. think that charity should start at home. ❑ The two communities had lived cheek by jowl. charm ❑ The houses of the rich and poor stood cheek by work like a charm jowl. If something works like a charm, it is very ‘Jowl’ is an old-fashioned word for ‘cheek’. successful or effective. ✪ turn the other cheek ❑ Our little arrangement worked like a charm. If you turn the other cheek when ❑ The medicine worked like a charm and my life someone harms or insults you, you do not has greatly improved. take action against them in return. chase ❑ Ian must learn to turn the other cheek, no matter what the provocation. ❑ If they refuse to cut to the chase If you cut to the chase, you start talking deal with these racists, we will take matters into our own hands. The days of turning the other about or dealing with what is really cheek are long over. important, instead of less important This expression comes from Jesus’s things. words to His followers in the Bible: ❑ I’ll cut to the chase – we just don’t have enough ‘Resist not evil: but whosoever shall money for the project. ❑ Solo cut to the chase: smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to ‘Well, it looks like there is nothing here for me so him the other also.’ (Matthew 5:39) I’m going to fly back home.’ In films, when one scene ends and cheese another begins the action is said to ‘cut’ a big cheese [mainly british, informal] from one scene to the next. If a film ‘cuts If you describe someone as a big cheese, to the chase’, it moves on to a car chase you mean that they have an important scene. This expression compares the and powerful position in an organization. important matters to be discussed or ❑ Maire is undoubtedly the big cheese of the Jura dealt with to the exciting action in a wine producers. ❑ Several big cheeses from the film, such as car chases. State Department attended the conference.

cheap on the cheap If you do something on the cheap, you don’t spend much money on it, often

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● Big cheese can also be used before a noun. ❑ He was a big-cheese divorce lawyer. The word ‘cheese’ in this expression may be a corruption or

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cheque misunderstanding of the Urdu word ‘chiz’ or ‘cheez’, meaning ‘thing’. This started being used in English in about 1840 because of the British presence in India. Later the word came to refer to a person or boss.

cheque ‘Cheque’ is spelled ‘check’ in American English.

✪ a blank cheque

twin, separated at birth, final fatal meeting – you get the idea.

chestnuts pull someone’s chestnuts out of the fire or pull the chestnuts out of the fire [old-fashioned] If you pull someone’s chestnuts out of the fire or pull the chestnuts out of the fire, you save someone from a very difficult situation which they have caused themselves. ❑ It’s not our business, pulling their chestnuts out of the fire. ❑ The President tried to use the CIA to pull the chestnuts out of the fire. This expression is based on the fable of the cat and the monkey. The cat wanted to get some roast chestnuts out of the fire but did not want to burn its paws, so it persuaded the monkey to do the job instead.

If you give someone a blank cheque to do something, you give them complete authority to do what they think is best in a difficult situation. ❑ De Klerk had, in a sense, been given a blank cheque to negotiate the new South Africa. ❑ The president was effectively given a blank check to commit the nation to war. ● This expression is used mainly in talking about politics. chicken If you describe an amount of money as ✪ be running around like a headless a blank cheque, you mean it is unlimited. chicken [british] or ❑ We are not prepared to write a blank cheque for be running around like a chicken with its companies that have run into trouble through head cut off [mainly american] poor management. If you are running around like a headless This expression is sometimes used chicken or like a chicken with its head cut literally to mean that someone gives off, you are behaving or moving in an another person a cheque without an uncontrolled or disorganized way, and amount of money written on it. not thinking calmly or logically. chest ❑ Instead of running round like a headless beat your chest ➜ see beat chicken, try to use your efforts in a more ✪ get something off your chest productive way. ❑ They were all running around If you get something off your chest, you like chickens with their heads cut off – they didn’t talk about a problem that has been know where to go, where to sit, or who to talk to. worrying you for a long time, and you feel ● You can also describe people as being better because of this. like headless chickens. ❑ After the other ❑ My doctor gave me the opportunity to talk and team scored, we started playing like headless get things off my chest. ❑ Sarah certainly chickens. seemed as though she had a lot to get off her Chickens have been known to run chest. around for a short time after they have play your cards close to your chest ➜ see had their heads cut off. cards chicken and egg chestnut If something is a chicken and egg ✪ an old chestnut or situation, it is impossible to decide which a hoary old chestnut [mainly british] of two related things happened first and If you describe something that is said or caused the other. written as an old chestnut or a hoary old ❑ The link between current global temperature chestnut, you mean that it has been and carbon-dioxide emissions is not a chicken and repeated so often that it is no longer egg situation. Cause and effect are quite clear. interesting. ❑ It’s a chicken-and-egg argument about which ❑ Finally, how do you answer that old interview comes first: Do people create a neighborhood chestnut: ‘Why should I hire you?’ ❑ The film is lifestyle? Or does a neighborhood environment influence how residents live? based on the hoary old chestnut of good twin/bad

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chill If something is a chicken and egg problem, it is impossible to deal with a problem because the solution is also the cause of the problem. ❑ Until we get promotion, we won’t get the top players. But until we get top players, we won’t win promotion. It’s a chicken and egg problem. This expression comes from the unanswerable question, ‘Which came first, the chicken or the egg?’ chicken feed [informal] If an amount, usually of money, is chicken feed, it is very small, especially compared with another amount. ❑ The £70,000-a-year backing received from sponsors is chicken feed compared to the £20m budgets available to some of his rivals. If someone or something is chicken feed, they are insignificant, especially compared with another person or thing. ❑ There’s Masters, too. He’s the biggest threat. We’re just chicken feed.

child

✪ child’s play

If something is child’s play, it is very easy to do, especially compared with something else that is very difficult. ❑ He thought the work would be child’s play. ❑ The problem in Western Europe was described by one EU energy expert as child’s play compared to that in Eastern Europe. like a child in a sweet shop [british] If you are like a child in a sweet shop in a particular situation, you are very happy and excited because of something you can do or have, and often behave in a greedy or uncontrolled way. ❑ With so many options before me, I was like a child in a sweet shop.

The usual American expression is like a kid in a candy store.

childhood

✪ second childhood

An adult’s second childhood is a period of time when they have fun and do things not count your chickens or that children typically enjoy. not count your chickens before they are ❑ My father was a model railway man. My hatched mother passes this off as his second childhood. If you say that you are not counting your An elderly person’s second childhood chickens or not counting your chickens is when their mind has become weak before they are hatched, you mean that and they can no longer care for you are not making plans for the future themselves. yet because you do not know for certain ❑ We were shocked by his rapid descent into a how a particular situation will develop. second childhood. ❑ If we get through to the next stage, we’ll be competing against some top-class sides so I’m chill not counting my chickens. ❑ When dealing with ✪ send a chill down your spine or important financial arrangements, never count send chills down your spine your chickens before they are hatched. If something sends a chill down your ● You can also use the proverb don’t count spine or sends chills down your spine, it your chickens before they’re hatched frightens you. from which this expression comes. ❑ The ❑ Even after two weeks, the story of the girl still contract is not signed yet. Don’t count your sent a chill down my spine. ❑ The sound these chickens before they’re hatched. animals make sends chills down your spine. ● This expression is often varied. For chiefs instance, you can used up instead of too many chiefs and not enough Indians down, or say you get chills down your [offensive] or spine. ❑ These events should send chills up the too many chiefs spines of most investors. ❑ I walk past the If there are too many chiefs and not building and still get chills down my spine. enough Indians or too many chiefs in an If something sends a chill down your organization, there are too many people spine or sends chills down your spine, it in charge and not enough people doing makes you feel very excited and the work. emotional. ❑ This bank has 21 executive directors. No ❑ It is one of the things I have a real passion for surprise, then, that some insiders say there are and just talking about it sends a chill down my too many chiefs.

chickens

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chin spine. ❑ The crowd was cheering so loudly, it sent chills down my spine. ● This expression is often varied. For instance, you can used up instead of down, or say you get chills down your spine. ❑ ‘That’s a song I’ve loved for 30 years – it sends chills up my spine,’ says Geyer.

chip

be a chip off the old block If someone is a chip off the old block, they are very similar to one of their parents in appearance, character, or behaviour. ❑ I’ve known Damon since he was a boy and he’s a chip off the old block. He has exactly the same dry sense of humour. ❑ He is a chip off the old chin block – a troublemaker and a bully just like keep your chin up his dad. If you keep your chin up, you stay cheerful The ‘chip’ in this expression is a small in a difficult or unpleasant situation. piece that has been cut off a block of ❑ Richards was keeping his chin up yesterday wood. despite the continued setbacks. ❑ Keep your chin ✪ have a chip on your shoulder up: things will get better. If someone has a chip on their shoulder, lead with your chin [mainly british] they feel angry and resentful because If someone leads with their chin, they they think that they have been treated behave very aggressively, causing a fight unfairly, especially because of their or argument. background. ❑ We don’t plan to attack the administration for ❑ She thinks he has a chip on his shoulder not spending more on education. There’s nothing because he didn’t go to university. to be gained from leading with our chins. ● You can also use chip-on-shoulder or This expression comes from boxing, and chip-on-the-shoulder before a noun. refers to a boxer fighting with their ❑ This sort of chip-on-the-shoulder nationalism chin sticking out, making it easy for makes neighbouring countries nervous. their opponent to hit it. There is a story that in America in the ✪ take it on the chin past, men sometimes balanced a small If you take it on the chin, you bravely piece of wood on one shoulder in the accept criticism or a difficult situation. hope that someone would knock it off ❑ When the police arrived, he took it on the chin, and give them an excuse to start a fight. apologising for the trouble he’d caused them. ❑ We’ve taken a big loss. We’ve taken it on the chips chin. But we’re out there and we’re going to stay In the following expressions ‘chips’ in business. are the coloured tokens or counters ● Nouns such as criticism and defeat are which are used to represent money in sometimes used instead of it. ❑ Andrew is casinos. intelligent and wants to learn. He is also prepared call in your chips [mainly british] to take criticism on the chin, which is a good If you call in your chips, you decide to use thing. your influence or social connections in This refers to someone being punched order to gain an advantage over other on the jaw but not falling down. people. chink ❑ The President’s friends in the steel and textile ‘Armour’ is spelled ‘armor’ in industries may try to call in their chips. American English. In gambling, if you call in your chips, you ask people to pay you all the money a chink in someone’s armour that they owe you. If someone or something has a chink in cash in your chips their armour, they have a weakness that If you cash in your chips, you sell people can take advantage of, although something, such as your investments, in they seem very strong and successful. order to raise money. ❑ With their superior knowledge, they might find ❑ Many investors picked up the phone yesterday, the chinks in his armour. ❑ Labour leaders hope but most decided not to cash in their chips after all. to use their annual conference to attack what In a casino, if you cash in your chips, you they currently see as the most vulnerable chink in exchange them for money at the end of the government’s armour. a gambling session. A chink is a small hole or opening.

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chunk

● The chop is also used in other structures have had your chips [british, informal] and expressions with a similar meaning. If someone or something has had their ❑ Weekly broadcasts are now threatened with chips, they have completely failed in the chop. ❑ These are loss-making factories that something they were trying to do. deserve the chop. ❑ After the 4-1 defeat by Wimbledon, most of the ➜ compare with get the axe 10,000 crowd were convinced they’d already had ✪ chop and change [british] their chips. If someone chops and changes, they keep This may refer to gamblers who changing their plans, often when it is not have lost all their chips and so have necessary. to stop playing. ❑ After chopping and changing for the first year, ✪ when the chips are down they have settled down to a stable system of If you talk about someone’s behaviour management. ❑ All this chopping and changing when the chips are down, you mean how serves no useful purpose. they behave in a difficult or dangerous This expression was originally used to situation. refer to people buying and selling goods. ❑ There will be no panic. We are at our best when To ‘chop’ meant to trade or barter, and the chips are down. ❑ When the chips are down, ‘change’ came from ‘exchange’. you do what you have to do. ● You can also say the chips are down, not much chop [australian, informal] If something or someone is not much meaning that a situation has just become chop, they are not very good at something difficult or dangerous. ❑ Manchester City or are of poor quality. face table-topping Newcastle today and the ❑ The horses he beat were not much chop. ❑ My manager said: ‘The chips are down and it’s time to husband’s not much chop when it comes to show a bit of character.’ sharing the housework. In a casino, the players lay their chips down on the table to make their bets. The usual British expression is not chop much cop. ✪ be for the chop [british, informal] chops If someone is for the chop, they are bust someone’s chops [american, about to lose their job. informal] ❑ There are rumours that he’s for the chop. If you bust someone’s chops, you tease ● You can also say that someone faces the them or criticize them for something. chop with the same meaning. ❑ He must ❑ His friends bust his chops about being voted play by next week or face the chop for the the ‘best-dressed man’. ❑ This is not a good time Challenge Cup final. to bust his chops about his poor communication ● You can say that someone gets the chop, skills. meaning they lose their job. ❑ He had chord hardly settled into his new job when he got the ✪ strike a chord or chop due to cutbacks. touch a chord ● You can also say that someone is trying If something strikes a chord or touches a to avoid the chop when they are trying chord, it makes you respond in an not to lose their job. ❑ They are turning up to emotional way, usually because you work earlier, and leaving later, in a bid to avoid the understand and identify with it. chop. ❑ The case has shocked America and struck a If something is for the chop, it is not chord with every parent of a young child. ❑ Little going to be allowed to continue or wonder that the play touched such a responsive remain. chord in the hearts of both the young and the old. ❑ He won’t say which programmes are for the

chop. ● You can say that something gets the

chop, meaning it is not allowed to continue or remain. ❑ Some of the scenes that got the chop in America will be put back in for the Australian release.

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chunk

a chunk of change [american, informal] A chunk of change is an amount of money, usually a large amount. ❑ $2.5 billion would be a fair chunk of change out of the state’s health or education budget.

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church ❑ Lately they’ve been making quite a chunk of change.

church

a broad church [british] You call an organization, group, or area of activity a broad church when it includes a wide range of opinions, beliefs, or styles. ❑ The movement is presently a very broad church, comprising, amongst others, trade unions, the church and the business community. ❑ Rock music in France is a very broad church indeed. poor as a church mouse ➜ see poor

cigar

close but no cigar or nice try but no cigar You say close but no cigar or nice try but no cigar to mean that someone is almost correct or that they have almost been successful, but are not quite correct or successful. ❑ He tried to break the record. It was close, but no cigar. In the past, cigars were sometimes given as prizes at fairs. This expression may have been used if someone did not quite manage to win a prize.

be running around in circles [british, american] or be running round in circles [british] If someone is running around in circles or is running round in circles, they are achieving little despite trying hard, because they are disorganized. ❑ She wastes a lot of energy running around in circles. ❑ A kid’s gone missing, and everyone’s running round in circles. go around in circles [british, american] or go round in circles [british] If someone goes around in circles or goes round in circles, they achieve little because they repeatedly deal with the same point or problem. ❑ This was one of those debates which simply went round in circles. ❑ My mind was going around in circles. run circles around someone If you run circles around someone, you are much better than them at a particular activity, and can easily beat them. ❑ If they put their minds to it, the small banks can run circles around the big ones. ❑ Young companies are running circles around their older, richer, slower rivals.

turn full circle If something has come full circle or has turned full circle, it is now exactly the same as it used to be, although there has been a long period of changes. ❑ Looking at the current product, I am tempted to say the design has come full circle. ❑ Her life had now turned full circle and she was back where she started, alone and miserable. ● People also say the wheel has come full circle or the wheel has turned full circle. ❑ The wheel has turned full circle and we are back where we began. This may refer to the medieval idea of the wheel of fortune which is constantly turning, so that people who have good luck at one time in their lives will have bad luck at another time. ✪ square the circle If you try to square the circle, you try to solve a problem that seems to be impossible to solve. ❑ All have the same hope: that foreign markets and, especially, foreign investment will somehow provide enough jobs to square the circle.

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circles

✪ come full circle or

If you describe a difficult situation as a vicious circle, you mean that one problem has caused other problems which, in turn, have made the original problem even worse. ❑ The economy couldn’t create jobs because consumers weren’t spending. Consumers weren’t spending because the economy wasn’t creating jobs. And this was the vicious circle we were caught in. ❑ According to the report, patients discharged from hospitals are being thrust into a vicious circle of poverty and illnesses. This refers to the error in logic of trying to prove the truth of one statement by a second statement, which in turn relies on the first for proof. The expression is a translation of the Latin ‘circulus vitiosus’, meaning ‘a flawed circular argument’.

circle

✪ a vicious circle

circus a three-ring circus [american] If you describe a situation as a three-ring circus, you mean there is a lot of noisy or confused activity.

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clean ❑ Grief was a private thing, not something to be

❑ The Tigers wanted to get their claws into 20-year

turned into a three-ring circus by over-eager reporters. ❑ Cooking for friends needn’t be a three-ring circus of sweat and tears.

old striker Martin Carruthers from Aston Villa. ● Other verbs can be used instead of get. ❑ These people had their claws into him and he didn’t know how to get clear of them. If someone gets their claws into someone else, they manage to start a relationship with that person. ❑ Sadly for Jackie, Amanda got her claws into Gavin first. ● Other verbs can be used instead of get. ❑ She wasted no time in hooking her claws into Alex. ● You usually use this expression in a disapproving way.

claim

✪ a claim to fame

A person or place’s claim to fame is something quite important or interesting that they have done or that is connected with them. ❑ Barbara Follett’s greatest claim to fame is that she taught Labour MPs how to look good on television. ❑ The town’s ancient castle was its main claim to fame.

clam

happy as a clam ➜ see happy shut up like a clam If you shut up like a clam, you become very quiet and do not communicate with people because you are upset. ❑ When a teenager is worried, they may well shut up like a clam, not wanting to tell you what’s wrong. ❑ Later, when I found I wasn’t his only love, I shut like a clam and let no one close.

clean

clean as a whistle If someone is as clean as a whistle, they have done nothing immoral or illegal. ❑ ‘There is no sex, drugs or rock ‘n’ roll. His private life is as clean as a whistle,’ says McSmith. ❑ He emerged from this nasty, dishonest campaign with his reputation as clean as a whistle. If something is as clean as a whistle, it is completely free from dirt. clanger ❑ It leaves your face feeling clean as a whistle but drop a clanger [british, informal] not bone-dry. If you drop a clanger, you make a very ✪ come clean embarrassing mistake. If you come clean about something, you ❑ Conservatives in Eastleigh dropped a clanger in tell the truth about it. their election leaflet by admitting that few people ❑ I had expected her to come clean and confess will be voting for them tomorrow. ❑ The presenter that she only wrote these books for the money. dropped a clanger on this morning’s show by ❑ It is now time for the Government to come clean, referring to the singer’s long-haired son as a girl. tell the world exactly how the recent tragedy This expression probably comes from happened and announce an investigation. comparing an obvious and ✪ squeaky clean embarrassing mistake with the clang or If someone is squeaky clean, they live a loud ringing noise made when a heavy very good life and never seem to do metal object is dropped. anything bad or illegal. clappers ❑ Of all boy bands, they had the most wholesome like the clappers [british, informal] and squeaky clean image. ❑ As a country-dweller If someone or something moves or does myself, I can truthfully say that not all people something like the clappers, they do it living in the countryside are as squeaky clean as very quickly. they like to think. ❑ Once released, the horse went like the clappers. ● You can also use squeaky-clean before a ❑ Kate must have driven like the clappers to have noun. ❑ Claudia’s squeaky-clean image makes got home so quickly. her the perfect children’s television presenter. The clapper of a bell is the part inside it ❑ Neither singer has a squeaky-clean reputation. which strikes it to make it ring. ● This expression is often used to suggest claws that this way of life is unnatural or get your claws into someone uninteresting, or that someone is not as If someone gets their claws into you, good as they seem. they control or influence you in a selfish Clean surfaces sometimes squeak when you wipe or rub them. way for their own advantage.

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cleaners cleaners

take someone to the cleaners [informal] If someone takes you to the cleaners, they make you lose a lot of money in an unfair or dishonest way. ❑ The feeling among many experts is that the price he paid was excessive. It sounds like he got taken to the cleaners. ❑ Just for a change, the insurers discovered that they had been taken to the cleaners. This developed from the expression ‘to clean someone out’, which has been used since the 19th century. People say that they have been ‘cleaned out’ when they have lost all their money and valuables, for example through being robbed or cheated.

clear

confesses to the police what really happened, I’ll be in the clear.’ ❑ Their possessions had not been searched so they were not officially in the clear. If someone is in the clear, they are no longer in danger or trouble. ❑ That’s when the hospital called with the results of the tests, and I found out I was in the clear. If someone is a certain number of points in the clear in a competition or contest, they are winning by that amount. ❑ There was more gloomy news for the Prime Minister in an opinion poll yesterday which showed the opposition five points in the clear. ✪ steer clear of someone/something If you steer clear of someone or something, you deliberately avoid them. ❑ I’d advise anyone with sensitive or dry skins to steer clear of soap. ❑ Steer clear of Paola unless you want to hear about her ailments all evening.

clear as a bell If a sound is as clear as a bell, you can clever hear it very easily. be boxing clever [british] ❑ Suddenly there is an unmistakable sound. It’s If someone is boxing clever, they are as clear as a bell. being very clever and careful in the way clear as crystal they behave in a difficult situation, so If something is as clear as crystal, it is that they can get an advantage for transparent or very clear. themselves. ❑ It was a brilliant blue day, as clear as crystal, ❑ By boxing clever with your personal tax with a sun that was just comfortably hot. allowances you could save £900 a year. ● People also use the more frequent too clever by half ➜ see half adjective crystal clear. ❑ The water is crystal clear. cloak If something is as clear as crystal, it is ✪ cloak-and-dagger very obvious or easy to understand. You use cloak-and-dagger to describe ❑ The policy is very clear - it’s as clear as crystal. activities, especially dangerous ones, ● People also use the more frequent which are done in secret. adjective crystal clear. ❑ Make sure your ❑ Not long after the Berlin Wall came down, the instructions are crystal clear. cloak-and-dagger world of East-West espionage clear as day began to seem very outdated. ❑ They met in If something is as clear as day, it is very classic cloak-and-dagger style beside the lake in easy to see, or very obvious and easy to St James’s Park. ● You can refer to such activities as cloaks understand. ❑ Suddenly she stepped out from behind a tree and daggers. ❑ Working in police intelligence less than ten yards from me. I saw her face as clear has very little to do with cloaks and daggers – it’s as day. ❑ It’s as clear as day he’s not guilty. mostly about boring reports and endless clear as mud statistics. ● You sometimes use this expression to If something is as clear as mud, it is confusing and difficult to understand. suggest that people are treating these ❑ The instructions are about as clear as mud! activities in an unnecessarily dramatic ● You usually use this expression in a way. humorous way. This expression is taken from the in the clear name of a type of 17th century Spanish If someone is in the clear, they are free drama, in which characters typically from blame or suspicion. wore cloaks and fought with daggers ❑ Then Rickmore spoke: ‘If your chief clerk or swords.

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closet clock

❑ He popped his clogs halfway through the

around the clock If you do something round the clock or around the clock, you do it continuously, throughout the day and night. ❑ Fire crews were working round the clock to bring the huge blaze under control. ❑ Detectives watched him around the clock. ● Round-the-clock and around-the-clock can be used before a noun to describe work that is being done continuously, throughout the day and night. ❑ Staff alerted police and a round-the-clock surveillance of the four men began. ❑ We can’t afford to give you around-the-clock protection. ✪ turn the clock back or turn back the clock If you would like to turn the clock back or to turn back the clock, you would like to return to an earlier period, usually because you would like the chance to change something that you did in the past. ❑ I’d like to turn the clock back and do things differently, but I can’t. ❑ If I could turn back the clock, I might not have said that. ● You can use the verb put instead of turn. ❑ No amount of money – not even millions like this – can put back the clock and change what happened.

● This expression is used to refer to

✪ round the clock or

performance.

someone’s death in a light-hearted or humorous way. This expression may refer to an old sense of ‘pop’, meaning to pawn something (= borrow some money in return for a valuable object that you leave with the lender. The lender can sell the object if you do not pay the money back). Clogs used to be the normal footwear of people such as mill workers, especially in the north of England.

✪ a close call or

clockwork

✪ like clockwork

a close thing If you describe an event as a close call or a close thing, you mean that someone very nearly had an accident or disaster, or very nearly suffered a defeat. ❑ ‘That was a close call,’ said Bess, as the boat steadied. ❑ It was a close thing and, looking back now, I have no doubt that if my friend hadn’t acted so promptly, I’d be dead. ✪ too close to call If a contest is too close to call, it is impossible to say who will win, because the opponents seem equally good or equally popular. ❑ The presidential race is too close to call. ❑ Exit polls in Britain say that today’s parliamentary election was too close to call.

If something goes or runs like clockwork, closet it works very well and happens in exactly ✪ come out of the closet the way it is expected to. If someone comes out of the closet, ❑ The journey there went like clockwork – flying they tell people for the first time that they out on Friday from Gatwick it took seven hours are not heterosexual. door-to-door. ❑ He soon had the household ❑ She felt that if she came out of the closet as a running like clockwork. lesbian, she would be discriminated against. If someone does something like ● People usually talk about people coming clockwork, they do it regularly, always at out, rather than coming out of the closet. the same time. ❑ I came out to my parents when I was still in my ❑ They would arrive like clockwork just before teens. dawn. ❑ Every day at 3:00, like clockwork, he ● Closet is also used in other structures comes in here for a cup of coffee. and expressions with a similar or opposite ● You can also say that someone does meaning. For example, if you talk about something, or that something happens, someone being forced back into the regular as clockwork. ❑ Every three years, closet, you mean that they are being regular as clockwork, the great Anne Tyler forced again to hide the fact that they are produces a new novel. not heterosexual. ❑ At the time, the HIV Aids crisis threatened to push us all back into the closet. clogs ● You can also use closet before a noun in pop your clogs [british, informal] order to describe a person who hides the If someone pops their clogs, they die.

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cloth

fact that they are gay. ❑ I was a closet homosexual for the first 20 years of my life. ‘Out of the closet’ was a slogan used by the Gay Liberation Front in the United States in the late 1960s. If someone comes out of the closet, they talk openly about a belief or habit which they have kept secret until now. ❑ I suppose it’s time I came out of the closet and admitted I’m a bit of a royalist. ● You can also use closet before a noun in order to describe a person who hides their beliefs, feelings, or habits. ❑ I’m really a closet country bumpkin who likes to live close to nature. When a subject comes out of the closet, it becomes widely known or openly discussed for the first time. ❑ ‘Prostate cancer came out of the closet,’ he adds, ‘and men started to join self-help groups to talk openly about prostate problems.’ ● You can also say that you bring something out of the closet. ❑ The subject needs to be brought out of the closet and dealt with honestly.

according to your cloth, with the same meaning. ❑ Organisations which are supported by the taxpayer must cut their coats according to their cloth. make something of whole cloth or make something up of whole cloth [american] If someone makes a story or statement of whole cloth or makes up a story or statement of whole cloth, they invent all of it. ❑ There are those who say that story was made of whole cloth. ❑ Movies allow us to rally around common themes and common stories, whether true, embellished or made out of whole cloth. ● Verbs such as create and invent are sometimes used instead of make. ❑ It would not be the first time he had tried to make millions by creating causes out of whole cloth.

clothes clothes make the man People say clothes make the man to mean that dressing well helps people to be successful. ❑ The lawyer was wearing a stylish blue suit. Clothes make the man, Wade thought. steal someone’s clothes [british, journalism] If a politician or political party steals another’s clothes, they take their ideas or policies and pretend that these are their own. ❑ Instead, Labour has been allowed to steal the Conservatives’ clothes by promising to involve the private-health sector. ❑ It would be stealing their political clothes – and few politicians can resist this opportunity.

cloth

● You can also say that you cut your coat

be cut from the same cloth [mainly british] If two or more people are cut from the same cloth, they are very similar in their character, attitudes, or behaviour. ❑ It’s often said that London critics are all cut from the same cloth: that they are white, male, middle-aged and middle-class. ● You can say that people are cut from a different cloth, meaning they are very different. ❑ His brother was cut from an altogether different cloth. cloth ears [british] If someone has cloth ears, they do not pay cloud attention or listen to something ✪ on cloud nine important. If you are on cloud nine, you are extremely ❑ We’ve tried telling the government on happy because something very good has numerous occasions but they have cloth ears. happened to you. ● You can also describe someone as ❑ I never expected to win, so I’m on cloud nine. cloth-eared. ❑ Even cloth-eared politicians ❑ When Michael was born I was on cloud nine. I have finally realised the scale of the problem. couldn’t believe this beautiful little boy was ours. ● If someone comes off cloud nine, or cut your cloth [mainly british] If you cut your cloth according to your comes down from cloud nine, they stop situation, you limit what you do to take being so happy and start to deal with account of the resources you have. reality. ❑ For most, however, it will take some ❑ Ford would be forced to cut its cloth according time to come off cloud nine. to the demands of the market. ❑ The This expression is probably derived Government would have to cut its cloth and from the numbered cloud categories eliminate programmes which were not used. used by the US Weather Bureau. Cloud

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coals

nine, cumulonimbus, is the highest and occurs at about 30,000 ft. At this height and above, clouds consist of ice crystals rather than water vapour. ✪ under a cloud If someone is under a cloud, they are generally not trusted or are disapproved of, because of something that they have done. ❑ The president of the bank resigned under a cloud several weeks ago. ❑ He departed as England coach under a cloud over his business dealings. ❑ With its leader under a cloud, these are difficult times for the party.

clover

in clover If you are in clover, you are happy or secure because you have a lot of money or are enjoying a luxurious lifestyle. ❑ Developers and bankers were in clover until Congress abruptly changed the rules again. ❑ For the next ten days I was in clover at Vicky’s house. She took me to all the town’s best restaurants and clubs. Clover is a plant which often grows in fields of grass. Cows are said to enjoy grazing in fields which contain a lot of clover.

at the coalface [mainly british] When people talk about what is happening at the coalface of a particular profession, they are talking about the thoughts and actions of the people who are actually doing the job. ❑ The problem is that middle management simply don’t know what is going on at the coalface. ❑ The aim is to show politicians the impact of their policies at the coalface. ● This expression is used to suggest that these are the people who really know about the profession. In a coal mine, the coalface is the part where the coal is being cut out of the rock.

coals

be raking over the coals ➜ see rake haul someone over the coals [british] or rake someone over the coals If a person, especially someone in authority, hauls someone over the coals or rakes someone over the coals, they speak to them very severely about something foolish or wrong that they have done. ❑ Lewis was hauled over the coals by English football authorities over his conduct in the match. ❑ Taylor was hauled over the coals for wasting police time. ❑ She was raked over the coals by an opponent who compared her to a convicted tax evader. This expression may refer to a practice in medieval times of deciding whether or not someone was guilty of heresy, or saying things which disagreed with the teachings of the Church. The person accused of heresy was dragged over burning coals. If they burned to death they were considered guilty, but if they survived, they were considered innocent. like taking coals to Newcastle or like carrying coals to Newcastle If you describe an action as being like taking coals to Newcastle or like carrying

coach drive a coach and horses through something [mainly british] If you drive a coach and horses through

If you do not have a clue about something, you do not know anything about it or you have no idea what to do about it. ❑ When I met my husband, he didn’t have any clue about art. ❑ Nobody has a clue where he’s gone. ❑ I don’t have a clue what I’m supposed to be doing.

✪ not have a clue [informal]

clue

join the club or welcome to the club You say join the club or welcome to the club when someone has been telling you about their problems or feelings, and you want to show that you have had the same problems or feel the same way. ❑ The Tory MP confesses he doesn’t entirely understand the issue. Join the club! ❑ You feel exhausted? Welcome to the club.

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coalface

club

an agreement or an established way of doing something, you destroy it or change it completely. ❑ The judgment appeared to drive a coach and horses through the Hague agreement. ❑ Ministers are driving a coach and horses through the plans.

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coast

coals to Newcastle, you mean that you are giving things to someone or something that already has plenty of that thing. ❑ It’s a bit like taking coals to Newcastle: we are supplying contemporary and traditional Chinese silk wallpapers to the Chinese market. ● You can also say that an action is like selling coals to Newcastle or simply talk about coals to Newcastle. ❑ Buy them more shoes? Talk about coals to Newcastle! ● You can also talk about a coals-toNewcastle situation. ❑ Selling technology of this sort to Japan might seem a coals-toNewcastle affair. The city of Newcastle was the main centre of England’s coal-mining industry for over 150 years.

coast

the coast is clear If the coast is clear, you are able to do something, because nobody is there to see you doing it. ❑ ‘You can come out now,’ he called. ‘The coast is clear. She’s gone!’ ❑ Midge stepped aside, nodding that the coast was clear, and Lettie ran through the lobby and up the main staircase. This expression may refer to smugglers (= people who take things illegally into a country) sending messages that there were no coastguards near and it was safe to land or set sail.

knees in a pointed ‘tail’. It is now usually worn only for formal weddings, or as part of formal evening dress. ride on someone’s/something’s coat-tails or ride someone’s/something’s coat-tails If someone or something rides on or rides someone or something else’s coat-tails, they use that person or thing’s success to get success for themselves. ❑ Frank did all the work and I rode on his coat-tails. ❑ Essentially, we’re riding the coattails of the big companies to get new customers. ● Coat-tails is used in many other structures connected with getting an advantage from someone or something else. ❑ The Canadian dollar rode the coattails of the U.S. dollar yesterday. ❑ They had come to power on the coat-tails of a popular general whose views on public questions they then ignored.

cobwebs

coat-tails

✪ on the coat-tails of someone/something cock

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a cock and bull story If you describe an explanation or excuse as a cock and bull story, you mean that you do not believe it. ❑ They’ll be believed, no matter what kind of a cock and bull story they tell. ❑ She tried to feed me some cock-and-bull story about taking care of you. This expression may come from old fables in which animals such as cocks and bulls could talk. Alternatively, it may come from the names of inns, such as ‘The Cock’ and ‘The Bull’, where people gathered and told each other stories and jokes. cock of the walk If you describe someone as cock of the walk, you mean that they are proud,

If someone does something on the coat-tails of another person or an achievement, they are able to do it because of the success or popularity of that person or achievement, and not because of their own efforts. ❑ Some say they achieved fame and glory on the coat-tails of their parents. ❑ He returned to politics on the coattails of Richard Nixon in 1968. ● You can also say that someone or something rides on the coat-tails of someone or something. ❑ It’s a lesson for all of those who ride on the coat-tails of people with talent. A tail coat is a man’s coat with the front covering only the top half of the body and the back reaching down to the

‘Coat-tails’ is usually written as ‘coattails’ in American English.

blow away the cobwebs If something, especially exercise, blows away the cobwebs, it makes you feel more alert and lively, when you have previously felt tired. ❑ We had a walk after lunch to blow away the cobwebs. ● Verbs such as brush away, clear away and dust away are sometimes used instead of blow away. ❑ We had to get a game in to brush away the cobwebs before the Germany match.

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cold confident and successful. ❑ Back then I had fame and fortune and I thought I was cock of the walk. ● This expression is often used to show disapproval. This expression comes from the idea of one male hen among many female hens.

cockles

warm the cockles of your heart [british, old-fashioned] If something warms the cockles of your heart, it makes you feel happy and contented. ❑ With its positive message and charming characters, this is a film to warm the cockles of your heart. ❑ In the dull grey setting, the sunny yellow colour of the house warmed the cockles of my heart. Cockles are a type of shellfish. They are associated with the heart because they have a similar shape. The zoological name for cockles is ‘Cardium’, which comes from the Greek word for ‘heart’.

coffee

and flip are sometimes used instead of other. ❑ Hate is the opposite side of the coin to love, and often co-exists with love in a relationship. ➜ compare with two sides of the same coin pay someone back in their own coin [old-fashioned] If someone has treated you badly or unfairly and you pay them back in their own coin, you treat them in exactly the same way that they have treated you. ❑ They had even released lists of American unfair trade practices, paying us back in our own coin. ‘Coin’ is an old-fashioned word for currency. two sides of the same coin or opposite sides of the same coin If two things are two sides of the same coin or opposite sides of the same coin, they are closely related to each other and cannot be separated, even though they seem to be completely different. ❑ I’ve always felt that tragedy and comedy are two sides of the same coin. ❑ Love and hate are the opposite sides of the same coin. ➜ compare with the other side of the coin

wake up and smell the coffee If you say that someone should wake up and smell the coffee, you mean they must start to be more realistic and aware of what is happening around them. ❑ You’ll have to wake up and smell the coffee. The world is a very hard, cruel place. ❑ It would really serve you well to wake up and smell the damned coffee and quit acting so childishly.

● Adjectives such as opposite, reverse,

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a coin toss [american] If you describe a something as a coin toss, you mean that there is an equal chance of either of two things happening. ❑ Will he play well or will he play badly? It’s always a coin toss with him. ❑ It’s a coin toss as to whether you’re going to see a legal challenge. ✪ the other side of the coin If you are discussing a subject or situation and you mention the other side of the coin, you mean the opposite aspect of that subject or situation. ❑ Of course, I get lonely when my husband is away but the other side of the coin is the amazing freedom of not having to please anybody except myself. ❑ We’re all used to seeing the glamour of celebrity. What I wanted to show was the other side of the coin – the loneliness and the stress.

catch someone cold [mainly british, journalism] In sport, if you catch someone cold, you defeat them or gain points by attacking when they are not prepared. ❑ Northern, seeking their eighth successive League win, were caught cold by Castleford. ❑ Dewsbury managed a 29-14 win after Barrow had caught them cold to lead 8-4 at the interval. cold as ice If someone or something is as cold as ice, they are very cold. ❑ A hand that felt as cold as ice touched her forehead. ● People also use the much more frequent adjective ice-cold to mean the same thing. ❑ He took a mouthful of the ice cold beer. ❑ He felt a lash of fear, running ice-cold down his spine. If a person or their words are as cold as ice, they are very unfriendly. ❑ The next morning she sat, cold as ice, through breakfast.

coin

cold

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collar ✪ come in from the cold [mainly british]

If someone or something comes in from the cold, they become popular or accepted again after a period in which they were not popular or generally accepted. ❑ Therapies such as these, once dismissed to the lunatic fringe, have come in from the cold. ❑ Over the past two years, Swedish investors have come in from the cold. ● You can also say that you bring someone in from the cold. ❑ The former Health Minister who was fired from office two months ago has been brought in from the cold by the Prime Minister. ‘The Spy who Came in from the Cold’ is the title of a novel by the English writer John Le Carré, published in 1963. ✪ leave someone cold If something leaves you cold, it does not excite or interest you at all. ❑ Given the world situation, all this chit-chat about shopping and hairdos leaves me cold. ❑ I’m afraid modern ‘classical’ music leaves me cold. ✪ leave someone/something out in the cold If you leave a person or organization out in the cold, you ignore them or do not include them. ❑ They expressed concern that developing countries might be left out in the cold in current world trade talks. ❑ While most company pension schemes pay out a pension to a surviving widow or widower, an unmarried partner is generally left out in the cold. out cold If someone is out cold, they are unconscious. ❑ He had to keep checking the man was still out cold. when the US/UK/China, etc. sneezes, Japan/Germany, etc. catches cold or when the US/UK/China, etc. sneezes, Japan/Germany, etc. catches a cold [mainly british] If you say that when a particular country sneezes, another catches cold or catches a cold, you mean that what happens to the first country has a great effect or influence on the second. ❑ And when the American economy sneezes, the City of London catches cold. ❑ As they say, when America sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold.

collar get hot under the collar If you get hot under the collar, you get annoyed about something. ❑ Biographers tend to get a little hot under the collar when conversation turns to the invasion of privacy. ● You can also say that someone is hot under the collar. ❑ Judges are hot under the collar about proposals to alter their pension arrangements.

college

give something the old college try [american, old-fashioned] If you give something the old college try, you make a great effort to succeed, even if this is not possible. ❑ Despite the failure of her last movie, she is still giving acting the old college try.

colour ‘Colour’ is spelled ‘color’ in American English.

the colour of someone’s money If you want to see the colour of someone’s money, you want proof that they can pay for something, usually because you doubt that they are able to. ❑ Then he ordered another drink and I said to him: ‘Let’s see the colour of your money.’ I thought he wouldn’t have any. ❑ He made a mental note never to enter into conversation with a customer until he’d at least seen the colour of his money.

‘Colours’ is spelled ‘colors’ in American English. A ship’s colours are its national flag.

be sailing under false colours [british] If someone or something is sailing under false colours, they are deliberately deceiving people. ❑ This report sails under false colours. It claims to be a fair and rigorous examination of the issue, but it is no such thing. When pirate ships spotted a treasure ship, they often took down their own flag and raised the flag of a friendly nation, in order to get close enough to the ship to attack it. nail your colours to the mast [british, journalism] If you nail your colours to the mast, you state your opinions or beliefs about

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colours

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comfort

A fine-tooth comb is a comb with very something clearly and publicly. thin teeth set very close together. It is ❑ Let me nail my colours to the mast used to remove lice and nits (= small straightaway. I both like and admire him insects and their eggs) from people’s immensely. hair. If you nail your colours to the mast, you say clearly and publicly that you come support a particular person, idea, or come into its/your own theory. If someone or something comes into ❑ The young MP nailed his colours to the Prime their own, people start to see how Minister’s mast more firmly than most. ❑ This successful or useful they are. was the moment he nailed his colours to the mast ❑ He had practised psychotherapy, a training of Social Security reform. that came into its own in a camp of 2,000 Battleships used to lower their colours prisoners. ❑ She really came into her own as a to show that they were surrendering. mother when her children grew older and were Sometimes the colours were nailed to able to have a more adult relationship. the mast as a sign of determination to ✪ come out fighting [mainly british] or fight to the end. come out swinging [mainly american] ✪ show your true colours In a conflict or contest, if someone comes If someone shows their true colours, they out fighting or comes out swinging, they show their real character, often when show by their behaviour that they are this is bad. prepared to do everything they can in ❑ Someone I had trusted now showed her true order to win. colours. ❑ Thompson came out fighting last night, ● Verbs such as declare and reveal are accusing his old board colleagues of deliberately sometimes used instead of show. ❑ Three damaging his reputation. ❑ The Deputy Prime months into the relationship, Rogers began to Minister came out swinging against front-runner reveal his true colours. Jackson in the weekend leadership debate. ● You can also see someone in their true If boxers come out fighting, they leave colours. ❑ The children started seeing him in their corner as soon as the bell rings his true colours for the first time. and attack their opponent Once a pirate ship had got close to a immediately. treasure ship by ‘sailing under false ✪ come to think of it colours’, it then revealed its true People say come to think of it to show identity by raising its own flag. that they have suddenly realized ✪ with flying colours something. If you achieve something, such as ❑ He was his distant relative, as was everyone passing an examination, with flying else on the island, come to think of it. ❑ In fact, colours, you achieve it easily and are come to think of it, I’d not heard Charlie mention very successful. either of them before. ❑ She passed the entrance exam with flying comfort colors. ✪ cold comfort The image here is of a victorious If a fact or statement is cold comfort battleship sailing back into port with its to someone in a difficult situation, national flag flying. it does not make them feel less worried comb or sad. with a fine-tooth comb or ❑ ‘Three years in higher education is a good with a fine-toothed comb investment for the future,’ he says. But that is If you examine something with a cold comfort to graduates who have worked so fine-tooth comb or with a fine-toothed hard to get a degree, and now find themselves comb, you examine each small part of it unemployed. very carefully. ✪ too close/high, etc. for comfort ❑ I have been through Ed’s personal papers and If something is too close/high, etc. for letters with a fine-tooth comb. ❑ We will comfort, it is closer/higher, etc. than you scrutinise our mistakes with a fine-toothed comb. would like it to be or than is safe.

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commando ❑ The bombs fell in the sea, many too close for comfort. ❑ Levels of crime were still too high for comfort.

commando go commando [informal] If someone goes commando, they do not wear any underwear under clothes. ❑ Because I’ve got to change quickly I’ll be going commando.

SA commas

✪ in inverted commas [british, spoken]

If you say in inverted commas after or before a word or phrase, you are drawing attention to the word, and showing that it is not an accurate way to describe the situation you are referring to. ❑ So, in what sense do you see the students as disadvantaged, in inverted commas? ❑ I think that the assumptions of some people were that we would take democratic decisions, well, democratic in inverted commas. ➜ compare with quote, unquote

common

a backhanded compliment A backhanded compliment is a remark which seems to be praising someone or something but which could also be understood as criticism. ❑ Saying she’s improved comes over as a backhanded compliment. ❑ Reviewers gave the play the backhanded compliment that it was ‘surprisingly impressive’. A backhanded compliment is a remark which seems to be criticizing someone or something but which could also be understood as praise. ❑ They were seen as the ones most in need of some culture. This was a backhanded compliment: it implied that they were capable of appreciating the highest works of art.

conclusions

✪ jump to conclusions If someone jumps to conclusions, they decide too quickly that something is true, when they do not know all the facts. ❑ Forgive me. I shouldn’t be jumping to conclusions. ● You can also say that someone jumps to a conclusion. ❑ I didn’t want her to jump to the conclusion that the divorce was in any way her fault. ● People sometimes use leap instead of jump. ❑ The medical establishment was careful not to leap to conclusions.

common-or-garden

common-or-garden ➜ see garden

company

✪ be in good company

common as muck [british, offensive] If you say that someone is as common as muck, you mean that they are lower-class and not sophisticated. ❑ Leary guessed that his guests were as common as muck and planned the menu accordingly.

compliment

conspiracy

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set in concrete If a plan is set in concrete, it is fixed and cannot be changed. ❑ With expenditure plans now set in concrete for three years, slower growth would mean higher taxes. ● You can also say that a plan is cast in concrete. ❑ But the sale conditions must be cast in concrete.

If you are in good company, other people, often respected people, are in the same situation as you. ❑ Don’t worry if you find it difficult to cope with your family – at least you are in good company because most people feel the same at one time or another. ❑ The ban applied to other artists who had committed similar offences, so I was in good company. present company excepted People say present company excepted when they say something about other people, to show that they are not referring to the people or person they are with. ❑ I have encountered one of the most beautiful of all primates – present company excepted – in the forests of Tanzania. ● This expression is usually used when people are saying something critical or unpleasant about other people.

concrete

a conspiracy of silence If there is a conspiracy of silence, people who know about something have agreed that they will not tell anyone about it. ❑ Detectives have run into a conspiracy of silence in the close communities here.

converted be preaching to the converted If someone is preaching to the converted, they are presenting an opinion or argument to people who already agree with them.

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coop ❑ You’re wasting your time preaching to the converted. ❑ In any case the film was, by and large, preaching to the converted. The converted are people who have converted, or changed their religious beliefs. Preaching is the activity of telling people about a religion.

catch someone with their hand in the cookie jar [american] If you catch someone with their hand in the cookie jar, you find them doing something wrong, especially stealing. ❑ The banker was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. ❑ So Harry caught you with your hand in the cookie jar? What happened next? ● You can also talk about a person with their hand in the cookie jar or say that they have their hand in the cookie jar. ❑ Among those with their hand in the cookie jar was, it is alleged, the director of the program.

The usual British expression is have your hand in the till.

cool cool as a cucumber If someone is as cool as a cucumber, they are very relaxed, calm, and unemotional. ❑ Never once did she gasp for air or mop her brow. She was as cool as a cucumber. ❑ Karen is usually as cool as a cucumber when she appears on television. ✪ keep your cool If you keep your cool, you control your temper and stay calm in a difficult situation. ❑ Hilde’s one of those born managers – keeps her cool in a crisis. ❑ I knew I had to keep my cool, but it was hard. ✪ lose your cool If you lose your cool, you suddenly get angry and behave in a bad-tempered or uncontrolled way. ❑ At this point, I lost my cool and shouted ‘for goodness sake, stop!’ ❑ ‘Why don’t you sit down and have a drink?’ – ‘I don’t want a drink,’ Anne replied, losing her cool.

a smart cookie If someone is a smart cookie, they are clever and have good ideas. ❑ Anyone who made billions in the Russian oil industry is clearly a smart cookie. ❑ Helen’s a pretty smart cookie – I trust her. that’s the way the cookie crumbles or that’s how the cookie crumbles If you say that’s the way the cookie crumbles or that’s how the cookie crumbles you mean that you have to accept the way things happen or develop, even if it is not what you wanted. ❑ You’re not always on peak performance, but that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. ❑ I had some bad luck with injuries – that’s how the cookie crumbles. a tough cookie or one tough cookie If someone is a tough cookie or one tough cookie, they are confident, brave and determined. ❑ A pushover is not how I’d describe her. Behind that sweet smile, there lies a tough cookie. ❑ He has a reputation as one tough cookie.

or too many cooks in the kitchen, you mean that a plan or project fails because there are too many people working on it at the same time. ❑ Documentation was meant to be written and edited by small teams at best – too many cooks spoil the broth. ❑ Declaring that ‘there are simply too many cooks in the kitchen’, the Senator has proposed the creation of a single committee to handle this year’s legislation. ● People often use the shorter phrase too many cooks. ❑ So far nothing had worked. One problem was that there were simply too many cooks.

fly the coop If someone flies the coop, they leave the situation that they are in, often because they want to have more freedom or want to do something different. ❑ Aged 21, I felt the time was right to fly the coop and my parents were okay about it. ❑ It should be a proud moment, junior hairwasher grows up, graduates to senior stylist and then flies the coop to set up in a salon of their own. ➜ compare with fly the nest A coop is a small cage in which chickens or small animals are kept. ‘Coop’ is also American slang for a prison.

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too many cooks spoil the broth [british, american] or too many cooks in the kitchen [american] If you say too many cooks spoil the broth

cooks

coop

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cop ❑ Their new striker earned his corn with a last-minute goal. ❑ Managers earn their corn in not much cop [british, informal] these difficult circumstances. If someone or something is not much cop, they are of poor quality or not good at corner something. ✪ fight your corner [british] ❑ I gather her latest album isn’t much cop. If you fight your corner, you argue ❑ Just as he lacks any genuine talent for public strongly for what you want or believe in. speaking, so he’s not much cop as a writer, either. ❑ We must continue to fight our corner using In early twentieth century slang, ‘cop’ honest and intelligent arguments. meant ‘value’ or ‘use’. ● Verbs such as argue, defend, and stand copybook are sometimes used instead of fight. ❑ As blot your copybook [british] usual, she passionately argued her corner. ❑ He If you blot your copybook, you damage your at least had the courage to stand his corner. reputation by doing something wrong. In a boxing match, each boxer is given a ❑ Their relationship had been so perfect. Until corner of the ring. They return to their he’d blotted his copybook, that is. corner at the end of each round. ● You can also say that there is a blot on ✪ in a corner or your copybook. ❑ In fact, just about the only in a tight corner blot on his copybook so far was a missed penalty If you are in a corner or in a tight corner, against Arsenal 10 days ago. you are in a situation which is difficult to In the past, schoolchildren had deal with or escape from. ‘copybooks’. These were books of ❑ The government is in a corner on interest rates examples of handwriting, with spaces and the same could well happen on fiscal policy. for the children to copy it. ❑ I knew I was in a tight corner and that cord everything depended upon my keeping my head. ● You can also say that someone backs you cut the umbilical cord or cut the cord into a corner or forces or drives you into a If you cut the umbilical cord or cut the cord, corner, meaning they put you in a situation you start acting independently rather which is difficult to deal with or escape than continuing to rely on the person or from. ❑ I am not unreasonable but I don’t like thing that you have always relied on. people forcing me into a corner. ❑ Medical ❑ Both nations are eager to cut the umbilical cord organizations found themselves backed into a corner. tying them to the federation in its current shape. ● If something gets you out of a corner or An unborn baby’s umbilical cord is the out of a tight corner, it helps you to tube connecting it to its mother, escape from or deal with a difficult through which it receives oxygen and situation. ❑ The South African move has got nutrients. English cricket officials out of a tight corner. core in your corner ✪ to the core If someone is in your corner, they are You use to the core after an adjective to supporting you and helping you. make a statement stronger, especially a ❑ It’s good to know that whatever happens, he’ll statement describing how someone feels support me and be in my corner. ● You can also say that you have someone or describing the character of someone or something. in your corner. ❑ From words spoken after our ❑ Father Godfrey Carney said the community was meeting, we felt we already had Bob Uhlein in our shocked to the core. ❑ The insurance industry is corner. rotten to the core. ❑ Loxton, the artist, was In a boxing match, each boxer is given a English to the core yet she was inspired by France. corner of the ring. Trainers and helpers come into a boxer’s corner between corn rounds and give help and encouragement. earn your corn [british] ✪ just around the corner [british, american] If someone earns their corn, they are or successful and therefore justify the just round the corner [british] money that has been spent, for example If something is just around the corner on employing or training them.

cop

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count

● You can call this activity corner cutting. or just round the corner, it is going to ❑ It’s precisely this sort of corner cutting that happen very soon. causes the problems. ❑ Corner-cutting ❑ With summer just around the corner, there contractors build tiny classrooms and narrow couldn’t be a better time to treat your home to a corridors. bright new look. ❑ General elections, of course, the four corners of the world or are just round the corner. ● Around the corner and round the the four corners of the earth You can use the four corners of the world corner are also used in other structures or the four corners of the earth to mean and expressions with a similar meaning. all the different parts of the world, ❑ Fearful that war was right around the corner, especially the parts that are the furthest they promptly began to buy in extensive stores of away from you. food. ❑ There is a lot of concern about what may ❑ A foreign correspondent makes his friends in all lie around the next corner. four corners of the world. ❑ Italy has sent 5,000 paint yourself into a corner or soldiers to the four corners of the earth to play box yourself into a corner their part in peace-keeping operations. If you paint yourself into a corner or box ● Other nouns referring to areas of land yourself into a corner, you create can be used instead of world or earth. difficulties for yourself by your own ❑ Young people came from the four corners of the actions. nation in search of new ideas. ❑ The Government has painted itself into a corner on the issue of equalising the State pension age. cost ❑ You’ve boxed yourself into a corner, haven’t you? ✪ count the cost [mainly british] You have no one to blame but yourself. If you count the cost of something ● You can also say that someone paints damaging or harmful, you consider the you into a corner or boxes you into a extent of the damage or harm that has corner, meaning they force you into a been done. difficult situation. ❑ You’ll fight to the death ❑ Meanwhile, the government has been counting when you’re boxed into a corner unless you’re the cost of this disastrous campaign. ❑ The provided with a reasonable way out. central government is today counting the ‘Paint someone into a corner’ refers to political cost of the dispute which has already someone who is painting a floor and prompted the resignation of one minister. ends up in a corner of the room with wet couch paint all round them. ‘Box someone into ✪ a couch potato [informal] a corner’ refers to a boxer being forced If someone is a couch potato, they are into a corner of the ring and having no lazy and spend most of their time sitting, way of escaping. watching television. turn the corner ❑ Most evenings they sit, like a pair of couch If someone or something turns the potatoes in front of the television. ❑ Most of corner, they begin to recover from a these people are junk-food eating couch potatoes. serious illness or a difficult situation. This expression is a complicated pun ❑ It’s been a nasty, long illness but I think he’s based on the American slang term ‘boob finally turned the corner. ❑ Has California’s tube’ meaning the TV, and the fact that economy finally turned the corner? In April the a potato is a variety of tuber or root official figure for the state’s unemployment rate vegetable. dropped for the second month running.

✪ cut corners If you cut corners, you save time, money, or effort by not following the correct procedure or rules for doing something. ❑ Don’t try to cut corners as you’ll only be making work for yourself later on. ❑ He accused the Home Office of trying to save money by cutting corners on security.

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count

corners

The following expressions refer to a ‘count’ in boxing. If a boxer is knocked to the ground and does not get up before the referee has counted to ten, they lose the contest. down for the count [american] If someone or something is down for the count, they are failing.

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counter ❑ Both artists have recently recorded albums that show they’re not down for the count yet. ❑ The market is not down for the count just yet. out for the count If someone is out for the count, they are temporarily unconscious. ❑ It took medical staff several minutes to revive O’Neill in the dressing-rooms. He was out for the count for two to three minutes. If someone is out for the count, they are very deeply asleep. ❑ At 10.30am he was still out for the count after another night disturbed by the baby.

used a little Dutch courage to overcome inhibitions. ❑ Sometimes before leaving I would drink a glass of vodka on the stairs for Dutch courage. In the past, the Dutch had a reputation for drinking a lot of alcohol.

course

✪ on course for something

If you are on course for something good, you are likely to achieve it. ❑ She is on course for a third gold medal at the European Championships. ❑ City experts believe the club is on course for a £5 million profit this year. counter ✪ run its course under the counter [british] If something runs its course, it develops If you buy or pay for something under the gradually and comes to a natural end. counter, you do it in a secret and ❑ If you allow such behaviour to run its course dishonest or illegal way. without reacting, eventually the behaviour will ❑ The shirts disappeared from the displays but disappear on its own. ❑ Is this a sign that the could still be purchased under the counter as recession has run its course? recently as last Friday. ❑ Most of the trading was ✪ stay the course done under the counter, through some form of If you stay the course, you manage to black-market barter. finish something that is very difficult or ● You can also talk about an under-theunpleasant and takes a long time. counter payment or deal, meaning one ❑ The training takes years and a great deal of that is secret and dishonest or illegal. work, but if you stay the course, the rewards are ❑ It was becoming common practice for athletes fantastic. ❑ You have done remarkably well to to receive under-the-counter payments from stay the course for so long. organizers to attend meetings. ❑ Any take its course under-the-counter money deals were against If something takes its course, it develops company policy. in it own way without interference from The usual American expression is others, and has its own result. under the table. ❑ As a political party, they prefer to let the In Britain, during the Second World market take its course. War, shopkeepers sometimes kept court articles that were in great demand be laughed out of court under the shop counter. They only sold If you or your ideas are laughed out of them to special customers, often court, people dismiss your ideas and do charging very high prices for them. not take you seriously. country ❑ Only two decades ago the idea of an Equal ✪ go to the country [british] Opportunities Commission championing the If a head of government or a government rights of women would have been laughed out of goes to the country, they hold a general court. ❑ Back in May 2002, this proposal was election. laughed out of court. ❑ Strictly speaking, the Prime Minister doesn’t A plaintiff (= person who brings a legal have to go to the country for another year. case against someone else) who is ‘out courage of court’ has lost the right to be heard in Dutch courage [mainly british] a court of law. If you talk about Dutch courage, you be ruled out of court [mainly british] mean the feeling of bravery and If something that you want to do is ruled confidence in yourself that results from out of court, circumstances make it drinking alcohol. impossible for you to do it. ❑ The survey also noted how some performers ❑ I was hoping to start medical training that year

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but then I had the accident and it was ruled out of court. ✪ hold court If you hold court, you are surrounded by people who listen to what you say because they consider you interesting or important. ❑ Ray, as ever, was holding court at the end of the table. ❑ She used to hold court in the college canteen, surrounded by a crowd of admirers. ● This expression is often used to suggest that the person holding court is rather self-important and does not deserve this attention and admiration. ‘Court’ in this expression refers to the court of a king or queen. pay court to someone If you pay court to someone, you try to win their affection or approval. ❑ He loved the idea of giving interviews and people paying court to him. ❑ He pays court to me, buys me flowers and takes me to dinner.

Coventry

cow have a cow [american, informal] If you have a cow, you become very upset or angry. ❑ He’ll have a cow if he ever finds out! a sacred cow If you describe a belief, opinion, or tradition as a sacred cow, you mean that people are not willing to criticize or question it or to do anything to change it. ❑ Although this is a world of very few sacred cows, there are topics many comedians will not touch. ❑ The trade unions were, perhaps, the greatest sacred cow in British politics during the 1960s and early 1970s. ● This is often used in a disapproving way. In the Hindu religion, cows are regarded as sacred.

be sent to Coventry [british, oldfashioned] If you are sent to Coventry, other people ignore you and refuse to talk to you because they disapprove of something you have done. ❑ Rumours about his private life started circulating among his colleagues and he soon found himself sent to Coventry. Various origins have been suggested for this expression. During the English Civil War, Royalist prisoners from Birmingham were sent to prison in Coventry, a city which strongly supported the Parliamentarian side. Another suggestion is that the people of Coventry disliked soldiers so much that they refused to have anything to do with any woman who was seen talking to a soldier. As a result, soldiers did not like being sent to Coventry, where it was difficult to have social contact with anyone.

if he were a spy whose cover had been blown. cover your back [british, american] or cover your ass [american, rude] If you do something in order to cover your back or cover your ass, you do it in order to protect yourself, for example against criticism or against accusations of doing something wrong. ❑ He had covered his back by persuading Evans, chair of their finance committee, to provide a written approval for the contract. ❑ Newspaper editors have to cover their backs against accusations of libel.

cows

crack

until the cows come home If you say that you could do something until the cows come home, you mean that you could do it for a very long time. ❑ You could argue till the cows come home about whether we were right to take action. ❑ We could speculate till the cows come home, but we still won’t know for sure why he did what he did.

at the crack of dawn If you do something at the crack of dawn, you do it very early in the morning. ❑ I’m not used to getting up at the crack of dawn. ❑ We set off at the crack of dawn. cover ✪ have a crack at something [british, blow someone’s cover [informal] australian, informal] or If you blow someone’s cover you tell other take a crack at something [american, people who they are or what they are informal] doing, when they are trying to keep it If you have a crack at something difficult secret. or challenging, you try to do it. ❑ Asking those kind of questions could blow my ❑ I’ve decided now to have a crack at the world cover. ❑ The young man looked embarrassed, as cross country race. ❑ Have you ever thought you

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cracked might like to have a crack at Hollywood? ❑ He says if he had a chance he’d like to take a crack at writing the screenplay.

cracked

✪ not all it’s cracked up to be

If something is not all it’s cracked up to be, it is not as good as people often say it is. ❑ Alexander is finding that life as a manager is not all it’s cracked up to be. ❑ Holidays are not always all they’re cracked up to be. ● Cracked up to be is also used in other structures and expressions with a similar meaning. ❑ But are these islands in the sun everything they are cracked up to be? ❑ It’s one of those places you hear so much about that you wonder if it really is as good as it’s cracked up to be.

cracking

get cracking [informal] If you get cracking, you start doing something immediately and quickly. ❑ I realised that if we got cracking, we could make the last 700 miles to St Lucia within our deadline. ❑ I promised to get cracking on the deal.

crash crash and burn To crash and burn is to fail very badly. ❑ Stock markets don’t crash and burn without warning. ❑ He will either go down in history as a very great president or he’ll crash and burn. This may be a reference to a plane crashing into the ground and bursting into flames.

cracks

the practice of having a sexual relationship with a much younger partner. ❑ You could say I was cradle snatching – but I really didn’t care. ❑ There’ll always be those who accuse you of robbing the cradle. ● You can describe someone who does this in British English as a cradle snatcher or, in American English, as a cradle robber. ❑ Of course, the media labelled her a ‘cradle snatcher’. ❑ Women who make off with men 15 to 30 years younger are viewed as cradle robbers. ● These expressions are usually used in a disapproving way. from the cradle to the grave or from cradle to grave If something happens from the cradle to the grave or from cradle to grave, it happens throughout all of a person’s life. ❑ The bond of brotherhood was one to last from the cradle to the grave. ❑ He believed that the state was ultimately responsible for the individual and should look after him from cradle to grave.

fall through the cracks or slip through the cracks [mainly american] If people fall through the cracks or slip through the cracks, they are not helped by the system which is supposed to deal with them. ❑ I would like to see some system or program in place to catch high risk kids before they fall through the cracks. ❑ This family slipped through the cracks in the system and they are not eligible for aid.

cradle cradle-snatching [british] or robbing the cradle [american] Cradle-snatching or robbing the cradle is

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crazy

If someone papers over the cracks, they try to hide the fact that there are major problems with something rather than admit the truth and deal with it. ❑ Robertson accused the hospital management of trying to paper over the cracks. ❑ Couples sometimes try to paper over the cracks even when their relationship isn’t working at all.

✪ paper over the cracks [mainly british]

stick in your craw or stick in the craw If something sticks in your craw or sticks in the craw, you cannot accept it because it upsets you or you think it is wrong. ❑ What really sticks in my craw is the way the competition ended. ❑ There are those for whom Lapierre’s appetite for self-publicity sticks in the craw.

The usual British expression is slip through the net.

craw

crazy as a bedbug [american, informal] If you describe someone as crazy as a bedbug, you mean that their behaviour is very strange or silly. ❑ By now she’d concluded that Peters was crazy as a bedbug. Bedbugs are small wingless insects that live in beds and bedding. They feed by biting people and sucking their blood. crazy as a loon [american, informal] If you describe someone as crazy as a

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critical loon, you mean that their behaviour is very strange or silly. ❑ My golden labrador is as crazy as a loon. crazy like a fox [american, informal] If you describe someone as crazy like a fox, you mean that they seem strange or silly but may in fact be acting in a clever way. ❑ He can be as scary in person as he is on screen – that man is crazy like a fox. The image here is of the fox that is traditionally seen as clever and able to trick people.

✪ give someone the creeps [informal] If someone or something gives you the creeps, they make you feel nervous, afraid or uncomfortable. ❑ ‘This place gives me the creeps,’ said Romira. ❑ For no good reason, he gave me the creeps.

crest

SA cream

the cream of the crop If you talk about the cream of the crop, you mean the best people or things in a particular set or group. ❑ The first Midlands media degree show features the cream of the crop of this year’s graduates in photography, film, and video. ❑ They are among the cream of the crop of emerging architects in Scotland.

creature

creeps

cricket it’s just not cricket or it’s not cricket [british, old-fashioned] People say it’s just not cricket or it’s not cricket to mean that someone’s behaviour is unfair or unreasonable. ❑ Companies can’t treat their staff like that – it’s not cricket! Cricket is traditionally associated with the values of fairness and respect for other players.

creature comforts Creature comforts are all the modern sleeping, eating, and washing facilities that make life easy and pleasant. ❑ Each room has its own patio or balcony and provides guests with all modern creature comforts. ❑ I’m not a camper – I like my creature comforts too much. An old meaning of ‘creatures’ is material comforts, or things that make you feel comfortable.

on the crest of a wave or on the crest of the wave If someone or something is on the crest of a wave or on the crest of the wave, they are experiencing great success. ❑ The group’s members are confident they’re on the crest of a wave. ❑ The sport at the moment is on the crest of the wave. ● You can also say that someone is riding the crest of a wave or riding the crest of the wave. ❑ McCarthy’s side looked like a team riding the crest of the wave. ● Nouns such as success or popularity can be used instead of wave. ❑ Now, 14 years later, he is riding a crest of remarkable popularity. The crest of a wave is its highest point.

be burnt to a crisp If something, especially food, is burnt to a crisp, it is badly burnt. ❑ By the time I got to the kitchen, the whole thing was burnt to a crisp. ● Adjectives such as fried are sometimes used instead of burnt. ❑ The meat was fried to a crisp. If a person is burnt to a crisp, they are badly sunburned. ❑ One day in the Spanish sun and I was burnt to a crisp.

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crisp

up the creek [informal] or up shit creek [informal, very rude] If someone or something is up the creek or up shit creek, they are in a very difficult situation. ❑ The company’s recent collapse has left their pension fund members up the creek. ❑ If we lose another player through injury we’re basically up the creek. ❑ The economy’s up shit creek and everyone’s unemployed. ● You can also use the full expression, up the creek without a paddle. ❑ Manufacturing really is up the creek without a paddle. ❑ He owes the bank a lot of money so he’s up the creek without a paddle. A creek is a narrow bay. The idea is of being in a boat such as a canoe without being able to control it.

creek

critical go critical If a project or organization goes critical, it reaches a stage of development where it can operate smoothly and successfully.

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crock ❑ The programme confirmed its initial impact in

week two, and really ‘went critical’ with the third edition on 8 December. ❑ Bristol airport is about to go critical. That will come when more than a million passengers a year pass through the terminal. When a nuclear power station goes critical, it reaches a state in which a nuclear fission chain reaction can sustain itself. ❑ Monju went critical, and produced its first electricity in August the following year.

crock

a crock of gold ➜ see gold a crock of shit [informal, very rude] If someone describes something as a crock of shit, they mean it has no value, is of very poor quality or is completely wrong. ❑ Frankly, I think their explanation is a crock of shit. ❑ All that stuff about us splitting up, it’s such a crock of shit. A crock is a clay jug or storage jar.

crocodile

learning his new trade. He will come a cropper if he thinks he knows it all before he starts. ❑ Banks dabbling in industry can easily come a cropper. If you come a cropper, you accidentally fall and hurt yourself. ❑ She came a cropper on the last fence. ❑ I came a cropper on a patch of ice just outside my house. ‘Cropper’ may come from the expression ‘to fall neck and crop’, meaning to fall heavily. A bird’s ‘crop’ is a pouch in its throat where it keeps food before digesting it.

cross a cross to bear If you have a cross to bear, you have a responsibility or a difficult situation which you must tolerate. ❑ Success has brought astonishing levels of media attention and that is a cross the young player has to bear. ❑ It’s not an ideal situation but we all have our crosses to bear. The reference here is to Jesus being made to carry the cross on which He was to die to the place of execution.

shed crocodile tears If someone sheds crocodile tears, they pretend to sympathize with or feel sadness about someone or something that they do not really care about. ❑ Our own government sheds crocodile tears over the loss of life whilst doing absolutely nothing to stop it. ● Verbs such as weep and cry are sometimes used instead of shed. ❑ Some MPs who weep crocodile tears over the plight of those who earn £10,000 a year insist that they cannot manage on ten times that amount. ❑ While her family and friends weep, the politicians cry crocodile tears. ● The phrase crocodile tears is used in other expressions with this meaning. ❑ She regards Washington’s expressions of concern now as no more than crocodile tears. There was an ancient belief that crocodiles sighed and groaned to attract their prey, and wept while they were eating it.

❑ Ferguson came a cropper when the economy collapsed. ❑ Scott must concentrate on

crossed

get your wires crossed [british, american] or get your lines crossed [british] If you get your wires crossed or get your lines crossed, you are mistaken about what someone else means. ❑ She looked confused at what he said and he began to wonder if he’d gotten his wires crossed. ❑ He appeared to get his lines crossed. ‘What part of America are you from?’ he asked. ‘Sweden,’ came the reply. ● You can also use the noun crossed wires to refer to an occasion when there is confusion about what someone means. ❑ After a few minutes of crossed wires and confusion, it transpires Cerys has mistaken me for someone she knows. People used to say they had a crossed line when their phone call was connected wrongly and they could hear someone else’s conversation.

If someone comes a cropper, they suffer a sudden and embarrassing failure.

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✪ come a cropper [british, informal]

rich as Croesus ➜ see rich

cropper

Croesus

crossfire be caught in the crossfire If someone or something is caught in the crossfire, they suffer the unpleasant effects of a disagreement between other

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crystal

people even though they are not involved in it themselves. ❑ It’s like when colleagues start to argue in a meeting. Suddenly, from being an innocent bystander, you’re caught in the crossfire and required to join in. ❑ Teachers say they are caught in the crossfire between the education establishment and the Government. This expression is more commonly used literally to talk about a situation where someone is in the way of two sets of people who are firing guns, and so is likely to be shot by mistake.

crow

as the crow flies If one place is a particular distance from another as the crow flies, the two places are that distance apart if you measure them in a straight line. ❑ I live in Mesa, Washington, about 10 miles as the crow flies from Hanford. ❑ This mountainous area has always been remote, although it is not far from Tehran as the crow flies. People used to think that crows always travelled to their destination by the most direct route possible. ‘Make a beeline’ is based on a similar idea. eat crow [american] If someone eats crow, they admit that they have been wrong and apologize. ❑ He wanted to make his critics eat crow. ❑ I didn’t want to eat crow the rest of my life if my theories were wrong.

101

support me and be there for me. ❑ If it comes to the crunch, I’ll resign over this. ● You can also say the crunch comes when a situation reaches a critical point. ❑ The crunch came when we discovered newly promoted managers were getting more money than we were. ● You can refer to the time when an important decision has to be made as crunch time. ❑ It is crunch time for the future of the society, which is absolutely in policyholders’ hands. ‘Crunch’ is the sound used to imitate the sound of something hard being crushed, broken or eaten.

crust

earn a crust or earn your crust [british] If you earn a crust or earn your crust, you earn enough money to live on, especially by doing work you would prefer not to do. ❑ In his early days, he would do almost anything to earn a crust. ❑ You have to earn your crust somehow. A crust means a piece of bread, especially a piece of the hard, outer part of the loaf. the upper crust The upper crust are the people who belong to the highest social class. ❑ The Cowes Regatta is a gathering of the wealthy and the upper crust who race their huge yachts and attend grand parties.

cruel

✪ when it comes to the crunch or if it comes to the crunch If you talk about what you do when it comes to the crunch or what you will do if it comes to the crunch, you mean what you do or what you will do when a situation reaches a critical point. ❑ I know when it comes to the crunch, he’ll

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If a situation that exists now is a far cry from one that existed in the past, it is very different from it. ❑ It isn’t a perfect democracy, but it’s a far cry from the authoritarian rule of only a few years ago. ❑ The level of interest in stock car racing is a far cry from what it was when Petty first hit the circuit. in full cry [mainly british] If someone or something is in full cry, they are doing something very actively. ❑ As we left, a jazz band was in full cry. ❑ It’s quite shocking to be confronted by a press pack in full cry. This expression refers to the noise made by a pack of hounds when they see the animal they are hunting.

crunch

✪ a far cry from something

you have to be cruel to be kind When people say you have to be cruel to be kind, they mean that sometimes if you are unkind to someone it will be the best thing for them. ❑ ‘I have to be cruel to be kind,’ said Lindsay. ‘If I don’t control his food, he will eat himself to death.’

cry

The usual British expression is eat humble pie.

crystal

clear as crystal ➜ see clear

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cucumber cucumber

❑ I’ve never been the greatest traveller. Sitting for

cudgels

❑ He’s attractive in a conventional way – he’s just

cool as a cucumber ➜ see cool

hours on motorways is not really my cup of tea.

take up the cudgels or take up the cudgel If you take up the cudgels for someone or take up the cudgel for them, you speak or fight in support of them. ❑ The trade unions took up the cudgels for the 367 staff who were made redundant. ❑ We are hoping that the government will take up the cudgel on our behalf. A cudgel was a short, thick stick that was used as a weapon in the past.

cue

✪ take your cue from someone

cuff

✪ off-the-cuff

If you take your cue from someone, you behave in the same way as them. ❑ Taking his cue from his companion, he apologized for his earlier display of temper. ❑ Everybody working for you will take their cue from you.

someone is your cup of tea when you like them or feel interested in them. ❑ I don’t have much time for modern literature. Chaucer’s more my cup of tea.

cupboard the cupboard is bare If the cupboard is bare, everything has been used and there is nothing available. ❑ The cost of supporting these countries means that the international community’s cupboard is bare. cupboard love [british] You use cupboard love to mean the insincere affection that children or animals show to someone who they think will give them what they want. ❑ My kids give me such a lovely welcome when they see me, I don’t care if it is cupboard love. The idea here is that cupboards often contain food or something else that a child or animal might want to have.

An off-the-cuff remark, speech or decision is one that was not planned or thought about before. ❑ I’m sorry – I didn’t mean any offence. It was a flippant, off-the-cuff remark. ❑ She delivered a brilliant off-the-cuff speech completely without notes. ❑ This wasn’t just an off-the-cuff decision. ● If you say something off the cuff, you say it without planning it or thinking about it. ❑ Eisenman was speaking off the cuff, and it’s possible that my tape recorder did not catch every last word. ❑ His remarks – apparently made off-the-cuff – have raised a storm of protest. One explanation for this expression is that after-dinner speakers used to write notes on the cuffs of their shirts, to remind them of what to say. Another explanation is that in the early days of cinema, directors sometimes wrote notes on their cuffs during the filming of a scene, to remind them of what they wanted to say to the actors.

not my cup of tea. ● You can also say that something or

curate

a curate’s egg [british] If you describe something as a curate’s egg, you think that parts of it are good and parts of it are bad. ❑ His collection of duets with famous friends is something of a curate’s egg. ❑ It’s a real curate’s egg of a production; intermittently brilliant in the first half, but a dreadful disappointment in the second. A curate is a member of the clergy in the Church of England who helps the vicar or rector of a parish. A well-known Victorian cartoon published in the British magazine ‘Punch’ shows a curate having breakfast with a senior clergyman. The curate has been given a bad egg but he is anxious not to offend anyone, so he says that it is ‘good in parts’.

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If something or someone is not your cup of tea, you do not like them or feel interested in them.

✪ not be your cup of tea

cup

curiosity curiosity killed the cat You say curiosity killed the cat to warn someone that they might suffer harm themselves if they try to find out about matters that do not involve them. ❑ ‘Where are we going?’ Calder asked. ‘Curiosity killed the cat, dear. You’ll find out soon enough.’

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person’s habits and idiosyncrasies, there are fewer curve balls. In baseball, a ‘curve ball’ is a ball that curves through the air rather than travelling in a straight line.

curlies have someone by the short and curlies ➜ see short

curtain

✪ bring the curtain down on something or

cut bring down the curtain on something If an event brings the curtain down on or ✪ a cut above or a cut above the rest brings down the curtain on something If someone or something is a cut above or that has lasted a long time, it causes or a cut above the rest, they are better than marks its end. other people or things of the same type. ❑ His death brings the curtain down on one of ❑ Joan Smith’s detective stories are a cut above the most amazing careers of all time. ❑ Today’s the rest. ❑ I hate to be predictable, but just like simple but moving ceremonies bring down the the last 18 singles from this band, it’s a cut above. curtain on a long and historic period in history. ● You can also say the curtain comes ✪ cut and dried down on something. ❑ As the curtain comes If a situation or issue is cut and dried, it is down on the festive season, we reflect on some of clear and definite. the highlights. ❑ Now, this situation is not as cut and dried as it In theatres, it is traditional for a curtain may seem. ❑ The link between stress and heart to come down in front of the stage at the attacks is by no means cut and dried, although end of each act and at the end of the most people feel intuitively that it exists. ❑ There play. are no cut-and-dried answers to the problem. ❑ What appeared to be a cut-and-dried issue, curtains may in fact be a little more complex. be curtains for someone/something One explanation for this expression is If you say that it is curtains for someone that it refers to wood which has been or something, you mean that they are cut and dried and is ready to use. going to die, be forced to leave or end. Alternatively, it may refer to herbs that ❑ One more defeat for this team and it will surely have been harvested and dried, to be be curtains for the manager. ❑ If the vote is yes, used for cooking and medicine. it’s curtains for us and a whole way of life will cut and run disappear. ● You can also say that something If someone decides to cut and run from a difficult situation, they suddenly escape means curtains or spells curtains for from it in order to avoid dealing with it in someone or something. ❑ A diagnosis like that doesn’t always mean curtains. ❑ The loss of a responsible way. their ace striker at the start of the season could ❑ In relationships, he had an unfortunate have spelled curtains for the club. tendency to cut and run when things didn’t go his The curtains referred to here are the way. ❑ America will see the job through – we will curtains at the front of the stage in a not cut and run. ● Cut-and-run can also be used before a theatre. noun. ❑ These are the consequences of the curve government’s cut-and-run policy. throw someone a curve or In the past, ships’ anchors were throw someone a curve ball [mainly attached to ropes. If a warship was american] attacked, rather than causing delay by If someone throws you a curve or if they pulling up the anchor, the sailors would throw you a curve ball, they surprise you sometimes cut the rope. by doing something unexpected, ✪ the cut and thrust [british] sometimes causing you trouble. If you talk about the cut and thrust of a ❑ Just when they thought they might have the particular activity, you mean the lively, boss figured out, Knight would throw them a competitive and sometimes aggressive, curve. ❑ Every so often Mother Nature throws us way in which it is done. a curve ball. ● You can refer to unexpected problems ❑ Why then does he want to go back into the cut as curve balls. ❑ Once you get to know a and thrust of the airline business at an age when

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cylinders

succeed in a particular job. most men are happily retired? ❑ He seemed to ❑ We’re in a real mess now Johnny’s gone. actively enjoy the cut and thrust of politics. ● You can also use the adjective cut-andLorenzo’s been doing the vocals, but he just can’t thrust. ❑ She has spent the past two years cut it. ❑ It’s a very tough work environment. If carving out a career as a production assistant in you don’t cut it then you’re out. the cut-and-thrust world of advertising. cylinders This expression comes from sword ✪ be firing on all cylinders fighting. If someone is firing on all cylinders, they not be cut out for something are doing a task with great enthusiasm If you are not cut out for a particular and energy. lifestyle or job, it is not the sort of thing ❑ I saw her a few weeks ago and she was firing on that you enjoy or would succeed in. all cylinders. ❑ When Wales are firing on all ❑ I left medicine anyway. I wasn’t really cut out cylinders, they can beat any country in the world. for it. ❑ Sometimes I think I’m not cut out for a ● If someone is not doing a task as well as steady relationship. they should be, you can say that they are ● You can say that someone is cut out for a not firing on all cylinders or are only particular lifestyle or job when you think firing on two cylinders. ❑ We were only that they would enjoy it and succeed in it. firing on two cylinders in the first half of the ❑ I would think he’s cut out for management. game. not cut it This expression refers to the cylinders If you say that someone cannot cut it or in an engine. There are usually four of does not cut it, you mean that they are them. not talented or ambitious enough to

U LY

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Dd SA dab

✪ a dab hand [british]

If you are a dab hand at something, you are very good at doing it. ❑ She was a dab hand at solving crossword puzzles. ❑ We gave big lunches every weekend and I became a dab hand at roasts. In the late 17th century, ‘dab’ meant clever or skilful. a little dab’ll do ya or a little dab will do you [american, informal] People say a little dab’ll do ya or a little dab will do you to mean that a small amount of something is enough. ❑ The thing to remember about cooking with shrimp paste is that a little dab will do ya. This expression was originally an advertising slogan for hair cream in the 1960s.

If someone looks daggers at you, they stare at you in a very angry way. ❑ Christabel stopped combing her hair and looked daggers at Ron. ● Verbs such as stare and shoot are sometimes used instead of look. ❑ Mr. Trancas was grinning, while the other man stared daggers at him. ❑ Dede shot daggers at her adversary until she was out of sight.

dags

rattle your dags [australian, very informal] If you tell someone to rattle their dags, you mean that they should hurry. ❑ Come on, rattle your dags or we’ll be late! ‘Dags’ are pieces of dried waste on the tail of a sheep that make a rattling noise if the sheep runs.

daft

fresh as a daisy ➜ see fresh

damned

be damned if you do and damned if you don’t When people say that you will be damned if you do and damned if you don’t, they mean that whatever you choose to do in a situation, you will be criticized. ❑ When it comes to interfering in other countries, when you’re the world’s most powerful nation, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

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daisy

at daggers drawn [british] If two people or groups are at daggers drawn, they are having a serious disagreement and are very angry with each other. ❑ The publishing and record divisions of the company were at daggers drawn over the simultaneous release of the book and the album. ❑ The government now finds itself at daggers drawn with the same press it had gone to such great lengths to give freedom of expression to. look daggers at someone [literary]

be pushing up the daisies If someone is pushing up the daisies, they are dead. ❑ Instead of pushing up the daisies, he is still among the living, grey whiskers and all. ● This expression is used humorously.

daft as a brush [british] If someone is as daft as a brush, they are very silly or stupid. ❑ She was as daft as a brush. Couldn’t say anything with any sense in it. This expression may have come from ‘as soft as a brush’, as both ‘soft’ and ‘daft’ can mean stupid. Alternatively, it could have come from a fuller version, ‘as daft as a brush without bristles’.

daggers

daisies

damnedest do your damnedest [informal, rude] If you do your damnedest to achieve something, you try as hard as you can to do it. ❑ I did my damnedest to persuade her. ❑ She was

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dampener doing her damnedest to look as if she didn’t care. ● People sometimes use try instead of do. ❑ Ted tried his damnedest to explain things.

whistling in the dark, but I experienced no easing of my fear and anxiety. ✪ in the dark If you are in the dark about something, dampener you know nothing about it. put a dampener on something ➜ see ❑ We were in the dark completely about the damper testing that these facilities were doing. damper keep someone in the dark or ✪ put a damper on something or leave someone in the dark put a dampener on something [british] If you keep someone in the dark or leave If someone or something puts a damper someone in the dark, you do not tell them on a situation or puts a dampener on it, about something they stop it being as successful or as ❑ In many cases, the government itself was being enjoyable as it could be. kept in the dark about what was going on. ❑ She ❑ Unseasonably cool weather has put a damper thought you shouldn’t be left in the dark but on many plans for the day. ❑ Rooney’s injury put should be told as soon as possible. a dampener on a fine victory for his team on keep something dark Saturday. If you keep something dark, you keep it a This expression may refer to either of secret. two meanings of ‘damper’. In a piano, a ❑ She took pleasure in keeping dark the identity damper is a device which presses the of the man who was coming. strings and stops their sound. In a a leap in the dark [british] chimney, a damper is a movable metal If you take a leap in the dark, you do plate which controls the amount of air something without knowing what the getting to the fire, and so controls how consequences will be. fiercely the fire burns. ❑ Voters have taken a leap in the dark by electing dance outsiders with little or no political experience. lead someone a merry dance [british] ❑ What I had before me wasn’t a rational choice: If someone leads you a merry dance while it was a leap in the dark. you are trying to achieve something, they a shot in the dark or cause a lot of problems for you, often by a stab in the dark doing something to trick you. If a guess is a shot in the dark or a stab in ❑ They had led the Irish Government a merry the dark, it is not based on facts, but there dance for the last seven months. is a small chance that it will be right. ● You can also say that someone leads you ❑ Our strategy is based on good intelligence. This a dance or leads you a merry chase. ❑ I is not a shot in the dark. ❑ He described the began to court the lady who last year became my government’s figures as a stab in the dark. second wife. She led me quite a dance, but I never gave up. ❑ He was fast becoming a kind of cult dash figure, always leading the police a merry chase. cut a dash [mainly british, oldfashioned] dander If someone cuts a dash, they impress get someone’s dander up [oldother people with their stylish fashioned] appearance. If someone or something gets your ❑ His lawyer looks as though he would cut a dash dander up, they make you feel very angry. on the hunting field. ❑ Tania cut a daring dash ❑ I read the article and have to admit, it really got with a dress slashed almost to the waist. my dander up. The origin of the word ‘dander’ is date unknown. ✪ a blind date A blind date is an arrangement made for dark you to spend time with someone you have be whistling in the dark never met before to see if you would like If someone is whistling in the dark, they to have a romantic relationship with them. are trying to make themselves feel less ❑ My cousin met a man on a blind date and they afraid. ❑ Then I waited, trying not to feel as if I were went out for six years.

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day ✪ have passed your sell-by date [british]

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✪ carry the day [journalism]

If a person or their opinion carries the day in a competition or argument, they win it. ❑ For the time being, those in favour of the measures seem to have carried the day. ❑ Many here expect this radical plan to carry the day when the vote finally comes. This expression was originally used to say which army had won a battle. clear as day ➜ see clear the day of reckoning or a day of reckoning The day of reckoning or a day of reckoning is a time when people are forced to deal with an unpleasant situation which they have avoided until now. ❑ The day of reckoning has arrived. You can’t keep dawn writing checks on a bank account that doesn’t ✪ a false dawn [mainly british, journalism] have any money in it. ❑ We consulted a If an event is a false dawn, it seems to sympathetic attorney, and prepared for a day of show that something is improving or reckoning. something successful is happening, but According to the Bible, when the world in fact it is not. ends, there will be a day of reckoning, ❑ The new age of enterprise which the Government when God will judge everyone’s actions hoped would revitalise Britain in the Eighties and send them either to heaven or hell. turned out to be a false dawn. ❑ Everything they don’t give up the day job have said is sensible but we have had a lot of false If you say don’t give up the day job, you dawns with this company before. are telling someone that they are not very day good at something and would not succeed all in a day’s work in doing it as their job. If an activity is all in a day’s work for ❑ Sadly, my song wasn’t a smash hit. ‘Don’t give someone, they do not mind doing it, up the day job’ was the verdict. because it is a normal part of their job or ● This expression is used humorously. they often do it. ✪ from day one ❑ For war reporters, dodging bullets is all in a People use from day one to talk about day’s work. ❑ I said: ‘How can I ever thank you?’ something that happens from the very but he waved the question aside. ‘It’s all in a day’s beginning of an activity or a process. work.’ ❑ When I am treating patients with mild ✪ call it a day symptoms, I do not always prescribe a special diet If you call it a day, you decide to stop from day one. ❑ Molly and I didn’t get on from doing something you have been doing day one. that day. ✪ have had your day ❑ I searched for hours but I had to call it a day If someone or something has had their when darkness fell. day, the period during which they were ● In the evening, people sometimes say most successful has now passed. that they are going to call it a night. ❑ In Hollywood, there were still loyal supporters, ❑ Tomorrow is going to be busy, so let’s call it a but the general feeling was that he had had his night. day. ❑ Has radio had its day or is the golden age If someone calls it a day, they retire still to come? from their job. ✪ in this day and age ❑ It’s no secret I want his job when he calls it a People use in this day and age to talk day. ❑ He’s finally decided to call it a day and about things that happen in modern retire as manager. times.

If someone or something has passed their sell-by date, they are no longer useful, successful, or relevant. ❑ Do you think our marriage has passed its sell-by date? ● You can also say that someone or something is past their sell-by date. ❑ Many people feel the presenters are past their sell-by date. ● You can also say that someone or something has reached their sell-by date. ❑ Critics of the monarchy say it has reached its sell-by date. Most food has a date stamped on its packaging: this is its sell-by date. After this date it is no longer fresh enough to sell.

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daylight ❑ Even in this day and age the old attitudes persist. ❑ I asked him whether in this day and

❑ After a disastrous first night for the show,

it was Biggs who stepped in to save the day. age it was really worth talking about national save for a rainy day or character. save something for a rainy day ✪ late in the day If you save for a rainy day or save money If someone has done something late in for a rainy day, you save some of your the day, they have done it at the last money in case there are emergencies or moment or in the final stages of a problems in the future. situation. ❑ Saving for a rainy day and paying off debts is ❑ It was, she said, too late in the day for him to now a top priority for families. ❑ Job loss fears start behaving like a loving husband. ❑ It is good are forcing millions of consumers to save for a news that the department is now drawing up a rainy day rather than borrow. strategy for the aerospace industry. It is just a ● Verbs such as keep, put by and set aside shame such a move has come so late in the day. are sometimes used instead of save. ● This expression is often used to criticize ❑ These people spent the money when they had people for waiting too long before taking it. They did not put it by for a rainy day! action. seize the day live to fight another day If you seize the day, you do what you If you live to fight another day, you want straight away, without worrying survive a difficult or unpleasant about the future. experience and have the chance to be ❑ I can’t wait ten years. Life has taught me to successful in the future. seize the day, if not the hour. ❑ He knows he ❑ The Football League’s bottom club, might never get another chance of soccer glory Scarborough, live to fight another day after their and is determined to seize the day. 2–1 win at Halifax. This is a translation of the Latin phrase make my day ‘carpe diem’, which is also sometimes People sometimes say make my day when used. they want to challenge another person to someone’s day in court compete, argue or fight with them. Someone’s day in court is the time when ❑ They threaten dire punishments to any they have the opportunity to give their journalist who dares to write ‘propaganda’ for the evidence about something, usually in a fur trade. All I can say is, go ahead boys, make my court of law. day. ❑ We are looking forward to our day in court, In the film ‘Sudden Impact’ (1983), Clint when the mountains of evidence we have Eastwood, playing a detective called collected will be displayed to the jury. ❑ He will Harry, uses this expression to challenge have his day in court, we hope, and then all of us a criminal who is threatening to shoot will know what really happened. him. ✪ that’ll be the day ✪ make someone’s day People say that’ll be the day to show that If someone or something makes your day, they think that something will never they make you feel very happy. happen. ❑ There was such a sincere expression of ❑ ‘He says he’s going to decorate his house.’ – friendliness on both their faces that it was a joy to ‘Hah. That’ll be the day.’ see. It really made my day. ❑ When you have a daylight customer who turns round and thanks you, it daylight robbery ➜ see robbery makes your day. ✪ in broad daylight plain as day ➜ see plain If someone does something illegal or put off the evil day ➜ see evil daring in broad daylight, they do it ✪ save the day openly in the daytime when people can If someone or something saves the day in see it. a situation which seems likely to fail, ❑ Six gunmen attacked his car with automatic they manage to make it successful. rifles in broad daylight. ❑ I have recently ❑ Suddenly there were ten deer charging straight spotted three women wearing Catwoman outfits towards me, but the shooting practice drilled into in broad daylight. me in the school training corps saved the day.

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dead ● This expression is often used to emphasize

that someone’s behaviour is surprising or shocking.

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❑ There was an old brass double bed with a mattress that had seen better days.

✪ it’s early days or

daylights

it’s early in the day [british] If you say that it’s early days or it’s early beat the living daylights out of someone in the day, you mean that it is too soon to If someone beats the living daylights out be sure about what will happen about a of someone else, they attack them situation in the future. physically, hitting them many times. ❑ We haven’t made much progress, but it’s early ❑ That gave them the signal to start beating the days yet. ❑ The spokesman did not expect any living daylights out of each other. ● You can also say that someone beats the immediate changes to pricing policy. ‘It is very early in the day yet.’ daylights out of someone else. ❑ Steve beat the daylights out of him with a length of bike chain. ✪ someone’s days are numbered ● Verbs such as knock, kick and thump If someone’s days are numbered, they are not likely to survive or be successful for can be used instead of beat. ❑ I was set much longer. upon by three men who kicked the living daylights ❑ His days are numbered. He’s a very sick man. out of me. ❑ As rebels advanced on the capital it became The word ‘daylights’ in this expression clear that the President’s days in power were may be related to an old threat to ‘make numbered. daylight shine through’ someone by stabbing them or shooting them. dead Alternatively, it may be related to an old be dead set against something meaning of ‘daylights’ referring to If you are dead set against something, someone’s eyes or internal organs. If you are completely opposed to it. they were badly beaten, their ‘daylights’ ❑ Her father was dead set against her marrying would stop working. my father. ❑ I for one am dead set against scare the living daylights out of someone charges for eye tests. or be dead set on something scare the daylights out of someone If you are dead set on doing something or If someone or something scares the living having something, you are determined to daylights out of you or scares the daylights do it or get it. out of you, they frighten you very much. ❑ I’m dead set on getting dancing lessons now. ❑ You scared the living daylights out of me last ❑ To my surprise, he was dead set on a new career night with all that screaming. ❑ Bears appear in as a solicitor. back gardens and garages, where they scare the come back from the dead or daylights out of residents. rise from the dead ● The verb frighten is sometimes used If someone or something comes back instead of scare. ❑ A tremendous wind swept from the dead or rises from the dead, off the land and frightened the living daylights they become active or successful again out of us. after a period of being inactive or unsuccessful. days ❑ I could not believe I had done it. I had come back ✪ the good old days from the dead and my career had survived the People use the good old days to talk about ultimate test. ❑ After all, this was a company a time in the past when they think life that, by all appearances, had risen from the dead. was better. ● You can also say that someone raises ❑ Brad’s dead, and sitting around talking about something from the dead when they the good old days isn’t going to bring him back. make it active or successful again after a ❑ In the good old days, the studios were able to period of being inactive or unsuccessful. look after stars when there wasn’t much work. ❑ The company has been working on the scheme have seen better days to raise this inner-city area from the dead since If something has seen better days, it is 2012. old and in poor condition. cut someone dead [british] ❑ The houses had seen better days and their If you cut someone dead, you deliberately crumbling plaster was now dirty grey and damp.

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deaf

drop dead [informal, rude] ignore them or refuse to speak to them. If you tell someone to drop dead, you are ❑ I belonged to the same golf club as my telling them in a rude and angry way to father-in-law and if I ever saw him at the go away and leave you alone. clubhouse he’d cut me dead. ❑ There were times ❑ Richard told me to drop dead. ❑ Seventy-five when she would cut you dead. percent of the firms he called for data were hostile dead as a dodo [british] and told him to drop dead. If something is as dead as a dodo, it is no knock ‘em dead [informal] longer active or popular. If you say that someone or something will ❑ The foreign exchange market was as dead as a knock ‘em dead, you mean that they will dodo. impress people very much. The dodo was a large flightless bird that ❑ Glamorous make-up is best reserved for lived on the islands of Mauritius and evenings, or days when you want to go all out to Réunion. It became extinct in the late knock ‘em dead. 17th century as a result of hunting and ● You can also say that something will the destruction of its nests by pigs knock someone dead. ❑ Their debut album is belonging to settlers on the islands. going to knock you dead. dead as a doornail The word ‘’em’ is a form of ‘them’ which If a person or animal is as dead as a is used in informal or non-standard doornail, they are completely dead. English. ❑ From the start of the movie it is clear that she ✪ wouldn’t be seen dead or will be as dead as a doornail by the time the wouldn’t be caught dead credits roll. If you say that you wouldn’t be seen dead If something or someone is as dead as a or wouldn’t be caught dead in particular doornail, they are no longer active or clothes, places, or situations, you are popular. emphasizing that you strongly dislike or ❑ My $2,500 computer was dead as a doornail. disapprove of them. ❑ Nobody will hire him now. He’s finished. Dead ❑ I wouldn’t be seen dead in a black straw hat. as a doornail. ❑ The modern cowboy wouldn’t be caught dead It is not certain what ‘doornail’ actually in such an old-fashioned place. ❑ In the past, refers to. In medieval times, it may have there was many a dad who wouldn’t be seen dead been the plate or knob on a door which wheeling a baby in a pram through the park. was hit by the knocker. It was thought deaf that anything that was struck so often deaf as a post [old-fashioned] must have been dead. Alternatively, If someone is as deaf as a post, they are doornails may have been the thick nails very deaf. which were set into outer doors. It is not ❑ My Dad is as deaf as a post. clear why these nails should be described as ‘dead’. deal dead as mutton [british, old-fashioned] ✪ cut a deal If a person or animal is as dead as If you cut a deal with someone, you come mutton, they are completely dead. to an agreement with them from which ❑ We saw a viper. It was 4 feet long and was as both of you will benefit. dead as mutton. ❑ They were trying to cut a deal in which they If something or someone is as dead as would give up their claim to the oil in return for a mutton, they are no longer active or cash payment. popular. a done deal ❑ He advised him that radio was just about to If something such as a plan or project is become as dead as mutton because of the advent a done deal, it has been completed or of television. arranged and it cannot be changed. ✪ drop-dead ❑ He called a journalist to announce that his You can use drop-dead to emphasize that nomination was a done deal. ❑ The pact is far someone or something is very attractive from being a done deal. It must be ratified by the or beautiful. legislative bodies of all three countries. ❑ She’s drop-dead gorgeous. ❑ The club was ✪ get a raw deal packed with drop-dead models. If you get a raw deal, you have been

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treated unfairly or badly. deportations would be a death blow to the peace process. ❑ We must ask why bank customers get such a dice with death [british] raw deal. ● Verbs such as have and receive can be If someone dices with death, they take risks that put their lives in danger. used instead of get. ❑ Until quite recently, ❑ Fishermen are constantly dicing with death. larger sizes had a raw deal in terms of attractive ❑ I dice with death almost every night crossing designer wear. ❑ It is not only teaching staff who the road outside Maidstone Barracks station. receive a raw deal in terms of pay and conditions. To dice means to play dice, or to gamble. ● You can also say that you give someone die a death a raw deal. ❑ I have seen numerous cases If an idea, project or activity dies a death, where the foreign-born minority were given a raw it gradually ends, especially because it deal and were treated as second-class or stops being popular. third-class citizens. ❑ The old-style video store finally died a death. This may refer to someone being dealt a ❑ The dining room has died a death. People want bad hand in a game of cards. to eat in the kitchen. ✪ the real deal ✪ fight to the death If you describe something or someone as If someone fights to the death to the real deal, you mean that they are a achieve something or keep something, genuine and high-quality example of they try extremely hard to achieve it or something. keep it. ❑ I believed our relationship was the real deal. ❑ I have been teaching home economics for 18 ❑ These guys were the real deal, punk rockers years and I will fight to the death to keep my place who hadn’t had private school backgrounds. in the curriculum. ❑ What drove them was a death corporate culture that made them fight to the at death’s door death for their firms. If someone is at death’s door, they are ● You can also talk about a fight to the seriously ill and are likely to die. death. ❑ He now faces a fight to the death to ❑ He has won five golf competitions in three reach the quarter-finals of the Embassy World months, a year after being at death’s door. Snooker Championship. ● You can also say that someone is near like death warmed up [british] or death’s door. ❑ The singer said he was ‘active like death warmed over [american] and feeling very well’ as he responded to reports If someone looks like death warmed up that he was near death’s door. or like death warmed over, they look very ● You can say that someone comes back ill, pale, and tired. from death’s door or is brought back ❑ You were looking like death warmed up, but you from death’s door when they have seem a lot better now. ❑ He came in just after the recovered from a very serious illness. funeral, sneezing and sniffing and looking like ❑ The patient has been brought back from death’s death warmed over. door by the radical treatment, say his doctors. like grim death [mainly british] death and taxes If you hold onto something like grim If you compare something to death and death, you hold onto it very tightly. taxes, you mean that it is impossible to ❑ I clung to the chain like grim death. avoid. a living death ❑ As with death and taxes, it was a certain that If someone’s life is described as a living the rain would arrive just in time for their holiday. death, their quality of life is extremely Benjamin Franklin said ‘In this world poor. nothing can be said to be certain, except ❑ For nearly four years he has been in a coma, death and taxes.’ trapped in what one doctor described as a ‘living a death blow death’. ❑ To be betrayed as you were betrayed is a If something is a death blow to a process, living death. situation, or organization, it causes it to ✪ sign someone’s death warrant end or fail. If someone signs another person or ❑ This could deal a death blow to the collapsing organization’s death warrant, they cause their ruin or death. national economy. ❑ They warned that the

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deck ❑ The summit in Moscow this week virtually signed the organization’s death warrant. ❑ It

yowling. My hands were wrapped round my knees. ❑ Instead of pulling up, the plane seemed to go faster and faster before it hit the deck. ‘Deck’ normally means the floor of a ship or, in American English, a raised platform outside a house. Here it means the floor or ground. stack the deck or load the deck [mainly american] If you stack the deck or load the deck, you give someone or something an unfair advantage or disadvantage. ❑ Mr Howard is doing all he can to stack the deck in favour of the status quo. ❑ We’ve developed a culture where it’s really hard to eat well and exercise. We’re kind of stacking the deck against ourselves. ❑ As you can see, I’m loading the deck so that we get the results we want. A stacked or loaded deck of cards is one that has been altered before a game in order to give one player an advantage.

was not too extreme to say that to identify her might be tantamount to signing her death warrant. ● You can say that a person or organization signs their own death warrant if they behave in a way which causes their own ruin or death. ❑ The president persuaded Congress to sign its own death warrant by agreeing to a referendum. ❑ The day that he accused the King of murder was the day he signed his own death warrant, and he knew it. ● A death warrant is used in many other structures with a similar meaning. ❑ The plan is seen by all sides as a death warrant for the state. ❑ His signal had been innocuous enough, but it would become his death warrant as soon as Pemberton was interrogated. A death warrant is an official document decks which orders that someone is to be ✪ clear the decks [mainly british] or executed as a punishment for a crime. clear the deck [american] ✪ to death If someone clears the decks or clears the You use to death after adjectives such as deck, they finish what they are doing so ‘scared’, ‘worried’, and ‘bored’ to that they are ready to start doing emphasize that someone is very something else. frightened, very worried, or very bored. ❑ The British commanders had wanted to clear ❑ ‘I am worried to death,’ she wrote to her husband. the decks for possible large-scale military ‘Even if something is wrong, why don’t you let me operations. ❑ Clear the decks before you think of know?’ ❑ I was scared to death he would leave me. taking on any more responsibilities. ❑ I’ve been bored to death since I left the army. In the past, all unnecessary objects were ● You can also say, for example, that cleared off the decks or floors of a something scares or bores you to death. warship before a battle, so that the crew ❑ One woman described how she woke up in the could move around more easily. morning and the hotel she was staying in was empty, which scared her to death. ❑ The deep meetings bored me to death. ✪ run deep or go deep deck If something such as a feeling, emotion, be not playing with a full deck [mainly or problem runs deep or goes deep, it is american] very serious or strong, often because it If someone is not playing with a full deck, has existed for a long time. they are not being completely honest and ❑ My allegiance to Kendall and his company ran therefore have an unfair advantage over deep. ❑ Hatred of the army runs deep, and most other people. here have come to side with the rebels. ❑ His ❑ This guy is either very good or he’s not playing anger and anguish clearly went deep. with a full deck.

A deck of cards can have cards taken out before a game in order to give one player an advantage. hit the deck If someone or something hits the deck, they suddenly fall to the ground. ❑ ‘We’ll have to get a doctor!’ I hit the deck

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degree give someone the third degree If someone gives you the third degree, they ask you a lot of questions in a determined manner. ❑ He told the operator his wife was having a baby on the pavement. The operator gave him the third

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deserts degree to make sure he was serious. ❑ The interviewer didn’t exactly give her the third degree.

✪ out of your depth

demolition

✪ a demolition job [british, journalism]

If you do a demolition job on someone or something, you criticize them strongly and effectively. ❑ His speech was a sustained demolition job on the prime minister’s strategy. If you do a demolition job on an opponent, you defeat them completely. ❑ Byram drove home his second goal to make it 3–1 and Scott Young completed the demolition job.

den

a den of iniquity If a place is a den of iniquity, a lot of immoral things happen there. ❑ As time went on, he realised he was working in a den of iniquity and that the corruption spread right to the top of the organization.

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depth

in denial If someone is in denial about something, they cannot or will not accept an unpleasant truth. ❑ I refused to admit it would happen again; I know I was in denial. ❑ [+ about] Katherine is in denial about her health.

If you are out of your depth, you do not have the experience or skill to deal with the situation you are in. ❑ You may feel out of your depth on an honours degree course. ❑ The team struggled for 90 embarrassing minutes, hopelessly out of their depth. This expression refers to someone who is in deep water but cannot swim very well, or cannot swim at all.

depths

dent

✪ make a dent in something

department

If you make a dent in something, you reduce its amount or level. ❑ The savings from these cuts make only a small dent in the federal deficit. ❑ The average family in Britain spends £100 a week on food, which makes a big dent in the household budget. ● You can also say that you put a dent in something. ❑ These devices can put a major dent in companies’ IT budgets.

plumb the depths If someone’s behaviour plumbs the depths, it is extremely bad. ❑ This crime plumbs the very depths of the abyss into which it is possible for the human spirit to sink. If you plumb the depths of something, you find out everything you can about it. ❑ He doesn’t plumb the depths of a text in the way of his contemporaries. ❑ We can never fully plumb the depths of the unconscious. If someone plumbs the depths of an unpleasant or difficult situation or emotion, they experience it to an extreme degree. ❑ They frequently plumb the depths of loneliness, humiliation and despair. The above expressions relate to sailing in former times. When a ship was in shallow water one of the sailors would find out how deep the water was by dropping a piece of lead on a string, called a ‘plumb’, over the side of the ship. plumb new depths If someone or something plumbs new depths, they behave even worse or are even worse than before. ❑ Critics and the public both expected him to plumb new depths of tastelessness. ❑ She will be remembered for having plumbed new depths in local government corruption.

not your department If a task or area of knowledge is not your department, you are not responsible for it or do not know much about it. deserts ❑ The political issues are something else, but The noun ‘deserts’ is related to the that’s not really my department. ❑ ‘If you verb ‘deserve’, and it is pronounced identify him, then what?’ – ‘Not my department.’ with stress on its second syllable. ● You can also say that something is your department if you are responsible for it or ✪ just deserts If you say that someone has got their know a lot about it. ❑ ‘So what do we do with just deserts, you mean that they deserve him?’ Admiral Polaski asked. ‘That, gentlemen, is the unpleasant things that have our department,’ Rintner said. ❑ Bill spoke happened to them. expertly. This had been his department.

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designs ❑ Some people felt sympathy for the humbled

where the two possible courses of action or choices that you can take are equally bad. ❑ I can see you’re caught between the devil and the deep blue sea – if you support your daughter, your partner will be hurt. The origin of this expression is in shipping, not religion. It is unclear exactly what the ‘devil’ was, but it is designs thought to have been some kind of seam have designs on something or plank that was awkward and If someone has designs on something, dangerous to reach, so a sailor who had they want it and are planning to get it. to make it waterproof was in a very ❑ The team has designs on a place in the Football unsafe position, and risked falling into League, and have a new stand rising at their the water. Kingfield ground. ❑ Most observers believe that a devil of a job or he has his own designs on power. the devil’s own job have designs on someone If you have a devil of a job or the devil’s If one person has designs on another, the own job to do something, it is very first person wants to have a sexual difficult to do. relationship with the second. ❑ We had a devil of a job finding you in that place. ❑ The colonel had designs on Greg’s wife. ❑ Michael was having the devil’s own job to make devices himself heard next to the roadworks. ✪ left to your own devices the devil take the hindmost [oldIf someone is left to their own devices, fashioned] they are left to do what they want, or to If you say the devil take the hindmost, look after themselves without any help. you mean that you should do what is best ❑ If left to my own devices, I would eat a for you, without considering anyone else. chocolate dessert every night. ❑ After tea we ❑ Just get your laughs any way you can and the were left to our own devices, so we decided to take devil take the hindmost. a walk in the neighbouring village. ❑ The ● The whole saying every man for himself millions of Americans who do not have health and the devil take the hindmost is insurance are often left to their own devices when sometimes also used. ❑ We do not believe in they become ill. the theory of every man for himself and the devil An old meaning of ‘device’ was desire or take the hindmost. will. ‘Hindmost’ is an old word meaning devil furthest back or last. better the devil you know [mainly ✪ play devil’s advocate british] If you play devil’s advocate in a You say better the devil you know, to discussion, you pretend to disagree with mean that you would rather deal with what someone says in order to make the someone you already know, even if you do discussion interesting or to make people not like them, than deal with someone think hard about an issue. that you know nothing about, because ❑ My motive for playing devil’s advocate is to they may be even worse. provoke them into thinking about what we mean ❑ People are still voting for him. As they say, when we say something is ‘genetic’. ● People also use devil’s advocate to ‘Better the devil you know.’ His challenger remains an unknown quantity. describe someone who acts in this way. This expression comes from the proverb ❑ Interviewers may take on the role of devil’s better the devil you know than the advocate simply to see how effectively you can devil you don’t. support your idea in the face of opposition. between the devil and the deep blue sea speak of the devil or [mainly british] talk of the devil [spoken] If you are between the devil and the deep People say speak of the devil or talk of the devil if someone they have just been blue sea, you are in a difficult situation superstar. Others felt she was getting the just deserts of an actress with a reputation for being difficult. ❑ Many said the man who once headed a £4 billion empire had received his just deserts. ‘Deserts’ is an old-fashioned word meaning a reward or punishment which is deserved.

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die talking about arrives unexpectedly. ❑ ‘Speak of the devil,’ she greeted him, smiling. ❑ ‘Well, talk of the devil.’ Duncan had wandered up from the beach in red wellies and a duffel coat. This expression comes from the saying ‘talk of the devil and he will appear’.

diamond A rough diamond is a diamond that has not yet been cut and polished.

a rough diamond [mainly british] or a diamond in the rough [american] If you call someone, especially a man, a rough diamond or a diamond in the rough, you admire their good qualities, even though they are not very polite or well-educated. ❑ Marden was the rough diamond of the three, feared for his ruthlessness but respected for his First World War Military Cross. ❑ I liked Neil Murphy, who is something of a diamond in the rough. If you call someone or something a rough diamond or a diamond in the rough, you mean that they have talent or good qualities which are hidden or not well developed and could be developed more. ❑ British first novels are more likely to be rough diamonds, with flashes of inspiration in an imperfect whole. ❑ When I heard this lady sing, I ran to the theater, and I said, ‘Chick, I found myself a diamond in the rough.’

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● You can also say that the dice is loaded

in your favour or the dice are loaded in your favour if you are in a situation where things have been arranged to cause an advantage for you. ❑ Insist on your rights. The dice are loaded in your favour – after all, you are the one with the money. Players who wanted to cheat at dice games sometimes ‘loaded’ or weighted the dice so that they tended to fall in a particular way. no dice If you are trying to achieve something and you say there’s no dice, you mean that you are having no success with it. ❑ I tried calling her and I tried one or two of her old friends in Hampstead, but there was no dice. ❑ I was hoping he’d offer me a ride in his hot-air balloon, but no dice. If someone asks you for something and you reply no dice, you are refusing to do what they ask. ❑ Nope, sorry, we’re not interested, no dice. This expression comes from the game of craps (= a game that uses dice), and means that the player’s last throw is not counted.

the dice is loaded against someone or the dice are loaded against someone If the dice is loaded against you or the dice are loaded against you, you are in a situation where things have been arranged to cause a disadvantage for you. ❑ I had survived that night on the mountain when all the dice were loaded against me.

the die is cast If the die is cast, a decision has been made or something has happened that makes it impossible to change things. ❑ The die was cast and it was too late for any regrets. She was now Mrs Arthur Bradley, and would stay that way for life. ❑ His reassurance that parliament would debate and express its views before the die is cast was welcome. ‘Die’ is an old singular form of the word ‘dice’. Once you have thrown the dice, you cannot do anything to change the way they fall. The first use of the expression is attributed to Julius Caesar, who is believed to have said it before crossing over the river Rubicon into Italy from Gaul, thus invading his own country and starting a civil war. ‘Cross the Rubicon’ is based on the same incident. straight as a die ➜ see straight

dice

die

first dibs on something or dibs on something [informal] If you have first dibs on something or dibs on something, you have claimed the right to have it or use it before anyone else. ❑ The main reason my best friend Sue and I wanted to join was so that we could have first dibs on an endless supply of mouthwatering cakes. ❑ Ralph’s brother now has dibs on the job of horse trainer. This expression comes from an old children’s game in which the pieces were called dib stones.

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not mean diddly [american, informal] If something does not mean diddly, it is completely unimportant. ❑ I have been playing this game for a long time and I know that one shot doesn’t mean diddly.

dibs

diddly

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dime ✪ to die for [informal]

❑ These laws mean that foreign competitors get

If something is to die for, it is very good or attractive and you want it very much. ❑ The food is to die for, it’s heaven on a plate. ❑ The off-piste skiing is to die for.

dime A dime is an American coin worth ten cents.

a dime a dozen [american] If things or people are a dime a dozen, there are a lot of them, and so they are not especially valuable or interesting. ❑ Writers are a dime a dozen, a new one will be easy enough to find. ❑ Films about primitive people are a dime a dozen right now. The usual British expression is two a penny.

done like a dinner.

dinners more something than someone has had hot dinners [british] If you have had or done more something than someone has had hot dinners, you have had a very large number of them or done something a very large number of times. ❑ His trainer has probably seen more fights than most men of his age have had hot dinners. ❑ He’s had more hit songs than I’ve had hot dinners.

dint

by dint of something If something happens or is done by dint of something else, it happens or is done as a result of it. ❑ They got the address from her by dint of much persuasion. ❑ He succeeded by dint of sheer hard work.

turn on a dime [american] If something or someone turns on a dime, they suddenly change completely or do something completely different from direction what they were doing before. ✪ point someone in the right direction ❑ Employers need to be flexible and to turn on a If you point someone in the right direction, dime in order to stay competitive. you give them some information to help ● If something happens on a dime, it them achieve something. happens suddenly, in complete contrast ❑ I hope what I say in this book will point people to what was happening before. ❑ Outdoors experiencing this condition in the right direction. I heard the rain stop on a dime. ❑ We can point you in the right direction to get The idea is of being able to change help. direction quickly and easily in a very dirt small space, as if your foot were on a ✪ dig up dirt [british, american] or coin. dig the dirt [british] dine If you dig up dirt or dig the dirt on ✪ dine out on something someone, you look for harmful or If you dine out on a story, you use that shocking information about them. story to entertain other people. ❑ They hired a detective firm to dig up dirt on ❑ He witnessed the president’s angry outburst, their rival. and dined out on the story for months. ● You can also say that you dig for dirt. dinkum ❑ Reporters even go through trash cans digging fair dinkum [australian, informal] for dirt on celebrities. If you describe someone or something as ● You can describe this activity as fair dinkum, you mean that they are real, dirt-digging. ❑ In the movie, a dirt-digging fair or honest. reporter is framed by a corrupt district attorney ❑ I think that convinced people that I was fair and sentenced for manslaughter. dinkum and wouldn’t cheat. ❑ If you’re doing a dish the dirt fair dinkum inquiry, you need the best and most If one person dishes the dirt on another, experienced person. they tell people unpleasant or shocking dinner things about them. done like a dinner [australian] ❑ Many politicians are not above dishing the dirt If you are done like a dinner in a competitive on a fellow politician. ❑ In his autobiography he situation, your opponents defeat you dishes the dirt on his buddies. ● People sometimes describe this activity completely, often in an unfair way.

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distance

as dirt-dishing. ❑ By speaking out as he did, he has pushed up the potential value of any dirt-dishing memoirs he cares to write. do someone dirt or do the dirt on someone [american] If someone does you dirt or does the dirt on you, they betray you or treat you very badly. ❑ They tell me you have done me dirt. Tell me it ain’t true. ❑ There is an unofficial biography out, which is doing the dirt on her all over the place.

distance

The usual British expression is do the dirty on someone.

✪ go the distance

✪ treat someone like dirt

If someone treats another person like dirt, they treat them very badly. ❑ We, the fans, download their music, and pay to go to the concerts, but are more or less treated like dirt. ❑ As long as you’re thinking about her, she can keep treating you like dirt.

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airing dirty linen is considered more serious than any offence itself. ❑ My brother has washed that linen in public and embarrassed me. ● You can also just talk about dirty linen or dirty laundry to mean unpleasant facts that should remain private. ❑ We know much more than we ever did before about the doings of Congressmen. So, we’re seeing more dirty laundry. ❑ It is certainly a huge disadvantage of being famous that everyone wants to see your dirty linen.

do the dirty on someone [british] If someone does the dirty on you, they betray you or treat you very badly. ❑ There are plenty of people only too ready to make use of a situation like this to do the dirty on somebody they don’t like. ● You can also say that someone does the dirty. ❑ Apparently, Scott and the rest have been wanting to sack Joey since last year. It was only misplaced loyalty that prevented them from doing the dirty there and then. The usual American expression is do someone dirt.

If you go the distance, you complete what you are doing and reach your goal. ❑ Dave Hilton, back from World Cup duty, failed to go the distance when he was forced off with a muscle strain. ● You can also say that someone goes the full distance. ❑ Julian is entitled to natural justice and we are prepared to go the full distance. A boxer who succeeds in fighting until the end of the match is said to ‘go the distance’. within spitting distance If someone or something is within spitting distance of a place, they are very close to it. ❑ Most of the world’s biggest financial firms are already established within spitting distance of the Bank of England. ❑ Logan Airport is built out into the bay, within spitting distance of Boston’s skyline. ● People sometimes vary this expression, for example saying that something or someone is in spitting distance or spitting distance away. ❑ Most of the invaders were public schoolboys living in spitting distance of Highgrove. ❑ Their apartment block is situated in the middle of Manhattan, with Broadway only spitting distance away. If someone or something is within spitting distance of an amount, level, or goal, they are very close to achieving it. ❑ Its share of world trade was within spitting distance of Britain’s. ❑ Economic recovery was not what got the Wilson government back to within spitting distance of success. ✪ within striking distance If someone or something is within striking distance of a place, they are very close to it. ❑ The cinema is within striking distance of ample car parking and gleaming new shops and

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british] or wash your dirty laundry in public [mainly british] or air your dirty linen in public [mainly american] or air your dirty laundry in public [mainly american] If someone washes or airs their dirty linen in public or washes or airs their dirty laundry in public, they talk publicly about unpleasant matters that should be private. ❑ We shouldn’t wash our dirty laundry in public and if I was in his position, I’d say nothing at all. ❑ She thinks she can score points by airing the family’s dirty linen in public. ● There are many other variations of this expression. For example, you can leave out ‘in public’ or ‘dirty’. ❑ In Spain, it seems,

✪ wash your dirty linen in public [mainly

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distraction

restaurants. ❑ Ironbridge is well signposted from This expression has its origin in the Latin phrase ‘divide et impera’. It the motorway and within easy striking distance describes one of the tactics which the of both Birmingham and Manchester. ● You can also say that someone or Romans used to rule their empire. something is in striking distance of a dividends place. ❑ I spent the bank holiday weekend in ✪ pay dividends west London in order to be in striking distance of If something pays dividends, it brings the festival. advantages at a later date. If someone or something is within ❑ Taking time out to get fit will pay dividends in striking distance of an amount, level, or the long run. ❑ Martin went out of his way to goal, they are very close to achieving it. lavish attention on Mrs. Eaton, a move which ❑ We seem to be within striking distance of later paid big dividends. achieving 100 per cent of our objectives. A dividend is a payment of profits that is ● You can also say that someone or divided among all the shareholders of a something is in striking distance of an company. amount, level, or goal. ❑ He is in striking Dixie distance of victory in the first round vote. not be whistling Dixie [american] distraction If someone is not whistling Dixie, they are drive someone to distraction being honest or realistic and should not If something or someone drives you to be ignored. distraction, they annoy you very much. ❑ ‘Is that a threat?’ – ‘I’m not just whistling Dixie.’ ❑ Nothing I said or did would get them to tidy up. ❑ He was not whistling Dixie last month when he It drove me to distraction. ❑ His obsessive told financial analysts that the firm is as attention to detail drove to distraction the artists competitive as ever. and workers with whom he collaborated. Dixie was the name given to the region Distraction is an old word for of the southern and eastern United madness. States which formed the Confederate side in the Civil War. The area gave its ditch name to several songs which were ✪ last-ditch popular as Confederate war songs. A last-ditch attempt or effort to do

divide and rule [british] If you try to divide and conquer or divide and rule, you try to keep control over a group of people by encouraging them to argue amongst themselves. ❑ Trade unions are concerned that management may be tempted into a policy of divide and rule. ❑ The Summit sends a very strong message to him that he’s not going to divide and conquer.

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dodo

✪ divide and conquer [british, american] or

just what the doctor ordered If you say that something is just what the doctor ordered, you mean that it is extremely enjoyable or useful and helps to make you feel better or to improve a situation. ❑ ‘Meatballs in tomato sauce!’ Max exclaimed happily. ‘Just what the doctor ordered.’ ❑ A few days’ break in Honolulu was just what the doctor ordered.

divide

doctor

something is a final desperate try when everything else has failed. ❑ The President has been making a last-ditch attempt to prevent the rebels taking over the city. ❑ She gave up all claim on their house and his wealth in a last-ditch attempt to get him back. In this expression, ‘ditch’ means a trench (= long hole in the ground) which has been dug in order to defend a military position. The expression refers to soldiers who are prepared to die in a final effort to defend the position rather than surrender.

dead as a dodo ➜ see dead

dog

die like a dog [old-fashioned] If someone dies like a dog, they die in a painful and shameful way. ❑ The film begins with our hero stealing cars and ends with him dying like a dog in the street. a dog and pony show [american] If you call an event such as a presentation a dog and pony show, you mean that it is intended to impress people, often to persuade them to buy something.

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dog ❑ To a wide-eyed teenager, this band was the

charts, graphs, facts, and figures. The boss responds by dozing off during most of our dog and pony show. ❑ Ann and I sometimes do a dog and pony show at public libraries in the US. This expression refers to circus acts involving dogs and horses. dog days Dog days are the hottest days of the year that occur in July and August in the northern hemisphere. ❑ In the country, midsummer marks the final burst of activity before the lazy, dog days of July and August. The ancient Romans named these days ‘dies caniculares’ or ‘dog days’ because the Dog Star, Sirius, could be seen in the morning sky at this time of year. They believed that the combination of Sirius and the sun produced very hot weather. The dog days of something is the end of the period in which it exists, when it is no longer successful or popular. ❑ He was a minister in the dog days of John Major’s government. dog-eat-dog A dog-eat-dog situation is one in which people are willing to harm each other or to use dishonest methods in order to achieve what they want. ❑ Office politics can be a dog-eat-dog world. ❑ The TV business today is a dog-eat-dog business. a dog in the manger Someone who is a dog in the manger wants to prevent other people from using or enjoying something that they cannot use or enjoy themselves. ❑ As long as he knew you were pining for him, Ralph didn’t want you, but the minute you became somebody else’s he exhibited all the classical signs of the dog in the manger. ● You can use dog-in-the-manger before nouns to talk about this kind of attitude. ❑ He has a dog-in-the-manger attitude. He seems to be saying to hell with the locals, yet spends only two weeks a year at his castle. One of Aesop’s fables tells of a dog which prevented an ox from eating the hay in its manger, even though the dog could not eat the hay itself. the dog’s bollocks [british, informal, very rude] If someone or something is the dog’s bollocks, they are extremely good.

dog’s bollocks. They had the loudest amps, the longest hair, the hardest rock and the baddest attitude. a dog’s breakfast or a dog’s dinner [british] If you call something a dog’s breakfast or a dog’s dinner, you mean that it is badly organized or very untidy. ❑ He labelled the Government’s plans ‘a complete dog’s breakfast’. ❑ Now she’s having to watch as those whom she grew up with in politics are in Cabinet and making a dog’s breakfast of it. ❑ The whole place was a bit of a dog’s dinner, really. dressed up like a dog’s dinner If someone is dressed up like a dog’s dinner, they have taken a lot of trouble to dress in their best clothes. ❑ Are you telling me that your mother is going to be dressed up like a dog’s dinner tonight and every night? ● This expression is usually used to show that you think the person looks foolish. every dog has its day If you say every dog has its day, you mean that everyone will be successful or lucky at some time in their life. ❑ Former England player Davies said: ‘Every dog has his day, although the way I kicked throughout the game, who would have thought that drop goal would even reach the posts?’ ❑ ‘I don’t have any money to fight him,’ he said. ‘But every dog has its day and I have lots of patience.’ ● This expression is sometimes used to encourage someone at a time when they are not having any success or luck. This proverb has been known in English since at least the 16th century. Shakespeare quotes it in ‘Hamlet’: ‘Let Hercules himself do what he may, The cat will mew and dog will have his day.’ (Act 5, Scene 1). it’s a dog’s life People say it’s a dog’s life to mean that life is difficult and unpleasant. ❑ It’s a dog’s life being a football manager. put on the dog [american, informal] If someone puts on the dog, they act as though they are rich or important. ❑ We were all earning good money, buying expensive suits and putting on the dog. sick as a dog ➜ see sick you can’t teach an old dog new tricks If you say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, you mean that it is often difficult

❑ I’m bombarding him and the others with

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doghouse

to get people to try new ways of doing things, especially if they have been doing something in a particular way for a long time. ❑ The low levels of participation among older people are affected by the widespread belief that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. ● This expression is often varied. For example, if you say you can teach an old dog new tricks or an old dog can learn new tricks, you mean that it is possible to get people to try new ways of doing something. ❑ Our work shows that you can teach an old dog new tricks. ❑ An old dog can learn new tricks if he has both the will and the opportunity.

doghouse

problems that have happened in the past. ❑ Why does she come over here stirring everything up? Why can’t she let sleeping dogs lie? ● You can call a situation that it would be better not to disturb a sleeping dog. ❑ The crux of the film is that his inquisitive son, by arousing the sleeping dog of the past, finds himself in danger. throw someone to the dogs If someone throws you to the dogs, they allow you to be criticized or attacked, often in order to protect themselves. ❑ He told the judges he felt abandoned by his former commanders and that he had been, as he put it, thrown to the dogs. The dogs referred to here are dogs used for hunting.

in the doghouse [informal] If you are in the doghouse, someone is doldrums annoyed with you because of something ✪ in the doldrums you have done. If a person, organization, economy, etc. is ❑ If you give her a birthday card and nothing else, in the doldrums, they are not successful you’ll be in the doghouse. ❑ Four Caribbean and are not making any progress. ❑ The restaurant business, like many other prime ministers have landed themselves in the businesses, is in the doldrums. ❑ I was bored and doghouse after failing to turn up to a top-level my career was in the doldrums. meeting at the White House. out of the doldrums In American English, a ‘doghouse’ is a If a person, organization, economy, etc. kennel. comes out of the doldrums, they improve dogs and become more successful and active. call off the dogs or ❑ Still, today’s estimates provide hope the call off your dogs economy may finally be coming out of the If someone calls off the dogs or calls off doldrums. ❑ With her humour and upbeat spirit, their dogs, they stop criticizing or Jane got me right out of the doldrums I’d been in attacking someone or encouraging other for three years. people to criticize or attack someone. The above expressions relate to the ❑ Lenders will be ordered to call off the dogs, Doldrums, which is an area of sea near especially for families struggling to pay their the equator where there is often little or mortgage through unemployment. ❑ Maybe no wind. This meant that sailing ships he’ll call off his dogs now that he knows I’m not could be stuck there for long periods. It taking his money. is not clear whether sailors named the The dogs referred to here are dogs used area after the expression, or whether for hunting. the name for the area gave rise to the go to the dogs expression, although the first If a country or organization goes to the possibility is more likely. dogs, it becomes less successful and of

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worse quality than it was in the past. ❑ In the 1960s the country was fast going to the dogs. ❑ Television, we warned, would go to the dogs under the Government’s crazy franchising system. let sleeping dogs lie If you tell someone to let sleeping dogs lie, you are warning them not to interfere in a situation or not to talk about

bet your bottom dollar If you say that you bet your bottom dollar that something will happen or is true, you mean that you are certain that it will happen or that it is true. ❑ A police insider was quoted as saying of the crime: ‘You can bet your bottom dollar Sinclair was involved’. ❑ He hasn’t passed us and we

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haven’t passed him, but I’d bet my bottom dollar he’s around somewhere. This expression refers to the piles of coins on a poker (= gambling game) table. A confident player would bet by pushing a pile of coins to the centre of the table using the bottom dollar, on which all the others were resting. the 64,000 dollar question If a question is the 64,000 dollar question, it is very important but very difficult to answer. ❑ Why should I, young, healthy and female, suddenly lose my hair? The sixty-four thousand dollar question remained unanswered. ● Other large sums of money are sometimes used instead of 64,000 dollar. ❑ They asked the million-dollar question: ‘So what makes a good marriage?’ ❑ The billiondollar question is: how much are those benefits worth? In the United States in the 1940s, there was a radio quiz show called ‘Take It or Leave It’. Contestants had to answer questions for prizes ranging from two dollars for an easy question to $64 for the hardest. A similar television quiz show in the 1950s increased the prize to $64,000 dollars.

domino

✪ a domino effect A domino effect is a situation where one event causes a series of similar events. ❑ The accident created a domino effect, causing about 10 other bikes to crash and injuring 14 other people. ❑ Unused houses deteriorate rapidly, affecting the value of nearby homes; in a domino effect, the entire neighborhood can easily fall victim. This expression was first used in the 1950s by an American political commentator to describe what some people thought would happen if one country in a region became Communist: they believed that the other countries in that area would also ‘fall’ to the Communists. The image is of a row of upright dominoes (= small, rectangular games pieces with different numbers of dots on them); if one falls, it knocks the next one over and so on, until all of them have fallen over.

‘Doughnuts’ is sometimes spelled ‘donuts’ in this expression.

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look a million dollars If someone or something looks a million dollars, they look extremely attractive. ❑ Casual trousers, comfortable shoes, immaculate hair. He looks a million dollars. ❑ Tinseltown was positively seedy for many years but now it’s been spruced up and looks a million dollars.

dominoes

fall like dominoes dollars to doughnuts [american] If things fall like dominoes, they are If you say that it is dollars to doughnuts damaged, destroyed or defeated quickly, that something will happen, you mean one after the other. that you are certain it will happen. ❑ Since he came into the sport, the records have ❑ It’s dollars to doughnuts that the bank of fallen like dominoes. ❑ Cities fell like dominoes the future will charge more for its services. to the rebels. ❑ Well, I’ll bet you, Alex, almost dollars to ● Other verbs, such as collapse or topple donuts that I’ll wake up at 3am, as I do every are sometimes used instead of fall. morning now. ❑ Inflation got out of control and banks started feel a million dollars or collapsing like dominoes. feel like a million dollars If you feel a million dollars or feel like a done ✪ be done for [informal] million dollars, you feel very attractive If someone or someone is done for, they and well-dressed. are certain to fail or suffer a bad ❑ Slip into this dress and you’re bound to feel a experience. million dollars. ❑ As soon as the police find the emails, I’m done If you feel a million dollars or feel like a for. ❑ I knew my diet was done for when they put million dollars, you feel healthy and up a McDonalds, right next to the dorm. happy. done and dusted [mainly british] ❑ After all my injury problems I now feel a million If something is done and dusted, it is dollars. ❑ It was the most relaxed I’ve felt in ages. I felt like a million dollars. finished or decided and there is nothing

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donkey ● This expression is often used to encourage someone to keep trying after they have had a disappointment or failure. be knocking on the door If you are knocking on the door of a club or group, you are trying to join it or donkey become part of it. donkey’s years [british, informal] ❑ They are two players I’m sure will be knocking If something lasts or has been happening on the England door soon. ❑ Until recently for donkey’s years, it lasts or has been women were knocking on the door of a man’s happening for a very long time. world asking to be let in. ❑ I’ve been a vegetarian for donkey’s years. ❑ He be pushing at an open door or owns some old iron mines that haven’t been used be pushing against an open door [british] in donkey’s years. If someone is pushing at an open door or This expression was originally ‘as long is pushing against an open door, they are as donkey’s ears’, which are very long. finding it very easy to achieve their aims. The change to ‘donkey’s years’ may have ❑ Investors in slave ships had better places to put come about partly because the their money. Reformers, in effect, were pushing at expression is used to talk about time, an open door. ❑ Congress will give him what he and partly because the original form is wants. It’s like pushing against an open door. difficult to say clearly. ✪ by the back door or do the donkey work [british] through the back door [mainly british] If you do the donkey work, you do the If someone gets or does something by the most physically tiring or boring parts of a back door or through the back door, they job or piece of work. do it secretly, in a way that is not open and ❑ The bottom lot were the mechanics who did honest. the sheer physical donkey work. ❑ We’ve been ❑ They accuse the minister of trying to very fortunate getting a succession of re-introduce selective education by the back door. secretaries who’ve managed to do the donkey ❑ They were going against the procedures that work. we had at the bank and were doing things doo-doo through the back door. in deep doo-doo [very informal] ● Back-door can be used before a noun. If someone is in deep doo-doo, they are in ❑ They want to use civilian patrols as a back-door serious trouble. method of policing on the cheap. ❑ You’ll be in deep doo-doo if you don’t clean the close the stable door after the horse has cages properly or feed the animals the right food. bolted [british] or ❑ If spending goes down, we’re in deep, deep close the barn door after the horse has doo-doo. bolted [american] ‘Doo-doo’ is a children’s word for solid If someone’s action is closing the stable waste from the body. door or closing the barn door after the door horse has bolted, it is too late because the as one door closes, another one opens or thing it is designed to prevent has already one door closes and another one opens happened. If you say as one door closes, another one ❑ It is nice to see the water company offering a opens or one door closes and another reward to catch the fish killers, even though it one opens, you mean that if one thing might look like closing the stable door after the you do fails, you will soon have an horse has bolted. ❑ People have been opportunity to try to succeed at complaining about a strong smell of gas for seven something else. years. This is closing the barn door after the horse ❑ This deal replaces the account they lost in has bolted. ● This expression is often varied. For March. ‘As one door closes another one opens,’ the chief executive said yesterday. ❑ Roberts was instance, you can use shut instead of philosophical after losing his job. ‘Obviously, I am close, and words such as gone or escaped a little disappointed,’ he explained, ‘But one door instead of bolted. ❑ The children should have been vaccinated earlier. It seems like they are closes and another one opens.’

more to be said or done about it. ❑ ‘The deal is done and dusted,’ Donahy told The Sunday Mail. ❑ It’s all done and dusted. There is nothing that remains to be said about what has happened.

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the revolving door shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. If you talk about the revolving door of ● People sometimes just say close the an organization, you mean that the stable door or close the barn door. people working in it do not stay there for ❑ Journalists exposed the fraud, since when the very long. regulators have been scuttling to close the stable ❑ The revolving door at Wests has only just door. stopped spinning. A huge turnover of players is ✪ door to door usually not the ideal basis for success. ❑ For the If you go door to door, you go to every next 25 years, the company had a revolving door of house in an area. executives. ❑ We would go from door to door, singing ● You can also use revolving-door before a Christmas carols and collecting money for noun. ❑ High spending by the country’s charity. revolving-door governments swelled the public ● Door-to-door is used before nouns. sector debt. ❑ The police made door-to-door enquiries. If you talk about the revolving door ❑ They use the door-to-door outreach method, between two organizations, you mean but they rarely convert anyone. that people often move from one to the knock at your door or other, and sometimes back again. come knocking at your door ❑ Mr Smith also spoke of the revolving door for If something such as a problem or senior civil servants getting jobs in industry opportunity knocks at your door or connected with their former department. comes knocking at your door, it is likely ❑ No fewer than 25 aldermen have been to happen soon or is starting to happen. convicted of corruption since 1973. In fact, ❑ All of his life he had been hankering after his the revolving door between City Hall and jail personal freedom, and now freedom was knocking accounts in part for the Mayor’s current at his door, begging him to come in. ❑ During political influence. these tough economic times, feeling the spirit of You can use the revolving door to refer happiness can be difficult, especially when the to a situation where solutions to recession has come knocking at your door. problems only last for a short time, and ✪ lay something at someone’s door then the same problems occur again. If you lay something at someone’s door, ❑ These kids are caught in the revolving door you blame them for it. of the justice system, ending up back on the ❑ The paper says the blame for the riot must be streets after serving time, faced with their old laid at the door of the government. ❑ The life. robberies were now laid at Brady’s door. ● You can also use revolving-door before never darken someone’s door or a noun. ❑ This is the revolving-door syndrome: never darken someone’s doorstep no home, no job, no money; hence crime, [old-fashioned] increasing isolation from society, imprisonment; If someone tells you never to darken their hence no home on release, and back again to door again or never to darken their prison. doorstep again, they are ordering you doornail never to visit them again. dead as a doornail ➜ see dead ❑ The law firm told them to destroy all dossiers doors and never darken their doorstep again. ✪ behind closed doors [journalism] not darken somewhere’s door or If something is done behind closed doors, not darken somewhere’s doorstep it is done in private. [old-fashioned] ❑ The summer I was fourteen and Rita was If someone never goes to a place, you can twelve, our parents started having long talks say that they do not darken its door or do behind closed doors. ❑ Many decisions were not darken its doorstep. taken in secret behind closed doors. ❑ He had not darkened the door of a church for a ● Behind-closed-doors can be used before long time. ❑ Plenty more cases never darken the a noun. ❑ The three organizations have been doorstep of a courthouse. discussing the idea in a series of behind-closedThe image here is of someone’s dark shadow falling across the door. doors meetings.

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dos down to confidence and Kevin has that. ❑ I think that the show’s popularity is down to two things. down and dirty [mainly american] If you describe a person or their behaviour as down and dirty, you mean that they behave in an unpleasant or dishonest way. dos ❑ If the President gets down and dirty, the ✪ the dos and don’ts Governor will give as good as he gets. ❑ Did this The dos and don’ts of a particular campaign get down and dirty? situation are the things you should and Something that is down and dirty is should not do in that situation. shocking and direct but often enjoyable. ❑ Disasters can be avoided if a few general dos ❑ Get down and dirty with Sandra Bernhard who and don’ts are considered. ❑ The publisher‘s comes to Britain with her one-woman show, website provides a list of dos and don’ts for Giving Till It Hurts. ❑ Adam and his dad turned aspiring authors. me onto the real down-and-dirty stuff like Otis doses Clay, William Bell and Albert King. ✪ in small doses ✪ down and out If you do something, experience If someone is down and out, they have something or spend time with someone nowhere to live, usually have no job, and in small doses, you do it, experience it, or have no real hope of improving their spend time with them in small amounts situation. or for short periods of time. ❑ Having been down and out himself, Vern Barry ❑ I liked him in small doses. ❑ He may be right to has insights into others who are down and out, assume most Germans favour reform only in small and he’s helped many move on to permanent jobs. doses. ❑ I know what it is to be down and out. One time dot back in the thirties, I was working in New York on the dot and I didn’t have enough to rent a room. If you do something on the dot, you do it ● You can call a person in this situation a at exactly the time that has been down-and-out. ❑ In the glow of the side lights, mentioned or arranged. he looked unshaven, shabby, a down-and-out. ❑ At nine o’clock on the dot, they have breakfast. In a competition or contest, if someone ❑ I sat on the front steps to wait for her, figuring is down and out, they have been beaten, that if she was anything like her father, she’d or they are losing and have no hope of arrive on the dot of ten. winning. The minutes on a clock face are often ❑ I am sending you clippings from which you will marked by dots. see that Ted appears to be down and out as double candidate for governor. ❑ Leicester had looked at the double [british] or down and out when they trailed 12-3 with only 12 on the double minutes left. If you do something at the double or on ● You can say that someone is down but the double, you do it very quickly or not out when they are losing but still immediately. have some hope of winning. ❑ The Rangers ❑ Come here, please, at the double. ❑ He said manager last night declared his side down but not there was a report of a prowler at this address. out of the European Cup after their defeat in I knew it was your place so I came over on the Athens. ❑ The Democrats are down, but not out. double. If boxers are down and out, they have ‘At the double’ is a military expression been knocked down and have failed to meaning at twice the normal marching get up before the referee counted to ten, pace. and have therefore lost the contest. ✪ down-at-heel [british] or down down-at-the-heels [american] ✪ be down to something A down-at-heel or a down-at-the-heels If something is down to something else, person or place looks untidy or in bad the second thing is the cause of the first. condition. ❑ When you are asked to score goals, then a lot is early doors [british, informal] If something happens early doors, it happens at an early stage. ❑ We have to be out of the house early doors on Friday. ❑ It’s still early doors. Let’s see what happens in the future.

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❑ He had two rooms above a down-at-heel shop. ❑ When I was a down-at-the-heels detective, I

all downhill from here it continues to get worse until it ends. ❑ She came home, but it was downhill all the couldn’t afford to eat here. way. Cancer, I think. ❑ Now that I’m 60, it’s all The image here is of a person wearing downhill from here. shoes with worn-down heels because ● You can also say that something is all they do not have the money to repair or downhill from there. ❑ The opening of the replace them. movie is great. Sadly, it’s all downhill from there. ✪ down the drain [british, american] or If a task is downhill all the way or all down the tubes [british, american] or downhill from here, the most difficult down the pan [british] part has been done and it is easier from If something is going down the drain, that point. down the tubes or down the pan, it is ❑ I had thought that once we reached halfway we getting worse or being destroyed and it is would feel that it was downhill all the way now, unlikely to recover. but it didn’t seem to work like that. ❑ With this ❑ They were aware that their public image was game out of the way, it’s all downhill from here rapidly going down the drain. ❑ People don’t like because the remaining matches will be easy. to see marriages going down the tubes. ● Words such as plughole and toilet are ✪ go downhill If something goes downhill, it becomes sometimes used instead of drain. ❑ Neil admitted recently that long working hours mean worse or less successful. his personal life has gone down the toilet. ❑ Since I started to work longer hours things have If money, work, or time has gone down gone steadily downhill. ❑ We were amazed at the the drain, down the tubes or down the speed with which the weather was going downhill. ● Downhill can be used in many pan, it has been lost or wasted. ❑ Over the years, the government has poured structures connected with becoming billions of dollars down the drain propping up its worse or less successful. ❑ For the movie national airlines and other firms. ❑ You have business, it was all downhill from there. ❑ His ruined everything – my perfect plans, my great career was heading downhill fast. organization. All those years of work are down If someone goes downhill, they become the drain. more ill. ● Words such as plughole and toilet are ❑ In February 1825 Maria became ill, was sent sometimes used instead of drain. ❑ Millions home, rapidly went downhill and died aged 11. of dollars have gone down the plughole. drag have a down on someone/something or ✪ be dragging your feet or have a downer on someone/something be dragging your heels [british] If someone is dragging their feet or If you have a down on someone or dragging their heels, they are being very something or you have a downer on slow to do something. them, you do not like them or you ❑ But there’s been criticism of the United States disapprove of them. for dragging its feet on measures to protect the ❑ Snobs would have a down on a man with a environment. ❑ A spokesman strongly denied south London accent. ❑ For some reason Jackie that the Government was dragging its heels on has always had a downer on me. the issue.

have a downer on someone ➜ see down put a downer on something If something or someone puts a downer on an event, they make it less enjoyable. ❑ The argument put a downer on our school holiday break.

downhill

✪ downhill all the way or all downhill from here If a situation is downhill all the way or

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✪ drag someone kicking and screaming

If you drag someone kicking and screaming to a place or into a different state, you force them to go there or to change even though they are unwilling to do this. ❑ The minister was dragged kicking and screaming to the House yesterday. ❑ Stefan was the man who would drag North Yorkshire kicking and screaming into the third decade of the twenty-first century.

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drain ● Other verbs are sometimes used instead of drag. ❑ A reviewer had managed to sneak in to a preview last week but he was spotted by security and hauled out kicking and screaming.

dream ticket: Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling starring together in a romantic blockbuster movie. If an opportunity or a situation is a dream ticket, it is perfect. ❑ To design a Supercar remains an engineer’s drain dream ticket. down the drain ➜ see down In the United States, a ticket is a list of laugh like a drain [british] candidates that a political party has If you laugh like a drain, you laugh nominated for election. A ‘dream ticket’ noisily. is a pair of candidates that seem to be ❑ I read my tattered copies of P.G. Wodehouse and perfectly matched and who will attract laughed like a drain. ❑ We glanced across at each a lot of support. other and I saw he was laughing like a drain! ✪ like a dream The idea is of loud laughter sounding If you do something like a dream, you do like water disappearing down a drain, it very well. and perhaps also of the open mouth ❑ She had noticed, from across the dance floor, resembling the drain. that he danced like a dream. ❑ He writes like a drawer dream. ✪ out of the top drawer or work like a dream from the top drawer [mainly british] If something works like a dream it works If someone or something is out of the perfectly or is extremely successful. top drawer or from the top drawer, they ❑ The first stages of installation worked like a are of very high quality. dream. Then the procedure threw up an error ❑ The player I am looking for will be right out of message. ❑ Sleeping pills can work like a dream the top drawer. ❑ Castleford produced a the first few times, but take them for too long and performance right out of the top drawer to thrash the effect wears off. Wigan 33-2.

dreams

✪ beyond your wildest dreams If something is beyond your wildest dreams, it is much better than you could have imagined or hoped for. ❑ I’ve found my job fascinating and fulfilling - it’s been beyond my wildest dreams. ❑ He was being paid a salary beyond most people’s wildest dreams. ✪ in your dreams! People say in your dreams! to say that what someone wants is never going to happen or be true. ❑ Stephanie in love with you? In your dreams! ❑ He seems to think he is the next great comedian. In your dreams, lad. never in your wildest dreams or not in your wildest dreams If you say that never in your wildest dreams or not in your wildest dreams could you imagine a particular thing, you mean that you are very surprised by how good it is. ❑ We were told we could expect a substantial win but never in my wildest dreams could I have thought it would be more than £1 million. ❑ Not even in our wildest dreams did we think we would sell every seat for the entire season.

● You can also use top-drawer on its own to describe someone or something is of a very high quality. ❑ The Grange Hotel may be top drawer, but it’s not pretentious. ❑ The dramatisation is superbly played by a top-drawer cast. If someone is out of the top drawer or from the top drawer, they come from a very high social class. ❑ His companion came from right out of the top drawer of the Irish landed gentry.

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The American dream is the idea that anybody can be successful in life, even if they are born poor. ❑ Part of the American dream is building a new business that creates jobs and financial independence. ✪ a dream ticket [mainly british, journalism] If two people, for example politicians, are a dream ticket, they are expected to work well together and have a great deal of success. ❑ At the time, the move raised the prospect of a ‘dream ticket’ of Tony Blair as leader and John Prescott as his deputy. ❑ It was Hollywood’s

✪ the American dream

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that they are trying to influence or control a situation that should be controlled by someone else. ❑ They accused the former prime minister of being a backseat driver. ● This expression is used to show disapproval. in the driver’s seat ➜ see seat

If someone or something is the person or thing of your dreams, they are the best you can imagine. ❑ Maybe, just maybe, the man of your dreams will walk through that door and into your life tonight. ❑ It was in Tunisia that they saw the house of their dreams, the most beautiful dwelling imaginable.

driving

in the driving seat ➜ see seat all dressed up with nowhere to go or drop all dressed up with no place to go ✪ at the drop of a hat If someone is all dressed up with If you do something at the drop of a hat, nowhere to go or all dressed up with no you do it willingly and without hesitation. place to go, they are wearing clothes ❑ More people should sort out their own minor suitable for going out somewhere special, problems and stop calling the police at the drop of but are not going anywhere. a hat. ❑ There is a myth that we are an uncaring ❑ An unexpected houseguest forced Mike to generation, shoving our old folk into institutions postpone his date with Susan. Left all dressed up at the drop of a hat. with nowhere to go, Susan felt let down. ● This expression is often used to suggest ● You can also say that someone is all that someone does not think carefully dressed up and nowhere to go or all enough about their actions. dressed up and no place to go. ❑ She sat In the early 19th century, boxing there, not knowing what to do with herself. ‘I’m all matches were often started by someone dressed up,’ she thought, ‘with no place to go.’ dropping a hat. If someone is all dressed up with drop-dead ➜ see dead nowhere to go or all dressed up with no drop dead ➜ see dead place to go, they are ready to do ✪ a drop in the ocean [british] or something but that thing is not a drop in the bucket [american] happening. If something, especially an amount of ❑ The end of the Cold War left Western troops all money, is a drop in the ocean or a drop in dressed up with nowhere to go. the bucket, it is very small in comparison ● You can also say that someone is all with the amount which is needed or dressed up and nowhere to go or all expected. dressed up and no place to go. ❑ For many ❑ The size of the grants have been attacked by of the commanders at sea, it was a classic ‘all welfare groups as merely a drop in the ocean. dressed up and nowhere to go’ scenario. ❑ The amount of mercury would be minuscule, a dressed to kill drop in the bucket compared to natural sources If someone, especially a woman, is dressed such as bacteria in soils. to kill, they are wearing very smart or This expression may come from a line attractive clothes which are intended to in the Bible: ‘Behold, the nations are attract attention and impress people. as a drop of a bucket, and are counted ❑ She watched his plane come into Mascot as the small dust of the balance.’ airport, dressed to kill, her hand shielding her (Isaiah 40:15) eyes. ✪ drop someone in it [british, informal] If someone drops you in it, they cause driver trouble for you, especially by telling ✪ a back-seat driver someone about something wrong that If you call a passenger in a car a you have done or something that is back-seat driver, you mean that they embarrassing for you. keep telling the driver what to do. ❑ He was dropped right in it by his own officials ❑ My mother is a terrible back-seat driver, who admitted that they do not know what he is especially when my sister is at the wheel. talking about. ❑ By the time the police caught up If you call someone, especially a politician, a back-seat driver, you mean with him, his mates had already dropped him in it.

dressed

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drum ✪ a lame duck

drum

bang the drum or beat the drum If you bang the drum or beat the drum for something or someone, you support them strongly and publicly. ❑ The trade secretary promised to ‘bang the drum for industry’. ❑ If the French want to beat the drum on behalf of French culture, good luck to them.

drummer

march to a different drummer ➜ see march

drunk

drunk as a skunk or drunk as a lord [mainly british, informal] If someone is as drunk as a skunk or as drunk as a lord, they are very drunk. ❑ I’m sorry, honey. It was my fault. I was drunk as a skunk. ❑ She was drunk as a lord for seventeen days. She could do nothing.

dry

dry as a bone If something is as dry as a bone, it is very dry. ❑ By the end of June the pond is as dry as a bone. ● People also use the much more frequent adjective bone-dry to mean the same thing. ❑ Fires have destroyed more than 200,000 acres of bone-dry forests. ❑ His throat was bone dry. dry as dust If something is as dry as dust, it is very dry. ❑ Few houses have clean water and most farmers’ fields are as dry as dust. If something is as dry as dust, it is very boring. ❑ The whole affair is as dry as dust to the outside observer. ● People also use dry-as-dust as an adjective. ❑ It is not, however, dry-as-dust history, but an enthralling story full of insight and incident.

If a politician or a government is a lame duck, they have little real power, for example because their period of office is coming to an end. ❑ The government is headed by a president who looks like a lame duck. ❑ The last thing people needed was to feel that the government was a lame duck. ● You can also use lame-duck before a noun. ❑ He’s already seen widely as a lame-duck Prime Minister. ❑ He would have found himself leading a lame-duck administration to near-certain defeat. If someone or something is a lame duck, they are in a very weak position and in need of support. ❑ The company has completed its transformation from the lame duck of the motor industry into a quality car maker. ❑ Moira considers all single people lame ducks. ● You can also use lame-duck before a noun. ❑ It is not right to use those funds to support lame-duck industries. ● This expression is usually used to criticize someone or something. The image here is of a duck that has been shot and wounded, and so cannot move properly and is likely to die. a sitting duck If someone is a sitting duck, they are in a situation where it is very easy to attack them or criticize them. ❑ A pilot performing this manoeuvre would be a sitting duck for a second enemy aircraft. ● You can also use sitting-duck before a noun. ❑ When the planes reach the sitting-duck warships, the harbour is rocked by a series of huge explosions. A duck is an easy target for hunters when it is sitting on the water or on the ground. take to something like a duck to water If you take to something like a duck to water, you find it very easy to do. ❑ He took to acting like a duck to water. ❑ Gilbey became a salesman for BMW. He took to it like a duck to water, quickly becoming Car Salesman of the Year.

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a dead duck If someone or something is a dead duck, they are a failure. ❑ The government is a dead duck; and the Supreme National Council does not have the means to govern. ❑ The movie’s probably a dead duck. Someone who is a dead duck is going to be punished severely. [american] ❑ Hit me on the head again, and you’re a dead duck.

duck

ducks get your ducks in a row or have your ducks in a row [mainly american, informal] If you get your ducks in a row or have your ducks in a row, you get everything

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well organized and under control. ❑ The people who’ve been running the business for the last few years seem to be getting their ducks in a row. ❑ Dan’s a thorough kind of guy. He isn’t going to do anything until he’s got all his ducks in a row. The ‘ducks’ in this expression are duckpins. The game of duckpins is a variation of bowling, with ten smaller pins and a smaller ball with no finger holes. The literal meaning of ‘to get your ducks in a row’ is to get your duckpins set up for the next game. play ducks and drakes with someone [british, old-fashioned] If someone plays ducks and drakes with people, they treat them badly by being dishonest with them or not taking them seriously. ❑ He accepted the ceasefire conditions, but since then has been playing ducks and drakes with the United Nations. ‘Ducks and drakes’ is the game of throwing flat stones across the surface of some water to see how many times you can make the stones bounce. In this expression, the person’s attitude to others is perhaps being compared to someone idly and thoughtlessly throwing stones.

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dumb dumb as a post [american, informal, offensive] If you describe someone as dumb as a post, you mean that they are very stupid. ❑ She’s one of the most famous physicists in the country, and she’s dumb as a post!

dummy

a dummy run ➜ see run spit the dummy or spit out the dummy [mainly australian] If you accuse someone of spitting the dummy or spitting out the dummy, you are accusing them of behaving in a bad-tempered and childish way. ❑ He spat the dummy when they asked him to clean up after himself. ❑ They are taking the money but not talking to us. If they want to spit out the dummy, that’s their affair. The image here is of a bad-tempered baby spitting out its dummy.

dumps

dudgeon

down in the dumps or in the dumps If you are down in the dumps or in the dumps, you feel depressed. ❑ Try to be sources of support for each other when one of you is feeling down in the dumps. ❑ I was in the dumps when I met Jayne. I was clearly not living the kind of life I should live. If a business or economy is down in the dumps or in the dumps, it is doing badly. ❑ California’s economy is unlikely to stay in the dumps for more than two years.

in high dudgeon [literary] If someone is in high dudgeon, they are very angry about something. ❑ She had left in high dudgeon after learning that dust the only perk was free coffee. ❑ Washington ✪ bite the dust businesses are in high dudgeon over the If something bites the dust, it fails or requirement that small businesses should insure stops existing. their workers. ❑ With the news that community services dull funding is being cut again, yet another local dull as ditchwater or library bites the dust. ❑ Quite a few restaurants dull as dishwater have bitten the dust recently. If someone or something is as dull as If someone bites the dust, they die. ditchwater or as dull as dishwater, they ❑ A Wild West showman nearly bit the dust when are very boring. he blew himself up making blank bullets in his ❑ He’s a dull writer and that’s a fact. Dull as garden shed. ● This expression is used to refer to ditchwater. ❑ ‘Most of the politicians in Ontario are dull as dishwater,’ he said. someone’s death in a humorous way. The expression ‘dull as ditchwater’ is In stories about the Wild West, cowboys over 200 years old, whereas ‘dull as were said to ‘bite the dust’ when they dishwater’ is a more recent variant. The were shot and fell off their horses. reference is to the dull dirty colour of ✪ the dust settles or the water in ditches or in washing-up the dust clears If the dust settles or the dust clears after bowls.

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dusty

an argument, a problem or a big change, the situation becomes calmer. ❑ Now that the dust has settled, it is clear that nothing much has changed. ❑ When the dust cleared from Tuesday’s election, Washington state found itself leading the nation in the number of women elected. dry as dust ➜ see dry be eating dust or be eating someone’s dust [mainly american] In a competitive situation, if you are eating dust or are eating someone’s dust, they are doing much better than you. ❑ Aladdin has proved to be the most successful animated film of all time, leaving blockbusters like Home Alone 2 eating its dust. ❑ Compared to other race games, this one is eating dust. If you are riding behind another horse in a race, you have the dust kicked up by the other horse in your face. eat someone’s dust [american] If you eat someone’s dust, you are a long way behind them in a race or a competitive situation. ❑ If you ignore new production methods, you will have to eat your competitors’ dust. ✪ gather dust If something gathers dust, it is not used or dealt with for a very long time. ❑ The report has been gathering dust on a shelf. ❑ She swam in the pool every morning and used the treadmill that had been gathering dust. not see someone for dust [british] If you can’t see someone for dust, they have left somewhere very quickly. ❑ Come the dawn, I couldn’t see him for dust. ❑ Once I’ve saved enough money, you won’t see me for dust. The image here is of someone galloping away on a horse, so that all you see is the cloud of dust kicked up by the horse’s feet. shake the dust of somewhere from your feet [british] If you shake the dust of a place or situation

from your feet, you leave it behind forever. ❑ There comes a time when we must shake the dust off our feet and move on. ❑ He insisted that the bank shake the dust of third-world debt from its feet. This expression occurs in the Bible: ‘And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.’ (Matthew 10:14)

dusty

a dusty answer or a dusty reply [british, old-fashioned] If you ask for something or suggest something and you get a dusty answer or a dusty reply, you receive an unpleasant and negative answer. ❑ He asked three times to speak to the king, but each time received a dusty answer. ❑ Ask a world-class sportsperson to spend several hours testing your product and you are likely to receive a dusty reply.

Dutch

go Dutch [british, old-fashioned] If two or more people go Dutch, they share the cost of the bill for something such as a meal or an evening out. ❑ We went Dutch on a Chinese meal in Shaftesbury Avenue. ❑ I always go Dutch on a first date. ● You can also say that you have a Dutch treat. ❑ He wanted to pay the bill, but I objected and we settled on a Dutch treat. in Dutch [american, old-fashioned] If you are in Dutch, you are in trouble. ❑ Maybe he was in Dutch again and this time they offered him the chance of paying his debt by chasing me out of town. ❑ Doug wants to get Manatelli in Dutch with his boss.

in a dwaal [south african, informal] If someone is in a dwaal, they are unable to think clearly or understand what is happening. ❑ I’ve been in a dwaal most of today.

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Ee SA eagle

an eagle eye If someone has an eagle eye, they watch things carefully and are good at noticing things. ❑ No antiques shop, market or furniture shop escapes her eagle eye. ❑ Phil’s played first-class cricket for five years in England under the eagle eye of our umpires. ❑ You must watch builders with an eagle eye because some will cheat the minute you turn your back. ● You can also say that someone keeps an eagle eye on someone or something. ❑ Managers of Europe’s top clubs are keeping an eagle eye on the World Championships, hoping to snap up new talent. ● You can also describe someone as eagle-eyed. ❑ As the band were passing through security, an eagle-eyed official spotted an 18-inch knife in their luggage. Eagles have very good eyesight, and are able to see small animals or objects from a great height.

ear

about a problem they have or something they want you to do. ❑ I had Jo bending my ear for over an hour with all her problems. ❑ He was fed up with people bending his ear about staying on at school. go in one ear and out the other If something that you tell someone goes in one ear and out the other, they pay no attention to it, or forget about it immediately. ❑ I’ve told him so many times – it just goes in one ear and out the other. ❑ The words went in one ear and out the other. They hardly registered. have an ear for something If you have an ear for something, such as music or languages, you are able to learn it quickly, partly by listening to it and repeating it. ❑ He had an ear for languages, and by this time he spoke five fluently. If you have an ear for the way in which people speak, you notice it and are able to repeat it in writing. ❑ Her great strength as a writer was her ear for dialogue. ➜ compare with have a tin ear for something have the ear of someone or have someone’s ear If you have the ear of someone in a position of power or have their ear, they pay great attention to what you say, and often follow your advice. ❑ This man has the ear of world leaders. ❑ He has the President’s ear, especially over environmental policy. keep your ear to the ground or have your ear to the ground [mainly british] If you keep your ear to the ground or have your ear to the ground, you make an effort to be aware of what is happening around you.

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If you are grinning from ear to ear, you are smiling a lot and looking very happy. ❑ ‘I had a fantastic response,’ he said, grinning from ear to ear. ● Verbs such as smile and beam can be used instead of grin. ❑ McCarthy was beaming from ear to ear and his eyes were bright. ● You can also say that someone has a grin from ear to ear or has a smile from ear to ear. ❑ I hadn’t smiled so much in years. I had this grin from ear to ear. ● You can use ear-to-ear before nouns such as grin and smile. ❑ All around him were more ear-to-ear grins than I have seen before. bend someone’s ear [informal] If someone bends your ear, they keep talking to you about something, often

✪ be grinning from ear to ear

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earner ❑ Keep your ear to the ground. Know who is

earner

coming and who is going: a new vacancy could be a nice little earner [british, informal] an opportunity for you. ❑ Paul had his ear to the If you describe something as a nice little ground and always knew about future concerts earner, you mean that it is something before anyone else that you can make money from easily. In films, Native Americans used to be ❑ T-shirts are a nice little earner and it’s better shown tracking people or animals by than the dole. listening carefully to the ground for the ears sound of their footsteps. be all ears lend an ear or If you are all ears, you are ready and eager lend a sympathetic ear to listen to what someone is saying. If you lend an ear or lend a sympathetic ❑ Okay, tell me what the problem is. I’m all ears. ear to someone or their problems, you ❑ She had expected him to be all ears when she listen to them carefully and with concern. told him about her wedding plans. ❑ My mother was always willing to lend an ear between your ears or and offer what advice she could. ❑ My colleagues between the ears [informal] lent a sympathetic ear to my complaints but If someone has nothing or little between could do nothing to help. their ears or between the ears, they are listen with half an ear not clever. If you listen to someone or something ❑ Footballers often have a reputation of not with half an ear, you listen but do not give having much between the ears. ❑ He doesn’t them your full attention. have a lot between the ears. ❑ She listened to the news with half an ear as she ● These expressions are usually used scanned her messages. ❑ Gigi listened with half light-heartedly. an ear to Yussef and Bassil, who were talking ✪ fall on deaf ears about their school days. If something you say to someone, out on your ear [british, informal] especially a request, falls on deaf ears, If you are out on your ear, you have been they take no notice of what you have said. suddenly made to leave a course, job, or ❑ Sadly, this appeal is likely to fall on deaf ears. group. ❑ The mayor spoke privately to Gibbs yesterday ❑ I’d failed the first year exam in the History of and asked him to resign, but his plea fell on deaf Art. I had to pass the re-sit or I’d be out on my ear. ears. ❑ I never complained. I’d have been out on my ear have something coming out of your ears looking for another job if I had. [informal] play it by ear If you have something coming out of If you play it by ear, you deal with things your ears, you have a great amount of it. as they happen, rather than following a ❑ There’s no stopping Norton. He’s got awards plan or previous arrangement. coming out of his ears, including a fourth BAFTA ❑ ‘Where will we stay in Gloucestershire?’ – ‘Oh, I for Best Entertainment Performance. ❑ She’s got guess a bed-and-breakfast place. We’ll have to university degrees coming out of her ears. play it by ear.’ ❑ I don’t know what will happen pin back your ears [british] next. I’m playing it by ear. If you pin back your ears, you listen If someone plays a piece of music by ear, carefully to what someone is saying. they play it without looking at printed [old-fashioned] music. ❑ Right, children, pin back your ears because this turn a deaf ear is important. If you turn a deaf ear to something such In sport, if someone pins back their as a request or argument, you refuse to ears, they run very quickly in an attempt consider it and do not pay any attention to score and help their team win. to it. ❑ The Newport back division dropped the ball 30 ❑ She repeatedly complained to her employers metres out and Hughes pinned back his ears and but they turned a deaf ear. ❑ The mayor, owner of raced to the line. two dogs, has long turned a deaf ear to residents pin someone’s ears back [american] who want tougher laws to protect the cleanliness of their pavements. If you pin someone’s ears back, you tell

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There are two possible origins for this them off for having done something wrong. expression. It may refer to a young ❑ I’ve heard some grandparents pin their 40-yearanimal being washed by its mother. old son’s ears back. Alternatively, it may refer to children prick up your ears forgetting to dry behind their ears after If someone pricks up their ears, they start washing. listening eagerly, because they suddenly earth hear an interesting sound or piece of ✪ come down to earth or information. come down to earth with a bump ❑ Olivia pricked up her ears at the mention of If you come down to earth or come down James. to earth with a bump, you suddenly have ● You can also say that someone’s ears to deal with the reality of everyday life prick up. ❑ My ears pricked up when I heard her after a period of great excitement. talk about food. ❑ I had a fantastic holiday but came down to When animals such as dogs hear a earth with a bump after a day in the office. ❑ She sudden or unfamiliar noise, they prick was a household name, travelling around in fine up their ears; that is, their ears become clothes and an Italian sports car, but she came more upright so that they can hear the down to earth with a bump later that year. sound better. ● You can also say that something brings up to your ears you back to earth or that something If you are up to your ears in work or in an brings you back down to earth with a unpleasant situation, you are very busy bump. ❑ When something good does happen, with it or are deeply involved in it. it’s important that it is celebrated. Next day ❑ I can’t come out this evening – I’m up to my something will happen to bring you back to earth. ears in reports. ❑ The campaign director was ❑ Circumstances beyond their control could yet said to be up to his ears in dirty business deals. bring them back down to earth with a bump. up to your ears in debt ● Nouns such as bang, thump and thud If you are up to your ears in debt, you owe can be used instead of bump. ❑ They were a lot of money. renting their dream apartment but came down to ❑ Tom was still up to his ears in debt with no earth with a thud when they realized what sort of prospect of work. home they could afford to actually buy. were your ears burning? ✪ down to earth You say were your ears burning? to If you are down to earth, you are very someone that you have just met to tell realistic and practical. them that you were talking about them ❑ They think she’s too glamorous and won’t want before they arrived. to speak to them but actually she’s very friendly ❑ Dave! Talk about coincidence! Were your ears and very down to earth. ❑ He is blunt, burning? outspoken, practical and down to earth. ● The idea of ears burning is used in ● You can use down-to-earth before a other expressions with a similar noun. ❑ Everyone liked her down-to-earth meaning. ❑ Karl’s ears must have been approach to life. ❑ They came across as burning in this morning’s meeting – we talked of natural, down-to-earth people, just as they do little else. on TV. wet behind the ears ➜ compare with have your head in the If someone is wet behind the ears, they clouds are young and do not have much earth to someone knowledge or experience of a situation. People say earth to someone if that ❑ Hawking was a research student, still wet person is not paying attention or if they behind the ears by scientific standards. ❑ Terry, are acting strangely. it turned out, was just out of university and wet ❑ ‘Hello! Earth to Stella!’ said Lori incredulously. ‘ behind the ears. ● You can also use wet-behind-the-ears You so need to get your eyes tested.’ ❑ Hello? Earth to Holly? Are you still there or am I talking before a noun. ❑ The song is all about how he to myself? felt as a small-town, wet-behind-the-ears kid ● This expression is used humorously. coming to LA for the first time.

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easier This expression comes from science fiction movies showing people on earth sending messages to people in space. go to earth [british] If you go to earth, you hide from someone or something. ❑ The girl who had supplied the guns stayed put for a couple of weeks before she, too, went to earth. ➜ compare with go to ground A fox’s hole is called an earth. In hunting, this expression is used to refer to a fox hiding in its earth. promise the earth If someone promises the earth, they promise to give people things that they cannot in fact possibly give them. ❑ ‘Politicians have lost credibility,’ he complained, ‘they promise the earth and don’t deliver.’ run someone to earth [british] If you run someone to earth, you find them after a long search. ❑ Last month, he was run to earth by Greenpeace at his home in Bridgehampton. ➜ compare with run someone to ground A fox’s hole is called an earth. In hunting, this expression is used to refer to a fox being chased back to its earth.

In the first idiom below, ABC is pronounced ‘a b c’, as if you are spelling it out.

easy as pie or easy as ABC If something is easy as pie or easy as ABC, it is very easy to do. ❑ With technology the way it is, it’s as easy as pie to work from remote locations. ❑ With our guide, planning your US fly-drive holiday will be as easy as ABC. ➜ compare with a piece of cake The reference is probably to eating a pie rather than making one. easy come, easy go [informal] You say easy come, easy go to mean that if money or objects are easy to get, you do not care very much about spending it or losing them. ❑ My attitude to money is easy come, easy go. That’s to say, I earn a lot, but I also give quite a lot away in different ways. go easy on someone If you tell someone to go easy on another person, you are telling them not to punish or treat that person severely. ❑ Go easy on her, Michael. She’s having a hard time as it is. go easy on something If you tell someone to go easy on easier something, you are warning them not to ✪ easier said than done have or use too much of it, because you If you say that something is easier said think that it is bad for them. than done, you mean that although it ❑ Small meals at regular times are important. sounds like a good idea, you think it Go easy on the salt and don’t add extra sugar. would be difficult to actually do it. ✪ I’m easy ❑ ‘If you’re not happy with yourself, then change.’ When people say I’m easy, they mean Easier said than done, Alex thought. ❑ The that they do not mind which choice is alternative option is to scrap the unwanted made. machines, and use the metal for some other ❑ ‘Shall we go now or later?’ – ‘I’m easy – you purpose. But this, too, is easier said than done. decide.’ ✪ take it easy [informal] easy If you take it easy, you rest and do easy as falling off a log not do anything that needs a lot of If something is as easy as falling off a log, energy. it is very easy to do. ❑ Take it easy, Bob. Work can wait. ❑ The ❑ She’s just the sort of woman who could cook a astronauts are taking it easy today, following four-course dinner for 12 while singing all of six full days of medical research. Fauré’s Requiem, and making it look as easy as ● In British English, you can also falling off a log. ● You can also say that something is as tell someone to take things easy. ❑ She has been advised by her doctor to take simple as falling off a log or like falling off things easy. a log. ❑ All you have to do it climb up the rope You can say take it easy as a way of and stand on the bar. Honestly, it’s like falling saying ‘goodbye’. [mainly american] off a log.

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edge ❑ ‘Thanks. See you later.’ – ‘Take it easy. Don’t do

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eclipse

anything I wouldn’t do.’

eat

eat someone alive ➜ see alive what’s eating someone People ask what’s eating someone, when they want to know why that person seems to be unhappy or angry. ❑ ‘What the hell’s eating you?’ he demanded.

ebb

✪ at a low ebb

in eclipse [formal] If something is in eclipse, it is much less successful and important than it used to be. ❑ The Socialist party, which has spent most of the past 21 years in government, is now in eclipse. ❑ Since then, his career has been mostly in eclipse. An eclipse of the sun is an occasion when the moon is between the earth and the sun, so that for a short time you cannot see part or all of the sun. An eclipse of the moon is an occasion when the earth is between the sun and the moon, so that for a short time you cannot see part or all of the moon because it is covered by the shadow of the earth.

If something is at a low ebb, it is failing and at a low level. ❑ Confidence in the whole project was at a low ebb. ❑ By now, the company’s finances were at a low ebb. ● You can also say that something is at its lowest ebb. ❑ Their reputation was at its edge lowest ebb. ✪ at the cutting edge of something or If someone is at a low ebb, they are on the cutting edge of something depressed. If something is at the cutting edge of or ❑ When I have been at a low ebb I have found the on the cutting edge of an area of activity, friendship and love of my fellow churchgoers to be it is one of the most advanced a great comfort. ● You can also say that someone is at developments in that area. their lowest ebb. ❑ I was mentally at my ❑ No designer can be at the cutting edge of the lowest ebb. fashion industry for more than 15 years. ❑ The The ebb tide is one of the regular company has always prided itself on being on the periods, usually two per day, when the cutting edge of computer technology. ● You can also simply talk about the sea gradually falls to a lower level, as the tide moves away from the land. cutting edge of a particular area of ✪ ebb and flow activity. ❑ This is the cutting edge of medicine. ● You can also use cutting-edge before a The ebb and flow of something is the way that it continuously changes, especially noun. ❑ These were the men and women doing in its amount or level. the cutting-edge research. ❑ These are ❑ The advantage to the employer is flexibility to cutting-edge technologies and we must support cope with the commercial ebb and flow. ❑ The them. vineyards are tucked into small clearings formed by a cutting edge [journalism] the natural ebb and flow of the hills and the trees. If someone or something has a cutting ● Ebb and flow is also used as a verb edge, they have a skill or quality that meaning to change continuously, allows them to be more successful than especially in amount or level. ❑ During their opponents. those thirty years the fortunes of the British film ❑ The whole team lacked a cutting edge and it industry ebbed and flowed. was only a matter of time before the defence This expression comes from the idea of caved in. the tide ebbing and flowing (= going in give someone the rough edge of your and out). tongue ➜ see tongue keep you on the edge of your seat echo [british] or cheer someone to the echo [british, keep you on the edge of your chair old-fashioned] [american] If you cheer someone to the echo, you If a film, programme or performance applaud them loudly for a long time. keeps you on the edge of your seat or on ❑ They cheered him to the echo, as they did every the edge of your chair, it is very exciting member of the cast.

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edges

and makes you watch with great concentration, wanting to know what will happen next. ❑ Based on the Stephen King book, it is the kind of story that keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout. ● You can also say something has you on the edge of your seat or chair. ❑ Saturday night’s final had the spectators on the edge of their seats. ● You can also say edge-of-the-seat before a noun. ❑ It’s a real action-packed edge-of-theseat thriller. ✪ lose your edge If someone or something loses their edge, they no longer have the special skills, qualities or advantages that they had in the past. ❑ As a company, they had lost their competitive edge. ❑ Its critics say the magazine is out of date and has lost its edge. If a sword or knife has lost its edge, it is blunt. ✪ on edge If someone is on edge, they are anxious and unable to relax. ❑ She seemed a bit on edge the whole evening, which I put down to work stress. ✪ take the edge off something If something takes the edge off a feeling or situation, especially an unpleasant one, it weakens its effect or unpleasantness. ❑ My head never seemed to clear completely, and the painkillers only took the edge off the pain. ❑ We had an informal chat before the interview and that took the edge off my nerves. If something takes the edge off a blade, it makes it blunt.

If a piece of cloth or rope frays, its threads or fibres start to come apart. rough around the edges If something is rough around the edges, it is mostly good, but not completely perfect. ❑ It’s rough around the edges, perhaps, but this frank and funny film establishes Harris as a talent to watch. ❑ The house was a bit rough around the edges but it was fine for us. If a person is rough around the edges, they have some negative qualities, such as not being stylish, polite or welleducated. ❑ He’s a bit rough around the edges but he’s wonderful with kids. rough edges If a person has rough edges, they have small faults in their personality, especially in the way that they deal with other people. ❑ The school has a reputation for smoothing the rough edges of its pupils. ● You can also use rough-edged to describe a person with small faults. ❑ He was rough-edged, like a lot of self-made men. If a performance or piece of entertainment has rough edges, it has small faults that mean it is not perfect. ❑ The show, despite some rough edges, was an instant success. ❑ Weller’s singing may have a few rough edges but his fans say that’s part of the attraction. ● You can also talk about a rough-edged performer, performance, or piece of entertainment. ❑ She was untutored, rough-edged, but the audiences adored her. ❑ Their rough-edged guitar music has become a regular fixture on the college circuit.

eel

edges

slippery as an eel ➜ see slippery fray at the edges or effing fray around the edges effing and blinding If something or someone frays at the Effing and blinding means using a lot of edges or frays around the edges, they rude words. gradually become weaker or less ❑ He was dragged in, effing and blinding, and left successful. in a cell to calm down. ❑ The government’s army has begun to fray at the edges. ❑ By this time, their partnership had egg begun to fray around the edges. ✪ egg on your face or ● You can also talk about something being egg all over your face frayed at the edges or frayed around the If you get egg on your face or egg all over edges. ❑ At 72, his voice is sometimes a little your face, you do or say something that frayed around the edges, but that just adds to makes you seem stupid and feel its charm. embarrassed.

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❑ There’s no point in making predictions, because eggshells all too often you end up with egg on your face.

❑ A recent public relations disaster left the

company with egg all over its face. People in crowds sometimes throw eggs at someone such as a politician or performer, to show their anger or dislike for them. a good egg [old-fashioned] If you describe someone as a good egg, you mean that they are a kind and reliable person. ❑ Her father’s a bit bad-tempered, but basically a good egg. go suck an egg [american, informal] If someone tells you to go suck an egg, they are telling you in a rude way to go away. ❑ If she criticizes you again, just tell her to go suck an egg. lay an egg [american, informal] If something lays an egg, it fails because people are not interested in it or do not want it. ❑ Independent studies showed the ad laid an egg. ❑ Long before they had finished making it, Stamp knew that the movie would lay an egg. This expression is probably derived from the idea of an egg being round and therefore resembling a zero. A ‘duck’ (duck’s egg) is a score of zero in British sport, and the equivalent in American sport is a ‘goose egg’.

be treading on eggshells or be walking on eggshells If you are treading on eggshells or are walking on eggshells, you are being extremely careful about what you say or do because you do not want to upset or offend someone. ❑ She was so easily offended, I felt as if I was treading on eggshells the whole time. ❑ Everyone was walking on eggshells around him, just not knowing what his reaction was going to be. ● You can also say that someone is treading on eggs or is walking on eggs. ❑ Living with you is like treading on eggs.

elbow

eggs

elbow grease Elbow grease is the hard physical work of cleaning something. ❑ It took a considerable amount of polish and elbow grease before the brass shone like new. ❑ These products are designed to take the elbow grease out of cleaning. elbow room If someone gives you elbow room, they give you the freedom to do what you want to do in a particular situation. ❑ He promised governors that he would give them more elbow room to encourage innovation. ❑ The decision has allowed us more electoral elbow room and political flexibility. If you have enough elbow room, you have enough space to move freely or feel comfortable, without feeling crowded. ❑ There was not much elbow room in the cockpit. ❑ To have this much elbow room in London, you would need to be a billionaire. not know your arse from your elbow [british, informal, very rude] or not know your ass from your elbow [mainly american, informal, very rude] If someone doesn’t know their arse from their elbow or doesn’t know their ass from their elbow, they are stupid or they do not know anything about a subject or situation. ❑ I won’t be lectured to by some producer who doesn’t know his arse from his elbow. In British English, your arse is your bottom. In American English, the word used is ass.

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If you put all your eggs in one basket, you put all your efforts or resources into one course of action and will not be able to do anything else if this fails. ❑ You could argue this is a risky strategy, putting all your eggs in one basket; if the firm goes bust you lose your job and your savings and everything. ❑ Don’t put your eggs in one basket; study hard at school and always keep an alternative job in mind. ● People sometimes put other words before eggs and basket to show a particular situation they are talking about. ❑ Never put all your investment eggs in one basket. ❑ These countries have put their development eggs in the tourism basket, spending millions of dollars from public funds to build the sorts of facilities that foreign tourists demand. sure as eggs (is eggs) ➜ see sure

✪ put all your eggs in one basket

elbows rub elbows with someone [american] If you rub elbows with someone

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element important or famous, you spend time with them. ❑ He rubbed elbows with his movie star clients and appeared on numerous TV talk shows. ❑ In the 10 years prior to that job, he rubbed elbows with dozens of political super-celebrities.

There is a story that the Kings of Siam used to give white elephants, which are very rare, to courtiers who they did not like. The animals cost so much to keep that their owners spent all their money on them and became very poor.

elevator

The usual British expression is rub shoulders with someone.

element

✪ in your element

If you are in your element, you are doing something that you enjoy and do well. ❑ My stepmother was in her element, organizing everything. ❑ ‘The sale will now commence. We will proceed in steps of two hundred thousand,’ declared Bunbury, who was in his element. ● You can say that someone is out of their element when they are doing something that they do not enjoy and do not do well. ❑ He stayed in the trade eight years, but was bored by the work and felt out of his element. ❑ As I hadn’t done much cooking recently I felt a bit out of my element in the kitchen. Ancient and medieval philosophers believed that all substances were composed from the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. To be ‘in your element’ is to be in your natural surroundings, like a bird in air or a fish in water.

the elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top or someone’s elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top [informal] People say that the elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top or that someone’s elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top to mean that someone is stupid. ❑ I get the feeling his elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top.

embarrassment

an embarrassment of riches [literary] If you have an embarrassment of riches, you have so many good things or options that you cannot decide which to have or do. ❑ With three matches being screened live simultaneously, football fans have an embarrassment of riches to choose from.

see the elephant [american] If you see the elephant, you experience something very extreme, especially war. ❑ We marched all day – we were going to see the elephant at last. ✪ a white elephant If you describe something such as a new building or project as a white elephant, you mean that it has cost a lot of money but is completely useless. ❑ The whole complex was a white elephant, constructed at enormous expense but never used. ❑ After 17 years under construction, the factory is still only partly built and is far from being operational. It is in fact, a great white elephant.

elephant

brave the elements If you brave the elements, you go outside despite bad weather. ❑ She braved the elements to cook outdoors in the Scottish Highlands.

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be running on empty If a person or organization is running on empty, they have no new ideas or resources and so are not as exciting or successful as they were previously. ❑ Recent performances suggest a band running on empty, delaying the inevitable. ❑ A lot of societies are running on empty – muddling through without any clear sense of direction. If you are running on empty, you have no energy left, either because you have been working too hard over a long period or because you have not eaten for a long time. ❑ After reaching the ultimate goal of winning six world titles consecutively, the champion was running on empty. ❑ I had skipped breakfast and was running on empty. In this expression, the idea is of a car or other vehicle that is still running but has very little fuel left, so the needle of the fuel gauge is pointing to ‘empty’.

elements

empty

enchilada the whole enchilada [american, informal] If you describe something as the whole enchilada, you mean that it is as complete

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● You can use dead-end to describe a

or extreme as possible. ❑ Consumers who want this software can download the whole enchilada from their website. The usual British expression is the whole caboodle.

end

at a loose end [british] or at loose ends [american] If you are at a loose end or at loose ends, you have some spare time and you feel rather bored because you do not have anything particular to do. ❑ The school summer holidays had just started and I was already at a loose end. ❑ If you’re ever at a loose end, I’m at Danilo’s most lunchtimes, so drop by if you feel like it. This expression may refer to the ropes on a sailing ship. The ends of the ropes had to be tightly bound to stop them fraying, and sailors were often given this job to do when there was nothing more urgent to be done. Alternatively, the expression may refer to a working horse being untied at the end of the day and released into a field. ➜ compare with loose ends at the end of the day [journalism, spoken] You can use at the end of the day to introduce your main conclusion about something you have been discussing. ❑ Yes, but at the end of the day, Neil’s not a rock journalist. ❑ At the end of the day the only person who can take your life forward from here is you. at the end of your tether ➜ see tether come to a sticky end [british] or come to a bad end If someone comes to a sticky end or comes to a bad end, they die in an unpleasant or violent way. ❑ Arminius also came to a sticky end, murdered by his own troops. ❑ Hassan comes to a bad end, but so does almost everyone else in the book. ✪ a dead end You use dead end to talk about situation in which you cannot make any more progress. ❑ The signs are that their famously successful economic policy might be nearing a dead end. ❑ Do you feel you have reached a dead end at work?

boring job or situation which will never lead to anything more interesting or successful. ❑ He was stuck in the same dead-end job for twenty years. ❑ Starting your own business is daunting but I was desperate to get out of what felt like a dead-end situation. A dead end is a street which is closed at one end. end it all If someone ends it all, they kill themselves. ❑ Things got so bad, I even thought of ending it all. ❑ I desperately wanted to end it all, but I had a little boy who was totally dependent upon me. the end of the rainbow ➜ see rainbow ✪ the end of the road or the end of the line  You use the end of the road or the end of the line to describe a point in a situation after which someone or something can no longer continue or survive. ❑ The administration realises now that they’ve come to the end of the road of their policy. ❑ Failure to beat Poland at Wembley in the next match will almost certainly spell the end of the line for the England manager.  If you talk about the end of the road or the end of the line, you mean what will eventually happen as a result of someone’s actions. ❑ We believe the sums do not add up. At the end of the line there will be bankruptcy for some. ❑ I see bloodshed at the end of the road, he said, and I see disaster for my country. an end run [american, informal] An end run is something that you do in order to avoid something. ❑ He’s trying to do an end run around the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This expression comes from American football where a player with the ball runs around a line of members of the other team. ✪ end to end If things are end to end, they are in a row with their ends touching each other. ❑ The ship’s deck was large enough to fit three football fields end to end. ❑ Placed end to end this is enough cans to go round the world more than 6 times. get the short end of the stick ➜ see stick get the wrong end of the stick ➜ see stick

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ends

● You can also say that you jump in at the go off the deep end If someone goes off the deep end, they deep end, meaning that you choose to do start to behave in a crazy or very extreme this yourself. ❑ Sometimes you learn more by way. [mainly american] jumping in at the deep end. ❑ Ray gives a chilling performance as the The deep end is the end of a swimming seemingly nice cop who goes off the deep end and pool where the water is deepest. starts terrorising a couple. ❑ At first they to the bitter end thought that I’d gone off the deep end and had If you do something to the bitter end, you lost my mind. continue doing it in a determined way If someone goes off the deep end, they until you finish it, even though it become very angry. [british] becomes increasingly difficult. ❑ My dad went off the deep end when he found ❑ Despite another crushing defeat, he is out what I’d done. determined to see the job through to the bitter The deep end is the end of a swimming end. ❑ They must carry on their battle to the pool where the water is deepest. bitter end, not only to get a fair deal for keep your end up or themselves, but for the sake of all British hold your end up [british, informal] business. If you keep your end up or hold your end Sailors used to refer to the end of a up in a particular situation, you do what rope or chain that was securely tied as you have promised to do or what you are ‘the bitter end’. Bitts were posts on the expected to do. ship’s deck and ropes would be tied to ❑ But David, despite being nervous, holds his end these to secure the ship in a harbour. up brilliantly, making his points clearly and ends concisely. ❑ We signed a contract and we’ve ✪ loose ends worked hard to keep our end up. Now they must If there are loose ends in a piece of work, do the same. there are small details or parts of it that not the end of the world ➜ see world have not been finished or dealt with yet. on the wrong end of something ❑ We have to make certain that as we move on to [journalism] the next stage there are no loose ends. If you are on the wrong end of something ● People often talk about tying up loose bad, especially a defeat, you are the ends to mean dealing with these details. person or side that suffers or loses. ❑ There are still a few loose ends on the project to ❑ He played his first competitive match in Japan be tied up. last week, and ended up on the wrong end of a 5-0 ➜ compare with at loose ends thrashing. ❑ They were on the wrong end of a This expression may refer to the ropes 20-15 scoreline. on a sailing ship. The ends of the ropes ✪ the sharp end [mainly british] had to be tightly bound to stop them The sharp end of an activity or type of fraying, and sailors were often given work is the part where the most this job to do when there was nothing difficulties or the hardest work are more urgent to be done. experienced. ✪ make ends meet ❑ Crime prevention is now the sharp end of If you find it difficult to make ends meet, policing. ❑ Still only 28, Smith has been at the you find it difficult to pay for the things sharp end of activism for almost a decade. you need in life, because you have very In sailors’ slang, the bow or front end of little money. a ship is known as ‘the sharp end’. ❑ Many people are struggling to make ends the thin end of the wedge ➜ see wedge meet because wages are failing to keep pace ✪ throw someone in at the deep end with rising prices. ❑ He has trouble making If you throw someone in at the deep end, ends meet because he can’t find work and his you make them learn how to do a job or government check is barely enough to cover the task by starting with the most difficult rent. parts. Originally, this expression was ‘make ❑ I believe you gain confidence by being thrown in both ends of the year meet’, which at the deep end. Then there’s no way out. You have meant to spend only as much money as to get on with it and produce the goods. you received as income.

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play both ends against the middle [american] If someone plays both ends against the middle, they pretend to support or favour two opposing people or ideas in order to gain an advantage, or to get all the benefits that they can from a situation. ❑ The growing distance between her parents allowed the young Walker to play both ends against the middle. ● You usually use this expression to show that you disapprove of this behaviour.

enemy

If you say that someone is their own worst enemy, you mean that their own behaviour causes most of their problems. ❑ In a way I’m my own worst enemy – too critical and hard on myself. ❑ The patients are their own worst enemy. They keep missing appointments.

he/she can talk/eat, etc. for England [british, informal] If you say that someone can talk/eat, etc. for England, you mean that they do that thing a lot. ❑ That woman can talk for England.

envy err

to err is human People say to err is human to mean that it is natural for human beings to make mistakes. ❑ To err is human, and nobody likes a perfect person. ● People sometimes use the whole expression to err is human, to forgive divine to mean that it is a very good thing to be able to forgive someone who does something wrong. ❑ Everyone admires her behaviour – after all, to err is human, to forgive divine. This expression comes from an essay by Alexander Pope.

People say enough is enough when they think that something, usually something bad, should stop. ❑ Stop asking questions! You should know when enough is enough. ❑ Eventually, enough is enough, and you have to evict them from your house.

envelope push the envelope If you push the envelope, you do something to a greater degree or in a more extreme way than it has been done before.

If you see the error of your ways, you realise that you have behaved badly and start to understand how you can do better. ❑ I wanted an opportunity to talk some sense into him and try to make him see the error of his ways. ● You can also say that you realise the error of your ways. ❑ It took him a long time, he says, to realise the error of his ways. ● You can also point out or show someone the error of their ways. ❑ He only responded when his players pointed out the error of his ways. ❑ But I firmly believe that many of these conservatives can be shown the error of their ways.

✪ enough is enough

✪ see the error of your ways

enough

error

an Englishman’s home is his castle [british, old-fashioned] When people say an Englishman’s home is his castle, they mean that British people believe they have the right to do what they want in their own home, and that other people or the state should not interfere in their private lives. ❑ He clearly holds a view that an Englishman’s home is his castle and he is entitled to take any steps necessary to secure that.

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that pushes the envelope a bit. Rather than referring to stationery, the sense of envelope here is probably the one used to refer to the shape of a wave in electronics or a curve in mathematics. Pushing or stretching the envelope suggests changing the properties of the wave or curve.

Englishman

new technologies and developing better methods.

❑ There’s a valuable place for fashion and design

green with envy ➜ see green

✪ your own worst enemy

England

141

❑ We have to keep pushing the envelope, trying

essence of the essence [formal] If something is of the essence, it is absolutely necessary in order for a particular action to be successful. ❑ Time is of the essence. ❑ Speed was of the essence in a project of this type.

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even ● You can also say that someone puts off the evil hour. ❑ There was no putting off the don’t get mad, get even evil hour any longer. I picked up the phone and If someone says don’t get mad, get even, called her. they mean that if someone harms you, you should not waste your energy on evils being angry, but concentrate on harming ✪ the lesser of two evils or them in return. the lesser evil ❑ Relationships here seem to work on a don’t get If you have to choose between two bad mad, get even principle. So if I’m late by ten things, you can call the one which is less minutes for an appointment to meet you, the next bad the lesser of two evils or the lesser time we meet you are late by the same number of evil. minutes, and so on. ❑ Should she choose life on the streets or the This expression is believed to have come bad marriage? In the end it seemed the street from the strong-willed Irish-American was the lesser of two evils. ❑ In a continent politician Joseph P Kennedy, father of where economic successes are rare, this sort John F Kennedy. A book by Alan Abel of regime may seem a lesser evil than abject with this title, described as ‘a manual poverty. for retaliation’, was published in 1983. exception ✪ get even the exception that proves the rule If you get even with someone who has You say that something is the exception hurt or insulted you, you get your revenge that proves the rule to mean that the on them. example that you have just mentioned is ❑ He is so furious about their treatment of him not normal and is the opposite of what that he’s determined to get even. ❑ He’d leapt at you usually find. this chance to get even with the guy who had ❑ Towers should generally be arranged in taken his money. clusters, but the Post Office Tower was the event exception that proved the rule – it needs to stand be wise after the event alone so that its signals are not interrupted. If you say that someone is wise after the ❑ The most creative minds are often said to be the event, you mean that they understand a product of a problematic childhood, but Hornby situation and know how to deal with it, must be the exception that proves the rule. but only because it has already happened. ‘Prove’ here means ‘to test by ❑ I still feel I should have done more to try and experiment or analysis’ rather than ‘to stop him getting into the car, but it’s easy to be establish as true’. So, the meaning is wise after the event. that an exception tests a rule, not that it establishes the rule as true in all other everything situations. everything is coming up roses ➜ see

even

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✪ at someone’s expense

If someone laughs or makes a joke at your expense, they laugh or make a joke about you. ❑ Danny told them about my accident and they all had a good laugh at my expense. ❑ There was plenty of laughter, most of it at my expense.

experience

If you describe something as a necessary evil, you mean that although it is unpleasant, it is needed. ❑ He viewed war as a necessary evil. ❑ Managers sometimes think that training is a necessary evil that has to be done but is too expensive. put off the evil day [british] If you put off the evil day, you try to avoid doing something unpleasant or difficult for as long as possible. ❑ I know I have to do my accounts at some point – I’m just putting off the evil day when I actually do it.

expense

✪ a necessary evil

roses

evil

✪ put something down to experience or chalk something up to experience If you put a failure or bad experience down to experience or chalk it up to experience, you do not get very upset about it because you will learn from it in the future. ❑ I was disappointed not to win, but I’ve just got

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to chalk it up to experience and go on. ❑ They could have parted friends and put the whole incident down to experience.

the evil eye The evil eye is a harmful magical force that is given by looking at someone. ❑ Some people said an evil eye had been put on eye her. cast an eye on something ✪ an eye for an eye If you cast an eye on something, you People say an eye for an eye to mean a examine it carefully and give your system of justice in which the opinion about it. punishment for a crime is either the ❑ Both papers cast an eye on the start of the same as the crime or equivalent to it. Conservative Party conference in Bournemouth ❑ The court is not there to deliver an eye for today. ❑ On this morning’s programme, our guests an eye. cast a critical eye on the latest film releases. ● People sometimes use the full ✪ cast your eye or expression, an eye for an eye, a tooth for cast your eyes or a tooth with the same meaning. ❑ If the cast an eye world is ever to be free of pointless wars, we will If you cast your eye, cast your eyes or cast all have to abandon the belief in the barbaric an eye around, over, etc. something, you philosophy of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a quickly look at something. tooth. ❑ Adam cast his eye over his notes again. ❑ He Variations of this expression occur cast an eye around the room, at the window that several times in the Old Testament of Colin had just smashed. ❑ She cast her eye down the Bible: ‘Life shall go for life, eye for the list of names. eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot ● You can also say that you run your eye, for foot.’ (Deuteronomy 19:21) run your eyes or run an eye around, over, an eye for/on the main chance ➜ see etc. something. ❑ There were various bottles chance on the shelf above and I ran my eyes over them. get your eye in [british] Nothing of interest there. ❑ He ran a casual eye If you get your eye in, you become more down the first page of the bank statement. skilful at doing or noticing something, cast your eyes on something or after doing or seeing it many times. cast your eye on something ❑ Going away and actually bowling in quality If someone casts their eyes on or casts competitions helps you get your eye in. ❑ I just their eye on something or someone, they need a few shots to get my eye in again. decide they want to have or own them. This refers to games such as cricket, golf ❑ To our amazement, another developer has cast or snooker, where it might take a while greedy eyes on the field next door. for a player to get used to the conditions ✪ catch someone’s eye or of play before being able to estimate the catch the eye of someone distance and speed of the ball If something or someone catches your accurately. eye or catches the eye of someone, you give someone a black eye notice them because they are very If you give someone a black eye, you unusual, interesting or beautiful in punish them for something they have appearance. done, but without causing them ❑ A flower arrangement caught my eye as I permanent harm. walked into the shop. ❑ He turned the page. The ❑ Whenever the Liberal Democratic Party gets picture caught his eye instantly. ❑ She caught too cocky, voters tend to give it a black eye. the eye of 49-year-old Frank Sinatra on the set one ❑ What’s giving a black eye to the world’s richest day and promptly flew on his jet to Palm Springs economy are the collapses of numerous giant for the weekend. companies. ● You can also say that something is A black eye is a dark-coloured bruise eye-catching when it is very unusual and around a person’s eye. interesting in appearance. ❑ She was give someone the evil eye wearing a very eye-catching designer hat. If you give someone the evil eye, you look ❑ There’s an eye-catching headline on the front at them in an angry or threatening way. page of the Sunday Times. ❑ If I’m rude to her, she’ll give me the evil eye.

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give someone the eye [informal] ✪ keep an eye out [informal] If you give someone the eye, you look at If you keep an eye out for someone or them in a way that shows that you find something, you watch for them carefully. them attractive. ❑ You and your friends keep an eye out – if there’s ❑ They’ve been giving each other the eye all the any trouble we’ll make a break for it. ❑ Mikel, go time they’ve been in the queue. and keep an eye out for Tam. ✪ have an eye for something keep your eye on the ball If someone has an eye for something, If you keep your eye on the ball, you they are able to notice it and use it or deal continue to pay close attention to what with it with skill. you are doing. ❑ Mr Fromkin is a storyteller with an eye for ❑ She won widespread praise for her tough detail and irony. ❑ With his unerring eye for negotiating skills and her ability to keep her eye light, line and colour, Greenaway has mounted on the ball. one of the most beautiful drawing exhibitions ➜ compare with take your eye off the ever seen. ball in the eye of the storm ✪ look someone in the eye If you are in the eye of the storm, you If you look someone in the eye or look are deeply involved in a difficult or them in the eyes, you look at them controversial situation. directly, often to try to make them believe ❑ I wondered how much I was going to miss being what you are saying. in the eye of the storm – because that is always ❑ You can’t look me in the eye and tell me I didn’t where the president was. ❑ These days central play a good match out there. ● You can also say that you look someone bankers are in the eye of the storm. ● You can also say that someone is at the straight in the eye or eyes. ❑ He looked me eye of the storm. ❑ The University, at the eye straight in the eye and said ‘Paul, I will never lie to of the storm whipped up last year, has reaffirmed you.’ ❑ ‘Now look me straight in the eyes,’ its admissions policy. Stephen continued. ‘If I find you are lying, I shall This expression refers to the centre or never speak to you again.’ ● If you cannot look someone in the eye, middle part of a storm. However, in wind storms, such as cyclones and you cannot look at someone directly, tornados, the eye is in reality a usually because you are ashamed or relatively calm area of low pressure embarrassed. ❑ He shuffled around, staring at in the centre. the ground and couldn’t look me in the eye. ✪ in the public eye ❑ ‘What’s your name?’ she asked him softly. If someone is in the public eye, they are ‘Damon Cross,’ he answered, but he couldn’t look famous and many people see them or read her in the eye. about what they say or do in newspapers, ➜ compare with look someone in the on the internet, etc. face ❑ I’m conscious of being in the public eye and ✪ the naked eye there are certain things I don’t do because of that. If something can be seen with the naked ❑ No stunt is too outrageous, no pose too eye, you can see it without the help of shocking so long as it keeps her in the public eye. equipment such as a telescope or ● You can say that someone is out of the microscope. public eye if they are not photographed or ❑ These green insects, just visible to the naked written about in newspapers, on the eye, are generally found on the under side of the internet, etc. ❑ As wife of the Prime Minister, leaves. ❑ Enough light gets through space for us she is never out of the public eye. to see thousands of stars with the naked eye. If a subject or situation is in the public not bat an eye [mainly american] eye, many people are aware of it and are If someone does not bat an eye when discussing it. something happens, they do not appear ❑ We need campaigners to keep the situation in at all shocked or surprised by it. the public eye. ❑ Since then the issue has ❑ She never batted an eye when I told her I was remained in the public eye with the President leaving my job. ❑ These people don’t bat an calling on republicans to supply information eye when they’re charged 16 dollars a pound about the missing people. for cheese.

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● You can also say that someone does

mean that they are more complicated or interesting than they appear. something without batting an eye. ❑ I’m not sure I believe Molly’s version of events ❑ He handed over the money without batting – something tells me there’s more to this than an eye. meets the eye. ❑ There is more to this giggly The usual British expression is not bat style of television presenting than meets the eye. an eyelid. ❑ On the surface, she seemed shy – mousy even, Bat is from a French word meaning to but there was a great deal more to her than met beat or flutter and is used of a bird’s the eye. wings. The idea is that people who do ✪ turn a blind eye not blink a lot in a given situation If you turn a blind eye to something bad appear calm rather than nervous or that is happening, you deliberately ignore surprised. it because you do not want to take any ✪ not see eye to eye action over it. If you do not see eye to eye with ❑ The authorities were turning a blind eye to someone, you do not agree with them human rights abuses. ❑ She chose to turn a blind about something. eye to what she suspected was going on. ❑ You’re ❑ The Prime Minister didn’t see eye to eye with not trying to suggest I should turn a blind eye and him on this issue. ❑ There were a number of forget all about it? points on which we didn’t see eye to eye This expression was first used to completely. describe the action of Admiral Nelson at ● You can also say that you see eye to eye the Battle of the Nile in 1798. When told with someone, meaning that you agree that he was being ordered to withdraw, with them about something. ❑ Yes, we he put a telescope to his blind eye and argue about stuff but see eye to eye on the said that he could not see the signal. He fundamental issues. went on to win the battle. one in the eye for someone [british] a twinkle in someone’s eye or If you say that something you do is one in a gleam in someone’s eye the eye for someone, you mean that it If a plan or project is only a twinkle in will annoy them. or a gleam in someone’s eye, it is only at ❑ I want to show Arsenal they were wrong to the stage of being considered as a let me go. Every goal I score now is one in the possibility. eye for them. ❑ His Nobel prize will be seen in ❑ Projects that a few years back were just a Mexico as one in the eye for the novelist who is twinkle in the planners’ eyes are now bricks and regarded as his great left-wing rival. cement. ❑ At this point, space-launched spit in someone’s eye or weapons were still only a gleam in his eye. spit in the eye of someone ● You can also talk about a glint in If someone spits in your eye or spits in someone’s eye. ❑ The European central bank the eye of someone, they deliberately do was still no more than a glint in its creators’ eyes. something that upsets or annoys you. Words such as gleam, glint and twinkle ❑ Garcia spat right in the eyes of her critics by can be used to describe the way people’s winning her opening match. eyes shine or reflect the light. They take your eye off the ball often suggest hidden energy, emotion, If you take your eye off the ball, you stop or humour and refer to the excitement paying attention for a moment to of having a particular idea before something you are doing, and as a result putting it into practice. something bad happens. what the eye doesn’t see ❑ You can’t take your eye off the ball for a moment People say what the eye doesn’t see to on this project. mean that if someone does not know ➜ compare with keep your eye on the about something, it cannot upset them. ball ❑ ‘Can I take a break?’ – ‘Sure. The boss is miles ✪ there’s more to something/someone away, and what the eye doesn’t see.’ ● People sometimes use the full than meets the eye If you say that there is more to something expression what the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over. ❑ He knew his or someone than meets the eye, you

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father would disapprove, but what the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over. would give your eye teeth [british, informal] If you would give your eye teeth for something or to do something, you would love to have or do that thing. ❑ He’s the most exciting man I’ve ever worked with, and I’d give my eye teeth to do something with him again. ❑ I’d give my eye teeth for an opportunity to join that company. A person’s eye teeth are their canine teeth, the pointed teeth near the front of their mouth.

eyeball

not bat an eyelash [mainly british] If someone does not bat an eyelid or does not bat an eyelash when something happens, they do not appear at all shocked or surprised by it. ❑ Even when told that a room in the hotel cost £235 per night, he didn’t bat an eyelid. ❑ I thought Sarah would be embarrassed but she didn’t bat an eyelid. ❑ This place could have burned to the ground, and he wouldn’t have batted an eyelash. ● You can also say that someone does something without batting an eyelid or without batting an eyelash. ❑ Mum would cater for a hundred people without batting an eyelid.

eyeball to eyeball [journalism] If two people are eyeball to eyeball, they The usual American expression is not are facing each other and are very close, bat an eye. usually while arguing or threatening eyes each other. ❑ Stam went eyeball to eyeball with the linesman ✪ all eyes are on someone/something If all eyes are on someone or something, and can count himself lucky to have escaped a red everyone is carefully watching that card. person or thing, often because they are ● Eyeball-to-eyeball can also be used expecting something to happen. before a noun. ❑ It was a tough negotiation ❑ All eyes will be on the Chancellor tomorrow that led to eyeball-to-eyeball confrontations with when he gives his Budget speech. ❑ It made me union leaders. nervous to think that the moment we entered the eyeballs restaurant, all eyes would be on us. drugged up to the eyeballs ✪ before your eyes or If someone is drugged up to the eyeballs, before your very eyes they have taken a lot of drugs which have If something surprising happens before strongly affected them. your eyes or before your very eyes, it ❑ He wasn’t making much sense, lying in his happens directly in front of you. hospital bed, drugged up to the eyeballs. ❑ With a loud crack, the stone statue collapsed up to your eyeballs before my eyes and crumbled to pieces. If you are up to your eyeballs in an ❑ Marceline saw him falling apart before her very unpleasant situation, you are very deeply eyes and realized that something had to be done. involved in it. ● You can also say that something ❑ He was out of a job and up to his eyeballs in happens in front of your eyes. ❑ She saw debt. ❑ I simply won’t have the time – I’m up to her car driven off by two complete strangers in my eyeballs in work. front of her eyes. eyebrows ✪ can’t take your eyes off someone/ ✪ raise eyebrows something or If something that someone does raises can’t keep your eyes off someone/ eyebrows, it surprises, shocks, or offends something people. If you can’t take your eyes off someone or ❑ The size of his salary has certainly raised something, or can’t keep your eyes off eyebrows. ❑ His outspoken comments raised a them, you want to keep looking at them, few eyebrows at the meeting. usually because they are so beautiful. ● You can also say that something causes ❑ Anne looked so beautiful no one could take raised eyebrows. ❑ Her articles have caused their eyes off her. ❑ I’d never seen a diamond that some raised eyebrows over the years. size and couldn’t take my eyes off it. ❑ We just couldn’t keep our eyes off each other from the first eyelid time we met. ✪ not bat an eyelid or

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✪ could do something with your eyes

happens, however quick. The skin or peel of the eyes are the eyelids. closed or make eyes at someone [old-fashioned] could do something with your eyes shut If someone makes eyes at you, they try to If you say someone could do something get you to notice them because they are with their eyes closed or with their sexually attracted to you. eyes shut, you mean they can do it very ❑ He was making eyes at one of the nurses. easily. ✪ meet someone’s eyes or ❑ He started up the machine quickly and meet someone’s eye [literary] expertly. It was something he could do with his If you meet someone’s eyes or meet their eyes closed. ❑ He’s such an experience performer, eye, you look directly at them as they look he could do a show like this with his eyes shut. at you. eyes in the back of your head ❑ Steve looked down and then finally up at me, If someone has eyes in the back of their meeting my eyes with an intense glare. ❑ I felt head, they seem to notice everything that too shy to meet her eye. is happening around them. ● You can also say that two people’s eyes ❑ She has eyes in the back of her head and is meet. ❑ She helped him out of his limousine, always alert to the slightest trouble or sign of their eyes met and he asked her to marry him. trouble. ❑ When you have a two-year-old child, only have eyes for someone or you need eyes in the back of your head. have eyes only for someone feast your eyes on something/someone If you only have eyes for or have eyes only If you feast your eyes on something or for one person, they are the only person someone, you look at them with a great that you are interested in romantically. deal of pleasure. ❑ The 26-year-old model is adored by thousands ❑ While you enjoy the music, you can feast your but only has eyes for one man – her husband. eyes on the superb architecture and paintings in ❑ They attracted lots of attention but they had one of Rome’s finest churches. ❑ Park for free, get eyes only for each other. your chairs and picnic out of the boot and feast only have eyes for something or your eyes on one of the best views in the South of have eyes only for something England. ● You can also say that something or If someone only has eyes for or has eyes only for a particular thing, they are someone is a feast for the eyes a feast for interested only in that thing. the eyes. ❑ In France almost every shop is a ❑ When Ian’s playing hockey, he has eyes only for feast for the eyes and tastebuds. the game. The idea is of allowing your eyes to ✪ open the eyes of someone or appreciate something visually in the open someone’s eyes same way that your mouth allows you to If something or someone opens the eyes enjoy the quantity and quality of food at of someone or opens their eyes, they a feast or large meal. cause them to become aware of things for keep your eyes open the first time. If you keep your eyes open for something, ❑ As a writer, she opened the eyes of a generation you look carefully at things in order to to the beauty of English architecture. ❑ Being in find something. prison opened her eyes to aspects of modern ❑ Keep your eyes open for hostels advertised at America that she wasn’t aware of before. bus and train stations. open your eyes keep your eyes peeled If you open your eyes, you suddenly make If you keep your eyes peeled, you watch an effort to notice things that you had not very carefully for something or someone. noticed before. ❑ Keep your eyes peeled for a parking space. ❑ Every city has its problems. You have only to ❑ We’re looking for Sally so keep your eyes open your eyes to see them. peeled. ● You can also keep your eyes skinned. ✪ someone’s eyes are bigger than their belly or ❑ I doubt if she’ll come back here, but keep your someone’s eyes are bigger than their eyes skinned anyway. stomach This expression refers to not blinking If you say that someone’s eyes are bigger and so not missing anything that

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than their belly or their stomach, you mean that they thought they could eat more food than they really could. ❑ Sorry, I can’t finish this – my eyes were bigger than my belly. ● You can also say that someone has eyes bigger than their belly or their stomach. ❑ Dan always did have eyes bigger than his belly. up to your eyes If you are up to your eyes in work or in an unpleasant situation, you are very busy with it or are deeply involved in it. ❑ I’m afraid I’ll be late getting back. I’m up to my eyes in work. ❑ He’s up to his eyes preparing for the trip. ❑ By this time Walker was up to his eyes in debt.

your eyes glued to something or your eyes glued on something Someone with their eyes glued to something or glued on something, is watching it with all their attention. ❑ Her eyes glued to the screen of her laptop, Kate did not notice the room growing dark. ❑ People stood in groups, their eyes glued to the TV and a look of disbelief on their faces. ❑ The boys sat politely on the gym floor, their eyes glued on the special visitor. ● You can also keep your eyes glued to something or glued on something. ❑ I just kept my eyes glued to the road. ❑ I kept my eyes glued on the door, just waiting for him to come.

PL SE

U LY

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● You can also say that the bad situation is staring you in the face. ❑ Failure was the acceptable face of something staring Marconi in the face. The acceptable face of something is the part of it that people accept or like, even if ✪ blow up in your face or explode in your face they do not like the thing itself. If a situation blows up in your face or ❑ She was the acceptable face of a modern explodes in your face, it has a bad result monarchy. ❑ He was a successful businessman that you did not expect. who showed the acceptable face of capitalism. ❑ His outburst yesterday could blow up in ✪ at face value his face. Those that have supported his cause If you take what someone says at face will certainly question his motives. ❑ The value, you accept it and believe it without scandal has exploded in the government’s thinking about it very much. face. ❑ Clients should know better than to take the come face to face with someone advice of a salesperson at face value. ❑ He can be If you come face to face with someone, a little too trusting at times and has a tendency to you suddenly meet them. accept things at face value. ❑ I walked into the room and came face to face If you take someone at face value, you with Hilde Tomlinson. accept the impression that they give of ➜ compare with face to face themselves, even though this may be false. ❑ For a time I took him at face value. At that time, ✪ come face to face with something If you come face to face with a bad I had no reason to suspect him. ❑ She tends to situation, you suddenly experience it. accept people at face value. ❑ Before the deal was fully closed, however, The face value of a coin or banknote is Beaverbrook came face to face with a serious the amount that is printed on it, problem. although it may in fact be worth more ● You can also say that you are brought or less than that amount, for example face to face with something. ❑ I was because it is very old. gradually being brought face to face with the fact be staring someone in the face that I had failed. If the facts about something are staring a face like thunder [british] you in the face, they are very obvious, If someone has a face like thunder, they although you may not yet have realized look extremely angry. this. ❑ The kitchen had flooded and Mick was stalking ❑ Even when the evidence is staring them in the around the house with a face like thunder. ❑ Mr face they deliberately misread it. ❑ Sometimes Clarke had a face like thunder after his assistant’s you’re trying to solve a complex problem, and you mistake. suddenly realise that the answer has been staring face to face you in the face all along. If you meet or talk to someone face to ✪ be staring something in the face face, you meet or talk to them directly, If you are staring a bad situation in the face, the situation is very likely to with both of you in the same place. happen, or will happen soon. ❑ When I first heard of his death I didn’t want to ❑ At 5-0 down, she was staring defeat in the face. call her or meet her face to face. ❑ Now that he ❑ Some of my patients are actually staring death was face to face with the estate agent, Arnold in the face. found it difficult to explain.

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● A face-to-face meeting is one where ✪ keep a straight face people meet and can talk to each other If you keep a straight face, you manage directly. not to laugh or smile. ❑ Yesterday saw the first face-to-face meeting ❑ ‘I don’t see that there’s anything funny about between the heads of the Trade Union it,’ he said, offended. ‘Of course there isn’t,’ she Confederation and the Employers’ Association. said, trying to keep a straight face. ➜ compare with come face to face with ● You can also say that you say or do something something with a straight face. ❑ We’ve ➜ compare with come face to face with all been practising trying to say we charge $1,000 someone an hour with a straight face. ✪ fly in the face of something ● You can also say that someone is If something flies in the face of accepted straight-faced. ❑ It’s the way he tells a joke. ideas, rules, or practices, it goes against He’s completely straight-faced and I just fall them. about laughing. ❑ The plan to sell rhino horn flies in the face of look someone in the face ➜ see look the international ban. ❑ The Institute flew in a long face the face of accepted opinion and published If someone has a long face, they look very research suggesting the world may not be serious or unhappy. getting hotter. ❑ He came to me with a very long face and The reference here is to a dog attacking admitted there had been an error. ❑ There were someone by leaping or flying at their some long faces in Paris that day. Astoundingly, face. an American had won the Tour de France. ● You can also say that someone is get in someone’s face [informal] If someone gets in your face, they annoy long-faced. ❑ After a short ceremony we you or act in an aggressive way towards stood, long-faced, by the graveside. you. ✪ lose face ❑ Healey is an arrogant guy who likes to get in If you lose face, you do something that the face of an opponent. ❑ If they don’t show makes people stop admiring or respecting commitment, I’ll be the first one to get in their you. face and tell them how disappointed I am. ❑ He was too proud to lose face by looking get out of someone’s face [informal, nervous. ❑ You made him look bad. He lost face rude] in front of his crew. ● You can also say that something loses If you tell someone to get out of your face, you are telling them in an aggressive someone face. ❑ The circumstances in which way to leave you alone and to stop his most senior colleague resigned has lost him annoying you. face with the Americans. ❑ Get out of my face, would you? ❑ I’d had ➜ compare with save face enough and told him to get out of my face. This is a Chinese expression and refers in the face of something to the covering of one’s face with a fan If you do something in the face of as a sign of disgrace after revealing problems or a difficult situation, you do it one’s emotions. ‘Face’ here means the while dealing with those things. face with a calm expression on it. ❑ She has shown great courage in the face of her not just a pretty face or illness. ❑ Webster strongly supported the not just another pretty face [informal] project, in the face of opposition from some of his If you say that someone is not just a colleagues. pretty face or not just another pretty ✪ in-your-face or face, you mean that they are intelligent in-yer-face [informal] as well as attractive. If someone or something is in-your-face ❑ Jake is not just a pretty face – he speaks six or in-yer-face, they are direct and languages and is studying for a law degree. forceful, in a way that might shock or ❑ She’s not just another pretty face. The model offend some people. makes her living these days as a highly regarded ❑ She was a lively, in-your-face woman who was personal fitness trainer sometimes too honest for her own good. ❑ This is not have the face [british, old-fashioned] one of the most in-yer-face movies of the year. If you don’t have the face to do

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something, you are too nervous or embarrassed to do it. ❑ You wouldn’t lend me a couple of quid, would you? I haven’t the face to borrow off Michael. on the face of it You say on the face of it to describe how something seems at first, in order to suggest that people’s opinion may change when they know or think more about the subject. ❑ On the face of it that seems to make sense. But the figures don’t add up. ❑ It is, on the face of it, difficult to see how the West could radically change its position. make a face or pull a face [british] If you make a face or pull a face, you show a feeling such as dislike by twisting your face into an ugly expression. ❑ She made a face at the smell, and hurried to open the windows. ❑ He was taught from an early age to be polite and not to poke his tongue out or pull faces. ● If someone makes or pulls a particular kind of face, they show that feeling in their expression. ❑ ‘Here I am,’ Chee said. ‘What can I do?’ Janet made a wry face. ❑ He pulled funny faces at her and cracked a few jokes. put a brave face on something If you put a brave face on a difficult situation, you try not to let anyone see how upset or disappointed you are. ❑ Dwight was upset by the news, but he put a brave face on it and wrote a note of congratulations. ● You can also say that someone puts on a brave face. ❑ They don’t like to see how awful we’re feeling. They’d much rather we put on a brave face and pretend nothing has happened. ● This expression is extremely variable. For example, you can use verbs such as keep, present or maintain instead of put on. You can use good instead of brave, or just talk about a brave face. ❑ I suspect he was just trying to put on a good face. ❑ There are very few shoppers in Sloane Street, although shopkeepers are keeping up a brave face. ❑ Colleagues said that despite his brave face, Mr Hutchinson was deeply hurt at his treatment. save face If you save face, you do something so that people continue to respect you and your reputation is not damaged. ❑ Most children have a need to save face in front

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of their friends. ❑ Last Wednesday Poland somehow allowed the United States to take a three-goal lead before slightly saving face by scoring two themselves. ● You can also talk about face-saving or a face-saving action. ❑ There have been no negotiations, no compromises and no attempts at face-saving. ❑ Officials are looking for a face-saving way to back down. ● An action or excuse which enables someone to save face can be called a face-saver. ❑ The hope is that this exchange of prisoners will give the kidnappers the face-saver they need to release the hostages. ➜ compare with lose face This comes from a Chinese expression which refers to keeping a calm expression and managing to avoid the disgrace of revealing one’s emotions. set your face against something [mainly british] If you set your face against something, you oppose it in a very determined way. ❑ Tricia wondered if he had ever considered moving, but heard that he had set his face against the idea. ❑ Both the government and the major rebel groups appear to have set their faces against a negotiated settlement to the conflict. ● You often use this expression when you think someone is being unreasonable. This expression is used several times in the Bible. When God ‘set His face against’ someone who had sinned, He showed that He was angry with them. show your face If you show your face, you go somewhere where people can see you. ❑ Louis stayed in his Harlem apartment for three days after his defeat, too ashamed to show his face. ❑ If she shows her face again back in Massachusetts she’ll find a warrant for her arrest waiting. ● This expression is often used to talk about people who have done something bad or something that makes them ashamed. If you show your face somewhere, you go there for a short period of time, often because you feel you should. ❑ I’ll go for half an hour just to show my face, and then come home and go to bed, because I’m exhausted. ❑ I felt I ought to show my face at her father’s funeral. stuff your face [informal] If someone stuffs their face, they eat a lot of food in a greedy way.

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✪

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fact ❑ She picked up a club sandwich and began

fairies

stuffing her face. throw something back in someone’s face If someone throws help or advice back in your face, they reject it in a rude and forceful way. ❑ Don’t be surprised if your concern for their wellbeing gets thrown back in your face. ❑ We extended the hand of friendship and you have thrown it back in our faces. ✪ to someone’s face If you say something, especially something critical or unpleasant, to a person’s face, you say it directly to them. ❑ He was too old and he had to step aside. But who was going to say so to his face? ❑ At school, no-one would ever say anything to my face because they were scared of me. until you are blue in the face [informal] If you say that someone can say or do something until they are blue in the face, you mean that however many times they say or do it, it will have no effect. ❑ You can speculate till you’re blue in the face, but you can’t prove a thing. ❑ The president can issue orders until he is blue in the face, but no-one will take any notice. written all over your face If an emotion or your opinion about something is written all over your face, it is very obvious to people what you are feeling or thinking. ❑ My misery must have been written all over my face. ❑ Joy and relief were written all over the faces of the freed hostages.

away with the fairies If you describe someone as being away with the fairies, you mean that they are behaving in a strange way, have foolish or unreasonable opinions or do not notice things around them. ❑ When I came round from the anaesthetic, I was completely away with the fairies.

fairy a fairy godmother A fairy godmother is a person, especially a woman, who helps someone a lot. ❑ When I began in the business, the woman I regarded as my fairy godmother was Sybil Thorndike. ❑ Our country needs a fairy godmother to pay its debts.

fall

be falling over yourself to do something [informal] If people are falling over themselves to do something, they are very enthusiastic about doing it. ❑ Within days of his death his former friends were falling over themselves to denounce him. ❑ Hollywood producers were falling over themselves to put me on the silver screen. ● This expression is often used to show disapproval. be heading for a fall or be riding for a fall If a person or an organization is heading for a fall or is riding for a fall, they are doing things that make them likely to have problems or to fail soon. ❑ The Tory Party is heading for a great fall. ❑ Here was a company that seemed to be riding for a fall. Now, it has become the sixth-biggest firm in the market. ● You can also say that a person or organization is headed for a fall. ❑ There were some who wondered whether Black’s vanity indicated that he was headed for a fall. This expression was probably first used in fox-hunting to refer to someone who was riding dangerously. fall flat ➜ see flat fall flat on your face ➜ see flat

fair fair and square If someone wins a competition or does something fair and square, they do it without cheating or lying. ❑ I was beaten fair and square. ❑ My father bought them fair and square fifty years ago. We’ve still got the receipts.

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If you say that something is a fact of life, you mean that it is something that often happens and cannot be avoided, even if it is unpleasant. ❑ It is a fact of life that parents want their children to marry and have their own children. ❑ Falling prices have been a fact of life in the housing market.

✪ a fact of life

fact

familiarity familiarity breeds contempt If you say that familiarity breeds contempt, you mean that if you know someone or something very well, you can easily become bored with them and stop

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fat wasn’t going to buy the farm after all. A possible explanation for this expression is that, in wartime, American Air Force pilots sometimes said that they wanted to stop flying, buy a farm or ranch, and lead a peaceful life. ‘Buy the farm’ then came to be used when a pilot was killed in a crash.

fashion

family

sell the family silver If you accuse someone of selling the family silver, you mean that they are getting rid of something valuable in order to get a quick advantage when it would be better to keep it for an advantage in the future. ❑ He accused the government of selling the family silver by allowing foreign investors to purchase the buildings. ❑ As Maureen Freely says, from bitter experience: ‘Writing about these things is like selling the family silver. You can only do it once.’

play fast and loose If someone plays fast and loose with something important, they treat it without care, respect or accuracy. ❑ The government is playing fast and loose with public spending. ❑ Several of the company’s announcements have been exposed for playing fast and loose with the facts. pull a fast one [informal] If someone pulls a fast one, they trick someone. ❑ The crowd obviously thought I was trying to pull a fast one to get a better seat. ● You can also say that someone pulls a fast one on someone else. ❑ Someone had pulled a fast one on her and she was not going to let them get away with it. chew the fat [british] If you chew the fat with someone, you talk with them in an informal and friendly way. ❑ We’d been lounging around, chewing the fat for a couple of hours. ❑ Her chat show gave her the chance to chew the fat with the likes of Tom Hanks and Glenn Close. This may refer to sailors in the past talking to each other while they chewed the fat in the dried pork which they were given to eat. the fat is in the fire If the fat is in the fire, someone has said or done something which is going to

buy the farm [american, informal] If someone buys the farm, they die.

fat

farm

People use far and away when they are comparing something or someone with others of the same kind, in order to emphasize how great the difference is between them. ❑ He’s still far and away the best player we have. ❑ The perfume industry is far and away the biggest user of these oils. far be it from me People say far be it from me to disagree, criticize, etc. to say that what they say is not intended to disagree, criticize, etc. even though it may sound as if it is. ❑ Far be it from me to criticize, but shouldn’t their mother take a share of the blame? ❑ Far be it from me to interfere in anyone’s private life. ✪ so far so good You can say so far so good to express satisfaction with the way that a situation or activity is developing or happening. ❑ She has been working at the company for over a month now, and so far so good.

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fast

✪ far and away

after a fashion If something happens or is done after a fashion, it happens or is done, but not very well. ❑ She was educated, after a fashion, at home. ❑ It all works after a fashion, possibly better than it should. If something is true after a fashion, it is mostly true, but not entirely true. ❑ We were friends, after a fashion.

far

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❑ Sometimes I believed I was cured. Maybe I

treating them with respect. ❑ Of course, it’s often true that familiarity breeds contempt, that we’re attracted to those who seem so different from those we know at home. ❑ It is second-year drivers – when familiarity breeds contempt for road rules – that are the problem. ● Other nouns are sometimes used instead of contempt. ❑ Familiarity breeds inattention. Typically, family members are so convinced they know what another family member is going to say that they don’t bother to listen.

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upset other people and cause a lot of unnecessary risks or do something that may bring them bad luck. trouble. ❑ They charged the organisers with tempting ❑ It was too late. The media had reported the fate by sending so many ill-prepared crews into minister’s statement and the fat was in the fire. ● You can say that someone pulls the fat such dangerous waters. ● You can also say that someone tempts out of the fire when they prevent or stop providence. ❑ I used to take the most trouble by taking action at a very late appalling risks because it was in my nature to stage. ❑ The chairman has resigned but push everything to the extreme. I was tempting whether the remaining management can pull the providence all the time. fat out of the fire remains to be seen. If you tempt fate, you talk too When food is being cooked over a fire, if confidently about something which may fat or oil falls into the fire, the flames go wrong. suddenly burn very fiercely. ❑ While I wouldn’t want to tempt fate, almost live off the fat of the land every time this team has been put under pressure, If someone lives off the fat of the land, they’ve triumphed. they have a rich and comfortable life ● You can also say that someone tempts without having to work hard for it. providence. ❑ I’m 36 and I’d hate to tempt ❑ He was fed up with these royalists who were providence and say I’m going to get pregnant. living off the fat of the land while the rest of the country was starving. fault ● This expression is often used to criticize ✪ to a fault someone who is rich because they are If someone has a good quality to a fault, exploiting people. they have more of this quality than is This is from the story of Joseph in the usual or necessary. Bible. During the famine (= time when ❑ She was generous to a fault and tried to see there is not enough food) in Israel, that we had everything we needed. ❑ He’s honest Pharaoh invited Joseph’s father and to a fault, brave, dedicated, and fiercely proud of the New York Police Department. brothers to come to Egypt, where there was plenty of food: ‘Come unto me: and I fear will give you the good of the land of put the fear of God into someone Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the If someone or something puts the fear of land.’ (Genesis 45:18) God into you, they frighten or worry you very much, often deliberately. fate ❑ At some time or other Eve had obviously put the a fate worse than death fear of God into her. ❑ They put the fear of God If you describe something that could into us with their tales of loss of control on one happen as a fate worse than death, you engine and violent swings on take-off and mean that it is extremely unpleasant. landing. ❑ ‘That accident put the fear of God into ❑ They were forced to share the same office space me,’ said Jones. as me – a fate worse than death. ❑ Why is it considered a fate worse than death to stay at feast home and rear children? enough is as good as a feast [british, ● This expression is often used old-fashioned] humorously to show that you do not If you say enough is as good as a feast, think that the thing is really very bad. you mean that there is no point in having ✪ seal someone’s fate more of something than you need or If something seals the fate of a person or want. thing, it makes it certain that something ❑ I’m afraid it’s only soup and bread for lunch but unpleasant will happen to them. enough is as good as a feast, as my great aunt ❑ The plan removes power from the government, Daisy would say. ❑ Nobody loves a tune better sealing the fate of the unpopular Prime Minister. than I do. But I always say enough is as good as a ❑ It was his decision to walk that night, rather feast; do you not agree? than taking a taxi, that sealed his fate. This was first used by the Greek writer ✪ tempt fate Euripides in the 5th century BC to If someone tempts fate, they take explain that it is wrong to be greedy.

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feast or famine ❑ It was a definite feather in his cap to have attended If someone describes a situation as feast such a famous university. ❑ Hauptmann’s arrest or famine, they mean that there is is a feather in the cap of the New Jersey police. always either too much or too little of Traditionally, Native American something. warriors added feathers to their ❑ Money is a problem. ‘It’s feast or famine with headdresses as a sign of bravery in me,’ she says. battle. Medieval knights in England ● People often vary this expression. ❑ This also wore feathers in their helmets new series is a feast in what is otherwise a famine as a sign of their bravery. of intelligent television. ❑ After a long famine, a light as a feather ➜ see light mini-feast: investors are once again providing you could have knocked me down with a banks with the capital they need. feather [old-fashioned] a movable feast If you say you could have knocked me If an event is a movable feast, it can down with a feather, you mean that you happen at different times or in different were extremely surprised by something. places. ❑ I won 54 votes to 48. You could have knocked ❑ Held about 29 May, the festival was a movable me down with a feather!. feast. ❑ Working parents wish to spend time feathers with their children after they get home, so be spitting feathers bedtime has become a movable feast. If someone is spitting feathers, they are This expression originally referred to very angry. religious holidays that are always ❑ Trainer Neville Callaghan was spitting feathers celebrated at about the same time of over the incident. year, but not always on exactly the same ✪ ruffle feathers day. If someone ruffles feathers, they say or do the spectre at the feast or something which upsets or annoys the ghost at the feast [british] people. If someone or something is the spectre at ❑ His management style ruffled a few feathers. the feast or the ghost at the feast, they ❑ The tall Texan ruffled some English feathers make people feel uncomfortable because with his remarks. they remind them of an unhappy event or If a bird’s feathers are ruffled they stand situation. out from its body, for example because it ❑ At the funeral, Lindsay had stood apart, the is frightened or angry. ultimate spectre at the feast. ❑ That question smooth ruffled feathers or was the ghost at the feast and cast a shadow over smooth someone’s ruffled feathers the celebrations. If someone smooths ruffled feathers or According to the Greek writer Plutarch, smooths someone’s ruffled feathers, the Ancient Egyptians used to place a they do something to make people less skeleton at the table during a feast, to angry after an argument or a problem. remind them that they would die one ❑ He acted swiftly to smooth the family’s ruffled day. feathers. ❑ Eva generally keeps things moving feat and smooths ruffled feathers. no mean feat feelers If you describe an achievement as no put out feelers mean feat, you mean that it is difficult If you put out feelers, you carefully try to and impressive. find out about other people’s feelings or ❑ Wrapping presents for five children is no plans, so that you will know what to do mean feat! next.

feather a feather in someone’s cap If you describe an achievement as a feather in someone’s cap, you mean that they have done very well and people will admire them.

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❑ I will put some feelers out among my community. ❑ Spend some time putting feelers out to see if you can find a suitable building. ● Verbs such as send, have or throw are

sometimes used instead of put. ❑ He has sent out feelers to three right-wing parties, with a

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feeling view to freeing himself from the coalition with Labour. Feelers are the long thin sense organs on the heads of insects and certain other creatures such as snails.

feeling

✪ a sinking feeling

If you have a sinking feeling, you suddenly feel that something bad has happened or is likely to happen. ❑ I began to have a sinking feeling that I was not going to survive. ❑ I’ve got a sinking feeling that eight months work has just been lost.

feet

be dragging your feet ➜ see drag be run off your feet If you are run off your feet, you are very busy. ❑ The poor babysitter was run off her feet with five children to look after. dead on your feet If you are dead on your feet, you are extremely tired. ❑ The police were stumbling around, dead on their feet. ❑ I’m usually dead on my feet at the end of the game. ✪ find your feet If you find your feet in a new situation, you become more confident and learn what to do. ❑ The ambassador has only been here for two months – he’s still finding his feet. ❑ The first year here was straightforward and I was able to find my feet before the really hard work began. The idea is of finding your sense of balance so you can move about without falling over or needing to support yourself. ✪ get cold feet or have cold feet If you get cold feet or have cold feet about something you have planned to do, you become nervous about it and not sure that you want to do it. ❑ My boyfriend got cold feet about being in a committed relationship. ❑ Leaving Ireland wasn’t easy and I had cold feet about it a couple of times. get your feet on the ground [mainly american] If you get your feet on the ground, you become used to a situation and confident in it. ❑ It takes a while to get your feet on the ground when you start a new job. ❑ We are the new boys

and we have it all to do. We need to get our feet on the ground first. ➜ compare with have your feet on the ground ➜ compare with keep your feet on the ground get your feet under the table [british] If you get your feet under the table, you become confident and comfortable in a new job or situation. ❑ It took a year or so in the job to really get my feet under the table. ❑ I think I’ll be able to do something about that next year. But let me get my feet under the table. get your feet wet [mainly american] If you get your feet wet, you get involved in something or experience something for the first time. ❑ Charlton thinks it’s time for me to get my feet wet. He says I’ll be able to help the department a lot more if I learn how police actually solve crimes. ● You can also say that you have your feet wet. ❑ Well, the Secretary of State now has his feet wet in the Middle East. have feet of clay If someone who is admired or respected has feet of clay, they have serious faults or weaknesses which people generally do not know about. ❑ When those idols are found to have feet of clay the pain of disappointment can be profound. ❑ He’s just another rock star with feet of clay. ● You can also say that someone has clay feet. ❑ King writes endlessly about his subject’s clay feet. According to the Bible, King Nebuchadnezzar asked Daniel to explain his dream of a giant idol, which was made of gold, silver, brass, and iron, but had feet made partly from clay. Daniel told the king that the clay feet were a sign of weakness and vulnerability. (Daniel 2:33) have two left feet If someone has two left feet, they are not good at dancing. ❑ She told reporters that her husband has two left feet. ✪ have your feet on the ground If you have your feet on the ground, you are sensible and practical. ❑ A year on from winning the world junior cross-country title, the athlete still has her feet firmly on the ground. ❑ Kevin was always level-headed with both feet on the ground.

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➜ compare with get your feet on the

your feet all day, but what have you actually achieved? ground ✪ stand on your own two feet ➜ compare with keep your feet on the If you stand on your own two feet, you ground are independent and do not need anyone itchy feet [british] to help you or support you. If you have itchy feet, you want to go ❑ You should behave like a grown-up woman, somewhere new or start doing something stand on your own two feet, and take full new. responsibility for your decisions. ❑ I hated living in London, and I started getting ● You can also say that someone stands on itchy feet. ❑ Hearing about Sally’s job had given their own feet. ❑ After you’ve spent three years me itchy feet and within a couple of months I left being funded by parents, suddenly it’s all over and the company. you’re expected to stand on your own feet. ✪ keep your feet on the ground ✪ sweep someone off their feet If you keep your feet on the ground, you If someone sweeps you off your feet, continue to act in a sensible and practical you fall in love with them very quickly way even when exciting things are and strongly. happening or you have become successful ❑ By the end of the date he said he wanted to or powerful. marry me. I was swept off my feet. ❑ He is a good ❑ He says he keeps his feet on the ground by fifteen years older than Felicity. He swept her off keeping childhood friends around him. ❑ She her feet, though. must try very hard to keep her feet on the ground If something sweeps you off your feet, and not allow herself to become too dazzled by the you immediately like it very much. luxury of her new life. ● You can also say that someone has or ❑ When she first saw a photograph of a romantic-looking house dating back to 1770, she keeps both feet on the ground with the was swept off her feet by its charm. ❑ Ten British same meaning. ❑ Kevin was always chefs plan to cook a feast they hope will sweep the level-headed and had both feet on the ground. French off their feet. ➜ compare with get your feet on the think on your feet ground If you think on your feet, you make good ➜ compare with have your feet on the decisions quickly and react quickly when ground things change. ✪ land on your feet [british, american] or ❑ We always have room for a guy who can think fall on your feet [british] on his feet. ❑ Being a parent means thinking on If someone lands on their feet or falls on your feet and adapting as you go along. their feet, they find themselves in a good under someone’s feet situation by luck. If you complain that someone is under ❑ I moved here three years ago and landed on my your feet, you are annoyed because they feet: got a great job, found a lovely flat and met keep getting in your way when you are my husband. ❑ He has fallen on his feet with a trying to do something. new career set to earn him a fortune. ❑ When you’re in the house your parents moan This may refer to the belief that when a about you always being under their feet. cat falls, it always lands on its feet ● You can also say that someone is out without hurting itself. from under your feet if they have gone ✪ put your feet up somewhere else. ❑ The new business got him If you put your feet up, you have a rest, out from under his wife’s feet. especially by sitting down somewhere ✪ vote with your feet comfortable. If people vote with their feet, they show ❑ All these dishes can be oven-baked from frozen, their dislike of a place, event or situation while you put your feet up and relax. ❑ Why don’t by leaving it. you put your feet up for a moment and rest? ❑ It seems thousands of people are already voting rushed off your feet [british] with their feet, and leaving the country in the If you are rushed off your feet, you are hope of a better life. ❑ If the city’s economic very busy. situation gets any worse, rich people will vote ❑ Now we have fewer staff in this department, with their feet. I’m rushed off my feet. ❑ You’ve been rushed off

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fence they are in very good health or condition. ❑ You seem in fine fettle. ❑ Helped by low come off the fence interest rates, the banks are in fine fettle. If someone comes off the fence, they at last state their opinion about something fever or show who they support. ✪ fever pitch ❑ These events have forced the President to come If a situation or a feeling reaches fever off the fence and support the market reformers. pitch, there is a lot of emotion, ● Verbs such as climb or get can be used excitement or activity. instead of come. ❑ It is time for us to get off ❑ Rumors of the love affair hit fever pitch in the the fence, to speak up, and to vote. past few days after the pair were seen around Sydney. ❑ The grief provoked by his ✪ sit on the fence assassination has raised tensions in the area to If you sit on the fence, you refuse to give a fever pitch. definite opinion about something or to say who you support in an argument. few ❑ Who was cooler, Starsky or Hutch? You couldn’t few and far between sit on the fence and say you liked both of them Things that are few and far between are equally. rare or do not happen very often. ● Verbs such as stay and be can be used ❑ I’m afraid good acting jobs are few and far instead of sit. ❑ Democrats who’d been on the between at my age. fence about the nomination, in the end all voted fiddle for him. fit as a fiddle ➜ see fit ● You can call this kind of behaviour on the fiddle [informal, british] fence-sitting, and someone who behaves If someone is on the fiddle, they get like this a fence-sitter. ❑ At his first press money by doing illegal or dishonest conference there was much fence-sitting. ❑ I things. sense that there are a lot of fence-sitters out there ❑ ‘If he’s not on the fiddle, he’s the only person I on this issue. know that isn’t,’ I said. ❑ So many politicians ● These expressions are usually used to were found to be on the fiddle. show that you disapprove of the fact that ✪ play second fiddle someone is not making a decision. If someone or something plays second The fence referred to is one that fiddle to someone or something else, they separates two properties or territories are less important than them. and someone sitting on it is unable or ❑ There is some resentment among health unwilling to make a decision about professionals at having to play second fiddle in which side to stand on. the new structure. ❑ Both of these cities play fences second fiddle to London on the international ✪ mend fences or stage. ● You can also just say that someone is mend your fences If you mend fences or mend your fences, second fiddle. ❑ I think Caryl would have to you do something to improve your admit that we’re no longer second fiddle to our relationship with someone you have American cousins. argued with. A fiddle is a violin. The expression here ❑ Yesterday he was publicly criticised for not refers to the first and second violins in doing enough to mend fences with his big political an orchestra. rival. ❑ He had managed to annoy every member field of the family and thought he’d better mend his come from left field or fences. come out of left field [mainly american] ● You can call this process fenceA question, statement, or event which mending. ❑ The king is out of the country on a comes from left field or comes out of left fence-mending mission to the European field is completely unexpected. Community. ❑ The question came out of left field, but Mary

fence

fettle

in fine fettle [informal, old-fashioned] If someone or something is in fine fettle,

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Ann wasn’t really surprised. ❑ This letter sort of came out of left field. ➜ compare with left-field

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In baseball, left field is part of the outfield. A ball is said to come out of left field when the pitcher throws it in such a way that it seems to come out of nowhere. ✪ have a field day If someone has a field day, they enjoy doing something or gain advantages from something, especially something that is caused by problems other people are having. ❑ Debt collectors are having a field day in the recession. ❑ Our closeness has been noticed. The office gossips are probably having a field day. ● Field day is used in other structures with a similar meaning. ❑ The Act will undoubtedly provide a field day for lawyers keen to offer advice to agents. ✪ lead the field If a person, company or organization leads the field in an activity, they are the best or most successful at it. ❑ The Americans continue to lead the field when it comes to child actors. If you lead the field in a competition, you are in the best position and are likely to win. ❑ US and European cyclists usually lead the field. This could be due to their hi-tech equipment. ❑ He led the field after two rounds of the Kronenbourg Open. left-field [mainly british, journalism] People use left-field to describe something, especially a form of entertainment, that is unusual and unexpected. ❑ Over the last few years, the most left-field films in world cinema have come from Japan. ❑ This was a very left-field, European-style festival. ➜ compare with come out of left field In baseball, left field is the part of the outfield where the sun and the wind can cause problems with the ball. In addition, the spectators often shout at the fielder in left field, and so players consider it to be a difficult position to play. out in left field [american] If someone or something is out in left field, they are unusual and unconventional. ❑ Their marketing strategy is way out in left field. ● You can also say that someone or something is out of left field. ❑ I wasn’t the only one who thought the idea a little bit out of left field.

159

If a person or organization is out in left field, they are acting differently from most people or have a different opinion from most people. ❑ The opposition is right on that and the government, boy, they’re really out in left field on this one. ● This expression is usually used to show disapproval of someone’s behaviour or opinions. out in left field or out of left field [american] Someone or something that is out in left field or out of left field is strange or unusual, or doing things differently from most other people. ❑ He is, like most theorists, out in left field, ignoring the experimental evidence. ● Left-field is used as an adjective to mean slightly odd or unusual. [mainly british, informal] ❑ She performs a left-field cabaret act. ❑ Her parents were creative and left-field and wanted Polly to become a singer or a truck driver. play the field If someone plays the field, they have many different romantic or sexual relationships. ❑ He gave up playing the field and married a year ago. If gamblers play the field, they bet on all the horses in a race except the one that is considered most likely to win. plead the fifth [american] If you plead the fifth, you try to avoid answering difficult questions. ❑ When asked how much she sold the business for, she pleads the fifth. The Fifth Amendment of the US constitution says that you do not have to answer any questions or say anything that could be used against you in a court of law.

fig

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fifth

a fig leaf Something which is intended to hide an embarrassing or awkward situation can be called a fig leaf. ❑ The Code of Practice must be enforced, or else it is just a meaningless fig leaf. ❑ He said that retaining Stewart in a creative role was a ‘generous fig leaf that the company gave her’.

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fight According to the Bible, when Adam and Eve ate the apple in the Garden of Eden, they realized that they were naked and felt ashamed, so they covered their genitals with fig leaves. (Genesis 3:7)

fight

a knock-down, drag-out fight [american] A knock-down, drag-out fight is a very serious, emotional and often violent fight or argument. ❑ This year, nobody wanted another knock-down, drag-out fight over the state budget. ❑ You shouldn’t engage in knock-down drag-out fights in front of your children. This expression refers to a type of boxing match in which a fighter who had been knocked down was dragged out of the ring and replaced by another contestant.

figure

go figure [mainly american, informal] People say go figure when they want you to consider something they have just said because it is surprising or interesting. ❑ The average wage is $23,000 but you would need to earn $31,000 to buy the typical first home. Go figure. ❑ When I interviewed her she seemed like a nice, normal person. So is this scandal true? Go figure.

✪ have had your fill of something

finders

be cutting it fine or be cutting it close If you are cutting it fine or cutting it close, you only leave yourself just enough time to do something. ❑ Could we leave as late as five o’clock or would that be cutting it fine? ❑ They didn’t plan to get it to us until six o’ clock, and that’s cutting it a little close.

fine

finders keepers If someone, especially a child, says finders keepers, they mean that they have a right to keep something they have found. ❑ My umbrella has not been returned. Obviously, someone picked it up and has made no effort to find the owner. Finders, keepers.

If you have had your fill of something, you have had as much of it as you can bear, and do not want any more. ❑ I’ve had my fill of office politics over the years. ❑ They have had their fill of war, poverty, and repression.

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give someone/something the finger [informal] If you give someone or something the finger, you do something which shows your anger at them or lack of respect for them. ❑ His business would be more successful if he didn’t give the finger to most of the commercial opportunities that come his way. ❑ He could afford to give the finger to people like that. If you give someone the finger, you make an offensive gesture with one hand, with the middle finger pointing up and the other fingers bent over. ❑ The great thrill was to give passers-by the finger through the window. have a finger in every pie If someone has a finger in every pie, they are involved in many different activities. ❑ He has a finger in every pie and is never short of ideas for making the next buck. ● This expression is very variable. For example, you can say that someone has a finger in a lot of pies or has a finger in many pies or you can use verbs such as keep or stick instead of have. ❑ He was an economist called Clarkson who had a finger in a good many pies. ❑ Many of them keep fingers in as many pies as possible to spread the risk and distract the tax authorities. ● If someone has a finger in the pie, they are involved in the activity you are talking about. ❑ Both banks had a finger in the pie. ● These expressions often show that you disapprove of someone being involved in something. The most likely explanation for this expression is that it refers to someone who is involved in making a pie. ✪ have your finger on the pulse If you have your finger on the pulse, you know all the latest information about something or understand it very well. ❑ She had her finger on the pulse of the consumerled Eighties generation. ● You can also say that someone keeps their finger on the pulse if they make an effort to stay aware of new developments. ❑ It’s important to keep your finger on the pulse by reading all the right magazines and newspapers. ● People sometimes say that someone has their finger on the button. ❑ She is a businesswoman with her finger on the button.

fill

finger

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put the finger on someone Someone’s pulse is the speed and force with which their blood vessels expand If you put the finger on someone, you tell and contract as their heart beats. A someone in authority that they have done doctor might feel a patient’s pulse by something wrong or blame them for pressing a finger lightly against the something bad. large artery in their wrist. ❑ A lot of people will point to the defeat and put not lay a finger on someone the finger on the head coach. ❑ Their report put If someone has not laid a finger on the finger on diesel pollution. another person, they have never hurt that ✪ put your finger on something person in any way. If you put your finger on the reason for ❑ One of the men accused of attacking trucker something or the truth about something, Reginald Denny says he never laid a finger on him. you say what it is exactly. ● This expression is used in positive ❑ He put his finger on a major weakness of its sentences for warning people. ❑ If you ever education policy when he said that the country lay a finger on me again, I promise you faithfully needed improved education, not perpetual you’ll regret it. experimentation. ❑ It was Dr. Stockton who had ✪ not lift a finger or put his finger on the truth. not raise a finger ● If you cannot say exactly the reason for If someone does not lift a finger or does something or the truth about something, not raise a finger to do something or to you can say that you can’t put your finger help someone, they do not do anything. on it. ❑ Had they known each other as children? ❑ This Chancellor refuses to lift a finger to help At school? She couldn’t put her finger on it. working men and women. ❑ I’m the one who has twist someone around your little finger to clean it all up. She wouldn’t lift a finger if I or didn’t beg her. ❑ What kind of people are we to wrap someone around your little finger accept his kind of behaviour without raising a If you can twist someone around your finger to prevent it? little finger or wrap them around your ● This expression is used to criticize little finger, you can make them do people for not doing anything. anything you want them to. ✪ point the finger at someone ❑ Anna may not be the brightest person in the If you point the finger at someone, you world, but she knew exactly how to twist him blame them for a mistake they have made around her little finger. ❑ A child who is spoilt is or accuse them of doing something able to wrap her parents around their little finger. wrong. ● People sometimes use wind instead of ❑ Nobody can point the finger at us for doing twist or wrap, and round instead of anything we shouldn’t have. around. ❑ I didn’t think there was anyone in the ● You can also say, for example, that you world you were afraid of, or one you couldn’t wind point the finger of blame or the finger of round your finger. suspicion at someone. ❑ It would be easy to fingers point the finger of blame at individuals. count something on the fingers of one ● When people blame or accuse each other hand in this way, you can refer to this as You say that you can count something on finger-pointing. ❑ Whether or not the the fingers of one hand to emphasize that investigation succeeds, it is bound to lead to there are surprisingly few of them. finger-pointing and backbiting. ❑ The jobs advertised each year could be counted pull your finger out or on the fingers of one hand. get your finger out [british, informal] ● You can also say that you can count If you tell someone to pull their finger out something on your fingers. ❑ In the six or get their finger out, you are telling years I’ve known her I could count on my fingers them rudely to start working harder or to the number of times we’ve spoken. start dealing with something. ❑ If Bexley Council had any sense they would pull ✪ get your fingers burned or burn your fingers their finger out and shut this place down. ❑ I have If you get your fingers burned or burn told them to get their fingers out and start winning games. your fingers when you try do something,

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fingertips

investment counselor and keep your money safe. it goes wrong, and there are very unpleasant consequences for you. ❑ You mustn’t allow a golden opportunity to slip ❑ Unfortunately many people got their fingers through your fingers or you will regret it later. burned when the Web phenomenon burst onto the sticky fingers [informal] scene. ❑ Foreign investors have a long history of If someone has sticky fingers, they steal burning their fingers when they try their hand at things. making Hollywood movies. ❑ One of the staff got sticky fingers and lifted ✪ have green fingers [british] hundreds of millions of dollars from accounts at If someone has green fingers, they are the bank. very good at gardening. work your fingers to the bone ❑ My husband has green fingers. ❑ Even if you If you work your fingers to the bone, you were not born with green fingers you can easily work extremely hard. learn a few simple techniques to help you achieve ❑ What sort of life is this if, like a miner, you work success. your fingers to the bone? ❑ I have washed, ● You can describe someone who is good cooked, fetched and carried all my life. I worked at gardening as green-fingered. ❑ Even if my fingers to the bone in his house. you’re not green-fingered you can put on a fingertips stunning show of flowers right through summer ✪ at your fingertips and beyond. If you have something at your have your fingers in the till ➜ see till fingertips, it is easily available for you to itchy fingers [mainly british] use or reach. If you have itchy fingers, you are very ❑ All basic controls are at your fingertips for keen to get involved in a particular straightforward, no fuss operation. activity. If you have facts or information at your ❑ I went into town to watch people playing fingertips, you know them thoroughly chess. After a few days of this I started getting and can refer to them quickly. itchy fingers. ❑ She has figures about the performance of her ✪ keep your fingers crossed or business at her fingertips. ❑ I need to have all the cross your fingers answers at my fingertips in case I’m questioned If you keep your fingers crossed or cross about the matter. your fingers, you hope for luck or success be hanging on by your fingertips or in something. be hanging on by your fingernails ❑ I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that If you are hanging on by your fingertips everything goes well. ❑ We all cross our fingers or hanging on by your fingernails, you are and hope it never happens. But if long-term only just managing to survive or to stay in illness struck tomorrow, could you keep paying the position you want. the bills? ❑ There are firms already hanging on by their ● People say fingers crossed when they fingertips who will not be able to take these extra are wishing someone good luck or hoping costs. ❑ Real Madrid’s poor start to the season for good luck for themselves. ❑ We don’t has left coach Benito Floro hanging on to his job have tickets but we’re going anyway. Fingers by his fingernails. crossed we’ll be able to get in. ● The verb cling is sometimes used People sometimes actually cross their instead of hang. ❑ The minister is said to be middle finger over their index finger clinging on by his fingernails since the scandal. when they use this expression or are ● You can also say that someone has a wishing someone good luck. In the past, fingertip hold on something. ❑ A Bolton people believed that making the sign of own goal early in the second half gave Liverpool the cross in this way was a way of the fingertip hold they needed to retain their protecting themselves from the devil or grasp of the FA Cup. bad luck. fire ✪ slip through your fingers be breathing fire If you let something slip through your If someone is breathing fire, they are very fingers, you fail to get it or keep it. angry about something. ❑ If your income is greater than your expenses, don’t let it slip through your fingers! Hire a good ❑ A highly emotional time will have you

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breathing fire at one moment and in tears at another. ❑ There was one Democratic legislator who was breathing fire over the Weinberger indictment. ✪ be playing with fire If you are playing with fire, you are doing something that has big risks and is likely to cause problems. ❑ Rebel MPs are playing with fire and endangering the party’s re-election. ❑ Schulte warned industrial leaders that those who even think about mass layoffs are playing with fire. catch fire If something such as an event or performance catches fire, it becomes exciting, entertaining, and enjoyable. ❑ For me, the film never quite catches fire. ❑ The play only really catches fire once Aschenbach falls in love. ✪ come under fire or be under fire If someone or something comes under fire or is under fire, they are strongly criticized. ❑ The president’s plan came under fire from critics who said he didn’t include enough spending cuts. ❑ Britain’s prisons are under fire from an international human rights group. This expression comes from the literal meaning of soldiers being under fire, meaning that they are being shot at. draw fire or draw someone’s fire If someone or something draws fire or draws someone’s fire, they are strongly criticized. ❑ The new block of flats immediately drew the fire of the architectural establishment. ❑ Moynihan’s plan to cut the Social Security payroll tax has already drawn fire from the administration. ‘Fire’ here means gunfire. fight fire with fire If you fight fire with fire, you attack or criticize someone with force after they attack or criticize you with force. ❑ The military were not afraid of fighting fire with fire. ● Other verbs such as meet or match are sometimes used instead of fight. ❑ Sometimes you just have to meet fire with fire. fire in your belly or fire in the belly If you have fire in your belly or fire in the belly, you are ready to do something in a

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very energetic and passionate way. ❑ Ian has played with fire in his belly throughout his career. ❑ He accused the candidate of lacking fire in the belly. ● You can also say that someone has a fire in their belly or a fire in the belly. ❑ He also has a fire in his belly. ‘I’m passionate about what I do,’ he says. hang fire If you hang fire, you wait and do not do anything for a while. ❑ Banks and building societies are hanging fire on interest rates to see how the French vote in their referendum. If something hangs fire, nothing is done about it for a while. ❑ He spent the next 18 months worrying about the numerous important programmes that were hanging fire in his absence. This expression dates from the time when firearms used gunpowder rather than bullets. If a gun hung fire, it did not fire properly because the gunpowder had not caught light. ‘Flash in the pan’ has a similar origin. hold your fire or hold fire If you hold your fire or hold fire, you wait and do not do anything for a while. ❑ We are holding fire on our assessment of the situation until a detailed analysis can be made. If you hold your fire or hold fire, you delay attacking or criticizing someone. ❑ The administration will hold its fire until it sees the detail of the bill, but is likely then to oppose it. These expressions are also used literally to talk about a situation where soldiers stop shooting, or wait before they start shooting. light a fire under someone [mainly american] If you light a fire under someone, you force them to act with more energy or to do something better. ❑ They need to improve their technical research and light a fire under their marketing team. ❑ It’s hard to light a fire under people who don’t think anything is wrong. There is a story that some American farmers in the early part of the 20th century used to light fires under particularly stubborn mules that were refusing to move, in order to make them do so.

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first first

✪ first come first served

You say first come first served to show that a group of people will be dealt with or given something in the order in which they arrive. ❑ There will be five buses, first come first served. ● People often say that something will be done or given on a first come first served basis. ❑ Tickets will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

fish

✪ a big fish

If you call someone a big fish, you mean that they are important or powerful. ❑ The four who were arrested here last September were described as really big fish by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. a big fish in a small pond If someone is a big fish in a small pond, they are one of the most important and influential people in a small organization or group. ❑ In Rhodesia I was a big fish in a small pond. ❑ As a big fish in a small pond, Smith found it easy to dominate fashion photography in Australia. ● This expression can be varied, for example by using pool instead of pond or by talking about a small fish in a big pond. ❑ Being a big fish in a tiny, stagnant pool clearly gives controversial journalists ideas way above their station. ❑ Now I’m the smallest fish in a very big pond. ● You often use this expression to suggest that someone would be less important or interesting if they were part of a larger organization or group.

People used to believe that fish drank constantly because they breathe through open mouths. a fish out of water If you are like a fish out of water, you feel awkward because you are in an unfamiliar situation or because the people you are with are very different from you. ❑ I think he thought of himself as a country gentleman and was like a fish out of water in Birmingham. ❑ It’s not as if I had any obvious trauma in my life; I just felt like a fish out of water. ● You can use fish-out-of-water before a noun, to describe a situation where someone feels awkward. ❑ The fish-out-ofwater feeling continued when she went to study in Cambridge. have other fish to fry or have bigger fish to fry If you have other fish to fry or have bigger fish to fry, you have something more important, interesting, or profitable to do. ❑ I didn’t pursue it in detail because I’m afraid I had other fish to fry at the time. ❑ She tried to avoid wasting time on bureaucratic squabbling. She had bigger fish to fry. ● This phrase is often varied. For example, if someone has their own fish to fry, they are not interested in doing something because they have business of their own to deal with. ❑ Tony comes and goes. He’s got his own fish to fry, as they say. like shooting fish in a barrel If arguing, fighting or competing with someone is like shooting fish in a barrel, it is very easy to win. ❑ His criticism of US TV news is like shooting fish in a barrel. ● You can also say that someone is shooting fish in a barrel if they are arguing, fighting or competing with people who are easy to beat. ❑ I admire his humour, but I think he’s shooting fish in a barrel. With more discipline, he might convince some viewers who aren’t already converted. ● You can also say that people are like fish in a barrel if they are easy to defeat or kill. ❑ Marksmen were using our satellite dishes for target practice. We felt like fish in a barrel. neither fish nor fowl If something or someone is neither fish nor fowl, they are difficult to identify or understand, because they seem partly like one thing and partly like another.

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a cold fish If you call someone a cold fish, you mean that they do not show their emotions and can seem unfriendly or unsympathetic. ❑ Since the President is generally seen as a cold fish, it is all the more impressive when he does show his feelings. ❑ He didn’t really show much emotion – he’s a bit of a cold fish. drink like a fish [informal] If someone drinks like a fish, they regularly drink a lot of alcohol. ❑ When I was younger I could drink like a fish and eat like a pig. ❑ The father was not too bad but the mother drank like a fish.

Another American expression for this is a big frog in a small pond.

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five ❑ Brunel’s vessel was neither fish nor fowl: a

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❑ Nathan is now fighting fit and ready to tackle school again after his illness. ❑ For most of us

passenger liner too ugly and dirty to offer much the balance is not perfect; one day we feel fighting beyond novelty value. ❑ In the American sports fit, the next a bit under the weather. press, this athlete is neither fish nor fowl, neither fit as a fiddle [british, american] or American nor entirely foreign. ● People occasionally replace fish with flesh. fit as a flea [british] If someone is as fit as a fiddle or as fit as a ❑ She didn’t look one of anything to Oatsie, neither flea, they are very fit and healthy. flesh nor fowl, neither idiot nor intellectual. ❑ He was nearly 80 and as fit as a fiddle. ❑ He is ‘Fowl’ is an old-fashioned word for a young enough at 33 and fit as a flea. hen or other bird. This expression may originally have there are plenty more fish in the sea or applied to a violin player, or fiddler, there are other fish in the sea rather than to a violin, or fiddle. The If you tell someone that there are fiddler had to be fit in order to play all plenty more fish in the sea or there are evening at a festival or party. other fish in the sea, you mean that there Alternatively, ‘fit’ could mean are many other people they could have a ‘suitable’ rather than ‘healthy’, so the relationship with. original meaning may have been ‘as ❑ Tell him there are plenty more fish in the sea suitable for its purpose as a fiddle is and he’s sure to find the perfect woman. ❑ If your for making music’. teen is upset because their boyfriend or girlfriend fit to be tied [american] left them, declaring cheerfully ‘There are other fish If you are fit to be tied, you are very angry. in the sea’ won’t help. ❑ Douglas was fit to be tied and made Harry pay ● This expression is sometimes varied. back every last dollar. ❑ Remember that there are many more fish in the ‘Fit’ here means ready or suitable for a sea. particular purpose. If you say there are plenty more fish in the sea or there are other fish in the sea, ✪ have a fit or throw a fit you mean there are other opportunities If someone has a fit or throws a fit, they that can be taken. become very angry and upset. ❑ In the case of the motor industry, there really ❑ Mum will have a fit when he hears about this. are other fish in the sea. ❑ She threw a fit when she found me in the ● This expression is sometimes varied. dressing room. ❑ The government says there aren’t enough fish in the sea to sustain current levels of employment. fits ✪ in fits and starts fishing If something happens or is done in fits a fishing expedition [mainly american] and starts, it does not happen If you are on a fishing expedition, you are continuously, but stops and then starts trying to find out facts about something, again many times. often secretly. ❑ The employment picture had been improving in ❑ I know why you’re here. You’re on a fishing fits and starts during the past several months. expedition. You’re hunting for material. ❑ He ❑ Denise’s career plans can only proceed in fits was asked whether Wilkey was engaged in a and starts. fishing expedition aimed at politically ● You can also say that something embarrassing the House. happens or is done by fits and starts. fist ❑ The author does not maintain a clear narrative ✪ an iron fist ➜ see iron line, but proceeds by fits and starts. an iron fist in the velvet glove ➜ see iron

five

fit In the first two idioms here, ‘fit’ means healthy and full of energy. fighting fit [british] If someone is fighting fit, they are very healthy and ready for action.

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give me five! [mainly american, informal] People say give me five! to show that they want you to hit your hand against their hand to show you are pleased about something. ❑ Hey, we won! Give me five!

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fix fix

✪ get a fix on someone/something

If you get a fix on someone or something, you get a clear idea or understanding of them. ❑ It’s difficult to get a fix on what brokers earn. Their commissions depend on the number and cost of the properties they sell. ❑ His foreign policy adviser travelled to Washington to try to get a fix on US thinking. ● You can also say that someone has a fix on someone or something if they understand them well. ❑ Do you have a fix on what the market wants? This expression literally means to find out exactly where something is, usually by using radar or electronic equipment. in a fix [informal] If someone is in a fix, they are in a difficult or dangerous situation. ❑ He kept turning to me whenever he was in a fix and of course I’d help him out. ❑ The government is in a fix over access to the countryside. ✪ a quick fix If something is a quick fix, it is a fast solution, but one which may not last. ❑ We encourage our clients to look for other ways to find comfort apart from the quick fix that food offers. ❑ There can be no quick fix for public spending. If the recovery fails to cut the deficit sharply, a rise in taxes will be needed. ● You can also use quick-fix before a noun. ❑ The fight against crime is not a quick-fix operation.

keep the flag flying If you keep the flag flying, you do something to show your support for a group to which you belong, or to show your support for something that you agree with. ❑ Meghan Delahunt is keeping the flag flying for Scotland in the Best First Book category. ❑ It’s important that artists keep the flag of tolerance flying. a red flag [mainly american] You call something that gives a warning of a bad or dangerous situation or event a a red flag. ❑ These are devices that are necessary components of nuclear weapons, and clearly that has raised a red flag in the minds of a lot of people. ❑ Cholesterol was the red flag that alerted millions of Americans to the fact that diet really does matter. ➜ compare with a red flag before a bull a red flag before a bull ➜ see bull wrap yourself in the flag or drape yourself in the flag [mainly american] If someone, especially a politician, wraps themselves in the flag or drapes themselves in the flag, they try to do something for their own advantage while pretending to do it for the good of their country. ❑ Politicians always try to wrap themselves in the flag on Independence Day, but I think most people can see through that. ❑ He criticized advertisers for fighting proposed cigarette ad restrictions by draping themselves in the flag and lecturing about their First Amendment freedoms of speech.

✪ fly the flag

run something up the flagpole If you run an idea up the flagpole, you suggest it to people in order to find out what they think of it. ❑ That’s a great idea. Let’s run it up the flagpole and see what happens. If you run a flag up a flagpole, you pull it to the top using the rope attached to the side of the flagpole.

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flagpole

If you fly the flag for your country or a group to which you belong, you represent it or do something to support it. ❑ I would love to fly the flag for my country and enter the Eurovision Song Contest. ● Verbs such as carry, show or wave are sometimes used instead of fly. ❑ The Kuwaiti team said they were only in Peking to show the flag. ❑ He believed in the sacred power of great music: he felt that he was carrying the flag of high culture. If you fly the flag for something, you support it and praise it. ❑ Wragg was left to fly the flag for state education. ● Verbs such as carry, show or wave are sometimes used instead of fly. ❑ I think it’s important that we wave the flag for the arts.

flag

flags put the flags out or put out the flags [british] If you put the flags out or put out the flags, you celebrate something special that has happened.

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flat ❑ Even now, they must be putting the flags out

✪ a flash in the pan

in holiday resorts like Bognor and Blackpool.

❑ Birthdays and christenings, or just a spell of good weather, are all the excuse you need to put out the flags and celebrate summer in the garden. People say put the flags out! to show that they are surprised but pleased that something has happened. ❑ The builders have finished? Put the flags out!

flame

✪ an old flame

An old flame is someone who you had a romantic relationship with in the past. ❑ Last week he was seen dining with his old flame in New York. An old meaning of ‘flame’ was the person that someone was in love with.

flames

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flash

If an achievement or success is a flash in the pan, it is unlikely to be repeated or to last. ❑ In the days following Beckon’s victory, the British establishment has gone out of its way to try and dismiss the result as a flash in the pan. If someone who has had a success is a flash in the pan, their success is unlikely to be repeated. ❑ Hopefully now I’ll be taken seriously, I’m not a flash in the pan. ● You can use flash-in-the-pan before a noun. ❑ Hers is no flash-in-the-pan talent, but a major and mature new voice. This expression has its origins in the way that an old-fashioned gun worked. Pulling the trigger produced a spark which set light to a small amount of gunpowder held in the ‘pan’. This in turn lit the rest of the gunpowder. However, if it failed to do so there was just a ‘flash in the pan’ and the gun did not fire properly. ‘Hang fire’ has a similar origin. quick as a flash ➜ see quick

be shot down in flames If an idea or plan is shot down in flames, it is criticized strongly or not accepted at all. ❑ Just six months ago, his idea would have been shot down in flames for its sheer lunacy. If a person is shot down in flames, they are severely criticized or made to look foolish for something that they have done flat or suggested. ✪ fall flat ❑ Weren’t they the band of the month last If an event or an attempt to do something month? And now they’re just shot down in falls flat, it is completely unsuccessful. flames. ❑ If the efforts fall flat and the economic ✪ fan the flames situation does not change, this city can expect If something that someone says or does another riot 25 years from now. ❑ She was badly fans the flames, it makes a bad situation disappointed when the evening fell flat. worse. If a joke falls flat, nobody thinks it is ❑ There are several specific and new issues that funny. are fanning the flames in this dispute. ❑ Lee’s ❑ He then started trying to tell jokes to the film, based on the life of Malcolm X, was set to fan assembled gathering. These too fell flat. the flames of controversy even higher. fall flat on your face ➜ compare with add fuel to the fire If someone falls flat on their face when To fan flames means to make them they try to do something, they fail or burn more strongly by waving a fan or make an embarrassing mistake. other flat object next to them. ❑ In trying to introduce prison reform, he fell flat go up in flames or on his face. ❑ I told myself I was going to try hard go down in flames every day for a year, even if I fell flat on my face If something goes up in flames or goes each day. down in flames, it fails or comes to an flat as a pancake end, or is destroyed completely. If something is as flat as a pancake, it is ❑ I saw my entire reputation go up in flames and very flat. the world still went on turning. ❑ On May 1st, ❑ There was barely a breeze and the water was as the proposal went down in flames. flat as a pancake. ❑ Could he really put up The expression go up in flames is used interest rates now? With the economy flat as a literally to talk about something being pancake and the housing market in crisis? destroyed by fire.

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flat-footed they are a member of your family. ❑ The kid, after all, was his own flesh and blood. He deserved a second chance. ❑ You can’t just let flavour your own flesh and blood go to prison if there’s ‘Flavour’ is spelled ‘flavor’ in any way you can help. American English. If you say that someone is flesh and blood, you mean that they have human ✪ flavour of the month [mainly british] feelings or weaknesses, and that they are If someone or something is flavour of the not perfect. month, they are very popular at the ❑ I’m flesh and blood like everyone else and I, too, moment. can be damaged. ❑ We priests are mere flesh and ❑ One minute you’re flavour of the month, top of blood. In fact we’re often even weaker than others. the bestseller charts, and the next minute you’re If you describe someone as a flesh and forgotten. ❑ Filmstars seem to be interested in blood person, you mean that they are real whatever cause is the latest flavour of the month. ● People sometimes mention other and actually exist. ❑ His absence ever since her second birthday periods of time such as year, week, or made her think of him as a picture rather than a moment instead of month. ❑ Monetarism flesh and blood father. was the flavour of the year. ❑ Suddenly, he was flavour of the moment on both sides of the Atlantic. ✪ in the flesh ● These expressions are often used to If you meet or see someone famous in the flesh, you actually meet or see them in suggest that the popularity of someone or real life. something is unlikely to last long. ❑ But what does Jamie think of his hero now, American ice cream parlours used to having met him in the flesh? ❑ I was early for our select a particular flavour of the month meeting. I’d been impatient to see him in the flesh. in order to encourage people to try make your flesh creep or different flavours of ice cream. make your flesh crawl flea If something or someone makes your flesh fit as a flea ➜ see fit creep or makes your flesh crawl, they send someone away with a flea in their make you feel uncomfortable because you ear [british] find them so unpleasant or frightening. If you send someone away with a flea in ❑ I didn’t like him the first time I set eyes on him their ear, you tell them to go away and and now I know why. He made my flesh creep. that you are angry with them. ❑ I could see nobody. But they could see me. It ❑ Minnie sent Sligo away with a flea in his ear made my flesh crawl. and a warning not to return. ● You can also say that someone or ● This expression can be used in many something makes your skin crawl. ❑ Then different structures. For example, you can suddenly she laughed. The sound made his skin say that someone gets or is given a flea in crawl. their ear or that someone leaves or comes ✪ press the flesh [journalism] away with a flea their ear. ❑ All that had To press the flesh means to talk to people happened, I suspected, was that Sylvia had got a in a crowd and shake their hands. flea in her ear. ❑ She was out and about all over Galway, A flea is a small jumping insect that pressing the flesh. lives on the bodies of humans or ● This expression is often used about animals and feeds on their blood. politicians, who do this when they are fleeced trying to get elected. get fleeced put flesh on something or If you get fleeced, you are tricked by put flesh on the bones of something someone as a way of getting your money. If you put flesh on something or put flesh ❑ Use your cash wisely – and make sure you don’t on the bones of something, you add more get fleeced. detailed information to it. flesh ❑ It is hoped that the proposal will put some flesh on ✪ flesh and blood the concept. ❑ He will need to put flesh on the bones If someone is your own flesh and blood, of his calls for greater community involvement.

flat-footed

be caught flat-footed ➜ see catch

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flow privacy is that you don’t show yourself the way you really are.

give someone the flick or give someone the flick pass [australian, informal] If you give someone or something the flick or if you give them the flick pass, you get rid of them or say you do not want them. ❑ Nikki has given Brandon the flick. ❑ Brunker plans to give work the flick pass by the time he hits 30. ● You can also say that someone gets the flick. ❑ These ridiculous games should get the flick so we can have a real championship. In Australian football, a flick pass is a pass made by hitting the ball with an open hand. Flick passes are against the rules, which state that the ball should be passed by hitting it with the fist.

floodgates

✪ open the floodgates If an event, action, or decision opens the floodgates, it makes it possible or likely that a particular thing will be done by many people or happen a lot of times. ❑ Giving in to the strikers’ demands would open the floodgates to demands by workers in other state-owned industries. ❑ The floodgates were opened yesterday for cheaper new cars for thousands of motorists. ● You can also say that the floodgates open. ❑ If a company talks about introducing a wireless Lan, they have to be aware that the floodgates will open.

floor

flies

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❑ Perhaps the flip side of maintaining that

flick

be dropping like flies If people are dropping like flies, large numbers of them are dying within a short period of time. ❑ Actors his age - many of them friends - are dropping like flies. If large numbers of similar things are dropping like flies, they are all failing within a short period of time. ❑ While other retailers are dropping like flies, supermarkets are making fat profits. there are no flies on someone If you say there are no flies on someone, you mean that they are quick to understand a situation and are not easily deceived. ❑ Oh, he was a smart one, all right. There were no flies on him.

through the floor If prices or values go through the floor, they suddenly decrease to a very low level. ❑ Property prices have dropped through the floor. ❑ On the fateful day, Oct. 19, the value of those stocks fell through the floor. wipe the floor with someone If you wipe the floor with someone, you prove that you are much better than they are at doing something, or you defeat them totally in a competition, fight, or argument. ❑ When you play against people whose technique is superior, they’re going to wipe the floor with you. ❑ He wiped the floor with the Prime Minister on his first outing as opposition leader.

flip the flip side of something The flip side of something is its opposite, usually negative, effect.

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a flight of fantasy If you call an idea, statement, or plan a flight of fancy or a flight of fantasy, you mean that it is imaginative but not at all practical. ❑ This is no flight of fancy. The prototype is already flying, and production is to begin next year. ❑ The idea that you could use these satellites as weapons is a complete flight of fantasy.

flotsam and jetsam Flotsam and jetsam is used to refer to small or unimportant items that are found together, usually in an untidy way. ❑ We found cornflake packets, bottles, and all the flotsam and jetsam of the kitchen. The phrase ‘flotsam and jetsam’ was originally used to describe things that were washed onto the shore from the sea, for instance after a shipwreck.

✪ a flight of fancy or

flight

flotsam

flow

✪ go with the flow If you go with the flow, you let things happen to you or do what other people want, rather than trying to control what happens yourself. ❑ This year I’m going to leave my troubles and tension in the departure lounge and go with the

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flow. ❑ Sometimes you just have to go with the flow of creativity. ✪ in full flow [british] or in full flood If an activity, or the person who is performing the activity, is in full flow or in full flood, the activity has started and is being done with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. ❑ When she’s in full flow, she often works right through the night. ❑ To hear the drum and bass of the Barrett brothers in full flow is a real treat for long-time fans. ❑ A campaign of public accusation is now in full flood. ● You can also say that someone or something is in full spate. ❑ With family life in full spate, there were nevertheless some times of quiet domesticity. If someone is in full flow or in full flood, they are talking quickly and for a long time. ❑ A male voice was in full flow in the lounge. ❑ Vicki was in full flood on the subject of her new job. stem the flow ➜ see stem

fly

like a blue-arsed fly [british, informal, very rude] If you do something like a blue-arsed fly, you do it very quickly and without having much control. ❑ I ran around like a blue-arsed fly, packed two suitcases and a trunk, and left everything else. on the fly [mainly american] If you do something on the fly, you do it quickly, without thinking about it or planning it in advance. ❑ These people can make decisions on the fly and don’t have to phone home to their boss. ❑ This gives architects and designers the power to build an environment, explore it and maybe do some designing on the fly. wouldn’t hurt a fly or wouldn’t harm a fly If someone wouldn’t hurt a fly or wouldn’t harm a fly, they are very kind and gentle. ❑ She was such a lovely girl, who wouldn’t have hurt a fly. ❑ He is, he insists, a pacifist, who would not harm a fly.

Flynn a fly in the ointment If someone or something is a fly in the in like Flynn [australian, informal] ointment, they prevent a situation from If you are in like Flynn, you do something being as successful or happy as it would quickly and with great enthusiasm. be without them. ❑ ‘If I thought I could win the leadership election, ❑ The only fly in the ointment is Bella’s chronic I would be in like Flynn,’ Mr Rudd said. lack of concentration. ❑ One potentially large fly fold in the ointment is how radio resources have been return to the fold split up worldwide. If someone returns to the fold, they start This expression probably comes from to belong to or support a group of people the Bible: ‘Dead flies cause the ointment that they belonged to or supported in the of the apothecary to send forth a past. stinking savour: so doth a little folly ❑ He had left the party just before the peace deal him that is in reputation for wisdom was signed, but has since returned to the fold. and honour.’ (Ecclesiastes 10:1) ● You can also say that someone comes ✪ a fly on the wall back to the fold. ❑ A price cut is another way If you would like to be a fly on the wall to get customers to come back to the fold. when a particular thing happens, you ● You can say that someone brings would like to secretly hear what is said or someone back to the fold, to mean that see what happens. they cause them to return to a group. ❑ I’d love to be a fly on the wall at their team ❑ The Government should ensure that the small meetings. ❑ What I’d give to be a fly on the wall and medium exporters are brought back to the fold. when Draper finds out what’s happened to his food precious cargo! ✪ food for thought ● You can use fly-on-the-wall to describe If something gives you food for thought, something such as a documentary film (= it makes you think very hard about an film about real people and events), where issue. the makers of the film record everything ❑ This Italian trip gave us all much food for that happens. ❑ For six months, a BBC film thought. ❑ It was poor Alan dying like that, gave crew worked on a fly-on-the-wall documentary me food for thought. about their forthcoming marriage.

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foot fool

a fool and his money are soon parted People say a fool and his money are soon parted to point out that it is easy to persuade someone who is not sensible to spend their money on worthless things. ❑ That old saying that a fool and his money are soon parted applies to City financiers too, for example those who entrusted City traders with their retirement cash. ● This expression is very variable. ❑ I have learnt from years of experience that you can never prevent a fool from parting with his money; you can only delay the process. be living in a fool’s paradise If someone is living in a fool’s paradise, they believe wrongly that their situation is good, when really it is not. ❑ Anyone who believes that this deal heralds a golden new era for the European air traveller is living in a fool’s paradise. ● You can also use a fool’s paradise on its own to mean a situation where someone thinks things are good, but really they are not. ❑ Mrs Deedes looks much happier. But surely hers is a fool’s paradise. ✪ fool’s gold If a plan or something you want to achieve is fool’s gold, it seems good but in reality is not likely to be successful or of good quality. ❑ ID cards are fool’s gold. Their only use would be to identify the victims of the next disaster. ❑ All we wanted was an honourable settlement. He chose to go after fool’s gold and lost. Fool’s gold is another name for iron pyrite, a gold-coloured mineral that is found in rock and that people sometimes mistake for gold. play someone for a fool If someone plays you for a fool, they deceive you to get an advantage for themselves or treat you as if you are stupid. ❑ John, do not play me for a fool. You owe me better than that. ● Other nouns with a similar meaning can be used instead of fool. ❑ She realized she was no closer to getting the money than before. Ken had probably played her for a sucker again. you could have fooled me People say you could have fooled me to show that it does not seem to you that something is true.

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❑ ‘I came here to apologize.’ – ‘You could have fooled me.’ ❑ Car makers are supposed to be bringing their prices down. Well, you could have fooled me.

fools

fools rush in where angels fear to tread or fools rush in People say fools rush in where angels fear to tread or fools rush in to mean that stupid people often do or say things without thinking enough about them first. ❑ ‘Sometimes I stop and think, Good God, how did I get into this,’ she says with a laugh. ‘Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.’ ❑ That was something none of the three of us would have dared to say. Fools rush in… ● This expression is often varied, especially by using other words instead of fools and angels. ❑ Amateurs rush in where professionals fear to tread. This proverb comes from Alexander Pope’s ‘An Essay on Criticism’ (1711). not suffer fools gladly If you do not suffer fools gladly, you are not patient with people who you think are stupid. ❑ She doesn’t suffer fools gladly and, in her view, most people are fools. be caught on the wrong foot If you are caught on the wrong foot, something happens quickly and unexpectedly, and you are not ready for it. ❑ The government has been caught on the wrong foot by the recent change of public mood. ● The verb wrong-foot is also used to mean to surprise someone and put them in a difficult situation. ❑ Again and again, European and UN diplomacy has been wrong-footed by events in this region. ➜ compare with get off on the wrong foot ➜ compare with start off on the right foot the boot is on the other foot [british] or the shoe is on the other foot [american] If the boot or the shoe is on the other foot, a situation is the opposite of what it was before, so that the people who were previously in a better position are now in a worse one, and those who were in a worse position are now in a better one.

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foot ❑ Comments like that from a manager are better

If someone manages to put their foot in a doorway, they can prevent another made in private. If the boot was on the other foot person from closing the door and and a player went public like that after a game, keeping them out. his club would quickly be looking to punish him. get off on the wrong foot ❑ The fact is, I’m in the job. You may have assisted If you get off on the wrong foot, you start along the way, but as far as I know you’re not in a a relationship or an activity badly. position to remove me. The boot is now on the ❑ We got off on the wrong foot the first time I met other foot. him. Until the end of the 18th century, shoes ● You can also say that you start off on the could be worn on either foot, as cobblers wrong foot. ❑ Their relationship had started did not make ‘right’ and ‘left’ shoes. If a off on the wrong foot, but the bond between person found that one of their shoes Packer and Singleton grew stronger over time. hurt their foot, they could try wearing it ● You can also say that something gets on their other foot to see if it felt better people or activities off on the wrong foot that way. or starts them off on the wrong foot. a foot in both camps ❑ Most of the farming people had some trouble If someone has a foot in both camps, they with English pronouns (the word ‘hi’ in Welsh support or belong to two different groups, means ‘she’ in English, which starts them off on often groups with different aims or the wrong foot). opinions. The ‘wrong foot’ refers to the left foot. ❑ With an Indian father and an English mother, There is an ancient superstition that the she had a foot in both camps – or perhaps in neither. ● You can also say that someone has a foot left side of the body is connected with bad luck and evil. The Romans in each camp or one foot in each camp. sometimes placed guards at the ❑ Sagdeev is trying to promote a compromise entrances to public buildings to ensure because he has one foot in each camp. that people entered them with their In this expression, a camp is a place right foot first. ‘Get out of bed on the where an army has put up its tents wrong side’ is based on a similar belief. during part of a war or battle. ➜ compare with be caught on the wrong ✪ get a foot in the door or foot get your foot in the door ➜ compare with start off on the right If you get a foot in the door or get your foot foot in the door, you make a small but ✪ not put a foot wrong [british] successful start at becoming involved If you don’t put a foot wrong, you do not with an organization or a business. make any mistakes. ❑ I really wanted to be a photographer and the ❑ This season the athlete hasn’t put a foot only reason I took the job was because I thought it wrong. ❑ He glided smoothly through his news might help me get a foot in the door. ❑ Temping conference, never putting a foot wrong. is a good way to get your foot in the door. ● You can also use verbs such as have or ✪ on foot If you go somewhere on foot, you walk want instead of get. ❑ The company said it there. issued the low bid because it wanted a foot in the ❑ I left the car park on foot by the car exit. door of a potentially lucrative market. one foot in the grave foot-in-the-door If someone has one foot in the grave, If you describe a way of doing something they are very ill or very old and are likely as foot-in-the-door, you mean that it is to die soon. done in an aggressive or forceful way, in ❑ Just because I’m 79, you think I’ve got one foot order to persuade someone to agree to do in the grave! something which they probably do not ● You use this expression when you are want to do. talking about illness and death in a ❑ Double glazing salespeople have become a bit of humorous way. a national joke, what with their foot-in-the-door put foot [south african, informal] methods. ❑ For many people, the image of the If you put foot, you hurry up. foot-in-the-door tabloid hack represents all that they find distasteful about the journalist’s trade. ❑ You’d better put foot – it’s getting late.

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footsteps ✪ put your best foot forward

✪

If you put your best foot forward, you work hard and quickly. ❑ Put your best foot forward and take the attitude that there is a solution to every problem you are likely to face. ❑ Most public companies will try to put their best foot forward when it comes to communicating with shareholders. put your foot down If you put your foot down, you tell someone forcefully that they must do something or that they must not do something. ❑ Annabel went through a phase of saying: ‘I can do my homework and watch TV.’ Naturally I put my foot down. ❑ He had planned to go skiing on his own, but his wife put her foot down. If you put your foot down when you are driving, you start to drive faster. [british, informal] ❑ Finding a clear stretch of the motorway, he put footloose his foot down. footloose and fancy-free [old-fashioned] put your foot in it [british, american] or If someone is footloose and fancy-free, put your foot in your mouth [american] they are not married or in a long-term If you put your foot in it or put your foot relationship, or they have very few in your mouth, you say something which responsibilities. embarrasses or offends the person you are ❑ He was footloose and fancy-free. He could go to with, and embarrasses you as a result. parties and pubs on his own, and come and go as ❑ I put my foot in it straight away, referring to it he pleased. as folk music. Tom sat forward and glared. ‘It’s not This term refers to a sail that could folk music, man. It’s heritage music.’ ❑ To the move about freely because the ropes majority of voters, he is a lightweight, forever holding it at the foot or bottom were putting his foot in his mouth. loose. set foot somewhere footsie If you set foot somewhere, you physically play footsie go there. If someone plays footsie, they touch or ❑ I never expected to set foot on British soil again. rub someone else’s foot under a table as a ❑ Poor kid, he thought, little did she know what sign of sexual interest. lay ahead of her even before she set foot on foreign ❑ These couples drink lots of Chianti, share a soil. ❑ I am not letting anyone else set foot dessert, play footsie and tip quite well. outside this house. If someone plays footsie with a person shoot yourself in the foot or organization, they show that they like If you shoot yourself in the foot, you do or them or are interested in them in an say something stupid which causes indirect and often insincere way. problems for you or harms your chances ❑ The singer has been playing footsie with all the of success. major record labels. ❑ He was still playing ❑ If I was to insult the contestants I would be footsie with the Prime Minister in order to get shooting myself in the foot. ❑ The shop ran a 25 back in the Cabinet. per cent off sale early in December. It now looks as footsteps if it shot itself in the foot, attracting people who ✪ follow in someone’s footsteps meant to shop there anyway to do so during the If you follow in someone’s footsteps, you promotion instead. do the same thing that they did. start off on the right foot or ❑ Rudolph Garvin was a college student, the son get off on the right foot If you start off on the right foot or get off of a physician, who wanted to follow in his

✪

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on the right foot, you immediately have success when you begin an activity or a relationship. ❑ Share your feelings, both positive and negative. If you decide to go ahead, you will be starting off on the right foot. ❑ In order to get off on the right foot, he presented her with a couple of expensive front-row tickets for the show. ➜ compare with be caught on the wrong foot ➜ compare with get off on the wrong foot under foot If people, especially children, are under foot, they are in your way. ❑ She wrote in the River Court house with neighbourhood children swarming under foot. ● You can say that people are out from under foot to mean that they are no longer in someone’s way. ❑ Peter guessed he might as well get out from under foot.

✪

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✪

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forelock father’s footsteps. ❑ He has developed on the pitch into a highly talented player, poised to follow in the footsteps of such Portuguese greats as Eusebio.

forelock

❑ For almost two years, Hawkins made a small fortune running a drugstore. ❑ Sharon didn’t know much about antiques, but the lamps alone were probably worth a small fortune.

foundations

tug your forelock [british] shake something to the foundations or If someone tugs their forelock, they show shake something to its foundations a lot of respect to someone in a high social If someone or something shakes position. something to the foundations or shakes ❑ I don’t know how you can stand bowing and it to its foundations, they damage it, scraping and tugging your forelock to all those change it or shock it very much. rich old crones. ❑ Her faith, which had been so strong, was ● You can also say that someone touches shaken to the foundations. ❑ When an American their forelock. ❑ A lot of people seem to president is forced to resign, the country is shaken think we’re supposed to go round touching our to its foundations. forelock and scraping our heads against the floor. ● The verb rock is sometimes used instead We’re not. of shake. ❑ The music industry was rocked to ● You can refer to this kind of behaviour its foundations last night when it was revealed as forelock-tugging or forelock-touching. that the Midlands’ top live music venue was to ❑ The idea of forelock-tugging is totally alien to close. us, as is the idea that some people are born to rule. fox ● These expressions are used to show that crazy like a fox ➜ see crazy the speaker thinks that too much respect frame is being shown. ✪ frame of mind A forelock is a lock of hair that falls over Someone’s frame of mind is the mood a person’s forehead. In the past, it was they are in. customary for lower class people to ❑ In the morning he woke in a more optimistic remove their hats in front of upper class frame of mind. ❑ He was just not in the right people. If they were not wearing a hat, frame of mind to deal with this young man. they touched their forelock instead. ✪ in the frame [british] forewarned If you are in the frame for a job or a forewarned is forearmed successful activity, you are very likely to People say forewarned is forearmed to be chosen for it. mean that if you know about something ❑ Steve has done well. He’s back in the frame and which is going to happen in the future, I will have a good look at him in training this you can be ready to deal with it. week. ❑ Find out what side-effects you will have to ● You can talk about someone being the expect from the treatment, because forewarned is name in the frame when they are very forearmed. ❑ Forewarned is forearmed. Even the likely to be chosen for a job or a successful most enthusiastic guidebooks admit that the activity. ❑ Speculation about potential food on the train is awful. replacements is already rife, with Sir David fort Scholey and Lord Lawson among the names in the hold the fort [mainly british] or frame. hold down the fort [american] If someone is in the frame for a crime or If you hold the fort or hold down the fort a bad action, people think that they are for someone, you look after things for responsible for it. them while they are somewhere else. ❑ The fact is, there’s only ever been one guy in the ❑ Her husband holds the fort at their Norfolk frame for this killing, and that’s the husband. home during the week. ❑ You can hold down the The ‘frame’ referred to here is probably fort here. I shouldn’t be too long. one of the frames, or images, in a reel of film. fortune

✪ a small fortune

A small fortune is a very large amount of money.

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frazzle wear yourself to a frazzle If you wear yourself to a frazzle, you

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frog work so hard that you become exhausted and nervous. ❑ Why should I wear myself to a frazzle, trying to sort you out? ● You can also say that someone is worn to a frazzle. ❑ His mother had been worn to a frazzle. Guy helped by looking after his sister.

free

free as a bird [british, american] or free as the air [british] If someone is free as a bird or free as the air, they are completely free and have no worries or troubles. ❑ I have been island-hopping in the Pacific for the past two and a half years, free as a bird. ❑ They think of us as favoured beings, going where we like, working when we feel like it, free as the air. ● You can also say that someone is free as air. ❑ Our children play around in the August heatwaves, free as air and enjoying independence.

freefall

✪ go into freefall [journalism]

fresh fresh as a daisy If someone is as fresh as a daisy, they are full of energy and not at all tired. ❑ Once you’ve done some stretching exercises, you will be as fresh as a daisy again. If something is as fresh as a daisy, it is very fresh, clean and bright. ❑ Choose a Victorian-style bed and use linen to make it look as fresh as a daisy.

frighteners put the frighteners on someone [british, informal] If someone puts the frighteners on you, they threaten you or scare you. ❑ He and his chums tried to put the frighteners on Kelley before she had written a single word. ❑ Glenn Close put the frighteners on Michael Douglas and his family in ‘Fatal Attraction’. ‘Frighteners’ used to be a name for members of criminal gangs who were sent to frighten people into doing something.

If the value or level of something goes into freefall, it starts to fall very quickly. ❑ A massive £8bn was wiped off values, and the pound went into freefall. ❑ Fears are now widespread that shares could go into freefall before Christmas. ● You can also say that the value or level of something is in freefall. ❑ Perot’s ratings were in freefall, his election campaign a disaster. ● You can also say that the value or level of something freefalls. ❑ His career seemed about to freefall into oblivion. In parachuting, freefall is the part of the jump before the parachute opens.

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Nobel Prizes to be had for claiming and naming new species. This expression was first used to describe the behaviour of groups of sharks when there is blood in the water but not enough food for them all. In this situation the sharks will attack anything that they see, even each other.

✪ a feeding frenzy A feeding frenzy is a situation in which a lot of people become very excited about an event and try to get as much information about it or get as much advantage from it as they can, often in an unpleasant way. ❑ What the couple hadn’t expected in their relationship was the feeding frenzy of publicity that has followed their every move. ❑ The discovery caused a feeding frenzy among biologists, whose eyes lit up with visions of the

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The usual British expression is on the blink.

frog

frenzy

pardon my French [informal] People say pardon my French to apologize in a humorous way for using a rude word. ❑ What a bunch of a-holes, pardon my French.

on the fritz [american, old-fashioned] A piece of machinery that is on the fritz is not working properly. ❑ My mother’s toaster went on the fritz. ❑ ‘They’re setting up communications,’ Rizzuto said. ‘But the goddamned mobile command post has gone on the fritz.’

French

fritz

a big frog in a small pond [american] If someone is a big frog in a small pond, they are one of the most important and influential people in a small organization or group. ❑ He liked being a big frog in a small pond. The usual British expression for this is a big fish in a small pond. a frog in your throat If you have a frog in your throat, you find

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fruit

it difficult to speak clearly because you need to cough. ❑ I’ve got a bit of a cough, excuse me, a frog in my throat. ❑ You may have a frog in your throat, but that’s no excuse for not belting out that aria. ➜ compare with a lump in your throat In medieval times, there was a belief that if you drank water containing frogspawn (= frogs’ eggs), the frogs would grow inside your body. People believed that sore throats and coughing could be caused by the frogs trying to escape from your stomach through your throat.

fruit

✪ bear fruit [formal]

If an action bears fruit, it produces good results. ❑ The strategy of concentrating the company’s efforts on a smaller range of businesses is now beginning to bear fruit. ❑ It remains to be seen whether the economic reforms will bear fruit. forbidden fruit If you call something forbidden fruit, you mean that you want it very much but are not allowed to have it. ❑ Knowing that from now on you can’t drink alcohol or have sugar in your tea can make you want those forbidden fruits even more. ❑ ‘What kept Charlie and I going for 27 years,’ she explains, ‘was the thrill of the illicit, the sense of forbidden fruit.’ This expression refers to the story in the Bible in which Eve tempts Adam to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge, which God had forbidden them to touch. low-hanging fruit People use low-hanging fruit to refer to the things that are the easiest to achieve or get. ❑ I think there’s a lot of low-hanging fruit that we can go after in terms of reducing our costs.

gone out of the frying pan into the fire. ❑ Having finally left one bad relationship, she jumped from the frying pan into the fire.

fuel

✪ add fuel to the fire or add fuel to the flames If something that someone says or does adds fuel to the fire or adds fuel to the flames, it makes a bad situation worse. ❑ You must not try to borrow more money to get yourself out of trouble. This really would be adding fuel to the fire. ❑ Her resignation is only likely to add fuel to the flames. ● These expressions are very variable. For example, you can say that something fuels the fire or fuels the flames, or just that it adds fuel. ❑ I’m not going to fuel the fire here: people are perfectly entitled to their own opinion. ❑ His comments are bound to add fuel to the debate already taking place within the party about the Greens’ public image.

fun

poke fun at someone/something If you poke fun at someone or something, you make unkind jokes about them. ❑ She was upset because Elspeth had poked fun at her mother and father. ❑ Most historians and writers poke fun at the royal visit, and for good reason.

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the fur flies If the fur flies, people argue very fiercely and angrily about something. ❑ The fur has been flying in Geneva this week, as the two contenders to be next head of the World Trade Organisation squared up to one another. ❑ If she ever finds out who did it then the fur will fly. ● You can also say that someone or something sets the fur flying. ❑ A blazing row between Euro factions set the fur flying again on the Tory backbenches. The image here is of animals tearing out each other’s fur during a fight.

out of the frying pan into the fire or from the frying pan into the fire If someone has gone out of the frying pan into the fire or from the frying pan into the fire, they have moved from a bad situation to an even worse one. ❑ I was hoping to get my career back on track after a bad time at Villa. But as it turned out, I’d

fur

nutty as a fruitcake ➜ see nutty

frying pan

it’s your funeral If you say it’s your funeral to someone, you mean that if they suffer bad consequences from something they are planning to do, you will not have any sympathy for them. ❑ Have it your own way. You’ll be sorry. It’s your funeral. ❑ My cab driver shrugged his shoulders as if to say, “It’s your funeral.”

fruitcake

funeral

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fuse

part of the furniture If someone or something is part of the furniture, they have been present somewhere for such a long time that everyone accepts their presence without questioning it or noticing them. ❑ In ten years he has become part of the furniture of English life, his place on the stage firmly fixed and universally respected. ❑ Once cameras in courts have become part of the furniture, witnesses are so absorbed in answering questions that they forget the cameras are there.

furrow

plough a lonely furrow or plough a lone furrow [british, literary] If someone ploughs a lonely furrow or ploughs a lone furrow, they do something by themselves and in their own way, without any help or support from other people. ❑ It seems that Shattock was something of an original thinker, ploughing a lonely furrow. ❑ Stein sandwich bar continues to plough a lone furrow as the building’s only occupant. ● This expression is very variable. ❑ Their government is more than adept at ploughing its own diplomatic furrow. A furrow is a long narrow trench made in the ground by a plough.

be on a short fuse or have a short fuse If someone is on a short fuse or has a short fuse, they lose their temper very easily. ❑ He warned Abbott that he was on a short fuse. ❑ He is irritable and has a short fuse, letting you know when he’s not pleased. See the explanation at light the fuse. blow a fuse If you blow a fuse, you suddenly lose your temper and cannot control your anger. ❑ For all my experience, I blew a fuse in the quarter-final and could have been sent off. ❑ He’s going to blow a fuse when he finds out about Miller. A fuse is a safety device found in electrical equipment. If the equipment becomes too hot, the fuse blows, or burns. This breaks the electrical circuit, so that the equipment will stop working. light the fuse If someone or something lights the fuse, they do something which starts something dangerous or exciting. ❑ An outbreak of the virus could light the fuse on the world’s next pandemic. ❑ This event might have lit the fuse which later led to a depressive breakdown. The fuse referred to here is the type that is used to set off a firework or explosive device.

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The gallery in a theatre is a raised area

gaff

like a large balcony, that usually blow the gaff [british, informal] contains the cheapest seats. In the past, If you blow the gaff, you tell people the poorest and least educated people something which was supposed to be sat there. Actors and other performers kept secret. found it easier to get applause from ❑ He is certainly not the first minister to blow the them than from the other members of gaff. the audience. ‘Blow’ here means ‘reveal’. In the 19th game century, ‘gaff’ was a slang word used to refer to dishonest behaviour which was ✪ ahead of the game If you are ahead of the game, you know intended to deceive people. about and are using all the most recent gag developments in a particular area, be gagging for it [british, informal, very especially compared to other people or rude] organizations you are competing with. If someone is gagging for it, they want ❑ I’m not worried about the competition because very much to have sex. we’re so far ahead of the game. ❑ He was quietly ❑ You could see he was gagging for it. confident, always one step ahead of the game and ✪ be gagging for something [british, totally independent. informal] ● You can also say that someone keeps If someone is gagging for something, ahead of the game or stays ahead of the they want it very much. game. ❑ We’re always looking at new ❑ I arrived there late, hungry and gagging for a technologies to keep ahead of the game. ❑ If you drink. want your company to stay ahead of the game, gains you have to keep informed of these developments. ill-gotten gains ✪ beat someone at their own game Ill-gotten gains are money or other If you beat someone at their own game, valuable things that someone gets illegally you do something more successfully than or in a way that is not morally good. they do, although they have a reputation ❑ They needed to find a route out of the country for doing it better than anyone else. for their ill-gotten gains. ❑ Many museums are ❑ There are now any number of self-help books returning their ill-gotten gains. offering women advice on techniques to beat men gallery at their own game. ❑ With all her social skills, play to the gallery she soon fitted into Maria’s circle of friends, and in If someone such as a politician plays to fact found that she could beat them at their own the gallery, they say things to impress game. the public and make themselves popular, be not playing the game [mainly british, instead of dealing seriously with old-fashioned] important matters. If someone is not playing the game, they ❑ Others were reluctant to allow TV cameras into are behaving in an unfair and unacceptable way. the House of Commons, because they feared that ❑ Civilized people shouldn’t behave like this. It’s some members would play to the gallery. ❑ Her just not playing the game. refusal to play to the gallery eventually won her ➜ compare with play the game the respect of her people.

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This is a quotation from the Olympic will take a while to complete the task, so you need Creed written by Pierre de Coubertin, to be patient. founder of the modern Olympics, in not play that game 1896. The expression was then used by If you will not play that game, you will Sir Henry Newbolt in his poem ‘Vitaï not do something that someone wants or Lampada’ (1898); ‘But the voice of the expects you to. schoolboy rallies the ranks: “Play up! ❑ I’m not playing that game, she thought. I’m not Play up! and play the game!”’ going to ask him why he had to go or what the man in the pub meant. ✪ the game is up on the game [british, informal, rude] If the game is up for someone, they can no longer continue to do something If someone is on the game, they are wrong or illegal, because people have working as a prostitute (= person who is found out what they are doing. paid for sex). ❑ Both runners, once the game was up, admitted ❑ The charity helps students who have gone on using performance-enhancing drugs. ❑ He saw the game to pay their way through university. the only game in town the blue lights of the police van behind him and, If someone or something is the only sensing the game was up, stopped his car. game in town, they are the best or most game on People say game on to mean that they are important of their kind, or the only one worth considering. ready for something challenging to begin. ❑ These awards get the most publicity, but they are not the only game in town. ❑ The plan may ❑ You think you can beat me? Game on! ● You can also say it’s game on for have its weaknesses, but it is the only game in town that may lead to lasting peace. someone to mean that they are about to This expression may refer to someone face a challenge. ❑ It’s game on for toy makers being prepared to take part in a game of as Christmas approaches. poker, even if it was dishonest, because ✪ a game plan it was the only one going on at the time. Someone’s game plan is the things that play someone at their own game they intend to do in order to achieve a If you play someone at their own game, particular aim. you treat them in the same unfair or ❑ I simply stuck to my game plan. I had always unpleasant way that they have been wanted to be a millionaire from a very early age. treating you. ❑ If I’m honest, I walked into this situation without a clear game plan. ❑ It used to annoy me when clients came in the In American football, a game plan is a office and my colleagues didn’t introduce us. Now strategy which the players and coach I play them at their own game and when my develop before a match. clients come and see me, I don’t introduce them either. ❑ There’s no point playing these people at ✪ give the game away If someone or something gives the game their own game – you’re never going to beat them. away, they reveal something which ✪ play the game someone had been trying to keep secret. If you play the game, you do things in the accepted way or in the way that people ❑ West had intended to make his announcement who are senior to you in an organization in an article in The Times but the paper gave the expect you to, in order to keep your job or game away by advertising the article a week to succeed. before publishing. ❑ She looks every inch a Beverly Hills native as she leans against a palm ❑ To do well in politics, you have to play the tree. Only the English accent gives the game game. ❑ The two official opposition parties must away. also play the game by the President’s rules. new to the game ➜ compare with be not playing the game If you are new to the game, you have little ✪ a waiting game or or no previous experience of the activity the waiting game that you are taking part in. If you talk about a waiting game or the waiting game, you mean a situation in ❑ Small investors, many of whom are new to the which someone delays making decisions game, appear to believe that there is no end to the or taking action because they are waiting riches rolling in. ❑ She’s new to the game and

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games

to see how the situation develops. vital to the success of the scheme. ‘We must avoid ❑ For now, it’s a waiting game to see what they garbage in, garbage out.’ do next. ❑ We can see why Mr Jackson prefers the This expression comes from computing. waiting game, keeping as many options open as If the wrong information is put into the possible. computer, the output will be useless. ● People often say that they play a waiting garden game. ❑ I propose to play a waiting game, and ✪ common-or-garden [british] or hope that a few of the pieces of this puzzle will garden-variety [american] soon begin to fit together. You use common-or-garden or gardengames variety to describe something of a very ✪ play games ordinary kind and with no special features. ❑ These are designer rain boots – not your If someone plays games, they are dishonest about what they know or common-or-garden wellies. ❑ He’s just a common-or-garden petty criminal. ❑ The intend to do in order to gain an experiment itself is garden-variety science that advantage. ❑ Don’t play games, Mona. I know about the normally would attract little public attention. theft, and I know that you know about it. I repeat: These expressions were originally used why are you here? ❑ Her trouble was that she to describe the most ordinary variety of enjoyed being devious, liked playing games just to a species of plant. see what would happen. lead someone up the garden path [british] or gangbusters lead someone down the garden path be going gangbusters [american, [american] informal] If someone leads you up the garden path If something is going gangbusters, it is or leads you down the garden path, they having a very successful period. deceive you by making you believe ❑ Although the company’s cable operations are something which is not true. going gangbusters, its finances are still shaky. ❑ He led me up the garden path. He said the ❑ Their economy has been going gangbusters, relationship with Penny was over but now he with gross domestic product growth of 8 per cent seems to be seeing her again. ❑ They led me or so most years. down the garden path and made me believe there ● You can also say that someone or would be a job for me. something does something like

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gasp

✪ the last gasp

garbage in, garbage out If you say garbage in, garbage out, you mean that if you produce something using poor quality materials, the thing that you produce will also be of poor quality. ❑ Thomas warned that accurate data would be

run out of gas [mainly american] If you run out of gas, you suddenly feel tired and lose energy or interest in what you are doing, and so you stop or fail. ❑ Miller, who missed second place by four seconds, said she ‘ran out of gas’ close to the finish. ❑ The government’s plan has run out of gas. ➜ compare with run out of steam The image here is of a car stopping because it has run out of gas, or, in British English, petrol.

garbage

gas

gangbusters, meaning very successfully. ❑ He has recently published a book of poems, which is selling like gangbusters. A gangbuster is someone, especially a police officer, whose job is to break up criminal gangs. come on like gangbusters [american, informal] If someone comes on like gangbusters, they start to behave very energetically and sometimes aggressively. ❑ The Lakers, who struggled early, came on like gangbusters at precisely the right time, which is to say, when the playoffs started.

The last gasp of a long process or period of time is the very last active stage of it. ❑ That summer may be looked upon with nostalgia as the last gasp of the live rock concert era. ❑ Eleven thousand years ago, at the last gasp of the ice age, the area was covered with forest. ● You can also use last gasp before a noun

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gear

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to say that something is achieved at the ✪ throw down the gauntlet last possible moment. ❑ Dalziel watched his If you throw down the gauntlet, you do or side snatch a last gasp victory with two late goals. say something that challenges someone These phrases come from 2 Maccabes 7:9 to take action or to compete against you. in the Apocrypha of the Bible. Seven ❑ The largest teaching union yesterday threw brothers and their mother were down the gauntlet to the Government, tortured by King Antiochus, and one of threatening strikes if their demands are not met. ● The verbs lay down and fling down are the brothers spoke out defiantly ‘when he was at his last gasp’, or when he was sometimes used instead of throw down. dying. ❑ He has laid down the gauntlet and presented us with two options which appear to be gate non-negotiable. get the gate [american] In medieval times, a knight would If someone gets the gate, they are sent throw one of his gauntlets (= long away or told that they are not wanted. gloves) to the ground as a challenge to ❑ He was replaced for a time by the respected another knight to fight. If the second Emanuel Steward, who also eventually got the knight picked it up, he accepted the gate. challenge. ● You can also say that someone is given

gear

gatepost

the gate. ❑ Both competitors were given the gate for breaking the rules.

The image in the following idioms is of driving a car.

between you, me and the gatepost ➜ see ✪ get into gear or bedpost get in gear gauntlet If someone or something gets into gear or gets in gear, they start to deal Gauntlets are long thick gloves which effectively with something or start to protect your hands, wrists, and operate effectively. forearms. ❑ The town itself has got into gear with a pick up the gauntlet or campaign to improve the environment. ❑ The take up the gauntlet business was just getting in gear when the If you pick up the gauntlet or take up the recession started. gauntlet, you accept a challenge. ● Other verbs such as move can be used ❑ Carlton, a key member of the team, was happy instead of get. ❑ Even as the publicity to pick up the gauntlet thrown down by his rival. machine moves into gear, Mbongeni is setting up ✪ run the gauntlet of something/someone another project. If you run the gauntlet of a difficult ● You can say that you are in gear when situation, especially one in which many you are already dealing with something people insult, question or attack you, you effectively. ❑ After a difficult few months experience it. getting used to working again, I’m pretty much in ❑ He had to run the gauntlet of photographers gear now. and journalists outside the High Court. ❑ They ● You can also get someone or something ran the gauntlet of angry demonstrators. ❑ She else into gear. ❑ Ultimately, he does help her left the court but not before she had run the to get her life into gear again. gauntlet of threats and abuse. get your arse in gear [british, informal, ‘Gatlopp’ is a Swedish word meaning very rude] or ‘lane run’. The ‘gatlopp’ was a Swedish get your ass in gear [american, informal, military punishment that came into very rude] common use in England during the If you get your arse in gear or get your ass Thirty Years’ War (1618-48). The victim in gear, you make yourself start to do had to run between two rows of soldiers something, especially work. who would whip or beat them. In ❑ Of course Pat will be joining the project, if he England, the unfamiliar Swedish word ever gets his arse in gear. ● You can also say that you get your arse ‘gatlopp’ was replaced by the more into gear or get your ass into gear. familiar English word ‘gauntlet’.

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genie ❑ It’s too late. The genie is out of the bottle, and

Nobody else is going to help you. get your brain into gear or get your brain in gear [informal] If you get your brain into gear or get your brain in gear, you make yourself start to think clearly so that you can deal with something. ❑ All I want is to get my brain in gear and get back to the top. ❑ A long pause followed while he tried to get his brain into gear. ● If you have your brain in gear, you are already thinking clearly and are ready to deal with something. ❑ It was too early in the morning – I didn’t have my brain in gear. ● Other nouns such as mind and head can be used instead of brain. ❑ It gives you a chance to think, plan and generally get your mind into gear. move into a higher gear or move something into a higher gear If someone or something moves into a higher gear or if someone moves it into a higher gear, people act with more energy and effort or something starts to be done with more energy and effort. ❑ The road-building programme has moved into a higher gear. ❑ Now he has moved into a higher gear, launching two new companies in the US. ❑ After moving the country’s war preparations into a higher gear, the prime minister is taking a weekend break. ● Other verbs such as shift or switch are sometimes used instead of move. ❑ Cancer research could shift into a higher gear thanks to these new findings.

can’t be put back. In Arabian mythology, a genie is a mischievous spirit with magical powers. This expression may refer to the story of Aladdin, who rubs a lamp and releases a genie from it.

❑ You’ve got to get your arse into gear, girl.

gentle gentle as a lamb If someone is as gentle as a lamb, they are very kind and never become angry or aggressive. ❑ Brian was as gentle as a lamb and wouldn’t hurt anyone. ❑ Verdy was as gentle as a lamb off the field but a raging lion on it.

gentleman

a gentleman’s agreement or a gentlemen’s agreement A gentleman’s agreement or a gentlemen’s agreement is an informal agreement that is not written down but in which people trust one another to do what they have promised. ❑ We had no contract; it was done by a gentleman’s agreement. ❑ I’m hoping we can come to a gentlemen’s agreement, Colonel.

get

get lost or get stuffed [informal, rude] If you tell someone to get lost or get stuffed, you are telling them rudely to go away or that you do not care about their opinion. ❑ He whispered to the woman, kissing her hand until she stood up and told him to get lost. ❑ In the unlikely event that he should call you, then I suggest you tell him to get stuffed! ● You can also tell someone to get knotted. [old-fashioned] ❑ If someone was to give him some friendly advice about where he’s going wrong, he would tell them to get knotted. get you! [informal] People say get you! to show that they think that someone is acting as if they are more important, rich or successful than they really are. ❑ Get you in your fancy clothes!

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the genie is out of the bottle If the genie is out of the bottle, something has been done or created which cannot be changed or stopped, especially something which some people regret. ❑ Whatever we think about nuclear power, the genie is out of the bottle. ● You can say that someone has let the genie out of the bottle. ❑ Having let the democracy genie out of the bottle, the president can’t now reverse it. ● You can also say that you cannot put the genie back in the bottle, meaning that you cannot go back to the state you were in before an important change happened. ❑ We cannot unlearn what we know. We cannot put the genie of knowledge back in the bottle.

genie

ghost give up the ghost If you give up the ghost, you stop trying to do something, because you no longer believe that you can succeed. ❑ In Manhattan there was no Memorial Day

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give

parade this year. The organizers said they’ve given up the ghost after so few people came to see it last year. ❑ Even 17 points behind the leaders, the team still haven’t given up the ghost. If a machine gives up the ghost, it stops working. ❑ Danny’s car has finally given up the ghost. ❑ This week, our water heater gave up the ghost. If a person or plant gives up the ghost, they die. [informal] ❑ There was a tree at the bottom of the garden that had clearly given up the ghost a few years previously. the ghost at the feast ➜ see feast lay the ghost of something If you lay the ghost of something bad in your past, you do something which stops you being upset or affected by it. ❑ The jockey laid the ghost of a terrible week with a triumphant win in the Irish Champion Hurdle yesterday. ● You can also say that you lay to rest the ghost of something with the same meaning. ❑ She seems to have laid to rest the ghost of her unhappy campaign when she failed to make the national team. white as a ghost ➜ see white

gills green around the gills If someone looks green around the gills, they look ill, as if they are going to vomit. ❑ Kenny stumbled out from the washroom looking rather green around the gills. The gills of a fish are the organs it uses to breathe instead of lungs. This is being used as a humorous term for the mouth.

gilt take the gilt off the gingerbread [british, formal] If something takes the gilt off the gingerbread, it spoils something that would otherwise be good. ❑ It was a fairly pleasant break, though a heavy cold did rather take the gilt off the gingerbread. In the past, gingerbread was sometimes decorated with gilt, which is a very thin layer of gold.

girl a big girl’s blouse [british, informal] If you call a man a big girl’s blouse, you mean they are not brave or confident and do not behave in the way that a man should. ❑ Come on, jump, you big girl’s blouse! A blouse is a shirt worn by girls or women. This expression perhaps refers to what a timid or weak man would be assumed to wear instead of a proper shirt, for example when playing football or rugby.

gift

183

This expression refers to the fact that you can judge the age of a horse by looking at its teeth.

the gift of the gab [british] or the gift of gab [american] If someone has the gift of the gab or the gift of gab, they are able to speak confidently, clearly, and in a persuasive way. ❑ He was entertaining company and certainly had the gift of the gab. ❑ Thompson has the gift of the gab and is a born communicator. ❑ He was a pleasant little man with spiked hair, a black give pipe, and a great gift of gab. ✪ give and take This expression may be related to the If you talk about give and take, you mean Irish and Gaelic word ‘gab’, which the way in which two people or groups in means mouth. a relationship accept that they cannot gift horse have everything that they want and that don’t look a gift horse in the mouth or they must sometimes give the other never look a gift horse in the mouth person or group what they want. If you say don’t look a gift horse in the ❑ All good partnerships involve a bit of give and mouth or never look a gift horse in the take. ❑ There is usually a fair amount of give and mouth, you mean that you should accept take in a trading relationship. ● You can use give-and-take before a something that is offered to you, or take advantage of an opportunity, and not try noun. ❑ You never get everything you wish for to find faults or difficulties. in these give-and-take situations. ❑ Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth – it may ✪ give or take be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. You use give or take to show that a ❑ Never look a gift horse in the mouth or you number, especially a large number, is approximate. may regret it.

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glance ❑ The structure is thought to be around two

thousand years old, give or take a decade or so. ❑ It takes about five hours to get there, give or take. Give or take is also used to mean ‘apart from’. ❑ We’re in Manchester, not Sydney, though on a sunny day the two cities do have a similar feel to them, give or take the odd beach, bridge, harbour and opera house. ● You often use this expression humorously to suggest that two things are actually very different.

glance

✪ at first glance

You say at first glance when you are describing your first opinion of someone or something, especially when this opinion is wrong or incomplete. ❑ At first glance, the room looked tidy and ordered. ❑ He had a round face that, at first glance, made him look boyish, though closer inspection revealed a man in early middle age. ➜ compare with at first sight

✪ the glass ceiling

glass

gloss on the Home Office statistics by stressing that recorded crime had stabilised. A gloss is an explanation that is added to a book or other text in order to explain an unfamiliar term. The idea here is that the explanation being given is a misleading one.

glove fit like a glove or fit someone like a glove If a piece of clothing fits like a glove or fits someone like a glove, it is exactly the right shape or size for them. ❑ I’ve tried on her dress and do you know what, it fits me like a glove? If something fits like a glove or fits someone like a glove, it is exactly right or appropriate for them. ❑ The role of Leonora fits this young actress like a glove.

gloves the gloves are off [journalism] If you say the gloves are off you mean that two people or groups are ready and keen to fight or compete aggressively with each other. ❑ It’s said that the gloves are off in the custody battle between the couple over their four-year-old son. ● You can also say that someone takes the gloves off, meaning they get ready to fight or compete with someone else or that the gloves come off. ❑ The president is apparently waiting until after the convention to take the gloves off and really begin the campaign. ❑ In the software price war, the gloves are coming off. The reference here is to boxers fighting with bare fists, which is more dangerous than fighting with gloves on.

If you talk about the glass ceiling, you mean the opinions and attitudes which prevent people, especially women, from being given the most important jobs. ❑ At the age of 43 she became the highest ranking woman officer in the country, only to find she’d hit the glass ceiling. ❑ A woman judge has at last succeeded in breaking through the glass ceiling into the Court of Appeal, the second highest court in the land. people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones or people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones If you say people who live in glass houses or people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, you mean that people should not criticize others for faults that they themselves have. ❑ When will they learn? People in glass houses really shouldn’t throw stones.

❑ He obviously tried to put a gloss on the poor sales figures. ❑ Yesterday they tried to put a

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put a gloss on something If you put a gloss on a difficult situation, you describe it in a way that makes it seem better than it really is.

a gleam in someone’s eye ➜ see eye

gloss

gleam

glutton

a glutton for punishment If someone is a glutton for punishment, they keep on doing something which most people would find unpleasant or difficult. ❑ As well as the early starts riding and late nights working, this glutton for punishment is also studying for a degree. ❑ I know it’s a big job to take on, but then I’ve always been a glutton for punishment. A glutton is a greedy person.

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goalposts

strain at a gnat [literary] If someone strains at a gnat, they concern themselves with something small and unimportant, sometimes failing to deal with something much more important. ❑ People worry over tiny differences in the fat content of food while eating huge quantities of sugar. It’s a classic case of straining at a gnat. ● You can also say that someone strains at a gnat and swallows a camel, with the same meaning. ❑ One must be wary of straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel. This expression comes from the Bible. Jesus used it when criticizing the scribes and the Pharisees for being too concerned with unimportant areas of the Jewish law. (Matthew 23:24)

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❑ It goes without saying that if someone has lung problems they should not smoke. ❑ It goes

gnat

go all out If you go all out, you try as hard as possible to achieve something. ❑ If I had the choice over again, I would go all out for a degree in the Humanities and specialize in teaching. ❑ I had to go all out to limit my losses. go deep ➜ see deep go for it If you go for it, you make a big effort to achieve something or you decide to do something. ❑ When you set the right goals for yourself, you will feel ready and willing to go for it. ❑ Don’t throw away your chances – just go for it! go postal ➜ see postal ✪ have a go at someone [mainly british, informal] If you have a go at someone, you criticize them strongly, often without good reason. ❑ I was angry because I figured she was just having a go at me for the sake of it. ❑ I’ve had a long day, I’m exhausted and fed up and you have a go at me as soon as I walk in the door. If you have a go at someone, you attack them physically. ❑ The police had to stop the crowd from having a go at him. ✪ it goes without saying You say it goes without saying to mean that something is obviously true.

without saying that you will be my guest until you leave for Africa. make a go of something [informal] If you make a go of something such as a business or a relationship, you are successful with it. ❑ If she shows real devotion to music, it is very likely that she will make a go of it as a profession. ❑ I still want to make a go of this marriage if you do. ✪ to go If you buy prepared food to go, you buy it and take it somewhere else to eat it. ❑ I’ll have a pizza and fries to go, please. what goes around comes around When people say what goes around comes around, they mean that if you behave in a bad way, bad things will eventually happen to you, and if you behave in a good way, good things will eventually happen to you. ❑ If they do something wrong, they believe that what goes around comes around. ❑ I just think what goes around comes around, and I’m hoping that in the past I’ve done something for somebody and it’s come back to me. People say what goes around comes around to mean that things that go out of fashion later come back into fashion. ❑ In fashion what goes around comes around, and men are now wearing 1920’s style trousers. ❑ These ideas are similar to those being suggested forty years ago. What goes around comes around.

✪ an own goal [british]

An own goal is a course of action which is intended to bring you an advantage and which instead causes a problem for you. ❑ It was a classic own goal by the fashion house. They brought their prices down to attract more customers but lost the high-end customers that they already had. In sports such as football and hockey, if someone scores an own goal, they accidentally score a goal for the team they are playing against by knocking the ball into their own net.

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goal

goalposts move the goalposts If someone moves the goalposts, they change the rules or aims in a situation or

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goat

activity, in order to gain an advantage and to make things more difficult for the other people involved. ❑ He was always moving the goalposts so that we could never anticipate what he wanted. ❑ They seem to move the goalposts every time I meet the required conditions. ● You can also say that someone shifts the goalposts. ❑ The administration is shifting the goalposts and changing its demands.

goat

act the goat [british, informal, old-fashioned] If someone acts the goat, they behave in a silly way. ❑ A bunch of football fans were acting the goat and we moved to get away from them. Goats are often associated with unpredictable behaviour. get someone’s goat [informal] If someone or something gets your goat, they annoy you. ❑ If there’s one thing that gets my goat, it’s some fashion critic telling us what we can and can’t wear. ❑ It was a bad performance, but what really got the media’s goat was the manager’s refusal to take the blame. This expression may be connected with the early 20th century practice in America of putting goats in the same stable as racehorses, since the goats seemed to have a calming effect. If someone stole the goat, the horse would be upset and its performance would be affected.

❑ They accused the doctors of playing God, ● This expression is used in a

disapproving way.

going while the going is good If you do something while the going is good, you do it while things are going well and you still have the opportunity. ❑ People are leaving in their thousands while the going is good. ❑ Further spending cuts now, while the going is good, would reduce the debt even more.

gold

all that glitters is not gold or all that glistens is not gold If you say all that glitters is not gold or all that glistens is not gold you mean that something or someone may not be as good or as valuable as they first appear. ❑ If these offers seem too good to be true, just remember that all that glitters is not gold and you would be well-advised to read the small print. ❑ Yes, he’s good-looking and he has a nice lifestyle, but all that glistens is not gold. good as gold ➜ see good like gold dust [british] or like gold [american] If a particular thing is like gold dust, it is very difficult to obtain, usually because so many people want it. ❑ Tickets for this match are like gold dust on the south coast. ❑ There was a shortage of roof tiles before the hurricane but now they’re like gold. ✪ a pot of gold [british, american] or a crock of gold [british] If you talk about a pot of gold or a crock of gold, you mean a large amount of money that someone hopes to get in the future, or something that will bring them a large amount of money in the future. ❑ The business is now worth at least £100 billion a year – a pot of gold that attracts the most diverse people. ❑ The government and employers rejected the notion that there was a crock of gold in unpaid taxes. ● You can also talk about a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow or a crock of gold at the end of the rainbow, with a similar meaning, though this suggests that you will never get the money. ❑ Ethan was sure there was a crock of gold waiting at the end of the rainbow if only he could get himself an agent.

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God’s gift to something If someone is God’s gift to something, they are extremely skilled at it. ❑ This man is God’s gift to ballet. ❑ She clearly thinks she’s God’s gift to broadcasting. God’s gift to women or God’s gift [informal] If a man thinks he is God’s gift to women or God’s gift, he behaves as if all women find him very attractive. ❑ A man has recently come to work in my office who obviously thinks he is God’s gift to women. ● You use this expression in a disapproving way. ✪ play God If someone plays God, they behave as if they have the right to make the most important decisions, especially relating to the creation or ending of life.

God

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strike gold If you strike gold, you become very rich or successful by finding or doing something. ❑ A California nurse has struck gold on a slot machine. Hitting the jackpot, she suddenly found herself 9.3 million dollars richer. ❑ The company has struck gold with its new holiday development. If you strike gold, you win a gold medal in a competition. [journalism] ❑ Mason struck gold in the vault, with Reeder taking the bronze, her third medal of the games. there’s gold in them thar hills or there’s gold in them there hills [american, informal] People say there’s gold in them thar hills or there’s gold in them there hills to mean that it is possible to make money in a particular place or with a particular activity. ❑ Mongolia has gold in them thar hills and foreign companies have been quick to grab a piece of the action. ❑ There would be winners and losers in the high-tech business, but there was gold in them there hills. ● People often use other words instead of hills according to the subject they are talking about. ❑ Drugs companies are seeing sales soar in America. There’s gold in them there pills. This expression refers to the California Gold Rush of the 19th century; the line also appears in the theme song of an old television programme about that period.

187

❑ You can use a damp cloth to get your keyboard looking as good as new. ● You can also talk about a good-as-new

thing. ❑ These upmarket second-hand shops deal in good-as-new clothes with prestige labels. If a person who has been ill is as good as new, they have recovered completely. ❑ I’d worked myself into near exhaustion, but after a week’s vacation I was as good as new. ❑ He’ll lose a few kilos, but he’ll finish up as good as new. good-for-nothing If you describe someone as good-fornothing, you mean that they are lazy and irresponsible. ❑ Ruth’s father was a rich, charming, but good-for-nothing man. ❑ He lived with his alcoholic mother and her good-for-nothing boyfriend. ● You can also call a person a good-fornothing. ❑ She called him ‘a lazy, deceitful good-for-nothing’. good on you! [informal] People say good on you! to show that they admire something you have done. ❑ ‘Cedric and I have talked about it.’’Oh, good on you!’ ❑ ‘I’m 72, and I still swim every day.’ – ‘Well, good on you, mate!’ you can’t keep a good man down or you can’t keep a good woman down If you say that you can’t keep a good man down or you can’t keep a good woman down, you mean that if people have good qualities such as determination, they will recover from any difficulties and be successful. ❑ He’ll come through – you’ll see. You can’t keep a good man down! ● This expression is used humorously.

✪ give as good as you get

good

If you give as good as you get, you argue, fight, or compete as strongly and as goodbye fiercely as your opponent. ✪ kiss goodbye to something or ❑ Arsenal are a tough side, but we can give as say goodbye to something good as we get and we don’t fear anyone. ❑ He’s If you have to kiss goodbye to or say finally found himself a woman who stands up to goodbye to something good, you have to him and gives as good as she gets. accept the fact that you will stop having it good as gold or will never have it If a child is as good as gold, they behave ❑ After my injury, I felt sure I’d have to kiss very well. goodbye to my dancing career. ❑ If he loses this ❑ Both children have been as good as gold all match, he can say goodbye to his dreams of being afternooon. ❑ They were both in the playroom as world champion. good as gold. ✪ good as new goods If something is as good as new, it is in ✪ deliver the goods the same perfect condition it was when it If someone or something delivers the was new. goods, they achieve what other people

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expect or need them to do. ❑ Is the leadership in a position to deliver the goods in two years? ❑ If he fails to deliver the goods, they could well be looking for a new prime minister by next summer. ● Verbs such as come up with and produce are also used instead of deliver. ❑ The most difficult thing about being a comedian is having to come up with the goods, time and time again. ❑ Once more, with this stunning production, the Royal National Theatre has produced the goods. have the goods on someone [american, informal] If you have the goods on someone, you know secret facts about them which could harm them if you told these facts to other people. ❑ How can the cops confront these people if they don’t have the goods on them? ● You can also say that you get the goods on someone, meaning that you obtain information of this kind. ❑ They hired a special investigator to get the goods on you. ‘The goods’ here refers to stolen property, which can be used as evidence against the person who is in possession of it.

goose

Aesop’s fable of the goose which laid golden eggs: see the explanation at ‘kill the goose that lays the golden egg’. kill the goose that lays the golden egg or kill the golden goose If someone or something kills the goose that lays the golden egg or kills the golden goose, they do something which results in an important source of money being stopped or very much reduced. ❑ Most people visiting this area do so because of the beautiful countryside. Spoil that, and you’d be killing the goose that laid the golden egg. ❑ Everyone wants the business here. They want to keep the clients happy. Nobody wants to be the one to kill the golden goose. ● You can describe an important source of money as a golden goose, especially when it is in danger of being stopped or very much reduced. ❑ It was alleged in court that Jakes had treated Whittaker as a ‘golden goose’. ❑ The days when the manufacturing industry was a golden goose are long gone. This expression comes from Aesop’s fable (= traditional story, usually with a moral) about a peasant who owned a goose which laid golden eggs. The peasant was so eager to become rich that he cut the bird open, hoping that he would be able to get all the eggs at once. a wild goose chase If you describe a search for something as a wild goose chase, you mean that it was a waste of time and you found nothing, usually because the information you were given was wrong. ❑ Every time I’ve gone to Rome to try to find out if the story could be true, it has turned out to be a wild goose chase. ❑ I hope I haven’t been sent off on another wild goose chase. In medieval times, a wild goose chase was an unusual kind of horse race. It started with an ordinary horse race. The winner then rode in any direction they chose and the other riders had to follow. The race may have been called ‘a wild goose chase’ because the movements of wild geese are often irregular and unpredictable, which makes them difficult to hunt. wouldn’t say boo to a goose [british, informal] If you say that someone wouldn’t say boo to a goose, you mean that they are very quiet, shy, and nervous.

cook your goose [informal] If you cook your goose, you do something which causes trouble for you or spoils your chances of success. ❑ He’s not going to get that promotion now – he’s cooked his goose. ● Something or someone can also cook someone else’s goose. ❑ If any issue has cooked their goose at the next election, it is probably their position on taxes. ● You can also say that your goose is cooked if you are in trouble or will certainly fail at something. ❑ We all thought our goose was cooked – we were going to be attacked by ground forces and there was nowhere to retreat. There is a story that King Eric XIV of Sweden once arrived at a town to find that the people had hung a goose from a tree. This was intended as an insult, perhaps because geese were associated with stupidity. The King announced that he would ‘cook their goose’, and his soldiers invaded the town and set fire to its main buildings. An alternative theory is that the expression refers to

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grain

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❑ ‘If you remember, at college I wouldn’t say boo

of a big mistake that they have made or something bad that they have done. to a goose.’ – ‘That’s right, you were very quiet.’ ❑ I have followed the fortunes of the company for ❑ She recalled a shy, overweight girl who many years and have been saddened to see its fall wouldn’t say boo to a goose from grace. ❑ His story represents one of the gooseberry most spectacular falls from grace in film history. play gooseberry [british, informal] ❑ The last two years, of course, have seen the If you play gooseberry, you are in the banks’ fall from grace in the eyes of the public. company of two people who are having a ● You can also say that someone falls from romantic relationship and who want to grace. ❑ The band later fell from grace when it be alone together. was discovered that they never sang on their own ❑ I left early – I didn’t want to play gooseberry records. with you and Bev. ✪ a saving grace The origin of this expression is not A saving grace is a good quality or feature known, although it may refer to the in someone or something that prevents third person picking gooseberries to them from being completely bad or pass the time while the other two are worthless. busy being romantic. ❑ He was bad-tempered and deeply opinionated gospel but he had one saving grace: he assembled one of take something as gospel or the greatest private art collections of this century. take something as the gospel truth ❑ It’s an excellent performance and one of the If you take something as gospel or take it film’s few saving graces. as the gospel truth, you accept it as being with good grace completely true, especially when it is not. If you do something with good grace, ❑ You will read a lot of advice in books and you do it cheerfully and without magazines but you shouldn’t take it all as gospel. complaining. ❑ Too many people take what he says as gospel. ❑ He accepted the decision with good grace, ● You can also accept something as and wished me the very best of luck. gospel or accept something as the gospel ● People sometimes say with a good truth. ❑ For some reason, people are willing to grace. ❑ The captain accepted Jack’s apologies accept as gospel these ridiculous claims. ❑ Here, and explanation with a good grace. their opinions are accepted as the gospel truth. ● If you do something with bad grace ● If you say that something is the gospel or with a bad grace, you make it clear truth, you mean that it is completely true. that you do not want to do it. ❑ With ❑ When people ask me how old I am, and I say I appallingly bad grace I packed up and we drove don’t know, they think I’m lying. But it’s the north. gospel truth. In the Christian religion, the gospel is grade the message and teachings of Jesus ✪ make the grade Christ. The four books of the Bible If you make the grade, you succeed at which describe His life and teachings something, usually by reaching a are called the Gospels. particular standard. ❑ As a child, she wanted to be a dancer but failed grabs to make the grade. ❑ Some public schools have ✪ up for grabs [informal] failed to make the grade in a recently published If something is up for grabs, it is available league table of academic results. for anyone who is willing or able to In American English, a ‘grade’ is a slope. compete for it. This expression was originally used in ❑ Thirty-five Senate seats are up for grabs in connection with United States railways tomorrow’s election. ❑ A £10,000 jackpot is still to refer to a train which succeeded in up for grabs over the next seven weeks in our super climbing a steep section of track. new numbers game.

grace

✪ fall from grace Someone’s fall from grace is their sudden loss of power, fame or influence as a result

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grain

✪ go against the grain If an idea or action goes against the grain, it is the opposite from what you

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grandmother

feel is right or normal and you find it difficult to accept. ❑ It goes against the grain to pay more for a product that you know is inferior. ❑ The decision not to have children somehow goes against the grain. ● Something can also run against the grain. ❑ It runs against the grain to force your child to leave home. The grain of a piece of wood is the direction of its fibres. It is easier to cut or plane wood along the direction of the grain, rather than across it. separate the grain from the chaff ➜ see chaff take something with a grain of salt ➜ see salt

grandmother

teach your grandmother to suck eggs [british] If you teach your grandmother to suck eggs, you give advice about a subject to someone who knows more about it than you do. ❑ Look, I don’t want to teach my grandmother to suck eggs, but haven’t you done this the wrong way round? ● You can also say that you teach your granny to suck eggs. ❑ At the risk of teaching my granny to suck eggs, wouldn’t it be better to use this pan?

grapevine or hear it on the grapevine, you are told it informally by someone who was told it by someone else. ❑ I heard through the grapevine that she was looking for work. ❑ She heard on the grapevine that he had come back to London. One of the early telegraph systems in America was given the nickname ‘the grapevine telegraph’ because the wires often became tangled, so that they reminded people of grapevines. During the American Civil War, the telegraph system was used to communicate propaganda and false information, as well as real news about the progress of battles, so that anything heard on the ‘grapevine’ was likely to be unreliable.

grass

grapes

✪ sour grapes

be put out to grass If someone is put out to grass, they are made to retire from their job, or they are moved to a less important job, because people think that they are too old to be useful. ❑ As for the presenters of the show, they should have been put out to grass long ago. ❑ The Prime Minister refused to be put out to grass. Asked if he would quit, he replied ‘The answer is no.’ ➜ compare with put someone out to pasture When horses have reached the end of their working lives, they are sometimes released into fields to graze. the grass is always greener or the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence If you say the grass is always greener or the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, you mean that other people often seem to be in a better situation than you, but in reality their situation may not be as good as it seems. ❑ You know what it’s like – the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. I’m always looking at jobs advertised online and thinking I’d be better off somewhere else. ● Grass and greener are often used in other expressions with a similar meaning. ❑ A lot of players who have left in the past have found that the grass isn’t always greener elsewhere. ❑ I cannot have my staff believing that the grass is always greener in another company.

[british, american] or

hear something on the grapevine [british]

If you hear a piece of news through the

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✪ hear something through the grapevine

grapevine

If you describe someone’s attitude as sour grapes, you mean that they are jealous of another person’s success and show this jealousy by criticizing that person. ❑ These accusations have been going on for some time now, but it is just sour grapes. ❑ The government says that Mr Fedorov’s criticisms are mere sour grapes. In one of Aesop’s fables (= traditional stories, usually with a moral), a fox tries several times unsuccessfully to reach a bunch of delicious-looking grapes. In the end he gives up, telling himself that they are probably sour and inedible anyway.

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green ✪ the grass roots

191

❑ Churchill would turn in his grave if he could

hear the poor quality of the public speaking in The grass roots of an organization or Parliament these days. ❑ If the person who wrote movement are the ordinary people who that song could hear that guy sing it, he’d turn form the main part of it, rather than its over in his grave. leaders. ● You can also say that someone would be ❑ The revolution is actually coming from the spinning in their grave. ❑ My grandfather grass roots and I think eventually the authorities would be spinning in his grave if he could see what will follow. ❑ This was a truly socialist party, had been done to his house. ultimately controlled by its grass roots. ● Grass-roots or grassroots can be used gravy before a noun. ❑ The proposal is backed by ✪ a gravy train grass-roots activists. ❑ The president won the If you describe something as a gravy election after a grassroots campaign. ❑ The train, you mean it is an easy way of leadership has become detached from what’s earning a lot of money over a long period. going on at grassroots level. ❑ Software companies realise that the gravy green as grass ➜ see green train can’t go on for much longer as the recession kick something into the long grass causes prices to fall. ❑ The boardroom gravy [british, journalism] train continued to roll happily along yesterday, If someone kicks an idea or plan into the with news of pay-offs to three executives totalling long grass, they refuse to deal with it nearly 1.4 million pounds. ● You usually use this expression in a immediately, often because it will create problems for them. disapproving way. ❑ There were suggestions this week that the In the United States, ‘gravy’ was slang Government intends to kick the proposals into the for money or profit. Railway workers long grass. invented this expression in the early ➜ compare with kick something into 1920s to describe a regular journey touch which provided good pay for little work. like watching grass grow great If watching something is like watching the great and the good grass grow, it is extremely boring. The great and the good are the most ❑ For me, watching a cricket match would be like important and powerful people in a watching grass grow. society. not let the grass grow under your feet ❑ He socialized freely with the great and the If you do not let the grass grow under good. ❑ He sent an email to the great and the your feet, you act immediately. good of the architecture world. ❑ Clearly not one to let the grass grow under his Greek feet, he had a busy time in his first weekend as be all Greek to someone [british, Northern Ireland manager. american] or grasshopper be Greek to someone [american] knee-high to a grasshopper ➜ see knee If you say that something is all Greek to you or is Greek to you, you mean that you grave do not understand it at all. dig your own grave ❑ I’ve no idea what it means – it’s all Greek to me. If you dig your own grave, you create ❑ I don’t understand legal jargon – it’s all Greek serious problems for yourself by doing to me. something foolish. The idea behind this expression is that ❑ I don’t feel sorry for him – he’s dug his own Greek is very difficult to learn and grave as far as I’m concerned. understand, especially because it uses a ✪ would turn in your grave [british] or different alphabet from most other would turn over in your grave [american] European languages. If you say that someone who is dead

would turn in their grave, you mean that they would be very angry or upset about something which is happening now, if they knew about it.

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green green as grass [british] If someone is as green as grass, they have little experience or knowledge of

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grin

something and trust what other people you succeed in controlling yourself and your emotions, so that you can deal with a tell them too easily. difficult situation. ❑ I was a newcomer to the sport and as green as ❑ A bit of me was very frightened and I grass. ● It is much more common just to say that consciously had to get a grip on myself. ❑ He told himself to get a grip: he had to stay calm. someone is green. ❑ They admit they were ● You can also say that you keep a grip on very green when they arrived. yourself, meaning that you continue to green with envy control yourself and your emotions. ❑ He If you are green with envy, you very much was trying his best to keep a grip on himself. want to do something that another ✪ lose your grip person is doing or have what they have. If you lose your grip on a situation, you ❑ She told us she was going to live in Paris and we stop being able to understand and were all green with envy. ❑ This is the most control it. exciting discovery I have made in 20 years of ❑ The central bank is clearly losing its grip on digging. Archaeologists everywhere will be green monetary policy. ❑ The opposition feel that the with envy. ● This expression is usually used president has lost his grip on the country. ❑ He wondered if perhaps he was getting old and losing light-heartedly rather than his grip. disapprovingly. A greenish-coloured skin on the face grips was traditionally believed to show ✪ get to grips with something or jealousy. come to grips with something have green fingers ➜ see fingers If you get to grips with or come to grips have a green thumb ➜ see thumb with a problem or task, you start to deal with it effectively, usually by making an grin effort to understand it. grin and bear it ❑ The present government has completely failed If you grin and bear it, you accept or to get to grips with our economic problems. tolerate something bad, such as a ❑ I must come to grips with this new system. problem or a pain, because you believe you cannot change it. grist ❑ In the past, a royal trapped in a loveless ✪ grist for the mill [british, american] or marriage would have been obliged to grin and grist to the mill [british] bear it. ❑ Severe or recurrent abdominal pain If something is grist for the mill or grist should always be checked. Don’t just grin and to the mill, you can use it in a particular bear it. situation to help you to do something. ❑ Celebrity gossip is, of course, grist for the mill grip as far as the tabloids are concerned. ❑ You are, of ✪ get a grip on something course, much better at writing songs when you If you get a grip on a difficult situation, are completely miserable – it gives you so much you start to understand it and take more grist for the mill. control of it. ‘Grist’ was grain that was brought to a ❑ So far the country has failed to get a grip on its windmill or watermill to be ground. inflation rate. Millers needed regular supplies of grain ● You can also say that you take a grip on to keep their businesses in operation. a situation with the same meaning. ❑ It is

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groove

clear that the new leader has taken a grip on the party machine. ● You can say that you keep a grip on a situation, meaning that you continue to understand and control it. ❑ Somehow, this corrupt band of politicians have managed to keep a grip on power. get a grip on yourself or get a grip [informal] If you get a grip on yourself or get a grip,

✪ in the groove [british, american] or

in a groove [american] If someone, especially a sports person or team is in the groove or in a groove, they are performing well. ❑ Nick is in the groove, as he showed with seven goals last weekend. ❑ Williams said: ‘I was in such a groove, I was able to put the ball exactly where I wanted.’

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cover the same ground or go over the same ground If something such as a conversation, a piece of writing or a course covers the same ground or goes over the same ground, it deals with the same subjects or the same part of a subject that has already been dealt with. ❑ As the titles of these two books imply, they cover much the same ground. ❑ You continue to think and wonder about it, going over the same ground ground in your mind, again and again. break ground cut the ground from under someone or If someone breaks ground on a new cut the ground from under someone’s building, they start building it and if a feet new building breaks ground, it starts to If you cut the ground from under be built. [american] someone or cut the ground from under ❑ Simpson and Hurt hope to break ground on a their feet, you make their ideas or planned outdoor theater next August. ❑ The first opinions seem less impressive, often by co-housing project in America will break ground doing something unexpected. soon. ❑ The sudden announcement was seen by many If someone breaks ground in a as an attempt to cut the ground from under the particular activity or area of study, they do president’s feet. something that is different and if fall on stony ground [british] something breaks ground, it is different If a warning, request or piece of advice from what came before. falls on stony ground, nobody listens to it ❑ Perhaps I am lucky to have been in there at or is influenced by it. the start, when this music was breaking ❑ Dire warnings about the effects on public ground for the first time. ❑ We are breaking services fell on stony ground. ❑ I repeatedly ground in the law here and have to proceed asked him not to behave in this way but all my cautiously. pleas fell on stony ground. ✪ break new ground This expression comes from Jesus’s If someone breaks new ground, they story in the Bible (Mark 4:5-6) about a make progress by doing something man sowing seed which falls on completely different. different kinds of ground. The seed that ❑ The programme broke new ground, in giving to falls on stony ground dies because the women roles traditionally assigned to men. roots cannot grow properly. In the story, ❑ They’re trying to break new ground, make a the seed represents Christ’s teachings new kind of cinema. and the stony ground represents the ● You can also use ground-breaking people who soon forget or ignore what before a noun. ❑ He was given an award for He has said. his ground-breaking work in the field. ❑ She ✪ find common ground wrote a ground-breaking book on the subject. If two people or groups who generally ● You use these expressions to show disagree find common ground, they find approval. a particular subject or opinion that they cover a lot of ground agree about. If something such as a conversation, a ❑ The participants seem unable to find common piece of writing or a course covers a lot of ground on the issue of agriculture. ❑ Both ground, it deals with a lot of subjects or a leaders were keen to stress that they were trying large area of a subject. to find common ground. ● You can also say that people or ❑ Chapters 3 and 4 have covered a lot of ground in attempting to explain what marketing is about. groups are on common ground. ❑ Mike ❑ The workshops cover a lot of ground in one day, and I were on common ground. We both taking for granted that people know how to use wanted what was in the best interests of the company. their sewing machines.

This expression may refer to the way the needle fits neatly into the groove on a record. stuck in a groove [british] If you are stuck in a groove, you are doing the same things again and again and no longer feel able to change your habits. ❑ After a certain age, it’s easy to get stuck in a groove with your style.

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ground ✪ gain ground

In a battle, the army which is on higher ground has the advantage. If something or someone gains ground, hit the ground running they make progress and become more If you hit the ground running, you start a important or more powerful. new activity with great energy and ❑ His ideas on nutrition have been gaining enthusiasm, working effectively from the ground in recent years. ❑ The pound has gained beginning. ground on the foreign exchanges this morning. ❑ We need someone who is fully trained and can ❑ At the time, the Fascists were still steadily hit the ground running. ❑ She’s in excellent gaining ground in the East End. shape and in good spirits. She’ll hit the ground ➜ compare with lose ground running when she gets back. get in on the ground floor The image here may be of soldiers If you get in on the ground floor, you get landing by parachute or helicopter in a involved in something, especially a battle area and moving off quickly as company or a business, from the soon as they reach the ground. beginning so that you can gain ✪ lose ground advantages as it gets bigger. If someone or something loses ground, ❑ These smaller companies are getting in on the they lose some of the power or advantage ground floor of what will be a gigantic industry. that they had previously. ❑ There are also opportunities developed by ❑ There is no doubt that the city has lost ground getting in on the ground floor with a small in the race to establish itself as a financial centre company, and growing with it. for Europe. ❑ The Socialists lost ground in some get off the ground or areas such as the Cote d’Azur and parts of the get something off the ground Languedoc. If a something that is planned gets off ➜ compare with gain ground the ground, it starts operating or make up lost ground functioning and if you get something If someone or something makes up lost that is planned off the ground, you make ground, they get back some of the power it start to operate or function. or advantage which they previously lost. ❑ He will need contacts here if he’s going to have ❑ Yesterday’s campaign launch had been brought any chance of getting his plan off the ground. forward by almost three weeks in an effort to ❑ Councillor Riley spoke of the dedication and make up lost ground. enthusiasm of staff and volunteers in getting the ● Verbs such as recover and regain are schemes off the ground. ❑ Even if the talks do get sometimes used instead of make up. off the ground, there is no guarantee they will ❑ The U.S. currency recovered much of the lost succeed. ground from its collapse on Friday. go to ground [british] ✪ the moral high ground If you go to ground, you hide from If a person or organization has the moral someone or something. high ground, their policies or actions are ❑ Either he’d left town or gone to ground. ❑ He morally better than the policies or actions left the hotel and went to ground in the station of their opponents. waiting-room. It was a safe place. ❑ No single political party can claim the moral ➜ compare with go to earth high ground for honesty or religious authority. In hunting, this expression is used to ❑ When it comes to invasion of privacy, none of refer to a fox escaping into its hole. the newspapers can take the moral high ground. the high ground All are guilty. If a person or organization has the high ➜ compare with the high ground ground on a particular subject, they have ✪ prepare the ground an advantage over their opponents, If you prepare the ground for a future event especially by having better ideas and or course of action, you do things which policies. will make it easier for that thing to happen. ❑ This is clearly an attempt to win back the ❑ The president made it clear that his political high ground on citizens’ rights. ❑ The administration would continue to prepare the party was determined to take the high ground on ground for future military action. ❑ The talks environmental issues. prepared the ground for the meeting of finance ➜ compare with the moral high ground

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guard

ministers and central bankers in Washington on September 19. run someone to ground [british] If you run someone to ground, you find them after a long search. ❑ The thief was eventually run to ground in a garden shed. ➜ compare with run someone to earth In hunting, this expression is used to refer to a fox being chased back to its hole. run something into the ground If you run something into the ground, you use it continuously without looking after it, until it is spoilt or destroyed. ❑ They didn’t take care of the vehicle. They just ran it into the ground. ❑ Britain’s public housing has been run into the ground over the last few decades. run yourself into the ground [informal] If you run yourself into the ground, you work so hard at something that you become exhausted. ❑ While everyone else is running themselves into the ground for the whole month of December, she and I are relaxing at home. If you run yourself into the ground, you run around a lot, especially while playing a game. ❑ Liverpool’s young players in particular ran themselves into the ground. stamping ground [british] or stomping ground If a place is someone’s stamping ground or stomping ground, it is where they spend a lot of time. ❑ I’m a West End man, myself. Park Lane, Knightsbridge, Piccadilly and Bond Street are my favourite stamping grounds. ❑ Former pals also found her much changed at Christmas, when she made a brief return to her old stamping ground, the Blue Anchor pub in South London. This expression may refer to the way that stallions stamp while mating. Alternatively, it may come from the dances of male prairie chickens when they gather in spring in order to mate. suit someone down to the ground [british, informal] If something suits you down to the ground, it is extremely convenient for you. ❑ A later meeting would suit me down to the ground. ❑ Her new work hours suit her down to the ground. thick on the ground [british] If people or things are thick on the ground, there are a lot of them.

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❑ As buyers are not thick on the ground at the moment, this could be a good time to get a good deal. ❑ Jobs are not exactly thick on the ground in these parts. ✪ thin on the ground [british] If people or things are thin on the ground, there are very few of them. ❑ Good players are thin on the ground and clubs are having to recruit abroad. ❑ Yacht facilities are a bit thin on the ground in the remote Falkland Islands.

guard Your guard is the position that you get in when you are ready to defend yourself in sports such as boxing or fencing.

✪ catch someone off guard or

take someone off guard If something catches you off guard or takes you off guard, it happens unexpectedly and you are not prepared to respond to it. ❑ I didn’t know how to answer him. The question caught me off guard. ❑ I wasn’t expecting him to pass the ball to me and it took me off guard. ✪ lower your guard or drop your guard If you lower your guard or drop your guard, you stop taking actions to protect yourself against trouble and you start to relax, often with bad consequences. ❑ The soldiers had made the mistake of lowering their guard at the precise moment when they should have been most alert. ❑ I don’t like to drop my guard when I’m with my colleagues, even if I’m socializing with them. ● You can also say that you let your guard down or let down your guard with the same meaning. ❑ Many men work in extremely competitive environments where letting down their guard could leave them vulnerable. off your guard or off guard If you are off your guard or off guard, you are not taking actions to protect yourself against trouble. ❑ Miss Marple is not perceived to be a threat in any way. And, therefore, the criminal is off his guard. ❑ He was so pleasant over lunch that I was off guard and spoke freely. ➜ compare with on your guard ✪ the old guard If you call a group of people the old guard,

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guernsey

you mean they have worked in an guest organization for a very long time. be my guest ❑ The reforms were fiercely opposed by many in You say be my guest to someone to the ruling party’s old guard. ❑ The company’s old politely give them permission to do guard is at last stepping aside, making way for a something. new, more youthful team. ❑ ‘Do you mind if I use this pen?’ – ‘Be my guest.’ ● You often use this expression to show You say be my guest to someone to say that you disapprove of such people that you are happy to let them do because they are unwilling to accept new something unpleasant or difficult ideas or practices. instead of you. The original ‘Old Guard’ consisted of the ❑ If you want to tell her the bad news, Maria, be most experienced regiments of my guest. Napoleon Bonaparte’s Imperial Guard. guinea pig These soldiers were considered to be the ✪ a guinea pig best in the French army. If someone is used as a guinea pig, new ✪ on your guard or ideas, methods, or medical treatments on guard are tested on them. If you are on your guard or on guard, you ❑ The new technology should allow us to study are prepared to protect yourself against genetic disease without having to use humans as trouble. guinea pigs. ❑ This is the first time I’ve cooked ❑ When Hilton came, he would have to be on his this dish so you are my guinea pigs. guard each second, for the man was dangerous. gums ❑ A journalist asked a question about his private flap your gums [american, informal] life and instantly, the footballer was on guard. If someone flaps their gums, they talk ➜ compare with off your guard a lot without saying anything guernsey important. get a guernsey [australian, informal] ❑ Who wants to hear you flapping your gums If you get a guernsey, you are chosen first thing in the morning? for something, especially a sports team. gum tree ❑ Surprisingly, Barry did not get a guernsey in the up a gum tree [british, old-fashioned] all-star seven. If someone is up a gum tree, they are in a If someone or something gets a very difficult situation. guernsey, they get public recognition for ❑ If another member of staff leaves, we’ll really be an achievement or a quality. up a gum tree. ❑ It became the longest bar in the world, and This expression may be based on the even got a guernsey in The Guinness Book of fact that opossums (= animals with Records. thick fur and long tails) often hide in

guess

gum trees when they are being hunted. be anybody’s guess or gun be anyone’s guess ✪ a big gun If you say that something is anybody’s If you call someone a big gun, you mean guess or is anyone’s guess, you mean that they are a very important and powerful it is impossible to know what is true or person in an organization or area of what will happen. activity. ❑ How she managed to stay there for an entire ❑ He’s a pretty big gun in Maine politics. month was anybody’s guess. ❑ How long the fuel ● Often, people use the plural the big would last was anyone’s guess. guns, meaning a group of important and your guess is as good as mine powerful people. ❑ She has been much sought People say your guess is as good as mine after by the film industry’s big guns. ❑ The to say that they know as little about Premiership big guns are all keen to get their something as the person who is asking hands on this young player. them about it. Cannons used to be referred to as ‘big ❑ ‘Where did it come from?’ – ‘Your guess is as guns’ or ‘great guns’, while rifles or good as mine, my friend.’ muskets were called ‘small guns’.

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gut

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hold a gun to someone’s head or spike someone’s guns [british] If you spike someone’s guns, you do put a gun to someone’s head something to prevent someone’s plans If someone holds a gun to your head or from succeeding. puts a gun to your head, they force you to ❑ Parkers spiked their rival’s guns by launching do something by threatening very bad their product two months before Jones were able consequences if you do not do it. to do so. ❑ The union should follow the established In the past, when soldiers captured a procedures and should not try to hold a gun to the large enemy gun which they could not heads of the industry and passengers. ❑ Not a move, they hammered a nail or spike man to have a gun put to his head, Mr Riordan into the hole where the gunpowder was was soon tearing up the offer and cancelling put. This meant that the gunpowder future meetings with the union. could not be lit and so the gun would ● Other words with a similar meaning to not work. gun are sometimes used. ❑ The banks’ ✪ stick to your guns insistence on action has put a pistol to their If you stick to your guns, you refuse to heads. change your decision or opinion about ✪ jump the gun something, even though other people are If someone jumps the gun, they do trying to tell you that you are wrong. something before the right time. ❑ Once you have decided what is and isn’t ❑ ‘How about going out to celebrate?’ – ‘I haven’t acceptable, stick to your guns despite your child’s definitely got the job yet so let’s not jump the gun.’ protests. ❑ He should have stuck to his guns and ❑ The book wasn’t due to be released until refused to meet her. September 10 but some booksellers have jumped The image here is of soldiers remaining the gun and decided to sell it early. in position, even though they are being If a runner jumps the gun, they begin attacked by the enemy. running before the pistol is fired to start with all guns blazing the race. If you do something with all guns blazing, ✪ a smoking gun you do it with a lot of enthusiasm and If you talk about a smoking gun, you energy. mean a piece of evidence which proves ❑ Manchester United stormed into the European that a particular person is definitely Cup with all guns blazing. ❑ The Broncos came responsible for a crime. out with all guns blazing and had the better of the ❑ The search for other kinds of evidence failed opening 40 minutes. to produce a smoking gun. ❑ First of all, there’s Here, blazing means firing no smoking gun. In the course of our continuously. investigation we did not find a single piece of gut evidence. bust a gut [informal] under the gun [mainly american] If you bust a gut doing something, you If you are under the gun, you are under work very hard at it. great pressure and your future success is ❑ I was busting a gut doing horrible jobs – toilet not certain. cleaning among other things – to support us. ❑ We were under the gun. We were fighting for the ❑ Do your best to get it finished but don’t bust a very support that would ensure our ultimate gut. survival. ❑ Society, in many ways, is under the ✪ a gut feeling gun. We have a multitude of problems – health If you have a gut feeling about problems, drug problems, crime problems, and something, you are sure you are right so on. about it even though you cannot give guns reasons. be going great guns [informal] ❑ I had a gut feeling that he was lying too. If someone or something is going great ✪ a gut reaction guns, they are doing something very well A gut reaction is a reaction that you have and succeeding. immediately and strongly, without ❑ I was going great guns for the first 18 miles or thinking about something or being aware so of the race. ❑ Business is going great guns. of your reasons.

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gut-busting ❑ At first my gut reaction was to never write again. ❑ My heart’s loyal to the party but my gut reaction is to vote against the bill.

gut-busting [informal]

If you describe a task or activity as gut-busting, you mean it is very hard work. ❑ It would be hard work, he predicted – backbreaking, gut-busting, unbelievably hard work. You can use gut-busting to describe a very large amount of food. ❑ Walker set a record by eating a gut-busting 32 pies.

guts

✪ hate someone’s guts [informal]

If you hate someone’s guts, you dislike them very much indeed. ❑ If she knew the real reason, she’d hate my guts. ❑ I loved my father very much – I would have hated the guts of anyone trying to take his place. spill your guts [informal] If someone spills their guts, they talk a lot about subjects that are private or secret. ❑ People call in and just spill their guts about

whatever’s bothering them in their job or relationship. Your guts are your intestines or internal organs. The idea is of dramatically revealing something hidden. work your guts out or flog your guts out or slog your guts out [informal] If you work your guts out, flog your guts out or slog your guts out, you work very hard. ❑ These women were amazing. They worked their guts out from 7.30 to 4.30 every day, often all evening and weekend too if they had families. ❑ I’ve been slogging my guts out for months, trying to get this project finished.

guys nice guys finish last [american] People say nice guys finish last to mean that people who behave in a fair and pleasant way will not be successful in a competitive situation. ❑ Our culture rewards aggressive types – after all, we all know nice guys finish last.

U LY

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Hh SA habits

old habits die hard ➜ see hard

hack

can’t hack it [informal] If someone can’t hack it in a particular situation or job, they do not have the skills or qualities necessary to cope with it. ❑ You have to be strong and confident and never give the slightest impression that you can’t hack it. ● Sometimes people say that someone can hack it, to mean that they can cope in a particular situation or job. ❑ Smith tried to convince them that he can hack it as a police chief.

✪ raise someone’s hackles

hackles

hair

If you say that someone has had it, you mean they are in very serious trouble or have no hope of succeeding. ❑ He wants actors who can speak Welsh. Obviously I’ve had it. If you say that you have had it, you

had

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a bad hair day [informal] If someone is having a bad hair day, their hair does not look good, and they may feel annoyed because of this. ❑ All this fuss is because Carol is having a bad hair day. ● This expression is usually used humorously. be tearing your hair out or be pulling your hair out If you are tearing your hair out or pulling your hair out, you are very angry, upset, or anxious about something. ❑ The nation is tearing its hair out over what to do with these child criminals. ❑ They must have been pulling their hair out by the time they reached home. ● You can also say that someone is tearing their hair. ❑ The whole situation had him tearing his hair in frustration. a hair of the dog [spoken] A hair of the dog is an alcoholic drink that someone has to try to make them feel better after drinking too much alcohol the day before. ❑ I need a drink, chum. A large hair of the dog. ● You can also talk about a hair of the dog

If something raises your hackles, it makes you angry. ❑ The taxes will be designed not to raise voters’ hackles too much. ● You can also say that something raises hackles if it makes people angry. ❑ Certainly Smedley’s pay packet of $1 million-plus would have raised a few hackles among the medical profession. ● When something makes you angry or annoyed, you can say that your hackles rise. ❑ My hackles rose when I read his letter. ‘Hackles’ are feathers on the necks of cockerels and some other birds. They rise up when the bird becomes aggressive.

✪ have had it [informal]

mean that you are very tired from doing something and do not want to continue doing it. ❑ I’ve had it. Let’s call it a day. If you say that you have had it with someone or something, you mean that you are very angry with them and do not want to have anything more to do with them. ❑ I’ve had it with that kind of treatment of Americans. ● You can also say that you have had it up to here with someone or something with the same meaning. ❑ One parent, justifying her choice of school, said: ‘I’ve had it up to here with state schools’.

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hairs

that bit you. ❑ Now he was feeling worse and ✪ let your hair down If you let your hair down, you relax and wondering if a hair of the dog that bit him might enjoy yourself, and do not worry about not set him up for the day. being dignified or behaving correctly. There was an old belief that if a person ❑ It is only with friends that most people feel they was bitten by a mad dog, they could be can let their hair down and be themselves. ❑ He cured by putting some hairs from the enjoyed all the jokes, but you got the impression dog’s tail on the wound. he couldn’t really let his hair down. a hair’s breadth make your hair curl [mainly british] or You use a hair’s breadth to talk about curl your hair [mainly american] the smallest possible amount or degree of If something makes your hair curl or curls something. your hair, it makes you very shocked or ❑ The town suffered heavy bombing, coming worried. within a hair’s breadth of being destroyed ❑ I could tell you stories that would make your altogether. ❑ He missed the two-minute barrier hair curl. ❑ Some of the things I read daily would by a hair’s breadth, finishing in 2.00.04 and curl your hair. setting a new British record. ❑ The situation was make your hair stand on end a hair’s breadth away from being comical. If something makes your hair stand on end, You use a hair’s breadth to talk about it makes you very frightened or shocked. the smallest possible distance. ❑ The first ten minutes of the film made my hair ❑ A stone flew past him, missing him by a hair’s stand on end. ❑ Things happened that night that breadth. ❑ His head was a hair’s breadth away would make your hair stand on end. from the car roof. ● When someone is very frightened, you a hair shirt can say that their hair stands on end. If someone is wearing a hair shirt, they ❑ ‘What’s that?’ Chet’s hair stood on end as an are deliberately making their life eerie howling came to his ears. unpleasant or uncomfortable, especially not a hair out of place because they feel guilty about something. If you do not have a hair out of place, your ❑ No one is asking you to wear a hair shirt and appearance is very neat and tidy. give up all your luxuries. ❑ Not a hair out of place, dressed in navy and ● Hair-shirt can also be used before a white for our photograph, she is clearly a noun. ❑ Why adopt such a hair-shirt response perfectionist. ❑ I’ve never seen Jimmy with a hair to economic difficulty when there are so much out of place. more appropriate and comfortable alternatives? not turn a hair In the past, hair shirts were very rough, If you do not turn a hair in an unpleasant uncomfortable shirts made from or difficult situation, you do not show any horsehair. People sometimes wore them sign of being afraid or anxious. for religious reasons, to show that they ❑ She started off by accusing him of blackmail were truly sorry for their sins. but he didn’t turn a hair. ❑ Tiane dealt with the in your hair situation without turning a hair. If someone is in your hair, they are out of someone’s hair [informal] annoying you by getting in your way or If you get out of someone’s hair, you stop interfering with what you are doing. getting in their way or interfering with ❑ At work, she had an unfortunate tendency to what they are doing. get in other people’s hair. ❑ They were very busy ❑ Would you like me to get out of your hair and and had little time to get in one another’s hair. leave you alone? ❑ Once Jane is out of my hair, I’ll ➜ compare with out of someone’s hair be fine. keep your hair on [british, informal] ● You can also say that you get or keep If someone tells you to keep your hair on, someone out of someone’s hair. ❑ Just do they are telling you in a forceful way to me a favor, will you? Keep her out of my hair from calm down and not be angry or impatient. now on. ❑ ‘All right, keep your hair on,’ Ralph said with a ➜ compare with in your hair shrug. hairs

The usual American expression is keep your shirt on.

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have someone by the short hairs ➜ see short

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half put hairs on your chest If you say that a drink or a type of food will put hairs on your chest, you mean that it is very strong or very good for you. ❑ Our parents said the soup would put hairs on our chests. ● This expression is used humorously. split hairs If someone splits hairs, they argue about very small details or find very small differences between things which are really very similar. ❑ More than half the cases they complained about were not, in fact, on Garzon’s list, but let’s not split hairs. ❑ Don’t split hairs. You know what I’m getting at. ● You can also accuse someone of hair-splitting. ❑ We were becoming impatient with hair-splitting over legal technicalities.

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❑ The organisation had emerged well from an

event that many had expected to go off at half-cock. ● Half-cocked and half-cock can also be used before a noun to describe something that is done badly and not thoroughly enough. ❑ Finally there is the matter of the half-cock privatisation plans. ❑ In-store guest appearances are usually embarrassing, half-cocked events. If a gun goes off at half-cock, it does not fire properly and so the shot is wasted. This is because the firing mechanism has not been raised high enough to connect with the trigger. have half a mind to do something If you say that you have half a mind to do something, you are thinking about doing it or threatening to do it, although you probably will not do it. halcyon ❑ I was wet and weary and had half a mind to curl halcyon days [literary] up on the hillside and wait for the rescue The halcyon days of something, are a helicopter. ❑ I have half a mind to file a lawsuit time in the past when it was especially against her. happy or successful. ● You can also say that someone is of half ❑ I doubt whether the wool industry will ever see a mind to do something. ❑ I was of half a those halcyon days again. ❑ I experienced again mind to leave, but it was late so I stayed. the sense of peace and lightness that I associated how the other half lives with the halcyon days at La Chorrera. If you talk about how the other half lives, The seven days before and after the you are talking about the lives of people shortest day of the year are sometimes who are very different from you, for called halcyon days. ‘Halcyon’ comes example very rich or very poor. from the Greek word for kingfisher. ❑ I remember when I first walked into a show According to Greek legend, Halcyone home, wanting to see how the other half lives, and her husband were turned into and I was impressed. ❑ He clearly has no idea kingfishers by the gods. It was believed how the other half lives, though, carrying a that these birds built their nests on the 1,000-dollar note in his pocket to offer in small sea during the seven days before the shops which cannot give him change. shortest day of the year and then sat on too clever by half their eggs for the next seven days, and If you describe a person or their actions as that the gods always ensured calm too clever by half, you mean that they are weather during this period. too clever, in a way that you do not like or half in a way that causes problems for them. go off at half-cock [british] or ❑ His many admirers describe him as clever: his go off half-cocked [mainly american] enemies as too clever by half. ❑ You had to tell If someone goes off at half-cock or the press, didn’t you? Too clever by half. goes off half-cocked, they suddenly start ● Other adjectives are sometimes used doing something without preparing for it instead of clever. ❑ He was stylish, angry, or thinking about it enough. and too cool by half. ❑ She was a disaster in meetings, never preparing ✪ your other half or and often going off at half-cock. ❑ Remember, your better half don’t go off half-cocked when we get there. Stick If you refer to your other half or your to the plan. better half, you mean your husband, If an event or action goes off at wife, or partner. ❑ They invited us out to dinner after the election half-cock, it is unsuccessful.

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halfway because they said it was time they met my other half. ❑ It’s a shame my better half isn’t here. You’d have someone to gossip with. ● These expressions are usually used humorously.

halfway

✪ meet someone halfway

If you meet someone halfway, you accept some of their opinions or wishes, so that you can come to an agreement with them or have a better relationship with them. ❑ Democrats are willing to meet the president halfway on measures to stimulate the economy. ❑ Young people need to develop skills at forming relationships with adults by meeting them half-way.

halt

✪ grind to a halt

If a process or an activity grinds to a halt, it gradually becomes slower or less active until it stops. ❑ The peace process has ground to a halt. If a vehicle grinds to a halt, it stops slowly and noisily. ❑ The tanks ground to a halt after a hundred yards because the fuel had run out. If a country grinds to a halt, all transport in it stops so people are unable to do the things they usually do. ❑ The whole country grinds to a halt after an hour’s snow.

● You can use hammer and tongs in other

halves

structures with a similar meaning. ❑ She will go hammer and tongs to get what she wants. ❑ They’ll come at us from all angles, hammer and tongs, but when we get the ball we’ll go at them. It should be a good game. If two people are going at it hammer and tongs, they are having a noisy argument. ❑ ‘They were going at it hammer and tongs.’ – ‘What about?’ – ‘I’m not sure, but they were both furious about something.’ ● You can also say that one person is going at the other hammer and tongs. ❑ They used to go hammer and tongs at each other in the early days. The image here is of a blacksmith holding a piece of heated iron with a pair of tongs (= metal tool for holding hot objects), and striking the iron repeatedly with a hammer. ✪ under the hammer [british] If something goes under the hammer, it is offered for sale at an auction. ❑ The first half of the collection goes under the hammer on Friday and there are some real treasures. ❑ A portrait by Dutch master Rembrandt went under the hammer for £4.18 million at Sotheby’s yesterday. ❑ These are just some of the items under the hammer at the charity auction on 30 October.

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take a hammering If a person, team or organization takes a hammering, they are badly defeated, criticized or damaged. ❑ Labour has been taking a hammering in the polls. ❑ The firm’s public image has taken a hammering recently.

hand

go at it hammer and tongs [british, informal] If you go at it hammer and tongs, you do something with a lot of energy. ❑ ‘He loved gardening,’ sniffed Mrs Gascoigne. ‘He went at it hammer and tongs as soon as he got back from work.’

In an auction, the auctioneer shows that a sale has been made by banging a hammer on a table.

hammer

The usual American expression is on the block.

not do things by halves If you do not do things by halves, you always do things very well and thoroughly or in an extreme way. ❑ Kim and Christopher Dunn are not a couple to do things by halves. When it came to furnishing their new home, they decided to completely redecorate the whole house. ● You can also say that someone does not do anything by halves. ❑ Joe never did anything by halves. He regularly worked 12-hour days, was always in training for the next marathon and in his spare time, built his own house.

✪ bite the hand that feeds you

If someone bites the hand that feeds them, they behave badly towards a person who has helped them or given them money. ❑ She is sometimes critical of the film industry, but ultimately she has no intention of biting the hand that feeds her. ❑ They pay him eighty thousand pounds a week and there he is,

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criticizing the manager. Talk about biting the to someone, you are asking them to clap hand that feeds you. him or her. bound hand and foot ❑ I’m Hal Morgan and these are the Praise Him If someone or something is bound hand Singers from Muncie, Indiana, so let’s give them a and foot by something, that thing big hand. ● You can also ask for a big hand for prevents them from acting freely or doing what they want. someone or say that someone gets a big ❑ These people are bound hand and foot by hand. ❑ Let’s have a big hand for our first act, tradition. ❑ In a land bound hand and foot by ladies and gentlemen. ❑ Mr Wells got a big hand petty regulations and bureaucracy, he saw that from most of the people present. there were thousands of deals just waiting to give with one hand and take away with be done. the other catch someone with their hand in the If someone gives with one hand and cookie jar ➜ see cookie takes away with the other, they help the dead hand [british] someone in one way, but also do If you talk about the dead hand of something which has the opposite effect. someone or something, you mean that ❑ Africa stays poor. One reason is that the rich they have a very negative influence on a world gives with one hand and it takes away with situation, for example by preventing the other. ❑ Although my parents were very change or progress. supportive, in a way they gave with one hand and ❑ The dead hand of bureaucracy now lies heavily took away with the other, because I never really on the Space Quest Foundation. ❑ The dead learned what it was to be independent. hand of central government still holds the purse ✪ go hand in hand strings. If two things go hand in hand, they are ✪ force someone’s hand closely connected and cannot be If someone forces your hand, they make considered separately from each other. you do something that you are not ready ❑ The principle of the playgroup movement is to do or do not want to do. that play and learning go hand in hand. ❑ He hadn’t wanted to talk publicly about the ● You can also say that one thing goes matter but said the press had forced his hand. If hand in hand with another thing. ❑ This he hadn’t made the announcement, the symptom goes hand in hand with an overall newspapers were going to do so anyway. ❑ The disintegration of the personality. Government is very reluctant to make such a ➜ compare with work hand in hand move. But the exchange markets may force its hand in glove hand. If one person or organization is working In card games, to force an opponent’s hand in glove with another person or hand means to force them to play a card organization, they are working very earlier than they want to. closely together. ✪ a free hand ❑ Many of the city’s politicians are hand in glove If you have a free hand, you are able to with smugglers. ❑ Employment on the building make your own decisions on how sites is controlled by more than 40 gangs, who are something should be done. believed to be hand in glove with the police. ❑ I’ll have a free hand and be able to train the You usually use this expression to team as I like. ❑ She was given a totally free hand suggest that the people you are talking by her clients to do exactly as she pleased. about are doing something dishonest ✪ get out of hand or immoral. If a situation gets out of hand, it cannot The original form of the expression was be controlled any longer. ‘hand and glove’. It was used to say that ❑ Two men in the club had an argument that got there was a strong connection or out of hand and the police were called. similarity between two things. ❑ Kenneth’s aggressive nature has gotten a bit hand over fist out of hand. If you are making or losing money hand ➜ compare with out of hand over fist, you are making or losing a lot of give someone a big hand If you ask an audience to give a big hand money very quickly.

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hand ❑ Some TV channels were making money hand over fist. ❑ The companies had no skills

and almost all were losing money hand over fist. This expression comes from the image of a sailor moving his hands steadily one over the other while pulling in a rope or raising a sail. ✪ have a hand in something If you have a hand in something, you are one of the people involved in doing it or creating it. ❑ The appointments yesterday included people who will have a hand in shaping policy. ❑ Peter is a very experienced yachtsman, and had a hand in the design himself. ● If you take a hand in something, you become involved in doing it or creating it. ❑ Perhaps it is time for ministers to step in and take a hand in deciding what services should be provided. ● You can talk about the extent to which someone is involved by putting an adjective such as strong, big or small before hand. ❑ Browner had a strong hand in her selection. have someone eating out of your hand or have someone eating out of the palm of your hand If you have someone eating out of your hand or have them eating out of the palm of your hand, they will do whatever you want because they like or admire you so much. ❑ No one can handle the press as she can and she usually has them eating out of her hand by the time they leave. ❑ He is a silver-tongued lawyer, famed for having juries eat out of the palm of his hand. The image here is of an animal which is tame and will take food from a person’s hand. have to hand it to someone [spoken, informal] People use expressions such as I have to hand it to you or you have to hand it to him in order to say that they admire what someone has done. ❑ I have to hand it to you, though. You came pretty close to escaping. ❑ Whatever you thought of his act, you had to hand it to him – he knew how to make money. ● In British English, you can also say you’ve got to hand it to someone.

❑ You’ve got to hand it to Melissa, she certainly gets around. ● People often use these expressions

when they did not think that someone would be successful or when they do not usually like or approve of that person. have your hand in the till ➜ see till a heavy hand If a person or organization in a position of power uses or has a heavy hand, they use a lot of force to control people. ❑ Henry and Richard both ruled with a heavy hand, but they were gone from the kingdom for years at a time. ❑ The heavy hand of the military has not prevented their economies from doing very well. ● Heavy-handed is used to describe people or actions that use a lot of force. ❑ He criticized what he saw as the police’s heavy-handed attempts to control the crowd. hold someone’s hand If you hold someone’s hand in an unfamiliar or difficult situation, you help and support them. ❑ Tony will hold your hand through the sale, deal with offers and advise on particulars. ❑ I’ll support him up to a point but I can’t hold his hand forever. ● People sometimes use the expression hand-holding to refer to the act of helping and supporting someone. ❑ If you expect lots of hand-holding because you’re just starting out as an investor, you’re probably better off paying a flat fee. in the palm of your hand ➜ see palm an iron hand ➜ see iron keep your hand in If you keep your hand in, you use skills which you have developed in the past, so that you do not lose them. ❑ I had to wait two years before I was offered another part, and just to keep my hand in, I went on tour with a play that wasn’t very good. ❑ Words – written words – were what mattered to him, and he kept his hand in writing books and magazine articles. know something like the back of your hand If you know something, especially a place, like the back of your hand, you know it very well. ❑ He knows the city like the back of his hand. ❑ They were born in the county and knew it like the backs of their hands.

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hand ✪ lend a hand or

lend someone a hand If you lend a hand or lend someone a hand, you help someone to do something. ❑ If I’d known, I’d have been glad to lend a hand – you should have called me up. ❑ I do the cooking and Bryan lends a hand with the washing-up. ❑ Could you lend me a hand with these books, please? ● A hand is used in many other structures with a similar meaning. ❑ I used to give Mary a hand with the catering. ❑ Need a hand with those? ❑ I could see you’d want a hand with the children. ✪ live from hand to mouth or live hand-to-mouth Someone who lives from hand to mouth or lives hand-to-mouth always struggles to afford the things they need. ❑ I have a wife and two children and we live from hand to mouth on what I earn. ❑ I just can’t live hand-to-mouth, it’s too frightening. ● Hand-to-mouth is also used before nouns to describe a situation where someone struggles to afford what they need. ❑ Unloved and uncared-for, they live a meaningless hand-to-mouth existence. ✪ an old hand If someone is an old hand at something, they have a lot of experience of doing it. ❑ Bryce is an old hand at this kind of project, having moved house six times in ten years. ❑ Whether you’re a beginner or an old hand, these two new books will help you enjoy this satisfying craft. ● You can describe someone as an older hand when you are comparing them with someone who is less experienced. ❑ The 11 who take on England will be a mix of youngsters and older hands. ✪ out of hand If you reject an idea or suggestion out of hand, you reject it without hesitating and without discussing it or considering it first. ❑ He has rejected out of hand any suggestion that there can be any compromise over the proposals. ❑ He said he hadn’t rejected the idea out of hand. ➜ compare with get out of hand overplay your hand If someone overplays their hand, they act more confidently that they should, because they believe they are in a stronger

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position than they really are. ❑ The right wing drastically overplayed its hand by trying to seize power prematurely. ‘Hand’ in this expression refers to the cards dealt to you in a card game. the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing If you say that in an organization the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing, you mean that the people in one part of the organization do not know what the people in another part are doing and this is leading to confusion or difficulties. ❑ This is a classic example of the right hand having no idea what the left hand is doing . We have yet to hear two government ministers agree on a single aspect of this decision. ● People sometimes vary this expression. ❑ The government’s left hand discovered what its right hand was doing only at the end of the first week. ● You use this expression when you want to criticize people for not communicating or co-operating properly. This expression comes from Jesus’s teaching in the Bible, in which He says that when people give money to charity, they should do it without boasting or telling anyone about it. ‘But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.’ (Matthew 6:3) show your hand If you show your hand, you let other people see what your position is and what you intend to do. ❑ On domestic politics he seemed unwilling to show his hand too clearly. ❑ It may be no accident that Manchester United have shown their hand in their attempt to lure David Hirst to Old Trafford. ● You can replace show with reveal. ❑ The Portugal coach has yet to reveal his hand on how many changes he will be making to the team. If you show your hand in a card game, you reveal your cards to another player. a steady hand on the tiller [british] If you have a steady hand on the tiller, you are keeping control of a situation in a calm and reliable way. ❑ ‘If ever there was an urgent need for a steady hand on the tiller, it is now,’ said one European diplomat.

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● Adjectives such as firm can be used instead of steady. ❑ He was convinced that the job of those in power was to keep a firm hand on the tiller guiding the course of national development. In a boat, the tiller is the handle with which you steer. take someone in hand If you take someone or something in hand, you take control of them, in order to improve them. ❑ I took myself in hand about a year ago and lost weight. ❑ The present government only reacts to events rather than taking the situation in hand. throw in your hand If you throw in your hand, you give up trying to do something because you know you cannot succeed. ❑ We must increase the military and diplomatic pressure on him to throw in his hand. In card games such as poker, if you throw in your hand, you put your cards on the table to show that you accept that you have lost. try your hand at something If you try your hand at something, you try doing it in order to see whether you are good at it. ❑ In his latest book, he tries his hand at fiction. ❑ After he left school, he tried his hand at a variety of jobs – bricklayer, baker, coal man. turn your hand to something If you turn your hand to something, you start doing it and do it well, even though you may not be trained to do it. ❑ Judy is one of those women who can turn her hand to most things. ❑ Although he’s first and foremost an actor, he has recently turned his hand to writing a short film. the upper hand If someone has the upper hand, they have the most power and control in a situation. ❑ Most people who knew the couple agreed that Franzen had the upper hand in the relationship. ❑ Diplomats believe it is still far from clear which side is gaining the upper hand in the economic debate. If a feeling or emotion gets the upper hand, you are not able to hide it or control it. ❑ Dan was breathing in short, sharp bursts as the tension and his exasperation gained the upper hand.

✪

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wait on someone hand and foot If you wait on someone hand and foot, you do everything for them. ❑ Many people expect to be waited on hand and foot because they’ve been spoiled rotten by their parents. ❑ I like to lie on a beach for a week and be waited on hand and foot. ● This expression is used to suggest that it is unreasonable for someone to be looked after in this way. with one hand tied behind your back If you say that you can do something with one hand tied behind your back, you mean that you can do it very easily. ❑ This is a gadget so neat and nifty you can operate it with one hand tied behind your back. ❑ Thomas could manage the team with one hand tied behind his back. If you have to do something with one hand tied behind your back, you have a disadvantage which makes it difficult for you to succeed. ❑ Our officers don’t have enough powers. They are being asked to police our streets with one hand tied behind their back. ● You can also say that you have to do something with your hands tied behind your back or that someone ties your hand behind your back. ❑ We’d like to open when our customers want us to and not only when the law says we can. Basically we’re competing with both our hands tied behind our back. ❑ They insist they would have won if the politicians had not tied their hands behind their backs. work hand in hand If two people or organizations work hand in hand, they work closely together, often with a single aim. ❑ Gooch and Stewart have worked hand in hand together for three years. ● You can also say that one person or organization works hand in hand with another. ❑ Steelmakers are working hand-in-hand with auto makers to slash the cost of producing automotive parts. ➜ compare with go hand in hand

handle fly off the handle [informal] If you fly off the handle, you suddenly become very angry. ❑ When I finally managed to speak to him, he flew off the handle and shouted down the phone.

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glee, they are very pleased about The reference here is to an axe head something, often something that is bad which has become loose, and so when for someone else. someone swings the axe, the axe head ❑ Already the newspapers were rubbing their flies off. hands with glee and calling the place “Dr. Terry’s ✪ get a handle on something [informal] House of Horrors”. ❑ The party leaders are If you get a handle on a subject or rubbing their hands with glee at the news of his problem, you understand it and know troubles. how to deal with it. ✪ be wringing your hands ❑ When you have got a handle on your anxiety If someone is wringing their hands, they you can begin to control it. are expressing sadness or regret about a ● You can also say that someone has a bad situation, but are not taking any handle on a subject or problem to mean action to deal with it. that they understand it and know how to ❑ He accused the Government of wringing its deal with it. ❑ We don’t really have a handle on hands and doing nothing as the country’s jobless why some people survive for longer periods than figures increased. others. ● When someone behaves like this, you hands can call it hand-wringing or wringing of all hands on deck [mainly british] hands. ❑ Condolences and hand-wringing are If a situation requires all hands on deck, it not enough. ❑ I expect there’ll be shock, horror needs everyone to work hard to achieve an and wringing of hands. aim or do a task. ● This expression is used to show ❑ Come on then, boys, all hands on deck tonight, disapproval. we need all the help we can get. ❑ Your job was If you wring something, you squeeze or so big that we needed all hands on deck. twist it. Members of a ship’s crew are sometimes ✪ change hands called hands and ‘deck’ refers to the If something changes hands, one person floor of a ship. or organization gets it from another, ✪ at the hands of someone or usually by buying it. at someone’s hands ❑ A bottle of this wine cost around £2 in 1962. If someone experiences a particular kind Today, the same bottle would change hands for of treatment, especially unpleasant anything up to four hundred pounds. ❑ The treatment, at the hands of a person or property has changed hands several times organization or at someone’s hands, they recently. receive it from them. ● When something is sold for a particular ❑ After their 4-0 home defeat at the hands of amount of money, you say that amount of Vitesse Arnhem, United may find morale a money changes hands. ❑ Record sums of problem. ❑ She spoke of the humiliation she money changed hands at Christie’s in New York, endured at the hands of the police. where a portrait by Vincent Van Gogh has been ✪ be rubbing your hands or sold for more than eighty million dollars. be rubbing your hands together [mainly ✪ fall into someone’s hands british] If someone or something falls into the If someone is rubbing their hands or hands of a bad person or enemy, that rubbing their hands together, they are person gets them or is able to control very pleased or excited about something. them. ❑ The four remaining firms will be rubbing their ❑ There is a real fear that food supplies could fall hands at the prospect of new clients and fat fees. into the hands of the rebels, thus increasing the ❑ The folks at the record company must have misery of ordinary citizens. ❑ Their ship had been rubbing their hands together when they fallen into enemy hands. ● If something falls into the wrong heard this band. ● This expression is often used to imply hands, it is taken or controlled by someone who will cause harm with it. that someone is being greedy or is ❑ There is always the possibility that weapons unpleasantly pleased about someone may fall into the wrong hands. else’s failure. be rubbing your hands with glee ✪ get your hands dirty If someone is rubbing their hands with If you get your hands dirty, you do

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difficult, dirty or routine work. ✪ in your hands ❑ I never get my hands dirty raising money the If something is in your hands, it is in your hard way. ❑ The guys at the top make all the possession or under your control. money, while the people actually getting their ❑ This move will leave too much power in the hands dirty make very little. hands of the party leadership. ❑ You have to ➜ compare with not dirty your hands trust your surgeon. Your life is in their hands. get your hands on someone or not dirty your hands lay your hands on someone [informal] If someone does not dirty their hands If you get your hands on someone who doing something, they avoid doing has done something wrong or lay your physical work or an activity that some hands on them, you catch them and people consider unpleasant. usually punish them. ❑ These people have never had to dirty their ❑ I’d like to get my hands on the person who did hands to earn a living. ❑ Very few academics this. ❑ That’s the most likely explanation, but we with his reputation are willing to dirty their can’t be sure until we lay our hands on the hands with political activity to the extent that he culprits. does. get your hands on something or ● This expression is often used to criticize lay your hands on something [informal] someone for not getting involved in If you get your hands on something you things. want or need, or lay your hands on it, you ➜ compare with get your hands dirty succeed in obtaining it. ✪ off your hands ❑ How was he able to get his hands on that If someone or something is off your money so easily? ❑ People seem to be buying up hands, you are no longer responsible for everything they can lay their hands on. them. have your hands full ❑ I can always take the children off your hands for If you have your hands full, you are very a while, if you need to work. ❑ I was just glad to busy. get the building off my hands. ❑ She’s doing fine. Got her hands full with the ➜ compare with on your hands kids, of course. ❑ The federal government will ✪ on your hands obviously have its hands full trying to enforce If you have a problem or task on your environmental laws while keeping residents hands, you have to deal with it. happy. ❑ Both teams will have a battle on their hands to ● You can also say that someone’s hands stay in the Premier Division. ❑ They need to are full. ❑ He’s managing all three projects so accept that they have a very serious problem on his hands are full. their hands. ● You often use these expressions to show ● This expression is generally used to refer that someone has many responsibilities to bad or difficult situations. However, it or jobs, and does not have enough time is sometimes used to refer to good for any more. situations, for example when you say that in safe hands someone has a hit or a success on their If someone or something is in safe hands, hands. ❑ The record company realized they had they are being looked after by someone a major hit on their hands. ❑ Now, three years who will make sure they are not harmed on, the Barrys have a success story on their hands or damaged. with a business that employs eight people. ❑ They could get on with their own lives, knowing If you have a person on your hands, you their girls were in safe hands. ❑ It’s reassuring to are responsible for caring for them or know that the pilot is highly trained and you’re in dealing with them. safe hands. ❑ I’ve got tired players on my hands and we are ● Other adjectives are sometimes used only five weeks into the season. ❑ I suddenly had instead of safe. ❑ Although I knew the six children on my hands and a whole afternoon to children would be in good hands, I still felt entertain them. ● You use this expression when the anxious. ❑ He was also forced to give up his business, which is now in the capable hands of his responsibility is likely to be difficult for only son. you. ➜ compare with a safe pair of hands ➜ compare with off your hands

✪

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✪ out of your hands

clean hands, they are not involved in a bad or illegal activity. If something is out of your hands, you are ❑ War is a dreadful business and no-one’s hands no longer responsible for it and there is are clean. ❑ You people don’t have such clean nothing you can do about it. hands yourselves. ❑ The matter has been taken out of our hands. We ● You can also say that someone keeps are referring all enquiries to the Department of their hands clean. ❑ I would rather keep my the Environment. ❑ Things were out of our hands hands clean and allow the solicitors to deal with now. We could only wait. these matters. ✪ play into someone’s hands sully your hands [formal] If you play into someone’s hands, you do If someone sullies their hands by doing something that gives them an advantage something, they do something over you or helps them defeat you. unpleasant or wrong. ❑ Trying to prevent an investigation plays right ❑ He had no intention of sullying his hands by into the hands of our critics. ❑ Differences of playing politics. ❑ He would not sully his hands opinion over policy could play into the hands of in trade. the country’s enemies. To sully something means to stain it. ✪ put your hands together ✪ wash your hands of something/someone If you put your hands together for a If you wash your hands of a problem or a performer, you clap them. person who causes problems, you refuse ❑ I know you’re going to put your hands together to be involved with them or to take for the master of rap! responsibility for them any longer. a safe pair of hands [mainly british] ❑ ‘If he was my patient I would wash my hands of If someone is a safe pair of hands, they him,’ said specialist Dr George Raine. ❑ The state are good at their job and can be relied on cannot wash its hands of responsibility for these not to make any serious mistakes. prisoners. ❑ He was viewed as a reliable, solid politician – a According to the Bible, Pontius Pilate safe pair of hands. washed his hands in a bowl to show ➜ compare with in safe hands that he would not take responsibility for shake hands on something the death sentence which the public If two people or groups shake hands on a demanded he should pass on Jesus. deal or an agreement, they agree to it. (Matthew 27:24) ❑ Negotiations are now at an advanced stage ✪ win hands down with Butcher hoping to shake hands on the deal If you win a contest hands down, you soon. ❑ The CEO is believed to have shaken win it easily. hands on the details of a new contract at ❑ We have been beaten in some games which we St Andrews almost a month ago. should have won hands down. ✪ sit on your hands ● You can also say that you beat someone If you sit on your hands, you do not do else hands down. ❑ When he said he would something that you ought to be doing. beat me hands down, I didn’t expect him to run ❑ The troops there are beginning to feel quite like that. embarrassed about sitting on their hands while When you are comparing things, you refugees stream through the lines with tales of can say that the thing which is clearly horror. ❑ The pace of development in Formula best wins hands down. One is so fast that if you sit on your hands you ❑ The New Winter Palace Hotel wins hands down quickly regret it. for both comfort and location. If you sit on your hands, you wait for ● You can also say that one thing beats the best time to take action rather than another hands down. ❑ I had always enjoyed doing something too quickly. driving through the New Forest, but two-wheeled [american] travel beats the car hands down. ❑ Force yourself to read the draft in its entirety. ● You can also talk about a hands-down Sit on your hands. Give the draft a chance before winner. [journalism] you begin reworking it. ❑ In any bar debate about the best Canadian folk someone’s hands are clean or song of all time, the hands-down winner is always someone has clean hands Tyson’s Summer Wages. If someone’s hands are clean or they have

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handshake

● Hands down is used in other on a handshake If an agreement or contract is made on a structures where you are saying that handshake, it is agreed between people something is clearly the best. ❑ We are but not written down. hands-down, flat-out the leaders of the world ❑ Our business is all done on a handshake. in this. ❑ ‘The greatest thing ever invented has ❑ The White Star line, it seems, went about its to be the Thermos flask,’ I said. ‘Easy. Hands business in a curious way, with contracts agreed down.’ on a handshake. This expression was originally used in horse racing to describe jockeys who handsome won their races very easily and could handsome is as handsome does cross the winning line with their hands [old-fashioned] lowered and the reins loose. You say handsome is as handsome does, ✪ with your bare hands to mean that you should judge someone If you do something with your bare by their actions and not by their hands, you do it without using any appearance. weapons or tools. ❑ Handsome is as handsome does, my mother ❑ If I thought you’d hurt him, I’d kill you now with and grandmother always said in order to prevent my bare hands. ❑ Rescue workers and residents self-admiration. were digging through tonnes of mud with their handwriting bare hands yesterday in search of survivors. the handwriting is on the wall ● You can also say that someone does ➜ see wall something bare-handed. ❑ A man has hang wrestled a two-metre crocodile bare-handed in a be hung out to dry north Queensland river to save his pet dog from If someone is hung out to dry, they are its jaws. left alone to deal with a difficult situation ● This expression is used to emphasize or are blamed for it. that the thing done is difficult or ❑ Supporters of Mr Green felt he had been hung dangerous. out to dry by the company executive. ❑ The ✪ your hands are tied problem is with the whole culture in which MPs If your hands are tied, something such as are regularly hung out to dry. a law is preventing you from acting in the ✪ get the hang of something [informal] way that you want to. If you get the hang of an activity, you ❑ He would like to help but his hands are tied by learn how to do it well. regulations approved by the council of ministers. ❑ Once you get the hang of it, reading a good play ● You can also say that you have your can be a delightful and challenging experience. hands tied or that something ties your ❑ After a few months you start getting the hang hands. ❑ The present rule ties jockeys’ hands of the language and expressing yourself quite and I don’t feel it is fair. ❑ She felt frustrated by it well. all. ‘We feel as though our hands have been tied ✪ hang in there or because we have no power at all.’ hang on in there [informal] handshake If you tell someone to hang in there or to a golden handshake hang on in there, you encourage them to A golden handshake is a large amount continue with something even if it is of money that someone is given if they difficult. are asked to leave a job before the normal ❑ Hang in there and you never know what you age when they would leave. might achieve. ❑ My message to all those people ❑ She offered me a golden handshake to get me to stuck in a property they’re dying to sell is hang on leave quietly, which I did. in there. Things will improve. A golden handshake is a large amount hang it up [informal] of money that a company gives to an If someone hangs it up, they end their employee when he or she leaves, as a career. reward for long service or good work. ❑ ‘Peter will hang it up in two years,’ predicts a ❑ The officer retired with a golden handshake and well-known agent. ❑ The band wants to record a pension. three more albums and then hang it up.

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hard ✪ hang tough [american, journalism]

If you hang tough, you continue to fight or compete strongly for something and refuse to accept defeat. ❑ Sizemore and Traeger hung tough in the second set to clinch the victory at 5-2. ❑ The White House is hanging tough for a good agreement. hang up your boots [british] If a sports player, especially a footballer, hangs up their boots, they stop playing and retire. ❑ I want a few triumphs and medals to reflect on when I eventually hang up my boots. ❑ I’m slower now and the time has come to hang up my boots. ● People often replace boots with another word which relates to a person’s job, to mean that they stop doing that job. These other forms are used in both British and American English. ❑ Superstar Clint Eastwood wanted to hang up his cowboy hat, even though his western received rave reviews. ❑ As for the future of his boxing career, Taylor continues to maintain that he has hung up his gloves for good. let it all hang out [informal] If you let it all hang out, you behave in a very informal and relaxed way, doing whatever you want to do. ❑ If you want a venue where you can let it all hang out, this is it. ● You can use let-it-all-hang-out before a noun to describe a relaxed person or situation. ❑ It is the hotel’s let-it-all-hang-out ethos that attracts Charlotte. If you let it all hang out, you express your emotions openly. ❑ When you’re angry, is it better to let it all hang out? ● You can use let-it-all-hang-out before a noun to talk about expressing emotions openly. ❑ My parents were let-it-all-hang-out liberals so we discussed pretty much everything.

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happy as Larry [british, informal] If you are as happy as Larry, you are very happy. ❑ I gave her a police badge to wear on her sleeve and she was as happy as Larry. ‘Larry’ may refer to the successful Australian boxer Larry Foley (1847-1917). Alternatively, ‘Larry’ may come from ‘larrikin’, a 19th century word for a hooligan or ruffian, used mainly in Australia. happy as a pig in muck [british, informal] If you are happy as a pig in muck, you are very happy. ❑ From day one I adored it. I was as happy as a pig in muck. ● This expression has several variations. For example, some people talk about being happy as a pig in shit. [very rude] ❑ I’d much rather be as I am, I couldn’t imagine being any different. Happy as a pig in shit. ❑ Frankly, I was like a pig in shit – oh, how I revelled in the opportunity of standing next to famous people! happy as a sandboy [british, oldfashioned] If you are happy as a sandboy, you are very happy. ❑ He’s all smiles and happy as a sandboy. Sandboys were boys or men who sold bags of sand from carts. It is possible that they were described as ‘happy’ because they had a reputation for spending their money on alcohol.

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hard as nails If someone is as hard as nails, they are very unsympathetic towards other people and do not show their emotions. ❑ He’s a shrewd businessman and hard as nails. ❑ When necessary she could be as hard as nails. ● You can use hard-as-nails before a noun. ❑ That was his hard-as-nails trade representative, Carla Hills. ✪ hard done by [british] If you are hard done by, you have been treated unfairly. ❑ Those who felt hard done by made their dissatisfaction clear. ❑ He really felt they’d been hard done by, and he would have liked to help them. ● You can use hard-done-by before a noun to describe someone who has been treated

happy as a clam [american] If you are happy as a clam, you are very happy. ❑ Join the other kids. Do that, and before you know it you’ll be happy as a clam. happy as a lark If you are happy as a lark, you are very happy. ❑ Look at me – eighty-two years old and happy as a lark!

happy

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unfairly. ❑ Sibley plays the role of the Hardball is the same as baseball, and is hard-done-by husband. here being contrasted with softball, in ✪ old habits die hard which a larger, softer ball is used and People say old habits die hard to mean the ball is thrown underarm. that people often do not like to change hare things that they have been doing for a run with the hare and hunt with the long time. hounds [british, literary] ❑ Despite ideas of equality, old habits die hard If someone runs with the hare and hunts and women still carry the main burden of looking with the hounds, they try to support both after home and family. ❑ The Council had sides in an argument or fight. introduced a few small changes, but old habits ❑ They want to keep the peace and have everybody die hard. happy. For this reason they learn very quickly to ● You can use other words instead of run with the hares and hunt with the hounds. habit. ❑ Women are still unequal in socialist A hound is a dog that has been bred for countries and old attitudes die hard. ❑ They are hunting. the first to admit that old national prejudices die start a hare [british, old-fashioned] hard. If you start a hare, you introduce a new ● Die-hard is used to describe people who idea or topic which other people become continue to support a person or a belief interested in. that is no longer popular with most ❑ Some work needs to be done before the people. ❑ The band broke up 10 years ago and connection between aluminium and heart disease die-hard fans have been waiting for a reunion ever is proved, but Mr Birchall has started a hare that since. ❑ A few diehard conservatives cling to many researchers will be watching. traditional ideology. To ‘start’ a hare means to disturb it and play hard to get cause it to leave its hiding place, so that If someone plays hard to get, they the hounds start chasing it. pretend not to be interested in someone hark who wants to start a romantic hark who’s talking or relationship with them, as a way of look who’s talking making themselves more attractive People say hark who’s talking! or look and interesting to that person. who’s talking! to mean that something ❑ She would also play hard to get with her critical that someone has just said about admirers. She gleefully told a friend: ‘He called me someone else is true of them too. four times last night and I didn’t pick it up.’ ❑ Hark who’s talking! If you were so honest, we If someone plays hard to get, they wouldn’t be in this mess. ❑ ‘They’re all stupid.’ – deliberately make it difficult for someone ‘Look who’s talking, you complete fool!’ to obtain something that they need from them. harm ❑ At the time, the Social Democrats were playing ✪ out of harm’s way hard to get as the CDU tried to get them into If someone or something is out of harm’s coalition talks. ❑ Developers queued up to buy way, they are in a safe place away from the property in 1995 but Turner played hard to get, danger or from the possibility of being waiting for better offers. damaged. ❑ For parents, this is an easy way of keeping their hardball children entertained, or simply out of harm’s way. play hardball [mainly american] ❑ Workers scrambled to carry priceless objects If someone plays hardball, they will do out of harm’s way. anything that is necessary to achieve or ✪ there’s no harm in doing something obtain what they want, even if this People say there’s no harm in doing involves being harsh or unfair. something to mean that it will not cause ❑ In past deals, Mr. Peng has shown he’s willing problems and may have a good result. to play hardball. ❑ The White House decided to ❑ They are not always willing to take on retaliate by taking jobs away from his state, untrained workers, but there’s no harm in asking. showing they were tough guys who could play ❑ As I see it, there is no harm in cooperating with hardball. ➜ compare with play ball the police.

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hat harness A harness is a set of straps like the one that is fitted to a horse when it pulls a cart.

in harness If someone is in harness, they are actively doing their job. [mainly british] ❑ Random jumped at the chance to be back in harness. ❑ Other workers may die in harness, in which case their beneficiaries receive the money. If two or more people or things work in harness, they work together or produce something together. [british] ❑ Experts in statistics and computing may work in harness on a single project. ❑ What is fundamental to creativity is for the two hemispheres of the brain to be working in harness.

harvest

reap the harvest ➜ see reap

hash

make a hash of something [informal] If you make a hash of a job or task, you do it very badly. ❑ The Government made a total hash of things and wasted a small fortune. ❑ She fumbled with the trolley and made a hash of stacking the food trays.

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be talking through your hat [informal] If someone is talking through their hat, what they are saying is silly or totally incorrect. ❑ Mrs Smith had told Adam he was talking through his hat if he thought his plan would work. ❑ Quite honestly, I think he was talking through his hat. eat your hat [mainly british, oldfashioned] If you say that you will eat your hat if a particular thing happens, you mean that you do not believe that it will happen. ❑ I will eat my hat if the Social Democrats get in at the next general election. ❑ He has promised to eat his hat if he is wrong. go hat in hand to someone [american] If you go hat in hand to someone, you ask them very humbly and respectfully for money or help. ❑ The state had to go hat in hand to financiers in New York, London, and Boston to rescue its finances. ❑ He won’t go hat-in-hand to the White House to ask that sanctions be lifted against his country.

The usual British expression is go cap in hand to someone.

hat

all hat and no cattle [american, informal] If you describe someone as all hat and no cattle, you mean that they seem impressive or exciting but in reality they do not do much. ❑ On this issue, western leaders are all hat and no cattle. This expression comes from the West of America, where cowboys (= people who look after cattle) wear large hats. be picked out of a hat If a name or an entry in a competition is picked out of a hat, it is chosen randomly, often by choosing a piece of paper from a container, so that each one has an equal chance of being chosen or winning. ❑ All you have to do to win is answer this question correctly and hope you get picked out of the hat. ● Other verbs, such as draw or pull, are sometimes used instead of pick. ❑ The first 10 correct entries drawn out of the hat will win a pair of tickets, worth £20 each.

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In the past, it was customary for lower-class people to remove their hats in front of upper-class people. The expression may also refer to the fact that people sometimes hold out their hats when they are begging, for other people to put money in. keep something under your hat [informal] If you keep something under your hat, you do not tell anyone else about it. ❑ Very few people know, so keep it under your hat. ❑ Look, if I tell you something will you promise to keep it under your hat? This was a slogan used to promote security in Britain during the Second World War. knock something into a cocked hat [mainly british, old-fashioned] If one thing knocks another into a cocked hat, the first thing is much better or more successful than the second. ❑ I am writing a novel which is going to knock Proust into a cocked hat. ❑ I bet his IQ would knock Kane’s into a cocked hat. One explanation for this expression is that it refers to the cocked hats of the 18th century, which were made by

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hatch

folding the edge of a round hat into three corners or points. According to this explanation, the expression originally meant to change something completely. Alternatively, the expression may refer to an American game of skittles where only three pins were set up, in the triangular shape of a cocked hat. ✪ old hat If something is old hat, it is unoriginal or out of date. ❑ The technology is a bit old hat nowadays. ❑ I think that kind of painting’s a bit old hat now, isn’t it? I wanted to do something quite different. This expression may have developed because in the times when it was usual for women to wear hats, the fashions in hats used to change very quickly. pass the hat or pass the hat around If people pass the hat or pass the hat around, they collect money for someone or something. ❑ The United States is also passing the hat among rich countries to help to pay for our military effort. ❑ We should all pass the hat around for poor old Bernie. The image here is of people using a hat to collect money in. pull a rabbit out of the hat ➜ see rabbit ✪ take your hat off to someone If you say that you take your hat off to someone, you are expressing admiration for something that they have done. ❑ I take my hat off to them. They’ve done very well. ❑ You have to take your hat off to a team that can do that. ● You can also say hats off to someone. ❑ Hats off to them for supporting the homeless. ❑ Hats off to the newspaper for having the courage to publish the pictures. People used to remove their hats as a sign of respect when they met someone. throw your hat into the ring [mainly british] or throw your hat in the ring If you throw your hat into the ring or throw your hat in the ring, you become one of the people taking part in a competition or contest. ❑ She lost the nomination after Kinkel threw his hat into the ring at the last moment. ❑ Another assistant general secretary is expected to throw his hat in the ring.

● People sometimes use cap instead of

hat. ❑ He said straightaway that he would play. I am delighted that he has decided to throw his cap into the ring. ● Other verbs are sometimes used instead of throw. ❑ Denmark’s Morten Olsen then put his hat into the ring to succeed Richard Moller Nielsen as national team coach. In the past, prize fighters at showgrounds used to challenge people to fight them. Someone who was willing to accept the challenge would throw their hat into the ring.

hatch

down the hatch [informal] If food or drink goes down the hatch, someone eats or drinks it. ❑ A record £4.4 billion worth of chocolate and sweets went down the hatch last year. ❑ She raised the shell to her lips, closed her eyes and down the hatch went the oyster. ● People sometimes say down the hatch! just before drinking an alcoholic drink. ❑ Here’s a glass for you. Down the hatch! In the 18th century, this expression was used as a toast in the navy. A hatch is an opening in the deck of a ship, through which people and goods can pass.

hatches

SE hatchet

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batten down the hatches If you batten down the hatches, you prepare for a difficult situation by doing everything you can to protect yourself. ❑ While most companies are battening down the hatches, fearing recession, Blenheim is leading an assault on the US market. ❑ Banks seem to be battening down the hatches in anticipation of further trouble. Battens are strips of wood used for fastening things down. Hatches are openings in the deck of a ship, or the wooden flaps which cover the openings. A hatchet is a small axe.

bury the hatchet When people who have argued bury the hatchet, they agree to forget their argument and become friends again. ❑ They had finally buried the hatchet after their falling-out. In the past, when Native American tribes made peace after fighting each other, it was traditional for each tribe to

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bury a tomahawk or small axe, as a sign of peace. a hatchet job [informal] A hatchet job is strong, unfair, often public criticism which harms someone’s reputation. ❑ The reporter set out to do a hatchet job on him and succeeded. ❑ The rest of the article is basically a hatchet job on the minister. This expression may relate to violent gang warfare in the United States during the early part of the 20th century. See explanation at ‘a hatchet man’. a hatchet man [informal] A hatchet man is someone who is employed to do unpleasant tasks, especially to get rid of jobs in a company. ❑ Hall, they reckoned, was a hatchet man, out to shred the workforce and totally crush the union. ● A woman who does a similar job can be called a hatchet woman. ❑ She had a reputation for being a ruthless hatchet woman. ● This expression is usually used to show disapproval. This expression may relate to violent gang warfare in the United States during the early part of the 20th century. Gangs often hired an assassin or ‘hatchet man’ to hack an important member of a rival gang to death with a hatchet. This work was known as a ‘hatchet job’.

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❑ The smart economic message for the nation is that careful leadership, coupled with patience, will accomplish more over the long haul. ❑ It’s an investment that should pay off over the long haul.

have

✪ have it in for someone [informal] If someone has it in for you, they do not like you and they want to make life difficult for you. ❑ He’s always had it in for the Dawkins family. ❑ There are plenty of people who have it in for me.

haw

hem and haw [british, american] or hum and haw [british] If you hem and haw or hum and haw, you take a long time to say something because you cannot think of the right words, or because you are not sure what to say. ❑ Tim hemmed and hawed, but finally told his boss the truth. ❑ My mother hummed and hawed at first, but eventually she sent her agreement. ● People sometimes use hum and ha with the same meaning. [british] ❑ Abu hummed and ha-ed a little.

mad as a hatter ➜ see mad A haul in the following expressions means a journey.

hay

and that ain’t hay [american, informal] People say and that ain’t hay after an amount of money to emphasize that it is a large amount. ❑ For 13 out of the last 20 years Canadian bonds produced returns of more than 10%, and that ain’t hay. hit the hay ➜ see hit make hay while the sun shines If you make hay while the sun shines, you take advantage of a good situation which is not likely to last. ❑ With house prices at an all-time high, both property developers are making hay while the sun

If you say a task or course of action will be a long haul, you mean that it will need a lot of time and effort. ❑ Repairing the economy will be a long haul. ❑ The bank and its president face a long haul to rebuild their reputation. ● If you say that you are in something for the long haul, you mean that you intend to continue doing it until it is finished. ❑ This project isn’t a short-term thing. We’re in it for the long haul. ✪ over the long haul [mainly american] If you talk about the effect or result that something has over the long haul, you are talking about its effect over a long period of time.

✪ a long haul

haul

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watch someone like a hawk If you watch someone like a hawk, you pay close attention to everything they do, usually to make sure that they do not do anything wrong. ❑ Some guys just sit there and watch her like a hawk, dead sure she’s trying to cheat. ❑ If we hadn’t watched him like a hawk, he would have gone back to London. Hawks have very good eyesight, and are able to see small animals or objects from a great height.

hatter

hawk

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head shines. ❑ You’ve got to make hay while the sun shines – and it doesn’t shine long in a sporting life. ● You can also just say that someone makes hay. ❑ The New Zealand media made hay with the issue.

head

be banging your head against a (brick) wall ➜ see wall ✪ be hanging over your head or be hanging over you If something difficult or unpleasant is hanging over your head or is hanging over you, it worries you because it may cause something bad to happen to you. ❑ It is unlikely that the Home Office would want to appoint him to the job if an inquiry was hanging over his head. ❑ You can now get married without this matter hanging over you. This expression may relate to the story of the Sword of Damocles; see explanation at ‘sword’. ✪ be laughing your head off [informal] If you are laughing your head off, you are laughing a lot. ❑ They were probably laughing their heads off. ● You can use other verbs with similar meanings to laugh in this way. ❑ Laura was sitting inside, giggling her head off. ✪ be scratching your head If you are scratching your head, you are puzzled and unsure about something. ❑ The viewer is left scratching his head as to why Brown should have gone to all the trouble. ❑ Relief workers outside were scratching their heads about what to do next. ❑ A lot of people are scratching their heads and saying, ‘What are we doing? Are we getting our money’s worth?’ ● You can also talk about headscratching. ❑ There had been much head-scratching among BBC executives who hadn’t then thought up a suitable name for the show. be shouting your head off [informal] If you are shouting your head off, you are shouting a lot. ❑ There was one bloke in the box shouting his head off. ● You can use other verbs with similar meanings to shout in this way. ❑ They were yelling their heads off. bite someone’s head off or snap someone’s head off [informal] If someone bites your head off or snaps your head off, they speak to you in an

unpleasant, angry way, because they are annoyed about something. ❑ And don’t bite my head off just because you’re fed up! ❑ I don’t know what’s wrong with Julia but she snapped my head off just now. build up a head of steam If someone or something builds up a head of steam, they get enough energy or support to make something happen. ❑ Agitation for reform had built up a head of steam sufficient to make it inevitable. ● Verbs such as work up, produce or gather can be used instead of build up. ❑ The campaign is gathering a head of steam. ● You can also use a head of steam to talk about a situation where there is a lot of support for something. ❑ While most MPs still believe an election next year is more likely, there’s an increasing head of steam behind November. ❑ They need to get a sufficient head of steam to force the Foreign Office to act on their behalf. If someone builds up a head of steam, they gradually become more and more angry, anxious, or emotional about something until they can no longer hide their feelings. ❑ She had built up a head of steam while waiting to speak to him. ● Verbs such as work up or get up can be used instead of build up. ❑ Now well into his mid-30s, he still manages to work up a head of steam over little things. A steam engine can only work when the steam has reached a particular pressure level. ✪ bury your head in the sand If you bury your head in the sand, you refuse to accept the truth about something unpleasant. ❑ Don’t be an ostrich and bury your head in the sand, hoping your problems will disappear. ● Verbs such as stick, hide and keep are sometimes used instead of bury. ❑ No one has the luxury of sticking their head in the sand when it comes to standing up for basic civil rights. ● You can also say that someone has a head in the sand approach or a head in the sand attitude. [journalism] ❑ It’s a stupid, head-in-the-sand approach to the global problem of nuclear waste disposal. People used to think that ostriches buried their heads in the sand when they were in danger.

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can do something standing on your head heels in love with Veronica. ❑ When I was 18, If you can do something standing on your I fell head over heels for my first ‘proper’ boyfriend, head, you can do it very easily. Alex. ❑ Everyone here can do the job standing on their ● You can also say that someone is head heads. ❑ She has been playing gigs for so long over heels or is head over heels in love. she can do it standing on her head. ❑ It’s plain from the sheepish tone in Colin’s voice cannot make head or tail of something or that he’s head over heels. ❑ You have to remember cannot make head nor tail of something that I was head over heels in love with Bill. [mainly british] Until the late 18th century this If you cannot make head or tail of expression was ‘heels over head’, which something or cannot make head nor tail refers to someone doing a somersault. of it, you cannot understand it at all. ✪ from head to toe or ❑ I couldn’t make head or tail of the instructions. from head to foot ❑ They couldn’t make head nor tail of the new You use from head to toe or from head to computer system. foot to talk about the whole of someone’s ✪ come to a head body. If a problem or disagreement comes to a ❑ I was covered from head to toe with thick black head, it becomes so bad that you have to dust. ❑ He was trembling from head to foot. ● You can also just say head to toe or head take action to deal with it. ❑ Matters came to a head on Monday when he to foot. ❑ She was dressed head to toe in black. threatened to resign. ❑ These problems came to ❑ The boy is wrapped head to foot in a green a head in September when five of the station’s blanket. ● You can use head-to-toe or head-tojournalists were sacked. ● You can also say that a particular event foot before a noun. ❑ He turned up clad in or fact brings a problem or disagreement head-to-toe black. ❑ Standing against the wall to a head. ❑ The crisis is believed to have been was this man in head-to-foot leather. brought to a head by demands from the bank. ➜ compare with from top to toe This expression may refer to farmers get into someone’s head waiting for cabbage leaves to grow If you get into someone’s head, you together and form a head. Alternatively, understand what they are really thinking the reference may be to a boil (= painful or feeling. lump on the skin) forming a head (= ❑ The author has really tried to get into the heads white part in the middle) just before it of these criminals. bursts. get your head around something or ✪ a cool head get your head round something [british, If you have a cool head, you remain calm informal] in difficult situations. If you get your head around a fact or an ❑ I have to keep a cool head and try not to let my idea or you get your head round it, you anger show. ❑ I value her cool head when I’m succeed in understanding it or accepting it. trying to come to a decision. ❑ It’s hard to get your head round figures this big. do your head in [mainly british, spoken, ❑ At first I was ridiculed because people simply very informal] could not get their head around what I was telling If something or someone does your head them. ● In American and British English you in, they make you very unhappy, upset or confused. can also say that you get your mind ❑ During her year off she worked at a boutique in around something or in British English Bromley, doing things like cleaning coat hangers. that you get your mind round something. ‘It did my head in,’ she laughs. ❑ My computer This is less informal than get your head keeps crashing and it’s doing my head in. around something. ❑ MacGregor quickly got ✪ fall head over heels or his mind round complicated issues. fall head over heels in love get your head down If you fall head over heels or fall head If you get your head down, you over heels in love, you fall suddenly and concentrate and work hard at something. deeply in love with someone. ❑ I could really do with getting my head down ❑ It was obvious that Alan had fallen head over and finishing this chapter.

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your head. ❑ Most of the article was over my If you get your head down, you go to head. sleep. ➜ compare with talk over someone’s ❑ I’m going to get my head down for a bit. head ➜ compare with keep your head down ✪ go to your head ✪ give someone their head If something successful that someone If you give someone their head, you allow does goes to their head, they start to them to do what they want to do, without think that they are better or more trying to advise them or stop them. intelligent than other people. ❑ He was a good boss who recognised ability and ❑ Ford is definitely not a man to let a little success gave people their heads. go to his head. He knows he still has a lot to learn. This expression is from horse riding ❑ I think Jenny’s promotion went to her head. and refers to when the rider loosens If alcohol goes to your head, it makes the reins, allowing the horse to move you slightly drunk and perhaps affects more freely. your judgment. ✪ go head to head ❑ He was not accustomed to strong liquor and it If two people, teams or organizations go went to his head. head to head, they compete directly with hang your head each other. If someone hangs their head, they look ❑ Two teams with three wins out of three go head ashamed. to head at Kingsholm. ❑ As the two candidates ❑ Do not hang your heads, as we are all very go head to head for the White House, we look at proud of you. some global issues that a president cannot ignore. ● People sometimes use the longer ● Verbs such as compete or be are expression hang your head in shame. sometimes used instead of go. ❑ Some ❑ You should hang your head in shame for being Mexican businesses fear they will lose out when so mean. they compete head to head with their US have your head in the clouds counterparts. ● You can also talk about a head-to-head If someone has their head in the clouds, they are not aware of what is going on battle or competition. ❑ The two companies around them or are not practical and are in a desperate head-to-head battle for realistic about things. custom. ❑ As top athletes, we should be ❑ She was a daydreamer – she had her head in the running against each other whenever possible. clouds. Head-to-head competition makes our sport ● You can also say that someone exists or what it is. ● A competition between two people or does something with their head in the clouds. ❑ Rosemary used to say she was going two teams can be called a head to head. to be very rich one day. We all thought it was ❑ If I win this game, I’ll be playing him in a head typical of her, she seemed to live with her head in to head. ● This expression is used mainly in the clouds. ❑ Gore is the artist with his head in the clouds, and his partner takes care of all the talking about business and sport. arrangements. ➜ compare with head-to-head ● You can also use head-in-the-clouds ✪ go over someone’s head before a noun. ❑ He was a rather head-in-the If you go over the head of someone in clouds man – an academic. authority, you communicate directly with have your head screwed on [informal] someone in a higher position to try to get If someone has their head screwed on, what you want. they are sensible and realistic. ❑ Don’t break office protocol by going over your ❑ Well done! I always knew you had your head boss’s head. ❑ He was reprimanded for trying to screwed on properly. ❑ The only one with her go over the heads of senior officers. head screwed on was granny. If something that someone says or have your head up your arse [british, writes goes over your head, you do not informal, very rude] or understand it because it is too difficult have your head up your ass [american, for you. informal, very rude] ❑ A lot of what he writes goes over my head. ● You can also say that something is over If someone has their head up their arse or

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their head up their ass, they say silly ❑ Thousands of small businesses are s things or behave in a silly way. truggling to keep their heads above water. ❑ ‘That’s what Peter said.’ – ‘Well, Peter has his ❑ I need two jobs just to keep my head above head up his arse.’ water. ✪ head and shoulders above someone/ ✪ keep your head down something If you keep your head down, you try to If one person or thing is head and avoid being noticed or becoming involved shoulders above others of their kind, in something. they are much better than them. ❑ I just decided to keep my head down and do my ❑ In the world of newspaper publishing, there job and eventually I was accepted by my male is one success story that stands head and colleagues. ❑ If you had been content to keep shoulders above the rest. ❑ The man of the your head down and lead a quiet life, none of this match was head and shoulders above any other would have happened. player. ● You can also say that you get your head head-to-head down. ❑ I thought I’d better get my head down If people or groups have head-to-head somewhere and ask for police protection. talks or meetings, they meet to discuss ➜ compare with get your head down the subjects they disagree about. knock something on the head [british, ❑ They have just begun a third session of informal] head-to-head talks which are expected to last If you knock a story or idea on the head, until late afternoon. you show that it is not true or correct. ● If you talk head-to-head with someone, ❑ It’s time to knock on the head the idea that we you talk to them directly. ❑ The photo are not living a full life unless we have that special showed the two leaders talking head-to-head. somebody in our lives. ❑ This is another fallacy ● A head-to-head is a discussion or that needs to be knocked on the head, the idea argument. ❑ Next time you have a head-tothat women never went out to work till the First head with someone in authority, watch your World War. language. If you knock an activity on the head, ➜ compare with go head to head you stop doing it, or decide not to do it. in over your head [informal] If you are in over your head, you are in a ❑ When we stop enjoying ourselves, we’ll knock it situation that is too difficult for you to on the head. deal with. ✪ lose your head ❑ He realized that he was in over his head, and If you lose your head, you panic and do that only his family could help him. not remain calm in a difficult situation. ● You can also say that someone gets in ❑ He warned the party not to lose its head, over their head if they get into a situation saying that it was not a ‘time for panic’. ❑ When that is too difficult for them. ❑ Kelly told he was questioned by the police, he completely the hearing he got in way over his head and lost his head, told a number of lies and forgot to became afraid after the prisoner threatened him mention one or two things that might have and his family. helped him. Here, the reference is to getting into ➜ compare with keep your head water that is too deep to stand up in. not right in the head [spoken, ✪ keep your head offensive] If you keep your head, you remain calm in If someone is not right in the head, a difficult situation. they are mentally ill. ❑ Keep your head. A calm presence is an ❑ According to Great-Aunt Louise, the invaluable asset. ❑ The most important thing is grandmother wasn’t quite right in the head. to keep your head and focus on what you are off the top of your head doing. If you say something off the top of your ➜ compare with lose your head head, you say it without thinking about it ✪ keep your head above water much or without trying to check it or find If you keep your head above water, you out more facts about it. have just enough money to live on or to ❑ I can’t remember off the top of my head the continue with a business. date of the wedding. ❑ I’m thinking off the top

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put your head in a noose or of my head here. ❑ OK, off the top of your head, do you know the capital of South Korea? stick your head in a noose off your head [british, informal] or If you put your head in a noose or stick out of your head [informal] your head in a noose, you deliberately do If someone is off their head or out something which will put you in danger of their head, their behaviour is very or in a difficult situation. strange, foolish or dangerous. ❑ At the risk of putting my head in a noose, I will ❑ You must be off your head to live in this area. make some predictions. ❑ I wasn’t going to stick ❑ If he didn’t kill anybody it was only by luck my head in a noose and speak out in the meeting. because he was out of his head and screaming A noose is a loop and knot that is tied in like a maniac. rope in order to hang someone. If someone is off their head or out of put your head into the lion’s mouth their head, they have taken so many ➜ see lion drugs or drunk so much alcohol that ✪ rear its head or they do not know what they are doing. raise its head ❑ You can’t be funny if you’re drunk or off your If something unpleasant rears its head head on drugs. ❑ Every test on his body showed or raises its head, it starts to appear or be he was out of his head on booze and drugs. active, often when it had stopped or been on your head be it or hidden for a period. on your own head be it [mainly british] ❑ Now the same ugly forces of racial hatred are You say on your head be it or on your own beginning to rear their heads again. ❑ The head be it to tell someone that they must familiar pattern of violence is raising its head accept the consequences of a particular once again in the region. action. ● People often say that something ❑ This is not the time for such a discussion. But if unpleasant rears or raises its ugly head. you insist, on your head be it. ❑ If you choose to ❑ We will not allow hooliganism to rear its ugly ignore my generous offer, then on your own heads head again. be it. take it into your head put your head above the parapet or If somebody takes it into their head to do stick your head above the parapet [british] something, especially something strange If you put your head above the parapet or or foolish, they suddenly decide to do it. stick your head above the parapet, you ❑ He suddenly took it into his head to go out to give an opinion in public about something Australia to stay with his son. that may cause people to attack or talk over someone’s head criticize you. If someone talks over your head, they talk ❑ A number of politicians hold this unpopular as if you are not present, often saying view, though few are prepared to put their heads things you do not understand. above the parapet and admit it. ❑ In giving his ❑ The nurses were brilliant at explaining main character political opinions which are quite everything. However, the doctors talked over my obviously his own, the author risks sticking his head and rarely involved me in decisions. head above the parapet. ➜ compare with go over someone’s head ● Verbs such as raise or lift can be used ✪ turn something on its head or instead of put and stick. ❑ People have stand something on its head become more and more reluctant to raise their If you turn something such as an head above the parapet – people are frightened to argument, fact or theory on its head or address these issues. stand it on its head, you make it have the ● If you keep your head below the parapet, opposite effect or meaning. you do not risk saying something in public ❑ Instead of pleading for women’s rights, the that might be attacked or criticized. Equal Opportunities Commission should turn the ❑ Most experts have preferred to keep their heads argument on its head and point out the cost of below the parapet, well aware of the kind of panic denying women the right to earn. ❑ The effect of headlines that their findings could produce. these arguments is to stand on its head a Parapets are banks of earth or walls Convention framed to prevent the State from which soldiers build for protection against enemy attacks. depriving citizens of life and liberty.

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bang their heads together, you forcefully make them stop arguing. like a rabbit caught in the headlights or ❑ If he’s unable to knock everybody’s heads like a deer caught in the headlights together, then questions are going to be raised If someone is like a rabbit caught in the about his own ability to continue in office. headlights or like a deer caught in the ❑ The idea is to bang their heads together until headlights, they are so frightened or they come out with a sensible deal. nervous that they do not know what ● You can also say that someone bangs to do. heads together or knocks heads ❑ He just sat there, like a rabbit caught in the together. ❑ Chris Smith said he would bang headlights. ❑ Diane fixes me with her cold, blue heads together. eyes: I am the proverbial deer caught in the put your heads together headlights. If people put their heads together, they ● This expression is very variable. For try to solve a problem together. example, you can just say that someone is ❑ If there’s a problem, we all just sit down, put caught or frozen in the headlights. ❑ He our heads together and figure it out. was caught in the headlights as he attempted to ✪ turn heads answer a string of questions about his If someone or something turns heads, relationship. ❑ The best thing for a writer caught they are so beautiful, unusual, or in the headlights of unexpected celebrity is simply impressive that people notice them to keep writing and publishing. and admire them. Animals such as rabbits or deer ❑ At the age of 20, the dark-haired actress was sometimes remain still because they do already turning heads in the right places. ❑ It’s a not know which way to run when the handsome car that turns heads wherever it goes. light from a vehicle’s headlights shines ● Journalists sometimes describe on them at night. someone or something as head-turning, headlines or refer to them as a head-turner. grab the headlines or ❑ Gardams’ designers have created a range of grab headlines head-turning evening wear in their latest If someone or something grabs the collection. ❑ The car is solid, fun to drive, quick headlines or grabs headlines, they get off the blocks and a real head-turner. a lot of attention in the newspapers, on headway TV, etc. ✪ make headway ❑ He is not among the players who have been If you make headway, you make progress grabbing the headlines this season. ❑ His visit with something that you are trying to to the US is bound to grab headlines. achieve. heads ❑ A spokesman said the two sides have made ✪ heads will roll [mainly british] headway on some security issues. ❑ It appears If you say that heads will roll, you mean that the police have made little headway in the that someone will be punished, usually investigation. by losing their job or position. heap ❑ A big studio is said to be involved, and it is the bottom of the heap predicted that heads will soon roll there. Someone who is at the bottom of the ● People also say, for example, that heads heap is the least important of all the should roll or heads ought to roll. ❑ The members of a group. widely-held view is that heads should roll over the ❑ At the bottom of the heap are the rural poor. losses. ● Someone who is at the top of the heap In the past, people in important is high in importance in a group. ❑ The positions were sometimes beheaded if company is now top of the heap and has been they were considered responsible for a launching increasingly impressive ‘designer’ mistake or problem. collections. knock people’s heads together or

headlights

bang people’s heads together [mainly british, informal] If you knock people’s heads together or

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✪ can’t hear yourself think [informal] If you say that you can’t hear yourself

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heart think, you are complaining because there is a lot of noise that is disturbing you. ❑ For God’s sake shut up. I can’t hear myself think! ❑ If you’re sitting in the front yard, you can’t hear yourself think because the traffic is getting very, very bad.

✪ close to your heart [mainly british] or

dear to your heart If a subject is close to your heart or dear to your heart, it is very important to you and you care a lot about it. ❑ For presenter Manjeet K. Sandhu the position of Asian women in society is an issue very close to her heart. ❑ It’s a project that is dear to my heart heart. The heart is traditionally regarded as ● In American English, you can also say the centre of the emotions. that a subject is near and dear to your ✪ a bleeding heart heart. ❑ She has impressed Senators with her If you call someone a bleeding heart, knowledge of subjects near and dear to their you mean that they are too sympathetic hearts. towards people who claim to be poor or cross my heart or suffering. cross my heart and hope to die [spoken] ❑ Crime can’t be blamed on poverty, as the You can say cross my heart or cross my bleeding hearts always insist. heart and hope to die when you want to ● You can also say that someone has assure someone that you are telling the a bleeding heart. ❑ The Financial Times is not truth. a newspaper known for its bleeding heart, but it ❑ And I won’t tell any of the other girls about it. I has consistently pressed for the problem to be promise, cross my heart. ❑ Sam grinned and held tackled. out his hand toward her. ‘You don’t have to worry, ● Bleeding-heart is often used before a okay.’ – ‘Are you sure?’ Erin asked. ‘Cross my heart noun. ❑ He then attacked the ‘bleeding-heart and hope to die.’ liberals’ who question the lengths of prison ● This expression is used mainly by sentences. children. ➜ compare with your heart bleeds for This expression refers to the someone Christian practice of moving your ✪ break your heart hand across your chest in the shape If you break someone’s heart, you of a cross. make them very unhappy by ending a ✪ cry your heart out or relationship with them or making it clear sob your heart out [informal] that you do not love them. If you cry your heart out or sob your ❑ She left him later that year and broke his heart out, you cry a lot. heart. ❑ I threw myself on to the bed and cried my heart ● You can also say that someone has out. ❑ I had never known her cry, and here she a broken heart when they feel very sad was sobbing her heart out. because a relationship has ended. ❑ If ➜ compare with your heart out you’re a poet, you get some good poetry out of a ✪ eat your heart out [informal] broken heart. If you say eat your heart out and mention ● You can also say that someone is the name of a famous person, you mean heartbroken or is broken-hearted. that you or someone else has just done ❑ Mary was broken-hearted when he left her. the thing that person is famous for very If a fact or a situation breaks your well or to a great degree. In the following heart, it makes you very sad. examples, James Bond is a character in ❑ It broke my heart to see this woman suffer the action movies, and Robbie Williams is a way she did. pop singer. ● You can also say that someone is ❑ We just managed to overtake the bus, heartbroken or is broken-hearted if they and smashed through the gate just as it was are very upset about something. ❑ He being closed. James Bond eat your heart out, looked heartbroken that Momma hadn’t gotten I say. ❑ He’s already amassed a £60 million more excited over his announcement. ❑ Little fortune after selling more than 40 million Craig Malcolmson is broken-hearted by the theft albums worldwide – eat your heart out, Robbie Williams! of his treasured toy.

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✪

This idea is an old one - the Greek philosopher Pythagoras is said to have used the saying ‘do not eat your heart out’, meaning ‘do not waste your life worrying’. ➜ compare with your heart out from the bottom of your heart If you mean something from the bottom of your heart, you mean it very sincerely. ❑ I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart. So many people have helped me. ❑ It was an apology from the bottom of my heart and I hoped she would accept it. ● You can also talk about the feelings or beliefs that someone has at the bottom of their heart. ❑ At the bottom of our hearts we still believe you can have anything you want if you are prepared to work hard to get it. harden your heart If you harden your heart, you force yourself not to feel love or sympathy for someone or something. ❑ The weeping continued. Lionel hardened his heart against the sound. ❑ The government’s violent response to the mass action will only harden the people’s hearts against the ruling party. ● You can also say that your heart hardens. ❑ Anna saw the hurt in her father’s eyes and her heart hardened. ✪ a heart of gold If someone has a heart of gold, they are kind and generous, and enjoy helping other people. ❑ He’s a tough guy, but with a heart of gold. ❑ He helped all the local sporting organisations – bowls, hockey, rugby and tennis. He had a heart of gold. ✪ in your heart of hearts If you know something in your heart of hearts, you know it is true, even though you are very reluctant to accept it. ❑ I suppose in my heart of hearts, I knew the relationship wasn’t working. ❑ But in your heart of hearts, you must know that you’re not going to save some of these children? ✪ lose heart If you lose heart, you start to feel that you will not be able to succeed with something. ❑ It’s all too easy to lose heart when you’ve had a couple of failures. ❑ He appealed to his countrymen not to lose heart. lose your heart [literary] If you lose your heart to someone, you fall

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in love with them. ❑ She falls in love with Raul, who in turn has lost his heart to Silvia. open your heart or pour your heart out If you open your heart or pour your heart out, you tell someone your most private thoughts, feelings or problems. ❑ It was Lady Holland, his favourite correspondent, to whom he opened his heart. ❑ Heather met an old school friend and poured her heart out about her unhappy marriage. set your heart on something If you set your heart on something, you decide that you want it very much and aim to achieve or obtain it. ❑ She’d set her heart on an acting career. ❑ She admits that when she saw the flat Jeremy had set his heart on, her first reaction was horror. take heart If you take heart from something, it makes you feel happier or more hopeful. ❑ The Americans have taken heart from the fact that fourteen other food-exporting countries have attacked the proposals too. ● People also say take heart in order to encourage someone to be more hopeful. ❑ Take heart – you’re not alone. take something to heart If you take someone’s advice or criticism to heart, you pay a lot of attention to it, and are greatly influenced or upset by it. ❑ He had taken his doctor’s advice to heart and lost the recommended amount of weight. ❑ You know he says nasty things when he’s angry. Don’t take it to heart, Polly. to your heart’s content If you can do something to your heart’s content, you can do it as much as you want. ❑ They could ride round to their heart’s content. ❑ You can eat to your heart’s content, knowing that you won’t gain weight. wear your heart on your sleeve If you wear your heart on your sleeve, your feelings are obvious to everyone around you. ❑ She’s one of these people who wears her heart on her sleeve. ❑ She simply doesn’t wear her heart on her sleeve so it’s sometimes difficult to know what she’s feeling. ● You can also use heart-on-your-sleeve or heart-on-the-sleeve before nouns. ❑ You would have thought the heart-on-thesleeve atmosphere would have suited his nature.

✪

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hearts

your heart bleeds for someone desire, you want that person or thing If you say that your heart bleeds for very much. someone, you mean that you feel a lot ❑ He was extremely dishonest in his efforts to of sympathy for them because they achieve his heart’s desire. are suffering. hearts ❑ You looked so sad at the funeral and my heart ✪ hearts and minds bled for you. People use hearts and minds to talk about ● This expression is often used ironically the way people feel about things, both to show that you think someone does emotionally and logically. not deserve any sympathy, because you do ❑ We need to win the hearts and minds of these not believe that they are genuinely people. ❑ No previous prime minister has so suffering. ❑ She’s had to sell one of her three captured the hearts and minds of the British houses? My heart bleeds for her! ❑ I must say, people. my heart bleeds for the poor investors who heartstrings made a mere 15 per cent on their investment in ✪ tug at the heartstrings or one day. tug at your heartstrings ➜ compare with a bleeding heart If someone or something tugs at the your heart is in the right place heartstrings or tugs at your If someone’s heart is in the right place, heartstrings, they cause you to feel pity they are kind, although there are things or sadness. about them that you do not like. ❑ Miss Cookson knows exactly how to tug at ❑ Whether Craig’s professional judgement was readers’ heartstrings. good or not, I decided that his heart was in the ● You can use verbs such as pull and right place. ❑ They’ve probably got their hearts pluck instead of tug. ❑ Unlike many in the right place but they just haven’t got any charity campaigns, it doesn’t pull at the common sense. heartstrings. your heart is in your mouth ● You can also omit the word at. If your heart is in your mouth, you feel ❑ McLachlan tugs the heartstrings with a extremely anxious or nervous, because succession of ballads. you think something unpleasant may be ● Heartstrings is used in many other about to happen. structures and expressions with similar ❑ My heart was in my mouth when I walked into meanings. ❑ This is not a movie that aims for her office. ❑ ‘Wait!’ a rough voice commanded. the heartstrings. Nancy stopped, then turned, her heart in her In medieval times, it was believed that mouth. ‘heartstrings’ were tendons which your heart isn’t in something supported the heart. If your heart isn’t in something you are heat doing, you are not enthusiastic about it. the heat is on ❑ Playing was no longer fun. I lost my If the heat is on, there is a lot of pressure competitiveness and my heart wasn’t in it. to do or achieve something. ❑ She was a successful teacher, popular with ❑ What makes an Olympic champion is the her pupils and her colleagues, but her heart ability to perform when the heat is on. ❑ When wasn’t in it. the heat was on, we kept going just that little bit your heart out better than our rivals. If you work, dance, sing, etc your heart if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the out, you do it with as much energy as possible. kitchen ❑ The 12-year-old will appear on ITV’s talent You say if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen to tell someone that if contest, Pot Of Gold, singing her heart out with other would-be stars. ❑ She played her heart out they cannot deal with a difficult through the tournament. situation, they should leave. ❑ If the pressure is too much for you, you know ➜ compare with cry your heart out ➜ compare with eat your heart out what they say, if you can’t stand the heat, get out your heart’s desire [literary] of the kitchen. ● This expression is often varied, for If someone or something is your heart’s

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instance by using can’t take or don’t like heaven instead of can’t stand, or by saying that in seventh heaven someone should get out of the kitchen. If you are in seventh heaven, you are ❑ I have no sympathy for local shopkeepers. If extremely happy. they can’t take the heat, they should get out of the ❑ After I was given my first camera I was in kitchen. ❑ If you are a manager of a top football seventh heaven. ❑ The action is unrelenting, club and you don’t like the heat you should get out and adrenaline junkies will be in seventh of the kitchen. heaven. This expression became very widely According to Islam, there are seven known when the American President heavens. The seventh is the most Harry S. Truman used it in 1952 to glorious and is governed by Abraham. announce that he would not stand In the Jewish religion, the seventh again for president. heaven is the dwelling place of God ✪ in the heat of the moment and his angels. If you do or say something in the heat of move heaven and earth If you move heaven and earth to do the moment, you do it without thinking, something, you do everything you because you are angry or excited. possibly can to make sure that you do it. ❑ We all do things in the heat of the moment ❑ What’s more, our travel advisers will move which we then regret. ❑ He said that his heaven and earth to ensure you get exactly the comments were made in the heat of the holiday you want. ❑ When you know the moment and were not supposed to be a personal pressure is getting to you, it’s worth moving attack. heaven and earth to get away for a day or two. ✪ turn up the heat on someone If you turn up the heat on a person or heavens situation, you make a situation more the heavens open [mainly british] serious or difficult by putting pressure on If the heavens open, it begins to rain very people. heavily. ❑ The firm will be turning up the heat on its ❑ Ten minutes before the start, the sky darkened rivals. and the heavens opened. ❑ Just as we sat down ● You can also just say that someone turns to eat, the heavens opened and we all had to run up the heat. ❑ The tax office has turned up the for cover. heat in the illegal payments controversy. heel ● People sometimes say that one person ✪ bring someone to heel or turns the heat on another. ❑ He turned the call someone to heel heat on Celtic last night by promising to return to If you bring someone to heel or call them the club – if they get rid of the present manager to heel, you make them obey you. first. ❑ The king was determined to bring his rebellious subjects to heel. ❑ Others question whether he heave-ho really holds such power over the president, who give something/someone the heave-ho has been known to call him to heel at times. or The image here is of a person making give something/someone the old their dog walk obediently at their side. heave-ho [informal] down-at-heel ➜ see down If you give something or someone the heave-ho or give them the old heave-ho, heels you get rid of them. ✪ at your heels ❑ The band members decided to give their If a person or animal is at your heels, drummer the heave-ho. ❑ Harry gave his they are following close behind you, for girlfriend the old heave-ho and moved in with the example because they are chasing you. Texan. ❑ She strode through the restaurant with ● You can also say that someone or Cavendish following close at her heels. something gets the heave-ho or gets the ❑ Children ran along the narrow path towards old heave-ho. ❑ There was a 40 per cent drop them, a small dog yapping at their heels. in film production, with a lot of high profile If a person or organization is at your projects getting the heave-ho. heels in a competitive situation, they are

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FBI agent hot on their heels. threatening you because they are almost ● You can also say that someone is close as good as you. [journalism] ❑ With the world’s finest golfers at his heels, on your heels. ❑ Our pilot followed close on Norman produced an almost flawless 64. the heels of the departing inspector. ● People often say that a person or kick up your heels [british] organization is snapping at someone’s If you kick up your heels, you enjoy heels. ❑ They may dominate the market for yourself a lot, for example at a party. microprocessors but scores of firms are snapping ❑ Lucia was spotted kicking up her heels in the at their heels. Tangiers Club. ❑ After years of working hard and be dragging your heels ➜ see drag raising all those children, I could kick up my heels ✪ dig in your heels or and go entirely where I wanted to. dig your heels in This refers to a horse that has been If you dig in your heels or dig your heels released into a field, as horses in, you refuse to do something such as commonly do this as they gallop off. change your opinions or plans. ✪ kick your heels [british] or ❑ It was really the British who, by digging in their cool your heels heels, prevented any last-minute deal. ❑ I begged If you kick your heels or cool your heels, her to come home but she dug her heels in. you wait somewhere with nothing to do. down-at-the-heels ➜ see down ❑ I was left to kick my heels for forty-five minutes ✪ hard on the heels of something or on my own waiting for other heads of government hot on the heels of something to turn up. ❑ A team of 60 UN weapons If one event follows hard on the heels of inspectors and aides have been cooling their heels another or hot on the heels of another, in Bahrain for almost a week. one happens very quickly or immediately set you back on your heels or after another. rock you back on your heels ❑ The news comes hard on the heels of the If something sets you back on your heels appointment of their new chief executive. ❑ The or rocks you back on your heels, it visit follows hot on the heels of their season at the surprises or shocks you. Edinburgh International Festival. ❑ Something very odd occurred, and it set me ● You can also say that one thing happens back on my heels. ❑ Ireland started well, only to close on the heels of another. ❑ The be rocked back on their heels by the first error just meeting comes close on the heels of Chatterjee’s 10 minutes into the match. offer to resign if the members were not happy show a clean pair of heels or with him. show someone a clean pair of heels ✪ hard on your heels or [british] hot on your heels If you show a clean pair of heels or show In a competitive situation, if someone someone a clean pair of heels in a race or is hard on your heels or hot on your heels, a competitive situation, you win easily. they are doing nearly as well as you, and it ❑ John and Alison Cheetham showed a clean pair is possible that they will beat you. of heels in both of the races on Saturday. ❑ The ❑ Great Britain’s Dave Hall and Jessica Smith Cairns junior showed them a clean pair of heels were hot on their heels until a bad last race left again at ANZ Stadium yesterday. ❑ The tech them out of the running for first. ❑ The next company has shown its rivals a clean pair of heels. generation of British athletes is pressing hard on take to your heels [literary] the heels of today’s champions. If you take to your heels, you run away. ● You can also say that someone is close ❑ He took to his heels and rushed out of the on your heels. ❑ Dorlan finished second with room. the Italian close on his heels. If someone is hard on your heels or hot heights ✪ dizzy heights [british] or on your heels, they are close behind you, dizzying heights for example because they are chasing you. You use dizzy heights or dizzying ❑ But the police were hard on their heels and heights to talk about a very high level of within two weeks, the gang leaders were behind success. bars. ❑ The two play jewel thieves who have retired to the Bahamas while Harrelson is the ❑ She had first known such dizzy heights in the

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1960s. ❑ She was propelled to the dizzying ❑ In the 1970s the economy was shot to hell. heights of fame by a group of powerful agents. ❑ His memory was shot to hell. ● This expression is sometimes used come hell or high water [mainly british] ironically to say that someone has not If something will happen or be done achieved very much at all. ❑ After three and come hell or high water, it will definitely a half years, I had reached the dizzy heights of happen or be done even if there are lots of assistant account handler. problems. You use dizzy heights or dizzying ❑ The previously all-male panel will have two female members this year, come hell or high heights to talk about a very high amount water. ❑ They travel 22 miles a day come hell or or level of something. high water. ❑ The Dow Jones has scaled the dizzy heights to ➜ compare with go through hell and high reach 10,000. ❑ The cost of oil imports reached water dizzying heights before falling back and rising ✪ for the hell of it [informal] again in 1990. If someone does something, especially ● This expression is sometimes used something bad, for the hell of it, they do it ironically to say that something is not at a for fun or for no particular reason. very high level. ❑ The meat content of the pie ❑ Another boy has been caught putting sugar in can soar to the dizzy heights of 25 per cent. petrol tanks, just for the hell of it. ❑ This makes hell me want to throw a chair through the window, ✪ all hell breaks loose or just for the hell of it. all hell breaks out [informal] ● You can also say that someone does If all hell breaks loose or all hell breaks something for the sheer hell of it. ❑ Some out, a situation becomes uncontrolled of the athletes are running for money. Some for and noisy, often with a lot of arguing or glory. Some even for the sheer hell of it. fighting. ✪ from hell [informal] ❑ Suddenly, all hell broke loose upstairs. It You can use from hell after a noun to refer sounded as if someone was battering at the door to something or someone extremely with a tree trunk. ❑ Toby was born and all hell unpleasant. broke loose. I had no idea that a baby could ❑ Their longed-for break turned into the scream so much. holiday from hell. ❑ She’d just had the haircut This expression first appeared in John from hell. Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ (1667), book 4, ● This expression is often used line 917, when the Archangel Gabriel humorously. addresses Satan: ‘Wherefore with thee give someone hell Came not all hell broke loose?’ (ie why If someone gives you hell, they make did all hell not break loose and come your life very unpleasant by behaving with you?). Here, ‘broke’ means badly towards you. ‘broken’, but the meaning of this ❑ She gets teased at school. The children give her expression has since changed. hell, particularly the older boys. ❑ Their younger be going to hell son gives them hell. If something is going to hell, it is being If someone gives you hell, they shout at destroyed. you or speak to you angrily because you ❑ The country is going to hell and our leaders are have done something wrong. doing nothing to stop it. ❑ I got home three hours late and my mum gave ● You can also say that something or me hell. someone is going to hell in a handbasket If a part of your body is giving you hell, or is going to hell in a handcart. ❑ The it is very painful. whole health service is going to hell in a ❑ My back’s been giving me hell. handbasket. ❑ I don’t know what the world’s ✪ go through hell coming to – we’re all going to hell in a handcart. If you go through hell, you have a very ➜ compare with go to hell difficult or unpleasant time. be shot to hell [informal] ❑ We were going through hell thinking he might If something is shot to hell, it is in a very not survive. ❑ His solicitor said that he had been bad condition. through 10 months of hell.

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● You can say that someone puts you ❑ They ran hell for leather to catch up. ❑ We through hell if they do things that make bought a map, filled up and drove hell for leather your life difficult or unpleasant. ❑ In her to Lisbon. teens she put her family through hell. ● You can also use hell-for-leather before a go through hell and high water [british] noun. ❑ There was a hell-for-leather dash to get If you go through hell and high water, the train. you experience a lot of difficulties. If you do something hell for leather, ❑ We’d been through hell and high water you do it very quickly and energetically. together: births, marriages and deaths. ❑ Small ❑ Once I decide to write a play, I go for it hell countries such as Ireland had gone through hell for leather. and high water to meet these strict controls. This expression may originally have ● You can also say that someone does related to horse riding. ‘Leather’ would something through hell and high water refer to a saddle. to mean that they continue with it hell hath no fury like a woman scorned despite problems. ❑ Smith pursued his career [mainly british] through hell and high water. People say hell hath no fury like a woman ➜ compare with come hell or high scorned to suggest that women often react water very angrily to things that upset them. go to hell [informal] ❑ Benjamin’s attention shifts from Mrs Robinson If you say that someone can go to hell, to her daughter Elaine and hell hath no fury like you mean that you do not care about them an older woman scorned. ● Journalists often use other words in this or their opinions and that you do not want anything to do with them. expression to make it appropriate to the ❑ I certainly don’t care what Sylvia thinks – she subject which they are writing about. can go to hell. ❑ If he’s going to treat my children ❑ The golfer, having decided not to attend next like that, he can go to hell as far as I’m concerned. week’s International Open competition, has If you say that a thing or an activity can discovered that hell hath no fury like a sponsor go to hell, you mean that you do not care spurned. ● This expression is often used to refer to if you do not have it or do it. ❑ All the talking and coffee-drinking could go to cases where a woman has an unfaithful hell as far as he was concerned. partner and takes revenge. If you tell someone to go to hell, you tell This comes from William Congreve’s them angrily to go away. ‘The Mourning Bride’ (1697): ‘Heav’n ❑ If he dares to complain, tell him to go to hell. has no rage, like love to hatred turn’d, ➜ compare with be going to hell Nor Hell a fury, like a woman scorn’d.’ go to hell and back hell on earth If someone goes to hell and back, they If a place or a situation is hell on earth, it have a terrible experience. is extremely unpleasant. ❑ We’ve been to hell and back but the love of this ❑ Cannes is magnificent in good weather and hell little boy has kept us going. on earth in bad. ❑ Organising it all has been hell ● You can also say that someone has been on earth, but it’s worked absolutely brilliantly. ● You can also say that a place or situation through hell and back. ❑ I’ve been through hell and back but this is the best day of my life. is a hell on earth. ❑ Infectious disease made ● This expression is varied a lot. For building the railway a hell on earth for the example, you can talk about someone’s labourers. trip or journey to hell and back, or say ✪ a living hell that someone has been taken to hell and If a situation or a place is a living hell, it is back. ❑ But after his journey to hell and back, extremely unpleasant. he’s philosophical about the whole experience. ❑ School is a living hell for some children. ❑ For the last 10 months my family and I have ❑ Their marriage had become a living hell. been taken to hell and back but we always play hell or believed justice would prevail. play merry hell [mainly british] hell for leather [mainly british] If someone plays hell or plays merry hell, If you go hell for leather, you move very they cause trouble by behaving badly or quickly, and often recklessly. complaining a lot.

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herd ❑ I went to the school and played hell with them. ❑ She played merry hell and stormed out in a rage. ● Verbs such as kick up, raise or create can

be used instead of play. ❑ I will be raising merry hell at the meeting tomorrrow. play hell with something or play merry hell with something [mainly british] If one thing plays hell with or plays merry hell with another, the first thing has a bad effect on the second one or causes great confusion. ❑ Divorce and remarriage play hell with property and inheritance law. ❑ Slugs play merry hell with growing plants. ✪ raise hell If someone raises hell, they cause trouble by behaving badly in public, for example by getting drunk and breaking things. ❑ When he wasn’t playing football or training, he was going out with his mates and raising hell. ● A hell-raiser is someone who frequently causes trouble by behaving badly in public. ❑ In his youth he had a reputation for being a hell-raiser. ● Hell-raising can be used as a noun to describe behaviour like this, or as an adjective to describe a person or their behaviour. ❑ He was notorious for his hell-raising and heavy drinking. ❑ The hell-raising actor was fined £63 with £20 costs yesterday. If someone raises hell about a situation, they complain very angrily about it. ❑ If you wake them, they’ll raise hell. ❑ She came in and raised hell. Her son’s sports bag was missing. the road to hell is paved with good intentions People say the road to hell is paved with good intentions to mean that people often intend to do good things but in fact do not, often because they are lazy or weak. ❑ She said the road to hell was paved with good intentions, that she really had decided to write six dozen personal letters, but she just didn’t have the time. ● Path is sometimes used instead of road. ❑ The path to hell is paved with good intentions, and there are many, many pots of vitamin tablets which have been started but never finished.

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To pave a path or road means to cover it using flat stones called paving stones. The word ‘pavement’ is derived from this word. This expression was used by the writer Samuel Johnson and is mentioned in his biography in an entry dated 16 April 1775, in the form ‘hell is paved with good intentions’. The idea is that good intentions do not guarantee a good outcome. there’ll be hell to pay You can say that there’ll be hell to pay to warn someone that someone will be very angry if a particular thing happens or if it does not happen. ❑ If we’re late, there’ll be hell to pay. You know what they’re like. ❑ Next thing she’ll find out about that night in Rugby and there’ll be hell to pay. ● In British English, you can also say that there’ll be merry hell to pay. ❑ ‘Drop that!’ she snarled at Kenny. ‘If the girls see it, there’ll be merry hell to pay!’ until hell freezes over If you say that something will not happen until hell freezes over, you mean that it will never happen. ❑ McLean pledged he would not sell the business to him until hell freezes over. ● You can also say that something will happen when hell freezes over. ❑ ‘Tell them you’ll get married when hell freezes over,’ she says. If someone will do something until hell freezes over, they will do it for a very long time or for ever. ❑ He says he’ll sit there until hell freezes over before he’ll pay them a single dollar. ❑ They can bargain until Hell freezes over, but they won’t get anything. hem and haw ➜ see haw

hen

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hem

rare as hen’s teeth or scarce as hen’s teeth [old-fashioned] If something is as rare as hen’s teeth or as scarce as hen’s teeth, it is extremely rare. ❑ Record companies are becoming as rare as hen’s teeth. Hens do not have teeth.

herd ride herd on someone/something [american] If someone rides herd on other people or their actions, they control them.

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here ❑ It’s his job to ride herd on organizers to keep

❑ After nearly two weeks in Australia, I hadn’t

them on schedule. ● People sometimes use over instead of on. ❑ The ideal situation is one where everyone feels responsible and no one person has to ride herd over the others. Originally, ‘riding herd’ involved patrolling on horseback around a herd of animals, in order to make sure none of them wandered away.

seen hair nor hide of a kangaroo. A hide is the skin of an animal, especially the tough skin of a large animal.

hiding

on a hiding to nothing [british] If someone is on a hiding to nothing, they have absolutely no chance of being successful at what they are trying to do. ❑ A car manufacturer capable of making only 50,000 cars a year is on a hiding to nothing. ❑ She’s on a bit of a hiding to nothing, going round complaining that her ideas have been stolen by the advertising industry. A hiding is a flogging or beating, but the origin of this expression is unknown.

here

✪ neither here nor there [spoken]

If something is neither here nor there, it is completely unimportant and does not affect the situation in any way. ❑ He was a good man as it turned out, but that’s neither here nor there. ❑ You know, five hundred pounds is neither here nor there to most of them.

herring

high

✪ be riding high

✪ a red herring

If something is a red herring, it takes people’s attention away from the main subject, problem, or situation that they should be considering. ❑ All the fuss about high pay for public employees is a bit of a red herring. The really serious money is to be found in private companies. ❑ A sighting of the missing woman in London turned out to be a red herring. A red herring is a herring that has been soaked in salt water for several days, and then dried by smoke. Red herrings were sometimes used when training dogs to follow a scent. They were also sometimes used to distract dogs from the scent they were following during a hunt. ✪

If someone or something is riding high, they are very popular or successful at the present time. ❑ His latest novel is currently riding high in the booksellers’ charts. ❑ A year ago, Australia’s republicans were riding high. The image here is of a horse rider who sits very straight in their saddle and seems very proud and confident. high as a kite [informal] If someone is as high as a kite, they feel very excited, or they are strongly affected by alcohol or drugs. ❑ When I finally finished the course I felt as high as a kite. ❑ I felt so strange on the steroid injections. I was as high as a kite some of the time. leave someone high and dry If someone or something leaves you high and dry, they leave you in a difficult situation which you are unable to do anything about. ❑ I won’t leave this club high and dry. I’ll still be here at the end of the season. ❑ Schools with better reputations will be flooded with applications while poorer schools will be left high and dry. The image here is of a boat which is left on a beach after the tide has gone out. search high and low If you search high and low for something, you search everywhere for it. ❑ I’ve searched high and low and I still can’t find that book.

haven’t seen hide nor hair of someone/ something If you haven’t seen hide nor hair of someone or something, you have not seen them, although you expected to. ❑ I haven’t seen hide nor hair of her since those days. ● You can also say that you haven’t seen hair nor hide of someone or something.

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hide

be het up [informal] If someone is het up, they are anxious, upset or angry about something. ❑ She couldn’t understand why Wendy was so het up over Nick’s decision to move back to Ireland.

het

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history ● You can use the verbs hunt or look

instead of search. ❑ I’ve hunted high and low for the photos, but I can’t find them.

highway

highway robbery ➜ see robbery

hike

take a hike If someone tells you to take a hike, they are telling you very forcefully or angrily to go away or to stop interfering. ❑ Anyone who complains about it can take a hike.

hill

✪ over the hill [informal]

If someone is over the hill, they are no longer young, and are too old to do a particular thing. ❑ It’s true some people regard you as over the hill at fifty. ❑ If you’re an interpreter you might be over the hill at the age of 35. ● Over-the-hill is also used before nouns. ❑ The novel is about an over-the-hill, badly behaved spy. The image is of the top of a hill as the middle of life, so passing over the top of the hill leads downwards to old age and death.

old as the hills ➜ see old

joined at the hip. ● People often use this expression when

they disapprove of how close two people are. If two problems or situations are joined at the hip, they are very closely linked and cannot be considered or dealt with separately. ❑ Trends in world trade and trends in the environment are supposed to be joined at the hip. shoot from the hip If someone shoots from the hip, they react to situations very quickly and forcefully, without thinking about the consequences. ❑ They criticized his readiness to shoot from the hip. ❑ She claimed that she did not shoot from the hip. She liked to think hard and long before taking decisions. ● You can also say that someone fires from the hip with the same meaning. ❑ He certainly has a tendency to fire from the hip – to be impulsive. The image here is of a cowboy removing his gun from its holster and firing immediately, without raising it to take aim.

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❑ Though we often work together, we’re not

✪ be history [spoken]

If someone or something is history, they are no longer important or no longer exist. ❑ If you forget to do your homework, you’re ✪ to the hilt or history. ❑ He raises a hammer and swings it at up to the hilt the stone. A dozen well aimed blows, and the If you do something to the hilt or up to thing is history. the hilt, you do it to the greatest possible ✪ the rest is history extent. If you are telling someone about an event ❑ He’ll be a good candidate. We’ll back him up to and you say the rest is history, you mean the hilt. ❑ If Fred raises this issue tomorrow, I’ll that you do not need to say any more defend my actions to the hilt. because you are sure that everyone is If you borrow money to the hilt or familiar with what happened next. up to the hilt, you borrow as much as ❑ A job with the company was advertised in The possible. Daily Telegraph. I applied and the rest is history. ❑ The company had borrowed to the hilt and still ❑ After he left hospital, he was persuaded to start needed more capital. ❑ His father’s estates were his own fashion house. The rest is history. mortgaged up to the hilt. rewrite history The hilt of a sword or knife is its handle. If someone rewrites history, they try to The image here is of a knife or sword make people believe that something being pushed in all the way to the handle. happened in a particular way, when that hip is not the truth. joined at the hip ❑ They were good at rewriting history when such If two people are joined at the hip, they a process suited them. ❑ As Orwell pointed out, are very close to each other emotionally history can be and often is rewritten to suit the and spend a lot of time together. needs of the present. ● This expression is used to express ❑ The couple who are almost joined at the hip in disapproval. their 20s may have become quite distant in their 40s.

hilt

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hit offering enough money to screen the games, so it was Hobson’s choice really. This expression may refer to a man called Thomas Hobson, who earned money by hiring out horses at the end of the 16th century. He had a particular system for using each horse in turn, so a customer was given no choice, even if there were many horses available.

hit

✪ hit and miss or

hit or miss If you describe something as hit and miss or hit or miss, you mean that it is done without proper planning or skill, so that its quality varies. ❑ Comedy sketch shows can be a hit and miss affair. ❑ The acting, however, is hit and miss: it ranges from excellent to absolutely appalling. hog ❑ Treating sick birds can be a hit or miss operation. A hog is a pig. ✪ hit it off [spoken] be living high on the hog [mainly british, If two people hit it off when they first old-fashioned] meet, they like each other and get on well If someone is living high on the hog, they together. have a good life, with plenty of money. ❑ Bill and Andrea seemed to hit it off last night. ❑ He and Austen were living high on the hog in a ❑ I had to leave – I didn’t really hit it off with the flat with three servants. ❑ From the looks of his new manager. home he lived alone and probably not very high on ✪ a hit list the hog. If someone has a hit list of people or ● You can also say that someone is living things, they are intending to deal with high off the hog. ❑ Far from living high off the them or get rid of them. hog, the Chancellor had insisted on travelling ❑ Washington published a hit list of countries business class, not first class, wherever possible. guilty of unfair trade practices. ❑ There are 12 This expression comes from the fact factories on the hit-list, destined for closure. that the most expensive and tender If a terrorist or criminal organization cuts of meat on a pig are high up on its has a hit list, they have a list of people body. they intend to kill. go hog wild [american, informal] ❑ Sayers believed he was now on a hit list and If you go hog wild, you behave in an needed protection. uncontrolled and excited way. hit the sack [informal] or ❑ You can’t let teenagers go completely hog wild. hit the hay [mainly american, informal] ❑ People aren’t going hog-wild, but they are at If someone hits the sack or hits the hay, least starting to spend. they go to bed. Hogs can sometimes become ❑ We were tired, so we only half-unpacked the uncontrolled and aggressive. car and then hit the sack. ❑ Do you want me to ✪ go the whole hog [british] or take you up to your bed? Are you ready to hit the hay? go whole hog [american] In the past, people sometimes used If someone goes the whole hog or goes sacks and hay as bedding. whole hog, they do something to the make a hit [informal] fullest extent possible. If you make a hit with someone, they like ❑ We could be restrained and just have a main you or are impressed by you when they course – or go the whole hog and have all three meet you. courses. ❑ The victim had been identified, and ❑ Eleanor made a hit with your mother. ❑ She the newspaper continued to go whole hog on the sends her best – you’ve obviously made a hit there. story. This expression may have its origin in Hobson butchers asking their customers which Hobson’s choice [mainly british] part of the pig they wished to buy, or You can call a decision Hobson’s choice whether they would ‘go the whole hog’ when it forces you to choose something and buy the whole pig. Alternatively, because in reality there is no other choice ‘hog’ was a slang term for a ten cent available. piece in America, and also for an Irish ❑ He was faced with a Hobson’s choice between shilling, so the expression may originally obedience and ruin, so he gave in to their demands. ❑ Only the satellite companies were have meant ‘spend the full amount’.

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hole hold

✪ put something on hold

If you put something on hold, you decide not to do it or deal with it until a later time. ❑ We’ll have to put the project on hold until we get some more money. ❑ They had normal family lives which couldn’t be put on hold every time she felt ill. ● You can also just say that something is on hold. ❑ A few months later it was announced that the deal was on hold, perhaps permanently. This expression is probably from the term used in the past when someone making a telephone call waited for the operator to connect them.

holds

✪ no-holds-barred

You use no-holds-barred to describe something which is done in a forceful or extreme way, without any limits. ❑ Jones had a no-holds-barred approach to the game of football. This expression refers to a wrestling match in which many of the usual rules do not apply, and so competitors can hold their opponent in any way they like.

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hole

To blow a hole in an amount of money means to reduce it a lot. ❑ Repairs to equipment have blown a hole in the firm’s budget. ❑ Last year’s storms and floods blew a hole in the profits of many insurance companies. dig yourself into a hole If someone digs themselves into a hole, they get themselves into a difficult or embarrassing situation. ❑ By continuing to lie, he was digging himself into a hole. a hole card [mainly american] A hole card is an advantage that you keep secret until you are ready to use it. ❑ The fact that I knew where she was and had in my possession a boxful of evidence were my only two remaining hole cards. In five card ‘stud’ poker, the ‘hole’ card is the only card which is dealt to you face down so that the other players cannot see it. hole-in-the-corner or hole-and-corner [british, old-fashioned] If you describe an activity or an event as hole-in-the-corner or hole-and-corner, you mean that it is kept secret, usually because it is dishonest or shameful. ❑ You deserve better than a hole-in-the-corner relationship like this. ❑ His visit was a hole-and-corner affair, and treated like a guilty secret. in a hole [mainly british, informal] If you are in a hole, you are in a difficult or embarrassing situation. ❑ Whenever Frank was in a hole, he’d call me and ask for help. ❑ They definitely left me in a hole when they couldn’t honour their contract. ● If someone or something gets you out of a hole, they get you out of a difficult or embarrassing situation. ❑ He was the player you relied on to get the team out of a hole when it mattered. ❑ Many companies are hoping for a stock market increase to get them out of a hole. in the hole [american, informal] If a person or organization is in the hole, they owe money to someone else. ❑ The company is $4 billion in the hole. ❑ By the time they ask for help, these families are so deep in the hole, it’s too late. The ‘hole’ referred to here may have been a slot (= narrow hole) which was cut in the surface of a poker table in a gambling house. The money which the

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be burning a hole in your pocket If money is burning a hole in your pocket, you are very eager to spend it. ❑ What do you do when you’ve got 280m burning a hole in your pocket? Buy an island, naturally. ❑ Although he now has millions burning a hole in his pocket, he cannot spend a penny until January. blow a hole in something If an event blows a hole in something such as a plan, system or aim, it spoils it or reduces its effectiveness. ❑ Tropical storms have blown a hole in the company’s oil and gas production targets. ❑ Richardson’s decision to quit his post as chief financial officer has blown a hole in the company’s plan for growth. If something blows a hole in an opinion or argument, it shows that it is not true. ❑ This research has blown a hole in the myth that babies only smile because they are copying their parents. ❑ These figures blow a hole in the pretence that unemployment is under control.

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holes

house charged was placed in the slot, and fell into a locked drawer. Gamblers who owed money to the house were said to be ‘in the hole’. need something like a hole in the head or need something like you need a hole in the head [informal] If you say that you need something or someone like a hole in the head or like you need a hole in the head, you mean that you do not need or want them at all. ❑ I need more publicity like a hole in the head. ❑ We need an interest rate rise like we need a hole in the head. This is said to be a translation of a Yiddish expression. It became more widely known following the play ‘A Hole in the Head’ (1957) by Arnold Schulman, and a film of the same name starring Frank Sinatra (1959).

holes

promise has a hollow ring. ❑ The Government’s claim to be making record investments in railways has a very hollow ring. ➜ compare with ring true The idea is of an object that is meant to be solid making a loud noise when struck, indicating that it is weaker or cheaper than it was believed to be.

holy holier-than-thou If you describe someone as holier-thanthou, you mean that they seem to believe that they have better moral qualities than anyone else. ❑ He has always sounded holier-than-thou. ❑ I’m not going to be all holier-than-thou about this. the holy of holies If you describe something, especially a place, as the holy of holies, you mean that people think it is the most special or important thing of its kind. ❑ Last year, his work was performed at the Aldeburgh Festival, the holy of holies in the contemporary British music scene. In a Jewish synagogue, the holy of holies is the inner room which only the chief rabbi may enter.

more holes than Swiss cheese ➜ see Swiss cheese pick holes in something If you pick holes in something such as an argument or a piece of work, you find mistakes in it to show that it is wrong or of poor quality. ❑ They’ve been picking holes in the evidence ever home since the report was published. ❑ It’s easy to pick ✪ at home holes in a piece of work so long after its If you feel at home in a particular place publication. or situation, you feel relaxed, ● Verbs such as poke and shoot can be comfortable, and happy. used instead of pick. ❑ The defense lawyers ❑ The girls seem to be quite at home here and I’m attempted to poke holes in her evidence. sure they will settle in very well after all the hollow excitement dies down. ❑ Melanie is equally at beat someone hollow [british] home singing classical music, jazz or performing If you beat someone hollow, you defeat in musical theatre. them completely. If someone or something looks at home ❑ Radio’s attempts at horror are generally beaten somewhere, they look as if it is natural and appropriate for them to be there. hollow by the terrifying capabilities of cinema. ❑ If she hadn’t been half his size, she would have ❑ The 16-year-old’s huge shoulder and arm beaten him hollow. muscles would look more at home on a male ✪ ring hollow or hammer thrower. ❑ Le Moulin’s painted chairs sound hollow are typically French, but would look quite at home If a statement or promise rings hollow or in an English country kitchen. sounds hollow, it does not seem true or be home free [mainly american, informal] If someone is home free, they have sincere. ❑ Now the promise of a long, secure career finished the most difficult part of rings hollow, employers must find new ways to something and are now certain to achieve attract staff. ❑ Official claims that the two victory or success. countries are close friends sound increasingly ❑ We said polite words about leaving and I hollow. thought I was home free. ❑ If Cassie had nothing ● You can also say that a statement or to do with the crime, she could be home free.

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Its message struck so close to home that it moved bring home the bacon me to tears. The person in a family who brings hit a home run [american] home the bacon is the person who goes out to work and earns money for the If you hit a home run, you do something that is very successful. family. ❑ Sadly, we can’t both stay at home and look after ❑ They are creative people; if anyone could hit a the kids – someone needs to bring home the home run, they could do it. ❑ The studio has hit a bacon. ❑ In the past, husbands needed someone home run with its latest movie. In baseball, when a batter hits a home to cook and keep house and wives needed run, they hit the ball a very long way, so someone to bring home the bacon. that they are able to run round all the In sport, if someone brings home the bases and score a run before the other bacon, they win or do very well. team gets the ball back. [journalism] ❑ Reid and Duffield showed that they and other ✪ hit home or jockeys like them are capable of bringing home strike home the bacon in style. ❑ The team is still top of the If a situation or what someone says hits home or strikes home, people realize that Premiership league, in prime position to bring home the bacon. it is real or true, even though it may be In the past, large pieces of bacon or even unpleasant. whole pigs were sometimes given as ❑ In many cases the reality of war doesn’t hit prizes in competitions. home until people are actually called upon to fight. ❑ David’s accusation about his motives ✪ bring something home If someone or something brings had hit home more than he cared to admit. something such as a problem, danger, or ❑ The severity of the situation struck home fact home to someone, they make them last week when hundreds of troops entered understand how serious or important it the town. is. ✪ home and dry [mainly british] ❑ His words brought home the full horror of what If you are home and dry, you have had happened. ❑ Marion’s death had brought achieved victory or success, or are certain that you will achieve it. home to her the need to be more direct about everything. ❑ She’s nine seconds up on anyone else – she has ● Verbs such as drive, press, and hammer to be home and dry. ❑ There are still three weeks are often used instead of bring to mean to election day and the Labour candidate is not that something is made clear in a very yet home and dry. ● You can also say that someone is home forceful way. ❑ I don’t know how to get through to you and hammer home how desperate and hosed. [mainly australian] I feel. ❑ I knew he was upset, but reading his ❑ His team looks home and hosed for the next emails really drove it home. round after winning 5-0 against the Czech side. bring something home to someone These expressions may refer to a If someone or something brings something long-distance runner who wins comfortably and has already washed by home to you, it makes you understand the time the others reach the finishing how important or serious it is. line. ❑ I knew I was lucky really. Being in hospital a home from home [british] or really brought it home to me. ❑ I think this war brought it home to a lot of people just what our a home away from home [american] families are going through when we are away A home from home or a home away from somewhere like that. home is a place where you are as close to home comfortable as in your own home. If a subject is close to home, it makes you ❑ Many cottages are a home from home, offering feel uncomfortable or upset because it is microwaves, dishwashers, TVs and videos. about a sensitive or very personal subject. the home stretch or the home straight ❑ I found the film very upsetting – the subject The home stretch or the home straight of matter was just a bit close to home. ❑ I just finished listening to Susan Stamberg’s piece on a long or difficult activity is the last part young, fat people attending camp near New York. or stage of it.

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homework ❑ My wife’s pregnancy has reached the home stretch. ❑ We are now on the home straight: next

used instead of ground. ❑ He may prefer to remain on his home turf as a negotiator.

year will see the launch of the first satellites. homework The home stretch or home straight is do your homework the final part of a horse race. If you do your homework, you prepare for ✪ make yourself at home something, especially by finding out If you make yourself at home somewhere, information about it. you relax and feel comfortable as if you ❑ Before you buy any shares, do your homework. were in your own home. ❑ Doing your homework before you make your ❑ Arnold and Gwen had found the hidden key and request will help you to have a confident manner. made themselves at home. ❑ Once the boat left, honest the passengers all made themselves at home. honest as the day is long [old-fashioned] ● You say make yourself at home to a If someone is as honest as the day is long, guest to invite them to behave in an they are very honest. informal, relaxed way. ❑ ‘Sit down,’ Anne ❑ This boy is hard-working, ambitious, and said. ‘Make yourself at home.’ ❑ Please make honest as the day is long. yourself at home. Help yourself to anything you hoof want. hoof it [informal] nothing to write home about or If you hoof it, you walk somewhere. not much to write home about ❑ I’ve put you to enough trouble already – I can [informal] hoof it the rest of the way. If something is nothing to write home about or not much to write home about, ✪ on the hoof [british] If you do something on the hoof, you do it is not very interesting, exciting, or it as a quick reaction to something that special. has happened, rather than planning it ❑ The house was nothing to write home about – a carefully. rather neglected Victorian semi-detached like ❑ They claimed that policy was being made on many they’d seen. ❑ The nightlife is not much to the hoof. ❑ In that situation, you have to make write home about. decisions on the hoof. ● You can also say that a thing is If you do something on the hoof, you do something to write home about if it is it while standing or moving around doing interesting, exciting, or special. ❑ The other things. beaches really are something to write home ❑ Young detectives got used to eating on the hoof about. and became uneasy if they spent more than ten ✪ on home ground or minutes on a meal. ❑ These youngsters like to on your home ground play their favourite music on the hoof. If you are on home ground or on your To do something ‘on the hoof’ literally home ground, you are in a familiar area, means to do it while on horseback for example where you work or live without stopping to get off. ❑ It was on home ground in Montreal that she hook excelled by beating Katerina Maleeva. be ringing off the hook [mainly american] ❑ Students benefit by experiencing interviews If your telephone is ringing off the hook, with prospective employers on their own home so many people are trying to call you that ground. ● The nouns turf and patch are it is ringing all the time. ❑ His phone started ringing off the hook as banks sometimes used instead of ground. ❑ This and financial institutions begged for his help. time he’s on home turf so he has the advantage by hook or by crook over his opponent. If you say you will do something by hook If someone is on home ground or on or by crook, you mean that you will find a their home ground, they feel confident way to do it, even if it is difficult or and secure because they are doing involves dishonest methods. something that is very familiar to them. ❑ He would have to see her again by hook or by ❑ This piece sees the composer on home ground, crook. ❑ He is determined to hang on to power by with passionate string melodies. ● The nouns turf and patch are sometimes hook or by crook.

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The hook in this expression is a billhook, which is a cutting tool with a hooked blade. A shepherd’s crook is a long stick with a curve at the top. This expression may refer to a medieval law which allowed ordinary people to collect firewood from forests belonging to the King or a lord, so long as they took only dead wood which they could reach with crooks and billhooks. fall for someone hook, line and sinker If you fall for someone hook, line and sinker, you fall deeply in love with them. ❑ I fell for her hook, line and sinker. fall for something hook, line and sinker or swallow something hook, line and sinker If someone falls for something hook, line, and sinker or swallows something hook, line and sinker, they believe it completely, even though it is often not true. ❑ He told her a story about having lost his money, and she fell for it, hook, line and sinker. ❑ There were leaks to the press, and journalists swallowed it hook, line and sinker. get the hook [american] If someone gets the hook, they are sent away, especially from a sports team. ❑ When Caballero got the hook, Milne took his place. ● You can also say that someone is given the hook. ❑ He allowed in three goals and had to be given the hook. hook, line, and sinker You use hook, line, and sinker to mean that someone does something to a great degree. ❑ I was completely against nationalization. I resisted it hook, line and sinker and became quite unpopular in the process. ❑ He has a tendency to get drawn into things hook, line and sinker. When fish are caught, they sometimes swallow part of the fishing line and the ‘sinker’ or weight, as well as the hook. ✪ let someone off the hook If you let someone off the hook, you allow them to avoid being punished or blamed for something. ❑ We cannot let the government off the hook for what it has done. ❑ They resent any hint that he will be let off the hook because of his privileged position. ● You can also say that you get someone off the hook if you do something to stop them being punished or blamed for something. ❑ She had got Tom off the hook.

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● You can also just say that someone is off

the hook if they have not been punished or blamed. ❑ That way, Charlie would get the money, and she would be off the hook. on your own hook [american] If you do something on your own hook, you do it alone, without any help. ❑ Patients generally get to the hospital on their own hook. The reference here is to someone catching a fish using their own equipment and without help from others. sling your hook [british, old-fashioned, informal] If someone tells you to sling your hook, they are telling you to go away. ❑ One woman shouted to reporters ‘Sling your hook if you know what’s good for you’. ❑ If Ruddock doesn’t want to be part of this team then he should sling his hook. The ‘hook’ in this expression may be a ship’s anchor, which had to be taken up and tied up with ropes or chains, which were called a sling, before the ship could move on.

hooks

get your hooks into someone [informal] If someone gets their hooks into you, they control or influence you in a way that is difficult to escape from. ❑ ‘She’s got her hooks into you,’ taunted my male friends. ❑ The big industries like to get their hooks into the bright young people by helping to pay for their education.

jump through hoops or go through hoops If you have to jump through hoops or go through hoops to get or achieve something that you want, you have to do a lot of difficult things first. ❑ Eventually, if they jump through enough hoops, they can get work visas. ❑ He had to go through hoops to stop our games from being scheduled on a Sunday. Circus animals are sometimes trained to jump through hoops which are hung or held above the ground and sometimes set on fire.

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hoot not give a hoot or not give two hoots [informal] If you say that you don’t give a hoot or

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hop don’t give two hoots about something, you mean that you do not care about it at all. ❑ I don’t give a hoot about what they think. ❑ These politicians don’t give two hoots about the ordinary people.

hop

✪ catch someone on the hop [british]

If a person or event catches you on the hop, you are not prepared for them and so are unable to respond quickly or appropriately. ❑ She couldn’t afford to be caught on the hop if stock sold out. ❑ Adam took the fourth qualifying place in his semi-final and admitted his success had caught him on the hop. ➜ compare with keep someone on the hop a hop, skip, and a jump or a hop and a skip If someone or something is a hop, skip, and a jump or a hop and a skip away from someone or something else, they are very close. ❑ Wells is just a hop and skip from my place in Kennebunkport. If something is a hop, skip, and a jump or a hop and a skip from something else, the two things are very similar. ❑ Of course, the Romanian language is just a hop, skip and a jump from Italian. keep someone on the hop [british] If you keep someone on the hop, you cause them problems by doing things they do not expect. ❑ Better policing is keeping the drug traffickers on the hop. ➜ compare with catch someone on the hop

horn blow your own horn [american] If you blow your own horn, you tell people good things about yourself. ❑ I don’t go around blowing my own horn, it’s true. The usual British expression is blow your own trumpet. In the past, the arrival of important people in a place was announced by the playing of trumpets.

hornet

mad as a hornet ➜ see mad stir up a hornet’s nest If you stir up a hornet’s nest, you do something that makes a lot of people very upset and angry. ❑ He has been asking a lot of questions and stirring up a hornet’s nest around town. ❑ I seem to have stirred up a hornet’s nest with my article about the teaching of Shakespeare in schools. ● Sometimes people just talk about a hornet’s nest. ❑ It’s not that companies are unaware of illegal software. It’s more that they are scared of uncovering a hornet’s nest – they would simply rather not know. ❑ Wasserman had no idea what a hornet’s nest he was stepping into. A hornet is a large wasp with a powerful sting.

horizon

✪ on the horizon If something is on the horizon, it is almost certainly going to happen or be done quite soon. ❑ The threat of even more violence looms on the horizon. ❑ As with so many common diseases, there is no obvious cure on the horizon.

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If someone or something does not have a hope in hell, there is no chance that they will be successful. ❑ Everybody knows they haven’t got a hope in hell of forming a government anyway. ❑ The marriage didn’t have a hope in hell.

✪ not have a hope in hell [informal]

the horns of a dilemma If you are on the horns of a dilemma, you have to make a difficult choice between two alternatives. ❑ I find myself on the horns of a dilemma – whichever option I take, I’m going to disappoint someone. ❑ The police were on the horns of a dilemma. The girl appeared to be telling the truth, but it was her word against that of three officials. In logic, a dilemma is a situation where an argument leads to two choices which are both undesirable. In the Middle Ages, a dilemma was traditionally represented as an animal with two horns such as a bull. lock horns If you lock horns with someone, you argue or fight with them. ❑ He has often locked horns with lawmakers as well as the administration. ❑ In Manhattan’s densely built real estate market, developers and preservationists often lock horns.

hope

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● You can also use dark horse before a

The reference here is to two male animals, such as deer, fighting over a female and getting their horns caught together or ‘locked’. pull in your horns or draw in your horns If you pull in your horns or draw in your horns, you start behaving more carefully than you did before, especially by spending less money. ❑ The world’s big spenders have pulled in their horns during the recession. ❑ Customers are drawing in their horns at a time of high interest rates. When snails sense danger, they pull in their ‘horns’, which are the stalks that their eyes are on.

horse

back the wrong horse If you back the wrong horse, you support someone or something that fails in business or in a contest, election, etc. ❑ He backed the wrong horse in the recent Tory leadership contest. ❑ It would be a tragedy if in several years’ time another study is done which finds that the Government has backed the wrong horse. ● Verbs such as bet on or pick or phrases such as put money on can be used instead of back. ❑ Betting on takeovers can backfire if you pick the wrong horse. be flogging a dead horse [british] or be beating a dead horse [american] If someone is flogging or is beating a dead horse, they are wasting their time trying to achieve something that cannot be done. ❑ After putting in all that hard work it feels like we’re flogging a dead horse – it’s all very discouraging. ❑ You’re beating a dead horse on this. These guys are defeated. ✪ a dark horse If you describe someone as a dark horse, you mean that you have just discovered something about them, especially a skill or an achievement, that they had not told you about. ❑ I didn’t know Clare could sing like that. She’s a dark horse. ❑ What a lot of friends from the past you have – you really are a dark horse, Robert! A dark horse is someone who wins a contest, race, etc when they were not expected to. ❑ Czech Karel Novacek, the dark horse of the international tennis circuit, beat his opponent 7-5, 6-2, 6-4.

noun. ❑ William Randolph Hearst had briefly been a dark horse candidate for President in 1908. This expression may refer to a horse which people do not know very much about, so that it is difficult to predict how well it will do in a race. eat like a horse [informal] If someone eats like a horse, they eat a lot because they have a large appetite. ❑ When Kelly is on medication, he eats like a horse. from the horse’s mouth If you get a piece of information from the horse’s mouth, you get it directly from someone who is involved in it and knows most about it. ❑ When he hears, straight from the horse’s mouth, what a good worker you are, he’ll increase your wages. ❑ Most of the book is completely true; it comes from the horse’s mouth. This expression may refer to the fact that you can tell a horse’s age by looking at its teeth. Alternatively, it may simply refer to a racing tip which is so reliable that it is as if the horse itself has told you how well it is going to perform. get on your high horse If someone gets on their high horse about something, they get angry about it and behave as if they know more about it than other people or as if they are better than other people. ❑ The judge got on his high horse and had a go at me about setting the right example. ● Other verbs can be used instead of get. ❑ Understandably, they have climbed on their high horse because they have been called cheats. ❑ Instead of clambering on his high horse and ignoring what I had to say, he’d agreed to give my suggestion a try. ● If someone climbs down off their high horse or gets off their high horse, they stop acting as if they know more or are better than other people. ❑ We need to climb down off our high horses and be realistic. ❑ It is time for the intellectuals to get off their high horses and to really take the struggle into the streets. ● Other verbs can be used instead of climb down off or get off. ❑ It’s time they dismounted from their high horses and started to listen to what we have to say. In the past, very large horses were a sign of high rank because they were owned and ridden only by knights.

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horses

I could eat a horse When people say I could eat a horse, they mean that they are extremely hungry. ❑ Is lunch ready yet? I could eat a horse. a one-horse race [mainly british] If a contest is a one-horse race, it is obvious even before it starts that one person or team is much better than the others and will win. ❑ Marseille are threatening to turn the French championship into a one-horse race. ❑ The election was a one-horse race really, the president winning by a massive majority. a one-horse town If you describe a town as a one-horse town, you mean that it is very small and uninteresting. ❑ This place is something of a one-horse town, but you can always take a boat across to the island. ❑ Would you want to spend your whole life in a small one-horse town? a stalking horse If you describe an event or an action as a stalking horse, you mean that it is being used to help someone get what they really want at a later date. ❑ The development will act as a stalking horse for further exploitation of the surrounding countryside. ❑ Limits on union contributions will be a stalking horse to break the relationship between the party and the unions. ● This expression is usually used to show disapproval. In politics, a stalking horse is someone who stands against the leader of a party to test the strength of any opposition to the leader. They then withdraw in favour of a stronger challenger, if it looks likely that the leader can be defeated. ❑ There was even talk of one of them standing for the leadership as a stalking horse for the real contender. ● You can also use stalking horse before a noun. ❑ The notion of a stalking horse challenge at the autumn party conference seemed highly unlikely. Stalking horses were horses that were used by hunters. They were trained to allow their rider to hide behind them, and so get closer to the birds they were hunting. ✪ a Trojan horse If you describe someone or something as a Trojan horse, you mean that they seem good or useful, but are really there to help

something be harmed or destroyed in the future. ❑ Proposals for a golf course are now seen as a Trojan Horse for hotel and conference centres. ❑ This small reduction in the basic tax rate was merely a Trojan horse for the far more drastic cutting of the top rate from 70 to 28 per cent. This refers to an ancient Greek story. The city of Troy was under siege from the Greeks. The Greeks built a large hollow wooden horse and left it secretly as a gift for the Trojans, who took it into the city. However, Greek soldiers were hiding inside the horse, and they were able to cause the destruction of the city. you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink or you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink If you say you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink or make it drink, you mean that you can give someone the opportunity to do something, but you cannot force them to do it if they do not want to. ❑ A lot of lives could be saved by using the right equipment. However, as the following data show, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink: Hard hats were worn by only 16 percent of those workers who sustained head injuries, although 40 percent were required to wear them. ● This expression is often varied. ❑ You can lead a child to books, but can you make them read?

change horses in midstream or switch horses in midstream If someone changes horses in midstream or switches horses in midstream, they stop using one method or thing and start using another one, or they stop supporting one person and start supporting someone else. ❑ I think we were very wise not to change horses in midstream. ● You can also just say that someone changes horses or switches horses. ❑ Andersson is angered at the way Taylor initially supported the deal, only to switch horses later and back the opposing bid. ● These expressions are often used to advise someone against doing one of these things.

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The American President Abraham Lincoln used this expression in 1864, ‘I am reminded of the story of an old Dutch farmer, who remarked to a companion that it was best not to swap horses when crossing streams.’ hold your horses [spoken] If you say hold your horses, you are telling someone to stop doing or saying something for a moment because they have not thought enough about it. ❑ Hold your horses a minute, will you, and just take another look at this document. horses for courses [british] People use horses for courses to mean that people and things have different qualities and skills and so are suitable in different situations. ❑ Mr Franks said that it was a question of horses for courses and Len Freeman would concentrate on the advertising side of the business. ❑ It’s horses for courses. We have to use different ways of working, at different speeds, for different types of decisions. ● Horses for courses is also used before nouns to talk about a situation where people or things are chosen because of the particular qualities or skills that they have. ❑ Some workers are better at operating the machines than others. So you have a horses for courses situation. Some horses are especially suited to particular kinds of races or conditions. ride two horses at the same time or ride two horses at once [british, journalism] If someone rides two horses at the same time or rides two horses at once, they try to do two things that cannot happen or be done at the same time. ❑ Above all, do not think you can ride two horses at the same time. You are either in business or you are a minister. You cannot be both. ❑ In trying to be friends with both sides, Britain was attempting to ride two horses at once. wild horses If you say that wild horses would not make you do something, you mean that nothing would make you do it. ❑ Wild horses wouldn’t drag this secret out of me. ❑ Wild horses wouldn’t make Nicola sell the house.

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fortune, they have created a situation where bad things may happen to them in the future. ❑ Charles had already made himself a hostage to fortune by declaring that 30 was a suitable age to settle down. ❑ The proposals were regarded by some as a dangerous hostage to fortune. ● You can also say that someone gives a hostage to fortune or creates a hostage to fortune if they do something that may cause trouble in the future. ❑ Despite persistent questioning, he gave no hostages to fortune in the form of a timetable. ● Other verbs may be used instead of give or create. ❑ By opting for the best, the council recognises that it may have handed a hostage to fortune. Many departments may find it difficult to achieve the new standards that have been set for them. This expression comes from an essay by Francis Bacon, ‘Of Marriage and Single Life’ (1625): ‘He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune.’

hot

blow hot and cold If someone blows hot and cold, they sometimes seem enthusiastic or interested about something, and sometimes they do not. ❑ He’s blowing hot and cold on whether or not to take the job. ❑ The government has been blowing hot and cold on the talks. ● In British English, you can also say that someone is blowing hot to mean that they are enthusiastic about something. ❑ He was blowing hot about Kieren Fallon’s new horse. ● This expression is often used to show disapproval. hot and bothered If someone gets hot and bothered about something, they become very upset or worried about it. ❑ Sir Terence was astonished that everybody had got so hot and bothered about the affair. ❑ The boss was asking for you earlier. He sounded hot and bothered. ● You usually use this expression when you want to suggest that someone is getting upset about something unimportant. hot and cold [british] If someone or something makes you feel hot and cold, they make you feel extremely

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a hostage to fortune [mainly british] If someone or something is a hostage to

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hot cakes

worried or nervous, and this causes you to hour, it happens at the last possible feel as if your body is both hot and cold at moment. the same time. ❑ Some of the exhibitions were cancelled at the ❑ When she realized what she was reading she eleventh hour. ❑ Then, at the eleventh hour, I had grew hot and cold all over. an accident that almost stopped me from hot as hell [informal] entering the competition. ● An eleventh hour decision or action is If it is as hot as hell, it is extremely hot. ❑ In the summer it’s hot as hell. one that occurs at the last possible ● You can also say that it is as hot as moment. ❑ This eleventh hour decision came Hades. [literary] as something of a surprise. ❑ The company has ❑ The shaft was bone-cold at the top, and hot as sold off 31 social clubs in an eleventh hour deal. Hades as you descended. This expression comes from the Bible, In Greek mythology, Hades is the place where Jesus uses it in the story of the where the spirits of the dead live. However, labourers in the vineyard (Matthew this expression seems to use Hades as a 20:1-16). In Jesus’s time the hours were euphemism for hell, as Hades is usually counted from dawn until dusk, with the represented as a dark and gloomy place, twelfth hour bringing darkness, and so rather than a fiery hot place. the eleventh hour was the last hour too hot to handle before dark. If someone or something is too hot to hours handle, they are so dangerous, difficult, ✪ the small hours or or extreme that people do not want to be the wee hours involved with them. The small hours or the wee hours is the ❑ Even for someone of his skill and experience, the time from one o’clock in the morning situation proved too hot to handle. ❑ Wherever until about five or six o’clock in the he has been based, his host country has morning. eventually found him too hot to handle. ❑ They were arrested in the small hours of hot cakes Saturday morning. ❑ That first night back, sell like hot cakes [british] or Jennifer and I sat up in bed talking into the wee sell like hotcakes [mainly american] hours. If things sell like hot cakes or sell like house hotcakes, people buy large quantities of bring the house down them in a short time. If a person or their performance brings ❑ The software is selling like hot cakes. ❑ Her the house down, the audience claps and products sold like hotcakes. cheers loudly for a long time because they ● You can also say that things go like hot liked the performance so much. cakes. ❑ The sales assistant says they’ve been ❑ Juliet Stevenson is used to bringing the house going like hot cakes. down when she appears on stage. ❑ We had just In American English, ‘hotcakes’ are one rehearsal and I was so nervous but the show pancakes, while in British English ‘hot brought the house down. cakes’ are cakes which have just been In this expression, the ‘house’ means a baked. theatre. hots eat someone out of house and home have the hots for someone or [mainly british] get the hots for someone [informal, rude] If someone eats you out of house and If someone has the hots for you or gets home, they eat so much food that it costs the hots for you, they are very strongly you a lot of money to feed them. attracted to you sexually. ❑ My children are eating me out of house and ❑ It’s obvious Catherine has the hots for Jo. home! ❑ They eat everybody out of house and ❑ Just as I suspected, Angie. You’re starting to get home but nobody minds because they provide the hots for James. such first-rate entertainment. This expression was used in Shakespeare’s hour play ‘Henry IV Part II’, act 2 scene 1 (1597). ✪ at the eleventh hour When asked why she wants her lodger If something happens at the eleventh

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Sir John Falstaff arrested, the landlady ✪ put your house in order or Mistress Quickly replies: ‘He hath eaten get your house in order me out of house and home; he hath put If you put your house in order or get all my substance into that fat belly of his.’ your house in order, you make sure get on like a house on fire that all your affairs are arranged If two people get on like a house on fire, properly and that all your problems are they quickly become close friends. dealt with. ❑ I went over and struck up a conversation, and ❑ The government has given the newspaper we got on like a house on fire. ❑ When I industry a twelve-month deadline to put its house introduced Nicky to my old school friend Alex, the in order or face tough new controls. ❑ As with pair of them got on like a house on fire. individuals, no company can be successful until it This expression uses the image of an old has got its own internal house in order. wooden house burning suddenly and ● Verbs such as keep or set can be used strongly. instead of put or get. ❑ She claimed the high a halfway house [british] street banks were incapable of keeping their A halfway house is something that has house in order. some features of one thing and some of household another. ✪ a household name ❑ A halfway house between the theatre and If a someone or something is a household cinema is possible. ❑ The place was a sort of name, they are famous or known by many halfway house between a prison and a care home. people. A halfway house was an inn located ❑ In one week, I will have become a household halfway between two neighbouring name to every man on Earth. ❑ They aim to make towns or villages and would have been the brand a household name in their country. used by coach passengers in former times. The name is still seen on pubs and inns. houses go round the houses or ✪ a house of cards go all round the houses [british] If you describe a system, organization, or If someone goes round the houses or plan as a house of cards, you mean that it goes all round the houses, they keep is likely to fail or collapse. talking about unimportant things before ❑ This government could fall apart like a house of they get to the thing they are meant to be cards during the first policy discussion. ❑ When talking about. he left the company, the whole house of cards ❑ After three minutes of going round the houses I collapsed. ❑ She knows that the cosy family had still failed to get a sense from him of whether relationships of the past were a house of cards, he felt he’d done anything wrong. ❑ I really can’t based on unstable foundations. be bothered going all round the houses with you. This refers to the building of an This is the deal. elaborate but unstable pyramid structure using playing cards. hue not give someone house room [british] a hue and cry You can say that you would not give If there is a hue and cry about something, someone or something house room when there is a loud protest about it or you strongly dislike or disapprove of them opposition to it. and you want to have nothing to do with ❑ There probably will be a hue and cry about my them. suggestion of more power to the police. ❑ Our ❑ Some leaders should not be given house room in officers prepare, take a test, and accept the results any western alliance. ❑ Personally, I feel that without any hue and cry. some of the paintings that people pay so much for Until the 19th century, ‘hue and cry’ was are absolute rubbish. You know, I wouldn’t give the legal name for the cries of someone them house room. who had been robbed and who was on the house calling for others to help. It was an If food or drink at a restaurant or bar is on offence for anyone to refuse to join the the house, it is offered for free. chase, once they heard the cry. ‘Hue’ ❑ He was invited by the owner for drinks on the comes from the Old French ‘huer’, house. meaning ‘to shout’.

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huff huff

✪ in a huff [informal] If someone is in a huff, they are angry about something. ❑ He stormed off in a huff because he didn’t win. ❑ He resigned from the firm in a huff when he didn’t get promoted.

hum

hum and haw ➜ see haw

hump

get the hump [british, informal] If you get the hump, you get annoyed by something. ❑ She got the hump because we were mucking around. ❑ He’s still got the hump with his former team mate. hump day [american, informal] Hump day is Wednesday. ❑ He’s just an average guy trying to get through hump day.

This expression comes from the idea that the middle of the week is the ‘hump’ or the hardest part to get through. over the hump [informal] If you are over the hump in an unpleasant or difficult situation, you are past the worst part of it. ❑ I think we’re basically over the hump. We’ve got an economy now that’s likely to grow. ❑ It’s been a difficult time but we’re over the hump now.

hush

hymn

sing from the same hymn sheet ➜ see sing

hush money Hush money is money that is paid to someone to stop them telling other people about something. ❑ Reports say that he has paid several women millions of pounds in hush money after they threatened to take him to court.

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Ii SA i

dot the i’s and cross the t’s If you dot the i’s and cross the t’s, you make sure that all the details of something are correct. ❑ The two sides are close to a basic agreement. Dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s may take some time, however. ❑ Unless all the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed, a contract is not likely to be enforced. In old-fashioned styles of handwriting, you write a word with one movement of your pen, and then go back and add the dot to any i’s and the cross-strokes to any t’s.

✪ be skating on thin ice

ice

one that breaks the ice. ❑ Graham’s breakfast-time phone call to David was an ice-breaking exercise. This refers to the need to break the ice around a ship before it is able to sail. cold as ice ➜ see cold ✪ cut no ice If you say that something cuts no ice with you, you mean that you are not impressed or influenced by it. ❑ Statistics cut no ice with anyone scared of going up in the air in a plane. ● Words such as little, much, or any can be used instead of no. ❑ He won the Nobel Peace Prize, but this cut little ice at home. This expression refers to ice-skating. In order for the skater to move easily, the blades must be sharp so that they cut into the ice. ✪ put something on ice If you put something such as a plan or project on ice, you stop it happening for a period of time. ❑ Further high-level meetings have been put on ice. ❑ Plans have been put on ice for a meeting in London of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. ● If a plan or project is on ice, no action is taken to put it into operation. ❑ A further cut in interest rates to 6% is now likely to stay on ice till next year. This expression refers to the use of ice to preserve food and prevent it from decaying.

If someone is skating on thin ice, they are doing something which could have unpleasant consequences for them. ❑ He told me I was skating on thin ice and should change my attitude. ● Verbs such as tread, walk or stand can be used instead of skate. ❑ Watch it Max, Christopher thought gleefully, you’re treading on very thin ice. ● You can also just say that someone is on thin ice. ❑ I could see I was on thin ice. His professional pride was injured. ✪ break the ice If a person, event or activity breaks the ice, they make people feel more relaxed and comfortable in a social situation. ❑ This exercise is usually good fun and can help icing break the ice for a new, and perhaps rather anxious, group. ❑ I started off by remarking that ✪ the icing on the cake [british, american] or the frosting on the cake [american] it seemed natural to be back in Madison Square If you describe something as the icing Garden again. That broke the ice and from then on on the cake or the frosting on the cake, all went well. ● An ice-breaker is something that you say you mean that it is an extra good thing or do to break the ice. ❑ This presentation was that makes a good situation or activity a good ice-breaker. A few laughs go a long way even better. toward making a potential client comfortable. ❑ To ride for one’s country is the ultimate ● An ice-breaking comment or action is experience. To be in a winning team is the icing on

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the cake. ❑ If it works out that he or she becomes a friend after you have enjoyed a good professional relationship, that is frosting on the cake. You can use the icing on the cake or the frosting on the cake to refer to something which is only a minor part of the main thing you are talking about. ❑ Consumer electronics in Japan is now a 35 billion dollars a year business. This is just the icing on the cake. Japanese electronics companies are now generating an annual 200 billion dollars of sales. ❑ Finance Minister Vaclav Klaus has dismissed environmental issues as the frosting on the cake.

idea

✪ not have the foggiest idea or

ignorance

not have the foggiest [informal] If you do not have the foggiest idea or do not have the foggiest, you do not know anything at all about something. ❑ I did not have the foggiest idea what he meant. ❑ ‘How often does it need to be changed?’ – ‘Haven’t the foggiest.’

ignorance is bliss People say ignorance is bliss to mean that it is pleasant not to know about something because then you do not worry about it. ❑ In the morning there were fresh footprints outside my tent but it was one of those occasions when I decided ignorance is bliss. ❑ I’m glad I didn’t know too much about my eye operation – ignorance is bliss.

within an inch of rejecting the idea altogether. give someone an inch and they’ll take a mile If you say give someone an inch and they’ll take a mile, you mean that if you do a small favour for someone, they will become greedy and ask you to do bigger and bigger favours for them and make you regret doing the first favour. ❑ Be tough and uncompromising – if you give them an inch, they will take a mile. ● Sometimes people just say give them an inch, or use another word instead of ‘mile’. ❑ You know what kids are like. Give them an inch. ❑ The problem with him was that if you gave him an inch he’d take six. to within an inch of your life If someone beats another person to within an inch of their life, they beat them very severely. ❑ His fists were clenched as if he were going to beat Smythe to within an inch of his life. You can use to within an inch of their life or within an inch of their life after a verb to say that someone does something to an extreme degree. ❑ Can a classic car that has been restored to within an inch of its life still be described as original? ❑ You can see them shopping in London stores, groomed within an inch of their lives, with their best sides ready for any passing press photographer.

the spitting image ➜ see spit

inch come within an inch of doing something If you come within an inch of doing something, you very nearly do it. ❑ The company came within an inch of going bankrupt. ● You can also say that you are within an inch of doing something. ❑ She had been

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innings

imitation is the sincerest form of flattery When people say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, they mean that if someone copies you, it must be because they admire you. ❑ Gregory Campbell went into West Belfast last week, I was there years ago. But imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

imitation

be bleeding red ink [journalism] If a company is bleeding red ink, it has severe financial problems. ❑ Even large companies are bleeding red ink. ❑ The company reported huge losses for the year ended March 31, but vowed that after three straight years of bleeding red ink, the worst is behind them. This expression comes from the practice in the past of using red ink to fill in entries on the debit side of a book of accounts.

image

ink

An innings is a period in a game of cricket during which a particular team or player is batting. have had a good innings [mainly british, old-fashioned] You can say that someone has had a good innings when they have just stopped doing something or are just

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about to stop doing something, for of evidence, etc. is absolutely certain and example a job, that they have been doing can definitely be believed. successfully for a long time. ❑ They are demanding cast-iron guarantees of a ❑ Roy, you’ve had a good innings – I reckon it’s fair hearing. ❑ Even if one could visualize her as a now time for you to pack up Formula 1. murderer, she has a cast-iron alibi. ❑ They will When someone has just died or is about punish you for being late, unless you’ve a to die, if you say that they have had a cast-iron excuse. good innings, you mean that they have ✪ an iron fist or lived for a long time and have had a good an iron hand life. If you do something with an iron fist or an ❑ Lord knows, I’ve had a good innings and I’m in iron hand, you do it with great force and pain, Hannah. I want to go. strength. ❑ The Generals have ruled the nation with an iron ins fist for more than half of its independent ✪ the ins and outs existence. ❑ Peace was enforced with an iron The ins and outs of a situation or subject hand in the conquered territories. are all the complicated details or facts ● You can also talk about the iron fist of or about it. the the iron hand of something. ❑ The ❑ Lawyers will no doubt debate the legal ins and outs of this case. ❑ There are many helpful books symbol of their rule was not so much the iron fist that can advise on the ins and outs of dieting in of repression as the empty shelves of a failing great detail. economy. an iron fist in the velvet glove insult If you describe someone or something as ✪ add insult to injury an iron fist in the velvet glove you mean If someone or something adds insult to that they look gentle but in fact they use a injury, they make a bad situation worse lot of force. by doing or causing another bad thing. ❑ There is an iron fist in the velvet glove of the ❑ She stood there and made him wash every part charming Irishman as he plots to make Leeds the of his body. She then added insult to injury by top team of the new millennium. trimming his hair and making him wear a linen pump iron shirt several sizes too big for him. ❑ Birth is such If someone pumps iron, they lift heavy a shock, and what usually follows adds insult to weights for exercise. injury. The poor little thing is held upside down ❑ Unlike Richard, I hadn’t spent hours pumping and slapped. ● You can use to add insult to injury or iron and running on the treadmill. strike while the iron is hot adding insult to injury to introduce a If you strike while the iron is hot, you act further unpleasant thing that has happened and that you are reporting. quickly, while there is the best chance of ❑ The driver of the car that killed the pensioner succeeding at something. got away with a £250 fine. To add insult to injury, ❑ This is the week to get plans off the ground. It’s he drove away from court in his own car. time to strike while the iron is hot. ❑ In order to get the recognition, you have to strike while the intents iron is hot. ✪ to all intents and purposes A blacksmith can only bend or work iron You say to all intents and purposes to when it is hot. suggest that a situation is not exactly as you describe it but the effect is the same irons as if it were. have a lot of irons in the fire ❑ To all intents and purposes he was my father. If you have a lot of irons in the fire, you ● People sometimes just say to all intents have several different plans or with the same meaning. ❑ For the first time opportunities, so that there is likely to be in many years he was, to all intents, a free man. something which succeeds even if others fail. iron ❑ I’ve got a lot of irons in the fire now and there’s cast-iron [british] or no reason to think that something isn’t going to cast iron [mainly american] work out. A cast-iron or a cast iron guarantee, piece

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item

● This expression is very variable. For instance, words such as a few, other, or several can be used instead of a lot of. ❑ We have a few irons in the fire and I’m optimistic two or three new faces will be here for pre-season training. This expression may refer to flat irons, which were used in the past to iron clothes and had to be heated over a fire. Alternatively, it may refer to a blacksmith heating several pieces of iron in the fire at once.

item

be an item [informal] If two people are an item, they are having a romantic or sexual relationship. ❑ She and Gino were an item.

ivories

the Mercury Lounge alongside bassist Chris Breitner.

ivory

✪ an ivory tower If you say that someone is in an ivory tower, you mean that they are protected from the problems of ordinary life and are not aware of how ordinary people live. ❑ They’re all out of touch – they live up in a little ivory tower, and they don’t see what’s going on down here. ❑ This won’t happen until politicians come down from their ivory tower and learn to work in the real world of limited budgets and uncertain futures. This is a translation of a French expression ‘tour d’ivoire’, which was used by the critic Saint-Beuve to describe the way in which the writer Alfred de Vigny isolated himself from the rest of society.

tickle the ivories [informal] If someone tickles the ivories, they play the piano.

❑ Peter Brown tickles the ivories tonight at

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Jj SA

❑ I went through all the people called Lasalles in the Sydney phone book until I hit the jackpot. before you could say Jack Robinson This expression was originally used in ➜ see say poker (= a card game). A ‘jackpot’ was a I’m all right, Jack sum of money which increased until People say I’m all right, Jack to mean that someone could start the betting with a their own situation is good and they do pair of jacks or higher. not care about anyone else. ❑ It’s easy to think only of yourselves, say ‘I’m all jail right Jack’ and sign the contract. ✪ get out of jail [british, journalism] ● I’m all right, Jack is used before nouns to If you get out of jail, especially in a sports describe this kind of attitude. ❑ That’s a bit match, you only just succeed in avoiding of an I’m all right Jack attitude isn’t it? defeat or a difficult situation. ❑ Mills accepted his side had been lucky: ‘I’ve a jack of all trades never seen Josh Smith miss so many kicks at goal, If you describe someone as a jack of all so you could say we got out of jail.’ trades, you mean that they have many ● You can also say that someone plays or different work skills. ❑ His father, after leaving the army, was a jack of has a get-out-of-jail card or a get-out-ofall trades. jail-free card. ❑ They were not having their greatest game but they played the get-out-of-jail If you describe someone as a jack of all card. trades, you can also mean that they can do a large number of different things but This expression comes from the game that they are not very good at doing any of ‘Monopoly’, where players can use a them. special card in order to leave jail early. ❑ His critics sometimes described him as a jack of jam all trades. jam tomorrow [mainly british] ● You can also say that someone is a jack If you say jam tomorrow, you mean that of all trades and master of none. ❑ I someone often promises that something believe in specialisation. Too many photographers good is going to happen but that, in are jacks of all trades and masters of none. reality, it never seems to happen. In the past, the name Jack was used to ❑ The government’s big plans for education are refer to any man or workman. no more than jam tomorrow. ● Jam today is used to refer to the idea jackpot ✪ hit the jackpot that people can have something If you hit the jackpot with something, immediately, rather than having to wait. you have great success and earn a lot of ❑ Economists generally assume that most people money from it. value jam today more highly than the same ❑ The National Theatre hit the jackpot with its quantity of jam tomorrow. ● This expression is often used to suggest first musical, Guys And Dolls. ❑ The three actors hit the jackpot when they opened their restaurant that people are in fact unlikely to receive in New York. what they have been promised. You can say that someone hits the This expression comes from the jackpot when they succeed in getting or children’s story ‘Through the Looking finding something which they have been Glass’, by Lewis Carroll, where the Red searching for. Queen says, ‘The rule is jam tomorrow

jack

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jazz

and jam yesterday, but never jam today.’ As the main character, Alice, points out, this means that nobody will ever get any jam. someone’s jam If you say that something such as a song is your jam, you mean that it is your favourite, or that you like it a lot. ❑ Ever since the first time I heard that song, it’s been my jam. ❑ That movie was my jam back when I was about six.

jazz

and all that jazz [informal] People say and all that jazz to mean other things of a similar kind to the thing or things they have been talking about. ❑ She’s a successful businesswoman – nice house, big car and all that jazz. ❑ As the youngest member of the group, he represented youth, modernity, the future and all that jazz. ● This expression is often used to express slight disapproval.

Jell-O

jig the jig is up [american, informal] If the jig is up, someone can no longer do something wrong or illegal because someone has found out about it. ❑ They had been taking money from residents, but they knew the jig was up when one of them contacted the police. ➜ compare with the game is up

job be sleeping on the job or be asleep on the job If someone is sleeping on the job or is asleep on the job, they are not paying attention to the things they should be doing. ❑ His arrest on suspicion of fraud proved that the other directors had been sleeping on the job. ❑ They accused ministers responsible for the new laws of being asleep on the job. ● This expression is often varied. For example, you can also say that someone goes to sleep on the job or falls asleep on the job. ❑ When I got into the business, I found he had gone to sleep on the job. ❑ Was the publisher unable to afford an editor, or did he or she fall asleep on the job? do a job on someone [mainly american, informal] If one person does a job on another, the first person badly hurts or harms the second or defeats them completely. ❑ Look at your face! They sure did a job on you! ❑ Yankees pitchers did a job on Boston’s two most valuable players. a full-time job If a task is a full-time job, it takes a great deal of time and effort. ❑ Looking after a garden this size is a full-time job. make the best of a bad job [british] If you make the best of a bad job, you accept a bad situation and try to manage as well as you can. ❑ It was raining and there was no chance of any gardening. Better to make the best of a bad job and set off early for London. ❑ His irritation was obvious, but he was determined to be cheerful and make the best of a bad job.

like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall [american] If something is like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall, it is impossible or extremely difficult. Jell-O is a trademark. ❑ Trying to describe the party’s policy on this is like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall. Jell-O is a dessert that resembles ready-made jelly. This expression was first used by the American President Theodore Roosevelt in a letter to William Roscoe Thayer in 1915. He was describing the difficulty of negotiating with Colombia over the Panama Canal.

as the title of a novel by Paul Scott, published in 1966, that formed part of a series set in the Raj, or Victorian India. In this title, India is seen as the ‘jewel’, and the ‘crown’ is the British Empire.

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crown or the jewel in the crown of someone/ something If something or someone is the jewel in someone’s or something’s crown or the jewel in the crown of someone or something, it is the best thing they have, or their greatest achievement. ❑ He has written a number of excellent books but this novel is surely the jewel in his crown. ❑ The jewel in the architectural crown of North Yorkshire is almost certainly Castle Howard. This expression was known in Victorian times, but is probably most well known

✪ the jewel in someone’s/something’s

jewel

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judgment jobs

jobs for the boys [british] If you talk about jobs for the boys, you mean that good jobs are given to people who are the friends, relatives, or supporters of someone in a particular organization. ❑ The council has faced a string of allegations over ‘jobs for the boys’. ❑ The post wasn’t even advertised. In other words, this was a ‘jobs for the boys’ appointment. ● People also sometimes talk about jobs for the girls when it is women who are given jobs in this way. ❑ One of these women was a friend of the prime minister’s wife so inevitably there were comments about ‘jobs for the girls’. ● These expressions are used in a disapproving way.

Joe

251

joke

Joe Public [british, informal] or John Q Public [american, informal] People say Joe Public or John Q Public to talk about ordinary people. ❑ I don’t think Joe Public would be happy to pay me for much of what I do. ❑ John Q Public trusts you. Joe Schmoe or Joe Six-Pack [american, informal] People say Joe Schmoe or Joe Six-Pack to refer to an ordinary, average person. ❑ The networks are looking for something they can sell to Joe Schmoe who lives in a caravan in Alabama. ❑ The most crucial factor will be the attitude of Joe Six-Pack, the ordinary American consumer.

the joke is on someone If you say that the joke is on a particular person, you mean that they have been made to look foolish, especially when their intention was to make someone else seem foolish. ❑ It didn’t take long before we began to feel that maybe the joke was on us. ❑ Well kids, the joke is on us. We thought we were going to keep a secret from Nancy, but she’s way ahead of us.

joker the joker in the pack [mainly british] If something or someone is the joker in the pack, they are different from the other things or people in a situation and no one knows how they will behave. ❑ He’s seen very much as the wild boy of Italian fashion – the joker in the pack. The joker in a pack of playing cards is the card which does not belong to any of the four suits.

Joneses

keep up with the Joneses [informal] If someone tries to keep up with the Joneses, they deliberately buy or do the same things as the people around them so that they appear as successful as them. ❑ Her mother, Louise, was very keen on keeping up with the Joneses, and through much of her teens Linda accepted what she now calls ‘these false values’. ❑ Of course, in this desperate attempt to keep up with the Joneses, they are all the more likely to end up poor. ● You usually use this expression to show disapproval. This expression comes from the title of a comic strip by Arthur Momand, which was first published in the New York ‘Globe’ in 1913.

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judge

Johnny-come-lately [old-fashioned] You call someone a Johnny-come-lately if they get involved in an activity or organization when it has been happening or has existed for a long time and therefore have little knowledge or experience of it. ❑ Having arrived on the scene relatively recently, Sylva is regarded by many other managers as a Johnny-come-lately. ● Johnny-come-lately can also be used before a noun. ❑ We advise members to ensure that they are dealing with a reliable and long-established company – not some Johnny-come-lately firm that’s just set up round the corner. This name used to be given to new or inexperienced sailors in the American navy.

Johnny

sober as a judge ➜ see sober

judgment

‘Judgment’ is often spelled ‘judgement’ in British English.

sit in judgment on someone or sit in judgment over someone If someone sits in judgment on or over another person, they criticize their behaviour in a way that shows they think they are morally better than them. ❑ She’s no angel herself – she has no right to sit in judgement over other people. ❑ I think people

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jugular should work hard to keep a marriage alive. I don’t want to sit in judgment on other people, but if there’s anything that’s good you should try to hold on to it. ● You use this expression to show disapproval.

jugular

✪ [informal]

go for the jugular If someone goes for the jugular, they attack or criticize someone very severely, causing the most damage or biggest defeat possible. ❑ In fact, the 29-year-old Italian won just four points in the whole set as his opponent went for the jugular. ❑ Both newpapers went for the jugular yesterday in fierce attacks on the senator. ● You can also say that someone goes for the throat. ❑ She decided to forget about charming him and go for the throat. The jugular vein is a large vein in the neck and supplies blood to the neck and face.

juice jump

✪ be jumping up and down

let someone stew in their own juice ➜ see stew

got the jump on him and, with two laps to go, led by 1.8 seconds. ● Other verbs such as have are sometimes used instead of get. ❑ Schools in the upper part of Florida are playing games now while we haven’t even had a chance to practise, so they’re going to have a jump on us. This expression refers to a competitor in a running race leaving the starting blocks ahead of the other competitors. jump up and down If someone jumps up and down, they are very excited, happy, or angry about something. ❑ He’s always jumping up and down making a fuss. ❑ This behaviour gives you the chance to jump up and down with excitement and give your child lots of praise. one jump ahead If you are one jump ahead, you have done something quicker than someone else or are more successful than them. ❑ By spending two hours each day on preparation, I just managed to keep one jump ahead of my students. ❑ The company was always one jump ahead with the latest developments. take a running jump [mainly british, informal] If someone says that a person can take a running jump, they mean that they are annoyed with that person and do not care about their opinion. ❑ Yes, I’ve read what he wrote about the scheme and as far as I’m concerned, he can take a running jump. ❑ ‘I hope Mr Perry doesn’t see this.’ – ‘Mr Perry,’ Ed said, ‘can go take a running jump.’

If someone is jumping up and down about something, they are very angry or upset about it. ❑ It was a very controversial article that had people all over London jumping up and down with fury. for the high jump [british, old-fashioned] If someone is for the high jump, it is jury certain that they will be punished for ✪ the jury is out or something they have done wrong. the jury is still out ❑ If Cartwright catches us now, we’ll be for the If you say that the jury is out or the jury is high jump. still out on a particular subject, you mean This expression may refer to criminals that people have not yet formed an in the past being sentenced to death by opinion about it or reached a decision. hanging. ❑ The jury’s still out on what are the long-term ✪ get a jump on someone/something or effects of air pollution. ❑ Specialists haven’t been get the jump on someone/something able to make up their minds whether hair dye is [mainly american] safe or not. ‘The jury is still out,’ says Dr Venitt If you get a jump on someone or firmly. something, or get the jump on them, you This refers to the time when the jury in gain an advantage by doing something a court case retires from the court room before other people or before something to decide on a verdict. happens. just ❑ This year, many stores got a jump on the isn’t it just? shopping season by holding promotional sales People say isn’t it just? to agree with what even before Thanksgiving. ❑ The Greek runner

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justice someone has just said, especially to emphasize how shocking, surprising, etc. it is. ❑ ‘The whole idea’s crazy!’ – ‘Isn’t it just?’ just as well People use just as well to talk about a good or fortunate situation. ❑ Phew! Just as well I checked.

justice

do justice to something/someone If you do justice to something or someone, you describe or show them accurately, especially by showing their good qualities. ❑ It is impossible to do justice to the amazing flowers we saw. ❑ No report that I have heard does justice to the truth. If you do justice to something or someone, you give it the attention and effort it deserves. ❑ Florence wasn’t exactly doing justice to the

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food either, so there wasn’t a lot of point in staying. ❑ I am not skilled enough to do justice to the music. poetic justice Poetic justice is when bad things happen to someone who deserves it. ❑ Perhaps his illness was some kind of poetic justice for having deceived so many for so long. Occasionally people use poetic justice to describe something good that happens to someone who deserves it. ❑ If one can resolve several problems at once – ours as well as yours – it has a certain poetic justice. ✪ do yourself justice If you do yourself justice, you do something as well as you are capable of doing it. ❑ I don’t think I can win, but I want to do myself justice. ❑ The selection panel was impressed but felt she did not do herself justice in the interview.

U LY

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Kk SA kahuna

a big kahuna or a grand kahuna [american, informal] A big kahuna or a grand kahuna is a very important person in an organization. ❑ Suncorp Metway big kahuna Steve Jones may be thinking twice about his plans to start a business in North Queensland. The word ‘kahuna’ is from Hawaiian and means ‘wise man’.

kangaroo

a kangaroo court A kangaroo court is a court that is created quickly and is not official, and often not fair. ❑ All kinds of strange people appeared to testify in the kangaroo court which the newspapers had set up. ❑ I’ve been shot at, beaten up by military police, and sentenced to life imprisonment by a kangaroo court.

❑ She sees it as her role to keep the family on an even keel through its time of hardship. ❑ You may begin to wonder if having a baby was the right thing to do and whether you’ll ever get back on an even keel. The image here is of a ship moving along smoothly and steadily, because it is balanced and not leaning to either side.

keen

kangaroos

keen as mustard [mainly british, old-fashioned] If someone is keen as mustard they are very eager to do something. ❑ I have an adult pupil who scored very low in assessments but is keen as mustard. ● You can also describe someone as mustard-keen. ❑ Sir Richard was mustardkeen to say his bit. ‘Keen’ means enthusiastic, but is also used to mean sharp when referring to the blade or cutting edge of a tool or weapon. An acidic or sour taste can also be referred to as sharp, so enthusiasm is being likened to the sharp taste or ‘edge’ given to food by mustard.

If someone or something is on an even keel, they are calm and not changing much, especially during a period of difficulties.

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✪ on an even keel

earn its keep If something earns its keep, it is worth the amount of money that it costs or the space that it takes up. ❑ In Bob’s garden everything must earn its keep, with fruits and vegetables given priority over flowers. ❑ If you’re short of storage space in your kitchen, whatever appliances you do have really need to earn their keep. keep yourself to yourself If you keep yourself to yourself, you are a private person who doesn’t socialize much or share personal information with others. ❑ She works hard and keeps herself to herself. ❑ He used to keep himself to himself but now his life is all over social media.

keel

keep

have kangaroos in your top paddock or have kangaroos in the top paddock [australian, informal] If you say that someone has kangaroos in their top paddock or has kangaroos in the top paddock, you mean that they have strange or foolish ideas. ❑ Some people think I must have a few kangaroos in the top paddock. ● Roos can be used instead of kangaroos. ❑ Ever since, I’ve held the probably entirely unfair view that the Australian authorities might have a few roos loose in the top paddock. ➜ compare with have bats in the belfry A paddock is a small field next to a farm or stable. The idea is of having wild animals there instead of farm animals.

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kick keep something to yourself If you keep information or a secret to yourself, you don’t tell anyone else about it. ❑ I gave her the chance to explain but she’s keeping it all to herself. ❑ Please keep your opinions to yourself.

keeper

not someone’s keeper If you are asked where someone is and you answer that you are not their keeper, you are saying in quite a rude way that you do not know where they are and you cannot be expected to know. ❑ ‘I’ve no idea where he is,’ Hughes replied, ‘I’m not his keeper.’ not your brother’s keeper You can say that you are not your brother’s keeper to indicate that you do not accept responsibility for other people in any way. ❑ Part of me wants to help him, but part of me realizes I can’t be my brother’s keeper. These expressions come from a story in the Bible. Cain has killed his brother, Abel, but tries to deny it. ‘And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?’ (Genesis 4:9)

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kettle of fish or a fine kettle of fish, you mean that it is difficult or unpleasant. ❑ Well, this is a pretty kettle of fish, as Queen Mary said. ‘Kettle’ in these expressions may come from ‘kiddle’. Kiddles were baskets or nets which were laid in streams and rivers to catch fish. Alternatively, ‘kettle’ may refer to a fish kettle, which is a long narrow saucepan that is used for cooking fish.

kibosh

put the kibosh on something [informal, old-fashioned] If someone or something puts the kibosh on something, they prevent it from happening, continuing, or being successful. ❑ The export boom has also put the kibosh on the old belief that our economy is relatively self-sufficient. ❑ He refused to lend them the paintings, effectively putting the kibosh on the gallery’s plans for the exhibition. The origin of this expression is uncertain, but some people think that ‘kibosh’ may come from Yiddish.

kick

be better than a kick in the pants If you say that something is better than a kick in the pants, you mean that it is good ken that is has happened or that it has been beyond your ken given to you, but not extremely good. If something is beyond your ken, you do ❑ Employers will pay four cents less per $100. not know about it or understand it. That’s slightly better than a kick in the pants. ❑ The quirks of the antiques business were get a kick out of something [informal] beyond his ken. ❑ The scientific subject matter is If you get a kick out of something, you beyond the ken of the average person. enjoy it very much. ‘Ken’ here means the full range of ❑ One seller admits she gets a kick out of tricking someone’s knowledge or understanding. people. ❑ I suppose Americans get a kick out of The Scottish verb ‘ken’ means ‘know’. watching a crazy Brit family like us make kettle complete fools ourselves every week. ✪ a different kettle of fish or ✪ kick ass or another kettle of fish [british] kick butt [mainly american, informal, rude] You say that something is a different If a person in authority kicks ass or kettle of fish or another kettle of fish kicks butt, they behave in a strict and to emphasize that it is completely forceful way towards people in order to unlike another thing that you are make them do things. mentioning. ❑ We’re going to kick ass to make sure that these ❑ Artistic integrity? Who needs it? Money? departments deliver when they say they will. Now that’s a completely different kettle of fish. ❑ This guy was in charge. He was kicking butt. ❑ Howard was a sweetheart. But Clarisse was If you kick ass or kicks butt, you do another kettle of fish. something in a very impressive and a pretty kettle of fish or exciting way. a fine kettle of fish [british, old-fashioned] ❑ I wouldn’t do the show if I thought we were If you describe a situation as a pretty going to suck. But I know we’re gonna kick ass.

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kick-off ❑ He was sold to America as a star who could

really kick butt. a kick in the pants [informal] A kick in the pants is a something that forces someone to act more quickly and effectively or which punishes them if they do not. ❑ Some of us in the business community need a kick in the pants. ❑ It’s a kick in the pants for the politicians who promise to deliver and then fail to do so. kick someone in the teeth ➜ see teeth kick someone’s ass or kick someone’s butt [mainly american, informal, rude] If someone kicks your ass or kicks your butt, they attack you or punish you. ❑ Dad would have kicked my ass for allowing you to sleep here. ❑ We can kick his butt if he gets out of line. If someone kicks your ass or kicks your butt, they defeat you easily in a competition. ❑ There are guys who won’t qualify for the Open who could kick my ass most days. ❑ The Chicago team played tough there, let’s kick their butt when they come here. ‘Ass’ and ‘butt’ are informal and rude American words for ‘bottom’. kick someone when they are down If someone kicks you when you are down, they do something to harm you or upset you when you are already in a difficult or unpleasant situation. ❑ There seemed no point in kicking the man when he was down. ❑ When he and the team have been struggling, the Press have kicked them when they were down, with their cruel and ridiculous post-match comments. ✪ a kick up the backside [british, informal, rude] or a kick in the butt [american, informal, rude] If someone or something gives someone a kick up the backside, they shock them into trying harder to do something. ❑ I hope this gives him the kick up the backside he needs. Maybe he’ll try harder to look for a job now. ● This expression is often varied. For example, in British English up the arse or in the pants can be used instead of up the backside, and in American English in the ass can be used instead of in the butt. ❑ He got four goals. But he needed a kick up the arse before he started to play properly. ● You can also say that a person or event

kicks someone up the backside or in the pants. ❑ Did you think universities needed kicking up the backside a little bit? ❑ He sometimes had to be kicked in the pants to make full use of his athletic gifts. kick yourself If you kick yourself for doing something, you are annoyed with yourself for doing it. ❑ I was still kicking myself for not paying attention. ❑ I immediately regretted having said this – I could have kicked myself.

kick-off

for a kick-off You use for a kick-off to indicate that you are mentioning just one of a number of things, points, or reasons which you could mention if you wanted to. ❑ Is it not in fact the opinion of the public that most dentists earn far too much for a kick-off? ❑ Think what she has to give up. Smoking, for a kick-off, and having long hair. The kick-off is the beginning of a football match.

kicks

get your kicks [informal] If you get your kicks, you do something that gives you enjoyment and excitement. ❑ Visitors will be getting their kicks on San Bernardino’s stretch of the famous American Highway. ❑ She’s happy to get her kicks from modelling. ❑ They get their kicks out of seeing patients get better.

I kid you not People say I kid you not to emphasize that what they are saying is true and not a joke, even though it may seem unbelievable. ❑ The last time I went to the doctor, I kid you not, I was in and out in two minutes. like a kid in a candy store [american] If you are like a kid in a candy store in a particular situation, you do whatever you want and do not restrict your behaviour. ❑ There were so many options that I was like a kid in a candy store. ❑ Brubaker went on a buying binge and ‘felt like a kid in a candy store,’ he recalls.

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kid

The usual British expression is like a child in a sweet shop. a new kid on the block If someone is a new kid on the block,

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they are a new member of a group or have ❑ The government looked weak, and Cranborne’s just come to a new place. friends urged him to come to London to be in at ❑ I am the new kid on the block and I shall have to the kill. ❑ Burns had sparked the action after fight for my place in the first team like everyone else. only five miles of the race and was in at the kill 106 If something is a new kid on the block, miles and four-and-a-quarter hours later. it is new and has not been used much yet. This expression comes from fox❑ At that time, virtual reality was still a new kid hunting, where hunters want to be on the block. present when the fox is killed. treat someone with kid gloves or ✪ move in for the kill or handle someone with kid gloves go for the kill If you treat someone with kid gloves or In a fight or contest, if someone moves in handle them with kid gloves, you treat for the kill or goes for the kill, they act decisively to defeat their enemy or them very carefully, for example because opponent. they are very important or because they ❑ Manager Graeme Souness had urged his are easily upset. players to go for the kill and that vital ❑ Some artists have to be handled with kid gloves breakthrough almost came after 14 minutes. and apparently Jake thinks Lotte is one of them. ❑ As his partner moved in for the kill, Richard ❑ This is someone that you will have to treat with made his excuses and left. kid gloves. ● Other verbs are sometimes used instead ● Occasionally, people say that they treat of move in or go. ❑ Like a cat playing with a or handle something with kid gloves, to wounded mouse, he was in no great hurry to close mean that they are very careful about it. in for the kill. ❑ Even in presidential campaigns, foreign policy is treated with kid gloves. killing ● Kid gloves is used in other structures ✪ make a killing and expressions where you are describing If someone makes a killing, they make a how carefully someone is being treated. large profit very quickly and easily. ❑ We must take off the kid gloves and smash ❑ The boss of Britain’s top pizza company made a these evil monsters once and for all. ❑ They killing yesterday by selling off some of his shares. accused him of using kid gloves to deal with ❑ If there is uncertainty about future gold prices, violence and intimidation. you could be lucky and make a killing. ● People sometimes use this expression kindness when they want to suggest that they do kill someone with kindness not think this kind of treatment is right If you kill someone with kindness, you or necessary. treat them too kindly when this is not Kid is very soft leather. what they need or want. ❑ ‘He is killing me with kindness,’ Sallie says. Kilkenny ‘He’s just too attentive.’ fight like Kilkenny cats [british, old-fashioned] king If people fight like Kilkenny cats, they a king’s ransom ➜ see ransom fight or disagree very violently. live like a king ❑ For six years Mr Wilder and Mr Robb have been If someone lives like a king, they have a fighting like Kilkenny cats. very luxurious lifestyle. This expression comes from the story of ❑ Although he lives like a king, he manages it two cats in the Irish town of Kilkenny, without causing resentment. ❑ Company which are said to have fought each executives lived like kings and were paid millions other until only their tails were left. of dollars each.

kill in at the kill [british] or in on the kill If someone is in at the kill or is in on the kill, they are present and either watching or taking part when a contest or struggle comes to an end and one side is defeated.

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kingdom blow someone/something to kingdom come or blow someone/something from here to kingdom come If someone blows someone or something to kingdom come or from here to

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kiss kingdom come, they destroy them completely and often violently. ❑ She couldn’t shoot freely for fear of blowing herself to kingdom come. ❑ She remembered him blowing the cliff to kingdom come without a moment’s fear. ● Verbs such as blast, bomb, and shoot are sometimes used instead of blow. ❑ We bombed the country from here to kingdom come. to kingdom come or from here to kingdom come If something happens or is done to kingdom come or from here to kingdom come, it happens or is done over a large distance. ❑ We will chase them from here to kingdom come. ❑ The wind threatened to blow all the tents from here to kingdom come. This comes from the line ‘Thy kingdom come’ in the Lord’s Prayer in the Bible. (Matthew 6:10)

❑ People are not kissing my arse, but just being very friendly. ❑ How do you know if people really

like you or if they’re just kissing your ass? ● In American English, butt is often used instead of ass. ❑ I’m not kissing his butt, but he’s like a god of producers. ● In American English, you can also just say kiss ass or kiss butt. ❑ I’m just tired of kissing ass in here. I’m tired of talking to these people. If you say that someone can kiss your arse, you mean that you will not do what they want you to do or that you do not care about their opinion. ❑ I just want to say to all the critics who are going to write something nasty about me, tomorrow that they can kiss my arse. ● In American English, butt is often used instead of ass. ❑ The police can kiss my butt! ● You can also just say Kiss my arse to someone. ❑ ‘I’m not telling you anything. Why kiss should I?’ – ‘Because I’ve bought you forty dollars kiss and make up worth of beer.’ – ‘Kiss my ass.’ If two people or groups kiss and make up, ✪ the kiss of death they become friends again after an If an event or action is the kiss of death argument or fight. for something, it is certain to cause that ❑ I sent her a big bottle of champagne with a note thing to fail or be ruined. saying, Sorry, hope we can kiss and make up. ❑ The conventional view of the timber industry is ❑ They argue constantly and publicly but always that it is the kiss of death for a rainforest. manage to kiss and make up. ❑ Living with other painters is the kiss of death. ✪ kiss-and-tell This expression refers to the Bible story Kiss-and-tell is used to describe situations of how Judas betrayed Jesus by kissing where someone has a romantic relationship him. This identified Jesus to the Romans, with a famous person and then tells and led to his arrest and crucifixion. people, usually journalists, about it. ❑ On many occasions we discussed selling details kitchen everything but the kitchen sink of kiss-and-tell stories. ❑ It looks unlikely that You use everything but the kitchen sink there will be a kiss and tell book. to talk about a lot of different objects, ● If someone tells their story in this way, many of which are unnecessary. you can say that they kiss and tell. You ❑ They tend to pack everything but the kitchen can also refer to their behaviour as kissing sink in rather too many suitcases. and telling. ❑ In no circumstances will I kiss ● Kitchen sink is used in other structures and tell. ❑ The girls in these cases are accused of to mean a lot of different objects. ❑ Their kissing and telling. So what? stores sell everything including the kitchen sink. This expression appears in the play ● This expression is used humorously. ‘Love for Love’ by William Congreve

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kite

(1695): ‘Oh, fie, Miss, you must not kiss and tell’. kiss someone’s arse [british, informal, very rude] or kiss someone’s ass [american, informal, rude] If you say that someone kisses a person’s arse or kisses their ass, you mean that they try too hard to please that person.

be flying a kite [mainly british] If someone is flying a kite, they are suggesting ideas or possibilities in order to see how people react to them before making a decision about them. ❑ The committee has paid a good deal of attention to what might be politically possible. It is consciously flying a kite. ❑ The idea came from

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❑ The country was brought to its knees after a wave of strikes. ❑ Uncontrolled lending brought

a senator, but it seems likely that he was flying a kite for the secretary of state. ● You can also talk about kite-flying. ❑ Bracken says he does not want to start kite-flying for his candidacy. high as a kite ➜ see high

the economy to its knees. ● You can also say that a country or

organization is on its knees. ❑ The Government was on its knees.

kittens

knell

have kittens [mainly british, informal] ✪ sound the death knell If someone has kittens, they become If something sounds the death knell for extremely worried or upset by something. an activity or organization, it causes the ❑ The boss will have kittens if I don’t get back activity or organization to end or fail. within an hour. ❑ The Government was having ❑ The announcement that the mine would close kittens over the treaty. in March with the loss of more than 980 jobs In the Middle Ages it was said that if a sounded the death knell for the village. pregnant woman was having stomach ● This expression has many variations. pains she had kittens clawing inside For example, you can use other verbs her womb. instead of sound, or simply use the death knell to describe something that causes knee something else to end or fail. ❑ The present knee-high to a grasshopper [oldsystem of industrialization marked the death fashioned] knell of traditional art. ❑ A new supermarket in If you say that you have done something the area would be the death knell for many small, since you were knee-high to a independent food shops. grasshopper, you mean that you have A death knell is the ringing of a church done it since you were a very young child. bell at a funeral or to announce ❑ I’ve lived here since I was knee-high to a someone’s death. grasshopper. on bended knee knickers If someone asks for something on bended get your knickers in a twist [british, knee, they ask for it in a strong and informal] urgent way, showing a lot of respect to the If someone gets their knickers in a twist, person they are asking. they become very upset or worried about ❑ Film-makers are having to go on bended knee to something. funders. ❑ He begged them on bended knee to ❑ He’ll get a nasty shock, but he’s not the first cross the river so that both armies could fight side one, and he won’t be the last, so why get our by side. knickers in a twist? ❑ Let’s not get our knickers ● You can also say that someone goes in a twist until we see the outcome of those down on their knees to ask for games. ● You can also say that someone has their something. ❑ He would be looking for co-operation, not charity. He would not be going knickers in a twist. ❑ So why do these MPs down on his knees to beg. have their knickers in a twist? ● This expression is often used to show knees that you think that someone is more bring someone to their knees upset than is reasonable. If something brings a person to their

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knife

knees, it makes them extremely weak or tired. ❑ The pressure of other people’s expectations brought me almost to my knees. ● You can also say that someone is on their knees. ❑ Several times this afternoon he had sounded as if he were on his knees. ✪ bring something to its knees If something brings a country or organization to its knees, it damages or destroys them.

like a hot knife through butter [british, american] or like a knife through butter [british] If something goes through something else like a hot knife through butter or like a knife through butter, it goes through it very easily. ❑ The edge of the plastic cut through my top lip like a knife through butter. ❑ Lasers can slice through rock like a hot knife through butter.

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knight

If you deal with a problem or difficult ❑ There have been some embarrassing silences at situation like a hot knife through butter meal times. You could cut the atmosphere with a or like a knife through butter, you deal knife. with it quickly and easily. ● You can use air, or a word such as ❑ My sister is practical. She would steer through tension that refers to an unpleasant a situation like ours like a hot knife through feeling, instead of atmosphere. ❑ As soon butter. as we entered the church, you could cut the air ✪ on a knife-edge [mainly british] with a knife. ❑ At secondary school, the tension If someone or something is on a on parents’ nights can be cut with a knife. knife-edge, they are in a situation in knight which nobody knows whether something ‘Armour’ is spelled ‘armor’ in good or something bad is going to happen American English. next. ❑ No further incidents have been reported today, a knight in shining armour but this remains a town on the knife-edge of If you describe a man as a knight in conflict. ❑ With recovery poised on a knife-edge shining armour, you mean that he has the country needs a leader with vision and stature. rescued you from a difficult situation, ● You can also say that someone walks a often in a kind and brave way. knife-edge. ❑ The company could fail at any ❑ I just felt dizzy and then I collapsed. moment. They’re walking a knife-edge. The next thing I woke up in hospital. I am ● You can also use knife-edge before a very, very grateful to Tom and I always will be noun. ❑ The government faces a knife-edge vote – he really was my knight in shining armour. on its plans for the coal industry. ❑ She found a surprising knight in shining put the knife in or armor in her company’s attorney, who rode in stick the knife in [mainly british] to save her job, rescue her love life and give her If someone puts the knife in or sticks the a place to live. knife in, they deliberately do or say things In stories written or set in the Middle which will upset another person or cause Ages, a knight in shining armour problems for them. traditionally came to the rescue of a ❑ Every time he applied for a job, someone put ‘damsel (= young woman) in distress’. the knife in and made sure Jack’s background knitting became known. ❑ Her colleagues – often eager to stick to your knitting stick the knife in – defended her yesterday. If someone, especially a company or twist the knife or organization, sticks to their knitting, twist the knife in the wound they continue to do something that they If someone twists the knife or twists the are experienced at and do not try to do knife in the wound, they deliberately do something different about which they or say something which make a situation know very little. even worse for someone who is upset or ❑ It failed because we did not understand the experiencing problems. plumbing business, and it taught us a lesson ❑ Her daughter managed to twist the knife still about sticking to our knitting! further by claiming Nancy never loved her. ❑ To knives twist the knife in the wound, he appears to have cast doubt on whether Gray’s invention was really ✪ the knives are out [mainly british] If the knives are out for someone, people his own idea. are criticizing and trying to cause ● You can also talk about a twist of the problems for that person. knife. ❑ Any cut-backs on the ceremony would ❑ The knives are out for me at the moment. be a further twist of the knife for bereaved ❑ Now that she’s married to one of the world’s families. most famous men, the knives are out. you could cut the atmosphere with a ● You can also say that someone has their knife knives out if they are eager to criticize If you say you could cut the atmosphere someone or cause problems for them. with a knife, you mean that the ❑ Arendt and Huber had their knives out, and atmosphere in a place is extremely tense or unfriendly. they were being encouraged to stick them in me.

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be knocked sideways [british] If something is knocked sideways, it is severely damaged, and may not recover. ❑ Most of the country’s trade unions have been knocked sideways in the past decade. ❑ Confidence in the British legal system has been knocked sideways. ➜ compare with knock someone sideways knock ‘em dead ➜ see dead knock it off [informal] If you tell someone to knock it off, you are telling them to stop doing something that is annoying you. ❑ The look on her face told me she had no idea what I was trying to do, but whatever it was I had better knock it off. knock someone sideways [british] If something knocks you sideways, it makes you feel amazed, confused, or very upset. ❑ What knocks most visitors sideways is the sheer power and beauty of the place. ❑ Something like this, a huge shock, completely knocks you sideways. ➜ compare with be knocked sideways knock yourself out [informal] You can say knock yourself out to tell someone that they should go ahead and help themselves or do what they want, even if you do not approve. ❑ If that’s the way you want to live your life, knock yourself out.

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the next ruler of Asia. When Alexander the Great heard this, he solved the problem by cutting through the knot with a sword. ✪ tie the knot [informal] If two people tie the knot, they get married. ❑ The couple tied the knot last year after a 13-year romance. ❑ Ashley tied the knot with Kate five years ago. Tying knots in items of clothing or ribbons worn by the bride and groom is a traditional feature of many wedding ceremonies, symbolizing their unity.

knots

tie someone in knots or tie someone up in knots If someone ties you in knots or ties you up in knots in a discussion or argument, they confuse you by using clever arguments, so that you cannot argue or think clearly any longer. ❑ He could tie her in knots in an argument and never once missed an opportunity to prove his intellectual superiority. ❑ He had easily tied her up in knots, cleverly casting serious doubt on her mental faculties. tie yourself in knots or tie yourself up in knots If you tie yourself in knots or tie yourself up in knots, you make yourself confused or anxious, so you are not able to think clearly. ❑ The New York Times editorial page tied itself in knots trying to find the correct tone with which to treat the matter. ❑ Catherine is tying herself up in knots with worry because nine-year-old Alice has school phobia.

knot

cut the Gordian knot [literary] If someone cuts the Gordian knot, they deal with a difficult situation in a quick, forceful and effective way. know ❑ Mr Sandler cut the Gordian knot that was ✪ be in the know strangling the market. If you are in the know about something, ● Verbs such as break, untie and untangle especially something that is not known are sometimes used instead of cut. about or understood by many people, you ❑ Which country should make the first move to have information about it. untie the Gordian knot? ❑ These deaths especially affected poor women, ● Gordian knot is used to describe a since the better off had their babies at home. problem that is very difficult to solve. Those in the know tried to keep out of hospital. ❑ The federal deficit has become the Gordian knot ❑ Anyone in the know about what had really of Washington. ❑ He found himself tied up in a taken place would have realised immediately that real emotional Gordian Knot. this was dangerous. According to an ancient legend, ✪ for all someone knows Gordius, the king of Phrygia, tied a knot You use for all someone knows to say that that nobody could untie. It was said that person does not know the facts of a if anyone untied it, they would become situation.

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knuckle ❑ For all we know, he may even not be in this country. ❑ She’s had a miserable time staying

might be an even bigger one – I doubt it, but you never know.

faithful to someone who for all she knows might knuckle not be coming back. near the knuckle [british] know something backwards ➜ see If something that someone says or backwards writes is near the knuckle, it is close know something backwards and to the limits of what people find forwards ➜ see backwards acceptable, for example because it is ✪ know something/someone inside out sexually explicit or offensive to If you know something or someone inside particular groups. out, you know them extremely well. ❑ Some of the jokes in his live show were a bit ❑ Liam has played for some of the greatest clubs near the knuckle. ❑ A lot of the material is very in Europe and knows the game inside out. ❑ I used near the knuckle. to think I knew my daughter inside out, and I still ● You can use near-the-knuckle before a find it hard to understand what she has done to me. noun. ❑ He has made a career out of ● You can also say that you know someone near-the-knuckle comedy routines. or something inside and out. ❑ He knows knuckles the house inside and out, having stayed there so ✪ rap someone on the knuckles or often. rap someone’s knuckles not know whether you are coming or If someone in authority raps you on the going [spoken] knuckles or raps your knuckles, they If you don’t know whether you are criticize you for doing something they coming or going, you feel very confused consider to be wrong. and are unable to think clearly. ❑ I was rapped on the knuckles for interfering in ❑ We worked 16 hours a day. By the end of the things that were not my concern. week we didn’t know whether we were coming or ● People often use over instead of on. going. ❑ The truth is I’m so excited that I hardly ❑ The report raps teachers over the knuckles for know whether I’m coming or going. not appearing to have any influence over children not know you are born at all. If you say that someone doesn’t know ● You can also say that you have your they are born, you mean that they do not knuckles rapped, or that you get a rap on realize how lucky they are. the knuckles. ❑ The station has had its ❑ Unbelievably, he was texting all through their knuckles rapped for the third time by the Radio date. Some blokes don’t know they’re born. Authority. ❑ The club yesterday received a rap on ✪ you never know the knuckles from the Football Association. You say you never know to mean that it is In the past, teachers sometimes not certain what will happen in the punished pupils who behaved badly by future, and to suggest that there is some hitting them on the knuckles with a hope that things will turn out well. ruler or stick. ❑ You never know, I might get lucky. ❑ There

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Ll SA labour

‘Labour’ is spelled ‘labor’ in American English.

✪ a labour of love

A labour of love is a task that you do because you enjoy it or feel strongly that it is worth doing. ❑ There is no doubt that his debut novel is a labour of love, and obviously very close to his heart. ❑ They concentrated on restoring buildings such as the Victorian greenhouse, an expensive labour of love. This appears in the Bible in 1 Thessalonians 1:3, ‘Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ’.

it isn’t over until the fat lady sings If you say it isn’t over until the fat lady sings, you mean that something, especially the result of a contest, is not certain and there is still time for the situation to change. ❑ If they win tomorrow’s match, there’s still a very small chance they might get through. You know what they say, it isn’t over until the fat lady sings. ● This expression can be varied, for instance using ain’t instead of isn’t and till instead of until. ❑ While saying it wasn’t over till the fat lady sings, Mr Sidebottom admitted it wasn’t looking good for him. ❑ Jack tells his teammates not to give up because it ain’t over till the fat lady sings. The origin of this expression is uncertain but it may refer humorously to the fact that in the final part of an opera there is often a piece sung by the heroine before her death, a part often played by a large soprano singer. a lady of leisure A lady of leisure is a woman who does not have to work. ❑ There’ll be no more mid-week shopping now you’re no longer a lady of leisure.

lads one of the lads [british] If you describe a man as one of the lads,

ladies who lunch Ladies who lunch are wealthy women who do not to have to work, and who spend a lot of time with their friends. ❑ He is best known for making clothes for ladies who lunch.

ladies

climb up the ladder or climb the ladder If you climb up the ladder or climb the ladder, you become more and more successful or important. ❑ There’s no need for the sort of competitive behaviour you get at companies where people are trying to climb up the ladder. ❑ He became the first man to climb the social ladder from a log cabin to the White House. ● You can also say that someone moves up the ladder. ❑ If you think you can do more than you are doing in your present position, you owe it to yourself to make the effort to move up the ladder.

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lady

ladder

you mean that he is accepted as being part of a group of men who behave in ways which are considered typically masculine. ❑ He likes being one of the lads, you know, drinking beer down the pub. ❑ He is immensely popular, truly one of the lads. ➜ compare with one of the boys

lam on the lam [mainly american, informal] If someone is on the lam, they are trying to escape or hide from someone, for example the police or an enemy. ❑ He is currently on the lam, wanted for the sale and trafficking of cocaine. ❑ A Rhode Island

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lamb banker accused of stealing millions has turned himself in after months on the lam. ‘Lam’ is an American slang word meaning running away.

lamb

❑ The Paradiso, one of the capital’s newest and most luxurious clubs, was doing a land-office business. ❑ Scooter and bicycle dealers are doing land-office business. In the United States before the Civil War, the government opened up land offices which sold rights to pieces of land in the West. So many people wanted to buy land to settle on that there were often long queues outside the offices before they opened in the morning.

gentle as a lamb ➜ see gentle like a lamb If someone is like a lamb or does something like a lamb, they are gentle, quiet, and obedient, often when you expect them to cause trouble. ❑ She’d followed him like a lamb. ❑ I gave him his medication, and he took it like a lamb. lane like a lamb to the slaughter ✪ life in the fast lane If someone goes somewhere like a lamb to Life in the fast lane is a way of life which the slaughter, they go there quietly and is full of activity, excitement, and often obediently because they have not realized pressure. that it will be dangerous or unpleasant, or ❑ Tired of life in the fast lane, Jack decided to give because they are powerless. it all up to become a painter. ❑ His young bride walked down the aisle like a ● People often say that a person lives life lamb to the slaughter. in the fast lane or lives in the fast lane. ● People sometimes use sheep instead of ❑ The 28-year-old rugby player lives life in the fast lamb. ❑ I had no idea what the interview would lane both on and off the field. ❑ She knew how to be like and went to it like a sheep to the slaughter. have a good time, and had a reputation for living quiet as a lamb ➜ see quiet in the fast lane. land life in the slow lane in the land of the living Life in the slow lane, is a way of life which If someone is in the land of the living, is relaxed and not very busy. they are alive. ❑ Enjoyable cruising is all about life in the slow ❑ Lessing said that she had no intention of lane. ❑ They told their audience to chill out, kick allowing someone to write a biography of her as back and enjoy life in the slow lane. long as she was still in the land of the living. ‘Fast lane’ and ‘slow lane’ refer to the If someone is in the land of the living, speed of traffic in the different lanes of they are awake, healthy, or lively. a motorway. ❑ Talking, even if it is only about the weather, language reassures your carers that you are back in the land speak the same language of the living. If people speak the same language, they the land of milk and honey ➜ see milk have the same views about things or want the lay of the land or to achieve the same things. the lie of the land ❑ Like Castle, Wilson had been brought up in a The lay of the land or the lie of the land, is similar way, and they spoke the same language. the basic facts of a situation. ❑ We have to make sure that the seller and the ❑ With the legal lay of the land unclear, many customer are both speaking the same language. company executives decided not to talk directly to lap shareholders. ❑ I thought it would be better to In the first four idioms, ‘lap’ refers to ring first and see how things were. Check the lie of the area at the top of your thighs when the land. you are sitting down, where a child land-office would sit. be doing a land-office business or

be doing land-office business [american, old-fashioned] If a company is doing a land-office business or is doing land-office business, it is very successful.

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fall into your lap or drop into your lap If something good falls into your lap or drops into your lap, you get it without making any effort.

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large cheques that regularly fall in to her lap.

❑ It would not be safe to assume that victory will

large as life [british, american] or big as life [american] If you say that someone is somewhere, large as life or big as life, you mean that you are surprised and sometimes shocked to see them there. ❑ And now she was back, large as life, to claim her inheritance. ❑ Amos walked big as life into the diner and took his time over the menu.

drop into our lap at the next election. in the lap of luxury If you live in the lap of luxury, you live in conditions of great comfort and wealth. ❑ We don’t live in the lap of luxury, but we’re comfortable. ❑ They are heading for retirement and intend to spend it in the lap of luxury. larger ● You can say that something is the lap of ✪ larger than life [british, american] or luxury when it is very comfortable and bigger than life [american] If you describe someone as larger than life expensive. ❑ The house seemed like the lap of or bigger than life, you mean that they luxury. have a very strong personality and behave in the lap of the gods in a way that makes people notice them. If something is in the lap of the gods, it ❑ She was larger than life yet intensely human, will be decided or affected by luck or brilliant yet warm. ❑ He’s bigger than life, and chance, rather than anything you can do. she’s quiet and humble. ❑ I’ve done all I can to get the job so we’ll see what ● Larger-than-life or bigger-than-life is happens. It’s in the lap of the gods. ❑ You make a often used before nouns. ❑ John Huston was recording of your song. Then, when the tape’s a larger-than-life character, whose temperament been sent, it’s in the lap of the gods. was as dramatic as any of the characters in his The idea here is that nobody knows own films. ❑ Working with Spielberg was a what blessings will fall from the lap of bigger-than-life experience. the gods until they actually appear on lark earth. happy as a lark ➜ see happy land in your lap up with the lark [mainly british, If something such as criticism or a old-fashioned] problem lands in your lap, you are forced If you are up with the lark, you get up very to accept it or deal with it even if it is not early in the morning. really your responsibility. ❑ Most bakers are up with the lark. ❑ These problems have landed in the lap of A lark is a British bird that is well-known Donald Jackson, an unassuming manager with for its tuneful early morning song. little international experience. ❑ Why should Larry this criticism land in the lap of a soldier, rather happy as Larry ➜ see happy than a minister or official? ● You can also say that something is lash thrown into your lap. ❑ The solution of the have a lash at something [australian, funding crisis should not be thrown into the lap of informal] students. If you have a lash at something, you ● Other verbs are sometimes used instead attempt to do it. ❑ He had been climbing for years and decided to of land or throw. ❑ Few governments seem have a lash at Everest. ready to pay the bill for tossing the world’s problems into the UN’s lap. last the last lap ✪ last but not least The last lap is the final part of a long You use last but not least to say that the activity. last person or thing to be mentioned is as ❑ Monica is on the last lap now – she is doing six important as all the others. weeks medicine at Birmingham General Hospital. ❑ We are pleased to welcome her four sons, The last lap is the final part of a Christopher, twins Daniel and Nicholas, and last journey. but not least 2-year-old Jack. ❑ And last but not ❑ The car turned into a long avenue of pine trees, least, try to eat fresh fruit rather than desserts the last lap of their journey to the Venters’ house. loaded with sugar.

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lather

stick to your last [british, old-fashioned] you fail all your exams and can’t get a job. ❑ When this game is over, Charley, you’ll be If you say that someone should stick to laughing out of the other side of your face. their last, you mean that they should continue doing what they are experienced ✪ have the last laugh If you have the last laugh, you become at and not try to do new things. more successful than someone who has ❑ Looking back, I should have stuck to my last laughed at or criticized you in the past. and gone on to get a research job in one of the ❑ The singer is expecting to have the last laugh studios. on his critics now that over a million copies of his ● People sometimes use the whole phrase album have been downloaded. ❑ She was let the cobbler stick to his last, or change mocked for her lack of political experience. But she part of it to fit a particular situation. has had the last laugh. Her party has increased its ❑ You see before you an embarrassed cobbler who number of seats from 112 to perhaps 150. will stick to his last from now on. ❑ I was afraid they’d think, ‘Why can’t the cobbler stick to his last?’ laundry A cobbler is a shoe maker and a last is a air your dirty laundry in public ➜ see foot-shaped object used as a model to dirty make shoes the right shape and size. ✪ a laundry list [mainly american] A laundry list is a long list of things, lather especially things you need or want. in a lather [informal] ❑ The president then went through a laundry list If someone is in a lather, they are very of proposals. ❑ This document is expected to set angry, worried or upset about something. out a laundry list of reasons why shareholders ❑ ‘Brenda!’ she shouted, in a great lather. ‘It’s should reject the bid. happened again!’ wash your dirty laundry in public ➜ see ● You can also say that someone gets into dirty a lather or works themselves up into a

laurels

lather. ❑ What’s she getting into a lather about now? ❑ You have spent the past six months worrying and working yourself up into a lather over situations which are really none of your business. When horses get very hot, the sweat on their coats sometimes forms a foamy substance called lather.

laugh

In ancient Greece, the laurel or bay tree was associated with the god Apollo. The winning competitors in the Pythian games, which were held in honour of Apollo, were given crowns or wreaths of laurel.

look to your laurels be laughing If you say that someone should look to If you say that if something happens or is their laurels, you mean that they should true you will be laughing, you mean that continue to work hard to remain you will be very pleased or that you will be successful, especially when someone else successful. is starting to compete with them. ❑ If we can get another £5,000, we’ll be laughing. ❑ With so many promising young tennis players ❑ If jazz worldwide had the sort of money which is around, the 25-year-old champion must now look spent on just one opera house, we’d be laughing. to his laurels. ❑ The establishment of new be laughing on the other side of your face technology across Europe will force them to look [british] or to their laurels. be laughing out of the other side of your ✪ not rest on your laurels mouth [american] If someone does not rest on their laurels, If you say that someone will be laughing they continue working hard to make sure on the other side of their face or out of that they continue to be successful rather the other side of their mouth, you mean than relying on the success they have that although they are happy or already had. successful now, things are likely to go ❑ We will not rest on our laurels. There is still wrong for them in the future. much to be done. ❑ He never rested on his laurels ❑ The league leaders will be laughing on the other but continually evolved as an artist. ● People sometimes say that a person side of their faces if they lose tomorrow. ❑ You’ll be laughing on the other side of your face when or organization rests on their laurels.

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lead ❑ The trouble with all successful restaurants is

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their tendency to rest on their laurels.

law

the law of the jungle You use the law of the jungle to describe a situation where people who are strong and do not care about harming others are most successful. ❑ The streets are subject to the law of the jungle and policing has been entrusted to private law enforcement agencies. ❑ She strongly criticized the president for what she described as his attempt to rule by the law of the jungle. This phrase became popular from ‘The Jungle Book’ by Rudyard Kipling (1894). ‘The law of the Jungle, which never orders anything without a reason, forbids every beast to eat Man, except when he is killing to show his children how to…’. Instead of encouraging aggression, this law actually places limits on the use of violence in the animal kingdom. ✪ a law unto yourself If you describe a person or organization as a law unto themselves, you mean that they do what they want, ignoring laws, rules, or usual ways of doing things. ❑ He does his work well but in an unconventional way. He is truly a law unto himself. ❑ Most athletic departments are pretty much a law unto themselves – unaccountable in terms of where this money goes. ✪ lay down the law If you lay down the law, you tell people very forcefully and firmly what to do. ❑ They were traditional parents, who believed in laying down the law for their children. ❑ She had been in West Africa for less than four months, and did not feel it was her place to lay down the law. ✪ take the law into your own hands If you take the law into your own hands, you punish someone who you believe has done something wrong yourself instead of waiting for someone in authority to do it. ❑ Ordinary people have decided to take the law into their own hands, faced with what they see as the inability of the police to control a crime wave in the region. ❑ He took the law into his own hands when his mother was mugged. He went out and attacked the man with a baseball bat.

In these expressions,’lead’ is pronounced with the same vowel sound as the word ‘red’. Lead is a very heavy metal.

be swinging the lead [british] If someone is swinging the lead, they are pretending to be ill to avoid working. ❑ It is a question of getting the right benefits to the right people, and we want to stop anyone swinging the lead. In the past, when a ship was in shallow water, one of the sailors would drop a piece of lead on a string, called a plumbline, over the side of the ship to find out how deep the water was. Sometimes sailors would just swing the plumbline, because they were too lazy to do the work properly. ‘Plumb the depths’ is also based on this practice. get the lead out [american, informal] If you tell someone to get the lead out, you mean that they should start moving or working faster. ❑ You had better get the lead out and start producing stories or start looking for another job. This expression comes from the idea that if you have lead in your trousers, the weight makes you move slowly. go down like a lead balloon If something goes down like a lead balloon, people do not like it at all. ❑ A senior source said the memo had gone down like a lead balloon. ❑ His transfer from Brentford football club went down like a lead balloon with fans. ● You can call something that is unsuccessful or unpopular a a lead balloon. ❑ Truman knew that this cause was a lead balloon at the UN. put lead in your pencil [british, informal, old-fashioned, rude] If someone says that something puts lead in a man’s pencil, they are suggesting humorously that it improves his sexual ability. ❑ Steve chewed the tobacco and spat a brown spot into the snow. ‘Puts lead in your pencil,’ he said. ● You can also say that someone has lead in their pencil, to praise their sexual ability. ❑ He’d been blessed with amazing stamina and a lot of lead in his pencil. The lead in a pencil is the part in the centre which makes a mark on paper.

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the lay of the land ➜ see land

lay

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leaf leaf The ‘leaf’ in the last two expressions is a page of a book.

✪ be shaking like a leaf

If someone is shaking like a leaf, their body is shaking a lot, usually because they are very frightened. ❑ I didn’t think about the danger at the time. Afterwards I was shaking like a leaf. ✪ take a leaf out of someone’s book or take a leaf from someone’s book If you take a leaf out of someone’s book or take a leaf from their book, you copy them, usually because they were successful when they acted in that way. ❑ Hollywood celebs should take a leaf out of Michael Douglas’s book and make sure their websites are interesting and attractive. ❑ You’re working too hard. Take a leaf from my book and relax! ✪ turn over a new leaf If someone has turned over a new leaf, they have started to behave in a better way than before. ❑ While Eddie has turned over a new leaf, his brother can still be spotted in the bars along Sunset Strip. ❑ Both men have agreed to turn over a new leaf in their relations with each other. ➜ compare with turn the page

❑ Once your child passes his second birthday, speech develops in leaps and bounds. ❑ He’s improved as a player in leaps and bounds this season. ❑ The U.S. population grew by leaps and bounds.

lease

✪ a new lease of life [british, american] or

a new lease on life [british] If someone or something is given a new lease of life or a new lease on life, something makes them successful once again or improves their condition. ❑ The old oak table was another bargain, picked up for just £4 and given a new lease of life by Kim’s mother. ❑ After a career as a comedian, he found a new lease of life as an actor. ❑ Swimming gave me a new lease on life – I found I had much more energy to do stuff. ● Words such as another, fresh, or second are sometimes used instead of new. ❑ T-shirts and hats can be given a fresh lease of life with glass beads. A lease is a contract by which you can rent property for a fixed period of time.

leash

leak

A ‘leash’ is a long thin piece of leather or chain, which you attach to a dog’s collar so that you can keep the dog under control.

leap

✪ in leaps and bounds or by leaps and bounds If something or someone grows or progresses in leaps and bounds or by leaps and bounds, they grow or progress very quickly.

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a leap in the dark ➜ see dark a quantum leap A quantum leap is a very great and sudden increase in the size, amount, or quality of something. ❑ The vaccine represents a quantum leap in healthcare. ❑ The scale of migration took a quantum leap in the early 1970s. ● People sometimes say a quantum jump with the same meaning. ❑ We want a quantum jump in exports.

take a leak [informal, rude] When a man takes a leak, he urinates. ❑ I’ve got to take a leak, keep your eye on my drink, will you?

be straining at the leash If someone is straining at the leash, they are very eager to do things. ❑ The players all know that there are plenty of youngsters straining at the leash to take their places if they don’t perform. a long leash If someone is given a long leash, they are allowed a lot of freedom to do what they want. ❑ He thinks it best to let people have a long leash. ‘If some want to make fools of themselves, I let them do that, too.’ ❑ Inga knew that she had to give Judd a long leash or he would have left her. ● You can say that someone is given a longer leash if they are given more freedom. ❑ At the beginning of the campaign, the Republican candidate was given a longer leash than ever before. on a short leash or on a tight leash If someone is on a short leash or on a tight leash, they are only allowed a small amount of freedom to do what they want. ❑ Refusing to comment, the spokeswoman said:

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leg ‘I am on a very short leash on this subject.’ ❑ The government kept its troops on a tight leash. ● You can also just say that someone is on a leash with the same meaning. ❑ He has demonstrated time and time again that he needs to be kept on a leash. ● You can say that someone is on a shorter leash or on a tighter leash if they are given less freedom. ❑ Everybody’s treated a little different. Some guys are on a shorter leash than others. ❑ These scandals have prompted boards to put executives on a tighter leash.

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right to show that something is happening or being done a lot. ❑ They’re expecting the state to pay out money left right and centre. ❑ The Postal Service has been losing customers left and right.

leg

break a leg People say break a leg to a performer who is about to go on stage as a way of wishing them good luck. ❑ Jason sent Phillip a message before Monday’s show, with the greeting: ‘Break a leg and enjoy least yourself.’ least said, soonest mended [british, Many performers consider that it is old-fashioned] unlucky to say ‘good luck’ directly to If someone says least said, soonest anyone. Instead, they pretend to wish mended, they mean that it is best not to them bad luck. say too much about something bad that get your leg over or has happened. get a leg over [british, informal, rude] ❑ I didn’t mention the matter again. Least said, If someone gets their leg over or gets a soonest mended is what I always say. leg over, they have sex. ✪ to say the least ❑ They would say things like ‘Have you got your People use to say the least to show that leg over yet?’. ❑ He told me how at least two their real opinion is even stronger than ministers had, as he put it, tried unsuccessfully to what they have just said. get a leg over. ❑ There was something odd about the situation, ● You can also refer to a legover. ❑ All he to say the least. ❑ What they discovered was wants is a legover, hello and goodbye. interesting, to say the least. ✪ give someone a leg up If you give a person or an organization a leave leg up, you do something to help them leave well alone achieve success. If you leave well alone, you do not ❑ The experience of that race should give Barry a interfere in something, because it is all leg up on his rivals. ❑ They have a responsibility right as it is and you might make it worse. ❑ He knew when to leave well alone and when to to their shareholders not to reveal information interfere. ❑ Gordon knows his business, he says, that might give a competitor a leg up. ● You can also say that you get a leg up. and I should just leave well alone. leave yourself wide open to something or ❑ Those children who learn English may get a leg leave yourself open to something up in life. If you leave yourself wide open to an To give a rider a leg up means to help unpleasant reaction or consequence or leave them get on to the horse. yourself open to it, you do or say something not have a leg to stand on that makes it more likely to happen. If someone does not have a leg to stand ❑ Of course by claiming to be perfect, you leave on, they are in a very weak position, yourself wide open to criticism. ❑ When you call because they cannot prove a claim or your team the Mighty Ducks, you leave yourself statement they have made. wide open to ridicule. ❑ If you speak, you leave ❑ You’d never win. Our lawyers said you wouldn’t yourself open to be misquoted. have a leg to stand on. ❑ I haven’t got a leg to ● You can use the verb lay instead of leave. stand on. I had no witnesses. ❑ He lays himself open to criticism by being so pull someone’s leg outspoken. If you pull someone’s leg, you tease them about something, for example by telling left them something which is not true. left, right, and centre [british] or ❑ Is he serious or just pulling my leg? ❑ I’m just left and right [american] pulling your leg, darling. You use left, right, and centre or left and

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legs

● You can refer to a joke like this as a ✪ stretch your legs leg-pull. ❑ A lot of people think this kind of If you stretch your legs, you go for a short painting is a leg-pull. walk, usually after you have been sitting There are two possible explanations for down for a long time. this expression, although there is no proof ❑ I stopped at the square and got out to stretch for either. One suggestion is that in the my legs. past, when someone was being hanged, length their friends or family sometimes pulled ✪ the length and breadth of something their legs hard so that they died more If someone does something or something quickly and suffered less. Alternatively, the happens the length and breadth of a expression may refer to thieves tripping place, it is done or happens everywhere in people up before they robbed them. that place. talk the hind leg off a donkey [british] ❑ The group built their reputation by playing If you say that someone could talk the shows across the length and breadth of North hind leg off a donkey, you mean that they America. ❑ She has travelled the length and talk a lot. breadth of Britain. ❑ You won’t be short of conversation with Adrian. leopard He could talk the hind leg off a donkey. a leopard does not change its spots or legs a leopard cannot change its spots [mainly have legs british] If an idea, plan, or story has legs, it is If you say that a leopard does not change likely to be successful or to continue. its spots or a leopard cannot change its ❑ Blucher was confident that his concept had spots, you mean that it is not possible for legs, so he pressed Cooper for a meeting. ❑ In this someone bad or unpleasant to change and become good and pleasant. instance the story might not have legs. ❑ A liar is a liar, and a leopard cannot change its not by any stretch of the imagination or spots. by no stretch of the imagination ● This expression is often varied. ❑ This If you say that something is not true or racist leopard has in no way changed his spots. possible by any stretch of the ❑ I believe a leopard can change his spots, and imagination or by no stretch of the this guy is really committed. imagination, you mean that it is A form of this proverb is used in the completely untrue or impossible. Bible, by the prophet Jeremiah, to say ❑ He had several jobs, all of them involving that wicked people never change: ‘Can driving but none of them well-paid by any stretch the Ethiopian change his skin, or the of the imagination. ❑ By no stretch of the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do imagination could his speech be described as good, that are accustomed to do evil.’ impersonal. (Jeremiah 13:23) on its last legs

If something is on its last legs, it is old or lesser the lesser of two evils ➜ see evils in a bad condition and will not be able to be used much longer. letter ❑ The dressing-gown I’ve worn for years is on its a dead letter last legs. ❑ By the mid-1980s, the copper If a law or agreement is a dead letter, industry in the US was on its last legs. people do not pay any attention to it, on your last legs although it still exists. If you are on your last legs, you are ❑ In this conflict, international humanitarian exhausted. law is a dead letter. ❑ Jackson collapsed as he left the boxing ring, A dead letter is a letter that the post clearly on his last legs. office is unable either to deliver or to If someone is on their last legs, they are return to the sender, because it does not about to die. have the right addresses. ❑ There was an enormous variety of patients ✪ the letter of the law – people who looked in perfect health and people The letter of the law is the law’s exact who looked as if they were on their last legs. meaning rather than the general and more

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lie

important principles on which it is based. ❑ The Home Office stuck to the letter of the law over the definition of dependants. ❑ Michael Brower says such transactions violate the spirit, if not the letter, of the law. ● You usually use this expression to show disapproval. ✪ to the letter If you follow instructions, rules, or advice to the letter, you carry them out exactly in every detail. ❑ These chemicals can be dangerous, so follow the instructions to the letter. ❑ Even if that international agreement is followed to the letter, the ozone layer won’t recover fully until the year 2060.

level

✪ do your level best

If you do your level best to do something, you try as hard as you can to do it. ❑ The President told American troops that he would do his level best to bring them home soon. ❑ They’re doing their level best to answer all the questions that people have. on the level Someone or something that is on the level is honest or true. ❑ Wait a minute, is this guy on the level or not? ❑ I can offer you something better than this, Trish. And all on the level.

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other tasks that are done quickly. ❑ Whatever they do now, if it’s kind of a lick and a promise, then it’s putting off the day they’re going to have to deal with it.

lid

licence The noun ‘licence’ is spelled ‘license’ in American English.

blow the lid off something or take the lid off something [journalism] If you blow the lid off or take the lid off something that has been kept secret, especially something shocking, you do something to make it known. ❑ ‘The Knowledge’ is a new documentary series blowing the lid off music business scandals. ❑ Two or three months into therapy, people often feel worse because the treatment is taking the lid off their problems. flip your lid [informal] If someone flips their lid, they become extremely angry or upset or start to behave very strangely. ❑ Rosa flipped her lid and the confrontation with Sandra turned into a furious fight. ❑ She said, ‘Mom, I think you’ve flipped your lid.’ ✪ keep the lid on something or put the lid on something If you keep the lid on or put the lid on a situation or problem, you keep it hidden or control it to stop it becoming worse. ❑ Murray was desperately trying to keep the lid on a potential scandal. ❑ We want the public to assist us in putting a lid on crime. lift the lid off something or lift the lid on something [journalism] If you lift the lid off something or lift the lid on something that has been kept secret, especially something shocking, you do something to make it known. ❑ He lifts the lid off Crystal Palace football club with a number of startling revelations. ❑ Her book lifted the lid on the royal marriage. put the tin lid on something [british, old-fashioned] You say that something puts the tin lid on a bad situation when it is a final unpleasant event in a series. ❑ Next day, to put the tin lid on things, a hospital appointment letter for Jane arrived from the clinic.

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a lick and a promise [informal] If you give something a lick and a promise, you clean it very quickly and not very well, but intend to do it more thoroughly later. ❑ There was only time in the morning for a lick and a promise. ❑ I just gave the kitchen floor a lick and a promise. ● This expression is sometimes used for

lick

a licence to print money [mainly british] If you describe an activity as a licence to print money, you mean that it allows people to get a lot of money with little effort. ❑ This world-famous drama festival is a licence to print money for those renting their homes to groups of performers. ❑ Is owning a sporting goods store a license to print money? ● This expression usually shows disapproval.

lie give the lie to something If something gives the lie to something, it shows that it is not true. ❑ At first she thought she was alone. Then, ahead, she saw a sight that gave the lie to that.

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life ❑ This survey gives the lie to the idea that Britain

❑ An ancient Scottish university institution is fighting for its life. is moving towards economic recovery. ● You can put an adjective in front of life I tell a lie [british] to show that a person, organization or People sometimes say I tell a lie when country is fighting to save a particular they have just made a mistake in thing related to their existence. ❑ Sir something that they are saying and Nicholas will be fighting for his political life when immediately correct it. he appears before the inquiry in a fortnight. ❑ It’s in the first scene of the play. I tell a lie, it’s ❑ What we are seeing is a country fighting for its actually in the second scene. moral life. ✪ lie low If you lie low, you hide or you take care not ✪ cannot for the life of me/him/her/us/ them to make people notice you. If someone cannot do something for the ❑ Far from lying low, Kuti became more life of them, they cannot do it however outspoken than ever. ❑ Their plan had been to hard they try. move by night only, to lie low, to avoid contact. ❑ There is something he should have sorted out, the lie of the land ➜ see land he is sure of it, but he cannot for the life of him ✪ live a lie remember what it is. ❑ I cannot for the life of me If someone lives a lie, they live in a way understand why you would do such a thing. which they feel is dishonest and false. can’t do something to save your life ❑ Jackie began to keep a large part of her life a [spoken] secret from her husband. She started to live a lie. If you say that you can’t do something to ❑ My mother never told my father the truth about save your life, you mean that you cannot me. We’ve been living a lie all this time. do it at all. ● You can also talk about a living lie. ❑ His ❑ I’m never nervous at exams but I can’t study to whole life had become a living lie. save my life. ❑ He can’t sing to save his life but nail a lie [british, journalism] he’s a good guitarist. If you nail a lie, you show that something do anything for a quiet life is definitely not true. If you would do anything for a quiet life, ❑ Top designer Calvin Klein is one of those you would do whatever is needed to avoid helping to finally nail the lie that young is best. trouble or to stop people annoying you or a white lie asking you for things. If you tell a white lie, you say something ❑ I’ll do anything for a quiet life, and so I never say which is untrue, often in order to protect ‘no’ to friends and colleagues. someone or to avoid upsetting someone. ● People sometimes just say anything for ❑ I said she looked nice, thinking it kinder to tell a a quiet life to mean that they will agree to white lie. ❑ I believe that this is a case where a something. ❑ I said okay, I’d stay with her – little white lie is really more appropriate than the anything for a quiet life. truth. frighten the life out of someone or life scare the life out of someone [informal] ✪ be fighting for your life If someone or something frightens the If someone is fighting for their life, life out of you or scares the life out of you, they are seriously ill or injured and are in they frighten you very much. danger of dying. ❑ It used to frighten the life out of me when they ❑ A boy aged 15 was fighting for his life last night tried to jump on the moving trains. ❑ Further but two younger children were said to be out of tests revealed that I needed major heart surgery. danger. ❑ A toddler is fighting for his life after It scared the life out of me. being run over by a boy who was playing in his get a life [informal] father’s car. If you tell someone to get a life, you mean ● You can also talk about a fight for life. that they seem to care too much about ❑ Mary won a desperate fight for life but was left unimportant things or that their life is paralysed from the waist down. boring. If an organization or country is fighting ❑ Go home Moran, read a book or something, get for its life, it is in danger of failing or a life. ❑ This show is the stupidest show on TV. If being defeated. you are watching it, get a life.

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light ● This expression is used humorously.

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your life is in someone’s hands If your life is in someone’s hands, they have complete control over whether you live or die. ❑ The realization that another woman’s life may be in my hands is a frightening one. ● You can also say that you put your life in someone’s hands or that someone holds your life their hands. ❑ What makes you think I would put my life in your hands? ❑ You feel a responsibility to people because sometimes you’re holding their life in your hands. risk life and limb If you risk life and limb, you do something very dangerous that may cause you to die or be seriously injured. ❑ He is not prepared to risk life and limb on this dangerous track to win the title. ❑ She gets a thrill risking life and limb by leaping off cliffs and mountains. take your life in your hands or take your life into your hands If you take your life in your hands or take your life into your hands when you do something, you take a lot of risks when you do it. ❑ A rider who does not know the road takes his life in his hands by cycling in the dark. ❑ You take your life into your hands just crossing the road in this city.

large as life ➜ see large larger than life ➜ see larger ✪ the life and soul of the party [british] or the life of the party [american] Someone who is the life and soul of the party or the life of the party is very lively and entertaining on social occasions. ❑ She was having a very enjoyable time and was clearly the life and soul of the party. ❑ Your mother is always the life of the party, isn’t she, Leigh? ● People sometimes replace party with other nouns. ❑ He gives the impression of having been the life and soul of the campus. life in the fast lane ➜ see lane life in the slow lane ➜ see lane life is a bowl of cherries If you say that life is a bowl of cherries, you mean that life is full of pleasure and enjoyment. ❑ To him, life was a bowl of cherries. ❑ Life’s not exactly a bowl of cherries when you’re an international champ. live the life of Riley If someone lives the life of Riley, they have a very enjoyable life because they have plenty of money and no problems. ❑ He was living the life of Riley while we had barely enough to eat. ❑ It was like paradise. It was just like living the life of Riley. ● People sometimes use the verbs lead or light have instead of live. ❑ These people moan about their lives when in reality they’re having the ✪ give someone/something the green light or life of Riley. give the green light to someone/ ● This expression often shows disapproval something or envy. If someone in authority gives someone or This expression probably comes from a something the green light or gives the song ‘Is That Mr Reilly’, which was green light to someone or something, popular in America in the 1880’s and they allow someone to do something or described what Reilly’s life would be something to happen. like if he was rich. ❑ He has finally been given the green light to ✪ that’s life build five new houses on the land. People say that’s life after an unlucky or ● You can also say that someone gets the unpleasant event or about an unpleasant green light. ❑ I’ve got a bunch more songs, and fact to show that they realize such things if I can get the green light from my manager, I’d are part of life and must be accepted. like to go straight back in and record some more. ❑ I’ve made lots of mistakes, but that’s life. I have ● People use a green light to mean no regrets. ❑ They accept all children have permission from someone in authority. problems and that’s life. ❑ Is that a green light for interest-rate cuts? you bet your life [mainly american, hide your light under a bushel informal] If you hide your light under a bushel, you People say you bet your life to say ‘yes’ in do not let people know about your skills a very strong way. and good features. ❑ Would he have been as fast in a Lotus Cortina? You bet your life. ❑ If you have knowledge your superiors don’t,

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light

light dawns or if you can do something they can’t, don’t be If light dawns, you suddenly realize or tempted to hide your light under a bushel for fear of upsetting them. ❑ We are proud of the understand something. facilities in Newmarket and this is not the time to ❑ I didn’t realize they were a couple till I saw them hide our light under a bushel. together last night and the light suddenly ● If you do not hide your light under a dawned. ● You can also say that light dawns on bushel, you are very confident about your skills and good features, and not at all someone. ❑ ‘Oh!’ she said, as if the light had modest. ❑ There are those who find his vanity finally dawned on her. ‘I’m on the wrong floor, huh?’ off-putting. He does not hide his light under a make light of something bushel. If you make light of something, you treat This is from the Bible, where Jesus says: ‘Neither do men light a candle and put it as though it is not serious or important, it under a bushel, but on a candlestick.’ when in fact it is. (Matthew 5:15) ❑ Roberts attempted to make light of his in the cold light of day discomfort. ❑ If he had problems, he made light If you think about something in the cold of them. light of day, you think about it some time out like a light If someone is out like a light, they are very after it happened and in a calmer or more sensible way than was possible at the deeply asleep. time it happened. ❑ Dad gently closed the door again. ‘She’s out like a light,’ I heard him whisper to my anxious ❑ Then in the cold light of day, she would switch mother. on the computer again and sort it all out. ❑ Most ● You can say that someone goes out like of the ideas seemed slightly less brilliant in the cold light of day. a light to mean that they fall quickly and ● Words such as dawn and morning are deeply asleep. ❑ I was so tired – I went out like sometimes used instead of day. ❑ In the a light. cold light of dawn we could see that the team ✪ see the light lacked motivation. If someone sees the light, they realize or understand something, often ✪ a leading light [mainly british] something that makes them change If someone is a leading light of an wrong or unpleasant behaviour or organization or group, they are one of the opinions. most important, active, and successful people in it. ❑ Eventually he had seen the light and broken off the relationship. ❑ He is a leading light in the campaign to rid If someone sees the light, they start football of racism. ❑ She had been a leading light in the amateur dramatic society in Kuala Lumpur. believing in a religion. A leading light was a light which was ❑ Pray for them that they may see the light. placed at the entrance to a harbour or ✪ see the light of day shallow channel of water, as a guide for If something sees the light of day, it is ships. produced or made available to people, light as a feather often after difficulties. If someone or something is as light as a ❑ This book might never have seen the light of feather, they weigh very little. day without the enthusiasm and support of my editor. ❑ Few 35-minute films ever saw the light ❑ ‘Put me down,’ I said. ‘I’m too heavy.’ – ‘Light as a feather,’ he retorted, ignoring my request. of day, even in those days. ● You can also say that something sees ❑ Although it was a large package, it was as light as a feather. the light. ❑ All this may change with the news that Christopher Isherwood’s diaries are now at ✪ light at the end of the tunnel last to see the light. ❑ His plan first saw the light If there is light at the end of the tunnel, there is hope that a difficult situation at a meeting of the school trustees. might be coming to an end. If a baby sees the light of day they are born. ❑ After horrific times we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel. ❑ People feel hopeless. They ❑ Tens of millions of new souls are seeing the don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. light of day in Africa each year.

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lily shed light on something If something sheds light on a situation, it makes it easier to understand. ❑ Is there anything that Moira said that might shed some light on what happened? ● Cast or throw are sometimes used instead of shed. ❑ Perhaps the brothers could cast light on that mystery.

lightning

lightning doesn’t strike twice or lightning never strikes twice You say that lightning does not strike twice or lightning never strikes twice to say that someone who has been very lucky or unlucky is unlikely to have the same good or bad luck again. ❑ They say lightning doesn’t strike twice but it did with Wanganeen following up his matchwinning form with another great performance. ❑ It was as if Sara was somehow protected by the old ‘lightning never strikes twice’ rule. ● You can also say that lightning strikes twice or that lightning strikes again when someone does have the same good or bad luck again. ❑ Lightning struck twice as he scored again – his fifth goal in three games over the Christmas period. ❑ Then, several years later, lightning struck again. Her other son Stephen died suddenly at the age of 13. a lightning rod for something [mainly american] If someone is a lightning rod for something such as anger or criticism, they are the person who is naturally blamed or criticized by people, although there are other people who are responsible. ❑ She has become a lightning rod for criticism of the administration. ❑ He told the Palermo court he was an innocent lightning rod for Italy’s many crime problems. ● You can also just call someone a lightning rod. ❑ She was the party’s chief manager, star campaigner and also its lightning rod. A lightning rod is a long metal strip, one end of which is fixed on the roof of a building, with the other end in the ground to protect the building from being damaged by lightning. like lightning or like greased lightning If someone does something like lightning or like greased lightning they do it very quickly. ❑ I ran across that room like lightning and

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pushed back the curtain. ❑ He spotted the gap and was through it like greased lightning.

lights the lights are on but nobody’s home or the lights are on but no one’s home [informal] If you say of someone that the lights are on but nobody’s home or no one’s home, you mean that they are stupid or not reacting to what is happening. ❑ When I tell them anything, they look at me like the lights are on but nobody’s home.

like it or lump it [mainly british, informal] People say like it or lump it to mean that you have to accept a situation even if you do not like it. ❑ This is the way our system works: like it or lump it. ❑ If you’re a shareholder in the club then you can influence way things are run. But as a paying customer you like it or lump it. ● You can also say that someone will have to lump it when they have to accept a situation whether they want to or not. ❑ When we pointed out they’d taken part of our garden, they said they hadn’t even noticed. We just had to lump it.

likely

likely as not or as likely as not People say likely as not or as likely as not to mean very probably. ❑ If you warn him against it, he will likely as not do it. not likely People say not likely as an emphatic way of saying no, especially when they are asked to do something. ❑ Clear up his mess for him? Not likely!

gild the lily If someone gilds the lily, they try to improve something which is already very good, and so what they are doing is unnecessary. ❑ There can be a temptation to gild the lily in such documents, making exaggerated claims about what the school can offer to students. ❑ Top the cake with ice cream or whipped cream, if you’re keen on gilding the lily. This expression may be based on lines in Shakespeare’s ‘King John’ (1595): ‘To gild refined gold, to paint the lily… Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.’ (Act 4, Scene 2)

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limb limb

✪ go out on a limb

If you go out on a limb, you do something or say something that is different from what most people do or say and is ✪ therefore risky. ❑ He does not want to go out on a limb and try something completely new. ❑ There’s nothing wrong with politicians going out on a limb sometimes and risking their reputation. out on a limb or on a limb If you are out on a limb or are on a limb, you are alone and without any help or support. ❑ No company wants to be the first to put its rates up. The companies who have tried have ✪ found themselves out on a limb. ❑ She felt on a limb at the ministry. In this expression, a limb is a branch of a tree. The image here is of someone who climbs out along a limb, away from the main trunk. ✪ tear someone limb from limb If someone threatens to tear you limb from limb, they say they will kill you in a very violent way. ❑ It was lucky for him the police found him before I did because I would have torn him limb from limb.

limits

✪ off limits

or all along the line. ❑ Republicans differed right down the line on what should be done. ❑ The survey shows support for the President’s decision all along the line. ➜ compare with down the line along the line or down the line If something happens along the line or down the line, it happens during the course of a situation or activity, often at a point that cannot be exactly identified. ❑ And then somewhere along the line I looked at what was really happening. ❑ Admittedly every parent makes mistakes along the line. ❑ They feel that something went wrong somewhere down the line. ➜ compare with down the line be in line for something If you are in line for something, it is likely to happen to you or you are likely to get it. ❑ Izzy’s in line for a presenter’s job. ❑ He had been at the paper for long enough to be in line for a lifetime achievement award. the bottom line In a discussion or argument, the bottom line is the most important and basic fact about what you are discussing. ❑ The bottom line is that the great majority of our kids are physically unfit. ❑ The bottom line is he’s a real nice guy and I don’t want to hurt him. ● You can use bottom-line before a noun. ❑ This is a very good story, and that is the bottom-line criterion for any novel. This expression refers to the last line in a set of accounts, which states how much money has been made. come on line or go on line [mainly american] If a plan, project or product comes on line or goes on line, it starts to operate fully or be available to be used. ❑ This plane was the first to be lost since the popular model came on line in 1982. ❑ The government, faced with a major energy crisis, is eagerly waiting for another reactor to go on line. ● You can also just say that something is on line if it is operating or available. ❑ You’ll have that machine back on line by nine at the latest. cross the line If someone crosses the line, they start behaving in an unacceptable or offensive way. ❑ The show’s pretty outrageous, but I don’t think

✪

line all the way down the line If something happens all the way down the line, it happens at every stage of a situation or activity, or it includes all the people or things involved in a situation or activity. ❑ The Party has fought for reform all the way down the line. ● This expression has several variations. For example, you can also say that something happens right down the line

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If an area is off limits, you are not allowed to go there. ❑ The area was kept off limits to foreign journalists until early this year. ❑ The ideal is to have one room that’s off limits for the kids. If something is off limits, you are not allowed to have it or do it. ❑ Of course, smoking was off limits everywhere. ❑ Many of the biggest trees in those forests would soon be off limits to the timber industry.

✪

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it crosses the line. ❑ There was no reason to bring If you draw the line at a particular our families into it. That’s crossing the line. activity, you would not do it, because you If someone or something crosses the disapprove of it or because it is so line, they go from one situation or activity extreme. to another more extreme one. ❑ I’ll do almost anything – although I think I’d ❑ They could easily cross the line from civil draw the line at running naked across the stage! disobedience to violence. ❑ Congress and the ❑ I have to draw the line somewhere. I refuse to public were not informed about the decision to go in for spiritualism. cross the line from defense to preparation for war. There are several theories about the The ‘line’ in this expression may refer to origin of this expression. It may come boxing matches in the past, when a line from early versions of tennis, in which was drawn on the ground which the court had no fixed size: players neither boxer could cross. ‘Draw the agreed their own limits and drew lines line’ may be based on a similar idea. accordingly. Alternatively, it may be ✪ down the line connected with the 16th century If something happens down the line, it practice of using a plough to cut a line happens at a later stage of a situation or across a field to indicate a boundary activity. between two plots of land. A third ❑ Whether that will happen further down the line possibility is that it refers to boxing we cannot say. matches in the past, when a line was ● You can talk about something drawn in the ring which neither boxer happening a long way down the line could cross. ‘Cross the line’ may be based when it happens at a much later date. on a similar idea. ❑ He thought that military action was still a long ✪ a fine line between something way down the line. If there is a fine line between two ➜ compare with all the way down the different activities or situations, there is a line point at which they are very similar, often ➜ compare with along the line when one activity or situation is If you talk about something happening acceptable, and the other is not. a particular amount of time down the ❑ There is a fine line between being nicely looked line, you are talking about it happening after and being fussed over too much. ❑ A new after that amount of time. exhibition explores the fine line between genius ❑ About five to six months down the line I got a and insanity. ● You can also talk about a thin line call from Steve saying he had something for me to work on. ❑ Two years down the line things have between two things or a narrow line changed. between two things. ❑ There is a thin line ➜ compare with down the road between being a good player and being one of the draw a line under something best. ❑ There’s a narrow line between being If something draws a line under a bad interested and being nosy. situation, it allows the situation to be ➜ compare with walk a fine line between considered as finished. something ❑ The document draws a line under our painful get a line on someone [mainly american, past and clears the way for a new beginning. informal] ❑ An out-of-court settlement, expected this If you get a line on someone or week, should finally draw a line under the affair. something, you get some information ✪ draw the line about them. If someone knows where to draw the ❑ We’ve been trying to get a line on you, and the line, they know at what point an activity more we try, the less we find. ● You can say that you have a line on or situation stops being reasonable and starts to be unacceptable. someone or something if you have some ❑ It is difficult for charities to know where to information about them. ❑ I really don’t draw the line between acceptable and have a line on what’s going to happen yet. unacceptable sources of finance. ❑ Where do you ✪ in the firing line or draw the line about who the press can and can’t in the line of fire investigate? If you are in the firing line or in the line

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line

Originally, ‘lay it on the line’ may have of fire, you are in a position where you are been connected with gambling. It likely to be criticized or attacked. meant to lay a bet on the sideline in the ❑ Her views sometimes put her in the firing line of game of craps, or on the counter of a women’s rights groups. ❑ Since he is in charge of betting window at a racecourse. reforming the commission, he was one of those in not your line of country [british, the line of fire yesterday. ● You can also say that someone is out of old-fashioned] the firing line or out of the line of fire if If something is not your line of country, it they are away from a position where they is not a subject that you know much are likely to be criticized or attacked. ❑ He about, or one in which you are very interested. wanted to get his client out of the firing line before applying for any court orders. ❑ I am rather ignorant on this matter – it is not If someone is in the firing line or in the quite my line of country. line of fire, they are in the way of people on the line If something such as your reputation, who are firing guns, and therefore likely your job, or your life is on the line, there is to be shot. a risk that you will lose it. ❑ Any hostages in the firing line would have been sacrificed. ❑ They forced the men to walk ahead ❑ Using a small, one-man business can also be a of soldiers, putting them first in the line of fire good idea. You are likely to get more care and from the rebels. attention because his reputation is on the line. ● You can also say that someone is out of ● You can say that you put or lay the firing line or out of the line of fire if something on the line, if you do they are away from a position where they something which causes you to risk are likely to be shot. ❑ To get him out of the losing it. ❑ Don’t put our friendship on the line firing line, she asked the General to appoint like this, Martin. ❑ Rob Reiner, the director, laid Santiago to his staff. his reputation on the line when he cast her in the film. ✪ in the front line or on the front line ➜ compare with put yourself on the line If you are in the front line or on the ✪ out of line front line, you are doing the most If one thing is out of line with another, important and basic work of an the first thing is different from the organization, often working directly with second in a way that was not agreed, people. planned, or expected. ❑ Local authorities are in the front line of ❑ This set of figures was sharply out of line with providing help. ❑ Workers on the front line in the trend. out of line or hospitals, trains and planes are tired of being way out of line [spoken] abused by members of the public. If you are in the front line or on the If someone is out of line or way out of front line, you are in a position where you line, they have done or said something are likely to be criticized or attacked. that they should not have done or said. ❑ I’m not happy about putting you in the front ❑ Addressing a fellow officer like that is out of line when there’s someone out there killing line, and I won’t stand for it, hear me? ❑ It was people. ❑ She’s working in the poorest areas of clear to all concerned that Peter was way out of line. the city, and she’s really on the front line there. The line referred to here is a line of The image here is of soldiers in the front soldiers, who are expected to act as a line during a battle. unit. lay it on the line ● If someone lays it on the line, they say ➜ compare with step out of line what needs to be said truthfully and put your neck on the line [mainly british] directly. ❑ He laid it on the line and said without or put your ass on the line [american, treatment I had only three months to live. ● You can also say that someone lays informal, rude] everything on the line. ❑ Mr. Dambar had If you put your neck or your ass on the planned to march straight over to the trailer and line, you do something although it has lay everything on the line. large personal risks for you.

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lines

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❑ He put his neck on the line to make the movie. ❑ I appreciate your putting your ass on the line

The line referred to here is a line of soldiers, who are expected to act as a unit. ✪ toe the line for me. ● You can also say that your neck is on the If you toe the line, you behave in the way that people in authority have told you to line or your ass is on the line to say that behave. you will be punished or put in a bad ❑ The new legislation could force them out of situation if something fails. ❑ The business if they don’t toe the line. ❑ Journalists captain’s neck is on the line after this latest who refuse to toe the line will have to be sacked. defeat. ● You can also say that someone puts their ● You often use a word before line to ass on the line. ❑ I’m not gonna put my ass on indicate who the people in authority are. the line for him. ❑ He was sacked for not toeing the Party line. put yourself on the line or At the start of a race, runners stand in a lay yourself on the line row with their toe just behind the If you put yourself on the line or lay starting line. yourself on the line, you do something walk a fine line between something or that has big personal risks for you, tread a fine line between something especially for your job or reputation. If someone walks a fine line between two ❑ When you are a professional athlete and put activities or situations, or treads a fine yourself on the line, you have to accept criticism. line between them, what they are doing ❑ He was the one who was expected to deliver, is acceptable, but they are very close to the who laid himself on the line with his ‘ethical point at which it would become policies’. unacceptable. ➜ compare with on the line ❑ At present we are walking a very fine line between shoot a line [british, old-fashioned] getting away with it and having a very serious If someone shoots a line, they say problem. ❑ The American will tread a fine line something that is exaggerated or untrue. between freshness and a shortage of match fitness. ❑ He shot a line about needing new staff for his ● You can also say that you walk or tread a office. thin line between two things or that you ✪ sign on the dotted line walk or tread a narrow line between If you sign on the dotted line, you them. ❑ He must tread a narrow line between formally agree to something by signing investigation of his party’s mistakes and charges an official document. of disloyalty. ❑ Once you sign on the dotted line you are ➜ compare with a fine line between committed to that property. something ● You can also say that someone signs on linen the line. ❑ He signed on the line and can only air your dirty linen in public ➜ see dirty blame himself. wash your dirty linen in public ➜ see ● You can also talk about someone’s name dirty on the dotted line or signature on the lines dotted line. ❑ He went to see Malcolm’s get your lines crossed ➜ see crossed widow, Betty, too; he needed her name on the on the right lines or dotted line. along the right lines [british] ✪ step out of line If someone or something is on the right If someone steps out of line, they do lines or along the right lines, they are something that they should not do or acting or developing in a way that is likely they behave in an unacceptable way. to be successful. ❑ The Police Services Commission should be ❑ Sometimes all you really require is a friendly tougher with officers who step out of line. ❑ Our voice to tell you that you are on the right lines. values and traditions were accepted and agreed ❑ The team is developing along the right lines by everyone. If you stepped out of line, you knew and they could surprise a few people in the World what to expect. ● Get is sometimes used instead of step. Cup next month. If someone or something is on the right ❑ Boy, if you get out of line you’re in trouble. ➜ compare with out of line lines or along the right lines, they are

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link almost, but not completely, managing to achieve the required result. ❑ The treatment offered so far has been along the right lines, but not successful in curing the condition completely. ➜ compare with on the right track ✪ read between the lines If you read between the lines, you understand what someone really means, or what is really happening in a situation, even though it is not stated openly. ❑ He was reluctant to go into details, but reading between the lines it appears that he was forced to leave. ● You can also talk about the message between the lines. ❑ He didn’t give a reason, but I sensed something between the lines. ❑ He was forced to confess to the crime, but he tried to send a message between the lines at his trial.

you get the largest part of it. ❑ Their athletes won the lion’s share of the medals. ❑ While Gladys was given the lion’s share of their mother’s attention, Mary and her two younger brothers enjoyed their freedom. This refers to Aesop’s fable ‘The Lion and his Fellow Hunters’, in which a lion goes hunting with several other animals and takes everything that they catch for himself, instead of sharing it with them. put your head into the lion’s mouth or put your head in the lion’s mouth If you put your head into the lion’s mouth or in the lion’s mouth, you deliberately place yourself in a dangerous or difficult situation. ❑ Jim Dale, senior weather forecaster, has put his head in the lion’s mouth and predicted a dry, sunny summer. link This expression refers to the traditional ✪ a weak link or circus act where a lion-tamer puts his or a weak link in the chain her head in a lion’s mouth. If you describe someone or something as a weak link or a weak link in the chain, you ✪ walk into the lion’s den If you walk into the lion’s den, you mean that they are an unreliable part of a deliberately place yourself in a dangerous system or member of a group, and or difficult situation. because of them the whole system or ❑ Confident that he had done no wrong, the group may fail. Minister last night walked into the lion’s den of ❑ It was automatically assumed that Edward his press accusers, looked them in the eye, and would be the weak link in the partnership. fought back. ❑ Success comes from teamwork, and all it takes ● Other verbs such as go, step, or venture is one weak link in the chain to deny you the can be used instead of walk. ❑ We need to rewards of any amount of hard work. ● People also say that someone or win tonight’s game, but we are going into the lion’s den without one of our key men. something is the weakest link if they ● You can also say that someone is thrown are the most unreliable part of a system. or sent into the lion’s den if they are put ❑ He was the weakest link in the team’s defence. ● People sometimes say that a system is in a difficult or dangerous situation. ❑ She was eagerly accepted by the teaching only as strong as its weakest link. ❑ A rail agency, and thrown straight into the lion’s den at system is only as strong as its weakest link, as any a tough comprehensive school in Surrey. commuter trapped behind a broken-down train This expression comes from the story in can testify. the Bible of Daniel, who was thrown lion into a den of lions because he refused to fight like a lion stop praying to God. However, he was If someone fights like a lion, they fight protected by God and the lions did not very fiercely and bravely. hurt him. (Daniel 6) ❑ She would have fought like a lion to protect lions her son. ● Verbs such as battle and defend are throw someone to the lions If someone throws you to the lions, they sometimes used instead of fight. ❑ To win, allow you to be criticized severely or treated Scotland must score goals. To draw, they must badly, and they do not try to protect you. defend like lions. ❑ Tanya isn’t sure exactly why she’s been thrown ✪ the lion’s share to the lions. ❑ Hollywood, in its desperate need If you get the lion’s share of something,

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● You can also refer to the attitude or

to make money in a world which no longer worships the cinema, has thrown its stars to the lions. ➜ compare with throw someone to the wolves In Roman times and at other periods in the past, people were sometimes put to death by being thrown into a den of lions.

behaviour of people who do not like to show their emotions as the stiff upper lip. ❑ Another problem is the British stiff upper lip which prevents many patients from asking for painkillers for fear of appearing weak. Not showing emotions is thought to be a national characteristic of the English.

lips

lip

be licking your lips button your lip [informal] If someone is looking forward eagerly to a If you button your lip, you keep silent future event, you can say that they are about something although you would licking their lips. really like to speak. ❑ Peter says the Government may collapse. You ❑ He had the grace and good sense to button his can almost see him licking his lips. ❑ Billy is lip, even though this clearly caused him personal licking his lips about putting me through his pain. ❑ As I entered his sitting room, I started training sessions. laughing and was met with an impatient glare. I ● You can also say that someone is licking hastily buttoned my lip. their chops. [informal] ● If you tell someone to button it or ❑ After hearing the president’s plan for economic button their lip, you are telling them recovery, they were licking their chops. rudely to be quiet. ❑ ‘What have I done to ✪ on someone’s lips deserve this?’ – ‘Just button it, Park,’ the Chief If a subject is on people’s lips, a lot of said. people are talking about it and are ✪ pay lip service to something or interested in it. give lip service to something ❑ The question on most people’s lips was not If someone pays lip service or gives lip whether there would be war but when it would service to an idea, they say they are in break out. ❑ A new word was on the lips of favour of it, but do not do anything foreign companies and governments: practical to support it. privatisation. ❑ Nearly all Western manufacturers now pay lip If a question or comment is on your service to these management techniques. lips, you want to ask or say it or you are in ❑ Many chefs give lip service to the importance of the process of asking or saying it. fresh ingredients. ❑ The question had been on my lips the whole ● You can also just talk about lip service. time. ‘What has happened to her?’ ❑ He stopped ❑ All the talk about nation-building is pure lip in the dressing room beside their bedroom, his service, because people who are selfish will never apology already on his lips. join with others to build the nation. read my lips In this expression ‘service’ means the If you say read my lips, you mean that same as respect. A contrast is being what you are saying is definitely the made here between what people say and truth and people should believe and trust what they really think, based on an idea you. expressed in various places in the Bible, ❑ I said,’No way, read my lips, there is no way I’m including Matthew 15:8, ‘This people going to sign this.’ draweth nigh to me with their mouth, your lips are sealed and honoureth me with their lips, but If you say that your lips are sealed, you their heart is far from me’. mean you will keep a secret that someone ✪ a stiff upper lip has told you. If someone has a stiff upper lip, they hide ❑ As for anything told to me in confidence, well, their emotions and do not let other people my lips are sealed. ❑ ‘The Player’ is worth seeing see if they are upset. for its deeply funny ending alone but my lips are ❑ I had always believed in keeping a stiff upper firmly sealed on that. lip, crying in private, and putting on my best face ● You can also say that someone has for family and friends. ❑ His pathetic attempt to sealed lips. ❑ Most people refused to talk to maintain a stiff upper lip failed.

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lipstick him about the murder. Everywhere he went he met sealed lips and a wall of silence.

lipstick

❑ The social fabric of the country is changing, but people must learn to live and let live. ● Live and let live is often used before a

put lipstick on a pig If you say that a change someone makes is like putting lipstick on a pig, you mean that they are making superficial changes, but those changes don’t really make the situation better. ❑ Good marketing is not a matter of putting lipstick on a pig. It’s about having the right product to sell in the first place.

list

✪ a list as long as your arm [informal]

If you have a list as long as your arm, you have a very long list. ❑ I’ve got a list of players as long as your arm but it’s just a matter of whether they’re available. ● The word list can be replaced by other words that refer to things that can be written as a list. ❑ By his late 30s, he already had a rap sheet as long as your arm – 52 convictions and a total of 16 years behind bars.

litmus

✪ a litmus test [journalism]

says.

lives nine lives If you say that someone has nine lives, you mean that they keep managing to get out of difficult or dangerous situations without being harmed. ❑ I was certain that one day my nine lives would run out and I would be caught – or worse. ❑ I think this is probably going to be the end, although he has shown he is a political cat with far more than nine lives. ● This expression is often used to suggest surprise that a person has survived so long. This expression comes from the saying ‘a cat has nine lives’, which people use to say that cats seem to survive a lot of very dangerous situations or events.

living think something/someone owes you a living If someone thinks someone or something owes them a living, they think that person or thing should give them the money they need to live. ❑ Nobody owes you a living – you need to work hard for yourself. ❑ He was given everything, and grew up thinking the world owes him a living.

If something is a litmus test of the quality or success of a particular thing, it is an effective way of proving it or measuring it. ❑ My personal litmus test when I have to decide whether to keep or discard something is whether or not I look at and enjoy it every day. ❑ The success of wind power represents a litmus test for renewable energy. Litmus paper is used to test the acidity of substances. It turns red in acid conditions and blue in alkaline conditions.

noun to describe this kind of attitude.

❑ ‘John has a live and let live attitude,’ one friend

a load off your mind ➜ see mind

loaf

half a loaf is better than none If you say that half a loaf is better than none, you mean that it is better to take what you can get, even if it is very little, than to risk having nothing at all. ❑ The reforms do not go as far as we wanted. Still, half a loaf is better than none. ● Other words can be used instead of loaf and none. ❑ I’m very disappointed that there will only be one game, but half a loaf is better than no loaf, and we are happy that at least we will be playing once. ❑ Is half a step towards democracy better than no step at all?

live

load

live and breathe something If you live and breathe a particular subject or activity, you are extremely enthusiastic about it and spend most of your time on it. ❑ She’s lived and breathed theatre since she was six. ❑ Williams lived and breathed motor racing. ● You can include other verbs in this expression. ❑ When you play for Manchester United, you have to live, eat, and breathe football 24 hours a day. ❑ As finals approached, I lived, lock breathed, and dreamed art and literature. ✪ lock, stock, and barrel live and let live You use lock, stock, and barrel to talk If you live and let live, you accept people who behave and think differently from you. about every part of something.

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looked ❑ It would have been much easier for us to have

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long

shut the business down lock, stock and barrel.

long as your arm [informal] If something such as a list is as long as stock and barrel. your arm, it is very long. The three main parts which make up a ❑ The phone’s been buzzing non-stop. I’ve a list of complete gun are the lock, the stock, messages as long as my arm. and the barrel. ✪ long on one thing and short on another If someone says that something is long on lockstep one thing and short on another, they in lockstep [mainly american] mean that it has a lot of the first thing If two people or things move in lockstep, but not enough of the second. they are very closely linked and ❑ This performance is long on drama and short dependent on one another, so that if one on worthwhile music. ❑ The prime minister’s changes, the other changes too. speech was long on words but short on solid ❑ Levels of carbon dioxide and methane in the air action. fell in lockstep with decreases in summer sunshine. ● People sometimes say that something is Lockstep is a way of marching in which short on one thing and long on another. the marchers follow as close behind ❑ Her book was short on biographical detail but each other as possible. long on literary interpretation. log

❑ He has moved down from the north-east, lock,

easy as falling off a log ➜ see easy

look

✪ sleep like a log

loggerheads

a dirty look or a filthy look or a black look If someone gives you a dirty look, a filthy look, or a black look, they look at you in a way that shows that they are very angry about something. ❑ Tony was being a real pain. Michael gave him a dirty look and walked out of the kitchen. ❑ He caught the filthy look she flashed him. ❑ Passing my stall, she cast black looks at the amount of stuff still unsold. look someone in the face or look someone in the eye If you look someone in the face or look someone in the eye, you look at them directly in order to convince them that what you are saying is true. ❑ He looked me in the face again and repeated, ‘I swear to you that it wasn’t me.’ ❑ How can we look others in the eye and say ‘This is a decent country’? If you cannot or will not look someone in the face or look them in the eye, you are too ashamed or embarrassed to look at them directly. ❑ Why did I do that? I can’t ever look her in the face again. ❑ When he tried to speak to her, she wouldn’t look him in the eye.

✪ at loggerheads

If you sleep like a log, you have a very deep sleep. ❑ I slept like a log last night and feel full of energy.

If one person or group is at loggerheads with another, they strongly disagree about something. ❑ Social workers and doctors are at loggerheads over how well the new system will work. ❑ Trevor and his ex-wife Becky ended up at loggerheads – this time having a shouting match on the doorstep. In medieval times, loggerheads were implements with long handles and a round bowl on one end. In battles, the bowl was filled with hot tar, and then thrown at the enemy.

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gird your loins or gird up your loins [journalism, literary] If someone girds their loins or girds up their loins, they prepare themselves mentally to deal with a difficult situation. ❑ He is girding his loins to demand financial compensation. ❑ I am girding up my loins for another round of high-level meetings. This expression is used several times in the Bible. The Hebrews wore long loose robes which they tied up with a girdle or belt when they were working or travelling.

loins

looked

✪ have never looked back or have not looked back When someone has done something successful and you say that since then

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loon If you cut loose, you spend time relaxing and enjoying yourself. ❑ We got through to lunch and in the afternoon were able to cut loose. hang loose [mainly american, informal] If you tell someone to hang loose, you are telling them to relax or not to be too serious about something. ❑ Get something to eat and come back to the loon office. And hang loose. crazy as a loon ➜ see crazy If you hang loose, you spend time loop relaxing and enjoying yourself. ✪ in the loop ❑ I just want to hang loose with some old friends. If someone is in the loop, they are part of a ✪ on the loose group of people who have information If a dangerous person or animal is on about a particular thing. the loose, they are free because they have ❑ The vice president was almost certainly in the escaped from somewhere. loop. ❑ In future we must ensure that the ❑ The person who carried out those awful Congress is fully in the loop. murders is still on the loose. ❑ There was a lion ● If someone is out of the loop, they do on the loose in the building. not make or know about important If someone is on the loose, they are not decisions. ❑ He is out of the inner loop, and not being controlled or looked after by anyone happy about it. and they are free to behave however they throw someone for a loop or want. knock someone for a loop [american, ❑ The movie is about a young boy on the loose in informal] New York. If someone or something throws you for a lord loop or knocks you for a loop, they shock drunk as a lord ➜ see drunk you or surprise you very much. they have never looked back or have not looked back, you mean that they have continued to be successful. ❑ He became a professional photographer in 2009, and has never looked back. ❑ She was asked to write a cookery book and hasn’t looked back since. She is now cookery editor for a national newspaper.

wearing a top hat, the sight of which knocked Jamie for a loop.

loose

✪ cut someone/something loose

lose

❑ If Kravis’s offer had thrown him for a loop, Johnson wasn’t letting it show. ❑ She was

✪ lose it [informal]

If someone loses it, they become extremely angry or upset. ❑ I completely lost it. I was shouting and swearing. If someone loses it, they become unable to do something they are usually able to do. ❑ He walked on stage, looked out into the audience and just lost it. He forgot the words and started to make up completely different ones.

If you cut a person or organization loose, you get rid of them, especially by no longer employing them or controlling them. ❑ The company is about to be cut loose from the state on which it has so long depended. ❑ He could not believe that the firm he has served for so loss long would cut him loose. ✪ at a loss ● You can also say that a person or an If you are at a loss, you do not know what organization cuts loose if they become to do or say in a particular situation. free from the influence or authority of ❑ These women are at a loss to know where to go for help. ❑ With over 190 different recipes for other people. ❑ He’s cut loose from this business except, possibly, where James is more than 100 varieties of pasta, Rosa is never at a loss for something to cook. concerned. at a loss for words ➜ see words cut loose [informal] If someone cuts loose, they start to a dead loss If you describe someone or something as behave in excited or uncontrolled way. a dead loss, you think that they are ❑ This is the guy who cut loose live on breakfast completely useless. radio during an outdoor concert at a Brisbane ❑ For them the nearly-new car is a dead loss university.

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luck because it loses value more quickly. ❑ I have always been a dead loss at competitive sports and games.

losses

✪ cut your losses

If you cut your losses, you decide to stop spending time, energy, or money on an activity or situation on which you have already spent a lot without having any success. ❑ Competition in the market was so strong, we decided to cut our losses and close the business. ❑ Only you can decide if you should push on to the end of your degree or cut your losses and get out.

love

lot

all over the lot [american] If something is all over the lot, it is in a large number of places or spread over a wide range of things. ❑ We threw the ball all over the lot against the Giants. ❑ The company’s investments have been all over the lot – in fiber-optic technology, database systems, computer networks and so on.

all’s fair in love and war In a competition or contest, people say all’s fair in love and war to suggest that in difficult circumstances any kind of behaviour is acceptable. ❑ He appears to live by the credo that all’s fair in love and war. for love nor money or for love or money If you say that you cannot get something for love nor money or for love or money, you mean that it is very difficult to get. ❑ You won’t get a room here, not for love nor money. ❑ Norman had created a fine vegetable garden that gave us all the things you couldn’t buy in the local shops, for love or money. ✪ no love lost or little love lost If there is no love lost between two people or groups, or little love lost between them, they do not like each other at all. ❑ There was no love lost between the country’s two most powerful politicians. Originally this expression had the opposite meaning to its present one. It used to mean that the two people liked each other a lot.

If an idea, opinion, or message is loud

Cob Idioms A-Z Final.indd 285

down on your luck Someone who is down on their luck is suffering a period of bad luck. ❑ At that time he was down on his luck – his wife had left him and his job was giving him terrible back pain. the luck of the draw If something is the luck of the draw, it depends on chance and there is nothing you can do to influence it. ❑ It’s largely the luck of the draw what kind of child we get. ❑ Sometimes you can see a doctor immediately, and sometimes you have to wait for hours. It’s the luck of the draw really.

✪ loud and clear

luck

loud

In American English, a lot is an area of land. ✪ throw in your lot with someone If you throw in your lot with someone, you decide to join them and to share whatever good or bad things happen to them. ❑ Few countries are ready to throw in their lot with other states on defence matters. ❑ He threw in his lot with Maria and left his family to be with her in Paris. ● People sometimes use cast instead of throw in. ❑ I cast my lot with him through those long, difficult years. In the past, ‘lots’ were objects such as pieces of straw or paper which people used when making a decision or choice. Each lot represented, for example, a different piece of property or course of action. All the lots were put together and then chosen at random to decide who would receive the different pieces of property or what action would be taken.

The usual British expression is all over the shop.

285

and clear, it is expressed clearly and forcefully. ❑ The message must come across loud and clear from the manager: No matter how hard I ask you to work, I work as hard or harder. ❑ Our views and our voices are being heard loud and clear in the town hall. ● You can also use loud and clear before a noun. ❑ The international community has sent a loud and clear message that all expressions of hatred and intolerance are unacceptable.

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286

lucky

This expression refers to the act of ❑ I could not think how to reply. Now he would drawing (=taking) a card at random think I was out to lunch. from a pack of playing cards. ● You can use out-to-lunch before a noun. ✪ push your luck ❑ He must be the most out-to-lunch chief If you push your luck, you do something executive in America. risky that could spoil the success you have ✪ there’s no such thing as a free lunch or already had. there is no free lunch ❑ You survived this time but who knows how far People say there’s no such thing as a free you can push your luck? ❑ You might be pushing lunch or there is no free lunch to mean your luck asking them to play the song live. you cannot expect to get things for ✪ try your luck nothing. If someone tries their luck, they try ❑ There is no such thing as a free lunch, of course, something and hope that it will be and many of the most attractive looking deals successful. have quite large joining fees. ❑ There is no free ❑ The most obvious thing would be to try her luck lunch. Don’t feel entitled to anything you don’t in London. ❑ Someone told me there’s a railway sweat and struggle for. station at Wexter, and I thought I’d try my luck by This expression dates back to at least rail again. 1840 in the United States. It recently lucky became popular again when the ✪ strike lucky or American economist Milton Friedman strike it lucky [british] used it in the 1970s. If someone strikes lucky or strikes it lucky, lurch they suddenly have some good luck. ✪ leave someone in the lurch ❑ I arrived at 12.30 to give myself time to find a If someone leaves you in the lurch, they parking meter, but struck lucky immediately. put you in a difficult situation by ❑ The lottery mainly takes money from the suddenly going away or stopping helping poorest people, who dream of striking it lucky. you. This expression has its origins in ❑ My dog walker left me in the lurch last month mining in the 19th century. It refers to and I haven’t found a replacement yet. ❑ The someone finding the minerals or oil airline has shut down, leaving thousands of ticket that they were looking for. ‘Strike oil’ holders in the lurch. is based on the same idea. In the card game cribbage, a player is

lull

the lull before the storm ➜ see storm

✪ a lump in your throat

out to lunch [informal] If you describe someone as out to lunch, you mean that they are behaving in a strange or foolish way or are not aware of what is happening around them.

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✪ not take something lying down

If something bad is happening and you say that you will not take it lying down, you mean that you will complain about it or fight against it. ❑ It is clear that he means to push everyone out who does not agree with him, and I for one am not going to take it lying down. ❑ They still say there’s nothing wrong at all with their systems. I don’t take these things lying down, so I complained several times by letter.

lunch

lying

If you have a lump in your throat, you feel as though you might cry. ❑ Meg felt a lump in her throat. She was going to miss Dot. ● You can also say that something brings a lump to your throat. ❑ It brings a lump to my throat. We are so proud of her. ➜ compare with a frog in your throat

lump

left in a position known as the lurch when an opponent has scored 51 points before the player has managed to either score 31 points or move their peg around the first corner of the board that is used to keep the score.

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exercises

PL SE

O 1

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Exercises Themes

The exercises on pages 2 to 15 will help you to increase your knowledge of idioms in some important areas of everyday life. For example, in the English language, there are hundreds of idioms for talking about feelings such as love and anger, and experiences such as success and failure. We look at some of the commonest and most interesting ones here.

Each group of idioms relates to a different theme.

Happiness

exercises

In the next six exercises, match the idioms (1â&#x20AC;&#x201C;4) with a sentence that means the same (aâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;d).

Lena is walking on air. ..........

Lena is full of beans. ..........

Lena is in her element. ..........

Lena is a ray of sunshine. ..........

a Lena is very happy and energetic.

b Lena is doing something that she enjoys and does well. c

Lena is very happy and excited.

d Lena has a happy and pleasant character.

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Success and failure 1

We beat them hands down. ..........

We threw in the towel. ..........

We made a pig’s ear of it. ..........

SA 4

We hit the jackpot. ..........

a We stopped trying to do something because we knew we could not succeed. b We won a competition or contest easily.

We did something very badly.

exercises

d We had great success and earned a lot of money from something.

The mind

He’s miles away. ..........

She’s one sandwich short of a picnic. ..........

He’s as thick as two short planks. ..........

I’ve got a brain like a sieve. ..........

b He is not at all clever.

a I am always forgetting things.

He is completely unaware of what is happening around him or of what someone is saying.

d She is crazy.

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Memory 1

It slipped my mind. ..........

It was on the tip of my tongue. ..........

It rang a bell. ..........

SA 4

It crossed my mind. ..........

a I suddenly thought of it. b I completely forgot about it. It sounded slightly familiar.

Decisions

E U

Paolo has had a change of heart. ..........

Paolo has been given the thumbs up. ..........

Paolo has bitten the bullet. ..........

Paolo has stuck to his guns. ..........

exercises

d I could almost remember the word, but not quite.

a Paolo has accepted a difficult situation or forced himself to do something unpleasant.

b Paoloâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attitude towards something has changed.

Paolo has refused to change his decision or opinion about something.

d Paolo has been told that his plan has been approved or accepted.

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Communication 1

We got our wires crossed. ..........

We got off on the wrong foot. ..........

We hit it off. ..........

SA 4

We managed to find common ground. ..........

a We started our relationship badly. b We were mistaken about what each other meant. We succeeded in finding a subject or opinion that we agreed about.

exercises

d We liked each other immediately when we first met.

E SE

O 5

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In exercises 7–12, replace the underlined parts of the sentence with the correct form of the idioms in the box. Use the appropriate form of the verb and, where necessary, the correct pronoun. Each group of idioms relates to a different theme.

SA 7

Understanding

M 1

I’m very familiar with this part of town.

.............................. this part of town ................................... 2

There’s something strange about her but I can’t decide exactly what it is.

exercises

know something like the back of your hand put your finger on something get the hang of read between the lines

............................................................................................ It’s a very easy piece of machinery to use – you’ll soon learn

how to do it.

............................................................................................ Guessing something that is not obvious, I’d say she’s fairly unhappy here and intends to leave.

............................................................................................

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Trouble and difficulty

bite off more than you can chew put your foot in it rock the boat not have a leg to stand on

SA 1

I think I’ve tried to do more than I can manage with this project.

............................................................................................

She has no witnesses – she cannot possibly prove that

her statement is true, and she is therefore in a very weak

............................................................................................ I embarrassed and offended her immediately by referring to

John as her boyfriend when apparently, he’s just a friend.

............................................................................................ 4

exercises

position.

They don’t want to take on anyone who will cause trouble in

this situation.

............................................................................................

N 7

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Money

cost an arm and a leg make a killing cut your coat according to your cloth have money to burn

SA 1

Luisa earned a great amount of money when she sold off her company.

............................................................................................

He works in a City bank and has more money than he needs,

............................................................................................ 3

It must use up a lot of money to rent an apartment in the city centre.

............................................................................................ 4

exercises

and he spends it on silly things.

There isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t enough money to do everything we would like, and we must consider the money and resources that are

actually available when we are deciding what to spend.

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Hiding and revealing

spill the beans sweep something under the carpet get something off your chest put someone out of their misery

SA 1

Come on, tell us the secret! Who sent you the card?

............................................................................................

I told him the thing that he had been waiting anxiously

to hear, and announced that he had passed his exam.

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d been worrying about the situation for a long time, the problem.

so I thought Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d make myself feel better by talking about

............................................................................................ 4

exercises

............................................................................................

If there were any problems in the family, they just hid them

or forgot about them because they were too difficult to talk about.

............................................................................................

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Anger and irritation

get someoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s back up fly off the handle get out of bed on the wrong side let off steam

SA 1

If the smallest problem happens, he just suddenly becomes very angry.

............................................................................................

Something about that man really annoys me.

Sometimes in a relationship itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s good to argue and get rid of

strong feelings of anger.

............................................................................................ 4

exercises

............................................................................................

Pedro was in a bad mood all day for no obvious reason. ............................................................................................

O 10

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Information

get up to speed

draw a blank drop a bombshell keep someone posted

SA 1

Then he suddenly told us a piece of bad news that we were not expecting, and announced that he was leaving the company.

............................................................................................

I tried to find out details about the company but I was

............................................................................................ I need to make sure I have all the latest information on this project.

............................................................................................ 4

exercises

completely unable to find out anything.

If I hear of any developments, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll give you the latest

information about it.

............................................................................................

N 11

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In exercises 13–18, match the sentence halves. 13

Relationships We go back a long way, Karl and me, ..........

There’s no love lost between Ali and ..........

Their marriage was ..........

Amelia and Isabel do everything together – they’re ..........

I have no more than a ..........

a having met as students over twenty years ago.

joined at the hip.

d nodding acquaintance with most of his colleagues. e

Help

his brother.

exercises

b on the rocks.

We’ve bent over backwards to ..........

Could you lend me a hand ..........

I was going through a difficult time and ..........

She knew I was new to the company and she ..........

As in all relationships, there’s a bit of ..........

b give and take involved.

a my sister was there for me.

with these boxes, please?

d give him all the help he needs. e

took me under her wing and showed me around. 12

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Starting and stopping 1

Nobody was watching the programme any more, so the production company decided to ..........

It’s full steam ahead ..........

SA 3

If you see your child developing a bad habit such as this, ..........

I’m tired of waiting – I want to ..........

M 5

Eventually, the illness runs its course ..........

a try to nip it in the bud in its early stages. b pull the plug on it.

exercises

get the show on the road.

d and the patient starts to get better. for both projects, I’m pleased to say.

O 13

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Effort 1

I’ve been breaking my back ..........

This team can beat anyone when they’re ..........

Gina is so impressive. She ..........

SA 4

If you put your back into it, ..........

Patrick is so lazy. He didn’t ..........

a you could probably finish the project by June. b lift a finger to help with the clearing up. to get the building work finished on time.

d works her socks off. e

firing on all cylinders.

Love

exercises

He absolutely adores his daughter – she’s ..........

Ben still carries a torch for ..........

I think Amelia took a shine to ..........

They met at college and ..........

She’s still waiting for someone to come and ..........

b his first girlfriend, Emily. the apple of his eye.

a fell head over heels in love.

d sweep her off her feet. e

Jamie, judging by the amount of time she spent talking to him.

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Honesty He is known for being very honest and direct – he ..........

I thought it was time to come clean and ..........

It’s a perfectly respectable company, and everything in the agreement is ..........

Let’s not beat about the bush. Her ..........

I didn’t take the money, and ..........

a tell him the truth about the situation.

b calls a spade a spade. work is terrible.

exercises

d that’s the gospel truth. above board.

O 15

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Idioms with different types of vocabulary Some areas of the language occur more frequently than others in idioms. For example, there are a lot of idioms that contain animal words. There are also a lot containing words for colours.

The idioms on pages 16–21 are all grouped according to the area of language that they cover.

Complete the idioms in exercises 1–6 by using one word from the box. Use the correct form of the noun.

Animals

worm

mouse

chicken

bird

cat

My brother and I used to fight like ......................... and dog. fight a lot

Try to get there before the store opens. Just remember,

wolf

exercises

The meaning of each idiom is explained in italics under the sentence.

the early bird catches the ......................... .

We thought he was all right, but he turned out to be a ......................... in sheep’s clothing. someone who appears harmless but is in fact dangerous

People who get up early achieve more in their lives.

Marco has been running around like a headless ......................... all morning. moving in a disorganized way, and not thinking calmly

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This app kills two ......................... with one stone – it helps both the student and the teacher. to manage to achieve two things at the same time

6 I need someone to keep an eye on my team while I’m not there. When the cat’s away, the ......................... will play!

People behave badly when their boss is not there.

Colours

white

black

blue

green

red

green

Both countries rolled out the ......................... carpet

exercises

for the President’s visit.

gave a special welcome

You can argue with him until you are .........................

in the face but he won’t change his mind.

again and again, but with no effect 3

Plants always grow well for Celia – she has .............................. fingers.

is good at gardening

Marta wasn’t well – she looked as ........................ as a sheet. very pale

He was clearly cross and gave me a ......................... look as he left. a look showing anger

6 We’re all ......................... with envy because Helen is off to Florida for two weeks. wanting very much to do or have the same as someone else 17

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Parts of the body

head

ear

eyes

head

leg

I’m scratching my .............................. about what to do next.

arm

puzzled and unsure

It should be a nice coat – it cost an arm and a

............................... . cost a lot of money I’d give my right .............................. to see them in concert. do anything because I want it so much

Okay! There’s no need to bite my .............................. off just because you’ve had a bad day! shout angrily at me

exercises

All .............................. were on the young couple as they entered the room. everyone was watching

6 My brother has an .............................. for languages.

is able to learn quickly, especially by listening

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Food

bread

sweet

cucumber

cake

cheese

I was expecting Ute to be nervous but she was as cool as a

apple

............................... . very relaxed, calm, and unemotional

M 2

Both products are now selling like hot ............................... . selling in large quantities

He gets most of his money from the writing – that’s his

main way of earning money

Alex and his brother are like chalk and ............................. .

Alex is sporty and sociable and his brother is incredibly shy.

completely different

I see all these different gadgets I can play with and I’m like a

exercises

.............................. and butter.

child in a .............................. shop.

excited to be doing or having many good things around you

6 The two experiences are so different, you can’t compare them – they’re .............................. and oranges.

too different to be compared

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Clothing

collar

shoe

socks

trousers

hat

You can tell who wears the .............................. in that

boot

relationship! makes all the important decisions

M 2

You have to take your .............................. off to the sort of people who do all that unpaid work.

I wouldn’t want to be in his .............................. when his boss finds out what he’s done.

experiencing what he experiences 4

It’s a difficult subject, and it causes a lot of people to get hot under the ............................... .

exercises

feel admiration and respect

very annoyed about something 5

He got the .............................. from his last job.

was made to leave his job

6 She’ll have to pull her .............................. up if she wants to stay in this company.

improve her behaviour or work

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Weapons

gun

sword

stick

bomb

It was quite an old car but it went like a ...............................

knife

went very fast

All the industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s big .............................. were present at

the event. most important people

I think she said it just to stick the .............................. in.

exercises

deliberately upset someone Whenever the government get something wrong, the with.

opposition use it as a .............................. to beat them

an opportunity to punish or criticize them

Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve met twice, and they crossed .............................. on both occasions.

disagreed and argued

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Similes The idioms on pages 22 to 25 are all examples of similes. A simile is an expression that compares one thing with another thing. Similes always contain the words as or like.

On these two pages, all the similes contain as.

In exercises 1 and 2, complete each simile with a noun from the box. bat

bird

as blind as a ..............................

as free as a ..............................

as gentle as a ..............................

as quiet as a ..............................

as strong as an ..............................

exercises

mouse

lamb

flash judge bone pancake nails

as quick as a ..............................

as dry as a ..............................

as flat as a ..............................

as sober as a ..............................

as tough as ..............................

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In exercises 3 and 4, complete each simile with an adjective from the box.

clear

fit

nice

easy

light

as .............................. as a feather

as .............................. as a bell

as .............................. as a fiddle

as .............................. as ABC

as .............................. as pie

thin stiff safe old cold as .............................. as the hills

as .............................. as a rake

as .............................. as board

as .............................. as houses

as .............................. as ice

exercises

Are the sentences positive Ç or negative Ó?

When we tried to dig, we found that the ground was as

dry as a bone. ..... He’s 87 and as fit as a fiddle. .....

I was a bit scared about meeting her, but she turned out to be as nice as pie. .....

Without my glasses, I’m as blind as a bat. .....

She had forgotten her gloves and her hands were as cold as ice. .....

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On these two pages, all the similes contain the word like.

Match the halves to complete the idioms. 1

a like a glove

to eat

to spread

b like the wind

to run

to laugh

d like a bird

to fit

like a drain

like wildfire

PL Complete the sentences with idioms from exercise 6.

She eats .............................................................................. .

He ran ............................................................. ................... .

The news spread ..................................................................

The jacket fits .............................................................. .......

He was laughing ................................................................ .

exercises

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Are the sentences positive Ç or negative Ó? 1

My younger daughter eats like a bird and she’s terribly thin. .....

SA 2

Charlotte is only six but she can run like the wind. .....

In such crowded conditions, the disease spread

like wildfire.

When I tried the dress on, it fitted me like a glove.

This show will have you laughing like a drain! .....

.....

exercises

.....

O 25

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Proverbs The idioms on pages 26 to 29 are all examples of well-known proverbs. Proverbs are statements that give advice or say something that is generally true in life.

SA 1

Match the proverbs (1–4) with their meanings (a–d). Too many cooks spoil the broth*. ......

No news is good news. ......

It’s no use crying over spilt milk. ......

A leopard does not change its spots. ......

a You should not worry or be upset about things that have happened and cannot be changed.

b A plan or project can fail because there are too many people working on it at the same time. c

exercises

*broth = soup

If you do not hear new information about a situation, it is probably because nothing bad has happened.

d It is not possible for someone bad or unpleasant to change and become good and pleasant.

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Match the proverbs (1–4) with their meanings (a–d). 1

The early bird catches the worm. ......

Blood is thicker than water. ......

Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched*. ......

SA 4

You can’t judge a book by its cover. ......

*be hatched = to have come out of an egg

a Do not make plans for the future yet because you do not know for certain how a particular situation will develop.

People who get up early achieve more in their lives.

d Someone’s loyalty to their family is greater than their loyalty to anyone else.

exercises

b You should not judge someone or something by what they look like or what they seem like at first.

O 27

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Choose proverbs from exercises 1 and 2 to complete what each speaker says. 1

Don’t worry if you haven’t heard from Martine yet. She’s only been away for two days and you know what they say:

............................................................................................

I like to get up early and arrive at the market before the crowds. You know me:

............................................................................................

I’ve never found my sister an easy person to get on with but I’ll always love her – ............................................................................................

I know what you mean – he’s not what most people would

consider to be attractive but still,

exercises

............................................................................................

O 28

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Choose proverbs from exercises 1 and 2 to complete what each speaker says. 1

I wish I hadn’t spent all that money but there’s nothing I can do to change that now. I suppose

............................................................................................

There were three people in charge of the project and I think that was the problem.

............................................................................................

I thought he might have become kinder over the years.

............................................................................................ Even if the project is approved, we still may not get all the

funding that we need so don’t assume that it will go ahead.

............................................................................................

exercises

I should have known better:

O 29

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Answer key Themes Exercise 1

1 c 2 a

Exercise 8 3 b 4 d

1 I think I’ve bitten off more than I can chew with this project. 2 She has no witnesses – she doesn’t have a leg to stand on. 3 I put my foot in it immediately by referring to John as her boyfriend … 4 They don’t want to take on anyone who will rock the boat.

Exercise 2

1 b 2 a

3 c 4 d

Exercise 3

Exercise 4 1 b 2 d

Exercise 5

3 a 4 c

3 d 4 c

Exercise 6 1 b 2 a

1 Luisa made a killing when she sold off her company. 2 He works in a City bank and has money to burn. 3 It must cost an arm and a leg to rent an apartment in the city centre. 4 There isn’t enough money to do everything we would like, and we must cut our coat according to our cloth.

1 b 2 d

Exercise 9

3 c 4 a

answer key

3 b 4 a

1 c 2 d

Exercise 7 1 I know this part of town like the back of my hand. 2 There’s something strange about her but I can’t put my finger on it. 3 It’s a very easy piece of machinery to use – you’ll soon get the hang of it. 4 Reading between the lines, I’d say she’s fairly unhappy here and intends to leave

Exercise 10

1 Come on, spill the beans! Who sent you the card? 2 I put him out of his misery, and announced that he had passed his exam. 3 I’d been worrying about the situation for a long time, so I thought I’d get it off my chest. 4 If there were any problems in the family, they just swept them under the carpet…

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Exercise 11

Exercise 13

1 If the smallest problem happens, he just flies off the handle. 2 Something about that man really gets my back up. 3 Sometimes in a relationship itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s good to argue and let off steam. 4 Pedro got out of bed on the wrong side.

1 a 2 e

3 b 4 c

5 d

3 a 4 e

5 b

3 a 4 c

5 d

3 d 4 a

5 b

3 e 4 a

5 d

3 e 4 c

5 d

Exercise 14 1 d 2 c

Exercise 15 1 b 2 e

Exercise 12

1 Then he dropped the bombshell, and announced that he was leaving the company. 2 I tried to find out details about the company but I drew a blank. 3 I need to get up to speed on this project. 4 If I hear of any developments, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll keep you posted.

Exercise 16 1 c 2 e

1 c 2 b

answer key

Exercise 17

Exercise 18

1 b 2 a

Idioms with different types of vocabulary Exercise 1

Exercise 4

4 chicken 5 birds 6 mice

1 cucumber 2 cakes 3 bread

Exercise 5 1 trousers 2 hat 3 shoes

Exercise 3 1 head 2 leg 3 arm

Exercise 6 4 head 5 eyes 6 ear

1 bomb 2 guns 3 knife

4 collar 5 boot 6 socks

4 white 5 black 6 green

Exercise 2 1 red 2 blue 3 green

4 cheese 5 sweet 6 apples

1 cat 2 worm 3 wolf

4 stick 5 swords

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Similes Exercise 1 1 bat 2 bird 3 lamb

Exercise 5 4 mouse 5 ox

1 Ó 2 Ç 3 Ç

Exercise 2 1 nails 2 flash 3 bone

Exercise 6 4 pancake 5 judge

1 d 2 e 3 b

Exercise 3

4 safe 5 cold

like a bird like the wind like wildfire like a glove like a drain

Exercise 8 1 Ó 2 Ç 3 Ó

4 Ç 5 Ç

answer key

1 2 3 4 5

Exercise 4 1 old 2 thin 3 stiff

4 c 5 a

Exercise 7 4 easy 5 nice

1 light 2 clear 3 fit

4 Ó 5 Ó

Proverbs Exercise 1

Exercise 4

1 b 2 c

3 a 4 d

1 It’s no use crying over spilt milk. 2 Too many cooks spoil the broth. 3 A leopard does not change its spots. 4 Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.

Exercise 2 3 a 4 b

1 c 2 d

Exercise 3 1 2 3 4

No news is good news. The early bird catches the worm. Blood is thicker than water. You can’t judge a book by its cover.

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Mm SA

do not express their opinions publicly. ❑ If he talks about a silent majority in favour of this, I think he is mistaken. ❑ His consistently poor judgment is a source of deep concern to the silent majority of party members.

mad

mad as a hatter [mainly british] If someone is as mad as a hatter, they are very eccentric. ❑ She’s articulate, bright – and mad as a hatter – one of the most talented songwriters of recent years. ● This term could cause offence. In the 19th century, ‘hatters’ or hat-makers used nitrate of mercury to treat their fabrics. This substance is poisonous, and if the hat-makers breathed it in, they often suffered brain damage. As a result, hatters were traditionally thought of as mad. In Lewis Carroll’s children’s story ‘Alice in Wonderland’ (1865), one of the characters is a hatter who behaves very strangely. Carroll may have based the character on a well-known Oxford furniture dealer, Theophilus Carter, who was known as the ‘Mad Hatter’. mad as a hornet [mainly american] If you are as mad as a hornet, you are extremely angry. ❑ I’ll bet he’s as mad as a hornet about this whole affair. A hornet is a large wasp.

make

make something your own If you make something your own, you adapt it or do it your way so that it is unique and original. ❑ You can change the ingredients to really make the recipes your own. don’t make me laugh [informal] People say don’t make me laugh when they think that something they have been told is foolish or wrong. ❑ Claire, a poisoner? Don’t make me laugh – she was just a lousy cook.

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the low man on the totem pole [american, informal] If you describe someone as the low man on the totem pole, you mean that they are the least important person in an organization or a group. ❑ He started out as the low man on the totem pole of the staff. ● You can also just say that a person or their position is low on the totem pole. ❑ At other studios, those writers who were low on the totem pole were treated rudely. ● If someone is important in a group or organization, you can say that they or their position is high on the totem pole.

the silent majority The silent majority in a country or a group are the large group of people who

man

that way madness lies or that way lies madness People say that way madness lies or that way lies madness to mean that doing a particular thing will cause you to go crazy. ❑ I’ve given up trying to tidy up after them. That way madness lies. ❑ Lie to anyone you want, but don’t lie to yourself. That way lies madness. ● People also say this way madness lies or this way lies madness. ❑ I keep thinking about Richard, and this way lies madness.

be the making of someone/something If something is the making of a person or thing, it is the reason that they become successful or become very much better than they used to be. ❑ The school seemed so far away from home, but it proved to be the making of me. ❑ Arguably, the motorway has been the making of modern Cambridgeshire.

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map ❑ Kassam would only say that his job was ‘high

on the totem pole’ at the hospital where the disease was found. A ‘totem pole’ is a tall wooden pole with symbols on it, that is a traditional object for Native Americans. a man Friday A man Friday is a man who is trusted by someone and helps them with lots of different jobs. ❑ She is toying with the idea of sending her new man Friday to Uttar Pradesh. ● You can also call a woman a girl Friday. ❑ I became Lucian’s girl Friday and would go during the night to fetch him from the National Gallery. This expression comes from the name of a character in the novel ‘Robinson Crusoe’ by Daniel Defoe. a man of straw ➜ see straw the man in the street ➜ see street the man on the Clapham omnibus [british, old-fashioned] When people talk about the man on the Clapham omnibus, they mean ordinary, average people. ❑ The wealthy and powerful never liked the man on the Clapham omnibus knowing about their lives. Clapham is an area of London, and ‘omnibus’ is an old-fashioned word for bus. the poor man’s something If you describe something as the poor man’s something, you mean that it is similar to the second thing, but less expensive to buy or of lower quality. ❑ To some people, chicken livers are the poor man’s foie gras. ● People sometimes say that a person is the poor man’s someone, meaning that they do something similar to that person, but not as well. ❑ Throughout his career the lesser-known actor has been the poor man’s Michael J. Fox.

marbles

lose your marbles [informal] If you lose your marbles, you lose your ability to think properly and remember things. ❑ At 83 I haven’t lost my marbles and my memory is, thank God, as clear as it ever was. ❑ People are talking about him as if he’s lost his marbles. ● This term could cause offence. ● You can also say that someone has all their marbles, meaning that they are still able to think clearly and remember things. ❑ He’s in his eighties but he clearly still has all his marbles. pick up your marbles and go home [american] If you pick up your marbles and go home, you leave a situation or activity in which you are involved because you are angry about what is happening. ❑ They called it the dirtiest Olympics ever and briefly threatened to pick up their marbles and go home. ● You usually use this expression to suggest that someone is wrong to do this. The reference here is to a player in a game of marbles who is annoyed about losing and therefore stops playing and takes the marbles away so that nobody else can play either.

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If someone or something puts a person, place, or thing on the map, they cause them to become well-known or important. ❑ The film which really put Ellen Barkin on the map was The Big Easy. ❑ In today’s programme, we look at the career of the man who, in 13 years as Chancellor, put Austria back on the map.

✪ put someone/something on the map

march to a different tune [british] or march to a different drummer [mainly american] If someone marches to a different tune or marches to a different drummer, they behave differently from most people or have different beliefs about what is morally right. ❑ Throughout his whole career, Clough marched to a different tune. ❑ As a player, Lindner has always marched to a different drummer. ● You can also say that someone marches to the beat of a different drummer. ❑ He is a leader who marches to the beat of quite a different drummer. ✪ steal a march If you steal a march on someone, you do something before them and so gain an advantage over them. ❑ Investors from other countries will be annoyed that their rivals have once again stolen a march on them. ❑ In the 1980s, they stole a march on other Europeans by attracting massive amounts of foreign investment.

map

march

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The ‘mark’ in this expression is the target used in shooting or archery (= a sport in which arrows are shot from a bow). mark ✪ leave your mark or ✪ a black mark leave a mark If you get a black mark, people form a bad If someone or something leaves their opinion of you as a result of something mark or leaves a mark on someone or that you have done. something, they change them or have a ❑ Any complaints to the boss and you got a lasting effect on them. black mark straight away. ❑ I drive a big car so ❑ He now has five more years in office and would that’s another black mark against me as far as still dearly like to leave his mark on the world. Amy is concerned. ❑ I lived abroad, in Asia, for four years, and this This expression may refer to a practice is an experience that tends to leave its mark. in schools in the past. If children ❑ Hani left an indelible mark on the politics of behaved badly, the teacher put black South Africa. marks against their names on a list. ✪ make your mark or far off the mark or make a mark way off the mark If you make your mark or make a mark, If something that you say or write is far you do something which causes you to off the mark or way off the mark, it is become noticed or famous. completely wrong or not at all accurate. ❑ Today we look at the new generation of ❑ Mussels are sometimes called ‘Poor Man’s Japanese directors making their mark in world Oysters’, but I think that name is way off the cinema. ❑ She’s only been with the company for mark. Mussels are every bit as good as the more three months but she’s certainly made her mark. expensive oyster. ❑ I guessed it cost three ❑ He was new to politics and had not yet made thousand dollars and apparently I wasn’t far off a mark. the mark. If something makes its mark or makes ● Less often, people simply say that a mark, it starts to be noticed or to have someone or something is off the mark, an effect. meaning they are not right or correct. ❑ The film has already made its mark in terms of ❑ While he does make one or two valid points, I find awards. ❑ If cricket ever made a mark in the much of his argument off the mark. United States, it would be guys like Bevan who get off the mark [british] would sell it. In a sporting contest, when someone gets on the mark off the mark, they score or win for the If something someone says or writes is first time. on the mark, it is correct or accurate. ❑ The goal was Atkinson’s second of the season, ❑ A lot of the things he says are right on the mark. having got off the mark against Ipswich Town on ❑ Her observation about Maria was certainly on Saturday. the mark. The ‘mark’ in this expression is the line overshoot the mark which runners stand behind at the start If you overshoot the mark, you go too of a race. far and pass the place where you wanted hit the mark to be. If something hits the mark, it is good ❑ These birds head for France or Spain but and achieves what it was intended to sometimes overshoot the mark and end up in achieve. English gardens. ❑ It’s the only track on the album which fails to If you overshoot the mark, you cause hit the mark. ❑ Some of the jokes are gross and problems by doing something to a greater some aren’t. Some hit the mark brilliantly and extent than you intended. others miss by a mile. ❑ A defence cutback took place that went too far If a word or description hits the mark, – it overshot the mark. it is accurate. The ‘mark’ in these expressions is the ❑ Is there a single word that captures the spirit of target used in archery or shooting. overstep the mark this town? ‘Hospitable’ probably hits the mark. If an army steals a march on the enemy, it moves secretly and takes the enemy by surprise.

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marker

If you overstep the mark, you offend marker people by doing something that is ✪ put down a marker considered to be rude or unacceptable. If you put down a marker, you do ❑ They agreed that by criticising his manager so something that shows people what you publicly, Taylor had overstepped the mark. are capable of, or what you intend to do in ❑ Sometimes newspapers overstep the mark but the future. overall they do more good than harm. ❑ Bates has certainly put down a marker of The ‘mark’ in this expression may be intent in his ambitions for the title. the line behind which runners stand ● Verbs such as set and lay can be used before the race. Alternatively, it may instead of put. ❑ St Mel’s, winners of more refer to boxing matches in the past, titles than any other team, have set down a when a line was drawn in the ground marker for those who might hope to beat them which neither boxer could cross. later in the season. ✪ quick off the mark [mainly british] market If someone is quick off the mark, they are a cattle market [british, informal, rude] quick to respond to something, or to take or advantage of an opportunity. a meat market [informal, rude] ❑ He knows what it is like to have his privacy If you describe a situation as a cattle invaded – and has been quick off the mark to do market or a meat market, you mean that something about it. ❑ There are bargains to be had people, usually women, are being judged in the sales but you need to be quick off the mark. or chosen depending on how sexually ● You can also say that someone is first off attractive they are. the mark, meaning that they respond ❑ The parade of beautiful girls from every nation more quickly than anyone else. in the world was rightly dismissed as a cattle ❑ Thompson always seems to be the first off the market. ❑ It’s a meat market, like a lot of mark with a new trend. nightclubs. ● You can also say that someone is slow ● You use this expression in a off the mark, meaning that they are slow disapproving way. to respond. ❑ There have been complaints that ✪ in the market for something the international relief efforts on behalf of the If you are in the market for something, refugees were slow off the mark. you are interested in buying it or The ‘mark’ in this expression is the line getting it. which runners stand behind at the start ❑ Sadly, I’m not in the market for a luxury car. of a race. ❑ If you’re in the market for a new job, this might up to the mark be a good place to look. If something is up to the mark, it is of a price yourself out of the market standard that is good enough and if If you price yourself out of the market, someone is up to the mark, they are you try to sell goods or services at such a working to a standard that is good enough. high price that nobody buys them. ❑ Put simply, his work wasn’t up to the mark. ❑ At £150,000 for a season, he really is pricing ❑ Ongoing training is required to keep teachers himself out of the market. up to the mark. The ‘mark’ in this expression is a marrow hallmark, which is an official symbol ‘Marrow’ is the fatty substance inside put on gold and silver items that reach a the bones of a person or animal. particular standard. chilled to the marrow or ✪ wide of the mark frozen to the marrow [mainly british] If something that you say or write is wide If you are chilled to the marrow or frozen of the mark, it is not correct or accurate. to the marrow, you are very cold. ❑ Any suggestions that we are putting pressure ❑ She was chilled to the marrow and wet on Sir Michael to step down are very wide of the through. mark. ❑ For once, it seems that the government’s to the marrow figures might not be too wide of the mark. You can use to the marrow to show how The ‘mark’ in this expression is the target used in archery or shooting. strong someone’s feelings or beliefs are.

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max ❑ He was a Democrat to the marrow.

❑ The head of this division runs the whole

● Sometimes, people use the longer expression to the marrow of your bones. ❑ Some films chill you to the marrow of your bones.

shooting match. She manages projects, devises campaigns, hires, fires, and a hundred other things. ❑ I filled in my organ donor card, ticking the whole shooting match, from kidneys to liver. This may be a reference to someone winning all the prizes in a shooting contest.

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serve two masters [formal] If a person or organization tries to serve math two masters, they try to be loyal to two you do the math [american] opposing principles, beliefs or People say you do the math to mean that organizations. ❑ An organization such as this can either make a the person they are talking to should profit or provide an excellent public service. It calculate something because the answer cannot, however, be asked to serve two masters. will be interesting, important or This expression is used in the Bible. In surprising. ❑ In Canada, a country of more than 30 million the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says: people, a novel is considered to have sold ‘No man can serve two masters: for respectably if three thousand copies leave the either he will hate the one, and love the shelf. You do the math. other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.’ (Matthew 6:24, Luke matter 16:13) ✪ a matter of life and death or mat a matter of life or death go to the mat [mainly american] If something is a matter of life and death If someone goes to the mat, they fight or a matter of life or death, it is extremely very fiercely about something. important, often because someone could ❑ Erickson said he will go to the mat to save die or suffer great harm if something is parks in the city. ❑ This was a cause that Greens, not done. ❑ 24-hour care can actually be a matter of life and Socialists and a majority of Liberals were willing death for premature babies. ❑ Please, keep your to go to the mat for. voice down and just do what I say. This is a matter This expression refers to a wrestler who of life or death. fights fiercely and is willing to risk a fall. ● People say that something is not a match matter of life and death to say that it is ✪ meet your match not very important, especially when If you meet your match, you find that you someone else is acting as if it is. ❑ Well, are competing or fighting with someone never mind, John, it’s not a matter of life and who is as good as you or is better than you. death. ❑ The United manager, Alex Ferguson, admitted ● People use life-and-death before nouns that his team had met their match in Chelsea. to describe a situation that is extremely ❑ The boxer’s bruised and bloodied face showed serious or dangerous. ❑ We’re dealing with a he had met his match in Lewis. life-and-death situation here. a shouting match no laughing matter A shouting match is an angry and If you say that something is no laughing uncontrolled argument or discussion matter, you mean that it is very serious about something, usually involving and not something that you should laugh shouting. or joke about. ❑ For a moment I thought the meeting was going ❑ Their behaviour is an offence. It’s no laughing to become a shouting match. ❑ Plans to expand matter. the forest in the Northwest have turned into a

shouting match between the timber industry and the environmental community. the whole shooting match [mainly british] If you say the whole shooting match, you mean all or every part of something.

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max

✪ to the max [informal] If you do something or something happens to the max, you do it or it happens to the greatest degree possible. ❑ Everyone involved is enjoying himself to the

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may max. ❑ We had this very loving relationship, but it was strained to the max by the fact that I was away a lot.

may

may as well If you say that something may as well be the case, you mean that the existing situation is the same or almost the same as if it were the case. ❑ I may as well not bother going to bed at all.

McCoy

the real McCoy If you describe something as the real McCoy, you mean that it is the original, rather than a copy, and is therefore the best. ❑ Most smoked salmon on the market is pretty nasty stuff but this was different – this was the real McCoy. ❑ Unlike some other products which are promoted as the real McCoy, this is a genuine Indian product. There are several suggestions about who the original ‘McCoy’ was, including an American boxer, a liquor smuggler, and a Kansas cattle dealer. However, it is more likely that the expression was originally British, and that ‘McCoy’ was originally ‘Mackay’. There was a 19th century whisky manufacturer called Mackay who advertised his product as ‘the real Mackay’ to distinguish it from other brands with similar names. Alternatively, the expression may come from a dispute between two branches of the MacKay clan over which was older. Eventually the MacKays of Reay, or the ‘Reay MacKays’, won the dispute.

❑ A degree has never been a meal ticket, but the recession is making life for graduates tougher than ever. ❑ Frankly, you’ve been his meal ticket for years. It’s rough, but that’s showbiz. a square meal A square meal is a large, healthy meal that makes you feel you have eaten enough. ❑ The troops were tired and hadn’t had a square meal for five days. ❑ Do you survive on yogurt at lunchtime while your partner wants a square meal? On sailing ships in the past, sailors ate off square wooden plates.

mean

✪ no mean [informal]

You can use no mean before a word describing what someone does to show that someone does something well. ❑ She was no mean performer on a variety of other instruments. ❑ Moreover, Ramsay was no mean thinker himself. You can use no mean before words like ‘achievement’ or ‘task’ to show that someone has done something difficult and deserves to be admired for it. ❑ To destroy 121 enemy aircraft is no mean record. ❑ Repton reached the final, and since around 1,500 schools entered the competition, that was no mean achievement.

means

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make a meal of something or make a meal out of something [mainly british] If someone makes a meal of something or makes a meal out of it, they spend too much time or energy on it. ❑ He’s only been asked to write a brief essay but he’s making such a meal of it. ❑ Only spend an hour or so on the task – don’t make a meal out of it. a meal ticket If you describe something or someone as a meal ticket, you mean that they are a way of getting all the money that you need throughout your life.

not know the meaning of the word If you mention a word and say that someone doesn’t know the meaning of the word, you mean that they do not have a particular quality or have never done or experienced a particular thing. ❑ Love? He doesn’t know the meaning of the word! ❑ Ruthie was an optimist; she didn’t even know the meaning of the word can’t. ● Nouns such as phrase and term are sometimes used instead of word. ❑ Patrick doesn’t know the meaning of the phrase ‘speed limit’.

meal

meaning

by fair means or foul If someone tries to achieve something by fair means or foul, they use any possible method to achieve it, not caring if their behaviour is dishonest or unfair. ❑ They will do everything they can to win, by fair means or foul. ❑ She never gave up trying to recover her property, by fair means or foul.

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medium measure

✪ for good measure

If something is done or added for good measure, it is done or added in addition to other things in order to make certain that something is successful or complete. ❑ There’s salmon in the dish and prawns, with a few mussels in there for good measure. ● You can also use the phrase thrown in for good measure when something is added. ❑ It’s a fairly conventional love story, with a murder mystery thrown in for good measure. ❑ This trendy new nightclub has an excellent 70s disco music policy and a few celebrities thrown in for good measure. ✪ have the measure of someone If you have the measure of someone or something, you understand them or know what they are like and are able therefore to deal with them. ❑ Lili was the only person I knew who had the measure of her brother. ❑ He had the measure of Allen and his friends, and he treated them with polite contempt. ● You can also say that you get the measure of someone or something or take the measure of them, meaning that you discover what they are like. ❑ Amsterdam is that rare thing: a major city you can get the measure of in just four days. ❑ I was just taking the measure of the opposition.

293

meat

meat and potatoes [informal] The meat and potatoes of something are the most important and basic things about it or parts of it. ❑ American workwear is the meat and potatoes of off-duty clothing. ❑ The real meat and potatoes of any auto show is in the cars and trucks people can buy now. one man’s meat is another man’s poison If you say one man’s meat is another man’s poison, you mean that different people like different things. ❑ Talk about one man’s meat is another man’s poison, did you like that hideous painting in the kitchen? The Roman author Lucretius said in ‘De Rerum Natura’: ‘What is food to one person may be bitter poison to others.’ the meat in the sandwich [british] If you are the meat in the sandwich, you are in a very difficult situation because you have been caught between two people or groups who are fighting or arguing with each other. ❑ The police, who have to be present to ensure these extreme groups behave, find themselves the meat in the sandwich when the trouble starts. a meat market ➜ see market

medium

✪ a happy medium

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give someone a taste of their own medicine or give someone a dose of their own medicine If you give someone a taste of their own medicine or a dose of their own medicine, you treat them badly in the same way that they treated you. ❑ The famously aggressive interviewer was given a taste of his own medicine today when one caller asked him a series of very direct questions. ❑ I haven’t called him for over a week. Giving him a dose of his own medicine – see how he likes it.

dead meat [informal] If someone says that a person is dead meat, they mean that that person is in serious trouble which may result in them being injured or killed. ❑ But if you or anyone else touches me, Bas, you’re dead meat. I mean it. Stay out of my life. ● This expression is often used in threats. If someone says that a person is dead meat, they mean that the person has no chance of succeeding in the future. ❑ If she can’t get the votes, she’s dead meat. meat and drink to someone [mainly british] If something is meat and drink to you, it is something that you get great pleasure or satisfaction from or something that helps you to succeed. ❑ What normal people considered pressure was meat and drink to Maxwell. ❑ Of course celebrity disaster stories are meat and drink to the tabloids.

medicine

A happy medium is something that is successful or pleasant because it avoids being extreme. ❑ Here you have the freedom to be energetic, lazy or strike a happy medium in between. ❑ Tours like his provide a happy medium between protecting the sea-life and giving holidaymakers a unique experience.

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Melba ❑ He is still receiving some money – the modest

Melba

do a Melba [australian] If someone does a Melba, they tell people that they are leaving their job or giving their last performance, and then, in fact, they continue. ❑ We all believed that Neil was stepping down, but he did a Melba and carried on. This expression comes from the Australian singer Dame Nellie Melba, who did several concerts that she said would be her last.

melting pot

sum earmarked for young athletes – and is grateful for small mercies. ❑ In these difficult times, one can only be thankful for small mercies – that borrowing costs are relatively low. ● People sometimes say thank heavens for small mercies or thank God for small mercies to show that they are glad about any good aspects of a generally bad situation. ❑ She is now serving a 12-month prison sentence and the baby is with her parents. Thank heavens for small mercies.

mess

in the melting pot [mainly british, journalism] If something is in the melting pot, it is constantly changing, so that you do not know what will finally happen to it. ❑ Their fate is still in the melting pot, and much suffering may lie ahead. ❑ The game was still in the melting pot with 15 minutes to go when Colleary scored. A ‘melting pot’ is a container in which metal is melted down before being made into new objects. a melting pot A melting pot is a place or situation where there are many different types of people, cultures or ideas, all existing together. ❑ A melting pot of cultures, this region has always been inhabited by different ethnic groups. ❑ Barcelona was a melting pot of musical influences.

a mess of pottage ➜ see pottage

message

✪ get the message

If someone gets the message, they understand what you are trying to tell them, either directly or indirectly. ❑ ‘I’m not interested in talking about the weather, Whitlock.’ – ‘OK, I get the message.’ ❑ ‘I have a lot to do today,’ said Laura. Richard, getting the message, said goodbye.

messenger

shoot the messenger If someone shoots the messenger, they blame a person who has told them bad news or information instead of blaming the person who is responsible for the situation. ❑ In blaming the polling organisation for his party’s failure, Sir Malcolm is shooting the messenger.

✪ be grateful for small mercies or be thankful for small mercies If you are grateful for small mercies or are thankful for small mercies in a generally bad situation, you are glad about any aspects of it that are good.

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there is method in someone’s madness If you say there is method in someone’s madness, you mean that although what they do seems strange, they have a good reason for doing it. ❑ The chancellor and prime minister are supposed to be clever campaigners, but if there is method in their madness it is hard to discern. ● People also say there is method in the madness. ❑ This sounds like pointless technology, but there is method in the madness.

mercies

method

dead men tell no tales ➜ see tales the men in (grey) suits ➜ see suits sort out the men from the boys or separate the men from the boys If a difficult situation or competition sorts out the men from the boys or separates the men from the boys, it tests people and shows who is strong and capable and who is not. ❑ This is the game that will sort out the men from the boys. It is absolutely vital to win the replay and get to the final.

men

mic drop the mic If a speaker or singer drops the mic, they drop or mime dropping a handheld microphone as the finale to a speech or performance. ❑ At this point I suggest you drop the mic and leave the stage.

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mile ● People sometimes refer to this action as

a mic drop. ❑ He finished his speech with a stylish mic drop.

mickey

✪ take the mickey [mainly british,

informal] If you take the mickey out of someone or something, you tease them or make jokes about them in a way that causes them to seem ridiculous. ❑ I didn’t know whether Neville was taking the Mickey out of me or not. ❑ Hey, are you taking the mickey? ● You can also say that someone or something takes the mick out of someone or something. ❑ He’s created a comedy that takes the mick out of over-protective parents. ● When someone behaves like this, you can call their behaviour mickey-taking. You can also call an instance of it a mickey-take. ❑ Until puberty I was really quite plump and had to put up with all the mickey-taking that went with it. ❑ It was actually a big mickey-take. This expression may be based on rhyming slang. ‘To take the Mickey Bliss’ means ‘to take the piss’, a very rude expression which means to tease or make fun of someone. ‘Piss’ is a slang word for urine.

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❑ He presents himself as a moderate, middle-ofthe-road kind of person who understands and takes into consideration both sides of any issue. ❑ At some point during the ‘80s, the Labour Party turned into the party of middle-of-the-road socialism. If someone or something is middle-ofthe-road, they are very ordinary, and not unusual, exciting, or extreme. ❑ These are, for the most part, ordinary middle-of-the-road people who want the usual things out of life. ❑ They play very bland, middle-of-the-road music.

midnight

burn the midnight oil If you burn the midnight oil, you stay up very late at night in order to finish a piece of work. ❑ He’s been burning the midnight oil getting his article written. ❑ The truth is, I haven’t been sleeping all that much lately. Burning the midnight oil. The image here is of someone working late into the night by the light of an oil lamp.

might

Mickey Finn

✪ in the middle of nowhere or

out in the middle of nowhere If a place is in the middle of nowhere or out in the middle of nowhere, it is in the countryside, a long way from the nearest town. ❑ When I was 14, my family moved away from Glasgow to a village in the middle of nowhere. ❑ She lives out in the middle of nowhere with her three dogs. ✪ middle-of-the-road If you describe a person or their political ideas as middle-of-the-road, you mean that they are neither very left-wing nor very right-wing.

go the extra mile If you go the extra mile, you make a special effort to do or achieve something. ❑ The President is determined to go the extra mile for peace. ❑ I discovered that going the extra mile has always been a feature of successful people. ● This expression is variable, for example people sometimes replace go with travel and mile with yard. ❑ We will travel the extra mile to arrive at peace. ❑ He will be remembered for his willingness to go the extra yard to help people. a mile a minute If you do something or something happens a mile a minute, you do it or it happens very fast. ❑ Claire was a good kid, though she talked a mile a minute and Maggie often felt exhausted when she left. ❑ His mind works a mile a minute, constantly full of ideas.

middle

mile

slip someone a Mickey Finn [informal] If someone slips someone else a Mickey Finn, they give them a drink containing a drug that makes them go to sleep. ❑ I went there once and was slipped a Mickey Finn.

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might as well If you say that something might as well be the case, you mean that the existing situation is the same or almost the same as if it were the case. ❑ James didn’t speak. He might as well have not been there.

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miles

a mile off or a mile away [informal] If you can see something or someone a mile off or a mile away, you can notice or recognize them very easily. ❑ You can spot undercover cops a mile off. ❑ I can tell a wig a mile off. ❑ He knew Ann could spot a lie a mile away. run a mile [mainly british, informal] If someone runs a mile, they try very hard to get away from a person, thing or situation. ❑ Some men run a mile when you mention marriage and kids. ❑ These days most of us run a mile at the mention of plastic. ❑ He’s friendly enough but he’d run a mile if I asked him out.

expecting to find a land of milk and honey. This expression is used in the Bible to describe the Promised Land of the Israelites. (Exodus 3:8) milk someone/something for something If someone milks someone or something for something, they try to get an advantage or something valuable from them, often in an unfair way. ❑ They want to capture the market share now and milk it for profits later. ❑ He had everyone’s attention now and he milked the situation for as much drama as he could get away with.

mill

go through the mill If you go through the mill, you experience miles a very difficult period in your life with miles away many problems. If someone is miles away, they are ❑ She’s been through the mill these last few years completely unaware of what is happening – the collapse of her marriage and her career and a or of what someone is saying, because serious illness on top of that. ❑ It’s been an they are thinking deeply about something incredibly tough tour and we have all been else. through the mill. ❑ Sorry, I was miles away. Could you repeat that? ● You can also say that something or ❑ You didn’t hear a word I said, did you? You were someone puts someone through the mill. miles away. ❑ Following the England side over the years, I milk have been put through the mill emotionally. The reference here is to grain passing ‘Spilled’ can also be spelled ‘spilt’ in through a mill and being made into British English. flour. it’s no use crying over spilled milk or ✪ run-of-the-mill there’s no use crying over spilled milk You use run-of-the-mill to describe If you say it’s no use crying over spilled something or someone that is ordinary milk or there’s no use crying over spilled and not at all exciting. milk, you mean that people should not ❑ It was just run-of-the-mill TV movie stuff. worry or be upset about things that have ❑ The food was fairly run-of-the-mill. ❑ I was happened and cannot be changed. just a very average, run-of-the-mill kind of ❑ It didn’t work out, but there you go. It’s no use student. crying over spilt milk. This expression may be using the image ● This expression is very variable, for of a watermill making the same example no use can be replaced by no movements continuously and regularly good or no point. Often, the expression is so long as the flow of water stays the said without it’s or there’s. ❑ Oh well, it’s same. Another suggestion is that it done now. No point crying over spilt milk. comes from the use of ‘run-of-the-mill’ the land of milk and honey or in the United States as a term for timber a land of milk and honey [literary] which has been sawn at a sawmill but If you call a country or place the land of has not yet been graded. milk and honey or a land of milk and million honey, you mean that it is a place with one in a million plenty of food and resources, where If you say that someone or something is people can make money easily and have one in a million, you mean that they are good lives. very special or the best of their kind. ❑ Canada was the land of milk and honey. ❑ At 25, Bernstein was a star. One in a million. The land of opportunities. ❑ This was the first ● You can replace one with other nouns. port of call for many refugees coming to Australia,

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mind ❑ He’ll be a horse in a million if he wins.

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In British English, mincemeat is meat that has been cut into very small pieces.

● You can also use one-in-a-million before a noun. ❑ We still want love and the unique mind experience of a close, lasting partnership with ✪ at the back of your mind that one-in-a-million man. If something is at the back of your mind, a one in a million chance or you are aware of it, though it is not the a chance in a million main thing you are thinking about. If you say that something is a one in a ❑ It was not until they had eaten that Brigadier million chance or that there is a chance in Ryle raised the subject that had been at the back a million of it happening, you mean that of his mind throughout the meal. ❑ Always, at it is very unlikely to happen, and that you the back of my mind, was the fear that the would be either extremely lucky or depression might overcome me again. extremely unlucky if it happened to you. ✪ bear something in mind or ❑ Now we’re hoping and praying for another keep something in mind organ donor. It has to be a perfect match and If you tell someone to bear something in there’s all the waiting for that one in a million mind or keep something in mind, you are chance. ❑ Macleod said he entered the reminding or warning them about competition believing he had a one-in-a-million something important which they should chance of coming first. ❑ It is amazing really. remember. He had a chance in a million of surviving ❑ There are a few general rules to bear in mind millstone when selecting plants. ❑ Keep in mind that some ✪ a millstone around your neck [british, places are more problematic than others for american] or women traveling alone. ❑ Add salt and pepper to a millstone round your neck [british] taste, bearing in mind that dishes served cold If something is a millstone around your often need a little more seasoning. neck or a millstone round your neck, it is a ✪ blow your mind [informal] very unpleasant problem or responsibility If something blows your mind, you find it that you cannot escape from. extremely exciting and impressive. ❑ The empty Olympic Stadium became a ❑ I saw her show in Manchester and it just blew millstone round the country’s neck. ❑ Long-term my mind. ❑ Oxford really blew his mind. He loved illness can make you feel like a millstone around the feeling of the place, he loved the people. your family’s necks. ● You can also say that something is ● Millstone is often used on its own with mind-blowing. ❑ Falling in love like that is a this meaning. ❑ There is the continuing mind-blowing experience. ❑ There are over a millstone of the country’s enormous foreign debt. thousand paintings, sculptures and other works A millstone is one of a pair of very heavy from the period and it all adds up to a mindround flat stones which are used to blowing visual experience. grind grain. Jesus referred to children in This expression originated in the 1960s Matthew 18:5 by saying, ‘Whoso shall and was originally used to refer to the offend one of these little ones which experience of taking drugs such as LSD. believe in me, it were better for him that ✪ cross your mind a millstone were hanged about his neck If something crosses your mind, you and that he were drowned in the depth suddenly think of it. of the sea.’ ❑ It crossed my mind that she might be lying about mince her age. ❑ I certainly didn’t think of leaving. The thick as mince ➜ see thick idea never crossed my mind. ❑ It didn’t even cross my mind that I might not win this fight. mincemeat give someone a piece of your mind make mincemeat of someone [informal] [informal] If you make mincemeat of someone, you If you give someone a piece of your mind, defeat them completely in a fight, you speak angrily to them because they argument, or competition. have done something to annoy you. ❑ There was a time when the US champion would ❑ You can’t let people get away with behaviour have made mincemeat of any British challenger. like that. You should have given her a piece of your ❑ Her lawyers would make mincemeat of him.

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mind

mind! ❑ If I’d been the parent, I’d have given the a mind like a sieve ➜ see sieve teacher a piece of my mind. mind over matter ✪ have a good mind to do something You say mind over matter to mean the If you say that you have a good mind to do ability to control problems, especially something, you are threatening to do it, illness and pain, by using your mind. although you probably will not do it. ❑ So is good health simply a case of mind over ❑ He raged on about how he had a good mind to matter? ❑ Once your mind has fully accepted the resign. ❑ I have a good mind to turn right around suggestion that you are well, you immediately and head straight home. start to feel better. This is mind over matter. have a one-track mind ✪ nobody in their right mind or If someone has a one-track mind, they no one in their right mind always think or talk about one subject. If you say nobody in their right mind or no ❑ He has a one-track mind when he’s working one in their right mind would do a on a project – he thinks of nothing else. ❑ No, particular thing, you mean that it is a Sam, I wasn’t referring to sex. You’ve a one-track stupid or crazy thing to do. mind! ❑ No one in their right mind would go travelling ● This expression is often used in a on their own in such a dangerous region. humorous way to say that someone ● You can also say who in their right mind? thinks or talks a lot about sex. with the same meaning. ❑ Who in their This probably refers to a single-track right mind would give information like that over railway, which will only allow trains to the phone? move in a single direction. ✪ out of your mind [informal] ✪ in your mind’s eye If you say that someone is out of their If you see something in your mind’s eye, mind, you mean that their behaviour is you have a clear picture of it in your strange or foolish. imagination or memory. ❑ You spent five hundred pounds on a jacket! ❑ Susie had a clear picture in her mind’s eye of Are you out of your mind? ❑ It’s far too much how she wanted the house to look. ❑ In my work for me. I must have been out of my mind mind’s eye, he’s in his twenties – but he’s probably when I agreed to it. ● You can also say that someone is going a lot older. ✪ the mind boggles [informal] out of their mind. ❑ I was so sure that was You say the mind boggles when you find what she said. Sometimes I wonder if I’m going something difficult to imagine or out of my mind. understand because it is so surprising, If you are out of your mind with worry, strange, or complicated. grief, fear, etc., you are extremely worried, ❑ With technology like this, the mind boggles at sad, afraid, etc. what geography classes will be like in the ❑ She’s out of her mind with worry; her husband not-too-distant future. ❑ The mind boggles to left the hotel this morning and hasn’t been seen think what they could eventually achieve. since. ❑ I was out of my mind with fear – I didn’t ● You can also say that something boggles know what to do. ● You can also say that someone is going the mind or that it boggles your mind with the same meaning. ❑ Such statements out of their mind with worry, grief, fear, boggle the mind. ❑ Talk about amazing etc. ❑ We have a lot of problems in our family. coincidences – this one absolutely boggled my I’m going out of my mind with the worry of it all. ● You can also say that someone is bored, mind. ● You can also describe something very scared, worried, etc. out of their mind, surprising, strange, or complicated as meaning extremely bored, scared, mind-boggling. ❑ The mind-boggling worried, etc. ❑ Charlie was twenty years 2,100-page timetable comes complete with a younger than anyone else at the party and looked 40-page supplement. ❑ The range of products on bored out of his mind. offer is simply mind-boggling. put someone in mind of something The word ‘boggle’ is probably derived If something puts you in mind of from the word ‘bogle’, which is an something else, it reminds you of it. old-fashioned word for an evil spirit or ❑ This put me in mind of something Patrick said ‘bogey’, as in ‘bogey man’. many years ago. ❑ A lot of the time he may put

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miss

you in mind of King Kong, a beast who loved a beautiful woman but was awkward about showing his feelings. slip your mind If something slips your mind, you forget it. ❑ I was supposed to call her this morning and it slipped my mind. ❑ The reason for my visit had obviously slipped his mind. a weight off your mind or a load off your mind If you describe something as a weight off your mind or a load off your mind, you mean that a problem that you were previously worried about has now been solved and you are no longer anxious. ❑ It’s a real weight off my mind, knowing I have a job to go to. ❑ Knowing that the problem can be fixed – it’s such a load off my mind. ● You can also say that something takes a weight off your mind or takes a load off your mind. ❑ It was such a relief to find a good school for the kids. It took a real weight off my mind.

by crowds ready to buy. There’s one born every minute!

mischief do yourself a mischief [informal] If you do yourself a mischief, you injure part of your body. ❑ I think I’d do myself a mischief if I tried to copy any of her dance moves.

misery put someone out of their misery If you put someone out of their misery, you end a situation which is causing them to suffer, usually by telling them something they have been waiting anxiously to hear. ❑ Manager Ron Smith yesterday put young player Dom Kennedy out of his misery by handing him a new contract. ❑ A-level students waiting for their results were put out of their misery this morning. If someone puts a person out of their misery, they deliberately kill them because they are suffering, usually from an illness that cannot be cured. ❑ His attorney today welcomed such a trial, predicting that no jury would ever convict the doctor for ‘putting suffering people out of their misery’. ❑ There were at least a dozen pills in the bottle, surely enough to put her out of her misery. ● This expression is usually used to show that the speaker or writer approves of or is sympathetic towards this action. put something out of its misery If someone puts an animal out of its misery, they kill it because it is very old, ill or badly injured. ❑ Some animals are in such pain that I’m forced to put them out of their misery.

✪ great minds think alike

minds

299

❑ I have often seen these salespeople surrounded

People say great minds think alike when they have the same idea as someone else, to show that they think they are both clever. ❑ I hear we gave Emma the same present – great minds think alike! ● Sometimes people just say great minds with the same meaning. ❑ ‘I decided to catch the earlier train too.’ – ‘Ah well, great minds!’ ● This expression is often used humorously. ✪ in two minds [british, american] or of two minds [mainly american] If you are in two minds or of two minds miss about something, you are not able to ✪ give something a miss reach a decision or opinion about If you give something a miss, you something. decide not to do it or not to go to it. ❑ I’m in two minds about private education – I can ❑ Do you mind if I give the party a miss? ❑ You see it from both sides. ❑ Roche was in two minds might suggest they give breakfast a miss, because whether to make the trip to Oslo. ❑ Kennedy was this is a very shocking exhibition. of two minds about the plan, but in the end he If you give something a miss, you authorized it. decide not to use it or buy it. minute ❑ Any metal rod will do, but give gold a miss – it’s there’s one born every minute too soft. ❑ I want to invest, but I think I’ll give People say there’s one born every minute property a miss on this occasion. to mean that someone has just done ✪ miss the boat something stupid, especially that they If you miss the boat, you fail to act in time have been tricked. to take advantage of an opportunity.

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mobile ❑ The price of gold rose so quickly that many investors simply missed the boat. ❑ When I

Mohammed

if Mohammed will not go to the was still unmarried at 30, my mother and mountain ➜ see mountain grandmother both worried that I’d missed the mojo boat. lose your mojo ● You can put an adjective before boat to If someone loses their mojo, they become say what kind of opportunity is being less successful, happy, or energetic. missed. ❑ Those who bought in May missed the ❑ The singer has long ago lost his mojo. investment boat. ● Mojo is used in many other structures to ● People sometimes say miss the bus with mean the state of being successful, happy, the same meaning. ❑ Orders received by and energetic. ❑ ‘ I’ve got my mojo back,’ December 10 will be sent in time for Christmas. Nolan said yesterday. ❑ How can I get my mojo Too bad if you missed the bus. working again and convince the women in my life a miss is as good as a mile [british, that I’m still attractive? informal] The word ‘mojo’ is from an AfricanPeople say a miss is as good as a mile to American dialect and it refers to mean that if you only just fail, the result witchcraft or magic. is as bad as failing by a large amount. moment ❑ She failed the exam by one point, but a miss is ✪ the moment of truth as good as a mile. The moment of truth is the time when mobile you learn the true facts of a situation or upwardly mobile make an important decision. If someone is upwardly mobile, they are ❑ I got onto the bathroom scales. Now came the moving to a higher social position. moment of truth. ❑ That was the moment of ❑ The Party has been unable to attract upwardly truth for me. I either walked through that door mobile voters. then or I never walked through it. ● You can describe people who are moving a senior moment [informal] to a lower social position as downwardly A senior moment is an occasion when mobile. ❑ I’m the only downwardly mobile one. someone, usually an elderly person, My brother’s a barrister, and my sister is a makes a silly mistake or forgets something. barrister who married a High Court judge. ❑ He is 69 in February and sometimes has a mockers senior moment, when the flow of words dries up. put the mockers on something [british, ● This expression is used humorously. old-fashioned] moments If someone or something puts the have your moments mockers on something, they prevent it If you say that someone or something from happening or from being has their moments, you mean that there successful. are times when they are successful or ❑ The sending-off of Simon Walker after only 10 interesting, but that this does not happen minutes certainly put the mockers on any very often. thought of an English victory. ❑ The film has its moments. ❑ Jose probably The origin of this expression is isn’t as talented as Mitch, but he has his uncertain, but some people think that moments. ‘mockers’ may come from Yiddish. If you say that someone or something mockery has their moments, you mean that they make a mockery of something sometimes do bad things or cause If something makes a mockery of problems. something, it makes it seem worthless ❑ Dick has his moments and he can flare up, but and foolish. it’s usually when he feels his authority is being ❑ Scandal after scandal involving Members of challenged. Parliament made a mockery of the government’s

‘family values’ campaign. ❑ A different conclusion would have made a mockery of international law.

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Monday

a Monday morning quarterback ➜ see quarterback

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money

301

❑ Money talks in the Premiership and only the

money

biggest spenders have any real hope of success. be in the money [informal] ❑ As far as Taylor is concerned, money talks and If you are in the money, you suddenly he can do what he likes. have a lot of money to spend. ● This expression is variable. ❑ Nowhere ❑ If you are one of the lucky callers chosen to play, does money talk louder than in Las Vegas. you could be in the money. more money than sense even money If you say that someone has more money If something is even money, it is equally than sense, you mean that they are likely that either of two possible things wasting their money. will happen. ❑ Their products are perfect for people with more ❑ The album is even money to get to number one. money than sense. This expression comes from the situation ✪ not be made of money in betting when you have an equal People say they are not made of money to chance of winning or losing your money. mean that there is a limit to how much follow the money money they are able to spend. When people say follow the money, they ❑ This camera’s second hand. I’m not made of mean that if you find out who is money, you know. providing the money for something, you ✪ put your money where your mouth is are likely to discover who is to blame for If you put your money where your mouth what has happened. is, you give practical support to causes or ❑ If you want to solve a crime, follow the money. activities that you believe are right, have money to burn especially by giving money. If someone has money to burn, they have ❑ If the minister is so keen on the school he more money than they need and so spend should put his money where his mouth is and give it on silly things. us more resources. ❑ Musicians can also put ❑ Her last boyfriend was a high-earning broker their money where their mouths are and play with money to burn. ❑ Investment in football benefit gigs. clubs is for rich men with money to burn. ● Journalists sometimes replace money or ● People often use this expression to show disapproval of someone’s behaviour. mouth with other nouns in order to refer money for old rope or to a particular situation or to the type of money for jam [british] support someone might give. ❑ It seems If you say that someone is getting money reasonable to ask the public to put its money for old rope or money for jam, you mean where its interests are. that they are getting money very easily right on the money [mainly american] and with very little effort. If you are right on the money, what you ❑ I had always believed that the fashion model’s job say or write about a subject is completely was money for old rope. ❑ His only responsibilities accurate. will be to keep the fences in order and to maintain ❑ Their predictions were right on the money. the grass. It sounds like money for jam. ❑ His reports are always right on the money. In the past, sailors used to unpick This expression was originally used to lengths of old rope and sell the strands describe a bet which turned out to be to shipyards where they were used to exactly right. make the decks of ships watertight. the smart money [journalism] ✪ money is no object If you talk about the smart money, you If money is no object for someone, they mean people who have a lot of experience are willing or able to spend as much and knowledge of investing money. money as necessary. ❑ Today, a lot of the smart money is turning to ❑ The shop has a range of superb Swedish crystal bonds. ❑ Smart money has been snapping up glasses that I would have if money were no object. South African equities too. money is the root of all evil ➜ see root The smart money is also used to refer ✪ money talks to investments made by people with If you say that money talks, you mean experience and knowledge of investing. that people with a lot of money have ❑ Most of the smart money has gone into some power and influence. form of residential property.

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monkey

the smart money is on something If you say that the smart money is on a particular event happening, you mean that thing is likely to happen. ❑ The smart money is on Labour winning at the next election. ● You can also say the smart money says something, with the same meaning. ❑ The smart money says that Jarvis is likely to succeed him as manager. spend money like water If someone spends money like water, they regularly spend a lot of money. ❑ So she liked a drink, loved her horses and spent money like water. So what? throw good money after bad If someone throws good money after bad, they spend more money on something that they have already spent money on in an attempt to make it succeed, even though this is unlikely. ❑ Putting yet more money into the school is just throwing good money after bad – they should just close it down and start again. ● Other verbs are sometimes used instead of throw, for example pour and chuck. ❑ To provide more cash when no changes have been made to the faulty system would be to pour good money after bad. ✪ throw money at something/someone If you throw money at a thing or a person, you spend a lot of money on them, often in an attempt to improve a situation and usually without considering whether other solutions would be more effective. ❑ You can’t solve these problems just by throwing money at them. ❑ The government’s answer to the problem has been to throw money at it. ❑ As for the top tennis players, the whole world throws money at them. ● This expression is usually used to show disapproval.

monkey business [informal] If you talk about monkey business, you mean dishonest activities. ❑ We know there was a lot of monkey business with counting ballots in the previous election. a monkey on your back [journalism] If you have a monkey on your back, you have a problem, often an emotional problem, that makes your life difficult for a long period. ❑ They haven’t beaten United in three years and it’s a monkey on their backs that they are desperate to shake off. ● You can also say that you get the monkey off your back, meaning that you manage to end the problem. ❑ I’m just delighted to win and get the monkey off our back with a home victory at last. ‘To have a monkey on your back’ originally meant to be angry. Later it came to be used to say that someone was addicted to drugs; it is still used in this way today. monkey see, monkey do [mainly american, informal] People say monkey see, monkey do to criticize someone for copying someone else without thinking about what they are doing. ❑ A danger with workplace training is a ‘monkey see, monkey do’ approach which does not value skills and knowledge. not give a monkey’s [british, very informal] If you say that you don’t give a monkey’s about something, you mean that you do not care about it at all. ❑ I don’t give a monkey’s what other people think. ❑ She can say what she likes – I couldn’t give a monkey’s. throw a monkey wrench into the works ➜ see wrench

month

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make a monkey out of someone or make a monkey of someone [oldfashioned] If someone makes a monkey out of you, or makes a monkey of you, they do something that makes you seem ridiculous or stupid. ❑ The teenage footballer made monkeys out of men twice his age with his spectacular goals. ❑ If you follow the proper steps, you won’t make a monkey of yourself.

monkey

not in a month of Sundays or never in a month of Sundays If you say that something will not or will never happen in a month of Sundays, you mean it is very unlikely to happen. ❑ Their scheme will never work – not in a month of Sundays.

monty the full monty [british, informal] If you say that something is the full monty, you mean that it is as complete or extreme as possible.

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mould ❑ The band opened with two new songs. They’re

303

moth

promising the full monty at their two Brixton Academy shows. ❑ It’s £35 for two courses and £50 for the full monty.

like a moth to a flame If a person is attracted to someone or something like a moth to a flame, they are strongly attracted to them. ❑ The bright lights of west London drew Kharin like a moth to a flame. ❑ Girls were around him like moths to a flame. ● This expression is very variable. For example, you can talk about moths around a flame, or replace flame with candle. ❑ Men flock around her like moths around a flame.

moon

ask for the moon If you ask for the moon, you ask for something that you cannot possibly have. ❑ We’re not asking for the moon, just a pay rise in line with inflation. ● Sometimes people say cry for the moon with the same meaning. ❑ I’m afraid that you’re crying for the moon – it’s simply not mother realistic. be tied to your mother’s apron strings bay at the moon or ➜ see apron howl at the moon [literary] If you bay at the moon or howl at the motions moon, you waste your time and energy ✪ go through the motions trying to do something which is If you go through the motions, you do impossible or trying to get something something that you have to do or are which you cannot have. expected to do, but without any real effort ❑ You’re looking for the perfect man and he or enthusiasm. doesn’t exist. You’re baying at the moon. ❑ Students who did attend classes with any once in a blue moon regularity seemed to be just going through the If something happens once in a blue motions. ❑ ‘You don’t really care, do you?’ she moon is happens only very rarely. said quietly.’You’re just going through the ❑ I only get over to Cambridge once in a blue motions.’ moon and I’m never in London. ❑ Only once in a mould blue moon do properties of this quality become ‘Mould’ is usually spelled ‘mold’ in available. American English. In some places, if there are two full moons in a calendar month, the second The ‘mould’ in these expressions is a is called a ‘blue moon’. This is rare. container that is used to make ✪ over the moon [mainly british, informal] something into a particular shape. If you are over the moon about Soft or liquid substances are put into something that has happened, you are the mould, and when they harden very happy about it. they form objects with the shape or ❑ ‘Caroline must be pleased about her new job.’ – pattern of the mould. ‘She’s over the moon.’ ❑ I’m over the moon about ✪ break the mould Rosie’s news. If someone or something breaks the promise the moon mould, they completely change the way If someone promises the moon, they something has traditionally been done, promise to do or give things that they and do it in a new way. cannot in fact give. ❑ His ambition is to create a third party and ❑ Politicians promise the moon at election time, break the mould of US two-party politics. but do they deliver once they’re elected? ❑ Together, these alternative, left-wing comics morning broke the British comedy mould in the late morning, noon and night Seventies. ● The verbs shatter and crack are If something happens or is done morning, noon and night, it happens or is done all sometimes used instead of break. ❑ These the time. people shattered the mould of South African ❑ You get fit by playing the game, day in, day out, politics. ● You can use mould-breaking to describe morning, noon and night. ❑ He thought about Paloma morning, noon and night. someone or something that completely

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changes the way something has traditionally been done. ❑ Later that year, he launched a mould-breaking wine business. ● You can use mould-breaker to describe someone who has done something in a completely new way or something that has been done in a completely new way. ❑ As the first female partner in one of Scotland’s top 10 legal firms, she was something of a mould-breaker in the legal world. ❑ The lifestyle magazine he launched in 1994 was a mouldbreaker and a commercial success. they broke the mould when they made someone If you say that they broke the mould when they made someone, you mean that person is very special, and that there is nobody else like them. ❑ In a tribute, his wife Nancy said: ‘I think they broke the mould when they made Ronnie.’

mountain

if Mohammed will not go to the mountain or the mountain must go to Mohammed People use expressions such as if Mohammed will not go to the mountain or the mountain must go to Mohammed to say that if someone that you want to see does not come to you, you have to go to them. ❑ People, for whatever reason, are reluctant to leave their houses to vote, so if Mohammed won’t go to the mountain, we have to go to them. ❑ Fifteen minutes later, Chotas walked into the office of the Prosecuting Attorney. ‘Well,’ Demonides said. ‘Mohammed comes to the mountain. What can I do for you?’ ● The full expression is ‘if Mohammed will not go to the mountain, the mountain must go to Mohammed’. These expressions are based on a story about the prophet Mohammed, who was asked to show his power by making Mount Safa come to him. make a mountain out of a molehill If someone makes a mountain out of a molehill, they talk or complain about a small, unimportant problem as if it is important and serious. ❑ The company’s CEO has blamed the media for making a mountain out of a molehill. ❑ Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill – it’s really not a big deal.

a mountain to climb [mainly british] If someone has a mountain to climb, they have to do a task which will be very difficult and will involve a lot of hard work. ❑ The negotiators have a mountain to climb if they want to bring lasting peace to this region. ❑ He still has a mountain to climb in persuading the public that war is justified.

mountains

move mountains If you move mountains you succeed in doing something that is very difficult and requires a lot of hard work. ❑ If you get a good team round you, you can move mountains. ❑ We should all repeat five times a day, ‘It is possible to change!’ With this belief, you can move mountains. ● People sometimes say that faith or love can move mountains, meaning that faith and love can be very powerful forces. ❑ Here’s proof, if it were needed, that faith can move mountains. This is from the proverb ‘Faith will move mountains’, which is based on the words of Jesus to his followers in the Bible: ‘If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove’. (Matthew 17:20) quiet as a mouse ➜ see quiet

mouth

all mouth and no trousers [british, informal] If you say that someone is all mouth and no trousers, you mean that they often say they are going to do something impressive or exciting but never actually do it. ❑ Ahmed’s failure to bid for either company has left him with a reputation for being all mouth and no trousers. ● Less commonly, people use all mouth and trousers with the same meaning. ❑ He was a fast-talking, London media type, all mouth and trousers. ● Sometimes people use another noun instead of trousers. ❑ He says he’s going to do something about it but he never will. He’s all mouth and no action. ● Sometimes people just say that someone is all mouth. ❑ I wouldn’t worry about James – he’s all mouth.

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down in the mouth [british, informal] they boast about their skills and qualities. If you are down in the mouth, you feel ❑ He’d been shooting his mouth off saying he unhappy. could sing, when of course, he couldn’t. ❑ George seemed a bit down in the mouth If someone shoots their mouth off, yesterday. ❑ The bad news left her feeling really they talk publicly about something down in the mouth. which is secret. foam at the mouth or ❑ No one with any sense goes shooting their froth at the mouth mouth off about their private affairs to the If someone foams at the mouth or tabloids. ❑ A respected lawyer, she ought to froths at the mouth, they are very angry. know better than to go shooting her mouth off ❑ Stewart was still foaming at the mouth about like this in public. the incident when we spoke. ❑ The mere mention speak out of both sides of your mouth or of ‘political correctness’ is enough to cause talk out of both sides of your mouth journalists to froth at the mouth. [american] If someone foams at the mouth or If someone speaks or talks out of both froths at the mouth, they are very excited sides of their mouth, they give different about something. advice or opinions on the same subject in ❑ The news that the team’s top player is up for different situations. sale at the end of the season has got Premier ❑ Lenny would speak out of both sides of his League bosses foaming at the mouth in mouth. He would say to one person that our excitement. ❑ A new vintage home store has got company was failing and the next day he’d talk A-list celebrities frothing at the mouth with about our long-term future. ● This expressions is used to show excitement. To foam or froth at the mouth literally disapproval. means to produce a lot of foam or froth move in the form of saliva. This is associated ✪ get a move on [informal] especially with having the disease If you get a move on, you hurry. rabies. ❑ You’d better get a move on if you’re going to be laughing out of the other side of your make it back in time for the match. ❑ ‘I wish the mouth ➜ see laugh driver would get a move on,’ she said. make your mouth water movers If food or the smell of food makes your ✪ the movers and shakers [journalism] mouth water, it looks or smells delicious If you talk about the movers and shakers, and makes you want to eat. you mean the people with power and ❑ The fragrant steam from the pot made his influence in a particular area who make mouth water. ❑ It still makes my mouth water things happen and cause new when I think of those pies. developments. ● People also use the much more frequent ❑ They were given introductions to the movers adjective mouth-watering to mean the and shakers in the industry. ❑ Cochran was only same thing. ❑ Turn to page 25 for more 21, but in four short years had established himself mouth-watering recipes. ❑ This is the best place as one of the movers and shakers of ‘50s to sample mouth-watering local dishes. rock’n’roll. If something makes your mouth This comes from the poem ‘Ode’ by water, it is very attractive or appealing to Arthur O’Shaugnessy (1874): ‘We are the you. music-makers And we are the dreamers ❑ These were plants to make an amateur of dreams… We are the movers and gardener’s mouth water. ❑ The zoo’s site in shakers Of the world for ever, it seems.’ Regent’s Park would make any developer’s mouth muck water. common as muck ➜ see common ● People also use the much more frequent mud adjective mouth-watering to mean the be dragged through the mud same thing. ❑ The perks that go with the If someone is dragged through the mud, governorship are mouth-watering. people say bad things about them to ruin shoot your mouth off [informal] their reputation. If someone shoots their mouth off,

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mule ❑ Why do they get every legal protection, while

him by, with his stick-in-the-mud attitude. ● This expression is used to show witnesses are grilled and dragged through the disapproval. mud? ● You can also say that someone’s name is mule dragged through the mud. ❑ Since her death stubborn as a mule ➜ see stubborn her name has been dragged through the mud. multitude ● Words such as mire, dirt or filth are cover a multitude of sins or sometimes used instead of mud. ❑ The hide a multitude of sins good name of football has been dragged through If something covers a multitude of sins or the dirt in recent years by a series of high-profile hides a multitude of sins, it hides a lot of court cases. mistakes or things that are unpleasant or clear as mud ➜ see clear unattractive. mud sticks [mainly british] ❑ ‘Strong, centralized government’ is a term that If you say that mud sticks, you mean that can cover a multitude of sins. ❑ Wood is great for when something bad is said about hiding a multitude of sins – rough, bumpy walls, someone, people will continue to believe pipes, and even wallpaper you can’t face stripping. it, although it may have been proved to be ● This expression is used humorously. completely untrue. murder ❑ Everyone around thought that this kid had ✪ get away with murder [informal] done something wrong and although it had not If someone gets away with murder or been proved, mud sticks. screams bloody murder, they do ● People sometimes use this expression in whatever they like and no one punishes different tenses. ❑ Whether he’s innocent or or criticizes them. not, some of the mud has stuck. ❑ Unfortunately ❑ His charm and the fact that he is so likeable often for Mason, whatever the outcome of the trial, he allows him to get away with murder. ❑ His mother will never be able to walk away from this story is so soft – she lets him get away with murder. without some of the mud sticking. scream blue murder [british, informal] or ✪ sling mud or scream bloody murder [american, throw mud informal] If one person slings mud or throws mud at If someone screams blue murder or another, they say bad things about them screams bloody murder, they complain a in an attempt to spoil their reputation. lot about something. ❑ The elections have been straight personality ❑ Many accept free accommodation and travel, contests, with the candidates slinging as much yet they would scream blue murder if the same mud at their opponents as they can manage. was received by politicians. ❑ ‘If the FBI was ❑ The newspaper and magazine articles that doing this, people would be screaming bloody followed were especially vicious, with supporters murder,’ says Richard Taylor, a security and of both stars quick to throw mud. privacy expert. ● You can describe this kind of behaviour If someone screams blue murder or as mud-slinging or mud-throwing. screams bloody murder, they scream and ❑ Labour and Tory chiefs have ordered an end to shout very loudly. political mud-slinging. ❑ She screamed blue murder as he came at her. ● These expressions are used to show ❑ She ran from the building, screaming bloody disapproval. murder. a stick-in-the-mud The expression ‘blue murder’ is perhaps If you call someone a stick-in-the-mud, derived from the French oath ‘morbleu’, you mean they are old-fashioned or which is a variation of ‘mort Dieu’. ‘Bleu’ boring and do not like doing new things or blue is used in French as a euphemism or having fun. for ‘Dieu’ or God, so ‘morbleu’ literally ❑ I felt sorry for him because he obviously wanted means ‘blue death’. to enjoy himself but was married to a real stick-inthe-mud. ❑ Call me a stick-in-the-mud, but I just muscles prefer the more traditional ways of doing things. ✪ flex your muscles or ● You can use stick-in-the-mud before a flex your muscle If people or organizations flex their noun. ❑ He’s going to let an opportunity pass

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myself muscles or flex their muscle, they behave in a way that is intended to show that they have power and are considering using it. ❑ A pro-democracy movement is starting to flex its muscles. ❑ The miners’ actions last year seem to have encouraged workers in the oil industry to flex their industrial muscle.

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someone or something can cut the mustard, meaning that they are of a good standard. ❑ The thirty-year-old striker is keen to prove that he can still cut the mustard. In the United States, ‘mustard’ used to be slang for ‘the best’ or ‘the genuine article’.

muster

✪ pass muster [formal]

music

✪ face the music

If you face the music, you accept responsibility for something that you have done wrong and you prepare yourself to be criticized or punished for it. ❑ We were foreigners in a forbidden area, the authorities had found out and we were about to face the music. ❑ Sooner or later, she’ll have to face the music and it won’t be pleasant. The ‘music’ in this expression may refer to the orchestra at an opera or musical. The orchestra sits in front of the stage, so when a performer faces the audience, they also face the orchestra, or ‘music’. Alternatively, the expression may come from an army practice in which a soldier who had been dismissed for dishonourable behaviour was sent away with drums beating. ✪ music to your ears If something that someone says is music to your ears, you are very happy to hear it. ❑ That must have been music to your ears, Carlo, to hear how much they respect you. ❑ ‘There’ll be another big bonus in it for you.’ – ‘Music to my ears.’

If someone or something passes muster, they are of a satisfactory standard for a particular purpose or job. ❑ He spoke French and Spanish and could just about pass muster in Italian. ❑ It is the only country that has yet to fulfil all the membership requirements, but it is expected to pass muster soon. In the army and navy, a ‘muster’ is an inspection of the soldiers’ or sailors’ uniforms and equipment.

mutton

dead as mutton ➜ see dead mutton dressed as lamb or mutton dressed up as lamb [british] If you describe a middle-aged or old woman as mutton dressed as lamb or mutton dressed up as lamb, you mean she dresses in a style which is suitable only for a younger woman. ● Many people dislike this expression because of the sexist attitude which it represents. ❑ No one talks about mutton dressed as lamb any more – older women can wear what they want. Mutton is the meat of an adult sheep, and lamb is the meat of a young sheep, as well as being the name of the animal itself. if I say so myself People say if I say so myself when they are praising something they have done, to avoid sounding too proud. ❑ That cake I made was delicious, even if I say so myself.

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keen as mustard ➜ see keen not cut the mustard If someone or something doesn’t cut the mustard, they are not of an acceptable standard. ❑ He’s certainly a fine writer but as a director, he doesn’t quite cut the mustard. ❑ For me, neither show quite cuts the mustard. ● Less commonly, you hear people say that

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Nn SA

If you talk about a particular time or amount on the nail, you mean that time or amount exactly. [mainly american] ❑ ‘When did Captain Schmidt come to see you?’ – ‘Six o’clock, just about on the nail.’ This expression may refer to cylindrical counters called ‘nails’ that were sometimes used by traders in the Middle Ages. When a price had been agreed, the money was placed on the nail, so that everyone could see that the correct amount was being paid.

nail

✪ another nail in the coffin

If an event is another nail in the coffin of something or someone, it is the latest in a series of events which are seriously harming that thing or person. ❑ The vote is another nail in the coffin of the one-party system which the country has now largely rejected. ❑ The President took the blame for the crisis and it became another nail in the coffin of his leadership. ● If you say that an event is the last nail or the final nail in the coffin of something or nails someone, you mean that it finally hard as nails ➜ see hard destroys something or causes someone to tough as nails ➜ see tough fail. ❑ A rent increase could be the final nail in name the coffin for a small business like this. ❑ The ✪ make a name for yourself marriage was already in trouble and his affair If you make a name for yourself by doing proved to be the last nail in the coffin. a particular thing, you become famous or hit the nail on the head well-known as a result of doing that If you hit the nail on the head, you thing. describe a situation or problem exactly. ❑ Abbott quickly made a name for herself as a ❑ Duncan Smith hit the nail on the head when he hardworking MP. ❑ Away from film acting, said that the Prime Minister promised so much Everett also made a name for herself as a popular and yet changed so little. ❑ I agree with Dr Carey fashion model. in everything he says. I think he’s hit the nail right name and shame on the head. If something such as a newspaper or an ● You can also say that someone hits official organization names and shames something on the nail, meaning that people or companies who have performed they describe a situation or problem badly or who have done something exactly. ❑ ‘It sounds as if he almost depended on wrong, it tells people their names. you as much as you depended on him.’ – ‘You just ❑ The government will name and shame the hit it on the nail.’ worst performing airlines. on the nail ✪ the name of the game If you pay on the nail you pay for If you say that a particular thing is the something immediately and in the form name of the game in a situation or of notes and coins. [british, oldactivity, you mean that it is the thing you fashioned] must achieve in order to succeed. ❑ She’d turn up to court to pay their fines, cash on ❑ Secrecy was the name of the game and Yates the nail. ❑ She enjoyed collecting the lodgers’ was good at it. ❑ In the current economic payments which she made sure were made on the climate, survival is the name of the game. nail. a name to conjure with [mainly british] The usual American expression is on If you say that someone or something is the barrelhead. a name to conjure with, you mean that

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disrespectful, often when they are swearing. they are very famous and important. ❑ Bugattis, Bentleys, Ferraris – motoring names ❑ He did his best with us, always gently correcting to conjure with, and all part of a breath-taking us when we took the Lord’s name in vain. display of classic cars. ❑ Doris Kearns Goodwin If someone takes another person’s is not a name to conjure with in this country, but name in vain they say their name in a way in the United States she is a star. that is disrespectful. If you say that someone or something’s ❑ ‘Somebody taking my name in vain?’ Nordhoff name is a name to conjure with, you mean called over his shoulder. ● This expression is usually used their name is very unusual or funny. ❑ Lily’s sister, for instance, is Vera Cheeseman. humorously. Now there’s a name to conjure with. This is from the second of the Ten In this expression, the importance and Commandments in the Bible: ‘Thou influence associated with a person or shalt not take the name of the Lord thy thing are regarded as a kind of magical God in vain.’ (Exodus 20:7) power which you can call on by using ✪ you name it their name. You say you name it, usually after or not have a penny to your name [british, before a list, to show that you are talking american] or about a very wide range of things. not have a cent to your name [mainly ❑ Pickled cucumbers, jam, pickled berries, american] tomatoes; you name it, they’ve got it. ❑ I also If someone doesn’t have a penny to their enjoy windsurfing, tennis, racquetball, name or doesn’t have a cent to their swimming, you name it. name, they are poor. names ❑ He never had a penny to his name while he was ✪ call someone names with me. If someone calls you names, they use ● You can also say that someone is insulting words to describe you when without a penny to their name with the they are talking to you. same meaning. ❑ Four months after ❑ At school they called me names because I was emigrating, the couple returned to Britain so slow. ❑ She was bullied by a gang of girls who without a penny to their name. ❑ He ended up a called her names and teased her about her weight. helpless old man without a cent to his name. ● You can describe this behaviour as ● You can say that someone has a certain name-calling. ❑ Many of his critics simply amount of money to their name, resort to childish name-calling. meaning that is how much money they name names have. ❑ In 2010, with only $500 to her name, If you name names, you tell someone the she landed a $33,000-a-week contract. names of people who are responsible for someone’s name is mud [informal] something or involved in something. If you say that someone’s name is mud, ❑ He was under pressure from the police to name you mean that they have said or done names. something which has made them very napping unpopular with a particular group of be caught napping people. If someone is caught napping, they suffer ❑ His name has been mud with the publishers a disadvantage by not being prepared for since he left to work for a rival newspaper. something when it happens. This expression may refer to Dr Samuel ❑ The security services were clearly caught Mudd. John Wilkes Booth, the assassin napping and their response was therefore of Abraham Lincoln, broke his leg while inadequate. ❑ European firms have been caught trying to escape and was treated by Dr napping. As a result, they barely control Mudd. Although Mudd did not know one-tenth of the world market. what his patient had done when he was ‘Napping’ means the same as sleeping treating him, he was put in prison and he or dozing. and his family were hated for many years. nature take someone’s name in vain the nature of the beast If someone takes God’s name in vain, they say ‘God’ in an expression that is If you say that something is the nature of

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navel the beast, you mean that it is a part of the character of the person or thing that you are talking about and cannot be avoided. ❑ Negotiations always get tougher towards the end. That’s the nature of the beast. ❑ If you play any sport at this level, you’re going to get injured from time to time. That’s just the nature of the beast. ● If you say that someone knows the nature of the beast, you mean that they know or understand a particular person or thing very well. ❑ Having served as Secretary of State for Education in Edward Heath’s government, she knew the nature of the beast.

neck

be breathing down someone’s neck In a race or other competitive situation, if someone is breathing down your neck, they are close behind you and may soon catch up with you or beat you. ❑ I took the lead with Colin Chapman breathing down my neck in his Lotus Eleven. ❑ Both players have talented rivals breathing down their necks. If someone is breathing down your neck, they are closely watching and checking everything that you do. ❑ Most farmers have bank managers breathing down their necks, so everything has to have an economic reason. ❑ Lawyers have been working navel into the night to complete legal documents, with navel-gazing or civil servants breathing down their necks. navel-contemplation dead from the neck up [british, informal] If you accuse someone of navel-gazing or If you say that someone is dead from the navel-contemplation, you are criticizing neck up, you are saying very rudely that them for thinking only about themselves they are stupid. and their own problems or activities, ❑ Yes, he’s good-looking, but he’s dead from the rather than the problems or activities of neck up. other people. get it in the neck [british, informal] ❑ Tory MP Martin Brison says he is more If someone gets it in the neck, they are interested in developing policies for the future punished or strongly criticized for than in navel-gazing about the past. ❑ He called something wrong that they have done. for an end to Labor’s post-election navel-gazing. ❑ Football managers always seem to get it in the ● Navel-gazing can be used before a noun. neck, whatever happens. ❑ The film is a sort of navel-gazing look at ✪ neck and neck Hollywood. In a race or contest, if two competitors are ● You can also say that someone gazes at neck and neck, they are exactly level with their navel or contemplates their navel. each other, so that it is impossible to say ❑ The Institute has always been notorious for who will win. contemplating its own navel. ❑ The latest opinion polls show both parties ● These expressions are used to show running neck and neck. ❑ Leeds are currently disapproval. neck-and-neck with Manchester United for the Your navel is your tummy button or Championship. belly button. ● You can use neck-and-neck before a noun. ❑ Polls suggest a neck-and-neck race near between the Liberals and Conservatives. so near and yet so far or Two horses are said to be neck and neck so near yet so far when they are exactly level and it is You say so near and yet so far or so near impossible to say which one is winning yet so far to say that someone almost the race. achieved what they wanted, but in the risk your neck end just failed. If you risk your neck, you do something ❑ It was a case of so near yet so far yesterday for dangerous which could cause you to die or Catriona Jones when she finished just one shot be injured. behind the tournament winner. ❑ I wasn’t going to risk my neck in fast-flowing your nearest and dearest water to rescue a stupid cat. ❑ I won’t have him Your nearest and dearest are your close risking his neck on that motorcycle. friends and family. save someone’s neck ❑ The English do not like to show their feelings, If you save someone’s neck, you rescue even to their nearest and dearest.

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them from injury, harm or death. ❑ I found myself reading The Inner Game Of ❑ During the crash, the bar saved my neck, but I Tennis the other day. (I really do need to get out was in a lot of pain. ❑ You can’t let down friends, more.) even to save your own neck, now can you? ● This expression is usually used ✪ stick your neck out humorously. If you stick your neck out, you say needle something which other people are afraid like looking for a needle in a haystack to say, even though this may cause If trying to find something is like looking trouble for you. for a needle in a haystack, it is extremely ❑ First of all, I’ll stick my neck out here and I will difficult or impossible. say that Aston Villa won’t go into the Second ❑ She was told by police that searching for the Division next season. ❑ At the risk of sticking my dog would be like looking for a needle in a neck out, I doubt whether the attempt will be haystack. successful. ● This expression is very variable. ❑ It soon This expression may come from boxing, became clear that we were looking for a needle in where fighters need to keep their necks a haystack. ❑ It’s very much a needle in a and chins drawn in or protected in order haystack situation that we’re dealing with. to avoid being hit by their opponent. needs ✪ up to your neck [informal] needs must If someone is up to their neck in a bad People say needs must to emphasize that situation, they are very deeply involved it is not possible to avoid doing in it. something. ❑ He was, at the time, up to his neck in charges of ❑ I hated selling my old car, but needs must. corruption. ❑ The Prime Minister was up to his nelly neck in scandal. ‘Nelly’ is sometimes spelled ‘nellie’. wring someone’s neck [informal] If you say that you would like to wring not on your nelly [british, informal, someone’s neck you mean that you are old-fashioned] very angry with them. You can say not on your nelly to mean ❑ I’ll wring his neck if I catch him! ❑ I could that there is no chance at all of something wring her neck the way I’m feeling at the moment. happening. To wring something means to twist it ❑ Will I be attending the ceremony? Not on your and squeeze it. nelly! your neck of the woods [informal] This expression may come from You can talk about the place where you cockney rhyming slang. ‘Not on your live as your neck of the woods. Nellie Duff’ stands for ‘not on your ❑ Are there any nice restaurants in your neck of puff’, which also means ‘definitely the woods? not’. ● You can refer to the place where you are nerve at the moment as this neck of the woods. ✪ touch a nerve or ❑ So what brings you to this neck of the woods, touch a raw nerve Greg? If something that you say touches a This expression originated in the nerve or touches a raw nerve, it upsets United States. ‘Neck’ comes from someone, because you have mentioned a ‘naiack’ which means ‘point’ or ‘corner’ subject that they feel strongly about or in an Algonquian Native American are very sensitive about. language. ❑ I realised I had touched a nerve with my need remarks. ❑ Buchanan’s speech touched a raw someone needs to get out more nerve here at the Capitol. ● You can also use other verbs such as [informal] If you say that someone needs to get out strike or hit instead of touch. ❑ She seemed more, you mean that they are boring or to strike a nerve when she asked Dr. Lowe about that they are spending too much time his past life. ❑ His remarks clearly hit a raw concentrating on one particular thing. nerve with congressional Democrats.

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nerves fly the nest or leave the nest a bundle of nerves [british, american] or When children fly the nest or leave the a bag of nerves [british] nest, they leave their parents’ home to If you say that someone is a bundle of live on their own. nerves or a bag of nerves, you mean that ❑ When their children had flown the nest, he and they are extremely nervous. his wife moved to a cottage in Dorset. ❑ One day ❑ What’s the matter? You’re a bundle of nerves! the children are going to leave the nest and have ❑ Elaine admits she was a bag of nerves when she their own lives. had to sing in front of the queen. ➜ compare with fly the coop ✪ get on someone’s nerves [informal] foul your own nest [literary] If someone or something gets on your If someone fouls their own nest, they do nerves, they irritate you. something which harms themselves and ❑ Camilla likes him but he gets on my nerves. damages their chances of success. ❑ She talks all the time and it gets on my nerves. ❑ Man has invented a hundred ways of fouling live on your nerves [british] his own nest – the grime, the pollution, the heat, If someone lives on their nerves, they are the poisons in the air, the metals in the water. always worried and anxious, usually ✪ a nest egg because they are in a difficult situation. A nest egg is a sum of money that you are ❑ In the run-up to the election she was living on saving for a particular purpose. her nerves. ❑ All he wanted was a few months’ decent nerves of steel money to help him retire. He thought this was his If someone has nerves of steel, they do last chance to build a nest egg. ❑ She left, and not get nervous or frightened even in very with her nest egg of $15,000, started the difficult or dangerous situations. company. ❑ You need nerves of steel in this business and I’ve got them. ❑ You need nerves of steel to be a nester formula one driver. an empty nester ✪ a war of nerves or An empty nester is a parent whose a battle of nerves children have left home. You can describe a situation as a war of ❑ I’m trying to prepare myself for becoming an nerves or a battle of nerves when two empty nester when my youngest child goes to opposing people or groups try to defeat university. each other by making each other worried net or frightened. ✪ cast your net wider or ❑ But, in the war of nerves now going on between cast the net wider the two sides in the crisis, it is becoming If you cast your net wider or cast the net increasingly difficult to separate the leaders’ real wider, you include a larger number of intentions from their propaganda tactics. ❑ It’s people or things, especially when part of the psychological warfare – the battle of considering or choosing someone or nerves – that’s been going on for some time. something. nest ❑ The easiest way to find members is through feather your nest friends of friends but if you want to cast the net If someone feathers their nest, they take wider, put an ad in your local bookshop. ❑ We advantage of their job or position in order will cast the net wider to look at other factors too. ● You can also say that you cast your net to get a lot of money, so that they can lead a comfortable life. wide, meaning that you include a large ❑ People seem to feel that politicians only care number of people or things. ❑ Clarke, as about helping out their rich friends and feathering director of training, decided to cast the net wide in their own nests. the search for the best candidates. ❑ England’s ● This expression is used to show selectors have been careful to cast their net wide disapproval. to prepare for the World Cup. ● The verb spread is sometimes used Some birds line their nests with soft feathers which they take from their instead of cast. ❑ Ferguson advised him to own breasts or gather from the ground. spread the net wide in his search for players.

nerves

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next door ❑ Police had searched the local area and

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✪ be news to someone

If someone says something and you say found nothing so they were spreading their net that it is news to you, you mean that you wider. did not know about it before. ✪ slip through the net [british] ❑ So she’s an experienced babysitter, is she? This If someone or something slips through is news to me. ❑ People have been telling me I’ve the net, they are not helped or noticed by been in meetings about selling my business. All I the people or system that should protect can say is that it’s news to me. or deal with them. ● You usually use this expression to ❑ Somehow, these children have managed to slip express surprise at what has been said, or through the net of health service providers. to suggest that it may not be true. ❑ Faulty tests may mean infected animals are ✪ break the news slipping through the net. ❑ Despite being the If you break the news, you tell someone female lead in the most successful film of 2012, she about something, especially something seemed to slip through the net of casting bad. directors. ❑ I went up to Santa Monica to break the news to ● You can also say fall through the net her that I’d left my job. with the same meaning. ❑ Doctors are no news is good news concerned that patients will fall through the net You say no news is good news to mean under the new system. that if you do not hear new information If someone who is behaving illegally about a situation, it is probably because slips through the net, they avoid being nothing bad has happened. noticed and caught by the system that is ❑ I had heard nothing all week. ‘Oh well,’ I meant to catch them. thought. ‘No news is good news.’ ❑ Police admit that under the new system, the ● People sometimes vary this expression, killer would probably still have slipped through for example saying no news is bad news the net. meaning that a lack of information about If illegal goods slip through the net, a situation is worrying. ❑ People always they are not found by the system which is suspect that no news is bad news. ❑ No news is meant to discover them. not always good news. ❑ A shipment of 44 kilos of cocaine slipped newt through the customs net at Gatwick. pissed as a newt ➜ see pissed The usual American expression is fall next through the cracks. as the next person nettle You use as the next person, to mean that ✪ grasp the nettle [mainly british] you are no different from anyone else in If you grasp the nettle, you deal with a the way you have mentioned. problem or unpleasant task quickly and ❑ I value liberty and privacy as much as the next in a determined way. person, but I don’t accept the argument that a ❑ I think you should grasp the nettle. Speak to police camera puts those principles at risk. ❑ I can your manager and make it clear you regret your be as nosy as the next person. ❑ I like an easy time, mistake and are determined it will never happen same as the next person. again. ❑ European leaders have yet to grasp the ● You can use man or woman instead of nettle of labour-market reform. person. ❑ I’m as ambitious as the next man. I’d If you grasp a nettle firmly, it is less like to manage at the very highest level. likely to sting you than if you just touch ● These expressions are often used when it lightly. you are saying something that might make people think that you have the news opposite opinion, experience or ✪ be bad news characteristic. If you say that someone is bad news, you

mean that they have a bad character and are likely to cause trouble. ❑ We’ve separated and I’m glad. He was bad news.

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next door the boy next door or the girl next door If you describe someone as the boy next

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nice door or the girl next door, you mean that they are pleasant and ordinary. ❑ He was dependable, straightforward, the boy next door. ❑ She was the girl next door type.

nice

nice as pie [informal] If you say that someone is as nice as pie, you mean that they are very friendly and pleasant, especially when this is not what you expect. ❑ I thought she’d be really scary but she was as nice as pie. ➜ compare with sweet as pie

niche

✪ carve a niche or

carve out a niche If you carve a niche or carve out a niche for yourself, you create a role or opportunity for yourself, especially at work, by doing a particular thing very well. ❑ In time, he carved a niche for himself as a television commentator. ❑ Some have carved out a niche in New York City’s highly competitive art market, charging as much as $40,000 for their pictures. A niche is a hollow area that is made in a wall to display something such as a statue or an ornament.

though, compared to what you and Michael have to deal with. If someone nickels and dimes someone or something, they harm them by continually taking small amounts of money away from them, or by continually making small changes or requests. ❑ The claims aren’t huge but there are a lot of them and it all adds up. We’re getting nickeled and dimed to death. not have two nickels to rub together ➜ see rub a wooden nickel [american] If you call something a wooden nickel, you mean that it is completely false or has no value. ❑ He looked at the card as though it were a wooden nickel. ‘That doesn’t prove a thing,’ he said.

night

nick

✪ in the nick of time

like night and day If two things are like night and day, they are completely different. ❑ ‘Compare him with last year and it’s like night and day,’ his teammate said. ● People also sometimes just say that two things are night and day. ❑ The two stories are night and day. a night on the tiles [british, informal] If someone has a night on the tiles, they go out in the evening, for example to a bar or club, and come home late. ❑ Charlotte was dressed for a night on the tiles. ● You can also say that someone is out on the tiles if they are out somewhere like a bar or a club. ❑ You look as though you’ve been out on the tiles, Ken. This may be a reference to cats spending the night out on the rooftops. a night owl If you call someone a night owl, you mean that they regularly stay up late at night. ❑ Night owls can even order a 3am steak at the 24-hour Horizons Court Hotel. ❑ Joe is a night owl whereas I’m more of an early bird.

nickel and dime If you describe something as nickel and dime, you mean that it is not important or serious, or involves only small amounts of money. [american] ❑ I want to keep the campaign on the issues that matter. I’m not interested in that nickel and dime stuff. ❑ Some claim the company’s nickel-anddime charges are driving away sellers of inexpensive items. ● You can also say nickel-dime with the same meaning. ❑ It’s nickel-dime stuff,

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ninepins

A nickel is a five cent coin and a dime is a ten cent coin.

nickel

If something happens in the nick of time, it happens at the last possible moment, when it is almost too late. ❑ She woke up just in the nick of time and raised the alarm. ❑ They got to the hospital in the nick of time, just as the baby was about to be born.

fall like ninepins or go down like ninepins or drop like ninepins [british, oldfashioned] If people or things fall like ninepins, go down like ninepins or drop like ninepins, a lot of them are very quickly injured, killed or destroyed.

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nod ❑ Sgt Russell Smith, 35, told of his terror at seeing officers ‘falling like ninepins’. ❑ There was a time

❑ If I had to pick nits, I’d say the service could be a

when Liverpool players never seemed to get injured, but now they’re going down like ninepins. Ninepins are skittles.

● The verb nitpick has a similar meaning,

nines

dressed to the nines or dressed up to the nines If someone is dressed to the nines or is dressed up to the nines, they are wearing very smart or glamorous clothes. ❑ Everyone is dressed to the nines. Huge hats, frills, tight dresses, sequins and high heels. ❑ Lola was off to a party, all dressed up to the nines. ● You can also say that someone is done up to the nines. ❑ It felt like a wedding, with everyone done up to the nines. There have been many explanations offered for the origin of this expression. Most relate to the number nine in some way, but none has been generally accepted.

nineteen

315

little quicker. That aside, it was pretty much perfect. and there is also a much more frequent noun nitpicking. ❑ The critics, of course, nitpick – that’s what they do. ❑ The book was the subject of seemingly endless academic nitpicking. Nits are the sticky eggs laid by the head louse, a small insect that lives and breeds in human hair.

nitty-gritty the nitty-gritty The nitty-gritty of something is its most basic and important features. ❑ Now down to the nitty-gritty. I’ve been fat since I was 14 and been on countless unsuccessful diets. ❑ It is easy to lose sight of your aims in the nitty-gritty of daily life. ● Nitty-gritty is also used before nouns. ❑ Let us look at the nitty-gritty problems now.

nobody

like nobody’s business ➜ see business nobody in their right mind ➜ see mind

talk nineteen to the dozen [british] nod If someone talks nineteen to the dozen, ✪ give someone the nod or they talk very quickly, without pausing. give the nod [informal] ❑ He was animated, waving his arms around and If someone gives you the nod or gives the talking nineteen to the dozen. nod, they give you permission to do This expression suggests the idea of something. using nineteen words where most ❑ Keep him outside till I give you the nod. Then people would only use twelve. It is bring him in. ❑ The committee will probably give unclear why the number nineteen was the nod to the idea of a Community-wide strategy chosen rather than any other. for economic growth. nip ● You can also say that you get the nod nip and tuck [informal] from someone. ❑ We’ll hold off interviewing In a competition or contest, if it is nip and Hythe any further until we get the nod from you. tuck, it is impossible to say who will win ● You can also say that you are waiting for because both sides are performing equally the nod from someone, meaning that you well. are waiting for them to give you ❑ It was nip and tuck throughout as the players permission. ❑ We’re waiting for the nod from struck the ball with equal passion. ❑ It was the Secretary-General. nip-and-tuck from start to finish. a nod and a wink [british] One explanation for this expression is If someone gives you a nod and a wink, that it comes from sword-fighting, they communicate something to you by where a ‘nip’ is a light touch and a ‘tuck’ saying it indirectly or by giving you a a heavier blow. Another is that it comes signal. from horse racing, where it means the ❑ Planners were today accused of giving ‘a nod same as ‘neck and neck’. and a wink’ to a controversial school building project in the county. ❑ A nod and a wink from nits the CEO is all it takes to move share prices up pick nits or down. If someone picks nits, they point out ● Sometimes the expression nod and wink small, unimportant problems or faults in something. is used before a noun. ❑ There has been

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noises

so-called ‘nod and wink’ diplomacy on the nooks sidelines. ✪ nooks and crannies ● These expressions are usually used to If you talk about the nooks and crannies show disapproval, often because of a place or object, you mean the smaller something illegal or dishonest is parts which are not normally noticed or happening. are hard to reach. a nod’s as good as a wink [british] ❑ In the weeks before Christmas, we would If you say a nod’s as good as a wink, you search all the nooks and crannies of the house, mean that it is not necessary to explain trying to find our presents. ❑ This historic county something further, because you town is packed with interesting nooks and understand what someone has indirectly crannies to explore. suggested to you. ● You can also talk about every nook and ❑ Say no more. A nod’s as good as a wink. cranny, meaning all the parts of a place or ● This expression is used humorously. object. ❑ He seemed to know every nook and This comes from the saying ‘a nod’s as cranny of Venice. good as a wink to a blind horse’, which A nook is a corner or recess in a wall, and suggests that both the nod and the wink a cranny is a narrow opening or gap. are equally useless, as the horse would nose not be able to see either. cut off your nose to spite your face or on the nod [british, informal] cut your nose off to spite your face If a plan is accepted on the nod, it is If someone cuts off their nose to spite accepted without being questioned or their face, or cuts their nose off to spite discussed. their face, they do something to punish ❑ This legislation went through more or less on someone but in doing so harm the nod, without discussion in parliament. ❑ The themselves more than they harm the party cannot be seen to let the treaty through on person they are punishing. the nod. ❑ The manager would probably like to leave One explanation for this expression is Keane out of the squad but he knows that he’d be that it comes from auctions, where cutting his nose off to spite his face in losing a bidders nod as a sign that they want to genuinely world-class player. buy something. In this expression, ‘to spite’ means to noises deliberately annoy or upset. ✪ make noises follow your nose If you make noises about something you If someone tells you to follow your nose might do, you mention it briefly in a way when you are looking for a place, they are that is not definite or detailed. telling you to go straight ahead, or to ❑ Hall has recently been making noises about follow the most obvious route. buying back the club. ❑ His mother had started ❑ Follow your nose till you come to the church. making noises about it being time for him to leave Turn right there and it’s in front of you. home. If you follow your nose, you make ● Adjectives are sometimes added before decisions and behave in a particular way noises. ❑ He made all sorts of encouraging because you feel that this is what you noises that he would love Scotland to stage the should do, rather than because you are European Championships. following any rules. make the right noises ❑ As far as my career is concerned, I’d started If someone makes the right noises about writing for magazines while I was at college and a problem or issue, their remarks suggest I’ve just followed my nose doing that ever since. that they will deal with the situation in ✪ get up someone’s nose [mainly british, the way that you want them to. informal] ❑ The President was making all the right noises If something or someone gets up your about multi-party democracy and human rights. nose, they irritate you very much. ❑ The party certainly made the right noises about ❑ It’s her manner that gets up my nose – she’s so transport when they wanted our votes at the last superior. ❑ This new producer looks as if he’s General Election. going to get up everybody’s nose.

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nose

317

give someone a bloody nose [british, you around by the nose, they control you journalism] completely so that you do whatever they want. If you give someone a bloody nose in an election, competition or war, you defeat ❑ This nation has been led by the nose in foreign them or harm them. affairs. ❑ The Government has let itself be led by the nose by the timber trade. ❑ Elections provide an opportunity for voters to ● This expression is used to indicate that give the government a bloody nose. ❑ They promised to give the military a bloody nose if it the person or organization being continues its policy of repression. controlled is weak. ● You can also say that a person or a side Bulls and other animals sometimes have rings through their noses so that a gets a bloody nose. ❑ The Chancellor got a rope can be tied to the ring in order to bloody nose in the recent regional election. ● A bloody nose is used in several other lead them along. This expression is used in Shakespeare’s play Othello, when structures with the same meaning. ❑ The Iago says Othello ‘will as tenderly be led government last night admitted that it had by the nose as asses are.’ (Act I, Scene 3) received a bloody nose from voters after suffering a crushing defeat in the byelection. ❑ We sent the ✪ look down your nose at something enemy home with a bloody nose. [informal] keep your nose clean [informal] If someone looks down their nose at a thing or person, they regard that thing or If you keep your nose clean, you behave person as inferior and treat them with well and avoid trouble. disrespect. ❑ He’d worked hard and kept his nose clean for all those years. ❑ He told me to keep my nose clean ❑ I get the impression they look down their noses and my mouth shut. at people who are not dressed in expensive labels. keep your nose out of something ❑ I thought he’d look down his nose at pop music. ● You use this expression to show that you [informal] disapprove of this attitude. If someone tells you to keep your nose out of something, they are telling ✪ a nose for something you rudely not to interfere in it or ask If someone has a nose for something, about it. they are naturally good at finding it or recognising it. ❑ Just keep your nose out of my affairs. ❑ Nancy realized that this was his way of telling her to ❑ Smith had taken over the company and keep her nose out of his business. although he knew little about music, he had a nose for talent. ❑ As a journalist, he never lost ➜ compare with poke your nose into something his nose for a good story. keep your nose to the grindstone not see beyond your nose or If you keep your nose to the grindstone, not see beyond the end of your nose If someone can’t see beyond their nose, you continue to work very hard and do not spend time on other things. or can’t see beyond the end of their nose, they think only about themselves and ❑ I know if I keep my nose to the grindstone and their immediate needs, rather than about work hard, things will work out. ❑ There is more other people or more important issues to life than keeping your nose to the grindstone relating to the future. and saving for a rainy day. ● You can also say that you put your nose ❑ Where the environment is concerned, sadly, to the grindstone, meaning that you start this government can’t see beyond the end of its to work hard. ❑ If she focuses and puts her nose nose. ● You can replace beyond with further to the grindstone, I think she’ll do extremely well. A grindstone is a stone disc that moves than or past, and see with other verbs. around and is used to sharpen metal tools. ❑ It is high time that British industry started The reference here is to a person bending thinking beyond the end of its nose. over the grindstone while they are on the nose working, so that their nose is close to it. If you talk about a time or amount lead someone by the nose or being on the nose, you mean that it is lead someone around by the nose exactly that time or amount. [oldIf someone leads you by the nose or leads fashioned]

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nose ❑ This is Radio One FM. Precisely on the nose

nose in the dirt, you embarrass or upset them by reminding them of something seven sixteen. that they do not want to think about, The origin of this expression is in such as a failure or a mistake that they broadcasting. When a show was have made. running on time, the producer put a ❑ Okay, I got it wrong – there’s no need to rub my finger on his or her nose to signal this nose it it! ❑ Sometimes the winners could not fact to the performers. resist rubbing the enemy’s nose in the dirt. If you describe someone or something ✪ thumb your nose at someone as on the nose, you mean that they are If you thumb your nose at someone or generally considered to be unpleasant or something powerful, you show your lack offensive. [australian] of respect for them. ❑ It is now the Liberals who are on the nose at a ❑ Some of these repeat offenders are simply state level. laughing at authority and thumbing their noses pay through the nose [informal] at the court. ❑ Workers are laid off while bosses If you pay through the nose for are given enormous pay increases, thus thumbing something, you pay more for it than is their noses at both employees and consumers. fair or reasonable. ● You can describe this behaviour as ❑ Some restaurant owners have even noticed nose-thumbing. ❑ Some have dismissed the that we do not like paying through the nose for gesture as no more than adolescent noseour wines when eating out. ❑ It looks as though thumbing. those taking out new insurance policies on their To thumb your nose at someone literally houses will be paying through the nose. means to make a rude gesture by plain as the nose on your face ➜ see plain placing the end of your thumb on the ✪ poke your nose into something or end of your nose, spreading out your stick your nose into something [informal] fingers, and wiggling them. If someone pokes their nose into ➜ compare with cock a snook at something or sticks their nose into it, someone they interfere in something that does not ✪ turn your nose up at something or concern them. turn up your nose at something [informal] ❑ He has no right to go poking his nose into my If you turn your nose up at something or affairs. ❑ I felt that they were sticking their noses turn up your nose at it, you reject it into what was only my business. because you think that it is not good ➜ compare with keep your nose out of enough for you. something ❑ Poppy will turn her nose up at my cheap put someone’s nose out of joint high-street clothes. ❑ University graduates were If something puts someone’s nose out of turning up their noses at business jobs and trying joint, it offends or upsets them, because instead to get into university teaching. they think that they have not been ● You often use this expression to show treated with the respect that they that you disapprove of the person’s deserve. behaviour because they are being too proud. ❑ Ian had his nose put out of joint when a colleague who had been with the company for less ✪ under your nose If something, especially a bad thing, time than him was promoted and he wasn’t. ● You can also say that someone’s nose is happens under your nose, it happens in your presence or very near to you, and you out of joint or that someone has their either do not notice it or cannot do nose out of joint. ❑ A few noses in the firm are anything to stop it. out of joint since the arrival of a dynamic young ❑ I became convinced that something sinister manager. ● You often use this expression to suggest was taking place right under my nose. ❑ Then suddenly I knew what had been going on here all that the person who is offended thinks along, right under our noses. that they are more important than they ● You can also say that someone takes really are. something from under your nose, ✪ rub someone’s nose in it or meaning that they steal it in your rub someone’s nose in the dirt [informal] presence or very near to you, and you If you rub someone’s nose in it or rub their

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number either do not notice it or cannot do anything to stop it. ❑ The prisoners stole it from under the noses of two red-faced police officers.

nothing

thanks for nothing People use thanks for nothing to tell someone in an angry way that they are disappointed that that person has not done what they wanted. ❑ Dad’s request for a small-business loan was turned down (thanks for nothing, bank manager!) there’s nothing worse than People say there’s nothing worse than to emphasize how annoying something is. ❑ There’s nothing worse than being hit with an unexpected tax bill. ● This expression is often used humorously.

notice

sit up and take notice If someone sits up and takes notice, they start paying attention to something because they realize it is important or worth noticing. ❑ Finally, the medical world has begun to sit up and take notice of the role diet has to play in health. ❑ Pressure groups will need to campaign hard before anyone in power is forced to sit up and take notice.

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extremely angry and start shouting or behaving violently. ❑ The row during which he went nuclear and resigned from his post was much reported in the press. ➜ compare with go ballistic

nudge

nowhere

✪ from nowhere or

a nudge and a wink You say a nudge and a wink to mean a way of talking about a rude or unpleasant subject in an indirect way. ❑ We still find it difficult to talk about these private matters openly, resorting instead to a nudge and a wink. ● This expression is very variable. ❑ I’m tired of all the nods, all the nudges and the winks. No one is actually brave enough to say it directly to my face. ● You sometimes hear people say nudge-nudge, wink-wink before a noun, with the same meaning. ❑ There have been a number of nudge-nudge, wink-wink rumours in the tabloid newspapers, suggesting the Minister was having an affair. This expression became popular as a result of the 1970s British TV comedy series ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus’. One of the characters in a sketch made suggestive remarks and followed them by saying ‘nudge-nudge, wink-wink, say no more’. People sometimes nudge each other or wink at each other as a way of hinting at something.

nuclear go nuclear [mainly british, informal] If someone goes nuclear, they get

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to the nth degree If you do something or have a particular quality to the nth degree, you do it or have it to an extreme degree. ❑ He carried discretion to the nth degree, speaking only once about his job. ❑ You’re a risk-taker to the nth degree.

any number of If you say there are any number of things or people, you mean that there is a large number of those things or people. ❑ I’m sure there are any number of young people here who would be delighted to keep you company. ❑ I’m expecting to be here for several days, and there are any number of things I’d like you to show me. a back number If you call someone a back number, you mean that they are no longer useful or successful. ❑ This veteran jockey showed he was no back number by coming third out of a field of 24. A back number of a magazine or newspaper is an edition of it that was published some time ago and is not the most recent.

nth

number

out of nowhere If someone or something comes from nowhere or out of nowhere, they appear suddenly and unexpectedly. ❑ I remember looking both ways before crossing and seeing nothing. The car came from nowhere and hit me. ❑ All of these diseases have appeared seemingly out of nowhere, causing much misery and death. ❑ The film appeared out of nowhere and looks likely to disappear just as quickly.

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numbers

do a number on someone [informal] If someone does a number on you, they harm you in some way, for example by cheating you or by totally defeating you in a game or match. ❑ He really did a number on me. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to trust him again. ❑ The Irish team are looking to do a number on England in Dublin tomorrow. have someone’s number If you have someone’s number, you understand what kind of person they are, and so you know how to deal with them. ❑ Oh, don’t worry – I won’t let him cheat me. I’ve got his number. look after number one or look out for number one If someone looks after number one or looks out for number one, they selfishly consider their own needs and interests and no one else’s. ❑ This sums up the attitude of many greedy big earners – look after number one and to hell with everyone else. ❑ My priority is to look after number one – to create a lifestyle I am happy with. someone’s number is up [informal] If someone’s number is up, they are going to die very soon and there is nothing they can do to stop that. ❑ There were moments when Smith thought his number was up like in a major storm in the Atlantic when a voice in his head said quite clearly, ‘You are going to die.’ If someone’s number is up, something bad is going to happen to them, for example they are going to fail at something or lose their job. ❑ When the American found himself two match points down to Rosset of Switzerland last night, he thought his number was up. This is derived from army or navy life. A soldier or sailor who had been killed or who had died was said to have lost his mess number, or given up his place in the dining hall.

over time. ❑ They don’t have enough analysts to crunch the numbers. ● The activity of doing this is called number crunching. ❑ Now the number crunching begins and deals will be made. ✪ a numbers game or the numbers game A numbers game or the numbers game is a way of using figures to support an argument, often in a way that is dishonest or has no real meaning. ❑ She has criticized the numbers game which assumes that an exhibition receiving 5,000 visitors each day is better than one receiving 3,000. ● You can also say that someone plays a numbers game or plays the numbers game. ❑ The problem in the Church is that we play the numbers game whereby success is marked by attendance figures. In the United States, the ‘numbers game’ or ‘numbers racket’ is an illegal lottery. It involves people placing small bets on a series of numbers that appear in particular sections of that day’s newspaper, for example the stock market figures.

U nut

do your nut [british, informal] If someone does their nut, they become very angry about something. ❑ I wanted to ask Lorraine out and I knew that her sister would do her nut if she found out. a sledgehammer to crack a nut [british] If someone uses a sledgehammer to crack a nut, they use methods to solve a problem that are far more extreme than is necessary. ❑ The widespread campaign by the government to reduce childhood obesity is, she says, using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. ❑ Bankers say that the proposed law is a sledgehammer to crack a nut. ● People sometimes replace sledgehammer with hammer. ❑ Robbins’s film takes a large hammer to crack a familiar nut. ➜ compare with be breaking a butterfly on a wheel A sledgehammer is a large heavy hammer which is used for smashing rocks and concrete. a tough nut or a hard nut [informal] If you call someone a tough nut or a hard nut, you mean they have a strong character and are very determined.

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crunch numbers or crunch the numbers If you crunch numbers or crunch the numbers, you do calculations with numbers. ❑ The computer crunched numbers for a month to calculate how each of 100,000 stars moves

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nutty ❑ Bridget would sort anyone out – she’s a

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✪ the nuts and bolts of something

tough nut. The nuts and bolts of something are the a tough nut to crack or detailed, practical facts about it, and not a hard nut to crack just ideas or thoughts about it. If you say that a problem is a tough nut ❑ Tonight, the prize-winning author will discuss to crack or a hard nut to crack, you mean the nuts and bolts of the writer’s craft. that it is difficult to solve. ● You can also use nuts-and-bolts before a ❑ The really tough nut to crack will be to noun. ❑ It is very much a nuts-and-bolts guide persuade the older staff that change is necessary. for the serious gardener. ❑ I’m a nuts-and-bolts ❑ The American market is a very hard nut to crack politician. I always have been. because it is so vast. nutshell ● You can also just refer to a difficult ✪ in a nutshell problem as a tough nut or a hard nut. You say in a nutshell when you are ❑ The tough nut for this government is describing something very briefly. undoubtedly the economy. ❑ She wants me to leave the company. I want to If you say that someone is a tough nut stay. That’s it in a nutshell. ❑ I don’t know what to crack or a hard nut to crack, you mean I’m doing and I guess that’s the problem in a that they are difficult to defeat. nutshell. ❑ Harrington has taken 17.5 points from a possible 20 in international singles, making him a nutty nutty as a fruitcake [british, informal] tough nut to crack. ❑ Three wins and three draws prove United are a hard nut to crack. If someone is as nutty as a fruitcake, they behave in a very strange or eccentric way. nuts ❑ The man is a charmer – intense, funny, and go nuts [informal] nutty as a fruitcake. If someone goes nuts, they become ‘Nutty’ or ‘nuts’ is an informal word for extremely angry or excited. strange or foolish behaviour. Nutty can ❑ You’ll go nuts living in a place like that. also mean containing a lot of nuts in the ❑ ‘The noise caused all the neighbors to go nuts,’ way that a fruitcake often does. he laughed.

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Oo SA oaks

oats

great oaks from little acorns grow People say great oaks from little acorns grow when they want to say that large and successful things can begin in a small way. ❑ It is going to take at least five seasons before the new club can take its rightful place in the third division. Still, great oaks from little acorns grow. ● Other adjectives can be used instead of great and little. ❑ Henry Ford did not start his operations by hiring 330,000 employees and opening hundreds of factories in his first year. Remember, mighty oaks from tiny acorns grow. Acorns are the nuts that grow on oak trees.

oar

feel your oats [american, informal] If you feel your oats, you are full of energy and excitement. ❑ This success has Ralph Raina, one of the area’s most prominent businessmen, feeling his oats. ❑ Murphy is feeling his oats as a budding movie star. sow your wild oats [rude] If someone, especially a young man, sows their wild oats, they have many sexual relationships which are not serious and do not last long. ❑ Before that, however, there are a lot of wild oats that need sowing. ❑ To settle down with the first man you met means you haven’t had a chance to sow your wild oats. In this expression, the behaviour of young people is compared to someone sowing wild oats, which cannot be eaten, on good ground instead of edible oats.

put your oar in or stick your oar in [mainly british, informal] If someone puts their oar in or sticks their oar in, they interfere in a situation or an argument. odds ❑ He let them say what they wanted to say ✪ against all the odds without feeling the need to put his oar in; he is If you do something or something obviously a good listener. ❑ He should try to sort happens against the odds, you do it or it out his own affairs instead of sticking his oar in happens even though it does not seem other people’s business. likely that it will. This comes from an old expression ❑ His lawyer worked for much less than her ‘to have an oar in every man’s boat’, normal fee and, against all the odds, she won. meaning to interfere in other ❑ If the worst happens and, against all the people’s business. odds, your hard disk fails, you will have a big problem. oars ✪ at odds with someone rest on your oars or If one person or group is at odds with lean on your oars [british, old-fashioned] another, they disagree about something. If a person or organization rests on their ❑ Their two sons were at odds with each other. oars or leans on their oars, they do not ● You can also say that two people or work hard enough to make sure that they remain successful or get things done. groups are at odds. ❑ The Education ❑ The company has been resting on its oars and Secretary denied reports that he and the its competitors are catching up. ❑ Firms often Chancellor had been at odds over university take their time over making necessary changes, funding. leaning on their oars while another study is done ✪ at odds with something and another year goes by. If one thing is at odds with another, they

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are very different or do not seem as though they can both be true. ❑ His outlook on life was pessimistic, quite at odds with his wife’s description of his normal outgoing personality. ❑ He was a good piano player, but slightly ashamed of it, as it seemed at odds with his macho image. ● You can also say that two things are at odds. ❑ Last month the two reports were at odds, since employment figures indicated strength while the index predicted a worsening economy. at odds with the world or at odds with yourself If someone is at odds with the world or at odds with themselves, they are unhappy and not sure about what they want from life. ❑ I generally felt at odds with the world at that time. ❑ He willingly admits that he was still at odds with himself. by all odds If something should happen or be true by all odds the facts about it show that it should happen or be true. ❑ This strategy is by all odds the one most likely to succeed. ✪ pay over the odds [british] If you pay over the odds for something, you pay more for it than it is really worth. ❑ If you are frequently late, you may find yourself paying over the odds for the extra hours your nanny has to work. ❑ If you don’t want to pay over the odds, invest in a copy of Miller’s Antiques Price Guide. This expression refers to someone paying more than the agreed or usual price when they are betting on a horse in a race.

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good. [old-fashioned] ❑ The agency has managed to keep out of trouble since he started working there and he is keen to leave while it is still in good odour.

off-chance

✪ on the off-chance [mainly british]

If you do something on the off-chance, you do it because there is a small chance that a good thing will happen even though you do not really expect it to. ❑ She had turned up on the off-chance of catching a glimpse of the princess. ❑ I just thought I’d call on the off-chance. ● You can also say that there is an off-chance that something good will happen, if there is a small chance that it will happen. ❑ An additional reason for her attendance was the off-chance that she might find Darren there.

offing

in the offing If something is in the offing, it is likely to happen soon. ❑ A general amnesty for political prisoners may be in the offing. ❑ With Sybil’s wedding in the offing I’m hoping this cough isn’t infectious.

oil

the good oil [australian, informal] The good oil is reliable information. ❑ Send in your gardening questions and we’ll do our best to give you the good oil. no oil painting [british] If you say that someone is no oil painting, you mean that they are not attractive. ❑ I started seeing a guy who was no oil painting but wonderfully bright and interesting. oil and water or like oil and water If two things or people are oil and water or are like oil and water, they are very different and they cannot exist together or be mixed with each other successfully. ❑ He’d known from the start that Nick and Adam would never mix. They were like oil and water. ❑ I tried to make both my parents part of my life but they were oil and water and refused to be mixed. ❑ Like oil and water, the worlds of work and pleasure do not blend easily. pour oil on troubled waters If you pour oil on troubled waters, you do or say something to make people friendly again after an argument. ❑ He is an extremely experienced politician, who some diplomats believe may be able to pour oil on

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in bad odour [old-fashioned] If someone or something is in bad odour with a person or group, that person or group disapproves of them or is angry with them. ❑ The government is in bad odour with human rights groups. ❑ Malcolm was in bad odour with his father over an embarrassing incident. ● You can say that someone or something is in good odour with a person or group when that person or group approves of them or thinks they have done something

‘Odour’ is spelled ‘odor’ in American English.

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old

troubled waters. ❑ Friends are a blessing – they pour oil on troubled waters, drag you to parties and make you feel loved. It has been known for a long time that pouring oil on rough water could calm it. The Greek author Plutarch mentioned it in about 95 AD: ‘Why does pouring oil on the sea make it still and calm?’ strike oil If you strike oil, you suddenly become successful in finding or doing something. ❑ In Austin, a new generation of high-tech billionaires has struck oil in the computer industry. ❑ Jennifer McFarlane aims to strike oil on the Australian executive job market. This expression is more commonly used literally to say that someone discovers oil in the ground as a result of drilling.

old

olive

old as the hills If something is as old as the hills, it is very old. ❑ Their equipment may be modern, but the techniques remain as old as the hills.

‘Omelette’ is usually spelled ‘omelet’ in American English. you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs If you say you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs, you mean that it is impossible to achieve something important without there being some bad effects. ❑ You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs. If you want universal health care there’s just no way of getting it without us putting more money into it. ❑ The group does appear to be setting new reporting standards but you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs.

omnibus

the man on the Clapham omnibus ➜ see man

once-over give someone/something the once-over or give someone/something a once-over [informal] If you give someone or something the once-over or a once-over, you look at them or examine them quickly. ❑ Penny gives me the once-over. I’m wearing a bright jacket that’ll go down well with European viewers, she says. ❑ Could you give this email a once-over before I send it, please? ● You can also just talk about a once-over. ❑ You could bring the car to a mechanic for a once-over. give something a once-over [informal] If you give something a once-over, you clean it quickly. ❑ I found a vacuum cleaner in a small cupboard and gave the carpet a once-over. ❑ When you’re in the bath, give your feet a once-over with a pumice stone to remove rough skin.

✪ hold out an olive branch or

omelette

offer an olive branch If you hold out an olive branch or offer an olive branch to someone, you say or do something to show that you want to end a disagreement with them. ❑ We are holding out an olive branch, inviting the landowners to talk to us. ❑ The authorities have offered an olive branch to the community. ● You can say that someone accepts an olive branch if they accept the thing that has been said or done to end the disagreement. ❑ It would be some time before he would accept the olive branch offered to him. ● You can use olive branch to mean an offer of peace or friendship. ❑ I think the olive branch will have to come from both sides. ❑ He invited the world to choose between the gun and the olive branch. The story of the Flood in the Bible tells how Noah sent out first a raven, then a dove, to see if there was any sign of land. If they found some land, it would mean that God had forgiven man: ‘And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off; so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.’ (Genesis 8:11)

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one

be one up on someone If you are one up on someone, you have an advantage over them, often because you have done something which they have not done or because you know something that they do not know. ❑ She will see this as the opportunity to be one up on you. ❑ You may only have met him once, but you’re one up on the person who hasn’t met him at all. ● If you get one up on someone, you get

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an advantage over them. ❑ In those days, travel was about getting one up on one’s neighbours. got it in one or you’ve got it in one [british] If someone guesses something and you say got it in one or you’ve got it in one, you mean that they have guessed correctly. ❑ ‘My husband just broke my favourite piece of china,’ said my friend. ‘Guess whose fault it was.’ – ‘Yours,’ I said. ‘Got it in one,’ she said. ❑ ‘Is that a Birmingham accent?’ I asked. ‘You’ve got it in one,’ he replied. one and the same If two things or people that seem different are one and the same, they are one thing or person. ❑ But you see, George Villiers and the Duke of Buckingham are one and the same. ● One and the same is also used before nouns. ❑ They are, in fact, one and the same disease. one in a million ➜ see million a one in a million chance ➜ see million put one over on someone [informal] If you put one over on someone, you beat them or get an advantage over them. ❑ The match represents the opportunity finally to put one over on one of his oldest rugby friends. ● You can also use get instead of put. ❑ Managers wouldn’t help each other. They were all trying to get one over on each other. If you put one over on someone, you trick them. ❑ My brother David actually prefers doing things dishonestly. It gives him a pleasing feeling of having put one over on other people. ❑ You’re not kidding me, are you, Ralph? You wouldn’t put one over on me just to stop me going down to the club on my own?

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solved because the facts are very clear. ❑ We’ll need to come back here and measure things for the report, but it seems open and shut to me. ● Open-and-shut is often used before nouns. ❑ The prosecution behaved as if they had an open-and-shut case. In this expression, the word ‘and’ means ‘and then’, suggesting that the case being dealt with has been opened and then closed again almost immediately because it was easy to solve or deal with.

operator

a smooth operator If you describe someone as a smooth operator, you mean that they are very successful, often by cleverly persuading other people to do what they want. ❑ As with many people in the Foreign Office, he is a smooth operator and able to avoid conflict.

opium

the opium of the people or the opium of the masses The opium of the people or the opium of the masses is something that makes a lot of people feel happy. ❑ He saw religion as the opium of the people. ❑ I see the reality show as the new opium of the masses. This phrase was used by Karl Marx to describe religion.

open and shut If something, especially a legal case, is open and shut, it is easily decided or

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order

✪ the order of the day

open

know your onions [british, oldfashioned] If you know your onions, you know a lot about a particular subject. ❑ She really knows her onions in the historical field. This may derive from the rhyming slang ‘onion rings’, meaning ‘things’.

a soft option A soft option is something that will not take much effort or not be very unpleasant. ❑ They do not simply become a nanny because they think it is a soft option, better than commuting to an office each day. ❑ We’re not giving young offenders a soft option. ● This expression is usually used to show disapproval.

onions

option

If something is the order of the day, it is what is happening or necessary in a particular situation. ❑ Wage cuts were the order of the day owing to the government’s economic measures. ❑ Informality is the order of the day among all the Princess’s household. ✪ out of order A machine or device that is out of order

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orders

is broken and does not work. ❑ The school’s phones are out of order. ❑ Inside, the lift was out of order so she took the stairs. If you say that someone or their behaviour is out of order, you mean that their behaviour is unacceptable or unfair. [informal, british] ❑ You don’t think the paper’s a bit out of order in publishing it? ❑ Hey, sorry, I was a bit out of order yesterday. ✪ a tall order If something is a tall order, it is going to be very difficult to do or get. ❑ Financing your studies may seem like a tall order, but there is plenty of help available. ❑ I’ve got to beat him by four shots tomorrow, and that’s a very tall order. An old meaning of ‘tall’ is large or excessive.

orders

out

✪ give someone their marching orders [british]

but have no real power themselves. ❑ He’s the organ grinder’s monkey, his only role in life to get money for his boss. ● People use the terms organ grinder and monkey in many different structures to mean the powerful person and the person who does what they want. ❑ Why bother with monkeys when you can deal with the organ grinder? ❑ Some will say that I focus too much attention on the monkey, whilst allowing the organ grinder to get off free. ● This expression is often used to show a lack of respect for both of the people you are talking about, but especially for the ‘monkey’. In former times, organ grinders were street entertainers who played barrel organs. Sometimes they had a monkey that performed to the music.

✪ out-and-out

You use out-and-out before a noun in If you give someone their marching order to emphasize that someone or orders, you tell them to leave. something is very clearly and definitely ❑ Last week the political correspondent was the kind of person or thing mentioned. given his marching orders. ❑ What would it take ❑ His investment has proved to be an out-andfor you to say ‘that’s enough’ and give a man his out winner. ❑ This was almost certainly an marching orders? ❑ He was given his marching out-and-out lie. orders after attacking the opposition goalkeeper overdrive twice. He has now been banned from playing for ✪ go into overdrive two weeks. If someone or something goes into ● You can also say that someone gets their overdrive, they begin to work very hard or marching orders. ❑ Her teacher told the become very active. head: ‘Either she goes or I go.’ So Mary got her ❑ When the wedding was announced, the media marching orders. went into overdrive. ❑ My imagination went The usual American expression is give into overdrive. I tried to make new dishes, not someone their walking papers. from recipe books but from books about wild plants. marching orders [american] ● You can also say that someone or Your marching orders are the something is in overdrive. ❑ The campaign instructions that you are given in order to is in overdrive now with the candidates travelling carry out a plan or achieve an aim. the nation in a final push for votes. ❑ As one White House official put it, ‘We’re still Overdrive is an extra gear on some waiting for our marching orders.’ ❑ Program vehicles, which enables them to go executives have new marching orders for faster than they can with ordinary Hollywood producers. gears. The above expressions relate to the army. When soldiers are given overtime marching orders, they are ordered to be working overtime march to a particular place. If someone or something is working

organ the organ grinder’s monkey [british] If you call someone the organ grinder’s monkey, you mean that they are doing what a powerful person wants them to do,

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overtime, they are working very hard in order to achieve something. ❑ The team had been working overtime to improve the party’s image. ❑ People need more sleep when their immune mechanisms are

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ox working overtime to fight off infections. The literal meaning of this expression is that someone is spending extra time doing the job that they are employed to do.

owe

owe someone one [informal] If you owe someone one, you feel very grateful to them for something they have done for you. ❑ ‘I’ve got the engine going again.’ – ‘Thanks, mate – I owe you one!’

own

✪ come into your own

If someone or something comes into their own, they become very successful or start to perform very well because

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the circumstances are right. ❑ The goalkeeper came into his own with a series of brilliant saves. ❑ Ready meals come into their own when you’re too exhausted to be bothered about cooking. get your own back ➜ see back ✪ hold your own If someone or something holds their own, they are as successful or of the same quality as someone or something else. ❑ Some areas of industry, such as shipbuilding, were able to hold their own in international markets. ❑ The most highly skilled members of the American workforce can hold their own with any in the world.

strong as an ox ➜ see strong

PL SE

U LY

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Pp SA p

paces

✪ put someone/something through their mind your p’s and q’s or paces watch your p’s and q’s If you put someone or something through If you mind your p’s and q’s or watch your their paces, you make them show you p’s and q’s, you try to speak and behave how well they can do something. politely. ❑ The British coach, Ian Irwin, is putting the ❑ She always minded her p’s and q’s in front of the boxers through their paces. ❑ Dozens of tanks queen, but their relationship wasn’t that close. are being put through their paces to check that This expression may originally have they’re running correctly. been a warning to children not to ● You can also say that someone or confuse p’s and q’s when learning the something goes through their paces alphabet. Alternatively, ‘p’s and q’s’ may if they show what they can do. ❑ After stand for ‘pleases and thankyous’, or watching the machine go through its paces, expressions of politeness. he asked if it could be adapted to cook other pace foods. can’t stand the pace or To put a horse through its paces means can’t take the pace to test it to see how well it has been If someone can’t stand the pace or can’t trained. take the pace, they cannot work as hard

ahead of the pack If a person or organization is ahead of the pack, they are more successful than their competitors or others in a group. ❑ Hoping to stay ahead of the pack, the company has developed a new bike frame that weighs just 2.7 pounds. ❑ These parents want their child to be ahead of the pack academically. A pack here is a group of animals such as hounds or wolves.

page

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pack

or as quickly or do as much as they are expected to. ❑ Most journalists think of colleagues who go into advertising as people who couldn’t stand the pace in the real game. ❑ They were constantly testing me, as if to prove I couldn’t take the pace. ● People sometimes also say that someone can stand the pace or can take the pace. ❑ Assuming the band members can stand the pace, they could end up as successful as Little Mix. ✪ set the pace If you set the pace, you do something which becomes the standard or level that other people must achieve. ❑ Most fashion journalists believe that Versace has got it right this season and has set the pace for mainstream fashion. ❑ In a deal that could set the pace in forthcoming pay deals, the 700,000 chemical workers settled for a 2 percent increase in pay. This expression comes from the fact that a fast runner sets the speed at which all the other competitors in a race have to run.

on the same page If two or more people are on the same page, they are in agreement about what they are trying to achieve. ❑ It makes life easier in our department when we know we’re all on the same page. ❑ The party has done so much to get members of its organisation on-message and on the same page. turn the page If someone or something turns the page, they make a fresh start after a period of difficulties and troubles. ❑ Shareholders at the company’s annual meeting

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palm will be looking for signs that the troubled company really does mean to turn the page. ❑ We can play much better, but today I believe we turned the page. ➜ compare with turn over a new leaf

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Growing pains are pains that children sometimes get in their muscles and joints. Many people wrongly think that they are caused by the children growing too fast.

paint

paid

✪ put paid to something [mainly british]

If an event puts paid to someone’s hopes, chances, or plans, it completely ends or destroys them. ❑ Great Britain’s poor performance here last night has put paid to their chances of reaching the Olympic finals. ❑ The past week has probably put paid to hopes that share prices in New York and London would rise strongly for the rest of the year.

pain

no pain, no gain People say no pain, no gain to mean that you cannot achieve anything without effort or suffering. ❑ I exercise every day. No pain, no gain. ✪ a pain in the arse [british, informal, very rude] or a pain in the ass [american, informal, very rude] If someone or something is a pain in the arse, they are very annoying. ❑ These people were an almighty pain in the arse to deal with. ● The words bum and backside can be used instead of arse and the word butt can be used instead of ass. ❑ When I was bored, I was a pain in the bum. ❑ All this airport security’s a pain in the butt. ‘Arse’, ‘ass’, ‘backside’, ‘bum’ and ‘butt’ are all informal words for ‘bottom’. ✪ a pain in the neck [informal] If someone or something is a pain in the neck, they are very annoying. ❑ He was a pain in the neck. I was glad when he left my department. ❑ ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘They’ve forgotten to insure the plane. It’s a pain in the neck, but what can I do?’

watching paint dry If something is like watching paint dry, it is extremely boring. ❑ Daytime TV is like watching paint dry, except not as colourful or useful. ❑ I replied that cricket was the most boring sport on earth, even worse than watching paint dry.

pair

a safe pair of hands ➜ see hands show someone a clean pair of heels ➜ see heels someone’s only got one pair of hands People say that someone’s only got one pair of hands to mean that there is a limit to the number of things they can do at the same time and they should not be expected to do more than is reasonable. ❑ They’ve only got one pair of hands, and there’s so much to do. ❑ Just wait a minute, will you – I’ve only got one pair of hands.

U pale

✪ beyond the pale

If a person or their behaviour is beyond the pale, they are completely unacceptable. ❑ Any kind of physical aggression from your partner is beyond the pale. ❑ In those days unmarried couples living together were considered beyond the pale. ‘Pale’ comes from the Latin ‘palum’, meaning ‘stake’, and in English it came to refer to a territorial boundary marked by a line of stakes. The area inside was regarded as civilized, but the area beyond the pale was seen as barbaric.

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growing pains If an organization or activity has growing pains, it experiences problems as it develops. ❑ He knew it was just a case of growing pains, the natural process of going from small local supplier to major distributor. ❑ Their three year-old marriage has been going through some growing pains.

pains

palm

have someone eating out of the palm of your hand ➜ see hand grease someone’s palm If someone greases an official’s palm, they secretly give money to the official in order to get something that they want. ❑ She thought she would not be able to see the files if she did not grease the palms of officials. ❑ At the docks my grandfather would grease the palm of some sailor to show us round his ship. ● You can describe this activity as palm-greasing. ❑ Palm-greasing for just

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pan

about anything from entry to a favoured school to obtaining a bank loan is considered a fact of life here. The idea behind this expression is that grease and oil help machines work smoothly. In the same way, bribing people will make it easier to get what you want. in the palm of your hand If you have someone in the palm of your hand, you can control them, and they like everything that you do. ❑ A quick look at the audience shows that she’s got them in the palm of her hand. ❑ The girl clearly thought she already had him in the palm of her hand. ➜ compare with have someone eating out of the palm of your hand

pan

down the pan ➜ see down

Pandora

✪ open a Pandora’s box

❑ The media was caught with its pants down after the story was proved to be false. ❑ He was shocked by the manager’s walkout on Friday – and admits he was caught with his pants down. If someone is caught with their pants down or is caught with their trousers down, they are discovered having sex with someone they should not be having sex with. [rude] ❑ He may have been caught with his trousers down in a brothel, but the real villains are those who threatened blackmail. beat the pants off someone or beat someone’s pants off [informal] If you beat the pants off someone or if you beat their pants off, you defeat them completely in a contest or competition. ❑ He brought out a chess board. ‘Now, Smith, I’m going to beat your pants off ’. ❑ The nonacademic children usually beat the pants off the rest at sport and technical work. the pants off someone [informal] People use the pants off after a verb such as scare, bore, or charm and before a word for a person to show that something is done to a great degree. ❑ When I was a kid, circuses bored the pants off me. ❑ Stephen is the sort of person who loves rushing around, charming the pants off everyone he meets. wear the pants ➜ see wear

If someone or something opens a Pandora’s box, they do something that unintentionally causes a lot of problems, which were not known about before. ❑ The virus can throw the entire body out of balance and open a Pandora’s box of health problems. ❑ An invasion of the country would open a Pandora’s box which may be impossible to close. ● You can also describe something as a Pandora’s box to say that it may cause a lot of problems. ❑ The rapidly developing paper technology is seen by some as a Pandora’s box, couldn’t fight your way out of a paper with almost as many problems as benefits. bag According to Roman mythology, If someone couldn’t fight their way out of Prometheus offended the gods and in a paper bag, they are very bad at fighting. revenge Jupiter ordered the creation of ❑ They are no use to you as allies. They couldn’t Pandora, the first woman. Jupiter gave fight their way out of a paper bag. Pandora a box which she was to offer to ● You can replace fight with other verbs the man she married. Pandora married that state what someone is not able to do. Prometheus’s brother Epimethius. He ❑ Not one of these actors could act their way out opened the box and all the problems and of a paper bag. wickedness that now trouble the world ✪ look good on paper flew out and could never be put back. If something looks good on paper, it seems to be good when you read about it, pants but may not be good in reality. be caught with your pants down [british, ❑ This system looks good on paper but it is american] or expensive and, in my view, still of very limited be caught with your trousers down value. [british] ● On paper is used in many other If someone is caught with their pants expressions with the same meaning. down or is caught with their trousers ❑ These reforms are more impressive on paper down, they are discovered in an than in reality. ❑ All this theory sounds good on embarrassing situation or in a situation paper, but personally I don’t agree with it. for which they are not prepared.

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not worth the paper it’s written on ✪ below par or If something such as an agreement, under par promise or qualification is not worth the If someone or something is below par paper it’s written on, it has no value, even or under par, they are not of as high a if it seems official and definite. standard or level as they should be. ❑ Many employers say that these qualifications ❑ The recession has left sales a little below par in are not worth the paper they’re written on. the past two or three years. ❑ Bad teachers could ● Printed is sometimes used instead of face pay freezes if their work is under par. written. ❑ The certificate is not worth the ● You can also say that someone or paper it’s printed on. something is not up to par with the same a paper pusher ➜ see pusher meaning. ❑ The explosion raised concerns that a paper tiger safety standards were not up to par. If you describe a person, country, or ● You can also use below-par before a organization as a paper tiger, you mean noun. ❑ The other time I saw her was on stage that although they seem to be powerful, at a below-par Brighton concert last year. they do not really have any power. If you feel below par or under par, you ❑ Unless the assembly has the power to fire the feel tired or slightly ill. mayor, it will prove to be nothing but a paper ❑ Employees who feel below par are unlikely to tiger. ❑ She had shown the country to be a paper perform at their best. ❑ After the birth of her tiger, incapable of defending its territories. baby she felt generally under par. This is an old Chinese expression which ● You can also say that you are not up to Chairman Mao applied to the United par with the same meaning. ❑ I’m still not States in the 1950s. quite up to par after my cold. a paper trail ✪ on a par with A paper trail is written evidence of If one person or thing is on a par with someone or something’s activities. another, they are of the same standard. ❑ Police investigations found a paper trail of ❑ He fascinated her, not least because in him she checks that were written on false bank accounts. sensed an intelligence almost on a par with her ❑ Unlike conventional voting systems, many own. ❑ It is time to treat sand like a resource, on electronic systems leave no paper trail to allow a par with clean air and biodiversity. ❑ It took results to be double-checked. courage and confidence in this girl to place herself papers on a par with her father, a distant figure with a give someone their walking papers terrifying reputation. If you give someone their walking ✪ par for the course papers, you tell them to leave. If something that happens is par for the ❑ Barker was called in and given his walking course, it is not good but it is what you papers during a short meeting yesterday. ❑ After expect. returning home to Toronto for Thanksgiving, he ❑ There’s leaves and branches all over the streets, gave his high-school girlfriend her walking and the power is out. But that’s all par for the papers. course in a hurricane. ❑ Long hours are par for ● You can also say that someone gets their the course in his job. walking papers. ❑ It was Vogel’s turn to get parade his walking papers from the board of directors. rain on someone’s parade [journalism] The usual British expression is give If someone rains on your parade, they do someone their marching orders. something which spoils your plans or spoils an event that you hoped to enjoy. This comes from the instructions given ❑ To make sure that all goes according to plan to infantry soldiers (= soldiers who and no one rains on his parade, the president’s march on foot) about the length and safari will stay clear of trouble spots. ❑ It’s destination of a march. irritating that he could rain on my parade by par stealing the record before me. In golf, ‘par’ is the number of strokes a parker good golfer is expected to take for a ‘Nosey’ is sometimes spelled ‘nosy’. particular hole or for the whole course.

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parrot

a nosey parker [british, informal] A nosey parker is someone who wants to know too much about other people. ❑ Every street needs a nosey parker – someone who notices when the old lady opposite stops opening her curtains in the morning. ❑ Supermarkets are a nosy parker’s paradise. The contents of strangers’ trollies tell us so much about their lives. ‘Parker’ may refer to Matthew Parker, who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1559, and had a reputation for interfering in people’s business.

parrot

parrot fashion [british] If a child learns something parrot fashion, they learn it by repeating it many times, but they do not really understand what it means. ❑ Under the old system pupils often had to repeat lessons parrot fashion. ❑ There are no books, pens or chairs here, just a blackboard and a dirt floor where 150 dusty children sit in rows, learning their words parrot fashion. Some parrots are able to imitate human speech, and repeat words and phrases, although they do not really understand what they are saying. sick as a parrot ➜ see sick

take something in good part [british] If someone takes something such as criticism or teasing in good part, they are not offended or upset by it. ❑ Peter took their smiles in good part. ❑ In private she would yell and scream at us for being lazy and ill-mannered, which we took in good part, knowing she was right.

partner

someone’s partner in crime Someone’s partner in crime is a person that they do something with. ❑ My evening begins with watching possibly the worst romance I’ve ever seen, with my movie partner in crime, Monique. ❑ He presented his last programme with partner in crime Will Anderson last Friday. ● This expression is often used humorously. a sparring partner Someone’s sparring partner is someone they enjoy arguing with or discussing things with. ❑ My old sparring partner Chris Moyles used to front the Radio 1 breakfast show. This expressing comes from boxing, where a sparring partner was someone to practise with.

✪ look the part

bring something to the party If you talk about what someone brings to the party, you are talking about the contribution they make to a particular activity or situation. ❑ Johnson asked, ‘What do they bring to the party?’ – ‘They bring a lot to the party,’ Cohen replied, ‘principally $3 billion in capital.’ ❑ They are far better than nearly every band in London, but they need to find something fresh to bring to the party. the party is over People say the party is over to mean that a time when people made a lot of money or had a lot of success or pleasure has ended. ❑ The party is over for players who were receiving over £1 million a year. ❑ For Black and his former colleagues the party is over, and the headaches have only just begun.

If someone looks the part, they dress or behave in the way that is characteristic of a particular kind of person. ❑ You look the part of a gentleman, so people trust you. ❑ Friends say he was in the Foreign Legion. He certainly looks the part: his hair is cut very short and he has a deep wound above his left eye. This probably comes from the idea of an actor wearing a costume that suited the role or part that they were playing. ✪ part and parcel If one thing is part and parcel of another, it is involved or included in it and cannot be separated from it. ❑ Strong views and humour were part and parcel of our home life. ❑ Difficult times are part and parcel of being a professional. take someone’s part [british, oldfashioned] If you take someone’s part, you support them in an argument. ❑ It seemed to me that she should have taken my part and defended me from my father.

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party

part

pass make a pass at someone [informal] If someone makes a pass at you, they try to begin a romantic or sexual relationship with you.

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pat ❑ Nancy wasn’t sure if Dirk was making a pass

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pastures

at her. greener pastures sell the pass [british, old-fashioned] People talk about greener pastures to If someone sells the pass, they harm mean a better life or situation than the someone by giving an enemy or opponent one they are in now. what they wanted. ❑ A lot of nurses seek greener pastures overseas. ❑ The committee was widely blamed for selling ❑ They moved around for years, sometimes even the pass at a public enquiry which enabled a new leaving the state for what they thought would be motorway to be built over the site of the battle of greener pastures. Naseby. ❑ The Prime Minister sold the pass in an ✪ pastures new [british] astonishing speech backing hospitals against If someone moves on to pastures new, patients. they leave their present place or situation This expression relates to a story in Irish and move to a new one. history. The soldiers of Crotha, Lord of ❑ Michael decided he wanted to move on to Atha, were blocking a pass between the pastures new for financial reasons. ❑ I found mountains, against the enemy army of myself packing a suitcase and heading for Trathal, the King of Cael. One of pastures new. Crotha’s soldiers was bribed to let ● You can also talk about moving on to Trathal’s army through, and so he ‘sold new pastures or fresh pastures. ❑ No the pass’. Because of this, Trathal’s army matter how much we long for new pastures, when invaded successfully, and Trathal we reach them they can seem like a bad idea. became king of all Ireland. This is a quotation from ‘Lycidas’ (1638) past by the English poet Milton: ‘At last he be past it [british, informal] rose, and twitch’d his Mantle blew: If someone or something is past it, they Tomorrow to fresh Woods, and Pastures are too old and no longer good enough. new.’ This is sometimes wrongly quoted ❑ They said that at 25 years old, Joe Montana was as ‘fresh fields and pastures new’. past it. pat ● You can also say that someone or ✪ a pat on the back something is getting past it if they are If you give someone a pat on the back, you becoming too old and less good than they praise them for something they have done. used to be. ❑ The car we’ve got at the moment ❑ Any shop that gives such a rapid response to a is getting a bit past it. customer’s complaint deserves a pat on the back. wouldn’t put it past someone ❑ The industry can give itself a little pat on the If you say that you wouldn’t put it past back for the positive moves it has made to help someone to do something bad, you mean towards its own recovery. that you would not be surprised if they ● You can also say that one person pats did it. another on the back, or that someone ❑ He wouldn’t put it past Caitlin to have stopped pats themselves on the back. ❑ I thought work and gone home for the night, even though the editor would pat me on the back and say, ‘Well she knew how important it was. done!’ Instead he fired me. ❑ Today is a good day

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put someone out to pasture If you put someone out to pasture, you make them retire from their job, or move them to an unimportant job, usually because you think that they are too old to be useful. ❑ I’m retiring next month. They’re putting me out to pasture. ❑ He should not yet be put out to pasture. His ministerial experience is valuable. ➜ compare with be put out to grass When horses have reached the end of their working lives, they are sometimes released into fields (= pasture) to graze.

pasture

to pat yourself on the back for bravery and effort. stand pat [mainly american] If someone stands pat, they refuse to change something or they refuse to change their mind about something. ❑ High interest rates are considered the cause of the problem, but the German Bundesbank today said it’s standing pat. ❑ Head coach Tom Higgins is standing pat on his team and will go with the same 40 men he used last week. In the game of poker, if a player stands pat, they are satisfied with the hand dealt to them and do not exchange any of their cards.

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patch attended the Australian Ballet School in 2014.

patch

go through a rough patch If something or someone goes through a rough patch, they experience a period when they have problems. ❑ The family business was going through a rough patch. ❑ Many of the cast are famous film actors going through a bad patch. ● You can also say that someone or something hits a rough patch or hits a bad patch if they start to experience problems. ❑ Any artist with a successful career sometimes hits a rough patch. ✪ not a patch on someone/something [british, informal] If one person or thing is not a patch on another, the first is not nearly as good as the second. ❑ He was handsome, she thought, but not a patch on Alex. ❑ The facilities aren’t a patch on those of richer schools, but the boys think they’re terrific. This is probably a shortened version of ‘not fit to be a patch on’, suggesting a piece of cloth that is not good enough to be used as a patch to mend a hole in a good piece of clothing.

cross again. path-breaking [mainly american] You describe someone’s achievement as path-breaking when they have done something completely different and new which will affect the way in which things are done or considered in the future. ❑ Russia’s Parliament approved a path-breaking measure that gives individual farmers a right to buy and sell their own land. ❑ Path-breaking work in computing is always risky. ● You can refer to someone who achieves something path-breaking as a pathbreaker. ❑ Any male Scot who can make an actor’s living for two decades out of being funny and vulnerable, has to be considered a path-breaker. ● You can also say that people break new paths. ❑ Traditional 18-to-22-year-old students are also breaking new paths. smooth the path ➜ see smooth

pay dirt ‘Pay dirt’ is often written as ‘paydirt’. hit pay dirt or strike pay dirt [mainly american, informal] If you hit pay dirt or strike pay dirt, you find or achieve something important and valuable. ❑ ‘Let’s not give up on the courts,’ Millard says. ‘We still might hit pay dirt with one of the issues.’ ❑ The first two people with whom she spoke hung up on her. With the third, she struck pay dirt. ❑ The archeologists started in spring and hit paydirt: sets of bones, presumably of Carib Indians. This expression probably refers to earth which contains enough gold dust to make it financially worthwhile to look for gold in it.

path

❑ He hoped that sometime their paths would

beat a path to someone’s door If people beat a path to someone’s door, they are eager to talk to that person or do business with them. ❑ Business leaders should be beating a path to their door demanding that tough environmental laws be passed. ❑ Fashion editors now beat a path to Mugler’s door and thousands of followers flock to get into one of his events. This expression has been attributed to the American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82), who used similar words in a lecture: ‘If a man write a better book, preach a better sermon, or peace make a better mousetrap than his ✪ keep the peace neighbour, ‘tho he build his house in If someone keeps the peace, they stop the woods, the world will make a beaten people arguing or fighting. path to his door.’ ❑ They were among the first troops sent to help ✪ cross someone’s path keep the peace in the region. ❑ How did your If someone crosses your path, you meet mother succeed in keeping the peace between them by chance. these two very different men? ❑ The book is full of criticisms of the celebrities who crossed her path. peanuts ● You can also say that two people cross if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys paths or that two people’s paths cross. [british] ❑ Vicki and Lisa first crossed paths when they People say if you pay peanuts, you get

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pecking

monkeys to mean that if an employer pays very low wages, they cannot expect to find good staff. ❑ The present pay policy will inevitably have an adverse effect on quality. As Sir Roger put it, ‘The truth of the matter is that if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.’ Monkeys are thought to like eating peanuts, and ‘peanuts’ also has the meaning of a very small amount of money.

pearl

a pearl of wisdom If you describe something that someone has said or written as a pearl of wisdom, you mean that it sounds very wise or helpful. ❑ I tried to attract the attention of a passing waitress and waited for Josh’s next pearl of wisdom. ❑ We here in Arkansas are always so grateful for all the pearls of wisdom that may fall from Mr. Greenberg’s lips. ● People usually use this expression humorously, to suggest that in fact they think the person is saying something very obvious, boring or silly.

✪ go pear-shaped [british, informal] If a situation or activity goes pearshaped, it starts to fail or have problems. ❑ We started well, but it all went pear-shaped and we lost five matches in a row. ❑ He is always asked to comment whenever the global economy goes pear-shaped.

peas like two peas in a pod or alike as two peas in a pod If you say that two people are like two peas in a pod or are alike as two peas in a pod, you mean that they are very similar in appearance or character. ❑ She is convinced the men are brothers. She said: ‘They were like two peas in a pod.’ ❑ I remember when you brought the twins to be baptized, Laura. Alike as two peas in a pod! ● People often vary this expression, for example by describing two people as peas from the same pod. ❑ The two men are peas from the same pod.

pebble not the only pebble on the beach [mainly british] If you say that someone is not the only pebble on the beach, you mean that they are not the only person who is important or should be considered in a particular situation, although they may think they are. ❑ You should encourage him to understand that he is very definitely not the only pebble on the beach.

pearls

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pear-shaped

cast pearls before swine [literary] If you cast pearls before swine, you offer something valuable to someone who is not good enough or clever enough to appreciate it. ❑ He has written many fine pieces on the subject, although one suspects he is casting pearls before swine. ● Verbs such as throw and toss are sometimes used instead of cast. ❑ He should know better than to throw pearls before swine. ● You can also call something good that is not appreciated pearls before swine. ❑ The Musical Times, she tells me, is written for those with a genuine understanding of the finer points. I certainly hope so, or else my piece on Rossini will be pearls before swine. This expression comes from the Bible, from the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus is giving His followers advice on how they should live: ‘Give not that which is holy unto dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.’ (Matthew 7:6)

keep your pecker up [british, informal] If someone tells you to keep your pecker up, they are encouraging you remain cheerful in a difficult situation. ❑ This phase will soon pass; keep you pecker up, be careful and think hard. ● You can also say that someone keeps their pecker up if they manage to remain cheerful. ❑ The Scot was doing his best to keep his pecker up. ‘Pecker’ was a slang term for the nose, comparing it to a bird’s beak. If someone is unhappy, they tend to look downwards so that their nose points towards the ground.

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pecker

pecking

✪ the pecking order The pecking order in a group is the order

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pedal

of importance of the people or things Paula is to come down from her pedestal and within that group. get in touch with reality. ❑ Offices came in 29 sizes, according to your ✪ put someone on a pedestal place in the company’s pecking order. ❑ Even if If someone puts you on a pedestal, they the insurer does undertake to recover the excess, believe that you are perfect. you’ll be last in the pecking order when payment ❑ I put my own parents on a pedestal. I felt they time comes as it will first cover the legal and other could do no wrong. ● Other verbs such as place or set can be costs it has incurred in this process. When groups of hens are kept together, used instead of put. ❑ He had set her on a a ‘pecking order’ tends to form. This pedestal. ● You can say that someone is on a means that a stronger bird can peck a weaker bird without being pecked in pedestal or sits on a pedestal when return. people think of them in this way. ❑ The Emperor is still safely on a pedestal. pedal

put the pedal to the metal [informal] If you put the pedal to the metal, you do something with as much speed and effort as possible. ❑ He is putting the pedal to the metal to deal with his critics. ● Other verbs such as keep and have are sometimes used instead of put. ❑ Our players kept the pedal to the metal all season long. This expression comes from the idea of pressing a car’s accelerator (= pedal that makes it go faster).

The usual American expression is off-the-rack

a peg on which to hang something If you use something as a peg on which to hang your ideas or opinions, you use it to introduce or draw attention to these ideas or opinions. ❑ He rarely discusses the book, using it as a peg on which to hang his opinions – and not necessarily those related to the book. ❑ These events give opposition spokesmen a peg on which to hang accusations of government mismanagement. ● This expression can be used to show that the ideas or opinions are not directly relevant to the main subject being discussed. a square peg in a round hole If you describe someone as a square peg in a round hole, you mean that they are not suitable for the job or situation they are in. ❑ Taylor is clearly the wrong man for the job – a square peg in a round hole. ● You can also talk about trying to fit a square peg into a round hole if someone is trying to make someone do something or be in a situation that they are not suitable for. ❑ With all his players fit, the team’s manager will be in the unfamiliar position of not having to fit a square peg into a round hole.

A pedestal is a base on which something such as a statue stands.

knock someone off their pedestal or knock someone from their pedestal If someone or something knocks you off your pedestal or knocks you from your pedestal, they show people that you are not perfect or as good as they thought. ❑ He has been knocked off his pedestal by revelations about his private life. ❑ The tabloids have been trying for several years now to knock him from his pedestal. ● Other verbs such as push, take, and force can be used instead of knock. ❑ Many film stars of that generation were forced off their pedestal by the arrival of sound. ● This expression is very variable. For example, you can say that someone falls off their pedestal if they do something that shows people that they are not perfect or that they should come down from their pedestal if you think that they should stop behaving as though they think they are perfect. ❑ If you are the best student one year, there is a danger of falling off your pedestal the next year. ❑ My advice to

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off-the-peg [british] Off-the-peg clothes are made in large numbers and sent to shops, not made specially for a particular person. ❑ He was wearing an off-the-peg suit. ● You can say that people buy clothes off the peg. ❑ Instead of dining in top restaurants and wearing expensive suits, he likes to eat hamburgers and buys clothes off the peg.

pedestal

peg

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penny ● Other verbs, such as force and put can

be used instead of fit. ❑ Forcing a square peg into a round hole is not a very useful exercise – you need to make sure you get the right person for the job. ● People often vary this expression. ❑ The system too often leads to round pegs being appointed to square holes. take someone down a peg or two or bring someone down a peg or two If you take someone down a peg or two or bring them down a peg or two, you do something to make them less proud or make them realise that they are not as important as they thought they were. ❑ When it comes to success stories like these sports stars, all the media want to do is find ways to bring them down a peg or two. ❑ We thought it was time they were brought down a peg or two. ● People sometimes just say bring someone down a peg or take someone down a peg. ❑ We’d have liked to see her taken down a peg, but not this way. This expression may refer to the tuning of musical instruments such as guitars or violins, where pegs are used to keep the strings tight. Alternatively, it may refer to the game of cribbage, where pegs are used to keep the score.

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meaning but is more disapproving. ❑ Good, lasting floors are an essential in any house, so it does not pay to try and penny pinch. ● Pennypinching is used as a noun and an adjective, and people who do this are called penny pinchers. ❑ He ordered a huge meal. This wasn’t a moment for pennypinching. ❑ For penny pinchers, a nearby restaurant offers a version of the dish for $10.

penn’orth

your two penn’orth [british, oldfashioned] Your two penn’orth is your opinion about something, even if nobody has asked you for it. ❑ I’m just putting my two penn’orth in, that’s all. ● People sometimes replace two with another number. ❑ The meeting dragged on for more than five hours to ensure that they all had their four penn’orth. The usual American expression is your two cents’ worth. ‘Two penn’orth’ means ‘two pennies’ worth’.

penny

in for a penny, in for a pound [mainly british] You say in for a penny, in for a pound to show that you are definitely going to pegged continue with something, even if it have someone pegged means more effort or money. If you have someone pegged, you ❑ ‘We probably should have stopped at that understand completely what they are like point,’ Margaret says, ‘but we had already or who they are. invested so much, and as they say, in for a penny, ❑ Those who have her pegged as fragile in for a pound.’ singer-songwriter should hear her touring band not have a penny to your name ➜ see blasting out their latest song. ❑ I want you to name know that the drinkers in the cocktail lounge have ✪ the penny drops [mainly british] you pegged for a detective. If the penny drops, someone finally pen understands or realizes something. a pen pusher ➜ see pusher ❑ In the end the penny dropped. That was why pencil she sent us back. ❑ It’s only recently the penny’s a pencil pusher ➜ see pusher begun to drop that, actually, the new job is pennies probably better than the other one. not have two pennies to rub together This expression probably refers to slot ➜ see rub machines (= machines for playing pinch pennies games), which only operate when you If someone pinches pennies, they try to put in a coin. spend as little money as possible. a penny for your thoughts ❑ States and the federal government are pinching People say a penny for your thoughts pennies everywhere they can and often cutting when they want to know what someone arts programs first. ❑ Markets are shrinking and is thinking. customers are pinching pennies. ❑ ‘A penny for your thoughts,’ Marina said with ● The verb penny pinch has a similar a smile.

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perch

penny-wise and pound-foolish [mainly british, old-fashioned] If someone is penny-wise and poundfoolish, they are very careful about small amounts of money but not careful enough about large amounts. ❑ If we had employed a good accountant, we would never have lost the money. In other words, we have been penny-wise and pound-foolish here. ❑ We are being penny wise and pound foolish, trying to save a few dollars and hastening the time when we are going to have another accident. a pretty penny [informal] A pretty penny is a large amount of money. ❑ By the time it is ready for drinking, the value of the wine will have risen sufficiently to earn the investor a pretty penny. ❑ Buying a home can cost a pretty penny. turn up like a bad penny [british, old-fashioned] If someone or something turns up like a bad penny, they appear again when they are not welcome or wanted. ❑ Her husband was able to find her, to turn up again on her doorstep like a bad penny. ❑ Like a bad penny, the report has turned up again. ● You often use this expression to indicate that the person or thing keeps appearing. two a penny or ten a penny [british] If things or people are two a penny or ten a penny, there are a lot of them, so they are not especially valuable or interesting. ❑ Books on golf are two a penny. ❑ Gloomy economic forecasts are ten a penny in Europe.

their perch, you cause them to lose their important or leading position. ❑ For the regional firms this is an excellent time to knock London firms off their perch. ● You can also say that a person or organization falls off their perch if they lose their important or leading position. ❑ There’ll be no end of people ready to laugh when you fall off your perch. ● You can use topple instead of fall. ❑ As one after another of the star companies fall on hard times, their high-flying executives are toppling from their perches.

petard

hoist by your own petard or hoist with your own petard [formal] If someone is hoist by their own petard or is hoist with their own petard, something they do to get an advantage or to harm someone else results in harm to themselves. ❑ You should stop spreading stories about your opponents or, sooner or later, you will be hoist with your own petard. ‘Petards’ were metal balls filled with gunpowder which were used to blow up walls or gates. The gunpowder was lit by a slow-burning fuse, but there was always a danger that the device would explode too soon and ‘hoist’ the person lighting it, that is, blow them up in the air.

fall off the perch or fall off your perch [british, oldfashioned, informal] If someone falls off the perch or falls off their perch, they die. ❑ He fell off the perch years ago. ● Other verbs such as drop or topple can be used instead of fall. ❑ He’ll topple off his perch one morning. You know how it is. ● This expression is used humorously. knock someone off their perch [british] If you knock a person or organization off

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phrase

A perch is a pole, branch or other place where a bird sits to rest.

perch

be robbing Peter to pay Paul If someone is robbing Peter to pay Paul, they are using money that is meant for one thing to pay for something else. ❑ I have not starved yet but I am very conscious of failing to pay back debts, of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

The usual American expression is a dime a dozen.

Peter

to coin a phrase You say to coin a phrase to show that you are using an expression that people will know. ❑ Stunned Jackson was, to coin a phrase, ‘sick as a parrot’. To coin a new word means to invent it or use it for the first time. In this expression, the term is being used ironically.

picnic be no picnic [informal] If an experience, job, or activity is no picnic, it is difficult or unpleasant.

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✪ put someone in the picture [british] If you put someone in the picture, you tell them about a situation which they need to know about. ❑ I believe that I could now produce evidence to prove my case, if you are prepared to listen. I brought you here for that reason, to put you in the picture. ❑ Has Inspector Fayard put you in the picture? ● If you keep someone in the picture, you keep them aware of what is happening in a situation. ❑ If he promised to keep her in the picture, maybe she could tell him where she’d got her information? ➜ compare with in the picture

no picnic for them being taken away from their homes.’ ❑ Being unemployed is no picnic.

picture

✪ get the picture [informal]

If you get the picture, you understand what is happening in a situation. ❑ Anna was giggling. She was beginning to get the picture. ❑ They smoke, they play snooker, they do the pools. You get the picture, I’m sure. ● This expression is often used in when someone does not understand something immediately. in the picture pie If someone is in the picture, they are easy as pie ➜ see easy involved in the situation you are talking eat humble pie about. If someone eats humble pie, they admit ❑ I was in the picture from the beginning. that they have been wrong and apologize. ❑ Once the former professor was in the picture, ❑ The Prime Minister was forced to eat humble no one ever again attempted to mess with Mitch pie yesterday and publicly apologize to the Johnson. duchess. ❑ The critics were too quick to give their If you are in the picture for something verdict on us. We hope they’ll be eating humble pie such as a job or a prize, you are likely to before the end of the season. get it. ● Humble pie is sometimes used in other ❑ The actress is in the picture for an Oscar. ❑ He structures with a similar meaning. ❑ After told me that Annabella was back in the picture. their victory, he took delight in handing out large She was the best one they could find for the job. helpings of humble pie to just about everyone. ➜ compare with put someone in the ‘Umbles’ is an old word for the guts and picture offal (= organs such as the liver) of deer. out of the picture When rich people had the good parts of If someone is out of the picture, they the meat to eat, the ‘umbles’ were made are no longer involved in the situation into a pie for their servants. As ‘umbles’ you are talking about. pie was eaten by ‘humble’ people, the ❑ Once Derek was out of the picture, Malcolm’s two words gradually became confused. visits became more frequent. ❑ Maybe with ‘Humble pie’ came to be used to refer to Paula out of the picture, Mark would be willing to something humiliating or unpleasant. talk. nice as pie ➜ see nice If you are out of the picture for ✪ pie in the sky something such as a job or a prize, it is no If you describe an idea, plan, or promise as longer possible that you will get it. pie in the sky, you mean that it is very ❑ But I’ve been told I’m their fifth-choice striker unlikely to happen. for the next game, so I’m totally out of the picture. ❑ Targets set for oil production now look like pie the picture of health or in the sky. ❑ Ideally what I would like to see a picture of health would be free childcare, but I think that’s a bit pie If someone is the picture of health or a in the sky at the moment. picture of health, they look very healthy. ● You can also use pie-in-the-sky before a ❑ He lay propped on pillows, looking the picture noun. ❑ Changes are a real possibility. This is of health, his skin tanned, his jaw firm. ❑ Today, not pie-in-the-sky stuff. Ryan Carroll is a picture of health. This expression comes from the song ● Other words can be used instead of ‘The Preacher and the Slave’ (1911) by Joe health to emphasize how someone looks. Hill, an American songwriter and ❑ He was hardly a picture of elegance. ❑ Day workers’ organizer: ‘You’ll get pie in the after day she came and sat with us and looked a sky when you die. (That’s a lie.)’ picture of misery. sweet as pie ➜ see sweet

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piece piece

all of a piece or of a piece If something is all of a piece or of a piece with something else, it has the same character and features. ❑ The smile when he got up and took her hand was all of a piece with the gentle ease with which he asked how she was. ❑ This comment is of a piece with his other views. give someone a piece of your mind ➜ see mind a nasty piece of work ➜ see work ✪ a piece of cake If something is a piece of cake, it is very easy to do. ❑ If it’s quiet, the job’s a piece of cake. ❑ Her family have 11 children, so looking after 4 will be a piece of cake for her. a piece of piss [british, informal, very rude] If something is a piece of piss, it is very easy to do. ❑ People think touring is difficult, but really, it’s a piece of piss. ‘Piss’ is a slang word for urine. a piece of the action ➜ see action a piece of work ➜ see work say your piece If you say your piece, you say what you want to say about something. ❑ Each preacher stood for two minutes on a box, said his piece, and stepped down. ❑ You will be given the chance to say your piece in your defence.

bad has happened, you do what you can to get the situation back to normal. ❑ He helped me pick up the pieces of my shattered career and finances. ❑ People in the high desert communities are picking up the pieces after last night’s earthquake. shot to pieces If something is shot to pieces, it is completely ruined. ❑ When I came here my confidence was shot to pieces. ❑ Bob’s been gone two days, and the whole schedule’s shot to pieces. ❑ The economy is shot to pieces and thousands are losing their jobs every day.

pig

eat like a pig [informal] If someone eats like a pig, they eat a lot of food, often in a greedy or unpleasant manner. ❑ He was the sort who could eat like a pig and never put on weight. ❑ They ate like pigs. I’d never seen anybody eat like this. happy as a pig in muck ➜ see happy like a greased pig [mainly american] If someone is like a greased pig, they move very fast and nobody can catch them or stop them. ❑ He slid past her like a greased pig. This may come from a fairground competition which was popular in the past, in which a piglet that had been covered in grease was let loose and the person who caught it won a prize. make a pig of yourself [informal] If someone makes a pig of themselves, they eat a very large amount of food. ❑ I’m afraid I made a pig of myself at dinner. make a pig’s ear of something [british, informal] If someone makes a pig’s ear of something that they are doing, they do it very badly. ❑ I made a pig’s ear of it last time and I’m going to make sure that won’t happen again. ❑ Other countries have also made a pig’s ear of their radioactive waste policy. ● People sometimes vary this expression, for example by saying that something is a pig’s ear. ❑ The current state of British sports politics is an absolute pig’s ear. This expression may refer to the fact that most parts of a pig can be eaten, but the ears are the least useful part. a pig in a poke [old-fashioned] If you buy or accept a pig in a poke, you

✪ go to pieces

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If someone goes to pieces, they are so upset that they cannot control their emotions or deal with the things that they have to do. ❑ She’s a strong woman, but she nearly went to pieces when Arnie died. ❑ Every time he’s faced with a problem he goes to pieces. ● You can also say that someone falls to pieces. ❑ He says he would have fallen to pieces without his faith. If something such as your work or a relationship goes to pieces, it becomes very bad. ❑ My work is all going to pieces. ❑ She was one point away from victory when her game went to pieces. ✪ pick up the pieces If you pick up the pieces after something

pieces

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buy or accept something without examining it carefully first, with the result that it may be something of poor quality or not what you want. ❑ It’s the doubts about the financial package that really worry me. I feel we could be buying a pig in a poke here. ❑ He won the election by promising an end to government corruption. But now it appears voters may have been sold a pig in a poke. In the past, traders selling piglets at markets often had one pig on show and the rest in bags, or ‘pokes’, ready to sell. Dishonest traders used to put cats in the bags instead of pigs to cheat their customers. ‘Let the cat out of the bag’ is based on the same practice. sick as a pig ➜ see sick squeal like a stuck pig [informal] If someone squeals like a stuck pig, they scream very loudly, as though they are in a lot of pain. ❑ The baby squealed like a stuck pig. ● Other verbs such as scream and roar can be used instead of squeal. ❑ Alan tried to calm him while Miller continued to scream like a stuck pig. In this expression, ‘stuck’ means stabbed with something such as a pointed stick or a skewer. sweat like a pig [informal] If someone sweats like a pig, they sweat a lot. ❑ The two officers were sweating like pigs in the studio lights. ❑ To put it quite bluntly, my husband sweats like a pig.

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❑ I was piggy in the middle, caught between my parents, not wanting to hurt either of them. ‘Piggy in the middle’ is a children’s game in which two children throw a ball to each other over the head of a third child who tries to catch it.

pigs

pigs might fly [british] People say pigs might fly, to mean that something that has just been mentioned is very unlikely to happen. ❑ ‘There’s a chance he isn’t involved in this, of course.’ – ‘And pigs might fly.’ ● People say that something will happen or be done when pigs fly to mean that in reality it will never happen or be done. ❑ My private reaction was ‘Yeah, we’ll do it when pigs fly.’ ● People often vary this expression. ❑ ‘Maybe one day we’ll be rich.’ – ‘Oh look, I just saw a pig fly by my window.’

pike

come down the pike [american] If something comes down the pike, it starts to happen or to become available. ❑ There may be some new treatments coming down the pike. ❑ They have threatened to block any legislation that comes down the pike, like family leave or a civil rights bill. The reference here is to someone travelling along a turnpike (= road you have to pay to use).

the bottom of the pile Someone who is at the bottom of the pile is the least important of all the members of a group. ❑ People are rated by a system. Those at the bottom of the pile could be invited to pre-lunch drinks. ● Someone who is at the top of the pile is high in importance in a group. ❑ Bulls overtake Sharks to go top of the pile.

pigeon

pile

be someone’s pigeon [british, oldfashioned] If something is your pigeon, you have to deal with it. ❑ I’m glad this is your pigeon rather than mine. Originally this expression was ‘that’s not my pidgin’. The word ‘pidgin’ pill represents a 17th century Chinese ✪ a bitter pill to swallow or pronunciation of the word ‘business’. a bitter pill The expression literally meant the same If a fact or a situation is a bitter pill to as ‘that’s not my business’. swallow or a bitter pill, it is difficult or piggy unpleasant to accept. piggy in the middle [british] ❑ Their chief executive said the failure to win the If someone is piggy in the middle, they contract was a bitter pill to swallow. ❑ I’m not are involved in a situation where two going to tell you this is not a bitter pill for the people or groups are having an argument armed forces, because clearly it is. ● You can say that someone swallows a and they have to deal with or help both bitter pill if they have to accept sides.

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pillar

something difficult or unpleasant. ❑ Our people have swallowed a bitter pill in accepting this peace agreement. ✪ sugar the pill [british] or sugar-coat the pill [american] If you sugar the pill or sugar-coat the pill, you try to make bad news or an unpleasant situation seem less unpleasant. ❑ Stirling tried to sugar the pill for his employee. ‘There’ll be a ten thousand pound bonus if you agree to go quietly.’ ❑ His bitter pill was sugar-coated with a promise of ‘free and fair’ elections. ● In British English, you can also say that you sweeten the pill. ❑ A few words of praise help to sweeten the pill of criticism.

pillar

thinking about what you are doing, usually because you have done it many times before or because you are very tired. ❑ Steve seemed to be on automatic pilot and able to go on driving without apparent fatigue. ● You can also say that you go on to automatic pilot or on to autopilot if you start acting in this way. ❑ When the kids came home I just switched on to autopilot, making the tea, listening to them fight. In aircraft, automatic pilot is a device which automatically keeps the plane on course without the need for the pilot to do much.

you could hear a pin drop from pillar to post [mainly british] You say you could hear a pin drop to If someone is moved from pillar to post, emphasize how quiet it is because nobody they are moved repeatedly from one place is speaking. or position to another. ❑ I had never before prayed in silence with several ❑ We are exhausted after a weekend of being thousand young people. You could hear a pin shoved from pillar to post. ❑ I didn’t want the drop. ❑ You could have heard a pin drop in the children pushed from pillar to post. press briefing room after he said that. This expression comes from an early form pinch of tennis that was played indoors. Players ✪ at a pinch [british] or often played shots back and forth across in a pinch [american] the court, from the posts supporting the If it is possible to do something at a pinch net to the pillars at the back of the court. or in a pinch, it can just be done if it is a pillar of society or absolutely necessary. a pillar of the community ❑ Allow an hour for the dish to stand when it If you describe someone as a pillar of comes out of the oven, but 10-15 minutes will do at society or a pillar of the community, you a pinch. ❑ The ballroom could easily handle two mean that they are an active and hundred chairs, more in a pinch. respected member of a group of people. ✪ feel the pinch ❑ He is a pillar of society, the son every mother If a person or organization feels the would love to have. ❑ My father had been a pillar pinch, they do not have as much money as of the community. they used to have, and so they cannot buy a pillar of strength ➜ see strength the things they would like to buy. pillar to post [british, journalism] ❑ Poor households were still feeling the pinch In sport, especially horse racing, a pillar and VAT on fuel made matters worse. to post victory is one in which the winner ❑ Economic problems are mounting to the point was in the lead from the start of the race. where ordinary voters are beginning to feel the ❑ Sally Prosser finished top of the Asian circuit, pinch. thanks largely to a pillar to post victory in the JAL take something with a pinch of salt Malaysian Open. ➜ see salt This may refer to the posts that mark pink the start and finish of a racecourse. in the pink [old-fashioned] pilot If someone is in the pink, they are very fit ‘Autopilot’ is often written as and healthy. ‘auto-pilot’ in British English. ❑ ‘Hello. Good evening. How are you?’ – ‘Oh, in the pink.’ ✪ on automatic pilot or ● People sometimes use the longer on autopilot expressions in the pink of condition or If you are on automatic pilot or on in the pink of health. ❑ He insists that autopilot, you are acting without

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Mr Harris, a non-smoker, appeared in the pink of this house is me. So she can put that in her pipe health. and smoke it. ‘Pink’ here means best, and the word pipeline is derived from the flower of this name, ✪ in the pipeline which also gave its name to the colour If something is in the pipeline, it is being pink. planned or developed. tickled pink [informal] ❑ New security measures are in the pipeline, If you are tickled pink about something, including closed-circuit TV cameras in most you are extremely pleased about it. stores. ❑ Over 350 major hospital schemes have ❑ As a developer, I’m tickled pink by the dropping been completed. There are nearly 300 more in the prices. ❑ Her dressmaker would just be tickled pipeline. pink if we put one of her outfits in the magazine. Another American expression that This expression may refer to someone’s means the same is in the works. face becoming pink or redder when they are being tickled. piper he who pays the piper calls the tune pins People say he who pays the piper calls the for two pins [mainly british, oldtune to mean that the person who pays fashioned] for something has the right to decide If you say that for two pins you would do what it will be like. something, you mean that you would like ❑ He who pays the piper calls the tune. It’s to do it if you were able to, but you are not. important our customers have a real say on the ❑ His eyelids were heavy and the room was hot. balance between demands for improved services For two pins he’d have fallen asleep there and and increasing charges. then. ● People often vary this expression. ❑ If these on pins and needles [mainly american] countries are to pay the piper, they will expect at If you are on pins and needles, you are least some say in his choice of tune. ❑ They had very anxious or nervous about something a strong tendency to call the tune without paying that is going to happen. the piper. ❑ We were approaching Cape Horn, where we ➜ compare with call the tune had almost lost our lives two years ago, so I was This may come from the custom, dating definitely on pins and needles. ● You can also say that someone is sitting back to the 17th century, of hiring travelling musicians to play at festivals on pins and needles. ❑ I think we all have and weddings. The people who paid for been sitting on pins and needles and anxious for the music were able to choose the tunes something to happen. they wanted to hear. pipe

piss a pipe dream ✪ take the piss [british, informal, very If you describe something that someone rude] wants to do or happen as a pipe dream, If someone takes the piss out of you mean that it is not realistic and will another person or thing, they tease them probably not happen. or make jokes about them in an ❑ Oh, Toddy, it’s a pipe dream. The banks won’t unpleasant way. lend you that sort of money. ❑ He said the figures ❑ Jack just laughed when he realised they were showed that a third runway at the airport taking the piss out of his car. remained a pipe dream. ● You can call an instance of this This expression refers to the sort of idea behaviour a piss-take. ❑ This is a piss-take that someone is likely to have when of the standard cop movie. they are smoking a drug in a pipe. If someone takes the piss, they say or put that in your pipe and smoke it do something unreasonable. You say put that in your pipe and smoke ❑ For them to do what they’ve done, I think it to tell someone that they must accept they’re taking the piss, really. ❑ You want me to what you have said, even if they do not have the kids on Friday night? You’re taking the piss. like it. ❑ As for rules, the only person who makes rules in ‘Piss’ is a slang word for urine.

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pissed pissed

pits

pissed as a newt [british, informal, very rude] If someone is as pissed as a newt, they are very drunk. ❑ She swore never to drink again. Hah! Pissed as a newt the first night she came back. ● Other nouns such as fart or parrot are sometimes used instead of newt. ❑ The last time I saw him, in Glasgow, he was as pissed as a parrot.

piss-up

the pits [spoken] If you describe something as the pits, you mean that it is extremely bad. ❑ Mary Ann asked him how dinner had been. ‘The pits,’ he replied. ❑ Reading someone else’s diary is the pits.

pity more’s the pity If you add more’s the pity to a comment, you are expressing your disappointment or regret about something. ❑ My world isn’t your world, more’s the pity. ❑ We’ve always lacked a written constitution, more’s the pity.

couldn’t organize a piss-up in a brewery [british, informal, very rude] If you say that someone couldn’t organize a piss-up in a brewery, you mean that place they are extremely bad at organizing ✪ all over the place things. If something is happening or exists all ❑ She was fired after saying her boss couldn’t over the place, it is happening or it exists organize a piss-up in a brewery. in many different places. A piss-up is a slang word for an occasion ❑ Businesses are closing down all over the place. at which a lot of alcohol is drunk. ❑ There are picket lines all over the place. pitch If things are all over the place, they are ✪ make a pitch spread over a very large area, usually in a If you make a pitch for something, you disorganized way. ❑ There were clothes lying all over the place. tell people how good that thing is and try If you say that someone is all over the to persuade them to support it or buy it. ❑ The president used his remarks to make a pitch place, you mean that they are confused or for further space exploration. ❑ The ability to disorganized, and unable to think clearly persuade and convince is vital when you are or act sensibly. [mainly british, informal] ❑ She only had two weeks to prepare and she was making a pitch to a new client. all over the place trying not to collapse. ❑ When I If you make a pitch for something, you try to get it. played in the Scottish tournament I was all over ❑ So far he hasn’t made a pitch for the job. the place. ❑ When we first opened the restaurant, we made as if someone owns the place a pitch for young, stylish customers. If you say that someone does something queer someone’s pitch [mainly british] as if they own the place you mean that If someone or something queers your they do it as though they are the most pitch, they make it very difficult for you important person there or they think to achieve what you are trying to do. they can do whatever they want. ❑ Being followed by a camera crew was queering ❑ He strode across the hotel lobby like he owned his pitch. the place. ● You can also say that someone or ● You can also say like someone owns the something queers the pitch if they make place with the same meaning. ❑ He struts around town like he owns the place. something difficult to achieve. ❑ They ● This expression is used to show don’t want to queer the pitch in their dealings disapproval. with foreign governments by publicly criticizing ✪ fall into place their actions. If you have been trying to understand In the past, a pitch was the place where something, and then everything falls into a showman set up his tent or stall. If place, you suddenly understand it. anyone, especially the police, spoiled or ❑ Bits of the puzzle fell into place. He knew now interrupted his show, they were said to who had written the letter. queer the pitch. There is an old verb ● Verbs such as click and fit can be used ‘queer’ which means ‘cheat’ or ‘spoil’.

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instead of fall. ❑ Suddenly, everything clicked ✪ in high places into place. I could see now how to get the shot I People in high places are people who have wanted. power and influence in a group or society. If things fall into place, events happen ❑ You do not rise so high, so fast, without having to produce the situation you want. a few friends in high places. ❑ As soon as I started playing in midfield ● You can also talk about things everything started falling into place. All my happening in high places to mean confidence came flooding back and I ended up amongst important people. ❑ I could have winning a place with England. threatened to make a considerable fuss in high ● Verbs such as click and fit can be used places. instead of fall. ❑ We had a great time in the trade places last couple of months when, all of a sudden, If two people trade places, each person things clicked into place. puts themselves in the situation of the a place in the sun other person. If someone has a place in the sun, they ❑ There was a time in my life when I would have are in a job or situation where they are traded places with anyone because I believed that happy and have everything that they everyone was better than me. ❑ He plays the want. young heir to an oil fortune who trades places ❑ I think I’ve earned my place in the sun. ❑ They with a water-ski instructor. were looking forward to a period of stability and plague the chance of a place in the sun. avoid someone/something like the This phrase was used by Bernard von plague Bulow, the German Chancellor, in a If you avoid someone or something like speech to the German parliament in the plague, you do everything possible to 1897, referring to his country’s desire to avoid them. play a part in the colonization of East ❑ I would avoid him like the plague when his wife Asia: ‘We do not wish to force anyone was around. ❑ The athlete must avoid all extra into the shade, but demand our own sugar like the plague. place in the sun’. The plague is bubonic plague, a disease ✪ put someone in their place which killed over 50 million people in If you put someone in their place, you Europe and Asia during the 14th century show them that they are less important and was referred to as the Black Death. or clever than they think they are. plain ❑ In a few words she had put him in his place. plain as day or ❑ He had put me in my place – shamed me, plain as the nose on your face actually. If something is as plain as day or as plain ✪ take second place as the nose on your face, it is very easy to If one thing or person takes second place see, or obvious and easy to understand. to another, the first thing or person is ❑ He was lying there plain as day, in his hospital considered to be less important and is gown. ❑ It’s plain as the nose on your face that given less attention than the second. this company is wildly undervalued. ❑ My personal life has had to take second place to ● In old-fashioned British English, you my career. ❑ She was married to Ben Nicholson can also say that something is plain as a for years, and nobody ever saw her as taking pikestaff. ❑ I saw your grandmother this second place. morning, here as plain as a pikestaff, at the foot of places my bed. ✪ be going places [informal] This expression was originally ‘plain If a person or organization is going as a packstaff’. A packstaff was a long places, they are likely to become very stick that pedlars used to carry their successful. bundles. The word ‘pikestaff’ was ❑ One of the doctors said, ‘You’re a hell of a substituted at a later time: a pikestaff surgeon. You are going places.’ ❑ If we can play was a long walking stick. Both like that every week, then this club is going packstaffs and pikestaffs were very places. plain and simple.

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plan ✪ have enough on your plate or

plan

✪ plan B Someone’s plan B is a second plan they have that they will use if their first plan is not successful. ❑ It was too late to rethink my plan, and due to the fact that I didn’t have a plan B, I was stuck with it.

planet

✪ what planet is someone on? [british,

informal] You can say what planet is someone on? to show that you think someone has crazy ideas or does not know about something that most people know about. ❑ What planet are these people on? Do they not read their own headlines? ● This expression is often varied. For example, you can ask what planet does someone live on? or what planet does someone come from?. ❑ He thinks hospitals can make major cuts to their budgets. What planet does he live on? ● You can also say that someone is on another planet. ❑ She was just on another planet, I think. She didn’t seem to understand that we are ordinary people.

plates keep all the plates spinning If you keep all the plates spinning you deal successfully with several things at once. ❑ I like doing different things, keeping all the plates spinning at the same time. ● This expression is used in many other structures connected with managing to do several things at once. ❑ He already has enough plates spinning – consultancies, newspaper columns, not to mention four restaurants – to keep him in London. ❑ When you have to keep as many plates spinning as she does, you know something is sometimes going to crash. This expression comes from the idea of the circus act where a large number of plates are kept spinning on tall sticks.

plank

have a lot on your plate If you have enough on your plate or have a lot on your plate, you have a lot of work to do or a lot of things to deal with. ❑ I’m sorry to bother you with it, Mark, but John’s got enough on his plate. ❑ I have a lot on my plate over the next year with the Olympics coming up. ● You can also say that someone has their plate full or has a full plate. ❑ I’m making no promises. My staff have their plate full at the present time. step up to the plate [mainly american] If a person or organization steps up to the plate, they take responsibility for doing something, often something that is difficult. ❑ It is time for the council to step up to the plate and provide the necessary leadership. ❑ Perhaps Mr. Sutherland should step up to the plate and lead the negotiations. In baseball, the plate is the home base where the batter stands.

thick as two planks ➜ see thick walk the plank [journalism] If someone in a position of authority walks the plank, they accept responsibility for something bad that has happened and leave their position. ❑ The company announced its new sales figures today, six weeks after the crisis that saw its chief executive walk the plank. Many people believe that pirates used to kill their prisoners by forcing them to walk along a plank or gangplank sticking out from the edge of a ship until they fell into the sea.

If someone hands you something on a plate, you get it without having to make any effort. ❑ Even the presidency was handed to him on a plate. ❑ He had had everything, the whole world handed to him on a plate. ● Other verbs such as offer and serve up can be used instead of hand. ❑ Why must our kids have everything served up on a plate?

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platter

[mainly british]

✪ hand someone something on a plate

plate

on a silver platter or on a platter If you are given something on a silver platter or on a platter, you are given it without having to work or make an effort to get it. ❑ You expect me to hand you everything on a silver platter, and when you don’t get it, you stamp your little foot and cry. ❑ The Opposition has been handed this issue on a platter. A platter is a large plate or shallow dish used for serving food.

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playing field

fair play to someone [informal] ✪ a level playing field People say fair play to someone to mean A level playing field is a situation that is that they should be praised for something fair and where no one has an advantage or that what they are doing is reasonable. over other people. ❑ Fair play to The Levellers themselves for ❑ At the moment we are not competing on a level putting on musically adventurous support playing field. ❑ Trade with these nations must be bands. ❑ Fair play to them if they make a few conducted on a level playing field. ● This expression can be varied, for quid out of the deal. make a play for someone example by using even or uneven instead If someone makes a play for a person who of level. ❑ Given an even playing field, girls tend they find sexually attractive, they try to to do better at school than boys. ● If you say that you want to level the start a relationship with them. ❑ All the men made a play for her. ❑ If a woman playing field, you mean that you want to makes an obvious play for a man it can be very make a situation fair, by ensuring that flattering. nobody has an advantage over other make a play for something people. ❑ Industry analysts say the agreement If someone makes a play for something should help level the playing field. that they want, they try to get it. plea ❑ Analysts say the company could soon be cop a plea [american, informal] making a play for properties around the world. If someone cops a plea, they agree to ❑ The finance minister dismissed accusations plead guilty to a crime to avoid a trial for a that he was making a play for power. more serious crime. make great play of something or ❑ The lawyer advised him not to fight but to cop make a great play of something [british] a plea. If someone makes great play of pleased something or makes a great play of pleased as punch [old-fashioned] something, they emphasize it, often to If someone is as pleased as punch about make it seem more important than it something, they are very pleased about it. really is. ❑ He’s obviously as pleased as punch about ❑ Maria was there, making a great play of buying this timber firm. ❑ Branfoot announced cleaning the house, but apparently doing he was as pleased as punch with his team’s very little. performance. ● You can also say that someone makes a ‘Punch’ is a character from traditional big play of something, with the same ‘Punch and Judy’ puppet shows, who meaning. ❑ They were very eager to show who enjoys making trouble for people. The was boss. They got us out of the car and made a puppet usually has a big grin. big play of examining our papers. plot ● You can also just say that someone ✪ lose the plot [informal] makes a play of something. ❑ Both men If someone loses the plot, they become made a play of wiping the dirt from her coat. confused or behave in a strange or foolish ✪ play it cool way, or no longer know how to deal with a If someone plays it cool, they keep calm situation. and do not show much emotion. ❑ Vikram’s working so many hours as a junior ❑ I thought I’d play it cool. Wait for him to ring. doctor he’s losing the plot completely. ❑ Famous ❑ The idea seems to have been to play it cool, people may be reluctant to link themselves with a avoid forcing a crisis and rebuild support among store group that seems to have lost the fashion neighbouring states. plot. ✪ a play on words the plot thickens A play on words is a clever or humorous People say the plot thickens when a use of a word, especially one that has situation or series of events starts to more than one meaning. become even more complicated or strange. ❑ This play got most of its laughs from a play on ❑ The plot thickens when he finds diamonds words. ❑ Its short form, TGB, is a French play on worth 6m euros hidden in a box of salt in the dead words on the TGV, the high speed train project.

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plug man’s room. ❑ At this point the plot thickened further. A link emerged between the attempt to kill the Pope and the kidnapping of the American. This phrase was widely used in 19th century melodramas, or popular plays that involved extreme situations and extreme emotions, and is now used humorously

plug

✪ pull the plug on something

If someone with power pulls the plug on a project or activity, they stop it from happening or continuing, usually by stopping the money that pays for it. ❑ The banks have the power to pull the plug on the project if they do not like what the companies are doing. ❑ The Government has set out detailed conditions under which it would pull the plug on the sale. ● You can also just say that someone pulls the plug. ❑ They intended to watch us every step of the way, and if anything went wrong they would pull the plug.

plum

pocket

✪ dip into your pocket or dig into your pocket If someone dips into their pocket or digs into their pocket, they pay for something with their own money. ❑ As a player, you must dip into your own pocket at times, for boots, training gear, and the odd hotel room. ● You can also say that someone puts their hand in their pocket, with the same meaning. ❑ The only time you’ll have to put your hand in your pocket is for the spa treatments. ● Pocket is used in many expressions with similar meanings connected with paying for things. ❑ What this club needs is for the directors to dip their hands in their pockets. ● To talk about paying a lot of money, expressions such as dig deep into your pocket are often used. ❑ Adrian dug deep into his own pocket and published the book himself. ● You can just say that someone digs deep, or that they dig deeper. ❑ At Christmas, most will dig deep and spend more than last year. ❑ We are asking the richer nations to dig deeper. in someone’s pocket If you are in someone’s pocket, they control you and you do everything that they tell you. ❑ Surely there was a judge somewhere who wasn’t in Jason’s pocket. ❑ The Labour party suffered badly from claims that it was in the pockets of the unions.

a plum in your mouth [british] If someone speaks with a plum in their mouth, they speak with an accent that is typical of a high social class. ❑ While she does not talk with a plum in her mouth, she is very articulate. ● This expression is used to show disapproval. This is from the idea that the accent used by upper-class speakers of British English makes them sound as though they have a plum in their mouth.

Previously a union leader, she now works for the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals. ❑ The Scot, boxing’s poacher turned gamekeeper, will make his managerial debut tomorrow. ● You can also say that someone is gamekeeper turned poacher, when someone who was in authority changes to a situation where they need to be controlled by others. ❑ He used to manage properties for other landlords. Now the gamekeeper turned poacher has to find occupiers for his own building. A poacher is someone who illegally hunts animals such as deer, pheasant or salmon. A gamekeeper is someone employed by a landowner to look after these animals, which are known as game.

poacher poacher turned gamekeeper [british] If you describe someone as poacher turned gamekeeper, you mean that they have changed their job or opinion and now have authority over the same sort of people that they were themselves before. ❑ She returns as poacher turned gamekeeper.

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If you take the plunge, you decide to do something that you have been thinking of doing for some time, even though it is difficult, risky, or unpleasant. ❑ Helen decided to take the plunge and turned professional in 2018. ❑ Finally, Mona took the plunge. ‘I have something to tell you,’ she said.

✪ take the plunge

plunge

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point ✪ out of pocket

If you are out of pocket after an event or an activity, you have less money than you should have. ❑ The promoter claims he was left £36,000 out of pocket after the concert. ❑ As he’d been paid half his fee in advance he should not have been out of pocket. ● You can use out-of-pocket before a noun to describe someone who is in this situation. ❑ There is likely to be a court battle between the company and out-of-pocket shareholders. ✪ out-of-pocket Out-of-pocket expenses are costs connected with work that people pay themselves at first but are usually paid back to them later. ❑ I charge twenty dollars an hour plus out-of-pocket expenses. ● If you pay out of pocket, you pay for something yourself and claim the money back later. [american] ❑ As long as people have to pay out of pocket to see a physician, many people will not get the necessary care.

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pockets, they spend a great deal of time together. ❑ Just because you’re married doesn’t mean you have to live in each other’s pockets. ● Other verbs are sometimes used instead of live. ❑ It’s hard to explain how the two of them survived 23 years in each other’s pockets. ● This expression is used to show disapproval.

point

labour the point If someone labours the point, they keep explaining something or emphasizing a fact even though people have already understood it. ❑ I don’t want to labour the point but there it is. ❑ The truth, without labouring the point, is that one can lead a good and fulfilling life without children. on point [informal] Something that is on point is very good or exactly right. ❑ Your communication skills are on point, and your written work is great, too. ❑ I wanted to make sure I was on point with everything. Clothing, hair etc. that is on point is cool and fashionable. pockets ❑ Her hair and make-up are totally on point! ✪ have deep pockets ✪ reach boiling point If a person or organization has deep If an emotion, especially anger, pockets, they have a lot of money. reaches boiling point, it becomes so ❑ The church will do anything to avoid scandal – strong that it cannot be controlled. and everyone knows it has deep pockets. ● You can also talk about people or ❑ Her frustration and anger had reached boiling point. organizations with deep pockets or use ● You can also say that an emotion is close deep pockets on its own with the same to boiling point. ❑ Tempers were already close meaning. ❑ They needed to find investors with to boiling point as the dispute continued for the deep pockets. ❑ What they lacked in military ninth day. power, they made up for in deep pockets. If a situation reaches boiling point, it ✪ line your pockets becomes very dangerous or extreme and If someone lines their pockets, they make cannot be controlled. a lot of money in a dishonest or unfair ❑ The situation reached boiling point after an way. argument between two teenagers outside a fish ❑ He has been lining his pockets for 27 years while and chip shop. his country has been in poverty. ❑ Morris lined not to put too fine a point on it [british] his own pockets with most of the cash, buying a You say not to put too fine a point on it in Mercedes Benz, jewelry and paying off credit card order to show that what you are about to debts as well. ● You can also say that someone lines say may sound unpleasant, unkind, or offensive. another person’s pockets. ❑ This is a ❑ He is, not to put too fine a point on it, a bit of a government that ignores the needs of the majority bore. ❑ Kerry’s boyfriend of seven years, not to in order to line the pockets of the favoured few. put too fine a point on it, dumped her just before live in each other’s pockets [mainly their wedding. british] a sore point ➜ see sore If two or more people live in each other’s

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point-blank ✪ a sticking point A sticking point is a point which people cannot agree about and which stops them achieving something. ❑ Talks with the actor broke down, and money was assumed to be the sticking point. ❑ The Americans have presented a plan on agriculture, the main sticking point in the trade talks.

point-blank

point-blank If you say something point-blank, you say it very directly and firmly, without explaining or apologizing. ❑ The army apparently refused point-blank to do what was required of them. ❑ Mr Patterson was asked point blank if he would resign. ● Point-blank is also an adjective. ❑ We received a point-blank refusal. If someone or something is shot point-blank, they are shot when the gun is touching them or extremely close to them. ❑ He fired point-blank at Bernadette. ● Point-blank is also an adjective. ❑ He had been shot at point-blank range in the back of the head.

✪ score points

points

successful position in their career. ❑ In 1982 he joined the ruling party, then climbed its greasy pole to become finance minister in 1991. ❑ Michael’s plan was to impress the boss and start up the greasy pole. ● This expression is often used disapprovingly, especially to suggest that success at work is not of great value. In the past, climbing up or along a greasy pole in order to get a prize at the end of it was a popular fairground competition. in pole position [mainly british] If you are in pole position, you are in a very strong position in a competition or competitive situation, and are likely to win or be successful. ❑ As the European market leader we are in pole position to exploit this market. ❑ The chancellor is fighting hard to remain in pole position to take over from the prime minister. This expression comes from motor racing, where the driver who starts the race in front of all the other drivers is said to start ‘in pole position’. wouldn’t touch something/someone with a barge pole [british] or wouldn’t touch something/someone with a ten-foot pole [american] If you say that you wouldn’t touch something or someone with a barge pole or with a ten-foot pole, you mean that you do not want to have anything to do with them. ❑ The history of the building kept the price down. No one would touch it with a barge pole. ❑ A woman like that wouldn’t touch me with a ten-foot pole. A barge pole is a very long pole that is used to move a barge (= a long, flat boat) forward.

If someone scores points off you, they make themselves seem better or more intelligent than you in a discussion or argument. ❑ In the next session group members agreed to consider each other’s contributions rather than use them to score points off each other. ❑ He has been trying hard not to appear as though he was using the situation to score political points. ● You can refer to this type of behaviour as point-scoring. ❑ It is hard to see what an inquiry is going to achieve, other than some political point-scoring. ● This expression is often used to show poles that someone is more interested in making an opponent look foolish than in ✪ poles apart If two people, ideas, or situations are saying or doing anything useful. poles apart, they are very different. If you score points, you do something ❑ In social and political terms, the two men were that impresses someone or makes them poles apart. ❑ The final goals of both sides are like you. poles apart and the negotiations will be tough. ❑ These companies are hoping to score points with The reference here is to the north and consumers and businesses by helping them to south poles. organize the information stored on their hard drives.

pole the greasy pole [british] The greasy pole is used to talk about someone’s attempts to reach a more

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poor poor as a church mouse [old-fashioned] If someone is as poor as a church mouse, they have very little money.

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post ❑ I was as poor as a church mouse, but I bought that wreck of a car. ❑ I suspect we’ll continue to

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position

be poor as church mice. Mice living in a church are unlikely to find much to eat as there is no kitchen or food cupboard.

pop

have a pop at something [british, informal] If you have a pop at something, you try to do it. ❑ You might want to have a pop at some team-building exercises. ✪ take a pop at someone/something or have a pop at someone/something [british, journalism, informal] If you take a pop at someone or something or have a pop at them, you criticize them. ❑ Even his once loyal staff have started taking a pop at him in the press. ❑ On Sunday, he had a pop at the referee for disallowing a goal. take a pop at someone or have a pop at someone [british, journalism, informal] If you take a pop at another person or have a pop at them, you hit them. ❑ Andy was just having a quiet drink with some of his pals when this guy took a pop at him. ❑ I had been in my fair share of fights at school but the more successful I was on the cricket field, the more these guys wanted to have a pop at me.

jockey for position If someone jockeys for position, they try to get into a better position or situation than people they are competing against. ❑ Reporters with their cameras jockeyed for position. ❑ Some presenters are already jockeying for position to see who will read the new Six O’Clock News. ● Jockeying for position is also used as a noun. ❑ There was a constant jockeying for position between the superpowers. The image here is of jockeys (= riders of race horses) trying to get their horses into the best position at the beginning of a race.

possum

pope

play possum [literary] If someone plays possum, they try to make people ignore them by pretending to be dead or asleep. ❑ ‘Playing possum, huh?’ said Joe. ‘Right,’ said Frank. ‘I figured it might be interesting to hear what they had to say to each other when they thought I was unconscious.’ The possum or opossum is a North American and Australian animal. If it is threatened by another animal it sometimes lies still, as if it is dead, so that the animal will lose interest.

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first past the post If someone is first past the post in a race or competitive situation, they finish first or achieve something first. ❑ First past the post was Kenyan athlete John Mutai, who beat Irishman Jerry Healy by just 20 seconds. pip someone at the post or pip someone to the post [british] If you pip someone at the post or pip them to the post, you just beat them in a competition or race to achieve something. ❑ She applied for a job at the university, but she got pipped at the post by a man with more publications to his name. ❑ He was pipped at the post for BAFTA’s best Actor award by Robert Downey Jr.

a port in a storm You can call a person, place, or organization where you can get help in a difficult situation a port in a storm. ❑ She regarded him more as a port in a storm than a partner to her. ❑ Real estate is often a port in a storm for investors. ● You say any port in a storm when you are in a position where you have to accept help from anyone who will give it to you, even if it is from someone who you do not like or approve of. ❑ ‘She was a monster,’ he says, ‘but sometimes it’s a case of any port in a storm, you know what I mean?’

The following expressions refer to the finishing post in a horse race.

port

deaf as a post ➜ see deaf dumb as a post ➜ see dumb

is the Pope a Catholic? People say is the Pope a Catholic? to mean that the answer to a question is obviously yes. ❑ ‘You know how to find it?’ Leaphorn asked. ‘Is the Pope a Catholic?’ the taxi driver said. ● This expression is used humorously.

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postal postal

go postal [mainly american, informal] If someone goes postal, they become extremely angry and lose control of themselves. ❑ He went postal and tried to hit a police officer in the face. ➜ compare with go ballistic This expression comes from a series of shootings carried out by US postal workers.

posted

✪ keep someone posted

If you keep someone posted, you continue giving them the latest information about a situation. ❑ She made me promise to keep her posted on developments. ❑ I’ll keep you posted with what’s happening.

poster

a poster child for something [mainly american] If someone is a poster child for a quality, activity, or situation, people associate them with it because they are a very good or clear example of it. ❑ Bethany McLean has become the poster child for financial journalists. ● You can also say that someone is a poster boy for or a poster girl for something. [british, american] ❑ There was a time when it seemed you were a poster girl for late motherhood. ❑ He’s the poster boy for rugby worldwide. A poster child is literally a young person who appears on a poster advertising something.

This expression may refer to meat which is chopped into pieces and cooked in a pot. Alternatively, the ‘pot’ may have been a melting pot, where metal objects were melted down. a pot of gold ➜ see gold the pot calling the kettle black If you talk about the pot calling the kettle black, you mean that a person who has accused someone of having a fault has the same fault themselves. ❑ His accusations must have sounded like the pot calling the kettle black. ● People often vary this expression. ❑ For the government to speak of press lies is a pot and kettle situation. In the past, both pots and kettles were hung over fires, and would be burned black. put someone’s pot on [australian, informal] If you put someone’s pot on, you tell other people about something wrong that they have done. ❑ She threatened to put his pot on with the police. shit or get off the pot or piss or get off the pot [american, informal, very rude] If someone tells you to shit or get off the pot or to piss or get off the pot, they mean that you should either act now or accept that you will never do something. ❑ Time to shit or get off the pot, ain’t it, Bud? ❑ There is little point in the advertisers threatening the networks any more. The time has come to piss or get off the pot.

drop something like a hot potato or drop something like a hot brick If you drop something or someone like a hot potato or drop them like a hot brick, you get rid of them as quickly as possible because they are difficult to deal with, or because you do not want them any more. ❑ He was celebrated in the media one minute and dropped like a hot potato the next. ❑ He panicked and dropped his lover like a hot brick. ✪ a hot potato If a subject or problem is a hot potato, it is very difficult to deal with, especially because it is something that people argue about a lot.

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potato

go to pot [informal] If something goes to pot, its condition becomes very bad, because it has not been properly looked after. ❑ The neighbourhood really is going to pot. ❑ My figure went to pot after I had Daniel. keep the pot boiling If you keep the pot boiling, you do something to make sure that a process does not stop or to make sure that a situation continues to be interesting. ❑ I threw in a question, just to keep the pot boiling while my brain caught up. ❑ Times being tough, the auctioneers have had to think up new ways of keeping the pot boiling.

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powder keg ❑ When she is faced with a political hot potato such tightening the gun laws, she is not afraid to give her opinion. ❑ Pricing policy is another hot potato.

potatoes

small potatoes [informal] If you describe something as small potatoes, you mean that it is small in amount or not important. ❑ An audience of 20,000 is small potatoes by his standards. ❑ All his influence and success are small potatoes compared with the opportunity that now lies before him.

pot luck

‘Pot luck’ is usually written as ‘potluck’ in American English.

be pot luck If you ask someone to have a meal at your house and you tell them it will be pot luck, you mean that you have not planned it or prepared any special food. ❑ ‘We’ll just be casual and eat in the kitchen. It’s just pot luck,’ Moira said. ‘Hope you don’t mind.’ A potluck is a meal at which different guests bring different parts of the meal. ✪ take pot luck If you take pot luck, you make a choice from what is available although you do not have any knowledge to help you. ❑ We’d take potluck at whatever restaurants might still be open. ❑ Just leave the highway, drive out into the country, pick on a small town and take pot luck. ● You can say that something is pot luck when it is a matter of luck whether you get something good. ❑ The major stores change their products regularly, so finding good deals is pot luck. ● You can also use pot-luck before a noun. ❑ Travel firms are offering great holidays on a pot-luck basis.

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hungry and sold his privileges as first-born son to his brother Jacob in return for this meal. (Genesis 25:29-33)

pound your pound of flesh If someone demands their pound of flesh, they insist on getting something they have a right to, even though they might not need it and it will cause problems for the people they are getting it from. ❑ Banks are quick to demand their pound of flesh from the small business owner who goes even slightly into debt. ❑ She has appeared on breakfast television to offer support (in exchange for heaven knows what pound of flesh from her husband). This expression comes from Shakespeare’s play ‘The Merchant of Venice’ (Act 4, Scene 1). Shylock is owed money by Antonio, and attempts to carry out an agreement which allows him to cut off a pound of Antonio’s flesh.

powder

keep your powder dry If you keep your powder dry, you remain ready to take action if necessary. ❑ He must keep his powder dry for the really important issues. The powder referred to here is gunpowder. The expression comes from a story about the English leader Oliver Cromwell. He is said to have ended a speech to his soldiers, who were about to cross a river and go into battle, by saying: ‘Put your trust in God, my boys, and keep your powder dry.’ take a powder [american, informal] If you take a powder, you leave a place very quickly and usually secretly. ❑ I knew that even if they realized I’d taken a powder, they wouldn’t go looking for me.

powder keg

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a mess of pottage [literary, oldfashioned] If someone exchanges something of lasting value for a mess of pottage, they foolishly exchange it for something of no lasting value. ❑ I think he has sold his soul for a mess of pottage. A mess of pottage is a dish of vegetables. This expression comes from a story in the Bible, which tells how Esau was

pottage

a powder keg A powder keg is a very dangerous situation or place in which something very bad could happen at any time. ❑ His imprisonment is a political powder keg. ❑ The region has long been regarded as the powder keg of Europe. ● You can say that someone is sitting on a powder keg if they are in a very dangerous situation. ❑ The Prime Minister

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power was all too aware that he was sitting on a powder keg which could explode at any moment. A powder keg was a small barrel which was used to store gunpowder.

power

all power to your elbow or more power to your elbow [british, old-fashioned] People say all power to your elbow or more power to your elbow, to wish someone luck and to encourage them to be successful. ❑ He’s doing really well with training his team. So all power to his elbow. ❑ It’s nice talking to you, John, and more power to your elbow with your programme. It’s absolutely super. This phrase wishes someone the strength to keep raising their glass and keep on drinking. more power to someone People say more power to someone to mean that they approve of something they are doing or plan to do and hope they will be successful. ❑ If he can fix this mess, more power to him. the power behind the throne If you describe someone as the power behind the throne, you mean that they are really the person that has power although another person is officially in charge. ❑ She was the real power behind the throne, a strong and determined woman controlling a weaker husband for her own aims.

practise The verb ‘practise’ is spelled ‘practice’ in American English.

✪ practise what you preach If you practise what you preach, you behave in the way that you encourage other people to behave. ❑ He practised what he preached, being more interested in moral values than money. ❑ I ought to be showing leadership and practise what I am preaching. ● People sometimes vary this expression. ❑ The Bishop said the government had let the people down badly: it had preached love but practised hate.

praise

damn someone/something with faint praise If you damn someone or something with faint praise, you praise them, but in such a weak way that it is obvious that you do not really have a high opinion of them. ❑ In recent months he has consistently damned the government with faint praise. ● People occasionally use by instead of with. ❑ He has been damned by faint praise throughout his career even though he has scored all manner of important goals. ● You can also just talk about faint praise. ❑ Mr Robinson called him ‘the most obvious candidate’. That sounds like faint praise. This expression was first used by the English writer Alexander Pope in his ‘Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot’ (1735): ‘Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, And, without sneering, teach the rest to sneer.’

✪ the powers that be

✪ practice makes perfect People say practice makes perfect to mean that if you practise something enough, you will eventually be able to do it perfectly. ❑ It is like learning to ride a bike. You may fall off a few times but practice makes perfect.

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✪ sing someone’s/something’s praises If you sing someone’s or something’s praises, you praise them in an enthusiastic way. ❑ Smith, singing Tony’s praises, said: ‘He’s different, a real natural.’ ❑ All parties are singing the praises of the multi-party system. ● You can say that someone sings their own praises if they say good things about themselves. ❑ This may sound like we’re singing our own praises here, but I honestly think most people love our music.

practice

praises

People sometimes call people in authority the powers that be, especially when they want to say that they disagree with them or do not understand what they say or do. ❑ The powers that be, in this case the independent Television Association, banned the advertisement altogether. ❑ The powers that be may keep us from building a house just where we want to.

powers

prawn come the raw prawn [mainly australian, informal]

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press If someone comes the raw prawn, they try to trick you, especially by pretending not to know about something. ❑ Don’t come the raw prawn with me, sport, or I’ll walk out.

prayer

not have a prayer If you say that someone does not have a prayer, you mean that it is impossible for them to achieve something. ❑ The team was on such good form, their opponents didn’t have a prayer. ❑ He did not seem to have a prayer of regaining the world title.

precious

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put a premium on something or place a premium on something If you put a premium on something or place a premium on it, you believe that it is very important or valuable. ❑ Companies like these put a premium on training. ❑ I place a high premium on what someone is like as a person.

presence make your presence felt If someone or something makes their presence felt, they do something that makes you notice them or pay attention to them. ❑ I was here, there and everywhere all day, making my presence felt. ❑ First of all, establish what areas of your body are making their presence felt.

precious little or precious few If you say that there is precious little of something, you mean that there is very press little of it, and that it would be better if ✪ a bad press there were more. If someone or something gets a bad press, ❑ The banks have had precious little to celebrate they are repeatedly criticized, especially recently. in the newspapers, on television, or on ● Precious few is used before plural nouns radio. with the same meaning. ❑ Precious few ❑ Rarely has a local authority received such a bad homebuyers will notice any reduction in their press. monthly repayments. ● This expression is often varied. For example, you can talk about someone pregnant you can’t be half pregnant or getting bad press, or you can replace bad you can’t be a little bit pregnant with other adjectives. ❑ Banks have lately People say you can’t be half pregnant or received a lot of bad press about their conduct. you can’t be a little bit pregnant to talk ❑ He often had such a terrible press, yet everyone about situations which are very clear and who met him liked him. definite or where you need to be ➜ compare with a good press completely involved. a full-court press [american] ❑ We did, however, pick up a valuable lesson: A full-court press is a big effort to achieve you can’t be half-pregnant. To be successful in something. business, you must be able to give it your full ❑ He praised the full-court press by Canadian commitment. ❑ He opposed sending in troops officials, which included a personal phone call because, as he puts it, ‘there was no such thing as from the prime minister. ❑ When his daughter being a little bit pregnant’: once the step had been became ill, he had to do a full-court press to get taken, it would be impossible to set limits. her treated. ● You can say that you put the full-court premium press on someone if you put a lot of at a premium pressure on them to achieve something or If something is at a premium, it is not give you something. ❑ We should put the easily available and because of this it has full-court press on the government to obtain a high value. funding for major road projects. ❑ Space is at a premium in central London stores, In basketball, a full-court press is where as you can imagine. ❑ You can pick these carrots the defending players stay close to the in June, when good vegetables are at a premium. attacking players over the whole area of If you buy or sell something at a the court, rather than just in front of premium, you sell it for a higher price their own basket. than is usual for that thing. a good press ❑ People want organic foods so I can sell my eggs at a premium. If someone or something gets a good press,

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pretty

they are praised a lot, especially in the newspapers, on television, or on radio. ❑ For the most part, the president got a good press during his visit to China. ● This expression is often varied. For example, you can talk about someone getting good press, or you can replace good with other adjectives. ❑ The auto maker has been getting some good press lately for changes being made by its new management team. ❑ The fans of the Manchester City football team get a fantastic press. ➜ compare with a bad press

pretty

pretty is as pretty does [old-fashioned] You say pretty is as pretty does, to mean that you should judge someone by their actions and not by their appearance. ❑ Yes, she’s pretty – but pretty is as pretty does. be sitting pretty If someone is sitting pretty, they are in a good, safe, or comfortable situation. ❑ When the war started, they thought they were sitting pretty, because they had all those food stocks. ❑ If we’d let Mark have the statue for a quarter of a million, we’d be sitting pretty by now.

✪ fall prey to something

pricks

kick against the pricks [mainly british, literary, old-fashioned] If you kick against the pricks, you show your opposition to people in authority. ❑ He was just an awkward young man kicking against the pricks. This expression occurs in the Bible (Acts 9:5). It refers to cattle kicking out when people try to drive them by jabbing them with sticks.

pride

If you want something at any price, you will do anything or give anything to get it. ❑ We want to see the hostages home, but not at any price, and I believe their families understand that too. ❑ Rebel groups are determined to stop the peace process at any price. ✪ at a price If something can be obtained at a price, it is available but you have to pay for it, often a lot of money. ❑ Guests can always find a meal of sorts in the hotel restaurant, but at a price. ❑ It came as no surprise that this individual was willing to betray his master at a price. If you get something you want at a price, you get it but you have to accept something unpleasant as well. ❑ He began to realise that fame comes at a price.

✪ at any price

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like a spare prick at a wedding [british, informal, very rude] If someone is like a spare prick at a wedding, they are not needed and nobody pays attention to them. ❑ I sat on the edge of a bench feeling like a spare prick at a wedding. ‘Prick’ is a slang word for penis.

If you fall prey to something bad, it happens to you or you are affected by it. ❑ On the flight from Paris to Toulon, Mechiche fell prey to panic. ❑ Children in evacuation centres are falling prey to disease.

price

prick

prey

everyone has their price or every man has his price If you say that everyone has their price or every man has his price, you mean that everyone can be persuaded to do what you want if they are offered a large enough amount of money. ❑ It may be difficult to persuade him to change teams. But heck, everyone has their price. ❑ While it may not be true that every man has his price, there are always those who have. the price is right If the price is right, the cost of something is reasonable or someone is being offered enough money. ❑ The price is right and the idea is right, but the cooking could be handled with a bit more care. ❑ There’s nothing they won’t do if the price is right. a price on someone’s head If there is a price on someone’s head, someone has offered money if they are caught or killed. ❑ He had twice fled the area with a price on his head.

pride comes before a fall When people say pride comes before a fall, they mean that if people are too proud or confident, they are likely to fail eventually. ❑ I know that pride comes before a fall but I think that there are a few times in a man’s life when he must stand up and be counted.

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proof ✪ swallow your pride

357

made a production of brushing his hands clean on his pant legs. A production here is something such as a play or a musical.

If you swallow your pride, you do something even if you are embarrassed or ashamed about it. ❑ If necessary, he can swallow his pride and work profile with his political enemies. ❑ These people are ✪ a high profile swallowing their pride and looking for charity. If a person, organization or activity has your pride and joy a high profile, they are well-known and Someone or something that is your pride people notice what they do. and joy is very important to you and ❑ He will be thinking about his future now that makes you feel very happy. he has such a high profile in the cycling world. ❑ The bike soon became his pride and joy. ❑ He was ❑ It was expected that someone with a high his father’s only hope, his mother’s pride and joy. profile would get the job. ● You can also use high-profile before a print noun. ❑ Experience in Australia has shown how ✪ the small print [mainly british] or effective a high-profile campaign can be in changing the fine print [mainly american] public attitudes. ❑ She works three days a week The small print or the fine print in a in a high-profile job as communications director contract, agreement, or advertisement is for a top advertising agency. the part which contains the legal details. ❑ Many patients are being hit by huge bills ✪ keep a low profile because they did not read the small print on their If someone keeps a low profile, they avoid insurance forms. ❑ I’m looking at the small print. doing things that will make people notice I don’t want to sign anything that I shouldn’t them. sign. ❑ The president said he’ll wait to read the ❑ The president continues to keep a low profile on fine print of the trade agreement before he vacation in Maine. ❑ The Home Secretary was comments on it. keeping a low profile yesterday when the crime figures were announced in the House of Commons. prisoners ● You can also say that you keep take no prisoners or something low profile if you try to avoid not take any prisoners [journalism] attracting attention to it. ❑ They have been If someone takes no prisoners or does not dating for a month and have kept everything very take any prisoners when they are carrying low profile. out a plan or an action, they do it in a very ● You can also use low-profile before a forceful and determined way, without noun. ❑ There is no need for the presence of any caring if they harm or upset other people. police officers. This is a low-profile event. ❑ Neil is rough and aggressive; he takes no prisoners. ❑ She’d learned the hard way not to take any proof prisoners. She went in there with an agenda, and the proof of the pudding is in the eating she wasn’t prepared to make any compromises. People say the proof of the pudding is in ● You can also say that someone has a the eating to mean that something can take-no-prisoners attitude or approach to only be judged to be good or bad after it something. ❑ We had a take-no-prisoners has been tried or used. attitude, and we didn’t care who we upset. ❑ Such therapies should not be dismissed out of This expression refers to the practice of hand, particularly when the proof of the pudding killing enemy soldiers rather than is in the eating. keeping them as prisoners. ● People often vary this expression, for example by just talking about the proof production of the pudding. ❑ The proof of the pudding, so make a production of something to speak, will be if sales of English cheese go up. If someone makes a production of In this expression, ‘proof’ means the something, they make it seem much testing of something rather than more complicated, difficult or important establishing that it is true. The idea is than is necessary. that the best way to test the quality of a ❑ I don’t know why we insisted on making such a pudding is to taste it rather than admire production of these dinners, because by the time its appearance. Julian arrived we were always exhausted. ❑ He

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public public

✪ go public

If you go public, you make something known to a lot of people, especially through the TV, newspapers, etc. ❑ Railtrack and the government went public with their plans for the west coast main line. ❑ Several ministers went public to deny the claims. If a company goes public, it stops being privately owned, and people can buy shares in it. ❑ On May 14, Rambus, a microchip maker, went public.

pudding

action to help something succeed or develop, usually by spending money on it. ❑ He said he would consider priming the pump through increased spending on roads or housing if the economy declined more rapidly than expected. ● You can also talk about pump-priming, or say that someone pump-primes an economy or a project. ❑ I think we are going to have to do some more pump-priming in order to get the economy going. ❑ The plan offers a way of pump-priming an economy which is growing too slowly. To prime a water pump means to pump it until it is full of water and all the air has been forced out, so that it is ready to be used.

over-egg the pudding [mainly british] If someone over-eggs the pudding, they spoil something by trying too hard to improve it. punch ❑ You can buy all sorts of extras for the car, but ✪ pack a punch [informal] it’s very easy to over-egg the pudding. If something packs a punch, it has a very ● Other nouns are sometimes used powerful effect. instead of pudding. ❑ The band certainly ❑ He is known for designing clothes that really knew how to over-egg the cake, with no song pack a punch. ❑ The advert packs a punch with being complete unless it had three tempo changes its straightforward, real, no-tricks approach. and a loud finale. ● People also sometimes say that something packs a wallop. ❑ Many years pull after it was made, this movie still packs a wallop. pull the other one [british, informal] pleased as punch ➜ see pleased If someone tells you something and you say pull the other one, you mean that you punches do not believe them. ✪ not pull your punches or ❑ The government is willing to expose the true pull no punches level of unemployment in the country? Yeah, right, If someone does not pull their punches or pull the other one. pulls no punches, they state facts or ● People sometimes say pull the other opinions directly, without trying not to one, it’s got bells on it. ❑ ‘The Duchess gave upset people. it to me.’ – ‘Think I’d believe that? Pull the other ❑ He had never lied to me in the past and he didn’t one, it’s got bells on it.’ pull his punches now. He told me that in his ‘One’ in this expression refers to opinion, Robin would be dead in nine months. someone’s leg. See the explanation for ❑ He pulls no punches in his attacks on the ‘pull someone’s leg’ at ‘leg’. government’s foreign policy.

pump

✪ prime the pump [mainly american, journalism] If someone primes the pump, they take

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If boxers pull their punches, they do not hit their opponent as hard as they could do. roll with the punches If someone rolls with the punches, they do not allow difficulties or criticism to affect them badly. ❑ He has impressed all sides by his ability to negotiate and willingness to roll with the punches. ❑ He has had to learn how to roll with the punches and seek out the positive in every problem. If boxers roll with the punches, they move their head and body backwards, away from their opponent’s punch.

beat someone to a pulp If someone beats another person to a pulp, they injure them very badly by hitting them repeatedly. ❑ I tried to talk myself out of a fight and got beaten to a pulp instead by three other boys. ● Other verbs can be used instead of beat. ❑ Motorists were pulled from their cars and kicked to a pulp.

pulp

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pusher pup

be sold a pup [british, informal] If someone is sold a pup, they buy or accept something that is not as good as they thought it would be. ❑ It’s the car you want at the price you want to pay. But can you trust the seller, or will you be sold a pup? ❑ The pictures were published in good faith but the newspaper discovered two days later that they had been sold a pup. A pup is a puppy or young dog, and is probably being contrasted with an animal that is older and does not need to be trained before being put to work.

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359

loosen the purse strings or loosen your purse strings If you loosen the purse strings or loosen your purse strings, you allow more money to be spent. ❑ If the Treasury loosens the purse strings, many authorities will be delighted to spend. ❑ Companies are loosening their purse strings and making investments in network improvements. tighten the purse strings or tighten your purse strings If you tighten the purse strings or tighten your purse strings, you reduce the amount of money that can be spent. ❑ Election promises must be delayed while the government tightens its purse strings.

push

puppy love Puppy love is love between children or young people that is not considered to be very serious. ❑ They wanted to prove that theirs was more than puppy love.

at a push If it is possible to do something at a push, it can be done if necessary but it is difficult. ❑ The only thing you can’t get in the village is milk and you can always, at a push, get some from the farm. ❑ He could undress, take a shower and purposes change into evening clothes in under five minutes at cross purposes at a push. If two people are at cross purposes, they get the push [british, informal] think they are talking about or trying to If someone gets the push, they lose do the same thing as each other, but they their job. are actually talking about or trying to do ❑ This time professionals are getting the push, different things. not just factory workers and low-level clerks. ❑ They had been talking at cross purposes earlier, ● You can also say that you give someone he realized. The Hungarian hadn’t been offering the push. ❑ The boss has been given the push him a share of the deal at all. ❑ Now that Council in favour of his current number two. members are working together instead of at cross ✪ when push comes to shove or purposes, the chances of success look if push comes to shove considerably brighter. If you talk about what someone will do purse when push comes to shove or if push ✪ hold the purse strings comes to shove, you are talking about If you hold the purse strings, you control what they will do when it becomes the way that money is spent in a necessary to do something difficult. particular family, organization, or ❑ They knew they could sit back, and when push country. came to shove I’d do all the work. ❑ They ❑ Six out of ten women think that financial wouldn’t support you, sir. If push came to shove, institutions treat them like idiots, even though they wouldn’t be behind you. they usually hold the domestic purse strings. ➜ compare with when it comes to the ● People sometimes use control instead crunch of hold. ❑ His department controls the purse pusher strings, and he will make sure that other ✪ a pen pusher [mainly british] or departments spend money to meet targets he a pencil pusher [american] has set. ● This expression is often varied. For If you describe someone as a pen pusher or a pencil pusher, you mean that they instance, you can talk about someone’s have a boring office job and do not make hold on the purse strings or control of the any important decisions. purse strings. ❑ His manager was in sole control of the purse strings. ❑ People who used to be called administrators,

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put

and perhaps seen as just pen pushers, have been transformed into senior managers. ❑ Many of the men who now sit on company boards are pencil pushers with qualifications from top schools, but lack experience in business. ● In both American and British English, you can also call someone a paper pusher. ❑ I didn’t want to be just another faceless paper pusher. ● You can refer to office work as penpushing, pencil-pushing, or paper-pushing. You can also say that office workers push papers or push pens. ❑ I want our police officers freed from paper-pushing. ❑ I’m very thankful that I can make a living from my art, rather than working as a waiter or pushing papers eight hours a day.

put

putty putty in your hands If someone is putty in your hands, they will do anything you ask them to do. ❑ Simon proved to be putty in his hands. ❑ I was completely in awe of him – I was putty in his hands. ● You can also just say that someone is putty. ❑ From the first dance scene, the audience was putty. Putty is a thick paste that is used to fix sheets of glass into window frames.

put up or shut up [informal] If you say that someone should put up or

shut up, you mean that they should either do something about a situation they are complaining about or stop complaining about it. ❑ If that person is not willing to change an unpleasant environment then they should simply get out of that environment, put up or shut up.

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Qq SA QT

quarterback

‘QT’ is sometimes written as ‘q.t.’. It is pronounced ‘q t’, as if you were spelling it out.

quantity

✪ an unknown quantity

on the QT [old-fashioned] If you do something on the QT, you do it secretly. ❑ They’ve asked our government to help them. All on the QT, of course. ❑ There’s also a wrestling show in the pipeline for another channel, which he told me about on the QT. In this expression, ‘QT’ is short for ‘quiet’.

quart

If someone or something is an unknown quantity, not much is known about them. ❑ She had met Max several times, but he was still pretty much an unknown quantity. ❑ The team is something of an unknown quantity, having played few big games. ❑ Ballet was an unknown quantity in the United States at that time.

a Monday morning quarterback [american] A Monday morning quarterback, is someone who criticizes others after something has happened by saying that they should have dealt with it differently, although the people involved could not have known what would happen. ❑ It is very easy to play Monday morning quarterback, and I do not envy the choices put before a great many of the world’s leaders. ● You can also accuse someone of Monday morning quarterbacking. ❑ The Attorney rejects such Monday-morning quarterbacking, insisting that his lawyers did, quote, ‘an excellent job’. In American football, the quarterback is usually the player who calls out signals which tell the team which moves to make. In the United States, most professional football games are played on Sunday. A ‘Monday morning quarterback’ is someone, usually a man, who tells people what the coach should have done to win the game.

fit a quart into a pint pot or squeeze a quart into a pint pot [british] quarters If someone is trying to fit a quart into a at close quarters pint pot or squeeze a quart into a pint If you do something or something pot, they are trying to put a large amount happens at close quarters, you do it or it of something into a container or space happens very near you. that is too small. ❑ The only wolf which I have seen at really close ❑ In putting together a ‘brief ’ article on the Tay quarters looked surprisingly gentle. ❑ The press Bridge Disaster, I was faced with the problem of was able to witness at close quarters the fitting a quart into a pint pot, there being so much arguments going on. material available. ❑ We’re trying to squeeze a quart into a pint pot in terms of the amount of question time we have to cover everything. ✪ beg the question ● Other verbs can be used instead of fit or If something begs the question, it squeeze. ❑ ‘The builders tried to put a quart makes people want to ask that question. into a pint pot,’ he commented, pointing to the ❑ Hopewell’s success begs the question, why aren’t more companies doing the same? ❑ When narrow space between the house and its pushed to explain, words – for once – failed the neighbours either side. England manager, begging the obvious question: A quart is a unit of measure for liquids. Does he really know? It is equal to two pints.

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quick

If someone’s statement begs the question, they can only make that statement if a particular thing is true, although it may not be. [formal] ❑ His position on global warming is begging the question that humans are responsible. This is a rough translation of the Latin expression ‘petitio principii’, a technical term used in logic to describe a situation in which the truth of something is assumed before it has been proved. ✪ only a question of time or just a question of time If something is only a question of time or just a question of time, it will certainly happen at some time. ❑ It was only a question of time before news of the argument leaked out. ❑ There are some small groups fighting in parts of the city, but it is just a question of time until order is restored. ● People sometimes just say that something is a question of time. ❑ It’s a question of time before his designs are considered classic. pop the question [informal] If you pop the question, you ask someone to marry you. ❑ Stuart got serious quickly and popped the question six months later. ✪ a question mark If there is a question mark over something, people do not know if it will continue to exist or what it will be like. ❑ There is a question mark over the future of old people’s care as a result of the budget cuts. ● You can also say that there is a question mark hanging over something. ❑ There is a question mark hanging over the England manager’s job. ● Question mark is used in many other structures with a similar meaning. ❑ There’s going to be a question mark about future US aid. If there is a question mark over something, people are not sure if its quality is good. ❑ There is a question mark over the vehicle’s long-term reliability. ● You can also say that there is a question mark hanging over something. ❑ I am very pleased they have been acquitted. However it leaves a big question mark hanging over the original trial. ● Question mark is used in many other structures with a similar meaning.

❑ There will be a question mark on his record that might stop him being promoted in the future.

quick

cut someone to the quick If something cuts you to the quick, it makes you very upset. ❑ The cruelty of their words cut me to the quick. ❑ That tone of hers always cut him to the quick. The quick is the very sensitive flesh under the fingernails or toenails. quick as a flash If someone does something or something happens as quick as a flash, they do it or it happens very quickly. ❑ Harrison responded as quick as a flash. ● You can also say that someone does something or that something happens as quick as a wink or as quick as lightning. ❑ She kissed him right on the lips and then turned to go. Like that, quick as a wink. ❑ Rumours of his resignation flashed through the company as quick as lightning.

quids

quids in [british, informal] If you are quids in, you make or have more money than you expected. ❑ Workers soon cheered up when they realised that being paid in euros had left them quids in. ‘Quid’ is an informal word for a pound sterling.

quiet as a lamb If someone is quiet as a lamb, they are very quiet, calm, or gentle. ❑ She’s fine, quiet as a lamb. You really mustn’t worry. ❑ As soon as the organ music began to play, Ellie went quiet as a lamb. quiet as a mouse If someone is quiet as a mouse, they are very quiet or silent. ❑ During the day Mom was quiet as a mouse. She hardly said or did anything. ❑ We were quiet as mice, hiding in there.

quits

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quiet

call it quits [informal] If you call it quits, you decide to stop doing something or stop being involved in something. ❑ The disco stays open until the last customer is ready to call it quits. ❑ He and Moira had finally called it quits. If you call it quits, you agree with someone else that neither person owes the other money.

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quote ❑ I’ll give you twenty pounds and we’ll call it quits.

363

❑ A spokesman said quote, ‘a certain number’, unquote of the men lost their lives that day.

quote

❑ The book was given to several school libraries,

✪ quote, unquote [british, american] or

and in every case a vice principal of the particular school took the book out and then reported it, quote, ‘lost’, end quote. ● This expression is often used to show that you do not think that the thing said is accurate or true. ➜ compare with in inverted commas

quote, end quote [mainly american] You say quote, unquote or quote, end quote to show that a word or phrase you have just used is something that someone else has said. ❑ Even though I’m this big, huge superstar quote unquote, I have family problems too.

PL SE

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Rr SA rabbit

rack

like a rabbit caught in the headlights ➜ see headlights ✪ pull a rabbit out of the hat [journalism] If someone pulls a rabbit out of the hat, they unexpectedly do something which solves a problem or helps them to achieve something. ❑ I cannot pull a rabbit out of a hat every time I go into the boxing ring. All I can do is do my best. ● This expression is often varied. ❑ It looks as though I will have to pull a few rabbits from the hat. ❑ Almost every politician with whom they had dealings appeared to act as if rabbits could pop out of any hat. ● You can also say that someone pulls something good or successful out of the hat. ❑ The Chancellor failed to pull any economic miracles out of the hat last night. ❑ He might still be able to pull something out of his hat, but I’d be kind of surprised at this point. This expression refers to a traditional magician’s trick, in which a rabbit is produced mysteriously out of an apparently empty hat.

go to rack and ruin If something goes to rack and ruin, it gets into a very bad state, because nobody looks after it or deals properly with it. ❑ This beautiful building was left to go to rack and ruin. ❑ The country is going to rack and ruin under this government. ● You can also say that something falls into rack and ruin ❑ During these years, historical monuments were allowed to fall into rack and ruin. ● The expression rack and ruin can also be used without these verbs. ❑ According to Michael, the whole country’s heading for rack and ruin. ● Less commonly, this expression is spelt wrack and ruin. ❑ A once magnificent country house has now fallen into wrack and ruin. ‘Wrack’ means the same as ‘wreck’, something that has been destroyed. off-the-rack Off-the-rack clothes are made in large numbers and sent to shops, not made specially for a particular person. ❑ We want to improve the fit of off-the-rack items. ● You can say that people buy clothes off the rack. ❑ He was wearing a blue two-piece suit that had obviously been bought off the rack when he was several pounds lighter. on the rack [mainly british] If someone is on the rack, they are in a very difficult situation, often one in which they are suffering anxiety or distress. ❑ With ministers again on the rack over this new scandal, you have to wonder how long this government will last. ❑ She and Michael listened closely, on the rack of apprehension. ● You can also say that you put someone on the rack. ❑ We were fairly evenly matched in the first half of the game but we really put them on the rack in the second half.

✪ a race against time

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A race against time is a situation in which you only have a very short time to finish an important task and you have to work very quickly. ❑ It was now a race against time to rescue people from the freezing water. ❑ But the relief efforts are a race against time and there will be more deaths unless food and water quickly reach the survivors. ● You can also say that someone is in a race against time. ❑ The paramedics were in a race against time to treat a six-year-old girl with breathing difficulties. ● You can also say that someone is racing against time to mean the same thing. ❑ She is racing against time to save the life of a little boy on the other side of the world.

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rails The rack was an instrument of torture which was used in the past. Prisoners were tied to the rack, and their arms and legs were stretched until they confessed or told secrets, or died.

radar

raft

on someone’s radar If something is on someone’s radar, they are aware of it or are intending to deal with it. ❑ I was never focussed on being an actress. It wasn’t even on my radar. ❑ Lewis has been told I am waiting to see him, but I’m not even on his radar.

✪ a whole raft of

rag

A whole raft of people or things is a large number of them. ❑ This is likely to affect a whole raft of consumer industries. ❑ Under Lord Cornwallis, a whole raft of legislation was brought in.

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❑ Most days the kids – four under the age of six – run me ragged. ❑ Their defence was run ragged by the opposing team. ● You can also say that you run yourself

ragged, meaning that you get very tired by doing many things. ❑ She runs herself ragged trying to get everything done.

rags

✪ rags to riches If you describe someone’s life as a rags to riches story, you are saying that they were very poor when they were young but became very rich and successful later in life. ❑ His life sounds to me like the classic rags to riches story. ● You can also say that someone goes from rags to riches or rises from rags to riches. ❑ When asked how he went from rags to riches, Plunkett said, ‘I saw my opportunities and I took them.’ ❑ People who rise from rags to riches are often afraid the good life will be snatched away from them. ● People sometimes use the expression riches to rags to mean that you have been very rich but have lost a lot of money and so have become very poor. ❑ The country went from riches to rags in a generation.

like a rag doll If someone is like a rag doll, they have no strength and cannot control their movements, often because they are being treated violently. ❑ He picked the boy up and shook him like a rag doll. ❑ I saw a dog throwing a girl around like a rag doll. rails A ‘rag doll’ is a child’s doll made of cloth. jump the rails [american] lose your rag [british, informal] If something jumps the rails it suddenly If you lose your rag, you suddenly lose changes completely so that it seems to be your temper with someone and get very something different. angry. ❑ The story doesn’t follow the traditional ❑ You can imagine just how easy it would be to fairy-tale pattern but jumps the rails halfway lose your rag in that situation. ❑ Eventually through. Melvin lost his rag and started shouting. ✪ go off the rails [mainly british] a red rag to a bull ➜ see bull If someone goes off the rails, they start rage to behave in a way that is wild or all the rage [informal] unacceptable, doing things that upset If something is all the rage, it is very other people or are dangerous. popular and fashionable. ❑ He went off the rails in his teens and was a ❑ The 1950s look is all the rage at the moment. worry to his parents. ❑ The tabloids are full of ❑ He wore a strange outfit which might have stories of young stars going off the rails. been all the rage when Dickens was busy If something goes off the rails, it starts scribbling. to go wrong. ● You can also just say that something is ❑ By spring, the project seemed to be going off the rage. ❑ This style of sleeve became the rage. the rails. ❑ Clearly something has gone off the rails in the process of government. ragged on the rails [mainly british] run someone ragged If something stays on the rails, it If someone runs you ragged, they make continues to be as successful as it has you do so much that you get extremely been in the past. tired.

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rain ❑ So why have these companies remained on the

rails while others have failed? ● If something is back on the rails, it is beginning to be successful again after a period when it almost failed. ❑ Coordinated action is needed more than ever to put the European economy back on the rails. If someone stays on the rails, they live and behave in a way which is acceptable. ❑ She was in a steady relationship and that kept her on the rails. ● If someone is back on the rails, their life is going well again after a period when it was going badly. ❑ I was released from prison last year and I’m now back on the rails with my own apartment and a part-time job.

rain

it never rains but it pours People say it never rains but it pours to mean that when one bad thing happens, other bad things often happen too and make the situation worse. ❑ It was an interesting year – Danny lost his job, I was off sick for three months and Josh broke his leg. It never rains but it pours, as they say! rain or shine or come rain or shine If someone does something rain or shine or come rain or shine, they always do it, even when the weather is bad or other conditions make it difficult. ❑ He plays golf, come rain or shine, every Monday. ❑ She runs six miles every morning, rain or shine. right as rain ➜ see right take a rain check [informal] If you tell someone you will take a rain check, you are saying that you will not accept their offer now but that you might accept it at a different time. ❑ I’m sorry, Mimi, I’m just too exhausted to go out tonight. Could I take a rain check? ❑ She says she’d like to take a rain check on it and do it in May. This expression refers to baseball. If a baseball game was cancelled because of rain, people were entitled to see another game by showing their original ticket or receipt. This ticket was called a rain check.

something that you would very much like to get or achieve it, although in reality this will be very difficult. ❑ For all these teams, Wembley was the elusive prize, the end of the rainbow. ● You can also say that something is at the end of the rainbow. ❑ There’s a great big prize at the end of the rainbow and we both want it. ➜ compare with a pot of gold There is an old legend that a pot of gold is buried at the point where the end of the rainbow meets the ground.

rainbows be chasing rainbows If someone is chasing rainbows, they are wasting their time by trying to get something which they can never have. ❑ My teachers told me I’d never make it as an actor and that I was just chasing rainbows

rake

be raking over the coals or be raking over the ashes [mainly british] If someone is raking over the coals or is raking over the ashes, they are talking about something that happened in the past which you think should now be forgotten. ❑ Yes, we made mistakes in the past, but let us not waste time raking over the coals when there is hard work to be done. ❑ Why must we keep raking over the ashes, causing distress to so many people? thin as a rake ➜ see thin

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bet the ranch [mainly american] If you bet the ranch, you take a big risk in doing something, sometimes spending all your money to do it. ❑ I wasn’t going to bet the ranch on the stocks. ❑ It was a brave policy pushed through despite warnings that it would be a disaster. He bet the ranch and he won. meanwhile, back at the ranch People say meanwhile, back at the ranch when they want to talk about something that is happening in another place, especially their home or place of work. ❑ Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Condon was trying to write an article. This expression comes from Western movies, in which the action regularly moves from a ranch (= large farm with animals) to some other place.

the end of the rainbow If you say that something is the end of the rainbow, you mean that it is

rainbow

ranch

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rat rank

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ransom

✪ hold someone to ransom [british] pull rank If one person holds another to ransom, If someone in authority pulls rank, they the first person uses their power or use their power or position to make influence to force the second to do people do what they want, in a way that is something they do not want to do. not fair. ❑ But who are the powerful men at the bank who ❑ He was a chief superintendent and just have the power to hold a country to ransom? occasionally he pulled rank. ❑ The Federal ❑ We know at times manufacturers are held to Government threatened to pull rank and override ransom by wholesalers who say they will only the states with its own legislation. distribute products if they pay a certain amount. ● This expression is often used to show a king’s ransom [mainly british] disapproval. A king’s ransom is an extremely large rank and file sum of money. The rank and file of an organization are ❑ She was paid a king’s ransom for a five-minute its ordinary members rather than its appearance in the film. ❑ With so few skilled leaders. electricians available, these people can charge a ❑ He gave the sort of speeches the rank and file king’s ransom for their services. wanted to hear. ● Rank-and-file is often used before rap beat the rap [american, informal] nouns. ❑ The take-home pay of a rank-and-file If someone beats the rap, they escape orchestra member at the time was only 2.7 million blame or punishment for a crime. lire per month. ❑ He beat the rap by pleading mental illness. ranks ❑ He was convinced that the tapes would help him A rank of soldiers is a line of them beat the rap for killing a United States senator. standing side by side. take the rap [informal] If someone takes the rap, they are blamed ✪ break ranks or for something bad that has happened, break rank usually something that is not their fault. If someone breaks ranks or breaks rank, ❑ Trainers often take the rap when a boxer loses. they do not follow the instructions or ‘Rap’ is slang for a criminal charge. opinions of their group or organization, and instead, say or do something that raring shows a different opinion. ✪ raring to go ❑ Would you break ranks with your party and If you are raring to go, you are very eager vote against the president’s tax bill? ❑ A former to go somewhere or to start doing cabinet minister has broken ranks to protest at something. the Government’s plans to cut the education ❑ After a good night’s sleep, Paul said he was budget. raring to go. ❑ ‘Where is it?’ I asked, suddenly When soldiers break ranks, they stop raring to go. standing in a line and move apart. rat ✪ close ranks look like a drowned rat If the members of a group close ranks, If someone looks like a drowned rat, they they say things to show that they support are very wet, usually because they have each other totally when someone who is been caught in heavy rain. not in their group criticizes one of their ❑ I had no umbrella with me so by the time I got members. home, I looked like a drowned rat. ❑ They would more likely close ranks and support ✪ the rat race their president rather than abandon him in an The rat race is a job or way of life in which election year. ❑ Cabinet ministers have closed people compete aggressively with each ranks behind the Prime Minister, saying there was other in order to be successful and there is no question of his stepping down. no time to relax or enjoy yourself. When soldiers close ranks, they stand ❑ I had to get out of the rat race for a while and closer together so that it is hard for think about what was important in life. ❑ Do you ever fantasize about leaving the rat race behind? anyone to break through the line.

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rate ✪ smell a rat [informal]

❑ Emily Jones’s first birthday next week will be a

If you smell a rat, you believe that something is wrong in a particular situation, especially that someone is trying to deceive you or harm you. ❑ Once Caldere discovers the money is missing, he’s going to smell a rat, isn’t he? ❑ If only I’d thought it through, I’d have smelt a rat straight away and never touched the proposal.

rate

at a rate of knots [british] If someone does something at a rate of knots, they do it very quickly. ❑ The band worked at a rate of knots on the LP, often flying back to Dublin after a European show, working all night on the album. ❑ By 1935, Blyton was publishing at a rate of knots – adventures, fairy tales, mysteries. The speed of ships is measured in knots. A knot is one nautical mile per hour, equivalent to 1.15 land miles per hour.

rats

like rats deserting a sinking ship or like rats leaving a sinking ship If you describe people who are leaving an organization as being like rats deserting a sinking ship or like rats leaving a sinking ship, you mean they are leaving very quickly because the organization is failing. ❑ They abandoned their former colleagues and party like rats deserting a sinking ship. ❑ They are like rats leaving a sinking ship. Loyalty is not a word they understand. ● This expression is often used in a disapproving way.

ray of sunshine in the darkness of the coming days. ● You often hear people say that something is like a ray of sunshine. ❑ The news was like a ray of sunshine in the winter’s gloom. ● You can also say that something brings a ray of sunshine to someone or something. ❑ The Oscars bring a ray of sunshine to our dark February days.

razor on a razor’s edge If a situation is on a razor’s edge it could change or be decided at any time, often in a way that is dangerous. ❑ I knew my life at that moment hung on a razor’s edge. ❑ In this election Ohio is balanced on a razor’s edge between Republicans and Democrats.

real

get real [informal] If you tell someone to get real, you mean that they must accept the true facts of a situation. ❑ Oh get real, honey. He’s never going to marry you.

reality

✪ a reality check

To reap a crop such as corn means to cut and gather it. reap the harvest If someone reaps the harvest of past actions, they benefit as a result of those actions. ❑ He’s a player at the top of his game, reaping the harvest of his own hard work. ❑ In subsequent years he would reap the harvest of his excellent training. If someone reaps the harvest, they suffer now because of mistakes that they made in the past. ❑ We are now as a nation reaping the harvest of the lack of attention to basics in language and numbers.

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reap

a ray of sunshine If you describe someone as a ray of sunshine, you mean that they are always happy and pleasant. ❑ Neighbours described the 4-year-old girl as ‘a ray of sunshine – a cheerful little girl who brightened up all our lives’. ● You often hear people say that someone is like a ray of sunshine. ❑ Kim is like a ray of sunshine, a wonderful and beautiful girl who has completely changed my life. ● This expression is sometimes used ironically to describe a person who is always miserable and negative. If you describe something as a ray of sunshine, you mean it brings happiness, often during a sad or hopeless time.

ray

A reality check is something that forces you to accept the truth of a situation. ❑ This defeat is a reality check after two victories against reasonably good opposition. ❑ Today’s poll is a reality check for those who believe that the government faces certain defeat.

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reap the whirlwind [literary] rearguard If someone reaps the whirlwind, they ✪ fight a rearguard action suffer now because of mistakes that they If you fight a rearguard action, you try made in the past. hard to stop something happening when ❑ The Government refused to tackle the there is little possibility that you will problem at the time and it is now reaping the succeed. whirlwind. ❑ Groups, both on the left and the right, are still ● This expression comes from the proverb fighting a rearguard action against the plan. sow the wind and reap the whirlwind and ● Other verbs are sometimes used instead people sometimes use other parts of the of fight, such as mount and stage. ❑ The whole expression. ❑ The Prime Minister is opposition party have mounted a desperate, now reaping the economic whirlwind he helped to rearguard action against economic reforms. sow. ● You can also just talk about a rearguard This is a quotation from the Bible. It action. ❑ However, the rearguard action may refers to the punishment of the prove too late. Israelites for disobeying God: ‘For they The rearguard of a retreating army is a have sown the wind, and they shall reap unit which separates from the rest and the whirlwind.’ (Hosea 8:7) acts as a defence while the rest of the reap what you sow army is getting away. If someone reaps what they sow, they recipe suffer or benefit as a result of their own ✪ a recipe for disaster actions. If you say that something is a recipe for ❑ Parents who neglect their children will reap disaster, you mean that it is very likely to what they sow. ❑ It seems to me that if we have unpleasant consequences or lead to neglect these people in our society, we should failure. expect to reap what we sow. ❑ Trying to be trendy when dealing with teenagers ● People sometimes use the more formal is a sure recipe for disaster. ❑ Ignoring the expressions as you sow, so shall you reap human aspect of IT projects is a recipe for disaster. or as we sow, so shall we reap. ❑ Our record future lies in our own hands. Let us ensure that it ✪ for the record is ethical and spiritual, for without doubt as we If you say that what you are going to say sow so shall we reap! next is for the record, you mean that you This is based on a quotation from the are saying it publicly and officially and Bible: ‘Whatsoever a man soweth, that you want it to be written down and shall he also reap.’ (Galatians 6:7) remembered. Reaper ❑ We’re willing to state for the record that it has the Grim Reaper enormous value. The Grim Reaper is an imaginary If you give some information for the character who represents death. He looks record, you give it in case people might like a skeleton, wears a long, black cloak find it useful at a later time, although it is with a hood, and carries a scythe (= tool not a very important part of what you are for cutting grass). talking about. ❑ By giving away assets while still alive, ❑ I must state, for the record, that the views inheritance tax can be avoided entirely by the time expressed in my blog are my own, and not those of the Grim Reaper calls. ❑ They were sitting my employer. ❑ Perhaps you’d like to tell me around, waiting for the Grim Reaper. what you were doing on Monday. Just for the rear record. be bringing up the rear ✪ off the record If a person or vehicle is bringing up the If you say that your remarks are off the rear, they are the last person or vehicle in record, you mean that you do not want a moving line of them. anyone to report what you said. ❑ There were several police motorcyclists ❑ What I’m about to tell you is off the record. bringing up the rear of the procession. ❑ The ❑ There was a moment when the discussion went soldiers followed, Kirov bringing up the rear. off the record , and he rattled off the names of

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red

players he was sure would make the World Cup squad. ● You can also say that you speak or talk off the record. ❑ He apparently believed he was speaking off the record when he expressed this view at a conference in Tuscany. ● An off-the-record remark is one that you do not want anyone to report. ❑ Downing Street was furious last night at further revelations of the Prime Minister’s ‘off-the-record’ remarks to journalists. ✪ on the record If you are on the record as saying something, you have said something publicly, aware that people would repeat and report what you said. ❑ We are on the record as saying we will protect our friends in the war zone, and we mean that. ● You can also go on record, meaning to speak publicly. ❑ Church leaders have gone on record saying they believe the authorities are losing the fight against the Mafia. ● You can also say that someone speaks or talks on the record. ❑ Yesterday, journalists at the paper flatly refused to speak on the record. ❑ It’s very hard to report a story here, because almost no one is willing to talk on the record. ● You can also use on-the-record before a noun. ❑ He has never before given an on-the-record interview. rewrite the record books If a sportsperson rewrites the record books, they break a record or several records. ❑ This extraordinary West Country team have rewritten all the record books in the past three years. ❑ Kournikova is poised to rewrite the tennis history books. ✪ set the record straight or put the record straight If you set the record straight or put the record straight, you state that something that has been said or written is wrong and then correct the mistake. ❑ A company seeing wrong information about itself in a report may struggle to set the record straight. ❑ I am amazed at the rubbish written about my alleged lack of fitness. Let me put the record straight.

❑ Banks are desperate to get your custom – even if you’re in the red. ❑ The company was already in

the red, owing more than three million pounds. ● You can also say that you go into the red when you start to owe money to the bank. ❑ If you do go into the red, you get charged 30p for each transaction while you are overdrawn. ❑ The network faces the prospect of falling back into the red for the first time in five years. ● You can also say that a person or organization gets out of the red, meaning that they stop owing money to someone. ❑ We’re slowly climbing out of the red. ➜ compare with in the black This expression comes from the practice in the past of using red ink to fill in entries on the debit side of a book of accounts. red as a beetroot [british] or red as a beet [american] If someone is as red as a beetroot or red as a beet, their face is very red, usually because they are hot or embarrassed. ❑ After running around in the heat, Jonah’s face was as red as a beetroot. ❑ He’d been out in the sun so long, he was as red as a beet. ● You can also say that someone goes or turns red as a beetroot or red as a beet. ❑ He turned as red as beetroot when I told him. ❑ Meg trembled and went as red as a beet. a red flag before a bull ➜ see bull a red-letter day A red-letter day is a day when something very important or exciting happens. ❑ Back in 1986 Jim had his first picture published in BBC Wildlife Magazine. ‘That was a real red-letter day for me!’ he confesses. In the past, important feast days and saints’ days were printed in red in some calendars. a red rag to a bull ➜ see bull ✪ see red If you see red, you suddenly become very angry because of something which has been said or done. ❑ I cannot stand humiliation of any kind. I just see red. ❑ Comments like that make me see red. This is a reference to the traditional belief that the colour red makes bulls angry. In bullfighting, the matador waves a red cape to make the bull charge.

✪ in the red

red

If a person or organization is in the red, red-handed they owe money to someone or to another ✪ catch someone red-handed organization. If you catch someone red-handed, you see

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resort or find them while they are doing something illegal or wrong. ❑ The burglar was on the roof and was caught red-handed by the police. ❑ They all pleaded guilty to conspiring to import drugs after being caught red-handed by customs officers. The reference here is to a guilty person whose hands are covered in blood.

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If you keep a tight rein on someone or something or keep them on a tight rein, you control them firmly and carefully. ❑ It is said that he kept a very tight rein on his daughters, and that he was a very strict father. ❑ The recession has forced people to keep a very tight rein on their finances when on holiday. ❑ Their parents had kept them on a tight rein.

relation

reed

a broken reed [british, literary] If you call a person or group a broken reed, you mean that they are now weak and hopeless, and do not have the power or influence that they had in the past. ❑ They recognized that their allies were a broken reed.

reign

✪ a reign of terror

a poor relation If you describe one thing as a poor relation of another, you mean that it is similar in some ways but not as good or as popular. ❑ Watercolour still seems somehow to be the poor relation of oil painting. ❑ Grapes for the table have become the poor relation of those used by the wine trade.

A reign of terror is a period during which remain ✪ it remains to be seen there is a lot of violence and killing, If you say it remains to be seen, you mean especially by people who are in positions that nobody knows what will happen or of power. whether something will happen. ❑ The dictator’s 17-year reign of terror had ended ❑ It still remains to be seen what kind of after-effects and the people took to the streets to celebrate she will suffer in the future. ❑ It remains to be their freedom. ❑ His victims during a four-month seen whether her parliamentary colleagues will reign of terror included a schoolgirl and a student. agree. The original Reign of Terror was during the French Revolution between April reply 1793 and July 1794, when many a dusty reply ➜ see dusty thousands were put to death by the resistance government. take the line of least resistance or rein take the path of least resistance If someone takes the line of least The reference in these expressions is resistance or takes the path of least to a rider using the reins to control a resistance, they do the thing that is horse. easiest in a situation. ✪ give someone free rein or ❑ They would rather take the line of least give someone a free rein resistance than become involved in arguments or If you give someone free rein or give unpleasant situations. ❑ It had been the path of someone a free rein, you give them all the least resistance to agree to Sam’s suggestions. freedom they want or need to do ● The line of least resistance and the path something. of least resistance are used in many other ❑ He was given free rein to manage the project as structures to mean the easiest course of he wished. ❑ Much to her delight, she was given action. ❑ He seemed to prove that the line of a free rein to decorate the house exactly as she least resistance would always pay off. ❑ Instead wanted. of finding a radical solution to its economic ● You can also say that you allow someone difficulties, the Parliament chose the path of least free reign. ❑ The artists were allowed free rein resistance. to produce what they thought fitted the space.

● You can also say that you have free rein.

❑ The children have free rein to choose the

subjects that they want to study. ✪ keep a tight rein on someone/something or keep someone/something on a tight rein

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resort

✪ in the last resort [formal] You use in the last resort when stating the most basic or important fact that will still be true in a situation whatever else happens.

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respects ❑ They would in the last resort support their friends whatever they did. ❑ He was aware that,

❑ Cockburn decided it was time to beat a hasty

in the last resort, their authority depended on the control they had over the King.

● People sometimes just say that someone

respects

pay your respects [formal] If you pay your respects to someone, you go to see them or you send them a message in order to be polite. ❑ Carl had asked him to visit the hospital and to pay his respects to Francis. If you pay your respects or pay your last respects, you go to someone’s funeral. ❑ People came from miles around to pay their respects.

rest

give it a rest [informal] If you tell someone to give it a rest, you want them to stop doing something or stop talking about something because it is annoying you. ❑ Give it a rest, will you? We’re trying to get some sleep. give something a rest If someone gives something a rest, they stop doing it for a period of time. ❑ I have been giving team fishing a rest this season. lay something to rest or put something to rest If you lay something such as fears or rumours to rest or if you put them to rest, you succeed in proving that they are not true. ❑ His speech should lay those fears to rest. ❑ I am determined to put to rest these rumours that we are in financial trouble. the rest is history ➜ see history there’s no rest for the wicked or no rest for the wicked People use there’s no rest for the wicked or no rest for the wicked to say humorously that they or someone else has a lot to do. ❑ There’s no rest for the wicked. I have to get back to Manchester. ● People also sometimes use peace instead of rest. ❑ Elizabeth called his name. ‘Oh dear, no peace for the wicked,’ he said.

retreat. beats a retreat. ❑ I can still beat a retreat to my own hotel, and pretend that none of this ever happened. ● Other adjectives such as quick and rapid are sometimes used instead of hasty. ❑ You weren’t tempted to change your mind and beat a quick retreat?

rhyme no rhyme or reason or no rhyme nor reason If there is no rhyme or reason or no rhyme nor reason for something, there seems to be no logical or obvious explanation for it. ❑ There seems no rhyme or reason behind the pricing of many of these products. ❑ I can see no rhyme nor reason for the variance in spelling. ● You can also say that something happens without rhyme or reason. ❑ Symptoms appear and disappear apparently without rhyme or reason. ❑ Cuts are being made without rhyme or reason. The only motive is to save money to meet Treasury targets.

U rich

a bit rich [informal] If you say that someone’s criticism is a bit rich, you mean that they themselves are guilty of the same fault. ❑ Gil says that his friends can’t keep secrets. That’s a bit rich, coming from him. rich as Croesus [british, old-fashioned] If someone is as rich as Croesus, they are very rich. ❑ He’s as rich as Croesus, and getting richer all the time. Croesus was the ruler of Lydia, a kingdom in Asia Minor, in the 6th century BC. He was famous for being very rich. strike it rich If you strike it rich, you suddenly earn or win a large amount of money. ❑ He struck it rich with his first novel. ❑ Commerce seems to offer graduates more opportunities to strike it rich.

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beat a hasty retreat If you beat a hasty retreat, you leave a place quickly in order to avoid an embarrassing or dangerous situation.

retreat

riddance good riddance You say good riddance to show that you are pleased that someone has left or that you do not have something any more. ❑ He’s gone back to London and good riddance.

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rights ❑ I left Texas and said good riddance to all that.

riddles talk in riddles or speak in riddles If someone talks in riddles or speaks in riddles, they talk in a slightly strange, or mysterious way and it is not clear what they mean. ❑ Stop talking in riddles and tell me what you’re getting at! ❑ ‘What did she mean by that?’ – ‘You know what Judy is like. She often speaks in riddles.’

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sneaking suspicion that he is taking us all for a ride? This expression comes from American gangsters’ slang. When gangsters ‘took someone for a ride’, they took them away in a car in order to kidnap them or kill them.

right

right as rain [informal] If someone is as right as rain, they are feeling well or healthy again after an illness or injury. ❑ We put a bandage on his knee, gave him a ride biscuit and a cup of tea and he was right as rain. ✪ a free ride [informal] If someone gets a free ride in a particular ✪ your right-hand man or your right-hand woman situation, they get a benefit without Someone’s right-hand man or right-hand working or paying for it. woman is their close assistant and the ❑ I never wanted anyone to think I was getting a person they trust to help and support free ride or special treatment from the boss. ❑ I them in everything they do. certainly wasn’t just sitting around, getting a free ❑ He was always by her side and supported her in ride. everything she did. He was her right-hand man ● This expression is used to show and he travelled with her everywhere. ❑ You’d be disapproval. Oliver’s right-hand woman. He needs somebody go along for the ride or he can really rely on, don’t you, Oliver? come along for the ride ● Less often, people talk about someone’s If someone goes along for the ride or right-hand person. ❑ Ricard was her comes along for the ride, they join in an husband’s right-hand person and took an active activity but do not do it seriously or get part in the broadcasting business and all other very involved. ventures he was involved in. ❑ John was on a job taking pictures of a band and ● This expression is commonly used to I had agreed to go along for the ride. ❑ ‘Who’s talk about politics or business. that with you?’ – ‘A friend of mine. He came along There are several possible explanations for the ride.’ for this expression. One is that the right ✪ a rough ride or side of the body is traditionally a bumpy ride associated with skill and strength. If someone has a rough ride or a bumpy Another is that it may refer to the ride, they experience a lot of problems or soldier who was responsible for the opposition when they are trying to do right side of a troop of horses. Also, in something. the past, the position on the right of the ❑ The Prime Minister is likely to face a rough ride leader at political or social gatherings in parliament today from the opposition. ❑ The was the place of honour. proposed changes are not popular with all of the rights board and the chief executive’s bumpy ride is far bragging rights [informal] from over. ● You can say that someone has an easy If a person or an organization has bragging rights, they have a reason to be ride, meaning that they do not experience proud. many problems or much opposition. ❑ Colleges want to compete for the most talented ❑ You don’t come into politics expecting an easy kids if only for bragging rights. ❑ Being ride. acknowledged by a rock band carries certain ✪ take someone for a ride [informal] bragging rights. If someone takes you for a ride, they by rights deceive or cheat you. By rights means according to what is fair, ❑ You’ve been taken for a ride. Why did you give him five thousand francs? ❑ Why do I have this legal or allowed.

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ringer ❑ He was very happy, having just watched his

royal gardens at all. get someone bang to rights [british, informal] If someone gets you bang to rights, they show a good understanding of you and describe you accurately. ❑ I read the journalist’s piece on you last month and I thought he got you bang to rights. ❑ He is described as a thinker and a worrier. ‘My wife thinks that gets me bang to rights.’ This is probably connected with the expression ‘bang-on’ or ‘dead-on’, meaning ‘exactly’. have someone bang to rights or catch someone bang to rights [british, informal] If you have someone bang to rights or catch someone bang to rights, you have enough evidence against them to accuse them of a crime and to prove that they are guilty. ❑ You’ve got your man – got him bang to rights – evidence, witnesses, the lot. ❑ There’s no getting out if it – they’ve been caught bang to rights. ● In American English you have or catch someone dead to rights. ❑ How do you intend to proceed in the Rafaelli case? I mean, you have him pretty well dead to rights.

● You often hear people say that someone

❑ He took the money that was mine by rights. ❑ By rights she should have had no access to the

side run rings around Everton. can run rings round or around someone else, meaning that they are much better at something than the other person. ❑ Mentally, he can still run rings round men half his age.

ringside

a ringside seat or a ringside view If you have a ringside seat or a ringside view, you have an excellent and clear view of what is happening somewhere. ❑ From this hotel, you get a ringside seat at the volcano’s performance. ❑ The first US presidential election for which I had a ringside seat was that which brought John F. Kennedy to office over 30 years ago. In boxing, the ringside seats are the seats that are closest to the ring and have the best view.

riot

read the riot act or read someone the riot act If someone in authority reads the riot act or reads someone the riot act, they angrily tell someone off for having done something stupid or wrong. ❑ I’m glad you read the riot act to Billy. He’s still a ringer kid, you know. He still needs to be told what to do. ✪ a dead ringer for someone [informal] ❑ At the weekly cabinet meeting the following If you say that one person is a dead ringer day, an enraged Mr Schroder read his ministers for another, you mean that the first the riot act. person looks or sounds exactly like the The Riot Act was a law passed in Britain second. in 1715. It made it an offence for a group ❑ He’s tall, dark and a dead-ringer for Robert of twelve or more people to refuse to Pattinson. ❑ Kovic is extraordinary in one break up and leave if someone in respect: he’s a dead ringer for the former US authority read them the relevant President. section of the Act. The word ‘ringer’ may originally have ✪ run riot come from a name for dishonest traders If someone runs riot, they behave badly, at fairs who sold brass rings, pretending sometimes violently, and in a way that is they were gold. In American horse not controlled. racing, a ‘ringer’ is a horse that has been ❑ My older sister Mandy had run riot so my dishonestly substituted for another in a parents were far stricter with me. ❑ In these race. neighbourhoods, gangs are allowed to run riot, rings terrorising the innocent while the police stay run rings around someone [british, safely away. If something such as imagination or american] or run rings round someone [british] speculation runs riot, it expresses itself or If someone runs rings round you or runs spreads in an uncontrolled way. ❑ My imagination ran riot, visualising late nights rings around you, they perform much and weekend parties. ❑ We have no proof and better than you, often defeating you.

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robbery when there is no proof, rumour runs riot. In hunting, if the hounds run riot, they follow the scents of other animals rather than the one they are supposed to be chasing.

rip

✪ let rip [informal]

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betray you or do something which harms you in order to gain an advantage for themselves. ❑ He has been sold down the river by the people who were supposed to protect him. ❑ He said he could not agree to measures which would sell British farmers down the river. This is a reference to slave-owners on the Mississippi river selling unwanted slaves to other slave-owners further down the river, where the conditions were harsher.

If you let rip, you stop controlling yourself and suddenly do something with great energy or emotion. ❑ She throws her head back and lets rip with the loudest scream imaginable. ● You can also say that someone lets it rip road with the same meaning. ❑ Halfway ✪ down the road through the song she lets it rip and you really feel If you talk about something happening a the power of that voice. ❑ All of them know particular number of years or months exactly when to let it rip and when to tread softly. down the road, you are talking about it If you let rip, you suddenly express happening after that amount of time. strong opinions and feelings about a ❑ Twenty-five years down the road from subject that you previously didn’t allow independence, we have to start making some new yourself to talk about. priorities. ❑ The index is designed to predict ❑ Every now and then in a relationship it’s good to economic performance six to nine months down just let rip and say exactly how you feel. ❑ When the road. ❑ We are concerned that any problems he quit the Commons he let rip, claiming will only show up years down the road. Parliament was ‘a club for fat, tired, unfit old men’. ➜ compare with down the line ✪ hit the road [informal] rise If you hit the road, you begin a journey. The reference in these expressions is ❑ I said my goodbyes and hit the road back to to a fish rising to the surface of the central Nashville. ❑ Anyway, I must get dressed water to take the bait. and hit the road. get a rise out of someone take the high road [american] If you get a rise out of someone, you If someone takes the high road, they succeed in annoying them by teasing or choose the course of action which is the making fun of them. most moral or acceptable and which is ❑ Calm down. He’s only trying to get a rise out of least likely to harm or upset other you. ❑ Once he decided that he wasn’t going to people. get a rise out of me he didn’t say a lot more. ❑ The antiwar demonstrators believe they’re take the rise out of someone/something taking the moral high road. ❑ US diplomats say If you take the rise out of someone or the president is likely to take the high road in his something, you make fun of them. statements about trade. ❑ She’s always taking the rise out of Paul for ● You can say that someone takes the low being so serious. road when they choose an immoral or dishonest course of action. ❑ Meanwhile, it Ritz was revealed that his campaign was gearing up put on the Ritz [informal] to take the low road with its own attack ads. If you put on the Ritz, you spend a lot of money to enjoy yourself in a grand way. robbery ❑ Footballer Wayne Rooney really put on the Ritz highway robbery [british, american] or as he treated his wife Coleen to a romantic break daylight robbery [british] in Paris. You use highway robbery or daylight This expression may come from the robbery to describe a situation in which chain of expensive hotels called Ritz. you are charged far too much money for

river sell someone down the river If someone sells you down the river, they

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something. ❑ They’re charging ten bucks for the comics, which sounds like highway robbery to us. ❑ You

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rock have to pay thousands of dollars for the service. It’s daylight robbery!

rock

between a rock and a hard place If you are between a rock and a hard place, you are in a difficult situation where you have to choose between two equally unpleasant courses of action. ❑ You’re between a rock and a hard place here. If you challenge John about his decision, he’s going to be annoyed but if you don’t, your staff are going to hate you. ● People often say that they are caught or stuck between a rock and a hard place. ❑ We were caught between a rock and a hard place. We could spend two months planning the operation properly and people would say we were too late, or we could start immediately and be criticized for lack of preparation. ❑ Goss finds himself stuck between a rock and a hard place. Whichever course of action he chooses, he’ll lose the support of some people. ✪ hit rock bottom or reach rock bottom If something hits rock bottom or reaches rock bottom, it reaches an extremely low level where it cannot go any lower. ❑ The UK motor industry had one of its worst days yesterday as new car sales hit rock bottom. ❑ This is a good time to buy a house. Prices have reached rock-bottom in most areas. ● You can also say that something is at rock bottom. ❑ Morale within the company was at rock bottom. ● People often talk about rock-bottom prices, meaning extremely low prices. ❑ He has been buying property at rock-bottom prices. If someone hits rock bottom or reaches rock bottom, they reach the point where they are so unhappy and without hope that they could not feel worse. ❑ When my girlfriend left me, I hit rock bottom. ❑ Sometimes you have to reach rock bottom before you can start to recover. ● You can also say that someone is at rock bottom. ❑ She was at rock bottom. Her marriage was breaking up and so was she. This expression comes from mining, and refers to the layer of rock that is reached once the supply of minerals being taken from the mine has been used up.

rocker off your rocker [informal] If someone is off their rocker, they behave in a strange or foolish way. ❑ He must be off his rocker, paying that much for a shirt! ● You can also say that someone goes off their rocker to mean that they start to behave in a strange or foolish way. ❑ Sometimes I think he’s going off his rocker.

rocket

not rocket science If you say that something isn’t rocket science, you mean that it is easy or obvious. ❑ It isn’t rocket science to figure out that you will sell more sweets if you put them where small children will see them. ❑ People should be able to fill in the forms themselves – this isn’t rocket science. ● You can use expressions such as it doesn’t take or you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to point out that something is very easy or obvious. ❑ It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why he’s so angry. ❑ You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work it out. ● The expression rocket scientist, meaning ‘very clever person’, is used in various other structures. ❑ Now I’m no rocket scientist, but even I could see those figures looked way too high.

get your rocks off If someone gets their rocks off doing something, they get a lot of pleasure from it, usually while harming someone else. [informal, rude] ❑ He gets his rocks off making life difficult for other people. If a man gets his rocks off, he has sex. [informal, very rude] ❑ The poor guy didn’t even manage to get his rocks off at the Yam festival. on the rocks If a relationship is on the rocks, it is experiencing many difficulties and is likely to end. ❑ By this time her marriage was on the rocks. ❑ It’s rumoured that their ten-year relationship is on the rocks. The image here is of a ship that is stuck on some rocks.

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Rome

make a rod for your own back [british] If you make a rod for your own back, you do something which will cause you many problems in the future. ❑ You’re making a rod for your own back, feeding the dog from the dinner table. He’ll never leave you to eat in peace. ● Verbs such as create are sometimes used instead of make. ❑ In a way, the company’s success has created a rod for its own back, for the style is copied everywhere. This expression refers to someone providing the stick with which they themselves will be beaten. spare the rod and spoil the child People say spare the rod and spoil the child, to mean that if you do not punish a child severely when the child behaves badly, their behaviour will become worse. ❑ He believes that kids need authority figures – spare the rod and spoil the child. ● People sometimes just say spare the rod. ❑ Some thought that it was an irresponsible parent who spared the rod.

✪ be rolling in it or

roll

fiddle while Rome burns If someone fiddles while Rome burns, they do nothing or spend their time on unimportant things when they have very serious issues or problems to deal with. ❑ He’s been fiddling while Rome burns , spending six months preparing this speech on Europe, when today we discover the economy has contracted again. ● This expression is very variable. For example, people sometimes replace ‘Rome’ with a different place name or other noun so that this expression is more relevant to the subject they are talking about. ❑ People talk about educational reform but while the politicians fiddle, some US cities are burning and these kids’ educational opportunities are going down in flames as well. There is a story that the Emperor Nero set fire to Rome, and then played his lyre and sang as he watched the flames. Afterwards he denied this and blamed the Christians for the destruction. Rome was not built in a day People say Rome was not built in a day to point out that it takes a long time to do a task properly, and you should not rush it or expect to do it quickly. ❑ Only two people I interviewed were charitable about the new government. ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day,’ one man said ‘Let’s give them more time.’ ❑ These things take time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, you know. when in Rome You say when in Rome to mean that people should follow the behaviour and habits of the people they are visiting. ❑ Everyone else seemed to be wearing these hats so I thought, when in Rome, and bought one for myself. ● People also use the complete expression when in Rome, do as the Romans do. ❑ When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Eat late and stay up late – it doesn’t make sense not to. This was probably first used by St Ambrose (died 397 AD) in answer to a question about whether religious fasting should take place on the day set aside in Milan or the day used in Rome.

be rolling in money [informal] If someone is rolling in it or is rolling in money, they are very rich. ❑ Don’t worry about the cost – soon you’ll be rolling in it. ❑ Jessica’s parents are obviously rolling in money. ✪ on a roll If you are on a roll, you are making great progress and having a lot of success. ❑ Emerging markets, too, are on a roll. ❑ I made a name for myself and I was on a roll, I couldn’t see anything going wrong. ● You can say that someone gets on a roll. ❑ Once you get on a roll you feel as though you’re unbeatable. ➜ compare with on the crest of a wave This expression probably comes from surfing.

roller-coaster

a roller-coaster ride If you describe an experience as a rollercoaster ride, you mean that parts of it were very good and parts of it were very bad. ❑ Markets on both sides of the Atlantic have had roof a roller coaster ride over the past five days. ❑ The ✪ [informal] go through the roof or past week was an emotional roller-coaster ride for hit the roof these people.

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rooftops

This was first used to refer to the suite If the level of something goes through in the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago the roof or hits the roof, it increases by a where Warren Harding was chosen as lot very rapidly. the Republican presidential candidate ❑ Interest rates were going through the roof. in 1920. ❑ In 1990, wool prices hit the roof. ➜ compare with go through the ceiling roost If someone goes through the roof or ✪ come home to roost hits the roof, they suddenly become very If something bad that someone did comes angry, and usually show their anger by home to roost, it now causes problems for shouting at someone. them. ❑ When I told my mother she went through the ❑ You ought to have known that your lies would roof. ❑ She took one look at my hair and hit the come home to roost in the end. ❑ His failures as roof. a minister have finally come home to roost. ➜ compare with go through the ceiling ● You can also say the chickens come ➜ compare with hit the ceiling home to roost, with the same meaning. raise the roof ❑ Politicians can fool some people some of the If a crowd of people raises the roof, it time, but in the end, the chickens will come home makes a very loud noise by cheering, to roost. shouting or singing. This expression is taken from the poem ❑ Best audience I’ve ever had in my life – they ‘The Curse of Kehama’ by the English practically raised the roof. poet Robert Southey: ‘Curses are like ● In British English, you can also say that young chickens, they always come a crowd of people lifts the roof. ❑ The fans home to roost.’ lifted the roof when Mulligan scored. ✪ rule the roost ✪ a roof over your head If someone rules the roost, they are the I you have a roof over your head, you have most powerful and important person in a somewhere to live. group. ❑ In exchange for a roof over their heads and food, ❑ In Germany, scientists will be found at the top they work for me without wages for a year. ❑ I am of many manufacturing companies; in Britain, just thankful that we have a roof over our heads. accountants rule the roost. ❑ Unfortunately he’s a weak manager who lets the players rule the rooftops roost when he’s meant to be in charge. shout something from the rooftops If something rules the roost it is more If you shout something from the powerful or popular than the things that rooftops, you let a lot of people know it is being compared to. about something because you are ❑ Today, the cartels still rule the roost and the particularly excited or angry about it. authorities seem as impotent as ever. ❑ I would love to be able to shout our results from This expression seems to refer to the the rooftops. ❑ I wanted to shout it from the dominant cock in a chicken coop. rooftops: Cody is innocent! ● Other verbs are sometimes used instead However, ‘rule the roost’ may have developed from the earlier expression of shout. ❑ While our rivals on the right are ‘rule the roast’, which refers to the head screaming their opinions from the rooftops, we of the household who carves and serves hold back, not wishing to offend anyone. the meat. room

If someone says that a political or business decision is made in a smokefilled room, they mean that it is made by a small group of people in a private meeting, rather than in a more democratic or open way. ❑ We’re not going to see a return to the smoke-filled room, in which a few ministers and company bosses made all the decisions.

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root

✪ a smoke-filled room

money is the root of all evil People say money is the root of all evil when they want to suggest that greed is the cause of a particular problem or the cause of society’s problems in general. ❑ They say money is the root of all evil and cases like this seem to suggest it’s true. ● Other nouns are sometimes used instead of money to suggest that these

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things are the cause of a problem. ❑ Greed may not be the root of all evil, but it is certainly behind many conflicts, from schoolyard fights to full-scale wars. ● This expression comes from the proverb the love of money is the root of all evil. ❑ If ever we want evidence that the love of money is the root of all evil, we only have to look at the human cost of many monetary policies and decisions. This proverb comes from a letter in the Bible from St. Paul to his disciple Timothy. (1 Timothy 6:10) ✪ root and branch If something is changed or reformed root and branch, it is changed or reformed completely, so that none of the old or traditional parts remain. ❑ These genuinely radical measures should change our economic system root and branch. ● A root-and-branch reform, change or examination is a complete reform, change or examination. ❑ The Chief Inspector of Prisons called for root and branch reform of the prison system yesterday. ❑ The government has embarked on a root and branch review of the future of student finance. In 1641 the Root and Branch Bill abolishing the government of the church by bishops was presented to the English Parliament. Those who supported the bill were known as ‘root-and-branch men’, and the term has been used to refer to reform ever since. ✪ take root If an idea or belief takes root, it becomes established or begins to develop. ❑ That was when the idea of starting up his own picture library began to take root. ❑ Green politics have taken firm root in Alsace, where the Green Party have a chance of gaining two seats.

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❑ The party increased its share of the poll and also put down roots in areas where it had previously been weak or even non-existent. ❑ Democracy is finally putting down roots in the region.

rope

give someone enough rope to hang themselves or give someone just enough rope to hang themselves If you give someone enough rope to hang themselves or give someone just enough rope to hang themselves, you give them the freedom to do something in the way they want to, because you know that way they are likely to fail. ❑ I gave him enough rope to hang himself. I let him make the decision, knowing that it would be the wrong one, and then just watched the chaos that followed. ● People sometimes use the shorter expression give someone enough rope or give someone just enough rope. ❑ I started to wonder if was all part of their great plan – give me just enough rope.

ropes

✪ learn the ropes

If you learn the ropes, you learn how to do a particular job or task. ❑ He tried hiring more salespeople to push the products, but they took too much time to learn the ropes. ❑ By the time he was 34, he had learnt the ropes of the jewellery trade. ● You can also say that someone knows the ropes when they know how a particular job or task should be done. ❑ He’d been in the business for over ten years so he knew the ropes. The origin of this expression is from sailing ships, where the sailors had to get to know the complicated system of ropes which made up the rigging. roots ✪ on the ropes put down roots If a person or organization is on the ropes, If you put down roots, you make a place they are very close to failing or being your home, for example by making defeated. friends and taking part in activities there. ❑ With the government on the ropes, the ❑ Servicemen and women are rarely in the same opposition should be miles ahead. ❑ Far place long enough to put down roots and buy fewer tourists are coming to this country and their own home. ❑ When they got to Montana as a consequence, our hotel industry is on the they stayed and put down roots. ropes. If something puts down roots The image here is of a boxer who has somewhere, it becomes firmly been pushed back against the ropes established there, so that it is likely to last around the edge of the ring. and to be successful in the future.

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roses

show someone the ropes If you show someone the ropes, you show them how to do a particular job or task. ❑ Jake will take you around and show you the ropes. ● The verb teach is sometimes used instead of show. ❑ He promised to work overtime teaching Brown the ropes. The origin of this expression is from sailing ships, where the sailors had to get to know the complicated system of ropes which made up the rigging.

roses

rose-tinted ‘Rose-coloured’ is spelled ‘rosecolored’ in American English.

✪ rose-tinted spectacles or rose-tinted glasses or rose-coloured glasses If someone sees something or someone through rose-tinted spectacles, rose-tinted glasses or rose-coloured glasses, they only notice the good things about them and so their view is unrealistic. ❑ He accused diplomats of looking at the world through rose-tinted spectacles. ❑ I realise we all tend to see our children through rose-tinted glasses. ❑ Real estate broker Tom Foye believes that many buyers tend to look at houses with rose-colored glasses. Consequently, they end up feeling cheated.

come up smelling of roses If someone who has been in a difficult situation comes up smelling of roses, they are now in a better or stronger situation than they were before. rote ❑ The most hated man in England once again by rote comes up smelling of roses. ❑ No matter what If you do something by rote, you do it the problem, he somehow manages to wriggle out without thinking about it or of it and come up smelling of roses. ❑ As he understanding it properly, often because remarked, Sir Charles had not come out of the you have learned about it by repeating it episode smelling of roses. many times. ● You usually use this expression to show ❑ It is easy to forget how much learning was done your surprise or anger that this has by rote in the past. ❑ He uses the same old happened. lectures, delivered by rote. everything is coming up roses If you say that everything is coming up rough roses for someone, you mean that they cut up rough [british, informal] are having a lot of success. If someone cuts up rough, they suddenly ❑ For Rachel, everything’s coming up roses both become extremely angry or violent. in her home and her working life. ❑ Earlier this ❑ Take someone with you in case he cuts up year, everything was coming up roses for the rough. band. Their album was selling well and their ✪ rough and ready British tour was a virtual sell-out. If something is rough and ready, it is This was the title of a song from the simple and basic, or it is not exact, musical ‘Gypsy’ (1959), with words by because it has been made or done quickly. Stephen Sondheim. ❑ We stayed the night at the town’s only hostel, not be a bed of roses or a rough-and-ready bar with rooms attached. be no bed of roses ❑ I can only provide rough and ready sales If you say that a situation is not a bed of predictions. roses or is no bed of roses, you mean that If someone is rough and ready, they are it is not all pleasant, and that there are not polite or very educated. some bad parts too. ❑ At first, the rough and ready sailors didn’t know ❑ Life for the Prime Minister has not been a bed of what to make of the young priest. ❑ He’s a bit roses. ❑ He had looked forward to this job, rough and ready but he knows what he’s doing. though he had known it would be no bed of roses. ✪ rough and tumble ❑ Prison life is certainly no bed of roses. You use rough and tumble to mean a ● You can also say that a situation is not situation in which there is a lot of all roses. ❑ His time with the transport union arguing or competition and people do not was not all roses. worry about upsetting or harming others. The bed referred to here is a flower bed. ❑ Whoever expected leaders in the rough and

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rub

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tumble of electoral politics to be nice or fair? rounds ● You can use rough-and-tumble before a ✪ do the rounds or noun. ❑ He started his political career in the go the rounds rough-and-tumble world of student politics. If a story, idea, or joke does the rounds or ● You usually use this expression when goes the rounds, a lot of people hear it you think that this is normal or and tell it to other people. acceptable behaviour. ❑ By the time the news has done the rounds of Originally, a rough and tumble was a your family and friends the story will sound boxing match in which there were no somewhat exaggerated. ❑ They are getting rules or restrictions. divorced, according to rumours I’ve heard going take the rough with the smooth [british] the rounds. If you take the rough with the smooth, row you accept the bad parts of a situation as a hard row to hoe or well as the good parts. a tough row to hoe ❑ Of course there’ll be difficult times in a A hard row to hoe or a tough row to hoe relationship – you have to take the rough with the is a situation which is very difficult to smooth. deal with. roughshod ❑ With four children under six and very little ✪ ride roughshod over someone/ money, my mother had a hard row to hoe. ❑ In a something criminal prosecution against the police, the If someone rides roughshod over prosecutor has a very tough row to hoe. ❑ She is someone or something, they take the first to admit that being a woman in politics decisions that will benefit themselves has been a hard row to hoe. without considering what anyone else ✪ in a row believes or wants. If something happens a particular ❑ Bosses nowadays seem to think they can ride number of times in a row, it happens that roughshod over unions. ❑ This is one of the few many times without a break. occasions in local government where voters can ❑ For the second day in a row Adam was the only stop politicians riding roughshod over their guest at breakfast. ❑ We were beaten by them wishes. nine times in a row. ● The verb run can be used instead of ride. rub ❑ Beaverbrook had run roughshod over the not have two pennies to rub together or British military establishment to accomplish his not have two nickels to rub together objectives. [american] In the past, a roughshod horse had nail If someone doesn’t have two pennies or heads sticking out from its shoes, so it two nickels to rub together, they are would not slip on icy roads. These shoes poor. could cause terrible injuries if the horse ❑ My parents had just married and they didn’t rode over a person in a battle or by have two pennies to rub together. ❑ He didn’t accident. have two nickels to rub together when he got

If someone plays Russian roulette, they take big risks by doing something that might cause great problems or danger. ❑ Many organisations are playing Russian roulette with their greatest assets – their staff and their reputation. ❑ We’re playing Russian roulette with our health, eating this rubbish. If someone plays Russian roulette, they fire a gun containing only one bullet at their head without knowing whether the bullet will be released or not.

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here. I think he’s done pretty well for himself. ● In old-fashioned English, you can say that someone doesn’t have two brass farthings to rub together or doesn’t have two halfpennies to rub together. ❑ There I was – a really good skier with loads of potential and I didn’t have two brass farthings to rub together. ● You can use other nouns in similar structures when you mean that someone or something has none or very little of a particular quality. ❑ They all had loads of talent, immense ambition, but not two brain cells to rub together.

✪ play Russian roulette

roulette

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Rubicon

rub it in [spoken] important decision which cannot be changed and which will have very If someone rubs it in, they talk about important consequences. something that embarrasses you, often a mistake that you made or something silly ❑ Today the Government has crossed the Rubicon that you did. in favour of the Euro. ❑ In England and Wales the Rubicon has been crossed regarding the charging ❑ Okay, I lost all three matches. Don’t rub it in! of fees to students. If someone rubs it in, they make you ● This expression is variable, for example feel jealous by repeatedly telling you about something good that they own or a people sometimes talk about the crossing success of theirs. of the Rubicon or a crossing of the Rubicon. ❑ Such a decision would be a crossing ❑ We all know you’re going off on holiday for three weeks – don’t rub it in! of the Rubicon. ● Sometimes this important decision is the rub of the green [british, oldreferred to as a person’s Rubicon. ❑ There fashioned] would be no turning back; if he was making a big In an activity, especially a sport, the rub of mistake, this was his Rubicon. the green is good luck. The Rubicon was a small river which ❑ If we keep playing like that and get the rub of separated Roman Italy from Gaul, the the green, we’ll win more games than we lose. province ruled by Julius Caesar. Caesar ❑ At this stage West would appreciate the rub of crossed the Rubicon in 49 BC, invaded the green: the sort of luck that gave Bristol a Roman Italy, and started a civil war. penalty. ‘The die is cast’ is based on the same This expression probably comes from incident. golf or bowls. The ‘rub’ is the direction in which the grass is bent when it is cut, rug which affects the movement of the ball. cut a rug or ✪ there’s the rub or cut the rug [american] therein lies the rub [old-fashioned] If you cut a rug or cut the rug, you dance You say there’s the rub or therein lies the in a lively and energetic way. rub when you are stating what is difficult, ❑ Some of the mothers had a great time cutting a impossible or unfair about a situation. rug alongside their teenage daughters. ❑ Most of ❑ If you are in a hurry, you can get straight onto those on the crowded dance floor cutting the rug the train and buy a ticket on board but you can were over 50. only buy a single ticket – not a return – and there’s ✪ pull the rug from under someone/ the rub. ❑ ’We eat out several times a week, and something or will continue to do so as long as we can afford it,’ pull the rug from under someone’s feet he told me. And therein lies the rub. If someone pulls the rug from under ● This expression is variable and people someone or something or pulls the rug sometimes use structures such as here’s from under someone’s feet, they the rub or there lies the rub. ❑ When there suddenly stop helping and supporting are fewer orders, staff will work as little as 28 them. hours a week. When demand increases, workers ❑ Just when we got close to saving the shipyard, will have to do an extra 10 hours. But here’s the the rug was pulled from under our feet. ❑ The rub. They will get no extra cash for it. banks may yet pull the rug from under the project. This is from the well-known speech that sweep something under the rug [mainly begins ‘to be or not to be’ in american] Shakespeare’s play ‘Hamlet’, act 3 scene If you sweep something under the rug, 1, when Hamlet is wondering whether you try to hide it and forget about it or not to commit suicide: ‘To die, to because it makes you feel embarrassed or sleep; To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay ashamed. there’s the rub; For in that sleep of death ❑ Executives swept the theft under the rug, what dreams may come…’ hoping to avoid being accused of mismanagement by directors and shareholders. ❑ Some of the Rubicon most appalling crimes went unpunished, swept cross the Rubicon [formal] under the rug in order to placate the military. If you cross the Rubicon, you make an

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run

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use, and planning our escape route. ❑ If it is not sometimes used instead of sweep. ❑ You possible to do a dummy run in the hire car, can’t just brush this one under the rug. calculate how long the journey to the church will take on the day. The usual British expression is sweep ✪ give someone a run for their money something under the carpet. [informal] rule If you give a very skilful person or team a ✪ a rule of thumb run for their money in a competition, you A rule of thumb is a general rule about compete as well as them, or almost as something which is right in most cases. well. ❑ As a rule of thumb, drink a glass of water ❑ The British team gave the host side a run for its every hour you are travelling. ❑ A good rule of money to finish a close second in the team thumb for any type of studio photography is to competition. ❑ We think the Irish will give the use no more light sources than are strictly Welsh a good run for their money. necessary. have someone on the run This expression probably dates back to If you have an opponent on the run, you the use of the first joint of the thumb as are performing better than them or are in a unit of measurement. a stronger position, and can control their rules actions and defeat them. ✪ bend the rules ❑ It is clear that the Opposition thinks it has him If you bend the rules, you do something on the run. ❑ We’ve got the Government on the which is not allowed, either to help run and we’ll keep them on the run. someone else or for your own advantage. ● You can also say that someone is on the ❑ The river authorities said they were willing to run. ❑ They sensed their opponents were on the bend the rules for us and allowed us to go ahead. run. ❑ The rules are often bent to ensure a good show. ✪ in the long run or ● You can also say that you stretch the over the long run rules. ❑ He accused the company of stretching People use in the long run or over the long the sport’s rules to the limit. run to talk about how things happen or rumour develop over a long period of time. ✪ rumour has it ❑ Taking time out to get fit is time well spent and People say rumour has it when they are will benefit you in the long run. ❑ Her judgement telling you something that they have didn’t seem to have done him much harm in the heard, but do not necessarily think is long run. ❑ Hiring new employees is essential for true. virtually all firms, at least over the long run. ❑ Rumour has it that tickets were being sold for run before you can walk [british] £300. If you try to run before you can walk, you try to do something at an advanced level run before you have learned how to do it at a a dry run or basic level. a test run ❑ They tried to run before they could walk. It was A dry run or a test run is something that far too complicated. ❑ I was running before I you do to practise before you do it at a could walk. So I decided to go to Europe to do a more important time. second apprenticeship, almost to start again. ❑ We’ll have a dry run at getting you in and out of run deep ➜ see deep the clothes quickly. ❑ More than 10,000 people run something past someone were expected and council chiefs said it would be If you run an idea or a document past a dry run for the Olympic celebrations. someone, you tell them about it or show it a dummy run [british] to them to get their opinion about it. A dummy run is an occasion before an ❑ I’ll take these papers home and read them, and important event when you practise doing I’ll want to run them past our lawyer. ❑ Not long something, in order to make sure that it after, William was invited to join the group – only will be successful when you do it properly. to discover that Gordon had not run the idea past ❑ Before we started, we did a dummy run, checking out all the streets and offices we would his colleagues. ● Other verbs such as brush and push are

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runaround runaround

running

give someone the runaround [informal] ✪ be in the running If someone gives you the runaround, they If someone is in the running for a job or try to confuse you or make it difficult for prize, they have a good chance of getting you to do something, for example by not it or winning it. giving you information you need. ❑ There are rumours that he is in the running for ❑ In early August, someone close could give you the job of ITV’s central scheduler. ❑ The US needs the runaround, especially where it concerns a win tonight to still be in the running for the gold. ● You can also say that someone is out of money or other joint matters. ❑ I’m fed up with being given the runaround. the running, meaning they no longer ● You can also say you get the have a chance of getting a job or a prize. runaround from someone. ❑ Furness ❑ Both teams are now out of the running for the made a few inquiries and got the runaround championship. every time. If a horse is ‘in the running’, it has a good chance of winning a race. runes read the runes [british, literary] rush If you read the runes, you decide what is ✪ a mad rush likely to happen in the future by A mad rush is when people try to go considering what is happening now. somewhere or do something very quickly, ❑ Back in 1989, he was the first of the east in an uncontrolled way. European leaders to read the runes and make the ❑ There was a mad rush to avoid being left jump from communism to nationalism. behind. ❑ The bomb landed in the middle of the Runes were an alphabet used in dance floor causing panic and a mad rush for the northern Europe until medieval times. doors. The letters were often thought to have a rush of blood or magical properties. a rush of blood to the head If you have a rush of blood or a rush of runner blood to the head, you suddenly do ✪ do a runner [informal, british] something foolish or dangerous which If someone does a runner, they leave a you would not normally do. place in a hurry, especially in order to ❑ It was a rush of blood by the United goalkeeper escape trouble or to avoid paying for that was to cost them the game. ❑ I don’t know something. what made me say it – I must have had a sudden ❑ At this point, the accountant did a runner – with all my money. rush of blood to the head.

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Ss SA

People say better safe than sorry or it’s better to be safe than sorry to mean that it is good to be careful, even if it may not seem necessary, in order to avoid problems. ✪ sabre-rattling ❑ I think you should stay in hospital another day Sabre-rattling is aggressive behaviour in or two – better safe than sorry, right? ❑ Never which threats are made, often of military take chances with electrical equipment of any action. kind – it’s better to be safe than sorry! ❑ He accused the country of sabre-rattling and ● People also say that they would rather taking the first step in the trade war. be safe than sorry. ❑ We were surprised by ● You can also say that someone rattles the level of security. ‘I’d rather be safe than sorry,’ their sabre or that people rattle sabres. she explained. ❑ Still, it is good to see both sides talking, rather ✪ play safe [british] or than rattling sabres at each other. play it safe A sabre is a heavy sword with a curved If you play safe or play it safe, you do not blade that was used in the past by take any risks. soldiers on horseback. ❑ If you want to play safe, cut down on the amount of salt you eat. ❑ Big tourist hotels tend sack to play safe with bland international menus. hit the sack ➜ see hit ❑ The pilot decided that Christchurch was too far saddle away, and played it safe, landing at Wellington. be riding high in the saddle safe as houses [british] If a person or team is riding high in the If something is as safe as houses, it is saddle, they are experiencing great success very safe and reliable. and are therefore feeling confident. ❑ Both managers can count on one thing – their ❑ The Australian cricket team are riding high in jobs are safe as houses. ❑ If you think building the saddle after their first Test victory. society cheques are as safe as houses, think again. in the saddle

sabre

‘Sabre’ is spelled ‘saber’ in American English.

safety If someone is in the saddle, they are in there’s safety in numbers control of an organization. People say there’s safety in numbers to ❑ Now that he is firmly in the saddle, Vaghela will mean that you are safer if you are with be looking to strengthen his position further. other people or doing something with ❑ Their plan would sell 55 per cent of the new other people. stock to the company’s majority shareholders, ❑ Unions were set up based on the idea that there putting them in the saddle. is safety (and strength) in numbers. ❑ On the tall in the saddle [american] If someone is tall in the saddle, they are street there’s safety in numbers – find another girl confident and successful. to walk home with if possible. ❑ The England manager will be riding tall in the sailing saddle as he heads for Europe. ❑ The old cowboy ✪ plain sailing [british] or of French politics is sitting tall in the saddle smooth sailing [american] again. If an activity or task is plain sailing or safe smooth sailing, it is easy to do or achieve. ✪ better safe than sorry or ❑ Once I got used to the diet it was plain sailing it’s better to be safe than sorry and I lost six kilos over a four month period. ❑ All

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salad of a sudden, my life started to improve, which is not to say that it was all smooth sailing from then on. ● In American English, you can also use the expressions clear sailing and easy sailing. ❑ It’s not going to be clear sailing. He’s bound to come up with some tough opposition. ❑ Once I’d done the paperwork, the rest was easy sailing. ‘Plain sailing’ is sailing in good conditions, without any difficulties. However, the expression may have come from ‘plane sailing’, a method of working out the position of a ship and planning its route using calculations based on the earth being flat rather than round. This is a simple and easy method which is fairly accurate over short distances, especially near the ✪ equator.

good at their job would consider doing that thing. ❑ No racing driver worth his salt gets too sentimental about his cars. ❑ No player worth their salt wants to play in the lower divisions. ● Instead of no, you can use any or every with this expression. For example, if you say that any teacher worth their salt would do a particular thing, you mean that any teacher who was good at their job would do that thing. ❑ Any police officer worth their salt would have made proper checks to find out exactly who this man was. ❑ Every teacher worth their salt will learn as much from their students as their students learn from them. In the past, salt was expensive and rare. Roman soldiers were paid a ‘salarium’ or salt money, so they could buy salt and stay healthy. rub salt into the wound or rub salt in the wound salad If someone or something rubs salt into your salad days [literary] the wound or in the wound, they make a If you talk about your salad days, you situation that is already bad for a person mean the time when you were young and seem even worse. had little experience. ❑ I wasn’t allowed to eat anything for 24 hours ❑ The Grand Hotel did not seem to have changed before the operation so I was really hungry and since her salad days. just to rub salt into the wound, had to sit there This is a quotation from Shakespeare’s while Zoe ate the most delicious-looking pizza. ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ (Act 1, Scene 5), ❑ The police rubbed salt in the wounds by waving when Cleopatra is talking about her money in the strikers’ faces. youth: ‘My salad days, When I was green the salt of the earth in judgment’. If you describe someone as the salt of the saloon earth, you mean that they are ordinary, the last chance saloon [british] honest and reliable and good. If you say it is the last chance saloon for ❑ Previously, footballers were seen as someone, you mean that it is their final working-class heroes, the salt of the earth. opportunity to succeed in what they are ❑ She’s very good-hearted, the salt of the earth – doing. as Liverpool people are. ❑ The two boxers understand one thing clearly. ● Salt-of-the-earth can be used before a As far as the world title goes, Saturday is the last noun. ❑ Most of the people there are chance saloon for both of them. salt-of-the-earth, good, working-class people ● You can also say that someone is striving to improve themselves. drinking in the last chance saloon, with This comes from the Bible, when Jesus the same meaning. ❑ The Cabinet minister in is talking to His disciples: ‘Ye are the salt charge of media regulation told the tabloid of the earth: but if the salt have lost his editors they were drinking in the last-chance savour, wherewith shall it be salted?’ saloon and to improve their conduct or face (Matthew 5:13) government legislation. ✪ take something with a pinch of salt salt [mainly british] or ✪ no teacher/actor, etc. worth their salt take something with a grain of salt If you say, for example, that no teacher [mainly american] worth their salt or no actor worth their If you say that someone should take some salt would do a particular thing, you information with a pinch of salt or take it with a grain of salt, you mean that they mean that no teacher or actor who was

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say

should not believe it completely because it may not all be accurate or true. ❑ Reports from the authorities that the situation is calm should perhaps be taken with a pinch of salt. ❑ You have to take these findings with a grain of salt because respondents in attitude surveys tend to give the answers they feel they should. A pinch of salt is a small amount of salt held between your thumb and your first finger. Some people believe that this expression refers to the King of Pontus, Mithridates VI, who lived in the first century BC. It is said that he made himself immune to poison by swallowing small amounts of it with a grain of salt. However, other people think that it is a medieval English expression, which suggests that you need to be suspicious of unlikely stories in the same way that you need salt with food.

same

✪ same here [informal, spoken]

sandwich

one sandwich short of a picnic ➜ see short

sardines packed like sardines If a group of people are packed like sardines, they are standing very close together because there is not enough room in an enclosed space. ❑ We were packed like sardines in the ship and could barely move. ● Other words such as crammed, jammed or squashed are sometimes used instead of packed. ❑ The sauna was really packed. There were about five people squashed in there like sardines. The image here is of tinned sardines which have been tightly packed.

sauce what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander [old-fashioned] People say what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander when they are arguing that a rule that applies to one person should apply to others, because people should be treated equally. ❑ If a man can marry someone twenty years younger than him, why shouldn’t a woman? What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

sand

You say same here in order to show that you feel the same way about something as the person who has just spoken to you, or that you have done the same thing. ❑ ‘I’ve heard the word but I don’t know what it means.’ – ‘Yeah same here.’ ❑ ‘I hate going into stores.’ – ‘Same here,’ said William.

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situation when it keeps changing, and this makes it difficult to deal with. ❑ It’s a struggle to keep up with the shifting sands of fashion. ❑ The problem is that the whole economy has been built on the shifting sands of finance, not the rock of industry.

shifting sands You can talk about the shifting sands of a

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happy as a sandboy ➜ see happy

sands

save someone’s ass or save someone’s butt [mainly american, informal, rude] If you save someone’s ass or save their butt, you save them from a dangerous or unpleasant situation. ❑ Howard rushed up to me and said, ‘Thank you, thank you, you saved my ass.’ ❑ You should be grateful – I saved your butt! ● You can also say that you save your own ass, meaning that you escape from a dangerous or unpleasant situation. ❑ She climbed out the back of the car to get away, to save her own ass.

sandboy

save

be built on sand If something is built on sand, it does not have a strong or proper basis, and so is likely to fail or come to an end. ❑ The twin budget and trade deficits are evidence of an economy built on sand. ❑ His whole empire was built on sand. It folded, and in 1981 he was charged with war crimes. This expression relates to a story in the Bible, where Jesus compares the people who follow his teachings to a wise man, who built his house on rock, and those who did not to a foolish man, who built his house on sand. When floods came, the house built on rock remained standing but the house built on sand collapsed. (Matthew 7:24-27).

say

✪ before you could say Jack Robinson [old-fashioned]

If you say that something happened before

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scales

you could say Jack Robinson, you mean it ❑ Before Alice had arrived on the scene we would happened very suddenly and quickly. go out regularly for the day or the weekend. ❑ The pair of them were out of the door and down ❑ Aunt Christina appeared on the scene then and the steps before you could say Jack Robinson. looked after Ian and me. ● People sometimes change Jack ✪ set the scene Robinson to a word or expression that If you set the scene, you briefly tell relates to the subject they are talking people what they need to know about a about. ❑ She was on the phone to New York subject, so that they can understand what before you could say long-distance. is going to happen next. The identity of Jack Robinson is ❑ I was writing an article and wanted to set the unknown and the name might have scene by giving a few details about how become popular because both elements widespread the custom was. ❑ To visualize this were once extremely common. The period of his career it is first necessary to set the phrase appears in the novel ‘Evelina’ scene and describe the events leading up to World (1778) by Fanny Burney: ‘I’ll do it as soon War 2. ● You can also use the noun sceneas say Jack Robinson’. ✪ you can say that again [informal] setting. ❑ There’s a certain amount of You say You can say that again to express scene-setting in the initial chapter. strong agreement with what someone If something sets the scene for an has just said. event, it creates the conditions in which ❑ ‘Must have been a fiddly job.’ – ‘You can say that that event is likely to happen. again.’ [journalism] ❑ Some members feared that Germany might raise scales its interest rates. That could have set the scene for the scales fall from your eyes [literary] a confrontation with the US, which is concerned If the scales fall from your eyes, you that increases could cut demand for its exports. suddenly realise the truth about something ❑ The first hour’s cricket set the scene for a after a long period of not understanding it superbly entertaining day as England and South or of being deceived about it. Africa played some of the best cricket ever seen. ❑ It was at that point that the scales finally fell

scene

✪ on the scene

If someone is on the scene, they are at a place where something is happening. ❑ By a piece of luck it was one of my own officers who was first on the scene. ❑ The lifeboat is due on the scene about now. If someone is on the scene, they are involved in a situation.

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scent

from his eyes and he realised he had made a scenes dreadful mistake. ✪ behind the scenes This is a reference to the Bible story of If someone does something behind the Saul, who became blind after he had a scenes, they do it in private or secretly, vision of God on the road to Damascus. rather than publicly. Saul became a Christian after Ananias, a ❑ Both countries have been working behind the follower of Jesus, restored his sight. The scenes to try to free the hostages. ❑ The debate Bible says: ‘And immediately there fell has been going on behind the scenes for months. ● You can also use behind-the-scenes from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, before a noun. ❑ The debate was postponed and was baptized.’ (Acts 9:18) for a third time after another day of intensive behind-the-scenes negotiations. scared This refers to the scenes or scenery used scared shitless [informal, very rude] on the stage in the theatre, and was If someone is scared shitless, they are originally used to refer to those events extremely scared. in a play that took place off-stage. ❑ When I first met him, I was scared shitless. throw someone off the scent or put someone off the scent If something or someone throws you off the scent or puts you off the scent when you are looking for someone or something, they confuse or deceive you by making you believe something that is not true.

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❑ We decided that if anyone was following us, it

the school of hard knocks The school of hard knocks is that way would be wiser if we split up to throw them off the that people learn from their experiences scent. ❑ The team was also put off the scent by in life, especially from bad experiences. the alibi Maxine Jones gave Morgan. Officers now ❑ He graduated from the school of hard knocks as accept they should have checked her story more well – most of his family died in the war. ❑ All of thoroughly. these skills I developed in the school of hard This is a reference to hounds that get knocks. I certainly didn’t get them at university. distracted from the trail of an animal This is being contrasted with a formal they are hunting, for example because academic education and the of another smell. qualifications obtained by studying at a scheme school or college. A similar phrase ✪ in the scheme of things sometimes used is ‘the University of People use in the scheme of things to Life’. describe how important one thing is ✪ a school of thought when compared to everything else in a A school of thought is a set of opinions situation or how one thing relates to the that some people have, when there are other things in a situation. other possible opinions. ❑ These aches and pains are annoying, but not ❑ ‘There’s a school of thought that says animals very serious in the scheme of things. ❑ To enter don’t feel pain as we do,’ he began carefully. into the adult world, we must have an ❑ The school of thought which demands understanding of our place in the scheme of something be done about obesity is based on a things. four-step argument. ● People often put words such as greater, science grand or whole before scheme with the blind someone with science same meaning. ❑ In the grand scheme of If someone blinds you with science, they things, Hertz was a small player. tell you about something in a school complicated, technical way so that you ✪ the old school find it hard to understand. If you say that someone is of the old ❑ We want facts and figures but don’t want to be school, you mean that they have blinded by science. ❑ I must admit that as a traditional ideas and values and are teenage, amateur photographer I learned all the old-fashioned. technical jargon so I could impress people by ❑ As a builder of the old school, he did not always blinding them with science. see eye to eye with designers of new houses.

U score

❑ She belonged to the old school, preferring the

✪ know the score [informal] formality of surnames even with colleagues. ● You can say that someone is an If you know the score, you know and accept the real facts about a situation, old-school type of person, especially even though you may not like them. when talking about the job that they do. ❑ I know the score – my career will last as long as ❑ At 65, he is the last of the old-school managers, my looks. ❑ Taylor isn’t stupid – he knows the a holder of traditional values in a world score. He has to produce results soon or he’ll be dominated by younger, more sophisticated men. out of a job. the old school tie [british] ✪ settle a score or The old school tie is the way in which settle an old score men who have been to the most famous If someone settles a score or settles an British private schools use their positions old score, they take revenge for of power to help improve the careers of something that someone has done to other men who went to the same school. them in the past. ❑ Networking is a major part of male culture – ❑ Phillips insists he’s not interested in settling a whether through the old school tie, the pub, the score against the team that fired him a couple of club or the sports field. ● You can use the old school tie before a months ago. ❑ Waters had only been out of jail three weeks when he and two friends went to settle noun. ❑ So does the old school tie network still exist? an old score with a man he had met in prison.

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scratch ● You can talk about people or groups being involved in score-settling or the settling of scores. ❑ What is happening now is score-settling and there is little hope of an end to it. ❑ What we are witnessing here is the settling of scores.

scratch

✪ from scratch

If you do something or start something from scratch, you create something completely new, rather than adding to something that already exists. ❑ She set up the whole project from scratch. ❑ He would rather start again from scratch with new rules, new members, and a new electoral system. ❑ The Mlawa factory was one of the first in Poland to be built from scratch by a western investor. In the past, the starting line for races was often a line scratched in the earth. ✪ not up to scratch If something or someone is not up to scratch, they are not good enough. ❑ If the service isn’t up to scratch, the customer gets his money back. ❑ Athletes have no one to blame but themselves if their performances are not up to scratch. ❑ Parents were complaining that one of the teachers wasn’t up to scratch. ● You can say that someone or something does not come up to scratch. ❑ The Home Secretary wants better methods for dealing with police officers who do not come up to scratch. ● You can also say that you bring someone or something up to scratch. ❑ We had to work hard on the apartment to bring it up to scratch. In the past, boxers started a fight with their left feet on a line drawn on the ground, known as the scratch. When a boxer was knocked down, they were allowed thirty seconds’ rest before coming ‘up to the scratch’ once more. A boxer who was not at the line in time lost the fight.

✪ turn the screw on someone or

tighten the screw on someone [informal] If someone turns the screw on you or tightens the screw on you, they do something in order to defeat you or in order to make you do what they want. ❑ The supermarkets group turned the screw on its troubled rival yesterday, revealing strong sales figures and an expansion of its network. ❑ The attacks are seen as an attempt to tighten the screw still further on the government. ● You can also simply say that someone turns the screw or tightens the screw. ❑ Perhaps it’s a final attempt to turn the screw and squeeze a last concession out of us. ● You can also use the plural screws in these expressions. ❑ The quickest way to end the violence is surely to tighten the screws on the leader. ● You can call each action done to defeat or put pressure on someone a turn of the screw or a tightening of the screw. ❑ Every rebel raid, however small, is another turn of the screw, increasing the pressure on the President. ❑ Opposition parties see the changes as a further tightening of the screw. This is a reference to a method of torture called the thumbscrew. The prisoner’s thumbs were pressed between two bars of iron which were then tightened by means of a screw.

Scylla

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have a screw loose [informal] If someone has a screw loose, they behave in a strange or foolish way. ❑ He must have a screw loose, spending that sort of money on a holiday! ❑ She looked at me as if I had a screw loose. The image is of a piece of machinery that needs to be adjusted or repaired.

put the screws on someone [informal] If someone puts the screws on you, they use pressure or threats to make you do what they want. ❑ They had to put the screws on Harper. So far, he was the only person who might know something. This is a reference to a method of torture called the thumbscrew; see the explanation at ‘turn the screw on someone’.

screw

screws

between Scylla and Charybdis [literary] If you are between Scylla and Charybdis, you have to choose between two possible courses of action, both of which seem equally bad. ❑ He’s truly between Scylla and Charybdis this time, so he had better get some good advice. ● This expression is variable. ❑ During these years, America’s economy steered a remarkable course between the Scylla of inflation and the Charybdis of recession.

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seat In Greek mythology, Scylla and Charybdis were monsters who lived on either side of the Straits of Messina. Scylla lived on a rock on the Italian side, and had twelve heads, with which she swallowed sailors. Charybdis lived on the coast of Sicily and swallowed the sea three times a day, creating a whirlpool.

sea

✪ all at sea [british] or

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apart at the seams. ❑ The university system is in danger of falling apart at the seams because of cuts in government funding. If someone is coming apart at the seams, they have stopped being able to manage their life because they are very unhappy or under so much stress. ❑ He stood for a moment, breathing deeply; he was coming apart at the seams, something he had never thought would happen to him.

at sea search If someone is all at sea or is at sea, they search me [informal] are very confused by a situation and do You say search me when someone asks not understand it. you a question and you want to emphasize ❑ While he may be all at sea on the economy, his that you do not know the answer. changes have brought the West real and lasting ❑ ‘So why did he get interested all of a sudden?’ – political benefits. ❑ This was a massive success ‘Search me.’ for a party that, two years previously, was all at season sea. ✪ open season The reference here is to a ship or a boat If you say that it is open season on someone that has got lost. or something, you mean that a lot of ✪ a sea change [literary] people are criticizing or attacking them. A sea change is a complete change in ❑ It’s been open season on bankers since the someone’s attitudes or behaviour. recession started. ❑ The press has long declared ❑ There has been a sea change in attitudes to open season on the royals. drink-driving, thanks to greater public awareness In hunting, the open season is the period of the problem. of the year when it is legal to hunt This phrase is taken from act 1 scene 2 of particular types of animals or birds. Shakespeare’s play ‘The Tempest’ (1611), which begins with a storm at sea and is seat fly by the seat of your pants [informal] a tale of magic and transformation: ‘Full If you fly by the seat of your pants, you fathom five thy father lies; Of his bones use your judgment and intelligence to do are coral made: Those are pearls that something that you have never done were his eyes: Nothing of him that doth before, in a way that is risky, because you fade, But doth suffer a sea-change Into have no experience or training to rely on. something rich and strange.’ ❑ ‘In the first year of trading we knew nothing seams and were flying by the seat of our pants,’ Petti The seams of a piece of clothing are said. ❑ The truth is that all new parents fly by the the places where the separate pieces of seat of their pants and try to learn quickly from cloth used to make it are stitched experience. together. ● You can also use seat-of-the-pants before a noun. ❑ It had always been a ✪ be bursting at the seams seat-of-the-pants type of organization. If a place is bursting at the seams, it is ✪ in the driving seat [british] or completely full of people or things. in the driver’s seat [american] ❑ The tiny stadium was bursting at the seams If someone is in the driving seat or in the with a capacity crowd of just under 10,000. ❑ We driver’s seat, they have control of a really need to sort out that shed. It’s bursting at the seams. situation. ❑ The radicals were in the driving seat, much to come apart at the seams If a system or relationship comes apart the anxiety of the moderates. ❑ Howe has at the seams it completely fails. warned against Britain not being in the driving ❑ Our relationship was coming apart at the seat as Europe takes important decisions. seams – we were quarrelling the whole time. ❑ Those who had access to money were in the ● You can also say that something falls driver’s seat.

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security ✪ in the hot seat [british, american,

❑ He was big and fleshy, like an athlete gone to informal] or seed. ❑ Once he had carried a lot of muscle but on the hot seat [american, informal] now he was running to seed. If you are in the hot seat or on the hot seat, If a place goes to seed or runs to seed, you are in a position where you have to it becomes dirty and untidy because make important or difficult decisions, or people stop taking care of it. where you have answer difficult questions. ❑ The report painted a depressing picture of a ❑ He spent three years in the hot seat as the chief country going to seed, its bridges and roads executive of south London’s Lambeth Council. falling apart, its national parks neglected. ❑ Syd King was the club’s longest-serving ❑ When she died, the house went to seed. manager, with 30 years in the hot seat. When vegetables such as lettuce go to ● You can also say that you put someone in seed, they produce flowers and seeds, the hot seat, when you give them this and are no longer fit to eat. position. ❑ Four years later, Dowd put seed corn presidential contender John Kerry in the hot seat, If someone talks about seed corn, they asking him the same questions. mean resources or people that will ✪ take a back seat produce benefits in the future rather than If you take a back seat, you allow other immediately. people to have all the power, importance, ❑ Investment in the industry, the seed corn of or responsibility. future output, has fallen by 75 percent. ❑ I was happy to take a back seat and give ● If people eat their seed corn, they use up someone else the opportunity to manage the their valuable resources, and this will project. ❑ I always used to take a back seat and prevent them from being able to do let people get on with it. things in the future. ❑ A society that’s If one thing takes a back seat to unwilling to invest in its future is a society that’s another, people give the first thing less living off capital. It’s eating its seed corn. attention because it is less important or A farmer’s seed corn is the grain that is interesting than the other thing. used for planting rather than being sold ❑ It is true that in the Apollo programme science took or eaten. a back seat to technology and engineering. ❑ As the seeds novel progresses, the war takes a back seat to the ✪ sow the seeds of something or growing romance between Harvey and Martha. plant the seeds of something security If something or someone sows or a security blanket plants the seeds of a future problem, they A security blanket is something that start the process which causes that makes you feel safer and more confident. problem to develop. ❑ Everybody has a personal security blanket – it ❑ An incident then occurred that was to sow the could be a handbag, a piece of jewellery or, if you’re seeds of the invasion’s eventual failure. ❑ It was a guy, a moustache or a beard. ❑ For most of us, this racist policy that planted the seeds of today’s the lists we make act as security blankets, telling crisis in Africa. us what to do and how long to spend doing it. You can also sow or plant the seeds of A young child’s security blanket is a something good or something that you piece of cloth or clothing which the want to happen. child holds and often chews in order to ❑ With this overall strategy, they hope to sow the feel comforted. seeds of economic recovery. ❑ Ministers had spent five years planting the seeds of reform. see ❑ I had planted the seeds of doubt in their wouldn’t be seen dead ➜ see dead minds. seed

go to seed or run to seed If someone goes to seed or runs to seed, they allow themselves to become fat, unhealthy and unattractive as they get older.

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send

✪ send someone packing [informal] If someone sends another person packing, they tell them very forcefully to leave a place, or to leave their job. ❑ The footballer was sent packing after a very

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shakes public row with the coach. ❑ Lowe sent him packing after finding out about his lies.

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shades

sense

a sixth sense If you have a sixth sense about something, you have a feeling about it that does not come from seeing, hearing, touching, tasting or smelling it. ❑ A sixth sense warned me that something didn’t feel right.

senses

bring someone to their senses If an event or something you say brings someone to their senses, it makes them start to be reasonable and act in a sensible way. ❑ Insist that he treats you better or you will leave. This just might bring him to his senses. ● You can say that someone comes to their senses if they start to be reasonable and act in a sensible way. ❑ So all he could do was hope that maybe the British would eventually come to their senses and act.

shades of someone/something If you have just mentioned a person or thing and you say shades of another person or thing, you mean that the first person or thing reminds you of the second one. ❑ MacDowell stars in a thriller as the wife of a criminal who has faked his death. Shades of The Third Man, perhaps? ❑ The debate was brought forward by a week, in an effort to prevent the protest planned for it by the students’ leaders. Shades of 1968? ‘Shade’ is an old word for ‘ghost’.

shadow

afraid of your own shadow If someone is afraid of their own shadow, they are very nervous and shy. ❑ She’s afraid of everything these days – afraid of her own shadow. ● Adjectives such as scared or frightened can be used instead of afraid. ❑ He used to be scared of his own shadow as a little boy. ✪ cast a long shadow serve If something or someone casts a long ✪ it serves someone right or shadow over something or someone, they serves someone right have a great, long-lasting influence over If you say it serves someone right or them, usually a bad one. serves someone right when something ❑ It was a time of hardships and the war still cast unpleasant happens to them, you mean a long shadow over life in England. ❑ Cancer has that it is their own fault and you have no cast a long shadow over almost every family in sympathy for them. the country. ❑ Matt Walker has retired early from his day’s ✪ a shadow of your former self surfing with a broken board. It serves him right, If someone or something is a shadow he says, for trying to surf bad water. ❑ Serves her of their former self, they are very much right for being so stubborn. less powerful or impressive than they shade used to be. [formal] put someone/something in the shade ❑ Our ninety-year-old dad was but a shadow of If one person or thing puts another in the his former self. ❑ But the side which played such shade, they are so impressive that they thrilling football last season now looks a shadow make the other person or thing seem of its former self. unimportant or less good by comparison. If someone is a shadow of their former ❑ Such was her beauty that even in her sixties, self, they are very much thinner than she managed to put younger women in the shade. they used to be. ❑ The celebrations are so fantastic they would ❑ I couldn’t believe how much weight she’d lost put Mardi Gras in the shade. – she’s a shadow of her former self. Shade here means the shadow or darkness produced by blocking the light. shakes in two shakes or throw shade in two shakes of a lamb’s tail [oldIf someone throws shade at or on fashioned, spoken] someone else, they show publicly that If you say that you will do something in they dislike, or have no respect for, that two shakes or in two shakes of a lamb’s person. tail, you mean that you will do it very ❑ Some of these pop stars are believed to have used their lyrics to throw shade at rival artists. soon or very quickly.

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shape ❑ I’m just going out to the shop – I’ll be back in two shakes. ❑ Supper will be ready in two shakes

of a lamb’s tail. no great shakes [informal] If someone or something is no great shakes, they are not skilful or of good quality. ❑ She can write screenplays well enough but she’s no great shakes as a director. ❑ The novel on which the film is based was no great shakes to start with. This expression probably refers to shaking dice and getting a poor result, although there are other possible explanations.

shape

improve their behaviour or performance, or else leave. ❑ Coach Kevin Wall has warned his players to shape up or ship out.

shave a close shave If someone has a close shave, they very nearly have a bad accident or very nearly suffer a defeat. ❑ It was a close shave – if I hadn’t been paying attention we could both have been flattened. ❑ McGregor had a close shave when a 7ft polar bear ran at him while he was filming a documentary about the animals in Canada. ❑ She had a close shave in the recent general election.

bent out of shape [american, informal] shebang the whole shebang [informal] If someone is bent out of shape, they are The whole shebang is every part of angry or worried about something. something. ❑ People get bent out of shape if you don’t ❑ It was while at the Mad House that Nancy met pronounce their names right. ❑ The disease is on the man in charge of the whole shebang, Colonel the rise and everybody’s all bent out of shape Maurice Buckmaster. ❑ You get to dress up: bow about it. tie, fancy shirt, tails, the whole shebang. ✪ knock something/someone into shape or whip something/someone into shape sheep If you knock something or someone into ✪ the black sheep or shape or whip them into shape, you the black sheep of the family improve them. If you describe someone as the black ❑ After a successful career at the Italian central sheep or the black sheep of the family, bank, few people doubt his ability to whip the you mean that the other people in their economy into shape. ❑ Now his players will family disapprove of them and consider spend their time being knocked into shape for the their behaviour to be bad. new season. ❑ ‘I was always the black sheep,’ he says. ● In British English, you can also lick ‘Everyone else stayed in New Jersey but I was the something or someone into shape. ❑ We one to go.’ ❑ My uncle was the black sheep of the were licked into shape by the long-serving family and we were never encouraged to talk departmental managers to whom we reported. about him. The variation ‘lick someone into shape’ Black sheep are less valuable than white relates to an ancient belief that bear sheep since their wool cannot be dyed. cubs were born as shapeless lumps. It In addition, people used to associate the was thought that their mothers then colour black with evil. licked them until they developed their I might as well be hanged for a sheep as a proper form. lamb or the shape of things to come I might as well be hung for a sheep as a If you say that something is the shape of lamb things to come, you mean that in future If someone says I might as well be hanged things will be like this. for a sheep as a lamb or I might as well be ❑ British Rail said its new Liverpool Street station hung for a sheep as a lamb, they mean was the shape of things to come. ❑ People made that as they will suffer or be punished cruel comments about our relationship. It was, whatever they do, they are choosing to do unfortunately, the shape of things to come. something really bad. shape up or ship out [informal] ❑ I knew I was going to get into trouble for being If you tell someone to shape up or ship late as it was, so I figured I might as well be out, you are telling them that they should hanged for a sheep as a lamb.

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shell

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For a long time in the past in England, married and is now too old for men to the penalty for sheep stealing was want to marry her. death. ❑ I certainly don’t worry that I’m on the shelf just separate the sheep from the goats or because I’m single! ❑ When my grandmother was sort out the sheep from the goats young, you were on the shelf if you weren’t If you separate the sheep from the married by 25. ● Many people dislike this expression goats or sort out the sheep from the goats, you examine a group of things or because of the sexist attitude which it people and decide which are good and represents. which are bad. shelf life ❑ It is getting harder and harder to sort out the If something has a particular shelf life, sheep from the goats among the 4,000 or so titles it will only last for that length of time, for children that are published every year. rather than continuing forever. ❑ Testing exists to separate the sheep from the ❑ A large proportion of small businesses have a goats. very short shelf life. ❑ Our aim is to build a policy The Bible says that on the Day of that will have a shelf life of more than 30 months. Judgment, Jesus will divide his sheep The shelf life of a food, drink, or from the goats. The sheep represent medicine is the length of time it can be those who are going to heaven, and the kept before it is too old to sell or use. goats represent those who are going to shell hell. (Matthew 25:32) ✪ come out of your shell sheet If you come out of your shell, you become a clean sheet less shy and more confident. If you start something with a clean ❑ She used to be very timid and shy but I think sheet, you start it again, with none of the she’s come out of her shell. problems or mistakes from the past. ● You can say that someone or something ❑ The Christmas break has allowed the brings you out of your shell when they Government to start the new year with a clean cause you to be less shy and more confident. sheet. ❑ Given a clean sheet, what would you do? ❑ I think the job has brought her out of her shell. ● You can also use the full expression ● You can also say that someone goes a clean sheet of paper. ❑ We started with into or retreats into their shell, meaning a clean sheet of paper, having put the past that they become more shy and less behind us. confident. ❑ He went into his shell as he got In a football match, if a team keeps a older, seeing less and less of his friends. clean sheet, no goals are scored against The image is of a snail or shellfish, them. [british, journalism] both of which go into their shells for ❑ If Ipswich keep a clean sheet tonight, it will be protection. their 27th of the season. a shell game [american] white as a sheet ➜ see white If someone is playing a shell game, they sheets are deliberately deceiving people, usually three sheets to the wind [old-fashioned, by changing things or pretending to informal] change things, in order to gain an If someone is three sheets to the wind, advantage. they are drunk. ❑ At the same time, he was playing a shell game, ❑ He’s probably three sheets to the wind down at moving money from one account to another to Toby’s, wondering where he left his truck. satisfy debts. ❑ Independent financing – with its On a boat, the ropes that control the soft money schemes and local tax breaks – is at position of the sails are called sheets. best a shell game. If the sheets are left hanging loose, The shell game is an old confidence the sails flap freely in the wind and trick. An object is hidden under one of cannot be controlled. three cups, which are then moved out of their original order. The victim bets on shelf where the object is, and typically gets it on the shelf [british, old-fashioned] wrong. The trick may have become If a woman is on the shelf, she is not

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shilling known as the shell game because it was originally done with walnut shells rather than cups.

shilling

not the full shilling [british, informal] If you say that someone is not the full shilling, you mean that they are stupid or foolish. ❑ We all thought he wasn’t quite the full shilling because he was slow – slow at sums and slow at writing. ● This term could cause offence.

shine

take a shine to someone [british, informal] If you take a shine to someone, you like them when you first meet them, often in a romantic way. ❑ Jack took a shine to one of Molly’s pretty cousins. ❑ Laura took a shine to her and immediately offered her the job. take the shine off something [mainly british] If something takes the shine off a pleasant event or achievement, it makes it less enjoyable than it should be. ❑ Sadly, the behaviour of a small group of fans took the shine off what was otherwise a great match. ❑ The row now threatens to take the shine off the party’s recent triumph in the local elections.

ship

✪ jump ship or

a sinking ship If an organization or cause is a sinking ship, it is failing and unlikely to recover. ❑ Insiders regard the company as a sinking ship. ● You can also say that someone abandons, deserts or leaves a sinking ship, to mean that they leave an organization or activity which is about to fail. ❑ I know some people will say that I am leaving a sinking ship. ❑ He seems to be suggesting that we’re deserting a sinking ship, but that’s not the case. ➜ compare with like rats deserting a sinking ship spoil the ship for a ha’porth of tar [mainly british, old-fashioned] If you spoil the ship for a ha’porth of tar, you spoil a large or important piece of work completely because you refuse to spend a small amount of money on one aspect of it. ❑ I think it’s a modest investment that is well worth making. You don’t want to spoil the ship for a ha’porth of tar. ‘Ship’ in this expression was originally ‘sheep’. A ‘ha’porth’ is a ‘halfpenny’s worth’; a halfpenny was a British coin of very low value. Shepherds used to put tar on their sheep’s wounds and sores to protect them from flies, and it would be foolish to risk the sheep’s health in order to save a small amount of money. when your ship comes in If you talk about what you will do when your ship comes in, you mean what you will do when you become rich and successful. ❑ She always used to say that when her ship came in, she’d take us all on a cruise. ● You can also say that someone’s or something’s ship has come in, meaning that they have suddenly become rich and successful. ❑ The ship has come in for the company where profits have soared to £62.1 million. This is a reference to a merchant’s ship returning home with a heavy load of goods.

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abandon ship If you jump ship or abandon ship, you leave an organization because you think it is going to fail or because you want to join a rival organization. ❑ Smith had jumped ship by the time the company collapsed. ❑ For weeks he worked eighteen-hour days, pleading with his staff not to abandon ship. If sailors jump ship, they leave their ship without permission and do not return. run a tight ship If you run a tight ship, you keep firm control of the way your business or organization is run, so that it is organized and efficient. ❑ Shaona was running a tight ship and didn’t waste time on small talk. ❑ Andy is totally organized and totally confident. He runs a tight ship and he does a great job.

shirt keep your shirt on [british, american, informal] or keep your pants on [mainly american, informal] If someone tells you to keep your shirt on

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shoe

or keep your pants on, they are telling you to calm down and not be angry or impatient. ❑ The doorbell rang. Helen told the caller to keep his shirt on – angry because she felt the ringing had been excessive. ● This expression is often used to suggest that a person’s anger or impatience is not reasonable. ➜ compare with keep your hair on put your shirt on something [mainly british] If you put your shirt on something, you bet or risk a large amount of money on it, because you are certain that it will win or succeed. ❑ I was just thinking you might put your shirt on Golden Boy. It’s bound to be a winner, isn’t it? ● You can also say that you lose your shirt, meaning you lose all your money on a bad investment or bet. ❑ His father warned him that he knew nothing about shipping and could easily lose his shirt. ❑ If you play cards with the big boys, you can lose your shirt. the shirt off your back People talk about the shirt off your back to emphasize that they mean everything you own. ❑ I know you’d be ready to give the shirt off your back for a worthy cause. ❑ That woman’ll have the shirt off your back. a stuffed shirt If you call a man a stuffed shirt, you mean that he is formal and boring. ❑ His seminars work because he speaks like an ordinary, approachable person rather than a stuffed shirt. ❑ It’s his amusement about the world around him that makes him appealing as a politician, so different from all those stuffed shirts. ● You can use stuffed-shirt before a noun. ❑ I have little patience with the dress rules of stuffed-shirt establishments. This refers to a shirt being displayed on a dummy in a clothing shop. The dummy is hollow and has no use apart from filling the space occupied by the shirt.

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❑ This is serious business. I am in deep shit and I need your help. ● You can also say that someone or

something drops you in the shit when they get you into trouble or into a very difficult situation. ❑ And that’s going to drop her right in the shit with her bosses. shit happens [very rude] People say shit happens to mean that bad things happen in life and you must accept that fact because you cannot prevent it. ❑ ‘It’s a shame Rob is too ill to be here – he’s such an exciting talent.’ – ‘Yeah, well, shit happens.’ the shit hits the fan [informal, very rude] If the shit hits the fan, serious trouble suddenly starts. ❑ If I was them, I’d be planning to pull out before the shit hits the fan. ❑ Then Gene heard about the matter and the shit really hit the fan. ● People sometimes replace shit with a less offensive word. ❑ Tom visited us in Canada shortly before the stuff hit the fan. soft as shit ➜ see soft thick as shit ➜ see thick

shock

a short, sharp shock [british] A short, sharp shock is a punishment that is severe but only lasts for a short time. ❑ Many parents believe that a short sharp shock is at times necessary for challenging children. shock horror [informal] People say shock horror to show that they are aware that people might be shocked or surprised by something they say. ❑ I felt intellectually superior despite – shock horror – my lack of qualifications. ❑ I even, shock horror, like the smell of fresh sweat. ● This expression is used humorously. be waiting for the other shoe to drop [american, informal]

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in the shit or in deep shit [british, informal, very rude] If someone is in the shit or in deep shit, they are in a very difficult situation. ❑ Look, I’ll be brief. You’re in the shit, mate.

shit

shoe

If you are waiting for the other shoe to drop, one very bad thing has already happened and you are expecting another bad thing to happen soon. ❑ People are already on edge, and they’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. The idea in this expression is that you almost never hear only one footstep; another usually follows. drop the other shoe [american] If someone drops the other shoe, they complete a task by doing the second and final part of it.

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shoes ❑ The company dropped the other shoe in its

else’s shoes if you do their job or hold their position as well as they did. ❑ It’ll two-step $13.86 billion acquisition of its rival. take a good man to fill her shoes. if the shoe fits [american] You say if the shoe fits when you are shoestring telling someone that unpleasant remarks ✪ on a shoestring which have been made about them are If you do something on a shoestring, you probably true or fair. do it using very little money. ❑ ‘She said something about me being in a bad ❑ The theatre was always run on a shoestring. mood,’ – ‘Well, if the shoe fits.’ ❑ Newly divorced with two children to raise, she was living on a shoestring. The usual British expression is if the ● You can use shoestring before a noun. cap fits. ❑ Both films were made on a shoestring budget. the shoe is on the other foot ➜ see foot ❑ McNair says he will continue his shoestring shoes campaign in every part of Alabama. dead men’s shoes [british] In American English, shoelaces are Dead men’s shoes is a situation in which called shoestrings. The reference here is people cannot make progress in their to the very small amount of money that careers until someone senior to them is needed to buy shoelaces. retires or dies. shoo-in ❑ We are sick of waiting to step into dead ‘Shoo-in’ is sometimes spelled men’s shoes. ❑ In those days, jobs were ‘shoe-in’. difficult to obtain. It was more or less dead men’s

shoes. a goody two-shoes [informal] A goody two-shoes is someone who tries to please someone in authority or who never does anything wrong. ❑ No child wants to be a goody two-shoes, and this is one way for them to demonstrate that they’re not. ● This expression is used to show disapproval. ✪ in someone’s shoes If you talk about being in someone’s shoes, you are describing how you would feel or act if you were in the same situation as them. ❑ Stop and think how you would feel if you were in his shoes. ❑ If I were in her shoes, I’d probably want an explanation. ❑ If you were in his shoes what would you do? ● You can also say that you wouldn’t like to be in someone’s shoes, meaning that you would not like to be in the same situation as them. ❑ I wouldn’t like to be in Bryce’s shoes when Kathy finds out what he’s done. ✪ step into someone’s shoes If you step into someone’s shoes, you start doing their job instead of them. ❑ In America, if a president resigns or dies in office, the vice-president steps into his shoes. ❑ Now that Chris is gone she wants me to step into his shoes. ● You can also say that you fill someone

be a shoo-in [informal] If someone is a shoo-in for something such as an election or contest, they are certain to win. ❑ The president seemed a shoo-in for a second term, even though the election was some 20 months away. ❑ She seemed like a shoo-in. But in the past month she has seen her 20-point lead reduced to a mere five percentage points. all over the shop [british, informal] If things are all over the shop, they are spread across a large area. ❑ I don’t know what they’d been doing but there were clothes and blankets all over the shop. ❑ Their ads were all over the shop. ❑ She was throwing stuff all over the shop. If someone or something is all over the shop, they are not thinking clearly or behaving in a sensible, organized way. ❑ ‘I was all over the shop at the time,’ he admits. ‘I didn’t have a clue what was going on.’ ❑ Defensively Arsenal were all over the shop and it made me wonder what they’d been doing in training.

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shop

The usual American expression is all over the lot. set up shop If someone sets up shop somewhere, they start a business there. ❑ No-one in their right mind would set up shop in this city today.

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shop till you drop If you shop till you drop, you do a lot of shopping. ❑ I’ve had to do what I do best, shop till I drop. shut up shop [british] or close up shop [mainly american] If a person or organization shuts up shop or closes up shop, they close their business, often because they are not making enough money. ❑ Unless business picks up soon, some of the 245 foreign-owned banks in Switzerland may have to shut up shop. ❑ Mr. Lemoyne had reluctantly closed up shop when the library had reached a rock-bottom membership of eleven. ✪ a talking shop [mainly british] or a talk shop [american] If you describe an organization or a meeting as a talking shop or a talk shop, you mean it is not effective as its discussions have no practical results. ❑ Governments which used to dismiss the UN as a mere ‘talking shop’ now see possibilities for the international body to act more as a world police force. ❑ The Royal Society already had a reputation for being a mere talking shop. ❑ The committee is basically just a talk shop. talk shop If people who do the same kind of work talk shop, they talk to each other about their work. ❑ Although I get on well with my colleagues, if we hang around together all the time we just end up talking shop. ❑ Excuse me talking shop, Sara. ● You can use the noun shop talk to describe this type of conversation. ❑ Conversation over dinner began with catching up on family matters, then turned to shop talk. ● These expressions are often used to suggest that this is boring for other people who are present and who do not do the same work.

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have someone by the short and curlies or have someone by the short hairs [british, informal, rude] If someone has you by the short and curlies or by the short hairs, they have you completely in their power. ❑ The union’s chief negotiator last night said: ‘We had the company by the short and curlies.’ ❑ The managers knew they had us by the short hairs. In this expression, ‘short and curlies’ may refer to a person’s pubic hair, to hair on the back of their neck, or to the hair in their beard. one sandwich short of a picnic [informal] If you say someone is one sandwich short of a picnic, you mean they are behaving in a foolish way. ❑ His daughter confirmed that her father was definitely one sandwich short of a picnic. ● This expression is very variable. People often replace sandwich and picnic with other nouns, and one with a few. ❑ The guy was obviously several cards short of a full deck. ❑ Miss Martin is clearly one tent peg short of a full set. ● These expressions are used humorously. sell someone short If someone sells you short, they do not provide you with everything that they should. ❑ First-year students often can’t cope with too much complexity. But, on the other hand, if the tutor makes things too simple, that’s selling them short too. ❑ If a film is worth showing, it is worth showing as the full work it was intended to be. Anything less is selling us short. The reference here is to someone being cheated by being given less of something than they have paid for. sell yourself short If you sell yourself short, you describe yourself as less clever or talented than you really are. ❑ We should not sell ourselves short. Our work here is important and we should put a proper value on it. If you sell yourself short, you do things that do not show how clever or talented you are. ❑ He’s clearly a bright man and yet he sticks with quiz shows. Does he never feel that he is selling himself short? The reference here is to someone being cheated by being given less of something than they have paid for.

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The usual American expression is laundry list.

a shopping list Someone’s shopping list is a list of their demands or requirements from a particular person or organization. ❑ Mr Baker presented a shopping list of additional help the United States required from its allies. ❑ The Social Democratic Party has just laid out a shopping list of changes that might make the treaty acceptable.

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shot like a shot [informal] If you do something like a shot, you do it a big shot immediately and usually eagerly. A big shot is a very important person in ❑ If they offered me the job, I’d be off like a shot. an organization. ❑ I’d go myself like a shot but David wouldn’t let ❑ He was a big shot with the local Conservative me. Association. ✪ a long shot ● This expression is used to express If you describe a way of solving a disapproval. problem as a long shot, you mean that by a long shot there is little chance that it will succeed, You can use by a long shot to make a but you think it is worth trying. statement stronger, especially a negative ❑ You could try to find her. It’s a long shot statement or one that contains a because of her age but you could start with social superlative. media. ❑ We have to know what is going on, and we You can also say that something is a don’t, not yet, not by a long shot. ❑ The arms long shot when it is very unlikely to race isn’t over by a long shot. ❑ No city has happen. escaped the recession, but Seattle has fared best ❑ It seemed such a long shot, me walking over the by a long shot. hills, and seeing you at the end of it. ➜ compare with a long shot ➜ compare with by a long shot a cheap shot The reference here is to someone If you describe something critical that shooting at a target from a very long someone says as a cheap shot, you mean distance. that it is unfair or unpleasant. one shot in your locker ❑ It would be a cheap shot, of course, to say If you have only one shot in your locker, anything about his haircut. ❑ The cartoon is a you have only one thing left that you can cheap shot that will draw a guilty chuckle from do in order to succeed. even the most sensitive reader. ❑ He had just one shot left in his locker and if that get shot of someone/something [british, failed, he would be ruined. informal] A locker is a small cupboard with a lock. If you get shot of someone or something, In this case, it might be a cupboard you get rid of them. containing ammunition. ❑ He didn’t want to be seen near me and couldn’t wait to get shot of me. ❑ City experts still reckon ✪ a shot across the bows or a warning shot across the bows [formal] the company wants to get shot of its brewing division. A shot across the bows or a warning shot ● You can also say that you are shot of across the bows is something that someone or something. ❑ The house was someone does or says to show someone full of bad memories and he was glad to be shot else that they are prepared to fight or of it. compete with them, often if they ✪ give something your best shot continue to do what they are doing. [informal] ‘Bows’ is pronounced with the same If you give something difficult your vowel sound as the word ‘how’. best shot, you try as hard as you can to ❑ As a warning shot across the bows of their achieve it. rivals, the company is already setting very low ❑ I don’t think the Republic have enough quality prices. ❑ This vote is a protest, a shot across players to become World Champions, but they’ll the bows to the leadership, to show them that give it their best shot. ❑ As long as I play tennis, we’re here. ● You can also use the shorter expression I’ll keep coming back and giving Wimbledon my best shot. a warning shot. ❑ The protest should act as a ● You can also simply describe a course of warning shot to the government. ● People often use the verb fire before action as someone’s best shot when it is the best chance they have of achieving these expressions, and, less often, verbs something. ❑ Analysts say Canada’s best shot such as deliver and send. ❑ Britain’s at economic recovery is continued growth in the agriculture minister departed from his prepared speech to fire a shot across Norway’s bows. United States.

shot

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shoulder ❑ The electorate has sent a warning shot which

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our politicians must now take notice of. be looking over your shoulder The bows are the front part of a ship. If someone is looking over their shoulder, ✪ a shot in the arm [informal] they feel anxious all the time because A shot in the arm is something that gives someone might hurt them or cause help and encouragement at a time when problems for them. ❑ When a company keeps making people it is needed. redundant, those who are left behind start ❑ Having a member of the royal family taking looking over their shoulder. ❑ You’d be on the run part in the sport has provided a massive shot in for the rest of your lives, looking over your the arm. ❑ Last weekend’s Gold Coast Boat Show shoulder at every turn. has proved a shot in the arm for the marine ✪ give someone the cold shoulder industry. If someone gives you the cold shoulder, A ‘shot’ is an injection, in this case an they deliberately stop being friendly to injection of a drug that stimulates you. you and ignore you. a shot in the dark ➜ see dark ❑ Something’s happened and I don’t know what it shotgun is, but he’s giving me the cold shoulder. ❑ He was a shotgun wedding upset to find his previously friendly colleagues A shotgun wedding is a wedding that giving him the cold shoulder. happens quickly because the woman is ● You can also say that you get the cold pregnant. shoulder from someone. ❑ Nancy found she ❑ The sort of marriage that starts with a shotgun was getting the cold shoulder from a lot of people wedding never quite escapes from the feeling that she’d thought were her friends. one partner or the other has been trapped. ● You can say that someone or something A shotgun wedding is when two is cold-shouldered when people ignore or companies or organizations join together refuse to be interested in them. You can suddenly because they need to. also talk about cold-shouldering. ❑ The committee was created through a shotgun [journalism] wedding between the community relations ❑ Since the President’s election four years ago, commission and the race relations board. he’s been consistently cold-shouldered by the ride shotgun international community. ❑ The biggest stars If someone rides shotgun, they sit in the stayed away from the festival in solidarity with front of a vehicle, next to the driver. their government’s cold-shouldering of the ❑ I was riding shotgun on a night patrol when a country. boy darted out from an alley and ran towards the A shoulder is a cut of meat which truck. includes the upper part of the This expression comes from times in animal’s front leg. This expression the past when a man with a shotgun sat refers to a medieval practice where next to the driver of a coach and horses important guests were given roast for protection. meat. Less important people were only shots given cold meat left over from previous ✪ call the shots [informal] meals. If you call the shots, you are the person put your shoulder to the wheel who makes all the important decisions in If you put your shoulder to the wheel, you an organization or situation. put a great deal of effort into a difficult ❑ Is the military really the power behind the task. President now? Who really calls the shots? ❑ He ❑ He vowed to put his shoulder to the wheel to had to be the one calling the shots, in control of drive the peace process forward. ❑ Everyone everything. just put their shoulder to the wheel and got on This may refer to someone shooting and with it. saying which part of the target they In the days when people travelled in intend to hit. Alternatively, it may refer carriages or carts on roads that often to a snooker or pool player saying which got very muddy, people would help free ball they intend to hit or which pocket vehicles that were stuck by leaning against a wheel and pushing. they intend to hit it into.

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shoulders ✪ a shoulder to cry on

fewer poor people, the rich are also more visible, and in the cities the two rub shoulders. A shoulder to cry on is someone who is sympathetic to you when you are upset The usual American expression is rub and listens when you talk about your elbows with someone. problems. shout ❑ For a lot of new mums the health visitor is the in with a shout [british, informal] perfect shoulder to cry on when it all gets too If you are in with a shout, it is possible much. ❑ If you need a shoulder to cry on, you that you may achieve something or win know where I am. something. ● You can also say that one person cries on ❑ The World Cup is beckoning and England are in another’s shoulder. ❑ He had let her cry on with a shout. ❑ If you didn’t get tickets, fear not, his shoulder when her mother died, taking her you’re still in with a shout. calls in the middle of the night. ✪ stand shoulder to shoulder show If you stand shoulder to shoulder with a get the show on the road group of people, you work together with If you get the show on the road, you put a them and support them to achieve the plan or idea into action. same aim. ❑ Come on, let’s get this show on the road. People ❑ Perreira, who had stood shoulder to shoulder are getting tired of waiting. ❑ He checked his with his players throughout the campaign, watch. ‘Shouldn’t we get this show on the road, simply said ‘I want to be with my team.’ ❑ For now that Rolfe’s here?’ decades, we have stood shoulder to shoulder, both ● You can also say that you keep the show in times of peace and in times of war. on the road, meaning that you make sure straight from the shoulder that a plan continues to operate If you say something straight from the successfully. ❑ It seems to be in everybody’s shoulder, you say it directly and with interest to keep the show on the road. complete honesty. ✪ run the show [informal] ❑ His opinions about top politicians in If someone runs the show, they are in Washington and New York come straight from the control of an organization, event, or shoulder. ‘The former President,’ he says, ‘was out situation. of touch with reality.’ ❑ So who’s actually running the show around ● You can use straight-from-the-shoulder here? ❑ What board of directors? You know as before a noun. ❑ It was his usual straightwell as I do that you’re the one who runs the show! from-the-shoulder performance. show and tell In boxing, a blow that is straight from If someone does a show and tell, they the shoulder is a direct and powerful show people something and talk about it. blow, delivered with a straight arm. ❑ Leading developers of software will provide shoulders technical show and tell sessions of their products. ● Show and tell can also be used as a verb. broad shoulders If someone has broad shoulders, they are ❑ This new video conferencing system lets you able to take a lot of responsibility and show and tell, not just talk and stare. they are not easily upset by criticism. The origin of this expression is a school activity for young children called show ❑ He insisted that he had broad shoulders and and tell, in which a child brings an was willing to carry on. interesting item to school and tells the ✪ rub shoulders with someone [mainly other children about it. british] ✪ a show of hands If you rub shoulders with someone If a question is decided by a show of important or famous, you spend time hands, people vote on it by raising their with them. hands to indicate whether they vote yes ❑ Johnson had always loved rubbing shoulders or no. with celebrities. ❑ Working on a ship can mean ❑ Parliamentary leaders agreed to take all such seeing the world, rubbing shoulders with the rich decisions by a show of hands. ❑ Russell then and famous and partying every night. ● You can also say that two groups of asked for a show of hands concerning each of the people rub shoulders. ❑ While there may be targets.

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sick ✪ steal the show

If someone or something in a show or other event steals the show, they are more impressive or amusing than anyone or anything else and, as a result, get more attention or praise. ❑ All three singers gave impressive performances but it was Domingo who stole the show. ❑ It’s Jack Lemmon who finally steals the show, turning in his finest performance in years. ● You can describe someone or something that gets more attention than other people or things as a show-stealer. ❑ The show-stealer at Citywalk, however, isn’t some Hollywood megastar, but a giant gorilla that hangs like King Kong from the front of the store. ✪ stop the show If someone stops the show, they give an extremely impressive performance in a show or other event. ❑ Twelve-year-old Reggie Jackson stopped the show last night with ‘America the Beautiful’. ● You can describe an impressive person, performance, or thing as show-stopping or say that they are a show-stopper. ❑ She got a standing ovation for her show-stopping number ‘And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going’. ❑ Her first encore was a real show-stopper.

lost in the shuffle [mainly american] If someone or something gets lost in the shuffle, nobody notices them or pays them any attention. ❑ A lot of great bands are lost in the shuffle as the record companies try to get the widest market possible. ❑ It is quite possible that campaign finance reform will get lost in the shuffle of White House priorities. When packs of cards are properly shuffled (= mixed), it is impossible to know where a particular card is.

sick [informal] sick as a dog If you are as sick as a dog, you are very ill. ❑ The last time I ate shellfish I was sick as a dog for 48 hours afterwards. sick as a parrot [british, informal] If you are as sick as a parrot, you are very annoyed or disappointed about something. ❑ The presenter will be as sick as a parrot if his new TV show fails to score with viewers. The origin of this expression is uncertain. References to people being ‘as melancholy as a sick parrot’ have been found as early as the 17th century. In the 1970s in West Africa, there was an outbreak of the disease of psittacosis or parrot fever, which humans can catch from birds. At about this time, footballers and football managers started using this expression to say how they felt when they had lost a match. sick as a pig [british, informal] If you are as sick as a pig, you are very annoyed and upset about something. ❑ We’ve lost a lot of money on this and it wasn’t our fault. I’m as sick as a pig.

If someone or something gets short shrift, they are treated very rudely or given very little attention. ❑ Unfortunately, these proposals are likely to get

✪ get short shrift

shrift

send someone to the showers [american] If you send someone to the showers, you stop them playing a game or taking part in an activity because of their bad behaviour or poor performance. ❑ Viewers will vote online about what should happen in events they’re watching, such as whether certain pitchers should be sent to the showers. ❑ Investors should consider various factors before sending a manager to the showers. ● You can also talk about a trip to the showers with the same meaning. ❑ So what did Clemens say to earn his early trip to the showers? ➜ compare with an early bath In baseball and other sports, players who are sent off cannot return to the field and so can take a shower before the game is finished.

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showers

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short shrift from the government. ❑ Anyone who complains will get short shrift from me. ● You can also say that someone gives someone or something short shrift. ❑ When I was a waitress I gave short shrift to customers who got on my nerves. ❑ Such objections are likely to be given short shrift by the committee. ‘Shrift’ is an old word meaning confession to a priest. In the past, condemned criminals were allowed only a few minutes to make their confession before they were executed.

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side over in the pan. [mainly american] ❑ He likes his eggs sunny side up and a drizzle of be laughing on the other side of your face melted butter on top. ➜ see laugh ✪ to be on the safe side err on the side of caution ➜ see caution If you do something to be on the safe from the wrong side of the tracks ➜ see side, you do it to protect yourself from tracks harm or trouble, although it is unlikely give someone the rough side of your to be necessary. tongue ➜ see tongue ❑ I didn’t think it was serious but I took her let the side down [british] to the doctor’s just to be on the safe side. If you let the side down, you disappoint ❑ You probably won’t need planning permission people by doing something badly or by for such a project, but to be on the safe side, doing something which they do not check with your local planning department. approve of. ❑ The workers are the best in the world – it’s sidelines management who let the side down. ❑ You have on the sidelines to play your best at all times – you really don’t If you are on the sidelines in a situation, want to be the one that lets the side down. you watch it happening but are not A side is one of the teams in a game or directly involved and cannot influence it. competition. ❑ France no longer wants to be left on the ✪ look on the bright side sidelines when critical decisions are taken. If you look on the bright side, you try ❑ The government has just stood on the to be cheerful about a bad situation by sidelines up to now and let the situation get concentrating on the few good things in worse. it or by thinking about how it could have sides been even worse. opposite sides of the same coin ➜ see ❑ I tried to look on the bright side, to be grateful coin that I was at least healthy. ❑ Look on the bright speak out of both sides of your mouth side. You still have a job. ➜ see mouth ● You can also just talk about a bright side two sides of the same coin ➜ see coin of a bad situation. ❑ There is a bright side to sieve this depressing situation, at least for one group of a mind like a sieve or people: American tourists. They’re getting more a brain like a sieve for their dollar right now. If you have a mind like a sieve or a brain on your side like a sieve, you have a bad memory and If something is on your side, it gives you often forget things. an advantage and helps you to achieve ❑ He’s lost his keys again – he’s got a mind like a something. sieve, that boy. ❑ We at least have time on our side. There really sight is no hurry. ❑ I have been very lucky this year. ✪ at first sight Luck seems to be on my side. You say at first sight to describe your first the other side of the coin ➜ see coin impression of someone or something. sunny side up ❑ The problem is trickier than it looks at first If you describe someone or something sight. ❑ The aims of the committee appear at as sunny side up, you mean that they are first sight to be admirable. ❑ Nothing is ever cheerful and bright. [mainly british, journalism] quite as good or quite as bad as it looks at first ❑ This was Sol, sunny side up. He was ‘loving sight. ● You usually use this expression to every moment’ with his new club, feeling ‘alive again.’ suggest that this first impression was ● You can also say that you keep your wrong or incomplete. sunny side up, meaning that you stay ➜ compare with at first glance cheerful. ❑ Somehow, throughout all this, ✪ lose sight of something she managed to keep her sunny side up. If you lose sight of an important aspect If a fried egg is sunny side up, it is of something, you forget about it or ignore it. cooked on one side only and not turned

side

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signed ❑ They seem to have lost sight of their original objectives. ❑ We should not lose sight of the fact

that, at times, depression is a perfectly normal reaction to life’s problems. not a pretty sight [informal] If you say that someone or something is not a pretty sight, you mean that it is not pleasant to look at. ❑ The bathroom is not a pretty sight. The wallpaper’s peeling, the tiles are crumbling. ❑ It’s the first time I’ve seen Rich get angry, and it’s not a pretty sight. out of sight, out of mind If you say out of sight, out of mind, you mean that it is easy to forget about someone or something when you have not seen them for a long time. ❑ Then I went away for six months and he lost interest. Out of sight, out of mind. ❑ We just take for granted the fact that once we’ve used something up we put it in that bin and away it goes – out of sight, out of mind. ● People often vary this expression. ❑ Absent employees may miss out on promotion prospects too – out of sight may well mean out of mind. a sight for sore eyes If someone or something is a sight for sore eyes, they are very attractive to look at. ❑ The sunset over the Strait of Malacca is a sight for sore eyes. ❑ You’re a sight for sore eyes in your white dress, Milly!

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sign

✪ a sign of the times

The sights on a weapon such as a rifle are the part that helps you to aim it more accurately.

sights. ❑ I am studying at university, with good job prospects firmly in my sights. ✪ set your sights on something If you set your sights on something, you decide that you want it and try very hard to get it. ❑ Although she came from a family of bankers, Franklin set her sights on a career in scientific research. ❑ They have clearly set their sights on winning the championship. ● You can also say that someone has their sights on something or has their sights set on it if they have decided that they want that thing. ❑ Brand and Torrance had their sights on the £111,000 first prize. ❑ With his football career coming to an end, Sibley now has his sights set on a TV career. ● You can say that someone sets their sights high when they try to get something that is hard to achieve. If you say that someone sets their sights low, you mean that they do not try to achieve as much as they could. ❑ Why do these young people so often end up in low-status, poorly paid jobs? Is it that they don’t set their sights high enough? ❑ The study criticized car makers for setting their sights too low and with being content to build cars which are just adequate. This expression are also used literally to say that someone is looking at a target through the sights of a gun.

If you say that something is a sign of the times, you mean that it shows what life is like now. ❑ The fact that no aircraft has been built even to match Concorde, is a rather depressing sign of the times. ● This expression is often used to suggest that life is becoming worse.

have someone in your sights If you have someone in your sights, you are determined to catch or defeat them. ❑ Knight had Thomas in his sights for much of the race, but in the end, failed to catch him up. signed ❑ I didn’t dare stop or slow down because I still ✪ signed and sealed or had Imogen in my sights. signed, sealed, and delivered These expressions are often used If an agreement is signed and sealed or more literally to say that someone is signed, sealed, and delivered, it is official looking at a target through the sights and cannot be changed. of a gun. ❑ Although a peace agreement has been signed ✪ have something in your sights and sealed, many villagers say they’re afraid to If you have something in your sights, return to their homes. ❑ A government you aim to achieve it, and you have a spokesman said the bill must be signed, sealed good chance of success. ❑ Liverpool have the Championship firmly in their and delivered by tomorrow.

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significant In the past, documents were ‘sealed’ with wax into which a special mark or design was pressed using a device called a seal. The mark or design in the wax proved that the document was authentic and had not been opened.

significant

your significant other A person’s significant other is their wife, husband, or the person they are having a relationship with. ❑ Holly didn’t have a significant other to bring with her. ❑ Well, we always work together, we live together – he’s my significant other.

silk

smooth as silk ➜ see smooth you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear If you say you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, you mean that it is impossible to make something very successful or of high quality out of something which is unsuccessful or of poor quality. ❑ He did his best to coach the team but you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. ● People often vary this expression. ❑ It takes more than a good swimming pool and an indoor tennis court or two to make a sow’s ear of a resort into a silk purse. ❑ Afterwards, Kendall made no attempt to describe this sow’s ear as a silk purse. A sow is a female pig, and the ears of a pig are regarded as the least useful body parts when the animal is slaughtered.

❑ The fall in inflation is the silver lining in this prolonged recession. ❑ I must say, I had trouble finding a silver lining in the report. ● When you are using a silver lining in this way, you often refer to the bad aspect of the situation as the cloud. ❑ Even Clarke, usually a man to find a silver lining in the blackest cloud, admitted that the government was in trouble. ● These expressions come from the proverb every cloud has a silver lining, which is used to say that every bad situation has one good aspect to it. ❑ As they say, every cloud has a silver lining. We have learned a lot from the experience. ● Less often, people say every silver lining has a cloud, meaning that every good situation has a bad aspect. ❑ We got on brilliantly; he was clever, kind, funny – and leaving for New York on Tuesday. Every silver lining has a cloud, it seems.

sin

ugly as sin ➜ see ugly

sing

sing a different tune or sing a different song If someone sings a different tune or sings a different song, they express an opinion which is the opposite of the opinion that they expressed a short time ago. ❑ Only a week ago, Peters was insisting that the minister resign yet suddenly, for no apparent reason, he is singing a different tune. ● You can also say that someone sings the same tune or sings the same song, meaning that they continue to express the same opinion. ❑ The president basically sent the signal that he’s going to keep singing the same tune he’s been singing. If people sing a different tune or sing a different song, they express different opinions about the same subject. ❑ The problem of homelessness is very serious and it doesn’t help that two Government departments are singing different songs. ● You can also say that people sing the same tune or sing the same song, to mean that they express the same opinion about something. ❑ The party were at last united, all singing the same tune. sing from the same hymn sheet or sing from the same song sheet [british] If two or more people sing from the same

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born with a silver spoon in your mouth If you say that someone was born with a silver spoon in their mouth, you mean that their parents were very rich. ❑ He’s wealthy now but he certainly wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. ● You can use silver-spoon before a noun to describe a person like this or their lifestyle. ❑ Hers was no silver-spoon upbringing. ● You often use this expression to show disapproval. This expression goes back to the 17th century. The reference is to babies from wealthy families being fed using silver spoons. ✪ a silver lining A silver lining is one good aspect of a situation that is otherwise generally bad.

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skates hymn sheet or sing from the same song sheet, they express the same opinions about a subject in public. ❑ The important thing is to bring together the departments so that we’re all singing from the same hymn sheet. ❑ As she and her husband deal with the latest scandal, they can at least be relied on to sing from the same song sheet.

sink

sink or swim If someone has to sink or swim, they have to try to succeed on their own, and whether they succeed or fail depends completely on their own efforts and abilities. ❑ After three years of teaching and support at music college, musicians are left to sink or swim in the profession. ● You can use sink-or-swim before a noun. ❑ Tomorrow afternoon, it’s sink-or-swim time, her first game.

✪ at one sitting or

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407

fight between two people and you say it is six of one and half a dozen of the other, you mean that both people are equally responsible for what has happened. ❑ To me it was six of one and half a dozen of the other. Both men were at fault.

sixes at sixes and sevens [mainly british, informal] If something or someone is at sixes and sevens, they are disorganized and confused. ❑ Of course everything in the office is at sixes and sevens. None of us know what we should be doing. ❑ The home side were at sixes and sevens in the first half. Two origins have been suggested for this phrase. The first is from a dice game, and the second is from a dispute that arose between two of the guilds or craft organizations in medieval London about who was to go sixth and who seventh in the annual procession through the city. The dispute was resolved by the guilds taking turns, and this still happens today.

in one sitting If you do something at one sitting or in one sitting, you do not stop doing it until size you have finished it. ❑ He sometimes reads a whole novel at one ✪ cut someone down to size sitting. ❑ I can go through a whole box of cookies If you cut someone down to size, you do or in one sitting. say something which shows that they are less important or impressive than they six think they are. ✪ knock someone for six [british, ❑ It is time the big bosses were cut down to size. informal] They are the ones to blame for much of the If something knocks you for six, it country’s economic misery. ❑ If he starts shocks or upsets you so much that you bragging he’ll soon be cut down to size by the have difficulty recovering. people in this office. ❑ The emotional impact of losing a parent can try something on for size or knock you for six. try something for size If an illness knocks you for six, it causes If you try something on for size or try you to be very ill and weak for a long time. something for size, you consider it ❑ I picked up a virus that knocked me for six. I lost carefully or try using it in order to decide a stone in weight in two weeks. whether you think it is good or whether If someone knocks you for six, they you believe it. impress you to a very great degree. ❑ ‘Right now, everything is ambiguous.’ She says ❑ One day Gary walked in with his sister, Leah, the word ‘ambiguous’ slowly, as though trying it and I was absolutely knocked for six. There was on for size. ❑ ‘Jarvis was fired?’ he repeated, something very special about her. trying the idea for size and seeming to find it In cricket, six runs are scored when a rather pleasing. batsman hits the ball so that it lands

outside the playing area without bouncing. When this happens, you can say the bowler has been hit for six. six of one and half a dozen of the other If you are talking about an argument or

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skates get your skates on [mainly british, informal] If someone tells you to get your skates on, they are telling you to hurry up.

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skeleton ❑ Come on, get your skates on – we should be there by now! ❑ Bargain hunters had better get their skates on – the best properties are selling fast.

skeleton

✪ a skeleton in the closet [british,

american] or a skeleton in the cupboard [british] If someone has a skeleton in the closet or a skeleton in the cupboard, they have a secret that would cause great embarrassment or shame if other people knew about it. ❑ But everybody’s got vices, haven’t they? There’s always a skeleton in the closet somewhere. ● This expression is variable. ❑ Show me somebody with no skeletons in their cupboard, and I’ll show you a skilful liar.

skid

on skid row [mainly american, informal] Skid row is a poor part of a city where many people who are homeless and alcoholic live. ❑ He worked for twenty years catching drug dealers on the city’s skid row. ● You say that someone is on skid row when they have lost all their money and possessions. ❑ A drug addict who lived on skid row, she fit the profile of the other missing women.

skids

✪ on the skids [informal]

survived by the skin of their teeth. ❑ She was there when the fighting started and escaped by the skin of her teeth. This expression seems to come from the book of Job in the Bible, although its meaning has completely changed. Job loses everything and then says ‘I am escaped with the skin of my teeth’ (Job 19:20), meaning that the skin of his teeth is all he has left. get under someone’s skin If you try to get under someone’s skin, you try to find out how they feel and think, so that you are able to understand them better. ❑ Beattie’s book is presented as ‘an attempt to get under the skin of the Protestant people of Ulster’. get under your skin If something gets under your skin, it annoys or worries you. ❑ The continuing criticism is starting to get under his skin. ❑ Try not to let his comments get under your skin. If someone or something gets under your skin, they start to interest you and you want to know more about them. ❑ After a couple of episodes, the characters start to get under your skin. it’s no skin off my nose [british, informal] If someone says it’s no skin off my nose they mean they are not worried about something because it only affects or harms other people or because it is not their responsibility. ❑ It’s no skin off my nose if she doesn’t want to come. Maria might be disappointed but I don’t care. jump out of your skin or nearly jump out of your skin If you jump out of your skin or nearly jump out of your skin, you are suddenly very surprised or shocked by something. ❑ The doorbell made him jump out of his skin. ❑ He nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the rat. make your skin crawl If something or someone makes your skin crawl, you find them very unpleasant and frightening. ❑ The way he looks at me makes my skin crawl. ❑ I hated this man, his very touch made my skin crawl. ➜ compare with make your flesh creep

If you do something by the skin of your teeth, you just manage to do it but very nearly fail. ❑ In the men’s First Division, the champions

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✪ by the skin of your teeth

skin

If something is on the skids, it is experiencing many problems and will probably fail. ❑ My marriage was on the skids. ❑ It took Donny some time to realise his career was on the skids. put the skids under something [british, informal] If a person or thing puts the skids under something or someone, they cause them to experience many problems or fail. ❑ It was a sudden increase in the oil price which first put the skids under the world economy. ❑ The Brazilian striker’s fifth-minute goal helped put the skids under Manchester United in their quarter-final in Munich last month.

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409

leaving out either clear or blue. ❑ Unlike many previous sharp falls in the stock markets, save your own skin this one cannot be said to have come out of a clear If someone tries to save their skin or save sky. their own skin, they try to save This expression compares an themselves from something dangerous or unexpected event to a bolt of lightning unpleasant, often without caring what from a blue sky. The expressions ‘out of happens to anyone else. the blue’ and ‘a bolt from the blue’ are ❑ It looked to me like a desperate attempt to save based on a similar idea. his skin. ❑ It’s an announcement that’s got a lot reach for the sky more to do with the government trying to save its If you reach for the sky, you are ambitious own skin than trying to help the victims. and try hard to achieve something very ✪ skin and bone or difficult. skin and bones ❑ You have inspired our students and helped If you describe someone as skin and bone them to reach for the sky. or skin and bones, you mean that they are ✪ the sky’s the limit very thin, usually because they are ill. You say the sky’s the limit to mean that ❑ I need larger portions than this – I’ll soon be someone or something could be skin and bone. ❑ By the end of her life she was extremely successful. nothing but skin and bones. skin someone alive ➜ see alive ❑ ‘How much are you hoping to make for this ✪ a thick skin charity of yours?’ – ‘Well loads hopefully. I mean If someone has a thick skin, they are not the sky’s the limit.’ ❑ Asked how far the young easily upset or offended by criticism. tennis player could go, McEnroe said simply: ‘The ❑ To survive in politics, you need a thick skin. sky’s the limit.’ ❑ As a salesperson, you have to have a thick skin slack to deal with all the rejection. cut someone some slack [informal] ● You can also describe someone as being If you cut someone some slack, you are thick-skinned. ❑ She’s so thick-skinned, she less critical of their behaviour or won’t even have noticed the insult. performance than usual because you ✪ a thin skin know they are in a difficult situation. If someone has a thin skin, they are very ❑ When you’re new at a job, colleagues and easily upset or offended by criticism. bosses cut you some slack. They forgive minor ❑ He’ll never make it in journalism with such a mistakes because you’re new. thin skin. ● This expression is variable. Instead of ● You can also describe someone as being some, people sometimes use words such thin-skinned. ❑ She didn’t mean it as an insult as a little or a lot of. ❑ She’s still upset about – you’re too thin-skinned! her dad. Cut her a little slack.

✪ save your skin or

sky

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pick up the slack [informal] If someone or something takes up the slack or picks up the slack, they reduce the bad effect of something by providing something extra. ❑ With the export market in decline, it is hoped that the tourist trade will take up the slack. ❑ We have three members of staff absent and no one to pick up the slack. If you take up the slack in a rope, you tighten it.

blow something sky-high If someone or something blows someone’s plan or intention sky-high, they cause it to fail completely. ❑ If Diana breathes a word of this to Mills, it could blow the whole scheme sky-high. blue-sky thinking ➜ see thinking out of a clear blue sky If something happens out of a clear blue sky, it happens completely unexpectedly, with no warning. ❑ The collapse of the airline did not come out of a clear blue sky. ● People sometimes use this expression

✪ take up the slack or

drunk as a skunk ➜ see drunk

skunk

slap

✪ a slap in the face A slap in the face is an action or remark which insults and upsets you. ❑ The union leader described the payouts to both

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slate

bosses as ‘a slap in the face for all the hardworking staff who now find themselves out of work’. ❑ They promoted a colleague who had been with the company for less time than Paola and it was a real slap in the face for her. a slap on the wrist A slap on the wrist is a small punishment or occasion when someone is told they have done something wrong. ❑ She was given a small fine – a slap on the wrist really. ❑ But other than a few slaps on the wrist, the General went unpunished.

your life again, living in a completely new and better way, after a period of being punished for something wrong that you have done. ❑ Serving a prison sentence makes some people believe they have wiped the slate clean and that they can start afresh. ● You can also say someone starts with a clean slate. ❑ I had hoped that when he came back he would stop taking drugs and start with a clean slate.

sledgehammer

a sledgehammer to crack a nut ➜ see nut

slate

In the past, people used pieces of a dark grey stone called ‘slate’ for writing on, for example in schools, shops, and pubs. Shopkeepers and pub owners would write customers’ debts on their slates, and wipe them clean when the debts were paid.

on the slate [british, old-fashioned] If you buy something on the slate, you have it now but promise to pay for it later. ❑ If a man was unemployed at the time, some kindly shopkeepers would put it on the slate until the next payment came. ✪ wipe the slate clean If you wipe the slate clean, you get rid of an existing system so that you can replace it with a new one. ❑ The chief executive said: ‘What we have done is wipe the slate clean and start again with this complete rethink’. ❑ There’s a strong desire to wipe the slate clean and call for early elections. ● You can also say that you are starting something with a clean slate. ❑ The new chief executive has clearly decided to start with a clean slate as he takes on one of the toughest jobs in British retailing. If you wipe the slate clean, you stop owing money to someone, after paying back all your debts or agreeing with someone that they will ignore a debt. ❑ When his campaign ended he owed $4 million; after 12 weeks of hard work he was able to wipe the slate clean. ● When you begin something without owing any money, you can say that you start with a clean slate. ❑ The proposal is to pay everything you owe, so that you can start with a clean slate. ❑ Before accepting the job he tried to persuade the government to wipe out the deficit and allow him to start with a clean slate. If you wipe the slate clean, you start

sleep

✪ not lose any sleep over something

If you say that you don’t lose any sleep over something, you mean that you do not worry about it at all. ❑ I get criticized from time to time but I don’t lose any sleep over it. ❑ The world No.8 insists she is not losing any sleep over the lack of a major trophy from her cupboard. sleep rough [british] When people sleep rough, they sleep out of doors, usually because they have no home. ❑ It makes me so sad when I see young people begging or sleeping rough on the streets. ● You can also say that someone lives rough. ❑ He looked like he’d been living rough for the last few days.

be laughing up your sleeve [old-fashioned] If someone is laughing up their sleeve, they are secretly amused by something, often something silly that someone else has done. ❑ They must be laughing up their sleeves at our stupidity. The image here is of someone trying to hide the fact that they are laughing by putting their hand or arm in front of their mouth. ✪ have something up your sleeve If you have something up your sleeve, you have a secret idea or plan which you can use to gain an advantage over other people. ❑ Paterson had another plan up his sleeve, however. ❑ If that failed, he had one final trick up his sleeve. ❑ We would wait to see what Bill had up his sleeve. ● You can also just talk about something, such as a plan or a trick, that is up

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slope someone’s sleeve. ❑ The manager insisted his team will use every trick up their sleeve to defeat their rivals. ● The expressions have an ace up your sleeve and have a card up your sleeve mean the same. ❑ He always seems to have an ace up his sleeve to deal with these kinds of situations. ❑ Even his critics admit that he seems always to have a card up his sleeve. If someone wanted to cheat at cards, they could hide a good card up their sleeve to use at an appropriate time.

slip

SA sleeves

roll up your sleeves If you roll up your sleeves, you get ready to work hard, often as part of a group of people. ❑ He was very much a team player, rolling up his sleeves and getting down to work. ❑ When others refused to act, Jamie was the first to roll up his sleeves and get to work.

slice

a slice of the action ➜ see action

sling

411

kill himself: ‘To be, or not to be - that is the question; Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them?’ (Act 3, Scene 1)

have someone’s ass in a sling or put someone’s ass in a sling [american, informal, rude] If someone has someone else’s ass in a sling or puts someone else’s ass in a sling, they punish them or cause trouble for them. ❑ I’m willing to bet Harris would put my ass in a sling for doing it. ● You can also say that someone’s ass is in a sling, meaning that they are in a difficult situation. ❑ His ass is in a sling and he knows it.

a slip of the pen A slip of the pen is something you wrote by mistake. ❑ The translator dated his letter ‘Plymouth 1 June 1618’. This is wrong, and probably a slip of the pen for 11 June. a slip of the tongue A slip of the tongue is something that you said by mistake. ❑ At one stage he referred to her as James’s ‘fiancée’ but later said that was a slip of the tongue and that they were not formally engaged. there is many a slip twixt cup and lip [literary] If you say there is many a slip twixt cup and lip, you mean that plans often go wrong before they are completed so you cannot be sure of what will happen. ❑ The building is due for completion in September, but as they say, there’s many a slip twixt cup and lip. ● People sometimes just say there’s many a slip, or change the second half of the expression. ❑ But there’s many a slip twixt now and the eight or nine months it will take the company to design and reopen a new café. ‘Twixt’ is an old-fashioned word meaning ‘between’.

slippery

slippery as an eel If someone is as slippery as an eel, they slings and arrows [mainly british, are difficult to catch or take hold of. literary] ❑ When his opponent is on the attack, he is as Slings and arrows are bad things that slippery as an eel. happen to you and that are not your fault. If someone is as slippery as an eel, they ❑ She seemed generally unable to cope with the are clever and able to think quickly, but slings and arrows of life. ❑ He endured the usual you cannot trust them. slings and arrows of a life lived in the media ❑ He was as clever as a fox and as slippery as spotlight. an eel. ● This expression comes from the line the ● You can also describe someone as a slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, slippery eel. ❑ He himself admits that he is in Shakespeare’s play ‘Hamlet’. People regarded as a slippery eel – a man who constantly sometimes use this line in full. ❑ Ah well, changes his mind. we all have to bear the slings and arrows of slope outrageous fortune. ✪ a slippery slope This is a quotation from a speech in A slippery slope is a course of action which Shakespeare’s play ‘Hamlet’, where Hamlet is considering whether or not to is likely to lead to failure or serious trouble.

slings

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small ❑ It’s a slippery slope. You give in to one demand and soon find that you’re doing exactly what they want. ❑ The company started down the slippery slope of believing that they knew better than the customer, with the inevitable disastrous results. ● You can also say that someone is on a slippery slope or on the slippery slope. ❑ These young people may already be on the slippery slope to criminality.

small

make someone feel small If someone makes you feel small, they deliberately say or do something which makes you feel stupid, especially in front of other people. ❑ Some people try to make you feel small because that’s the only way they know to make themselves feel better. ❑ When your children misbehave, tell them without making them feel small.

smoke

people, especially by making something seem better than it really is. ❑ The president claims that his economic plan is free of the smoke and mirrors of previous presidential budget proposals. ❑ Thousands of shareholders learned too late that the company’s image of success had been created with smoke and mirrors. Magicians sometimes use smoke and mirrors when they are performing tricks, in order to confuse or deceive people. a smoke-filled room ➜ see room smoke signals Smoke signals are signs or suggestions that something might be happening or going to happen. ❑ The smoke signals coming out of the White House suggest that the President will sign the treaty. ❑ Recent economic smoke signals would indicate that the economy began to pick up in May. Smoke signals are columns of smoke which were used to send messages over long distances, for example by Native American tribes. there’s no smoke without fire or where there’s smoke there’s fire If you say there’s no smoke without fire or where there’s smoke there’s fire, you mean that a rumour about someone doing something bad is probably at least partly true or the rumour would not have started. ❑ The story was the main item on the news and people were bound to think there was no smoke without fire. ❑ ‘Do you believe those allegations?’ – ‘Where there’s smoke there’s fire is what I say.’

the big smoke or the Big Smoke The big smoke or the Big Smoke is a large city, especially London. ❑ He and his wife had long dreamed of leaving the big smoke and spending their days sailing from port to port. blow smoke [mainly american] If someone blows smoke they deliberately confuse or deceive you. ❑ I just can’t shake the feeling that he’s up to something. Sounds to me like he’s blowing smoke. ● You can also say that someone blows smoke in your face or blows smoke in your eyes with the same meaning. ❑ He’s being misled. They are blowing smoke in his face. blow smoke up someone’s ass [american, informal, rude] smooth If someone blows smoke up someone’s smooth as silk ass, they praise them in a way that is not If something is as smooth as silk, it is sincere. very smooth. ❑ Everybody tells you you’re great when you’re ❑ The landing at Kirkwall turned out to be as famous, but my mother refused to blow smoke up smooth as silk. ❑ The cream left my skin as my ass. smooth as silk. ✪ go up in smoke If someone is smooth as silk, they are If something that is important to you polite and confident, often in a way that goes up in smoke, it fails or ends. is not sincere. ❑ The President’s whole political future could go ❑ It might make it easier if I talked to him on my up in smoke if this plan fails. ❑ But with just own. He’s smooth as silk. eight minutes to go, Kennedy scored and ✪ smooth the way or Liverpool’s dreams of glory went up in smoke. smooth the path smoke and mirrors If someone or something smooths the Smoke and mirrors are words and actions way or smooths the path for something, that are intended to deceive or confuse

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snuff they make it easier for it to happen or more likely to happen. ❑ It is hoped that the talks will smooth the way to peace in the region. ❑ Working closely with parents, teachers can help to smooth the path through the early years of school.

not to be sneezed at or not to be sniffed at [informal] If something is not to be sneezed at or not to be sniffed at, it is worth having. ❑ The money’s not to be sneezed at. ❑ At least she had somewhere to live and a job – both temporary, but not to be sniffed at.

snail

✪ at a snail’s pace

If something is moving or happening at a snail’s pace, it is moving or happening very slowly. ❑ The vote counting continues at a snail’s pace but already clear results are emerging. ❑ The economy grew at a snail’s pace in the first three months of this year. ❑ She was driving at a snail’s pace, looking in every house. ● You can also use snail’s pace before a noun. ❑ Observers hope that the meeting will speed up two years of snail’s-pace progress. ● You usually use this expression when you think that it would be better if it went more quickly.

snake

413

sneeze

cock a snook at someone/something [british, old-fashioned] If you cock a snook at someone or something, you show them that you do not respect them, often by insulting them. ❑ They drove around in big cars, openly flaunting their wealth and cocking a snook at the forces of law and order. ❑ This was the electorate’s attempt to cock a snook at their own political establishment. To cock a snook at someone literally means to make a rude gesture by placing the end of your thumb on the end of your nose, spreading out your fingers, and moving them up and down. ‘Thumb your nose at someone’ means the same.

a snake in the grass If you describe someone as a snake in the grass, you mean they are false because they pretend to be your friend while actually harming you. ❑ He’s a snake in the grass – a guy you really can’t trust. This phrase was first used by the Roman poet Virgil in his work ‘The Eclogues’ to refer to a hidden danger. snake oil Snake oil is something which is sold or presented as a cure or a solution to a problem but which, in fact, has no use or value. ❑ Do vitamin creams really help the skin or are cosmetic companies simply promoting the latest in snake oil? ● You can also describe someone as a snake-oil salesman, meaning that they try to sell you or persuade you to believe in snake oil. ❑ Smooth-talking snake-oil salesmen use the telephone to take money from the foolish and the greedy and then vanish. In the United States, snake oil was a substance typically made from the plant snakeroot. Dishonest salesmen tried to persuade people to buy it, claiming that it was a medicine which would cure their illnesses.

snook

snooze

you snooze, you lose [american, informal] People say you snooze, you lose to mean that if you do not pay attention, you will miss a good opportunity. ❑ Do your shopping now while there are good deals: remember, you snooze, you lose.

a snow job [mainly american] A snow job is an attempt to deceive someone by telling many lies or by giving praise that is not sincere. ❑ Critics say a vast public relations snow job has been launched to convince the public of the need for the project. white as snow ➜ see white

snowball

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snow

not a snowball’s chance in hell ➜ see chance

snuff up to snuff [british, old-fashioned] If something or someone is up to snuff, they are as good as they should be or as they normally are. ❑ The technology in these companies simply isn’t up to snuff.

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soap ● You can also say that you bring or get someone or something up to snuff or that someone or something comes up to snuff. ❑ The hamburgers didn’t come up to snuff.

soap

no soap [american, informal] You say no soap to mean that you have failed to do something that you have been trying to do. ❑ I went over to his office yesterday and I called him at home this morning. No soap.

soapbox

on your soapbox If someone is on their soapbox, they are giving their opinions about a subject that they feel strongly about. ❑ I love getting on my soapbox. If I have something to say, I put pen to paper. ❑ In the early days I was very much on my soapbox, making it clear that I was a properly qualified scientist. ● You can also say that someone gets off their soapbox if they stop telling you their opinions about something. ❑ I’m getting off my soapbox for the moment, but I’d like to see you on yours. ● Soapbox is used in many other structures with a similar meaning. ❑ He turned the courtroom into a soapbox.

sober

act is going to knock your socks off! ● The verb blow is sometimes used instead of knock. ❑ This is the latest in screen technology and it will blow your socks off. If something or someone knocks the socks off other people or things, they are much better than them. ❑ They’re not cheap but they knock the socks off other models on the market. ❑ For personal service and value, they knock the socks off larger hotels. knock someone’s socks off If something or someone knocks your socks off, you are extremely impressed by them. ❑ This movie will not knock your socks off, but it will not disappoint. ❑ The area has scenery that will knock your socks off. pull your socks up [british] If someone tells you to pull your socks up, they want you to improve your behaviour or work. ❑ If he wants to continue in the job he’ll have to pull his socks up. ❑ She was told by the boss to pull her socks up. work your socks off [informal] If you work your socks off, you work extremely hard. ❑ They worked their socks off to make the business succeed. ● You can use this expression with many other verbs, especially verbs related to performing such as dance, act and play. In each case, it means ‘a lot’ or ‘very well’. ❑ I danced my socks off last night. ❑ Capper is currently playing his socks off for Sheffield Wednesday.

sober as a judge [british, old-fashioned] If someone is as sober as a judge, they have drunk no alcohol at all. ❑ For five years I was as sober as a judge.

knock the socks off someone [informal] If something or someone knocks the socks off someone, they impress them. ❑ Stritch has been knocking the socks off Broadway audiences with her one-woman show. ● You can also say that something or someone knocks your socks off. ❑ The next

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soft as shit [british, informal, very rude] If someone is soft as shit, they have a very kind or weak character and do what other people want them to do. ❑ Mr Peters our PE teacher was soft as shit. If you forgot your kit, he would just let you go and mess about in a classroom with your mates for an hour.

something

socks

soft

put a sock in it [british, old-fashioned] If you tell someone to put a sock in it, you are rudely telling them to stop talking. ❑ Put a sock in it, all of you. I’m trying to watch TV. sock it to someone [informal] If you sock it to someone, you say or do something to them in a very forceful way. ❑ Every time you go against your old team, you want to sock it to them. ❑ She’s great and really socks it to her co-star Bill Irwin.

sock

look like something the cat dragged in ➜ see cat something else If you describe someone or something as something else, you mean that they are very unusual and usually very impressive. ❑ I thought I’d seen some interesting parts of the world, but Dubai really is something else.

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soul ❑ There are a number of young footballers

❑ Slow job growth is a sore spot for the US

coming through in this country. But Keane really is something else.

● If you touch or hit someone’s sore

415

President.

song

✪ for a song

If you buy something for a song, you buy it for very little money. ❑ She was wearing a beautiful hat which she’d picked up for a song in Camden Market. ❑ She wore a lot of costume jewellery which she bought for a song off second-hand stalls. ● You can also say that something goes for a song or is sold for a song, meaning that it is sold very cheaply. ❑ In the early days their shares went for a song. ❑ I know of good, solid, stone-built houses which have been sold by councils for a song. This expression may be a reference to printed song sheets, which were very cheap. Alternatively, it may refer to small amounts of money that passersby give to someone who is singing in the street. make a song and dance about something [mainly british] If someone makes a song and dance about something, they react in a very anxious, excited, or angry way to something that is not important. ❑ They’re unhappy about the extra hours they’ve been asked to work and they’re making a real song and dance about it. ❑ People have to deal with problems like this every day and they don’t go around making a song and dance about it. ● You can also just talk about a song and dance. ❑ They sorted the matter out without any song and dance. ✪ on song [british, journalism] If a sports player is on song, they are playing very well. ❑ When I was on song, I knew my opponents couldn’t stop me. ❑ The whole team was on song. sing a different song ➜ see sing sing from the same song sheet ➜ see sing

point or sore spot, you mention a subject which makes them feel angry, embarrassed, or upset. ❑ The mention of Jim Kennerly had touched her sore spot. ❑ It was clear by his expression that my question had hit a sore point.

sorrows drown your sorrows If someone drowns their sorrows, they drink a lot of alcohol in order to forget something sad that has happened to them. ❑ He was in the pub drowning his sorrows after the break-up of his relationship.

sorts

it takes all sorts People say it takes all sorts when someone seems strange to them, to say that it is normal for there to be many different types of people with different ideas and behaviour in the world. ❑ I’ll never understand why people enjoy cricket, but I guess it takes all sorts. ● People sometimes use the longer expression It takes all sorts to make a world. ❑ Not everyone will behave in the way you expect them to. After all, it takes all sorts to make a world. out of sorts [british] If you are out of sorts, you feel slightly unwell, upset, or annoyed. ❑ He returned to his hotel room feeling ill-tempered and out of sorts.

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bare your soul If you bare your soul to someone, you tell them all your private thoughts and feelings. ❑ We all need someone we can bare our souls to, someone we can confide in. ❑ He seemed to feel no embarrassment about baring his soul in public. not a living soul People say not a living soul to mean nobody at all. ❑ You must tell no-one. Not a living soul! ❑ No, she told herself, he would not have told his suspicions to a living soul. ✪ sell your soul If someone sells their soul for something, they do whatever they need to in order to

a sore spot You can say that a subject is a sore point with someone or a sore spot for them if it makes them feel angry, embarrassed, or upset. ❑ The continuing presence of foreign troops remains a very sore point with these students.

✪ a sore point or

sore

soul

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sound

get that thing, doing things that they considered wrong before. ❑ As the Co-operative movement approaches its 170th anniversary, has it sold its soul to commercial pressures? ● Sometimes people use the longer expression to sell your soul to the devil. ❑ His devoted fans thought he had sold his soul to the devil producing such commercial music. There are many stories about people who sold their souls to the devil in return for wealth, success, or pleasure. The most famous is about Dr Faustus, whose story was first told in a book published in Germany in 1587, and later told by writers such as the English writer Marlowe and the German poet Goethe.

spade

sound

future. ❑ Even if the boarding school didn’t help Louise, at least the family would get a breathing space. watch this space People say watch this space to show that more information about something will be given in the future. ❑ Plans are afoot to run short courses there, so watch this space and the magazine’s advertisement pages. ❑ John has one or two ideas for next year, so watch this space. People say watch this space to show that things might change in the future or that something might happen in the future. [informal] ❑ A review of the legislation is currently in progress, so watch this space. ❑ We’re hoping to make Jam In The Park a yearly event, so watch this space.

sound as a bell [old-fashioned] If someone or something is as sound as a bell, they are very healthy or in very good condition. ❑ My knees aside, I’m as sound as a bell. ❑ The basic structure of the building is as sound as a bell. ‘Sound’ in this expression means whole and undamaged. A bell that has a crack in it will not ring clearly.

soup

call a spade a spade If you call a spade a spade, you speak honestly and directly about a subject even if it offends people. ❑ In the meantime, Whyte is emerging as an outspoken voice who is willing to call a spade a spade. ❑ I’m not at all secretive, and I’m pretty good at calling a spade a spade. ● You can also say that someone calls a spade a shovel when they speak extremely honestly and directly. ❑ He is never afraid to call a spade a shovel – and that is why he has universal respect in the game. In a play by the Ancient Greek dramatist Menander, one of the characters says ‘I call a fig a fig, and a spade a spade’.

south

breathing space If you have some breathing space, you have some time when you do not have to deal with something difficult, and which may give you time and energy to deal with it better in the future. ❑ I spent seven happy months there, and it gave us both a breathing space in which to plan for the

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✪ in spades

If you have something in spades, you have a lot of it. ❑ The job required determination and ambition – and she had both qualities in spades. If something happens in spades, it happens to a great degree. ❑ All this effort has paid off in spades.

spanner

space

spades

head south or go south [informal] If something heads south or goes south, it becomes less successful or falls to a lower level. ❑ At that point, the stock market headed south. ❑ Managers were selling shares in the certain knowledge that the company was going south.

in the soup [old-fashioned] If someone or something is in the soup, they are in trouble. ❑ She’s landed herself in the soup again with her unwise remarks. ❑ A recession could put oil markets right back in the soup.

✪ throw a spanner in the works or

put a spanner in the works [british] If someone or something throws a spanner in the works or puts a spanner in the works, they cause problems which prevent something from happening in the way that it was planned. ❑ If they’re suddenly going to change the arrangement, it’s going to throw a spanner in the

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speed works. ❑ It is clear Britain could have put a spanner in the works of the contract. ● You can also just talk about a spanner in the works, meaning ‘a problem that prevents something from happening the way that it was planned’. ❑ Another possible spanner in the works is the weather, which may prevent us from travelling on the 18th.

The usual American expression is throw a wrench into the works or throw a monkey wrench into the works.

spare

go spare If someone goes spare, they become extremely angry. [british, informal] ❑ He had arranged a mortgage on his house for three hundred thousand. Katrina would go spare if she found out. If something is going spare, it is available to be used because nobody else is using it. [british] ❑ His car is a second-hand Mercedes that was going spare after a senior executive was made redundant.

speak speak for yourself [informal] If you say Speak for yourself when someone has said something, you mean that you do not agree with them, or that what they have said only applies to them. ❑ ‘We’re not blaming you,’ Kate said. ‘Speak for yourself,’ Boris muttered. ❑ ‘We love you, too,’ Cooper said. ‘Hey, speak for yourself,’ Sasha told her. so to speak You use so to speak when you are describing or referring to something in a way that may be amusing or unusual. ❑ Even the grand Old Vic Theatre has got in on the act, so to speak.

species an endangered species If you describe something as an endangered species, you mean that there are not many of them left. ❑ Business class is in danger of becoming an endangered species, except on long flights. ❑ Bassoons, oboes and the big brass instruments are endangered species because children do not want to play them. This expression comes from the literal meaning of a plant or animal that is likely to die out soon.

spark

417

other, they react to each other in a very exciting or creative way. ❑ They have that creative partnership where they just strike sparks off each other.

a bright spark [mainly british] A bright spark is a clever person. ❑ Bright spark Niamh O’Donahy is studying archaeology and the history of art at UCD. ❑ Some bright spark at the club seems to think that the best way to attract young fans is to turn the football stadium into a theme park for the day. ● This expression is usually used to mean the opposite, referring humorously to a person with stupid ideas.

up to speed If you are up to speed, you have all the latest information about something. ❑ Once I’m up to speed with the latest issues, I’ll get to work on the report. ❑ We try to keep people entertained and up to speed with what’s going on in town. ● You can say that you bring someone up to speed, meaning that you give them all the latest information about something. ❑ I guess I should bring you up to speed on what’s been happening since I came to see you yesterday. ● You can also say that you get up to speed, meaning that you reach the point where you have all the latest information about something. ❑ The president has been getting up to speed on foreign policy.

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the spectre at the feast ➜ see feast

speed

sparks fly If sparks fly between two people, they get angry with each other and argue. ❑ They are not afraid to tackle the issues or let the sparks fly when necessary. ❑ Tempers flare and sparks fly with great ferocity as the couple argue. If sparks fly between two people, they are very excited by or interested in each other, often in a sexual way. ❑ Whenever these two actors are on screen, sparks fly. strike sparks off each other [mainly british] If people who are trying to achieve something together strike sparks off each

sparks

spectre

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spick

If something is up to speed, it is at its highest level of efficiency. ❑ Several issues need to be resolved before the city’s online services are up to speed. ● You can say that you bring something up to speed, meaning that you cause it to be working at its highest level of efficiency. ❑ The fear is that the system will not be cheap to bring up to speed. ● You can also say that something gets or comes up to speed, meaning that it reaches its highest level of efficiency. ❑ It is time the scheme got up to speed. ❑ Protected industries would have time to come up to speed before being exposed to market forces.

spick

‘Spick’ is sometimes spelled ‘spic’.

spick and span [mainly british] If a place is spick and span, it is very clean and tidy. ❑ Ann was dusting the furniture, making sure her home was spick and span. ❑ The facilities were all spick and span. ● You can also use spick-and-span before a noun. ❑ Its bright new buildings already resemble a spic-and-span Japanese car plant. This expression has developed from an old-fashioned expression ‘spick and span-new’, meaning ‘very new’. ‘Spick’ probably came from a Dutch word meaning ‘new’, and ‘span-new’ meant ‘completely new’.

If a plane goes into a spin, it goes out of control and falls very rapidly towards the ground in a spiralling movement. If it goes into a flat spin, it turns round and round as it falls, but remains horizontal.

spit

spin

spit and polish Spit and polish is the process of making a place or person very clean. ❑ There is a bit of spit and polish involved. Boots have to be clean and shining. spit and sawdust [british] A spit and sawdust pub or bar is dirty, untidy, and does not look respectable. ❑ I used to perform with a rock and roll band in the spit and sawdust Waterfront club. ❑ There’s a pub called ‘The Compasses’ in the High Street if it’s spit and sawdust you’re after. In the past, the public bars of many pubs had sawdust on the floor to soak up the mess caused by people spitting and spilling their drinks. the spitting image If you say that one person is the spitting image of another, you mean that the first person looks exactly like the second. ❑ He is the spitting image of his father. ❑ Now Nina looks the spitting image of Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday. ● People occasionally use the spit and image or the dead spit to mean the same thing. ❑ Six-month-old Caleb is the spit and image of his daddy. ❑ He was handsome – the dead spit of Tikhonov, the film actor. The origin of this expression is uncertain, but it may have developed from ‘spirit and image’. If one person was the spirit and image of another, they were alike both in character and physical appearance.

in a spin [mainly british] If you are in a spin or your brain or head is in a spin, you are so confused, excited or angry that you cannot act sensibly or concentrate on what you are doing. ❑ I didn’t know what to do – my head was in a spin. ❑ He was astonished at the news. His brain was in a spin and he had to sit down and take a deep breath. splash ● You can also say that you are in a flat ✪ make a splash spin. ❑ It’s not going to help if you’re in a flat If someone or something makes a splash, spin over the party preparations. they attract a lot of attention, often by ● You can say that something or someone being very successful. puts you in a spin. ❑ The unexpected ❑ Mrs Gorman made quite a splash at announcement has put the White House in a spin. Westminster with her outspoken views and ● You can also say that you go into a spin colourful clothes. ❑ His debut single comes out or that something or someone sends or in May – but has already made quite a splash in puts you into a spin. ❑ There’s no need to go the States. into a spin. It was a perfectly reasonable request spleen to make. ❑ The violinist’s long blonde hair and vent your spleen skimpy outfits have sent the classical music world into a spin. If you vent your spleen, you express your

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419

since she kicked ass in The Hunger Games. ❑ I’ve always had a soft spot for roses – my Dad used to grow them when I was a child. hit the spot [informal] spoke If something hits the spot, it is very good put a spoke in someone’s wheel [mainly and exactly what is needed. british] ❑ Karen Grey’s latest drama hits the spot, with If you put a spoke in someone’s wheel, its honest portrait of family life. ❑ A cup of milky you deliberately do something which coffee hit the spot. spoils their plans. ❑ They have been absolutely brilliant but we hope ✪ on the spot If an action is done on the spot, it is to put a spoke in their wheels. done immediately. Cartwheels used to be made of solid ❑ She was found stealing money from the till and wood, with holes in them through sacked on the spot. ❑ I was afraid they would kill which a wooden bar or ‘spoke’ could be me on the spot. pushed in order to make the cart slow ● You can also use on-the-spot before a down or stop. noun. ❑ On-the-spot fines are issued for litter spoon dropping. a greasy spoon [informal] Someone who is on the spot is in the A greasy spoon is a small, cheap, place where something is actually unattractive café that serves mostly fried happening. food. ❑ The Guard has firefighters on the spot the ❑ We ate at a greasy spoon called the Step Inn minute a fire is sighted. Cafe. ● You can use on-the-spot before a noun ✪ the wooden spoon [british] to say that something actually happens If you say that someone gets the wooden in the place that you are talking about. spoon, you mean that they are the last in ❑ Experts sent to Thailand have begun an on-thea race or competition or are the worst at a spot investigation. ❑ There is little point in particular activity. providing on-the-spot help while the fighting ❑ Cosmos will almost certainly get the continues. wooden-spoon for the second year in a row if they ✪ put someone on the spot lose. ❑ Britain’s bureaucrats won the EU’s If you put someone on the spot, you put wooden spoon yesterday, as the worst linguists in them in a difficult situation, often by Brussels. making them answer a difficult question. ● You can use wooden spoon before a ❑ He put me on the spot and asked me what I was noun. ❑ After their third defeat, the Hawks going to do about the problem. I didn’t have an have confirmed their place as wooden spoon answer. ❑ If you put me on the spot I’d say I hope contenders this season. Germany win – but I expect it will be Italy or At one time, the student who got the France. lowest marks in their final a sore spot ➜ see sore mathematics exam at Cambridge University was given a wooden spoon. spots hit the high spots [american, informal] spot If you hit the high spots, you give ✪ a blind spot attention only to the most important A blind spot is an area of knowledge or parts of something. understanding that you do not have or ❑ The history of English is long and complicated, pay no attention to. and we can only hit the high spots. ❑ The government have a blind spot when it knock spots off someone/something comes to the environment. ❑ Patrick’s never been [british, informal] great with money – it’s a bit of a blind spot with If one thing or person knocks spots off him. another, the first is much better than the ✪ have a soft spot for someone/something second. If you have a soft spot for someone or ❑ I’m looking forward to the return of her chat something, you like them. show. It knocks spots off all the others. ❑ I’ve had a soft spot for Jennifer Lawrence ever anger about something. ❑ He took up the attack, venting his spleen against the government for a full hour.

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spotted ❑ Caroline didn’t have much experience, but she knocked spots off everyone else I’d interviewed – she was so charming and friendly. The reference here is probably to someone who is shooting so well that they are able to knock out the spots or marks on a playing card that they are aiming at.

spotted

well spotted People say well spotted when someone has noticed something. ❑ Well spotted if you noticed the dates don’t match. ● This expression is often used humorously.

spout

up the spout [british, informal] If something is up the spout, it is completely ruined. ❑ The money’s disappeared, so has he, and the whole scheme’s up the spout. ❑ The economy’s up the spout. If a woman is up the spout, she is pregnant. [rude] ❑ Her daughter is up the spout again. ● This is usually used when the pregnancy is a problem rather than a good thing. Many people dislike this expression because of the sexist attitude which it represents. Originally, this expression was used to refer to items which had been pawned (= given to someone in return for a loan of money). The ‘spout’ was the lift in which an item was taken from the pawnbroker’s shop to the storeroom above.

cannot do any of them well. ❑ At the time I was spreading myself too thin, with lots of different projects. ● Other adverbs can be used instead of too. ❑ ‘There are 8 of us taking care of 117 departments.’ – ‘Isn’t that spreading yourself a little thin?’ ● You can also say that a person or organization spreads themselves too thinly. ❑ Like so many businesses, the company grew too fast and spread itself too thinly across too many different areas.

spring

no spring chicken or not a spring chicken If someone is no spring chicken or is not a spring chicken, they are no longer young. ❑ At 85, he’s not a spring chicken, but Enrico Cuccia is busier than ever. ● If you describe someone as a spring chicken, you mean that they are young. ❑ By comparison with the others, DelGuercio is a spring chicken. A spring chicken was a young chicken that was ready to be eaten in the spring time, as opposed to an older bird.

spur

✪ on the spur of the moment

If you do something on the spur of the moment, you do it suddenly and without planning it in advance. ❑ He decided on the spur of the moment to make the journey south to Newcastle. ❑ She asked me, on the spur of the moment, to go along with her. ● A spur-of-the-moment action or decision is sudden and has not been planned in advance. ❑ It was a spur-of-themoment decision. It was like, let’s do something with the kids before school starts. ❑ We hadn’t planned it – it was a spur-of-the-moment thing.

sprat

a sprat to catch a mackerel [british, old-fashioned] If you describe something you do as a sprat to catch a mackerel, you mean that it involves a small cost or amount of effort spurs but it will bring you great rewards or ✪ earn your spurs or benefits. win your spurs [mainly british] ❑ Setting a sprat to catch a mackerel, the store is If you earn your spurs or win your spurs, offering in its summer sale a chrome blender for you show you are capable of doing £99 (was £149) to those who spend £50 or more. something well, and can be relied on to do A sprat is a type of small fish and a it well in the future. mackerel is a larger fish. Both fish may ❑ How did he earn his spurs for the toughest be eaten. police job in the country? ❑ Kampelman had won his spurs as U.S. negotiator at the Madrid spread talks. spread yourself too thin In medieval times, when a man was If you spread yourself too thin, you try made a knight, he was sometimes given to do too many different things at the same time, with the result that you a pair of golden spurs.

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stake square

✪ a damp squib [mainly british]

✪ back to square one or

back at square one If someone is back to square one or back at square one, they have failed completely in what they were trying to do, and now have to start again. ❑ The treatment failed and I was back to square one. ❑ But now, after their appeal, the investigation is back at square one. ● You can also say that you start or start something from square one. ❑ The new board will apparently be starting from square one. This expression may refer to board games where the players move counters along a series of squares, and sometimes have to start again at the beginning. on the square [mainly american] If someone is on the square, they are being totally honest with you. ❑ No one knows for sure who is, and who is not, on the square. This expression probably comes from the use of a square, a measuring device used to check that a right angle is completely accurate.

A damp squib is something which is much less impressive or exciting than it was expected to be. ❑ As a rebellion, it was something of a damp squib. ❑ The whole campaign turned out to be a damp squib. A squib is a small firework. A damp squib would not go off properly, and so it would be a disappointment.

stab

a stab in the dark ➜ see dark

stable close the stable door after the horse has bolted ➜ see door

stack blow your stack [mainly american, informal] If you blow your stack, you become very angry with someone and shout at them. ❑ My father really blew his stack when I told him. ❑ Now, whenever I feel like I’m going to scream or blow my stack or punch the wall, I head for my quiet place. swear on a stack of Bibles If someone swears on a stack of Bibles that something is true, they emphasize their promise that it is true. ❑ Our leaders swore on a stack of Bibles there was plenty of oil, and, of course, we wanted to believe them.

squeeze

421

squib

a tight squeeze If something is a tight squeeze, there is very little room for the people or things in a place. ❑ Six people can fit comfortably around this table. Seven is a tight squeeze. ❑ The rooms are stage luxurious and comfortable, although the ✪ set the stage for something bathrooms are a tight squeeze. To set the stage for something means to put the squeeze on someone/something make preparations so that the thing can happen. [informal] ❑ Jamaica’s prime minister set the stage for an If a person or a situation puts the election this month by announcing candidates for squeeze on someone or something, his People’s National Party. ❑ The agreement they cause difficulties or pressure for sets the stage for renewed talks. them. ● You can also say the stage is set for ❑ Retailers and banks have put the squeeze on something, with the same meaning. credit card fraud. ❑ Two government reforms ❑ The stage is now set for economic recovery. have put the squeeze on consultants who rely on private work to push up their incomes. stake If someone puts the squeeze on you, at stake they try to make you give them money. Something that is at stake could be lost or ❑ He put the squeeze on Diana for £1,000. damaged if something fails. someone’s main squeeze [informal] ❑ There’s a lot of money at stake here. A person’s main squeeze is their ❑ Someone’s got to do the thinking around here, boyfriend or girlfriend. especially with our daughter’s future at stake. ❑ He reckons he will have no trouble finding a go to the stake [mainly british, oldnew squeeze. fashioned]

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stall

If you say that you would go to the stake ❑ He saw himself as the standard bearer of to defend a principle or aim, you mean the right of the party. ❑ She’s become very that you believe in it completely and much the standard bearer for traditional family would do anything to prove it. values. ❑ It’s certainly not a cause that I would go to the A standard is a flag with badges or stake for. symbols on it, which represent a A stake is a wooden post. In the past, person or organization. In the past, people were sometimes tied to a stake a standard bearer was the person who and burned alive for refusing to give up led an army into battle carrying a beliefs which the church considered standard. heretical and wrong. stars have a stake in something ✪ reach for the stars If you have a stake in something, you If you reach for the stars, you are take part in it or it affects you and you ambitious and try hard to achieve care about what happens to it. something very difficult. ❑ These meetings are supposed to make everyone ❑ Our dad raised five children, urging us all to feel they have a stake in the decision-making. reach for the stars. ❑ Your nearest and dearest have a stake in your stars in your eyes baby. If someone has stars in their eyes, they If you have a stake in something, you are very hopeful and excited about things own part of it. which they expect to happen to them in ❑ The partners who have a stake in the company the future. also work with clients. ❑ With stars in my eyes, I set about becoming a stall guitarist, singer and songwriter. set out your stall [british] ● You often use this expression to suggest If you set out your stall you show your that the person is too hopeful and that intentions or beliefs in a way that is very the things that they expect to happen clear and determined. probably will not. ❑ He has set out his stall to retain his place in starter Europe’s Ryder Cup team. ❑ The Prime Minister under starter’s orders [british] last night set out his stall for a third election win. If someone is under starter’s orders, they stamp are ready to do a task, and can begin doing put your stamp on something it immediately if necessary, and if If you put your stamp on something, you something is under starter’s orders, it is do something that makes it clearly show ready to start. your influence. ❑ There are over a hundred such schemes ❑ Since Richard left, I’ve been putting my stamp under starter’s orders by central and local on each room. ❑ He is determined to put his government. stamp on the 150-year old newspaper. When the horses in a race are under starter’s orders, they are in the correct stand position at the start of the race, and are ✪ stand up and be counted waiting for the signal for the race to If you are willing to stand up and be begin. counted, you are willing to state publicly your belief, especially when this could starters cause trouble for you. for starters [informal] ❑ We are here, demonstrating, because we want People say for starters to introduce to stand up and be counted. ❑ Will we, as the first thing or things in a series of members of the Senate and the House, have the things. guts to stand up and be counted on this issue? ❑ It’ll be nicer than being at home, in some ways.

standard

✪ the standard bearer The standard bearer of a group of people or a belief is a person who represents them.

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No kids and dogs, for starters. ❑ There was so much I needed to know. How did my previous beliefs fit in with what I was now discovering, for starters? People say for starters to talk about the

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steroids first thing to be done. ❑ I’d like to shake him by the hand for starters.

state

✪ state of the art or

state-of-the-art Something that is state of the art or state-of-the-art has the most modern and advanced features and technology. ❑ The new apartments would be state of the art. ❑ We’ve now installed our own state-of-the-art cameras. ✪ the state of play [british] The state of play is the current situation. ❑ It’s probably not a great time to open up a shop, given the economic state of play. ❑ So what’s the state of play on that project?

stead

steam

stand someone in good stead If something stands you in good stead, it prepares you well for what you will need to do in the future. ❑ I really enjoyed the experience, and it has stood me in good stead for a future job.

The following expressions refer to the use of steam to provide power for a machine, especially a steam engine.

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The reference here is to steam escaping noisily from the safety valve of a steam engine. pick up steam If a process or activity picks up steam, it starts to become stronger, faster, or more active. ❑ Hopefully, the economy will pick up steam next year. ❑ Just as the presidential campaign was picking up steam, riots exploded in Los Angeles. run out of steam If a process or activity runs out of steam, it becomes weaker, slower, or less active, and often stops completely. ❑ The promised economic recovery seems to have run out of steam. ❑ The campaign had finally run out of steam. If you run out of steam, you lose energy or enthusiasm for something. ❑ I was working well earlier but I seem to have run out of steam now. under your own steam If you go somewhere under your own steam, you make your own arrangements for the journey, rather than letting someone else organize it for you or take you. ❑ You can go on an organised bus tour of the region or you can take off into the hills under your own steam. If you do something under your own steam, you do it on your own and without help from anyone else. ❑ He left the group convinced he could do better under his own steam.

full steam ahead If you go full steam ahead with a project, you start to do it with great energy and determination. ❑ The Government was determined to go full steam ahead with its privatisation programme. ❑ The Prime Minister declared it was full steam ahead for a fourth term of government. stem have steam coming out of your ears ✪ stem the tide or [informal] stem the flow If you have steam coming out of your If you stem the tide or stem the flow of ears, you show that you are very angry something bad which is happening to a about something. large degree, you start to control and ❑ I’ve never seen Mike so furious. He had steam stop it. coming out of his ears! ❑ The authorities seem powerless to stem the ✪ let off steam [mainly british] or rising tide of violence. ❑ The cut in interest rates blow off steam [mainly american] has done nothing to stem the flow of job losses. If you let off steam or blow off steam, you do or say something which helps you to steroids express or get rid of strong feelings of on steroids anger about something. If you describe something as being on ❑ Our team meets every two weeks, giving steroids, you mean it is an extreme everyone a chance to let off steam. ❑ I was so example of that thing. annoyed, I had to go for a run just to let off steam. ❑ He described the firm as an IT services company ❑ The discussions offer students an opportunity on steroids. ❑ The new instrument is described to blow off steam about their teachers. as a traditional electric guitar on steroids.

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stew Steroids are drugs that some athletes take, often illegally, in order to give them more energy and improve their performance.

stew

in a stew [old-fashioned] If someone is in a stew, they are very worried about something. ❑ He’s in a bit of a stew over his exams. let someone stew in their own juice or let someone stew If you let someone stew in their own juice or let them stew, you deliberately leave them to worry about something they have done and do nothing to comfort or help them. ❑ The coach refused to put an arm round the 23-year-old afterwards – choosing, instead, to let Taylor stew in his own juice. ❑ Leave her alone – let her stew. Give her time to reflect on how stupid she’s been. ● You can also say that you leave someone to stew. ❑ I thought I’d leave him to stew for a while.

stick

carry a big stick or wield a big stick If someone carries a big stick or wields a big stick, they have a lot of power, and so they can get what they want. ❑ Supermarkets these days carry a big stick and farmers have very little power to negotiate prices. ❑ The company wields a big stick. It is the biggest brand in the world and now controls 44 per cent of the global market. ● Big stick is used in many other structures with a similar meaning. ❑ They wanted peace, he said, but this big stick policy was forcing them into war. ➜ compare with carrot and stick This expression comes from a saying which became widely known through a speech made by Theodore Roosevelt in 1903: ‘There is a homely old adage which runs, “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”’ ✪ get a lot of stick or come in for some stick [british, informal] If you get a lot of stick or come in for some stick, you are criticized a lot, often in an unfair way. ❑ I got a lot of stick when we returned from the India tour and some of it I deserved. ● You can also say that you give someone

a lot of stick. ❑ The critics gave me a lot of stick for that performance but I don’t think it was that bad. get on the stick [american, informal] If you get on the stick, you start making an effort and taking actions to achieve something. ❑ Do you want to see some progress? Then let’s get on the stick! get the short end of the stick [mainly american] If you get the short end of the stick, you are in a worse position than other people in a particular situation, although this is not your fault. ❑ Kids and young families get the short end of the stick because they don’t get the kind of support that they need. ❑ As usual it’s the consumer who gets the short end of the stick. get the wrong end of the stick or get hold of the wrong end of the stick [informal] If someone gets the wrong end of the stick or gets hold of the wrong end of the stick, they completely misunderstand a situation or something that is said. ❑ You’ve all got the wrong end of the stick – there’s nothing going on between us; we just good friends. ❑ Did I get hold of the wrong end of the stick? Was that not what he meant? in a cleft stick [british, old-fashioned] If you are in a cleft stick, you are in a difficult situation which you cannot solve easily. ❑ I’m in something of a cleft stick – whatever I do, I’ll upset someone. This expression may refer to the practice of trapping snakes by holding them down behind the head with a cleft stick (= stick that is Y-shaped at the end). make something stick [american, informal] If you make something stick, you make it continue to be successful or effective. ❑ Mr. Kasparov held the advantage in the first game but could not make it stick. more things than you can shake a stick at [informal] If you say someone or something has more of a particular thing than you can shake a stick at, you mean they have a very large number of them. ❑ There’s more hit singles on this album than you can shake a stick at. ❑ This bike boasts more features than you can shake a stick at.

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stomach

stick in your throat If something sticks in your throat, it annoys you. ❑ What really sticks in my throat is the way that she just assumes she’ll be in charge of the project. ● Craw and gullet are sometimes used instead of throat. ❑ It sticks in my craw that such privilege still exists in society. If a particular word sticks in your throat, you dislike saying it or find it difficult to say, because it does not express your real feelings. ❑ She couldn’t be a loving mother to the child: words such as ‘darling’ or ‘sweetheart’ stuck in her throat. ❑ She wanted to ask if he had news of Keith, but the words stuck in her throat. ✪ a stick to beat someone with or a stick with which to beat someone [british] If someone uses something as a stick to beat someone with or a stick with which to beat someone, they use it to punish them or cause embarrassment or difficulty for them. ❑ Republicans had hoped to use foreign policy as a stick to beat the President with. ● You can also say that someone uses any stick to beat someone, meaning that they take every opportunity they can to punish someone or cause embarrassment or difficulty for them. ❑ The Socialist opposition, of course, will use any stick to beat the government. thin as a stick ➜ see thin

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❑ Even the remark about him being ‘arguably the most important intellectual alive’ had a sting in its tail. The sentence went on: ‘how can he write such nonsense about international affairs?’ ❑ The increased tax rate was an unexpected sting in the tail in an otherwise acceptable Budget. This is a reference to a scorpion, which is small and looks harmless, but has a poisonous sting in its tail. take the sting out of something If something takes the sting out of an unpleasant situation, it makes it less unpleasant. ❑ His calmness surprised her and helped to take the sting out of her anger. ❑ One of the best ways to take the sting out of things is put a humorous angle on it.

stitch

sticks

a stitch in time If someone says a stitch in time, they mean that it is better to deal with a problem in its early stages, in order to prevent it getting worse. ❑ As for the paintwork, paint over any small areas that have flaked off and save yourself a bigger job later on. A stitch in time. ● This expression comes from the proverb a stitch in time saves nine, which can also be used in full. ❑ Meanwhile, it was announced that interest rates were rising now to prevent bigger rises later. It was, said Mr George, a case of ‘a stitch in time saves nine’.

sting

✪ a sting in the tail [british] If something such as a remark or a plan has a sting in the tail, it seems good at first but contains an unpleasant part at the end.

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stock

stiff as a board If you or your body are as stiff as a board, you are very stiff. ❑ You’ll achieve flexibility very quickly with these exercises – even if you’re as stiff as a board at your first session. ❑ His lower back felt as stiff as a board.

stiff

in stitches [informal] If you are in stitches, you are laughing a lot. ❑ It was so funny – we were in stitches. ● You can also say that you have someone in stitches, meaning that you make them laugh a lot. ❑ Thea had us in stitches with her tales of her family.

in the sticks or out in the sticks A place that is in the sticks or out in the sticks is in the countryside and far away from any towns. ❑ They can take their London money and get a much larger property in the sticks.

stitches

a laughing stock If you describe someone or something as a laughing stock, you mean that people think they are silly. ❑ The truth must never get out. If it did she would be a laughing stock. ❑ His policies became the laughing stock of the financial community.

stomach not have the stomach for something If you do not have the stomach for something, you are not brave and determined enough to do or experience

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stone

stone, it is completely decided and cannot something difficult or unpleasant. be changed. ❑ There are some jobs I would never have the ❑ The exact terms of the scheme have yet to be set stomach for and yours is one of them. ❑ These in stone. ❑ These are just preliminary ideas and investors obviously don’t have the stomach for nothing is set in stone. the risks. ● Other verbs such as carved or cast can ● People sometimes say that someone has be used instead of set. ❑ These ideas are up the stomach for something, meaning for discussion – they are not cast in stone. that they are brave or determined enough ✪ a stone’s throw to do it or experience it. ❑ Although Lord If you describe one place as a stone’s Aldington still has the stomach for a fight, the throw from another, you mean that the older he grows, the harder it gets for him to take first place is very close to the second. any great satisfaction from it. ❑ His office is a stone’s throw away from turn your stomach or Westminster. ❑ The cellars are within a stone’s make your stomach turn throw of the church where Dom Pérignon, the If food or a smell turns your stomach, it legendary creator of champagne, was buried. makes you feel sick. ❑ I can’t eat meat, it turns my stomach. ❑ The stool mingling smells of all the food cooking in the a stool pigeon [old-fashioned] kitchen made her stomach turn. A stool pigeon is someone who gives If something you have seen or heard secret information to the police. about turns your stomach, it makes you ❑ There’s nothing the mob hates more than a feel very shocked because you feel it is stool pigeon. ● This expression is used to express morally wrong. ❑ The way he treats his staff turns my stomach. disapproval. This expression comes from the old stone practice of putting a wooden pigeon on ✪ leave no stone unturned a seat to trick other pigeons. If you leave no stone unturned in your

stools efforts to find something or achieve fall between two stools or something, you consider or try every be caught between two stools [mainly possible way of doing it. british] ❑ In the difficult weeks ahead, we’ll leave no If someone or something falls between stone unturned in our search for a peaceful two stools or is caught between two solution to the crisis. ❑ The New Zealand police stools, they are in an unsatisfactory minister promised that no stone would be left situation because they do not belong to unturned in the hunt for the killer. either of two groups, or because they are a rolling stone gathers no moss trying to do two different things at once People say a rolling stone gathers no and are failing at both. moss meaning that if a person keeps ❑ Young people on waiting lists for youth moving from one place to another, they training can fall between two stools. They can’t will not get many friends or possessions. get unemployment benefit, nor can they get the ❑ I’m saying that it’s not a good idea to get too allowance for the scheme they’re waiting to get settled – a rolling stone gathers no moss. on. ❑ Devo’s problem as a band has always been ● You can call a person who does not stay that they are caught between the two stools of in one place for long a rolling stone. ❑ I art and pop. guess you could call me a rolling stone. My home is out on the waves. stops ● Some people use this proverb to say that ✪ pull out all the stops it is a bad thing to keep moving like this, If you pull out all the stops, you do and it is better to be settled. Other people everything you possibly can to make use this proverb to suggest that it is a something happen in the way that you good thing to keep moving and changing, want it to. and not stay in one place. ❑ They pulled out all the stops to win the contract. set in stone ❑ I pulled out all the stops to finish on time. ● This expression is very variable. For If an agreement, policy, or rule is set in

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example, you can omit all or the, or put ✪ take somewhere by storm an adjective before stops. ❑ She pulled out If someone or something takes a place or the stops to beat her opponent. ❑ Pimlott’s a group of people by storm, they are excellent new production pulls out all the extremely successful or popular in that theatrical stops. place or with those people. On a church organ, the stops are the ❑ When she arrived there in 1862 she had already knobs which you pull or push in order to taken London by storm. ❑ Many firms expected control the type of sound that comes out these computers to take the industry by storm. of the pipes. The organ plays loudest ❑ It’s nearly 12 months since the film took when all the stops are out. America by storm. This expression originally meant to storage capture something such as a fort or a into cold storage military position by means of a sudden, If you put something into cold storage, violent attack. you delay doing it or dealing with it. ❑ He made it clear that the peace process would ✪ weather the storm or ride out the storm have to be put into cold storage until both sides If you weather the storm or ride out the had shown that they were committed to storm, you survive a difficult situation or democracy. ● You can also say that something is in period without being seriously harmed by it. ❑ The General insists he will not resign and will cold storage. ❑ A few years ago a publisher weather the storm. ❑ Both companies have asked me to consider writing a novel on the weathered the storm of the current recession subject, and the idea has been in cold storage better than most. ever since. ● You can also say that you ride the storm. storm ❑ The President will no doubt ride the storm, as ✪ the calm before the storm or he always does. the lull before the storm

story You describe a very quiet period as the it’s the story of my life calm before the storm or the lull before the storm if it is followed by a period of If you say that something is the story of trouble or intense activity. your life, you mean that something bad ❑ Things are relatively relaxed at the moment, keeps happening to you. but I think it’s probably the calm before the storm. ❑ ‘We’re making fools of ourselves,’ Rachel said. ❑ The Emergency Department is fairly quiet – the ‘That’s the story of my life,’ Neil said. ● This expression is used humorously. lull before the storm. ● This expression can be varied by a tall story ➜ see tall replacing the storm with another storm ✪ to cut a long story short [british] or or by adding next before storm. ❑ The to make a long story short [american] fragile ceasefire may be just the lull before another When you are describing something that storm. happened, you can say to cut or to make go down a storm [informal] a long story short to mean that you are If something goes down a storm, people only going to mention the final result or like it very much. point, without any extra details. ❑ Nils’ trick of playing guitar whilst trampolining ❑ I took a short-term job with the company and, on stage went down a storm with everyone. to cut a long story short, I ended up as managing a storm in a teacup [british] director. ❑ I saw a really good-looking guy If you say that a situation is a storm in a stepping off the airplane and thought, Boy! I teacup, you mean people are very upset or could go for him, and to make a long story short, annoyed about something that is not at we’re getting married. all important and will soon be forgotten. straight ❑ Parnell said that he thought the whole matter the home straight ➜ see home a storm in a teacup, and that it would pass ✪ the straight and narrow quickly. If someone or something keeps you on the straight and narrow, they help you to The usual American expression is a tempest in a teapot. live a good, honest life and prevent you

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straw

One person holds several pieces of straw from doing immoral or illegal things. in their hand with the ends poking out. ❑ He now had his faith to keep him on the Each person in the group takes a piece of straight and narrow. ● You can also say that someone strays straw and the person with the shortest piece loses. from the straight and narrow, meaning that they stop living a good, honest life ✪ the last straw or and do something immoral or illegal. the final straw If you say that something is the last ❑ The goal is to prevent them from straying from straw or the final straw, you mean it is the straight and narrow. ‘Straight’ was originally ‘strait’, which the latest in a series of bad events, and it meant ‘narrow’. The expression makes you unable to deal with a situation probably refers to a passage in the Bible: any longer. ‘Because strait is the gate, and narrow is ❑ An increase in mortgage rates could be the last the way, which leadeth unto life, and straw for thousands of borrowers. ❑ The few there be that find it.’(Matthew 7:14) relationship had been in trouble for a while and straight as an arrow Jack’s behaviour that night was just the final straw. If someone is as straight as an arrow, ➜ compare with the straw that breaks they are completely honest. the camel’s back a man of straw or ❑ Hardworking, straight as an arrow, he had a straw man [british, formal] been proud of never taking a bribe. If something is as straight as an arrow, A man of straw or a straw man is a man it is completely straight. whose character is weak and who lacks definite beliefs. ❑ We drove up a mile-long avenue, straight as an arrow and lined with beech trees. ❑ The party is run by men of straw without guts straight as a die [british] and without principles. ● In journalism, people also talk about If someone is straight as a die, they are completely honest. straw men. This form of the expression is used in both British and American ❑ There was no doubting his honesty – he was as English. ❑ These are the responses of straw straight as a die. If something is straight as a die, it is men with straw policies. the straw that breaks the camel’s back very straight. If you say that something is the straw ❑ The track runs straight as a die for several kilometres. that breaks the camel’s back, you mean it A die is a specially shaped block of metal is the latest in a series of bad events, and which is used to cut or form other metal it makes you unable to deal with a into a particular shape. This expression situation any longer. may refer to dies which were used to ❑ Last week, I broke my wrist skateboarding and produce designs on coins. The that was the straw that broke the camel’s back as metalworkers needed to strike the die far as my dad was concerned. He has ordered me with a hard straight blow from a to stay away from anything that could get me hammer, in order to leave a clear into an accident. impression on the coin. ➜ compare with the last straw The reference here is to an animal straw which is already carrying a great deal on draw the short straw [mainly british] its back and which collapses when one If you draw the short straw, you are more thing is added. chosen from a number of people to do a

task that nobody wants to do. ❑ I drew the short straw and had to take twenty kids to the park. ● Other verbs such as get and pick are sometimes used instead of draw. ❑ Eales got the short straw and was in goal. This expression comes from the practice of using pieces of straw to draw lots.

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straws draw straws If you draw straws, you decide who will do something or have something by choosing pieces of straw or something similar with different lengths. ❑ We drew straws for the best seats. ❑ We drew straws for who had to make dinner, and I lost.

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clutch at straws [mainly british] or stream grasp at straws ✪ come on stream or If you clutch at straws or grasp at go on stream [mainly british] straws, you try to do something that If a plan or a project comes on stream or is very unlikely to succeed because you goes on stream, it begins to operate fully. are desperate or have tried everything ❑ The airport’s authorities say they expect new else. destinations to come on stream in the course of ❑ This was a desperate speech, made by a this summer. ❑ The project was expected to go man clutching at straws to retain his career. on stream by September this year. ❑ I was probably grasping at straws in a search ● You can also say that something is on for a cure, but I thought I would give the therapy stream. ❑ The facility has been on stream since a go. the early part of the year. If you clutch at straws or grasp at swim against the stream or straws, you try to find hope in a situation go against the stream where there is no reason to feel hope. If you swim against the stream or go ❑ By this time, Rosa’s behaviour was extremely against the stream, you do or say the strange and we were all very concerned. I told opposite of what most other people are myself that she was probably just very tired, but I doing or saying. was clutching at straws. ❑ He was brave enough to be different and swim ● This expression comes from the proverb against the stream. ❑ If you live in a different a drowning man will clutch at a straw. culture, you can feel as if you are going against ❑ People are still clinging to the hope that the stream. something will happen – but I think it’s like a street drowning man trying to clutch at a straw. easy street [informal] The image here is of a drowning person Easy street is a situation in which things who is desperately trying to take hold of are easy and comfortable for you. anything to save himself or herself, ❑ If people think I’m living on easy street because even a straw. of what we’ve done in the last six or seven months, a straw in the wind [british, journalism] well, that’s not right. ❑ Two longtime pals hit If an event is a straw in the wind, it is a easy street yesterday after they collected sign of the way in which a situation may $5 million in winnings. develop. in Queer Street [british, old-fashioned] ❑ There is some evidence that the economy is If someone is in Queer Street, they are starting to climb out of recession. The latest having difficulties, especially because straw in the wind is a pick-up in sales among the they have no money. nation’s retail giants. ❑ These were straws in the ❑ Carry on like this, my son, and you’ll end up in wind, a foretaste of what was to come. Queer Street. People sometimes drop pieces of straw In the 19th century, ‘queer’ was used in in order to see which way they move as many slang terms applied to dishonest they fall, so that they can tell which way or criminal people or activities. the wind is blowing. However, ‘Queer Street’ may have streak developed from ‘Carey Street’, in talk a blue streak [american, informal] London, where the law courts dealing If someone talks a blue streak, they talk a with bankrupts were. Another lot and very fast. possibility is that ‘queer’ may come ❑ My mom always says I talked a blue streak from from ‘query’, as traders might have put a the time I opened my mouth. question mark in their records by the ● You can also say that someone swears or names of customers who could not be curses a blue streak, meaning that they trusted to pay their bills. swear a lot. ❑ He was led out by the police, ✪ the man in the street or cursing a blue streak as he went. the man on the street This expression refers to a blue streak When people talk about the man in the of lightning flashing quickly across street or the man on the street, they the sky. mean ordinary, average people.

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streets

❑ If you asked the average man in the street to name just one geological structure, he would probably say: the San Andreas Fault. ❑ It was the man on the street who suffered as the value of his currency fell. ● Words such as woman and person are sometimes used instead of man. ❑ It was described in terms that the ordinary man and woman in the street could understand. ❑ The information must be presented in a way that ordinary people in the street can understand. right up your street or just up your street [mainly british] If something is right up your street or just up your street, it is the kind of thing you like or know about. ❑ If you like casual yet elegant clothes, then this collection should be right up your street. ❑ I read a review of the book and thought it would be right up my street.

❑ Police are warning that emergency services are at full stretch and they are advising motorists to travel only if their journey is absolutely necessary. ❑ The increased export business kept our production plants at full stretch. ● You can also say that someone or something is fully stretched. ❑ Its 150 staff were already fully stretched and could not cope with the extra demand. by any stretch of the imagination If something is not true by any stretch of the imagination, it is definitely not true. ❑ The Danube was not by any stretch of the imagination blue. ● People sometimes just say by any stretch. ❑ He is not regarded as a serious biographer by any stretch. the home stretch ➜ see home

stride

✪ get into your stride [british] or

The usual American expression is right up your alley.

hit your stride If you get into your stride or hit your stride, you start to do something well and ✪ streets ahead [british] confidently, after being slower or less If a person or thing is streets ahead of certain at the beginning. another, they are much better or more ❑ The Government is getting into its stride and advanced than the other. seems, for the moment, to be fulfilling its ❑ The Waratahs were streets ahead of the home promises. ❑ He’s still learning but when he hits side. ❑ In engineering skill, the company is his stride, he’ll be unstoppable. streets ahead of its competitors. ❑ Germany is put someone off their stride [british] streets ahead in environmental awareness. If something puts you off your stride, it strength stops you from concentrating on what ✪ go from strength to strength you are doing, so that you do not do it as If a person, organization or event goes well as usual. from strength to strength, they become ❑ It was clearly a tactic designed to put his more and more successful or confident. opponent off his stride. ❑ As for James, he’s still going from strength to ● The verbs knock and throw are strength in the army. ❑ A decade later, the sometimes used instead of put. ❑ Perhaps company has gone from strength to strength. a few jokes during the game will knock Chris off ✪ a tower of strength or his stride. a pillar of strength ➜ compare with put someone off their If someone is a tower of strength or a stroke pillar of strength during a difficult period ✪ take something in your stride [british] or in your life, they give you a lot of help or take something in stride [american] support. If you are in a difficult situation and you ❑ My eldest daughter was a tower of strength for take it in your stride or take it in stride, me when I was sick. ❑ In her terrible sadness she you deal with it calmly and successfully. has found Charles to be a pillar of strength. ❑ ‘How does Rayner cope with the stresses of the job?’ – ‘He seems to take it all his stride.’ stretch ❑ Christie is always having to give talks to huge ✪ at full stretch [british] groups of people – she takes such things in her If someone or something is operating at stride. ❑ Across the country, many people took full stretch, they are working as hard as yesterday’s events in stride, while remaining they can, using all their resources, and generally uneasy about the stock market in general. cannot work any harder.

streets

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have someone on a string or keep someone on a string If someone has you on a string or keeps you on a string, they can make you do whatever they want, because they control you completely. ❑ It’s so unfair – she keeps him on a string and he’s crazy about her. how long is a piece of string? When people say how long is a piece of string? they mean that they are not able to guess the length, size or amount of something. ❑ Asked how long it might take to fix, he said: ‘How long is a piece of string?’ ❑ Mary Ross is convinced the health food market is huge, but is not sure just how big. ‘How long is a piece of string?’ she said.

strikes In baseball, a ‘strike’ is a legal pitch or ball which the batter fails to hit. The batter is out after three strikes.

three strikes against someone [mainly american] If there are three strikes against someone or something, there are three reasons for them not to be successful. ❑ The grocery business has three strikes against it: (1) high selection costs;(2) high delivery costs; and (3) low margins. ● If there are two strikes against someone or something, there are two reasons why it is difficult, but not impossible, for them to be successful, or they have only one more chance of succeeding. ❑ The hotel has two strikes against it. One, it’s a very ugly concrete strings building. Second, its unattractive location. ✪ pull strings three strikes and you’re out [informal] If someone pulls strings to get something If a country or an organization has a three they want, they get it by using their strikes and you’re out policy or law, friendships with powerful people, often people who commit three offences are in a way which is unfair. punished very severely, even if the ❑ It was felt that her father was pulling strings to separate offences are not very serious. advance her career. ❑ She knows a lot of people in ❑ California has recently introduced a law known the theatre so she’s usually able to pull a few as three strikes and you’re out, meaning that after strings if there are any tickets she wants. a third conviction the authorities lock you up and ● You can also talk about string-pulling. throw away the key. ❑ A Merseyside burglar has ❑ He got his job back, thanks to some become one of the first in the country to be jailed string-pulling by a major Hollywood power player under the new ‘three strikes and you’re out’ law. – who happens to be his girlfriend’s father. string ✪ pull the strings another string to your bow [british] If someone pulls the strings, they control If you have another string to your bow, everything that another person or an you have an extra skill that you can use if organization does, often in a way that is you do not succeed using your main skill. not noticed by people. In this expression, ‘bow’ is pronounced ❑ He engineered many of these political changes, with the same vowel sound as the word pulling the strings from behind the stage. ❑ He is ‘show’. the kind of man who prefers to work behind the ❑ Looking for another string to his bow, he turned scenes, pulling the strings. to art and design, for which he had always shown The image here is of a puppet which is a talent. controlled by means of strings. ● You can also say that someone has a ✪ with no strings attached or second string to their bow, with the without strings same meaning. ❑ She should really develop a If you say that an offer of help comes with second string to her bow in case the acting doesn’t no strings attached or without strings, work out. you mean that accepting the offer does ● You can also say that someone has many not require you to do a particular thing or strings to their bow or several strings to give something in return. their bow. ❑ Stephanie has many strings to her ❑ I think this is an extremely generous offer. There bow. Before opting for a career in interior design, are no strings attached and I will recommend that she was a photographer and a Wall Street banker. everyone accepts. ❑ I am grateful to them for Archers used to carry a spare bowstring their co-operation, which was also given with in case the first one broke.

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strip

absolutely no strings attached. ❑ We must reduce our dependence on government money, which never comes without strings. with strings or with strings attached You can say that an offer is with strings or with strings attached if accepting it requires you to do a particular thing or give something in return. ❑ We cannot accept donations with strings attached. ❑ More often than not, aid comes with strings that bind the recipient to unfair relationships in the international market.

strip

tear a strip off someone or tear someone off a strip [british] If you tear a strip off someone or tear them off a strip, you speak angrily to them, because they have done something wrong. ❑ He heard Nora tearing a strip off a member of staff for not returning the bins to the kitchen soon enough. ❑ The headmaster tore me off a strip for being late.

stripes

strong strong as an ox If someone is as strong as an ox, they are extremely strong. ❑ Big Beppe, as everybody calls him, is enormous for his age and as strong as an ox. ● You can replace ox with the name of another large animal, for example horse or bull. ❑ Despite his age, Tom was as strong as a bull.

earn your stripes If you earn your stripes, you gain enough experience to deserve a particular job or position. ❑ Mr. Thaddeus earned his stripes playing for such bands as the London-based Pitiful Souls and Singapore’s X-Periments. ❑ He has worked hard to earn his stripes as a skilled debater in the House of Assembly.

general points or features of it and not the fine or exact details. ❑ The speech will lay out in broad strokes the two candidates’ differing approaches towards how best to stimulate the economy. ❑ There’s very little subtlety in the play. Its characters are painted in broad brushstrokes. The image here is of an artist painting a picture roughly or quickly. different strokes for different folks You say different strokes for different folks to mean that people are all different and have different needs and desires. ❑ The federal government has, by tradition, been respectful of local standards in local communities – different strokes for different folks, as they say.

stubborn

stubborn as a mule If someone is as stubborn as a mule, they are determined to do what they want and very unwilling to change their mind. ❑ For all his pleasant manner, the Texan was stubborn as a mule, and he didn’t like being pushed. ❑ Old Greg is also stubborn as a mule. He won’t say anything – he’ll just carry on doing what he planned. ● This expression is usually used to show disapproval.

broad strokes or broad brushstrokes If you describe or show something in broad strokes or in broad brushstrokes, you describe or show only the main or

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get stuck in [british, informal] If you get stuck in, you do something with enthusiasm and determination. ❑ We’re bottom of the league and we have to get stuck in. ❑ I had to get stuck in and take some of the burden off my wife so she could get some time to herself. If you get stuck in, you start eating something. ❑ ‘Shall we have our sandwiches now?’ – ‘OK. Definitely. Let’s get stuck in.’

strokes

stuck

put someone off their stroke [british] If something puts you off your stroke, it stops you from concentrating on what you are doing, so that you do not do it as well as usual. ❑ A sudden sound from behind me put me off my stroke and I missed the ball completely. ➜ compare with put someone off their stride The reference here is to rowing, in which all the members of a team have to pull on their oars at exactly the same moment. Each pull of the oars is called a stroke.

stroke

stuff do your stuff [informal] If you do your stuff, you perform an activity successfully in the way that people expect.

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suit ❑ Once I get on the pitch I know I can do my stuff. ❑ All that was left was to plant the roses and wait for nature to do her stuff.

✪ strut your stuff [informal]

suck

If you strut your stuff, you do something which you know you are good at in a proud and confident way in order to impress other people. ❑ He was the type of guy who liked to show off and strut his stuff. ❑ This weekend, in parades across the nation, Irish Americans are strutting their stuff.

stuffing

knock the stuffing out of someone If something knocks the stuffing out of someone, it destroys all their energy and self-confidence, and leaves them feeling weak and nervous. ❑ That second goal knocked the stuffing out of Chelsea and they seemed to give up. ❑ For a while the accident knocked the stuffing out of me, but I’m ready now and determined to get back and prove myself. ● The verb take is sometimes used instead of knock. ❑ The drive from the airport always took the stuffing out of her.

✪ on the stump

suck it and see [british, informal] If you suck it and see, you try something in order to find out if it is a good idea and likely to succeed. ❑ We have no way of knowing whether it’s the right strategy – we’re going to have to suck it and see. ● You can also use suck-it-and-see before a noun. ❑ The Government’s suck-it-and-see approach has led to a level of prosperity which is the envy of the world.

sucker a sucker for punishment [informal] If someone is a sucker for punishment, they keep on doing something which most people would find unpleasant or difficult. ❑ Like all football fans, their supporters are suckers for punishment. there’s a sucker born every minute [american, informal] People say there’s a sucker born every minute to mean that someone has just done something stupid, especially that they have been tricked. ❑ This is an industry secure in the knowledge that there’s a sucker born every minute.

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you do it a lot and with great energy. ❑ My grandkids eat this dish like it’s going out of style. ❑ These footballers have been spending money as though it was going out of style.

If a politician is on the stump, he or she is travelling to different places and speaking to voters as part of their election campaign. ❑ Politicians are on the stump all over the country, speaking to loyal audiences. ❑ Despite his falling popularity, the president braved it on the stump today on behalf of his fellow Republicans. This expression comes from politicians using tree stumps as platforms when giving a speech in the open air.

suit

The following expressions refer to the four suits in a pack of cards: diamonds, hearts, clubs, and spades.

✪ follow suit

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If something happens all of a sudden, it happens quickly and unexpectedly. ❑ All of a sudden she didn’t look sleepy any more. ❑ I felt incredibly lonely all of a sudden.

cramp someone’s style If someone or something cramps your style, they prevent you from behaving freely in the way that you want. ❑ You two relax and celebrate on your own. You don’t want us oldies cramping your style. ❑ Like more and more women with good jobs, independent spirits and high standards, she believes marriage would cramp her style. do something like it’s going out of style or do something as though it’s going out of style If you do something like it’s going out of style or as though it’s going out of style,

✪ all of a sudden

style

sudden

If someone follows suit, they do the same thing that someone else has just done. ❑ The company provides childcare for the children of staff members. If only other employers would follow suit. ❑ If Tim had a stack of pancakes for breakfast, Emily would follow suit. If you follow suit in a card game, you play a card of the same suit as the previous player.

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suits not your long suit If something is not your long suit, you are not good at it. ❑ Tact has never been my long suit. ❑ Charm was never Michael’s long suit. If a large number of a player’s cards belong to a particular suit, you can call that suit their long suit.

suits

✪ the men in suits or

the men in grey suits [mainly british] The men in suits or the men in grey suits are the people who are in control of an organization or company and who have the power. ❑ As a band, they did things their own way and refused to be controlled by the men in suits. ❑ They were very definite about not wanting the same old boring city men in grey suits giving financial advice.

summer

❑ ‘Might you give me their number, Helena?’ She took a while to answer. ‘Very well,’ she said finally. ‘But you’ll have to sing for your supper.’

sure sure as eggs is eggs or sure as eggs [british, informal] If you say that something will happen as sure as eggs is eggs or sure as eggs, you mean it will certainly happen. ❑ He’ll be back, asking for more money. Sure as eggs is eggs. ❑ If you don’t deal with the problem now, then sure as eggs you’ll have cause to regret it later. This expression may be a variation or mishearing of ‘as sure as x is x’, referring to the use of x to represent a variable in algebra and logic. sure as shooting or sure as shootin’ [american, informal] People say sure as shooting or sure as shootin’ to emphasize that they are certain about something. ❑ Sure as shooting, someone will tell me what I’ve chosen is wrong. ❑ It’s not the best computer, but it’s sure as shootin’ not the worst.

an Indian summer [mainly british] An Indian summer is a period of great success late in someone’s life or career, often after a period of not being successful. ❑ Despite an unexpected Indian summer, they surface never really lived up to their initial promise. ✪ scratch the surface An Indian summer is a period of If you only scratch the surface of unusually warm sunny weather during something, you deal with or benefit from the autumn. a very small part of something much sun bigger. the sun is over the yardarm ❑ The council have managed to provide housing People say the sun is over the yardarm to for over ten thousand homeless people but they say that it is late enough in the day to say they have only scratched the surface of the have an alcoholic drink. problem. ❑ At 13, her potential as a player is ❑ Well, the sun is over the yardarm – anyone for a enormous and she has only scratched the surface drink? of what she can do. ● This expression is used humorously. swallow This expression is thought to come from one swallow doesn’t make a summer the old practice on some ships of having You say one swallow doesn’t make a an alcoholic drink when the sun had summer to mean that although risen past a horizontal bar on the mast, something good has happened, the usually around 11a.m. situation may not continue to be good,

all and sundry All and sundry means everyone rather than particular people. ❑ I made tea for all and sundry at the office. ❑ He was well known to all and sundry.

supper sing for your supper [old-fashioned] If you have to sing for your supper, you have to do a particular job before you are allowed to do or have something that you want.

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and you cannot rely on it. ❑ Sales in December were up about 1 percent, which of course, is good news. One swallow, however, doesn’t make a summer and it remains to be seen whether they can maintain this growth in the difficult months ahead. ● People often use the more literary phrase one swallow does not a summer make. ❑ One swallow does not a summer make, but a visit to the Hotel Metropole goes a long way to improving the city’s reputation.

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sweetness Swallows are a type of bird. The reference here is to the arrival of swallows in Europe at the beginning of summer, after spending the winter further south.

swan

a swan song A swan song is the last performance or piece of work that someone does in their career. ❑ He had made up his mind that this show was going to be his swan song. This expression developed from a belief that a dying swan sings.

swear

swear blind [british] or swear up and down [american] If someone swears blind or swears up and down that something is true, they insist that they are telling you the truth. ❑ He swore blind that he hadn’t taken the money. ❑ He swears blind that he bears no grudges against United for sacking him, but I don’t know if I believe him.

sweat

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something, they win something very easily, or win a series of things. ❑ China have made a clean sweep of all nine titles in the event, with three more gold medals today. ❑ It was nice to see a British film make a clean sweep at the Oscars. ● A clean sweep is used in many other structures with a similar meaning. ❑ The Italians look well placed to repeat their clean sweep of 1990. If someone who has just taken up a position of authority in an organization makes a clean sweep, they make a lot of very big changes, for example getting rid of employees, in order to make the organization more efficient. ❑ When Don arrived he said he was going to make a clean sweep, but I didn’t think he would go quite this far. ● A clean sweep is also used in other structures with a similar meaning. ❑ There were rumours that he planned a clean sweep of long-time employees. True to expectations, he fired the managers, one by one. ❑ They’re talking about a clean sweep of the entire cabinet. ➜ compare with a new broom

by the sweat of your brow [literary] If you earn the money that you live on by the sweat of your brow, you earn it sweet through doing hard physical work. cop it sweet [mainly australian, informal] ❑ Most people are no longer earning their bread If you cop it sweet, you accept harsh by the sweat of their brow. treatment or a punishment without in a cold sweat or fighting back or complaining. in a sweat ❑ Bullies tend to lose interest in a victim very If someone is in a cold sweat or in a sweat, quickly if that victim refuses to cop it sweet. they are feeling extremely anxious or ✪ keep someone sweet [british] afraid. If you keep someone sweet, you do ❑ She was in a cold sweat thinking of what the something to please them so that they next day’s visit would bring. ❑ The player is out will treat you well in return. of the contract in the summer and has yet to sign ❑ Remember to tip the barman to keep him a new deal, leaving the manager in a sweat. sweet. ❑ I like to keep him sweet because he’s ● People often say that they wake up in a quite useful to have on our side. cold sweat, meaning that they suddenly sweet as pie [mainly british] wake up, feeling extremely anxious or If someone is as sweet as pie, they are afraid. ❑ I woke up in a cold sweat, thinking I’d very kind and friendly. made the wrong decision. ● You can also say that something brings ❑ A black-hearted villain in the latest Bond film, in real life he’s sweet as pie. you out in a cold sweat or that you come ➜ compare with nice as pie out in a cold sweat thinking about something. ❑ I still come out in a cold sweat sweetness thinking about what might have happened. sweetness and light or ❑ Thoughts of the bank loan brought him out in all sweetness and light a cold sweat. If a person is sweetness and light or all sweetness and light, they are very polite sweep and pleasant, often when they are not ✪ make a clean sweep If someone makes a clean sweep of usually like this.

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swing ❑ I used to be all sweetness and light on the

outside, but inside I would be boiling with rage. If a situation is sweetness and light or all sweetness and light, it is happy and pleasant. ❑ He is not suggesting that all is sweetness and light in the area. ● You can say that a situation is not all sweetness and light to mean that it is unpleasant or has problems. ❑ It has not all been sweetness and light between him and the Prime Minister.

many advantages as there are disadvantages in it. ❑ There are good and bad points to both approaches – it’s swings and roundabouts. You pay less for a property that’s out of town but then, you pay more for transport. ● This expression comes from the proverb what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts. People sometimes use the full form of the proverb, or a variation of it. ❑ The United States will gain far more on the swings than it loses on the roundabouts.

Swiss cheese

swing

more holes than Swiss cheese [mainly get into the swing of things or american] get into the swing of it If an argument, theory or plan has more If you get into the swing of things or get holes than Swiss cheese, it has very many into the swing of it, you get used to doing faults and problems. something and you start doing it well or ❑ The current laws have more holes than Swiss start enjoying it. cheese. ❑ Jackson claimed the system had more ❑ It didn’t take people long to relax and get into holes in it than Swiss cheese. the swing of things. ❑ I’d been in the job a couple ● Swiss cheese is used in various other of months and was just getting into the swing ways to describe an argument or theory of it. ● You can also say that you get back into like this. ❑ In my view it’s a Swiss cheese you have there, not a case. ❑ Jones criticizes what the swing of things, meaning you get she sees as Miller’s ‘Swiss-cheese thesis’. used to something again after a period of ‘Swiss cheese’ is an American term for not doing it. ❑ It takes a little time to get back cheese such as Emmenthal, which has into the swing of things after such a long absence. round holes in it. go with a swing [british] If a party or other event goes with a sword swing, it happens in a lively and exciting ✪ a double-edged sword or way. a two-edged sword ❑ We stock a wide range of decorations, If something is a double-edged sword tableware and balloons. In fact, everything you or a two-edged sword, it has both an need to ensure the party really does go with a advantage and a disadvantage. swing! ❑ You might like to organise a few games ❑ The strong yen is a double-edged sword for to help the party go with a swing. Japan. It increases the spending power of ✪ in full swing consumers, but it also raises the costs of exports If something is in full swing, it is for manufacturers. ❑ Fame is a two-edged operating fully or has already been sword bringing as many problems as it does happening for some time, rather than privileges. being in its early stages. the Sword of Damocles hangs over ❑ Twelve days after the hurricane, officials say someone or recovery efforts are at last in full swing. ❑ While the Sword of Damocles hangs over I was in Dieppe, a national dog show and a jazz someone’s head [literary] festival were in full swing. If the Sword of Damocles hangs over ● You can also say that something gets someone or hangs over their head, they into full swing. ❑ As we left, the St Patrick’s are in a situation in which something Day celebrations were getting into full swing in very bad could happen to them at any Donegall Place. time. ❑ As a Grand Prix driver you have the Sword of swings Damocles hanging over your head at every swings and roundabouts [british] moment. ❑ He lives with the illness, knowing If you say that a situation is swings and roundabouts, you mean that there are as that it is a Sword of Damocles, hanging over him.

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systems

This expression comes from a Greek legend. Dionysius, the ruler of Syracuse, was annoyed by Damocles, who kept flattering him and saying how much he admired him. Dionysius invited Damocles to a feast, and asked him to sit in his own seat. When Damocles looked up during the feast, he noticed a sword hanging by a single thread above his head, and so he could no longer enjoy the feast. The sword symbolized the dangers and fears that rulers have, in addition to all the privileges.

swords

‘Ploughshares’ is spelled ‘plowshares’ in American English.

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sync ‘Sync’ is sometimes spelled ‘synch’. in sync If two things are in sync, they match or happen together as they should. ❑ They swayed back and forth, more or less in sync with the music. ❑ Mr D and Mr B nodded their perfectly groomed grey heads in sync. out of sync If two things are out of sync, they do not match or do not happen together as they should. ❑ Normally, when demand and supply are out of sync, you either increase the supply, or you adjust the price mechanism. ❑ I think this decision is out of sync with reality.

beat swords into ploughshares or system turn swords into ploughshares [literary] ✪ get something out of your system If people beat swords into ploughshares If you get something out of your system, or turn swords into ploughshares, they you say or do something that you have stop fighting and instead use their been wanting to for a long time, and so resources and technology to do things to you begin to feel less worried or angry improve people’s lives. about it. ❑ In a perfect world, there would be no need for ❑ Whatever you’re feeling, when you talk about any country to have armed forces and we would it, it gets it out of your system. ❑ If something all beat our swords into ploughshares. ❑ For this awful happens to you at least you can write about country, turning swords into ploughshares and it. I’m sure that helps to get it out of your system. rocket plants into trolley bus factories is an systems economic necessity. it’s all systems go A ploughshare is one of the blades on a You say it’s all systems go to mean that plough. This expression may come from people are very busy with a particular the Bible: ‘They shall beat their swords project. into ploughshares, and their spears into ❑ Work started on the indoor arena at the pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up beginning of the year and it’s now all systems go sword against nation, neither shall they for a full programme of events over the winter. learn war any more.’ (Isaiah 2:4). ❑ The Commonwealth has released its funds and cross swords it’s all systems go. If you cross swords with someone, you This expression became popular as a disagree and argue with them or oppose result of its use during the launch of them. spacecraft in the United Sates in the ❑ He repeatedly crossed swords with Mrs Gandhi 1960s and 1970s. It indicated that the in the early 1970s. ❑ Fowler and Booth had spacecraft was functioning correctly crossed swords on many occasions in the closing and was ready for takeoff. months of the Callaghan Labour government.

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Tt SA tab

tables

✪ pick up the tab

✪ turn the tables

If you pick up the tab, you pay for something, often something that you are not responsible for. ❑ Pollard picked up the tab for dinner. ❑ If one of you is always picking up the tab, the inequality in your relationship may be difficult for you both to handle. run up a tab If someone runs up a tab, they do things that cause them to owe money. ❑ The 62-year-old pop star has run up a tab of $2.1 million at Claridge’s Hotel in Mayfair.

table

If you turn the tables, you gain an advantage over someone or cause them problems, after a time when they have had an advantage over you or have been causing problems for you. ❑ The Prime Minister will want to turn the tables on his many enemies and give them something to worry about for a change. ❑ We managed to turn the tables with a fantastic win over their team. ● You can also say the tables are turned if a situation changes so that a different person or group has an advantage. ❑ All of a sudden the tables are turned, and instead of being the person watching, he becomes the person that’s being watched. The image here is of a player in a game such as chess turning the board through 180 degrees, so that the situations of the two players are reversed.

drink someone under the table [informal] If someone drinks you under the table, they drink much more alcohol than you. ❑ Donna is the only person I know who can drink me under the table. ❑ His dad drank him under the table and then tucked him up in bed. ✪ on the table If a proposal, plan, or offer is on the table, it is has been formally suggested and tabs people can discuss it. ✪ keep tabs on someone/something ❑ The Americans and others have not yet put If you keep tabs on someone or their proposals on the table. ❑ The offer on the something, you make sure that you know table is part of the long-term policy to control what they are doing or what is happening taxation within the EU. to them, often in order to control them. under the table [mainly american] ❑ We know that somebody was keeping tabs on If you do something, especially pay or her. ❑ It’s their job to keep tabs on the financial accept money, under the table, you do it situation. secretly because it is dishonest or illegal. Originally, this was an American ❑ Athletes sometimes lied, or took money under expression which uses an American the table. ❑ They are selling their films at the sense of ‘tab’, meaning an account or festival’s market but they’re doing it under the bill, which can be used to keep a record table. of what someone spends. ● An under-the-table payment or deal is tail one that is secret and dishonest or illegal. be chasing your tail or ❑ He was accused of making under-the-table be chasing your own tail payments. ❑ There will be no more under-theIf someone is chasing their tail or is table cash. chasing their own tail, they are using a The usual British expression is under lot of time and energy but not achieving the counter. much.

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tales ❑ I’m more relaxed now. Before, I was chasing my tail like some sort of lunatic. ❑ I’ve been chasing my own tail all these years.

✪ on your tail

If someone is on your tail, they are following you closely or are chasing you and trying to catch you. ❑ He entered the finishing lap of the race with Piper right on his tail. ❑ He heard the wail of police sirens, loud and close by. They must be on his tail at last. the tail end of something The tail end of something is the last part of it. ❑ He listened to the tail end of a discussion about the new research findings. ❑ It was the tail end of another year. the tail wagging the dog People talk about the tail wagging the dog to describe a situation where an unimportant part of something or an unimportant person or group involved in something has too much influence over it. ❑ These enormous contracts can end up with the tail wagging the dog – with the supplier having more control over the business agenda than the client. ❑ To avoid the impression of the tail wagging the dog, the Chancellor cannot be seen being influenced by the wishes of a minority party. turn tail If you turn tail, you turn and run away from someone or something because you are frightened of them. ❑ The rebels were forced back until they turned tail and fled. ❑ I go weak all over when I see her. Stumbling, I almost turn tail. with your tail between your legs If someone goes somewhere with their tail between their legs, they go there feeling very ashamed or embarrassed. ❑ I ran out of money, lost my job, my house, my girlfriend. I came home to Sydney with my tail between my legs. ❑ When Emma had left America last, it had been with her tail between her legs. Dogs often go off with their tails down when they have been hit or shouted at. with your tail up If you do something with your tail up, you are happy and confident when you do it. ❑ We’ll go to court with our tails up. ● People sometimes vary this expression, for example by saying that someone has

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their tail up or that something puts their tail up. ❑ They have their tails up being ahead of us in the league. ❑ There was no doubt that Mary Rand’s outstanding performance on the first day put everybody’s tails up. Dogs often raise their tails and wag them when they are happy or excited.

take

take it from me People say take it from me when they are giving advice to emphasize that they know about something from personal experience. ❑ I go on holiday to Wales every August; take it from me, the Welsh don’t suffer from a lack of rainfall. take something as read If you take something as read, you accept it as true or right and therefore feel that it does not need to be discussed or proved. ❑ We took it as read that he must have been a KGB agent. ❑ The case for aid to eastern Europe is taken as read.

tale

live to tell the tale If someone lives to tell the tale, they survive a dangerous or frightening experience. ❑ Michael Sproule was attacked by a shark. He lived to tell the tale but had to have emergency surgery for serious cuts to his hands and legs. ❑ At 20 miles per hour a pedestrian could escape death but at 40 miles per hour the chances of living to tell the tale are small. a tall tale ➜ see tall tell the tale If something tells the tale about a particular situation, it shows the truth about it. ❑ Had he been fired from all of those jobs, or had he quit? I went through the papers again, looking for references that might tell the tale. ● You can also say that something tells its own tale. ❑ A full 60 minutes without a point is a statistic that tells its own tale. ● People also use the much more frequent adjective tell-tale to mean the same thing. ❑ They wanted to surprise the man and not give him time to hide any tell-tale evidence. ❑ In every room are tell-tale signs of a once better life.

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tales dead men tell no tales People say dead men tell no tales to say

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that someone who is dead cannot give any information to anyone. ❑ His password was so secure that when he died, nobody could get into the database. And dead men tell no tales. tell tales If someone tells tales, they tell someone in authority about something bad or wrong that someone else has done. ❑ She had no right to tell tales to his mother! ❑ They try to get convicted criminals to tell tales on their mates in return for cuts in their own sentences. ● This expression is used to show disapproval.

talk

all talk If you say that someone is all talk, you mean that they often say they are going to do something impressive or exciting but never actually do it. ❑ These guys aren’t reliable. They’re all talk. ● People sometimes use the longer expression all talk and no action. ❑ Thus far, Clark has been all talk and no action. ✪ now you’re talking! People say now you’re talking! to show that they think that what someone has just said is a good idea or that you would like something they have offered you very much. ❑ A ready-made tent – with real beds, cooker and refrigerator – well, now you’re talking. talk the talk [informal] If someone talks the talk, they talk about a subject in a confident and impressive way, even if they do not really do much. ❑ As anyone who has ever heard him address a conference will agree, he can certainly talk the talk. ● People often use walk the walk after talk the talk. If someone walks the walk, they do the things they have been talking about. ❑ It’s not good enough to talk the talk – the party needs to walk the walk, too.

❑ He was very convincing, and some of his college chums believed his tall tales. ❑ They claimed to have been drinking nothing more than orange juice – which turned out to be a very tall story. ‘Tall’ used to be used to describe language that was considered extremely formal or exaggerated.

tangent

go off on a tangent [british, american] or go off at a tangent [british] If a person or piece of writing goes off on a tangent or goes off at a tangent, they start saying or thinking something that is not directly connected with what they were saying or thinking before. ❑ Our teacher would occasionally go off on a tangent totally unrelated to the textbook. ● Other verbs are sometimes used instead of go. ❑ The humour is often a little forced and the book’s theme wanders off on a tangent now and then. If someone goes off on a tangent or goes off at a tangent, they start to behave in a completely different way from before or to do something completely different from what they were doing before. ❑ I suppose I was trying to conform, but then I went off on a tangent, moving to London to study drama. In geometry, a tangent is a straight line which touches a curve at one point but does not cross it.

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tank

a tall story [british] A tall tale or a tall story is an event that someone tells you about that you think is probably not true.

✪ a tall tale [british, american] or

it takes two to tango If you say that it takes two to tango, you mean that in a situation or argument involving two people, both of them are responsible for it. ❑ Each side is blaming the other but it takes two to tango. ❑ It takes two to tango and so far our relationship has been one-sided. This is the title of a song by Hoffman and Manning, written in 1952.

tall

tango

built like a tank If someone is built like a tank, they are very big and strong. ❑ He was built like a tank and always sat alone in the bar. If an object is built like a tank, it is very strong and will last a long time. ❑ Once I had a Czech motorbike. It was built like a tank, weighed a ton, and was pure joy to ride.

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tee tap

✪ on tap

If something is on tap, it is easily available. ❑ Because of their close links with the university, these local businesses have a wealth of knowledge on tap. ❑ The advantage of group holidays is company on tap but time alone if you want it. If an event or activity is on tap, it has been arranged to happen very soon. [american] ❑ More military and medical experiments are on tap for the astronauts today. ❑ It’s Detroit against Chicago and Dallas against Pittsburgh in the two pro football games on tap this afternoon. If drink such as beer is available on tap, it is kept in a barrel fitted with a tap, so it can be used as required.

✪ red tape

tape

Red tape is official rules and documents that seem unnecessary and cause delay. ❑ After dealing with all the red tape and finally getting approval for the building, our funding has been cut. ❑ Two lawyers have written a book to help people cut through the red tape when dealing with British nationality laws. Lawyers and government officials used to tie documents together with red or pink tape.

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most devoted admirers will find her latest novel difficult to read. leave a bad taste in your mouth or leave a bad taste in the mouth If an experience leaves a bad taste in your mouth or in the mouth, you feel that there was something unpleasant about it. ❑ Some of the magazine’s jokes leave a bad taste in the mouth. ● Adjectives such as nasty, bitter, and sour can be used instead of bad. ❑ I’m not staying where I’m not wanted. The whole thing leaves a sour taste in my mouth. there’s no accounting for taste People say there’s no accounting for taste when they are talking about someone who likes something that they think it is strange to like. ❑ Cherise says her favourite band is The Jonas Brothers (there’s no accounting for taste).

tea

tar

target

an acquired taste If someone or something is an acquired taste, you do not like them at first but may start to like them when they are more familiar. ❑ Tibetan tea is most definitely an acquired taste. ❑ This author is an acquired taste and even her

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tee

✪ to a tee or

taste

it’ll end in tears When people say it’ll end in tears, they mean that they think a situation will end badly, with people being upset. ❑ Patrick got himself involved in a relationship that was destined to end in tears. ❑ Markets are not stable, and for many companies and investors, it could well end in tears.

be shooting for the same target If two people are shooting for the same target, they are in agreement about what they are trying to achieve together. ❑ Two brains are better than one in this area, especially when they’re shooting for the same target. ❑ Just so we can be sure we’re both shooting at the same target, here’s a summary of what will happen on Friday night.

tears

tar and feather someone If you tar and feather someone, you criticize and embarrass them very badly. ❑ These newspapers are ready to tar and feather innocent celebrities.

not for all the tea in China If you say that you would not do something for all the tea in China, you mean that you definitely will not do it. ❑ I wouldn’t go through that again for all the tea in China. ❑ He would not change his job for all the tea in China. In the past, all tea came from China. spill the tea [informal] If you spill the tea, you tell someone the details about other people’s private lives. ❑ Let’s have a group chat and spill the tea about everything.

to a T People use to a tee or to a T to mean that something is perfectly or exactly right. ❑ The description of the thieves fitted them to a tee. ● People also say down to a tee or down to a T. ❑ The job suits him down to a tee. ❑ Lucy wanted perfection, and everything had to be exactly right, rehearsed down to a T.

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teeth

● People say that someone has something down to a tee or down to a T to mean that they have practised it and are now able to do it perfectly. ❑ He had the organization of the event down to a tee, writing each person an individual letter about it all. T stands for ‘tittle’, a small mark in printing such as the dot over an i. The expression refers to writing being very clear and exactly right.

teeth

armed to the teeth If someone is armed to the teeth, they have a lot of weapons. ❑ They stationed themselves, armed to the teeth, near the union hall. ❑ These criminals are armed to the teeth with the most modern equipment. ✪ cut your teeth If you cut your teeth doing something, you get your first experience of it and learn how to do it. ❑ He plans to cut his teeth on demanding theatre parts before making the break for TV and film. ❑ He cut his teeth in the sixties as director of Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre. ● This expression can be varied by adding an adjective before teeth to show what sort of experience was gained. ❑ He had cut his editorial teeth on the London Evening Standard. When a child cuts a tooth, the tooth begins to appear through the gum. fed up to the back teeth or sick to the back teeth [british] If you are fed up to the back teeth with something or sick to the back teeth with it, you are very annoyed or bored by it because it has been happening for a long time. ❑ The public are fed up to the back teeth with the bad behaviour of a tiny minority of fans. ❑ It is clear that Sharon is sick to the back teeth with questions about her private life. ✪ get your teeth into something or sink your teeth into something If you get your teeth into something or sink your teeth into it, you do it with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. ❑ We’ve not had an interesting legal case to get our teeth into for weeks. ❑ I like a nice substantial project to sink my teeth into. gnashing of teeth or wailing and gnashing of teeth People say that there is gnashing of teeth or wailing and gnashing of teeth when

people become very worried or upset by something that has happened. ❑ In the City, the government’s proposal is causing much gnashing of teeth. ❑ Despite the wailing and gnashing of teeth from some quarters, this does look like a first step in the right direction. ● You can also say weeping and gnashing of teeth. ❑ There was much weeping and gnashing of teeth when the Office for National Statistics counted a million fewer people than expected. ● This expression is often used disapprovingly to show that you think people’s reactions are too strong. The phrases ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth’ and ‘wailing and gnashing of teeth’ both appear several times in the Bible in descriptions of the people who are sent to hell. ✪ gnash your teeth If someone gnashes their teeth, they show their anger or annoyance about something. ❑ If Blythe heard that piece on the radio, I bet he was gnashing his teeth. ❑ He naturally gnashes his teeth over the growing number of lawsuits that have made doing business in America increasingly expensive and difficult. grind your teeth If someone grinds their teeth, they are angry about something, but do not express their anger. ❑ We journalists, who once were just like him, grind our teeth as we contemplate his success. ● You can also talk about grinding of teeth, teeth-grinding, and toothgrinding. ❑ There has been much grinding of teeth about what is seen by the government as the harshness of the UN’s decisions. ❑ When you are a little boy of nine, your father can seem like a hero one minute, only to cause you tooth-grinding embarrassment the next. ✪ grit your teeth If you grit your teeth, you continue to do something or accept a situation even if it is difficult or unpleasant. ❑ There is going to be hardship, but we have to grit our teeth and get on with it. ❑ There were five games in nine days, but the players gritted their teeth and kept going. have teeth If an organization or law has teeth, it has the necessary authority or power to make people obey it.

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tenterhooks ❑ Pro-democracy campaigners complain that the new assembly will have no teeth. ❑ This

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teething

✪ teething problems or

legislation has teeth, but judges are not imposing the tougher penalties. ✪ kick someone in the teeth If someone kicks you in the teeth, they treat you very badly and unfairly in a way that you did not expect. ❑ It was as if a new friend had turned round and kicked her in the teeth. ❑ They say you are doing a wonderful job, and then kick you in the teeth. ● You can call treatment like this a kick in the teeth. ❑ Pendry described the letter as a ‘kick in the teeth’ and an ‘insult’. ❑ I laid my life on the line for the company and they repaid me with a kick in the teeth. lie through your teeth If someone lies through their teeth, they tell obvious lies and do not seem to be embarrassed about this. ❑ We ought to be mad that public officials lie through their teeth. ❑ ‘We were on vacation in Barbados a few years ago and we met Brad Pitt in a bar,’ says Phil, lying through his teeth. ● In British English, you can also say that someone lies in their teeth. ❑ I should have known he was lying in his teeth when he said he would pay more than we were owed. like pulling teeth If doing something is like pulling teeth, it is very difficult. ❑ Identifying poor working practices is easy. Doing something about it is like pulling teeth. ❑ Trying to get him to talk about his music was like pulling teeth. When a dentist pulls someone’s tooth, they pull it out of their gum. In the past, this was done without anaesthetic and so it was difficult and painful. set your teeth on edge If something sets your teeth on edge, you find it extremely annoying or unpleasant. ❑ His casual arrogance never failed to set my teeth on edge. ❑ He stood and took down the painting. Something about it had lately been setting his teeth on edge. show your teeth If a person or organization shows their teeth, they show that they have the power or are able to fight or defend themselves. ❑ The financial services authority appears to be showing its teeth. ❑ We need to show our teeth if we are going to solve the problems we have been experiencing.

teething troubles [british] Teething problems or teething troubles are problems in the early stages of something. ❑ Some teething troubles aside, the new computer system works well. ❑ There are bound to be teething problems in a new marriage.

tell tell someone where to get off [informal] If you tell someone where to get off, you tell them in a rude and forceful way that you cannot accept what they are saying or doing. ❑ If somebody tried to make you pay more, you’d just tell them where to get off. ❑ If she wasn’t Aubrey’s niece, I’d tell her where to get off.

tempest

a tempest in a teapot [american] If you describe a situation or an argument as a tempest in a teapot, you mean that people are very angry or upset about it, but it is not really important and will soon be over. ❑ He said that the argument over the painting was a tempest in a teapot. ❑ He believed that the agency’s clash with the company was, in effect, a tempest in a teapot and that they would take appropriate action to calm the agency.

tent

a big tent A big tent is a group such as a political party that includes people with a wide range of opinions. ❑ They argue that the party should be a big tent, whose only qualification for membership should be a common belief in lower taxes and smaller government.

tenterhooks

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The usual British expression is a storm in a teacup.

on tenterhooks If you are on tenterhooks, you are very nervous or excited, because you are keen to know what is going to happen. ❑ The market was on tenterhooks about the size of the rate cut. ❑ ‘It was a good match wasn’t it? Very exciting.’ – ‘Yes, we were on tenterhooks.’ In the past, when cloth had been woven, it was stretched on a frame called a tenter and held in place by hooks. The person’s emotional state is being compared to the tension in the cloth.

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terms terms

that

in no uncertain terms If someone tells a person something in no uncertain terms, they say it strongly and clearly so that there is no doubt about what they mean. ❑ She told him in no uncertain terms to go away.

territory

go with the territory If something goes with the territory, it is a normal and necessary part of a situation, so you have to accept it. ❑ If you’re a world-class footballer, that level of media attention goes with the territory and you have to learn to live with it. ● You can also say that something comes with the territory. ❑ If you’re foreign, being misunderstood comes with the territory.

test

✪ stand the test of time

If something stands the test of time, it proves its value over a long period of time and does not fail or go out of fashion. ❑ Many people will be wary of the peace settlement until it has stood the test of time. ❑ Fashions in floor coverings come and go, but wooden floors have stood the test of time. ● Verbs such as pass and survive are sometimes used instead of stand. ❑ The company has always built easy-to-use, reliable equipment that has survived the test of time due to its high-quality design. a test run ➜ see run

that’s that People say that’s that to say that something is finished or has been dealt with. ❑ Once all my hair had gone I could just say ‘Well, it’s happened and that’s that.’ ❑ ‘Well that’s that, then,’ he said with relief. ‘Now I can go.’ People say that’s that to show that they will not accept any arguments. ❑ We’re going out and that’s that. that takes care of that People say that takes care of that to mean that a problem has been dealt with. ❑ ‘I guess that takes care of that,’ he said with a confident smile.

then and then some [informal] People say and then some to mean much more than what has just been mentioned. ❑ We spent every single penny we owned on it, and then some. ❑ They rose to the challenge and then some.

there

✪ be there for someone [spoken]

If you are there for someone, you are ready to listen to their problems and to help and support them. ❑ Jimmy has always been a good friend to me and always been there for me with bits of advice. ❑ I said, ‘I’ll be there for you’, which is all he wanted really. not be all there [informal, offensive] If someone is not all there, they are not very intelligent, or are not able to think very clearly. ❑ I tried to talk to her but she wasn’t really all there.

✪ at the end of your tether

not set the Thames on fire If you say that someone or something won’t set the Thames on fire, you mean that they are not very exciting and are not likely to be extremely successful. ❑ None of these dishes would set the Thames on fire, but they were well prepared and good value for money. ● You can replace Thames with the name of another river. ❑ They both had fairly successful careers in North America, without exactly setting the Hudson River on fire.

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✪ in the thick of it or

in the thick of something If you are in the thick of it or in the thick of an activity or situation, you are very involved in it. ❑ Soon he was in the thick of it, chatting in three languages, kissing hands, explaining and introducing. ❑ He suddenly found himself in the thick of desperate fighting. lay it on thick [informal] If you lay it on thick, you try to make something seem more important than it really is when you talk or write about it. ❑ Gerhardt explained the position to the Press Officer, laying it on thick about Adrian Winter’s

Thames

thick

If you are at the end of your tether, you are very upset because you are no longer able to deal with a difficult situation. ❑ I had tried every solution I could think of: I was at the end of my tether.

tether

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importance. ❑ Ask someone to tell him how good ❑ He was as thin as a rake as though he were you are at your job. Get them to lay it on thick. suffering from some terrible disease. ❑ I’d always ➜ compare with lay it on with a trowel been as thin as a stick but suddenly my weight thick as mince [mainly scottish] went up to more than 12 stone. ● Other nouns such as rail or lath can be If someone is as thick as mince, they are very stupid. used instead of rake or stick. ❑ She was ❑ No point in expecting any real help from her blue-eyed, tall, thin as a rail, pale as paper and department – most of them are as thick as mince. very young. ● You can also say that someone is stick ❑ Well, what do you expect? She’s as thick as mince. ● This term could cause offence. thin or rake thin. ❑ They are well made thick as shit [british, informal, very rude] clothes designed for real women, not stick thin If someone is as thick as shit, they are size zeroes. very stupid. thing ❑ We can only conclude that these people are the best thing since sliced bread ➜ see either thick as shit, blinded by racism, or both. bread ● This term could cause offence. a close thing ➜ see close thick as thieves could tell someone a thing or two or If two or more people are as thick as could teach someone a thing or two thieves, they are very friendly with each If you could tell someone a thing or two other. about something or could teach someone ❑ Jones and Cook had met at the age of ten and a thing or two about it, you know much were as thick as thieves. ❑ Grant went to school more about it than they do. with Maloney, the other lawyer in town. They’re ❑ Perhaps they’d like to meet my sons, now aged thick as thieves. 14 and 17. They could tell them a thing or two thick as two planks or about drama. ❑ They could teach us a thing or thick as two short planks [british, two about family values. informal] ● A thing or two is often used after other If someone is as thick as two planks or as verbs to mean a lot of things. ❑ Patricia thick as two short planks, they are very Hewitt knows a thing or two about how to be stupid. well-organised. ❑ The peace movement has ❑ His people regarded him as a great and wise learnt a thing or two from Vietnam. king. In fact he was as thick as two planks. ✪ do the right thing ● This term could cause offence. If you do the right thing, you do what is ✪ through thick and thin morally right in a situation. If you continue to do something or to stay ❑ I know I can rely on you to do the right thing. with or support someone through thick ✪ do your own thing [informal] and thin, you continue doing it even in If you do your own thing, you live, act, or difficult circumstances. behave in the way you want to, without ❑ I will go on loving James through thick and thin paying attention to other people’s opinions. no matter what happens. ❑ Few things give me ❑ She was allowed to do her own thing as long as greater pleasure in my public life than the she kept in touch. ❑ I made a point of doing my knowledge that I have supported the Open own thing on the pitch and ignored my coach’s University, through thick and thin. instructions. This comes from a hunting expression ✪ one thing leads to another ‘through thicket and thin wood’. A You say one thing leads to another when thicket is a small group of trees or bushes you are describing something that which are growing closely together. happens, to say that one event or activity thieves causes another. thick as thieves ➜ see thick ❑ I never thought I’d be a president, but after they closed down the university where I was a thin professor, I became a kind of spokesman. One thin as a rake or thing led to another and so here I am today. thin as a stick If someone is as thin as a rake or thin as a ✪ the real thing If you describe something as the real stick, they are very thin.

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things thing, you mean that it is the thing itself, rather than a copy or something made to seem similar. ❑ The fake handbags sell for about $20 less than the real thing. ❑ The Blairgowrie Highland Games are the real thing rather than a media event.

things

think twice before saying stupid things. ❑ If they don’t enjoy the experience, they will think twice before they visit again. ● If you say that someone doesn’t think twice or wouldn’t think twice about doing something, you mean that they would do it without hesitating. ❑ They offered me the job and I didn’t think twice about accepting.

be all things to all men If someone or something is trying to be thinking all things to all men, they are trying to blue-sky thinking please everyone, and this is impossible. Blue-sky thinking is when people try to ❑ The film tries to be all things to all men – find completely new ideas. comedy, romance, fantasy, and satire. ❑ In an admirable piece of blue-sky thinking, the ● You can also say that someone tries to be party has begun attracting supporters from the all things to all people. ❑ I realised I had a world of fiction. ❑ This meeting will help us do a big problem. I wanted to be all things to all little blue-sky thinking. people. thorn ● This expression is used to show ✪ a thorn in your side or disapproval. a thorn in the side just one of those things If someone or something is a thorn in If you say that something is just one of your side or a thorn in the side, they those things, you mean that it is continually annoy you or cause trouble something that happens and you cannot for you. explain it or prevent it. ❑ She has become a thorn in the side of the ❑ ‘I wonder why.’ Mr. Dambar shrugged. ‘It must government since publishing a number of reports be just one of those things, I guess.’ ❑ It was pointing out that public cash was being wasted. no-one’s fault – just one of those things. ● You can also say that someone or something is a thorn in your flesh or a think thorn in the flesh. ❑ Her mother is still a have another think coming thorn in her flesh – demanding, complaining and If you say that someone who thinks a weeping by turns. particular thing will happen has another This refers to a passage in the Bible, in think coming, you mean that they will which St Paul talks about an illness or discover that this is not correct. other problem: ‘There was given to me a ❑ If he thought he was going to rule her, he had thorn in the flesh, the messenger of another think coming. ❑ If you think that I am Satan to buffet me, lest I should be driving all the way to Donegal with that noise exalted above measure.’ (2 Corinthians going on in the background, you have another 12:7) Some Pharisees, who were strictly think coming. orthodox Jews, used to deliberately hurt ● This expression is usually used to show themselves by putting thorns in their that you are angry at what the person clothes to prick them when they walked. wanted and will not accept it. ✪ think nothing of thoughts If you think nothing of doing something ✪ on second thoughts that other people might consider You say on second thoughts when you difficult, strange, or wrong, you consider suddenly change your mind about it to be easy or normal. something that you are saying or ❑ I thought nothing of spending £700 on a handbag. something that you have decided to do. ❑ They thought nothing of working all night. ❑ I said … well, no, on second thoughts never ✪ think twice mind exactly what I said. ● People sometimes say on second If you think twice about doing something, you consider it again and thought with the same meaning. ❑ ‘Wait usually decide not to do it. there!’ Kathryn rose. ‘No, on second thought, ❑ She’d better shut her mouth and from now on follow me.’

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❑ If I even asked her about her day, she’d jump

thread

hang by a thread If something hangs by a thread, it is very likely to fail, although it has not failed yet. ❑ It’s clear that the ceasefire is hanging by a thread. ❑ England’s World Cup hopes hang by a thread and they must now rely on the results of the others in their group going their way. If someone’s life hangs by a thread, they are seriously ill and are very likely to die. ❑ His kidneys had failed and his life was hanging by a thread. This expression may relate to the story of the Sword of Damocles: see the explanation at ‘sword’.

throat

down my throat, as if I were interrogating her.

❑ Is your boss more likely to jump down your

throat than listen to your useful suggestions?

✪ ram something down someone’s throat [informal]

If someone rams facts or opinions down your throat, they force you to listen to them and try to make you accept them. ❑ I can’t understand why we’re trying to ram Shakespeare down their throats when they haven’t got a basic education in reading and writing. ● Verbs such as shove, force, and cram are sometimes used instead of ram. ❑ I know so much about them; it has been shoved down my throat by the media. ❑ I cannot force my beliefs down the throats of my staff. stick in your throat ➜ see stick

throats be cutting your own throat ✪ at each other’s throats or If someone is cutting their own throat, at one another’s throats they are doing something which will If two people or groups are at each other’s damage them or make them fail. throats or at one another’s throats, they ❑ I think the union is cutting its own throat are arguing in a very angry way. because if they go on strike, there will be even ❑ Their European partners were at each other’s more jobs lost. throats last night in some of the worst arguing ● The verb slit is sometimes used instead since the Second World War. ❑ MPs are at one of cut. ❑ They are slitting their own throats by another’s throats all the time, and it’s not putting their prices up. functioning as a very effective government. grab someone/something by the throat throes or take someone/something by the throat ✪ in the throes of something If you are in the throes of doing or If you grab someone or something by the experiencing something, especially throat or take them by the throat, you something difficult, you are busy doing it make a determined attempt to control, or are deeply involved in it. defeat, or deal with them. ❑ The boy’s parents are in the throes of moving ❑ Instead of being passive, you must get out house and it seems they completely forgot about there and grab life by the throat. the arrangement. ❑ The stock market is in the ❑ Gloucestershire took the game by the throat throes of its worst ever crisis. from the start. ● If you are succeeding in dealing with throttle someone or something, you say that you at full throttle or have them by the throat. ❑ He has his full throttle enemy by the throat and he is not about to let go. If you do something at full throttle or full grab someone by the throat throttle, you do it with all your energy If something grabs you by the throat, it is and effort. so powerful, interesting, or exciting that ❑ Many violinists continue playing at full throttle you are forced to pay attention to it. well into old age. ❑ She was a high-powered ❑ There is something about Las Vegas that grabs Western businesswoman who went at things full you by the throat. ❑ This film still has the power throttle. ● When someone is behaving like this, to grab you by the throat. jump down someone’s throat [informal] you can say they are at full throttle or are If someone jumps down your throat, they in full throttle. ❑ This was the actress whom I react in a very angry way to something had seen in full throttle in performance the you have said or done. previous year.

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thumb ● Full throttle is used in other structures with a similar meaning. ❑ Palmer gives it full throttle on his latest album. If an engine is operating at full throttle, it is operating at its maximum speed.

I came to give the baby a bath, I was all fingers and thumbs. be twiddling your thumbs If you are twiddling your thumbs, you are waiting with nothing useful to do. ❑ I’d far rather be out in the garden than thumb twiddling my thumbs waiting for the boys to have a green thumb [american] wake up. ❑ There is a lot of team work too and no If you have a green thumb, you are very one is ever left twiddling their thumbs. good at gardening. ✪ give something the thumbs down ❑ She had a green thumb and grew tomatoes, If you give a plan, suggestion, or activity scallions, peonies, roses and bumper crops of fruit. ● You can describe someone who is good the thumbs down, you show that you do not approve of it and are not willing to at gardening as green-thumbed. ❑ The accept it. green-thumbed gardeners will share the secrets of their success at a series of nine gardening ❑ Out of 58,000 replies, 79 per cent gave the workshops. thumbs down to the idea. ● You can also say that something gets The usual British expression is have the thumbs down. ❑ Unlicensed boxing is green fingers. dangerous for the individuals involved, dangerous stick out like a sore thumb or for the sport and gets a firm thumbs down from me. stand out like a sore thumb A thumbs down or a thumbs-down sign If someone or something sticks out like a is a sign that you make by pointing your sore thumb or stands out like a sore thumb downwards in order to show thumb, they are very noticeable because dissatisfaction or disagreement, or to they are very different from the other show that things are going badly. In people or things around them. ancient Rome, a signal in which the ❑ Foreigners are at greater risk of robbery thumb was bent down was used at the because they are more wealthy and they stick out games to tell a victorious gladiator not like a sore thumb. ❑ We should ask ourselves: to kill his opponent. ‘Does the new housing stick out like a sore thumb or blend into its surroundings?’ ❑ I much prefer to ✪ give something the thumbs up If you give a plan, suggestion, or activity wear a proper suit, but fear that I will stand out the thumbs up, you show that you like a sore thumb. approve of it and are willing to accept it. ✪ under someone’s thumb ❑ A big US oil company has given the thumbs-up If someone is under another person’s to the president’s energy plan. thumb, the second person controls them. ● You can also say that something gets ❑ He described himself as having been a lonely, the thumbs up. ❑ The ski school gets the confused child, under the thumb of a domineering thumbs up from visitors. mother. ❑ National television is firmly under the A thumbs up or a thumbs-up sign is a thumb of the president. sign that you make by pointing your ● You can also say that someone is under thumb upwards in order to show the thumb. ❑ Ian told the court how his wife satisfaction or agreement, or to show kept him under the thumb during their seven-year that everything is all right. In ancient marriage. Rome, a signal in which the thumb was ● This expression is usually used to talk straight was used at the games to tell a about a man who has a controlling wife. victorious gladiator to kill his opponent. However, many people dislike this use because of the sexist attitude it represents. thunder steal someone’s thunder thumbs If someone steals your thunder, they do all thumbs [british, american] or something that stops you from getting all fingers and thumbs [british] attention or praise, often by doing If you are all thumbs or all fingers and something better or more exciting than thumbs, you do something in a very you, or by doing what you had intended to clumsy way. do before you can do it. ❑ Can you open this? I’m all thumbs. ❑ When

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time ❑ It’s too late for rivals to take advantage. They

✪ sit tight

couldn’t steal our thunder. ● You can also say that someone steals the

thunder from you. ❑ I think O’Connor will steal some of the thunder from Read, as his book is out first. This expression may come from an incident in the early 18th century. A British playwright, John Dennis, invented a new way of making the sound of thunder for his play ‘Appius and Virginia’. However, the play was unsuccessful and soon closed. Soon afterwards, Dennis went to see a production of ‘Macbeth’ by another company and found that they had stolen his idea for making thunder sounds. He is said to have jumped up and accused them of stealing his thunder.

If you sit tight, you stay in the same place or situation and wait to see how it develops before taking any action. ❑ The message is, those who want to sell their houses should sit tight for a couple of years if they can. ❑ I think the Bundesbank is going to sit tight for a couple of months, at least until it sees better signs on money supply growth.

tightrope

✪ be walking a tightrope

ticket

449

tight

just the ticket [informal, old-fashioned] If something is just the ticket, it is exactly what is wanted or needed. ❑ An open-air lunch was just the ticket. ❑ Gilly Forge’s matching hat and gloves are just the ticket for dressing up last season’s coat. a one-way ticket If you describe something as a one-way ticket to a particular situation or state, you mean that it is certain to lead to that situation or state. ❑ Having strong feelings for someone when those feelings aren’t returned can be very painful. It represents a one-way ticket to unhappiness. ❑ The jobs she’d had since leaving college were a one-way ticket to nowhere, professionally speaking.

If someone is walking a tightrope, they are in a difficult situation where a small mistake could cause failure, especially because they are trying to deal with two opposing things or groups of people. ❑ He is walking a tightrope between the young activists and the more traditional members within the democracy movement. ❑ He knows he is walking a tightrope on just how big his company can grow before the public turns against it. ● You can call someone’s attempt to deal with this type of situation a tightrope walk. ❑ The strategy is something of a tightrope walk.

till

have your hand in the till or have your fingers in the till [mainly british] If someone has their hand in the till or has their fingers in the till, they are stealing from their employer or from an organization they are involved with. ❑ Thirteen company directors were found with their hands in the till in the first quarter of this year. ❑ There are rumours that a number of officials have had their fingers in the till. ● You can also talk about people being caught or found with their hands in the till or with their fingers in the till. ❑ He got caught with his fingers in the till once too often.

tide

stem the tide ➜ see stem swim against the tide If you swim against the tide, you do or say the opposite of what most other people The usual American expression is are doing or saying. catch someone with their hand in the ❑ Sinclair seems to be swimming against the tide cookie jar. by not retiring at 65. ❑ Thank you for having the courage to swim against the tide and stand up for time ✪ ahead of your/its time the qualities that built this great country. ● You can also say that someone swims If someone or something is ahead of their time, they have or show ideas that are so with the tide to mean that they act in the modern that most people have not same way as most other people. ❑ Many accepted them yet. great cathedrals are attempting to swim with the ❑ My mother was ahead of her time. She tide and bring in tourists to replace the worshippers who no longer come. surrounded me with culture and art. ❑ The idea

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time ❑ Murray has called time on his international

✪

was too far ahead of its time, and had attracted some amusement locally. ● You can also say that someone or something is before their time. ❑ His only mistake, he insists, is that he was 20 years before his time. as good a time as any If you say that a particular time is as good a time as any, you mean that it may not seem to be the perfect time to do something but it is not worse than any other time. ❑ This new year is as good a time as any to start dieting. ✪ be living on borrowed time or be on borrowed time If someone or something is living on borrowed time or is on borrowed time, they are not expected to survive for much longer. ❑ The organization is living on borrowed time. Its state funding runs out in June of this year, and beyond that, the future is in doubt. ❑ From this moment onwards, this government is on borrowed time. big time [informal] You can use big time to emphasize the importance or extent of something. ❑ They messed up big time by refusing to take the work. ❑ With a little luck we could make this thing work big-time. ✪ the big time The big time means fame and success. ❑ After a series of small but critically admired roles, the actor has now moved into the big time. ● When someone becomes famous and successful, you can say that they hit the big time. ❑ He opened his own salon in 1923 and hit the big time in 1935, when he designed the wedding dress for the Duchess of Gloucester. ● You can use big-time to describe someone or something that is very successful, powerful, or important. ❑ You’ll be a rich man – you have the brains to make a big-time criminal. buy time or buy yourself time If someone buys time or buys themselves time, they do something to give themselves more time. ❑ Knight was buying time while he considered his next move. ❑ He summoned the waiter, placed the order, and bought himself the time he needed. ✪ call time on something [mainly british, journalism] If you call time on something, you end it.

✪

career by cutting short his contract. This expression originates in British pubs where the landlord calls time to tell drinkers that the pub is about to close. give someone the time of day If you give someone the time of day, you chat to them briefly. ❑ He was a lovely man. He’d always stop and give you the time of day. ❑ Her father and her brothers were always too busy to bother about her and would hardly give her the time of day. have the time of your life If you have the time of your life, you enjoy yourself very much indeed. ❑ We’re taking our little grandchild away with us. We’ll make sure he has the time of his life. ● People use the time of your life to mean a period when you enjoy yourself very much. ❑ For some it was awful, for others, particularly the young, it was the time of their lives. in your own time If you do something in your own time, you do it at the speed that you choose, rather than allowing anyone to hurry you. ❑ Now, in your own time, tell me what happened. ❑ She told me she would do it, but in her own time. a long time coming If something has been a long time coming, it happens later than expected or than people would have liked. ❑ This is a change that has been a long time coming. long time no see People say long time no see to someone that they have not seen for a long time. ❑ She raced in and said, ‘Hi, Dick, long time no see!’ make up for lost time If you make up for lost time, you enthusiastically do something that you were not able to do in the past. ❑ Five years older than the majority of officers of his same rank, he was determined to make up for lost time. ❑ Sitting round Holly’s table, they made up for lost time, talking well into the night. If you make up for lost time, you do something more quickly or more often because something stopped you doing it at an earlier time and you need to make progress with it. ❑ The country almost comes to a standstill during the cold of winter and has to make up for lost time during the warmer weather.

✪

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tip ✪ mark time

451

❑ For a playwright, he has a tin ear for dialogue.

If you mark time, you do not do anything interesting or of value, because you are waiting to see how a situation develops. ❑ He had failed his college exams and was marking time working in a baker’s shop. ❑ People think that I’m marking time till I can make movies or Broadway shows. When soldiers mark time, they march on the spot without moving forward. ✪ play for time If you play for time, you try to delay something so that you can have more time to be ready for it. ❑ Pierce was playing for time, trying to decide if the call was genuine or not. ❑ The government is playing for time by asking for a new report. since time immemorial or from time immemorial [literary] If you say that something has been happening since time immemorial or from time immemorial, you mean that it has been happening for many centuries. ❑ Thailand’s central position in Southeast Asia has had a major effect on the art of the area since time immemorial. ❑ From time immemorial, we have danced to celebrate the sacred forces of Nature. ✪ time on your hands If you have time on your hands, you have a lot of free time and you do not know what to do with it. ❑ Jimmy had too much time on his hands and that caused him to get into trouble. ❑ With more time on their hands, many people would like to become mature students. would not give someone the time of day If you would not give someone the time of day, you do not want to have anything to do with them. ❑ Her father and her brothers were always too busy to bother about her and would hardly give her the time of day. ● This expression is often varied. ❑ Rita never gave him so much as the time of day any more.

If someone has a tin ear for something, they do not understand it fully. ❑ Nothing in her past suggests anything other than a tin ear for democratic politics. ➜ compare with have an ear for something kick the tin [australian, informal] If you kick the tin, you give someone money or pay for something. ❑ Fifty per cent of our customers said they would kick the tin for an in-car premium sound system. a tin god or a little tin god [mainly british, literary] If someone behaves like a tin god or like a little tin god, they behave as if they are much more important and powerful than they really are. ❑ So what are his qualifications for acting like a little tin god?

tinker

not give a tinker’s damn or not give a tinker’s cuss [informal, old-fashioned] If you say that you don’t give a tinker’s damn or don’t give a tinker’s cuss about something or someone, you mean that you do not care about them at all. ❑ Most of these people couldn’t give a tinker’s damn about the students. ❑ For 50 weeks of the year, the great British public couldn’t give a tinker’s cuss about tennis. ● You can also say that someone or something is not worth a tinker’s damn when you think they are of no value. ❑ The real truth is you haven’t been worth a tinker’s damn all week. on the tip of your tongue If a remark or question is on the tip of your tongue, you want to say it, but stop yourself. ❑ ‘What do you make of it?’ he said after a while. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him he’d have to ask Charlie. But I said nothing. If something such as a word, answer, or name is on the tip of your tongue, you know it and can almost remember it, but not quite. ❑ I know this, no, no, don’t tell me, oh, it’s on the tip of my tongue. ❑ What’s the quickest way to remember a name that’s on the tip of your tongue, but you just can’t recall?

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have a tin ear If someone has a tin ear, they are not able to hear and understand music well. ❑ Some people may have a tin ear but everybody has at least a basic sense of rhythm. ● You can also say that people have a tin ear for other things that you have to listen to in order to understand them.

tin

tip

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tit ✪ tip the balance or

tod

tip the scales If something tips the balance or tips the scales in a situation where two results seem equally likely, it makes one result happen or become much more likely. ❑ As the election approaches, the two main parties appear so evenly matched that just one issue could tip the balance. ❑ Years later, she still believed it had been Howe’s warnings, not any love for her, that had finally tipped the scales against his leaving her for Lucy. ✪ the tip of the iceberg or the tip of an iceberg If something is the tip of the iceberg or the tip of an iceberg, it is a small part of a very large problem or a very serious situation. ❑ We get about 2,000 complaints every year and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. ❑ Figures show that there have been 700 official burglaries throughout the area, but police believe this is the tip of the iceberg. If something is the tip of the iceberg or the tip of an iceberg, it is a small part of something large. ❑ These surveys are only the tip of an iceberg of continuing study. ● People often use an adjective before iceberg to show what sort of thing it is. ❑ These songs are just the tip of the creative iceberg. Only a very small part of an iceberg is visible above the water. About ninetenths of it is below the surface.

on your tod [british, informal] If you are on your tod, you are alone. ❑ The main restaurant’s OK. I use it every so often when I’m on my tod. ● You can also say that someone does something on their tod. ❑ Oliver knows I’ll never find it on my tod. This expression comes from Cockney rhyming slang ‘on your Tod Sloan’ meaning ‘on your own’. Tod Sloan was a famous American jockey at the beginning of the 20th century.

today

here today, gone tomorrow or here today and gone tomorrow If something or someone is here today, gone tomorrow or here today and gone tomorrow, they are only present or only exist for a short time. ❑ There have been numerous schemes designed to provide children who are here today, gone tomorrow with the same educational opportunities as settled children. ❑ The freedom that they have is not true freedom, and that’s because it’s here today and gone tomorrow. ● Journalists sometimes use here today, gone tomorrow before a noun. ❑ The presenter described him as a ‘here today, gone tomorrow minister’. ● This expression is used to show disapproval.

be toast [informal] If someone is toast, they are about to lose their job or position or are about to be punished or killed. ❑ Her only comment on his dismissal was: ‘I told you he was toast.’ ❑ If you don’t do what they say, you’re toast.

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toast

tit for tat Tit for tat is something that someone does to upset or harm someone who has upset or harmed them. ❑ In an apparent tit for tat, he announced he was sacking the members of two committees responsible for reactor safety. ● Tit for tat is also used before nouns. ❑ A tit for tat dispute has led to the virtual closure of the border between the two countries.

dip a toe in the water or dip your toe in the water [mainly british] If you dip a toe in the water or dip your toe in the water, you start slowly and carefully doing something that you have not done before, because you are not sure if you will like it or if it will be successful. ❑ Until now, the company has only dipped its toe in the water by using the service to test existing adverts rather than to create new ones. ● You can use other verbs such as put or have instead of dip. ❑ His company has recently opened offices in Taiwan and Spain. ‘We have our toes in the water,’ Mr. Creedon says. ❑ For many people, coming on a course like this is a way of putting a toe in the water. ● You can also describe a situation where someone tries something a toe in the water. ❑ The vice-chair said that the company’s involvement would be a toe in the water.

tit

toe

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Tom ● You can also use toe in the water before

a noun. ❑ We are taking a toe in the water approach by opening a small gallery first. go toe to toe with someone [mainly american] If you go toe to toe with a person or organization, you fight, argue, or compete with them fiercely and directly. ❑ The company is still not strong enough to go toe to toe with their rivals. ● You can also say that someone stands toe to toe with another person or organization. ❑ They do not stand toe to toe as enemies, as people sometimes think. ● Toe to toe is used in many other structures to do with fighting, arguing or competing fiercely and directly. ❑ If this strategy didn’t work, he’d just fight it out toe to toe until there was nothing left to fight with. ● You can also use toe-to-toe before a noun. ❑ Toe-to-toe confrontations have harmed the project.

✪ keep you on your toes

toes

tread on someone’s toes If you step on someone’s toes or tread on their toes, you offend them by interfering in something that is their responsibility. ❑ ‘Small shopkeepers know who sells what,’ Sue explains, ‘so they don’t step on one another’s toes.’ ❑ She’s already seeing Dr Simmonds – I can’t tread on his toes. ● You can also say that someone steps on toes or treads on toes. ❑ It was no wonder, with such a complicated system, that I was stepping on toes from morning to night. turn up your toes [british, informal] If someone or something turns up their toes, they die. ❑ Pests and diseases can make healthy-looking plants turn up their toes. ● This expression is used humorously.

toffee can’t do something for toffee [british, informal] If someone can’t do something for toffee, they are very bad at doing that thing. ❑ Within a step or two it was clear she couldn’t dance for toffee.

If someone or something keeps you on your toes, they stop you being lazy or relaxed and force you to be ready for anything that might happen. ❑ She kept us on our toes right from the moment she took command. ❑ His lively campaign has kept opposition parties on their toes for months. ❑ It’s always good to have a little bit of change in your job, because it keeps you on your toes, doesn’t it? make your toes curl If something makes your toes curl, it makes you feel very embarrassed. ❑ He reminds us of every time our toes curled in the past watching TV presenters making idiotic comments or awful jokes. ❑ I criticized her in a way that now makes my toes curl. ● You can use toe-curling before nouns to describe things that make you feel embarrassed. ❑ Movies about famous explorers rarely work, as some recent toe-curling efforts show. If something makes your toes curl, it makes you react strongly, especially by being shocked. ❑ She tells stories that would make your toes curl. ● You can also say that something curls your toes. ❑ There are some things you’ll learn about this place that’ll curl your toes.

453

✪ step on someone’s toes or

token

by the same token You use by the same token to introduce a statement that you think is true for the same reasons that were given for a previous statement. ❑ If you give up exercise, your muscles shrink and fat increases. By the same token, if you expend more energy you will lose fat.

take its toll If a problem or a difficult situation takes its toll, it causes unpleasant effects. ❑ The bad weather was soon taking its toll on most of the crew members. ❑ The separation from Harry was beginning to take its toll.

Tom

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toll

every Tom, Dick, and Harry or every Tom, Dick, or Harry People say every Tom, Dick, and Harry or every Tom, Dick, or Harry to talk about many different people, especially people they do not think are special or important. ❑ These days, the club is letting in every Tom, Dick and Harry. ● This expression is very variable, for example, any can be used instead of

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tomorrow every, and Harriet and other names are sometimes used instead of Harry. ❑ You cannot sell a gun to any Tom Dick or Harry, can you? ❑ Any Tom, Dick or Harriet can put on a jacket and say, ‘I’ll be a producer.’ All of these names used to be very common, and so they began to be used to refer to ordinary people in general.

tomorrow

like there’s no tomorrow If someone does something like there’s no tomorrow, they do it a lot, without thinking about the consequences. ❑ They are spending money like there’s no tomorrow. ● You can also say that someone does something as if there were no tomorrow or as if there was no tomorrow with the same meaning. ❑ No wonder they danced as if there were no tomorrow. tomorrow is another day When something bad has happened, you say tomorrow is another day to mean that things may be better in the future. ❑ I didn’t play well, but tomorrow is another day. This expression comes from the novel ‘Gone with the Wind’ by Margaret Mitchell, where, after a series of disasters, the character Scarlett O’Hara says it.

tone lower the tone If something lowers the tone of a place or event, it makes it seem less respectable. ❑ Councillors say plastic-framed windows lower the tone of the neighbourhood. ❑ This has left many customers highly miffed, including one who lowered the tone by turning up in one of the North London branches with a bin-liner to carry their goodies.

tongue

✪ bite your tongue

ton

If you bite your tongue, you do not say something that you would like to say. ❑ All I can do is to bite my tongue if I want to keep my job. find your tongue If you find your tongue, you begin to talk, when you have been too shy, frightened, shocked or embarrassed to say anything before. ❑ All four men stared at him. It was Livingstone who found his tongue first. get your tongue round something [british, informal] If you can get your tongue round a word or phrase, you can pronounce it. ❑ Even he can get his tongue round these Spanish terms. ❑ The Americans find it hard to get their tongues around foreign words. give someone the rough side of your tongue or give someone the rough edge of your tongue [british, old-fashioned] If you give someone the rough side of your tongue or the rough edge of your tongue, you speak angrily to them about something that they have done wrong. ❑ He’s really going to give the boy the rough side of his tongue. ● You can also say that someone gets the rough side or edge of your tongue or feels the rough side or edge of your tongue. ❑ As Archer watched the others walk away, he knew he was going to get the rough edge of his father’s tongue. ❑ They felt the rough edge of their captain’s tongue when things went wrong. give someone a tongue-lashing [informal] If someone gives you a tongue-lashing, they speak very angrily to you about something that you have done. ❑ The Prime Minister was given a tongue-lashing from the Leader of the Opposition. ● You can also say that someone gets a

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come down on someone like a ton of bricks If you come down on someone like a ton of bricks, you punish them very severely. ❑ If you do something awful they all come down on you like a ton of bricks. ❑ The committee will come down like a ton of bricks on any company that deceives its customers. ● You can also say that someone will be down on you like a ton of bricks. ❑ If I owed them any money, they’d be down on me like a ton of bricks. like a ton of bricks Like a ton of bricks is used to show that something happens very suddenly and forcefully. ❑ By mid-July, the dangers had hit Bobby like a ton of bricks. ❑ She was twenty when Orpen met her and he fell for her like a ton of bricks. ● The metric measurement tonne is occasionally used instead of ton. ❑ Then reality hit her like a tonne of bricks.

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tooth

tongue-lashing. ❑ Spot got the tonguelashing that I felt I should have shared. ● An occasion when someone speaks like this can be called a tongue-lashing. ❑ After a cruel tongue-lashing, he threw the girl out of the group. hold your tongue If you hold your tongue, you do not speak. ❑ Douglas held his tongue, preferring not to speak out on a politically sensitive issue. ● People sometimes say hold your tongue as an angry way of telling someone to be quiet. ❑ ‘Hold your tongue, boy,’ he warned me furiously. speak with forked tongue or speak with a forked tongue If someone speaks with forked tongue or speaks with a forked tongue, they are lying or trying to trick people. ❑ He speaks with forked tongue. I don’t trust him and I don’t like him. ❑ This shows that the minister has been speaking with a forked tongue. ● People sometimes use talk instead of speak. ❑ Everybody in this business is talking with forked tongue. ✪ tongue in cheek If a remark or piece of writing is tongue in cheek, it is meant to be funny and is not meant to be taken seriously. ❑ I think people are taking all this more seriously than we intended. It was supposed to be tongue in cheek. ● You can also say that someone is talking or writing with tongue in cheek or with their tongue in their cheek. ❑ If Howard said that, it must have been with tongue in cheek. ❑ Labour MPs, some with their tongue firmly in their cheeks, judged the result to have been a great success. ● Tongue-in-cheek can also be used before a noun. ❑ The advert was meant to be a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek approach. We never intended to offend anyone.

455

Claudia moved from her native Germany to Monaco earlier this year. ● If people are talking about someone, you can say tongues are wagging. ❑ They spent an evening together at his Knightsbridge flat. He said they played cards but added: ‘No doubt tongues will be wagging.’

tools

down tools or lay down tools [british] If a group of people down tools or lay down tools, they stop working, often in order to protest about something. ❑ In August, the workers at this shipyard downed tools and went on strike for pay increases. ❑ Metal workers, engineers, waiters and cooks are among those who have laid down tools this week. the tools of the trade or the tools of your trade The tools of the trade or the tools of your trade are the skills and equipment that you need to do your job. ❑ He was never really a novelist, having no use for the usual tools of the trade such as plot and suspense. ❑ The peasants were deprived of their animals, the tools of their trade, and their land.

tooth

fight tooth and nail If you fight tooth and nail for something, you fight as hard as you can to get it or achieve it. ❑ The independent regions are fighting tooth and nail to keep their special status. ● You can also say that you fight tooth and claw to achieve something. ❑ Environmental groups are fighting tooth and claw to protect these forests. ● Other verbs such as battle or resist can be used instead of fight. ❑ There are 12 League games left. We must battle tooth and nail for every one of them. ● If you fight something tooth and nail or tooth and claw, you fight as hard as you can to stop it. ❑ Opponents of the law vowed to fight it tooth and nail. ❑ As a member of the council I fought the proposal tooth and claw. long in the tooth If you describe someone or something as long in the tooth, you mean that they are getting old, often too old for a particular activity or purpose. ❑ I’m a bit long in the tooth to start being a

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set tongues wagging If something that you do or say sets tongues wagging, it makes people talk about you. ❑ The pop singer set tongues wagging by arriving with a mystery man. ● You can also say that something starts tongues wagging or that tongues start wagging. ❑ Tongues started wagging when

tongues

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top

student. ❑ Their cars are looking rather long in the tooth, with the last model launched over 10 years ago. This expression refers to the fact that you can judge the age of a horse by looking at its teeth. As horses get older, their teeth look longer because their gums are receding. red in tooth and claw [literary] If you describe a person, organization or activity as red in tooth and claw, you mean that they involve very competitive and sometimes cruel behaviour. ❑ My wife and I both now work for companies that are red in tooth and claw. ❑ The nature of money-making is red in tooth and claw – a nasty, brutish business. People talk about ‘nature red in tooth and claw’ to describe the cruel way that wild creatures hunt and kill each other for food. This is a quotation from the poem ‘In Memoriam’ (1850) by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson. (Part 56, stanza 4) ✪ a sweet tooth If you have a sweet tooth, you like eating things that taste of sugar. ❑ She has a sweet tooth for chocolate cake and cookies. ❑ For those without a sweet tooth, savoury snacks are also available.

● You can also use top-to-toe before a

top

noun. ❑ A top-to-toe body treatment will make your skin feel great. ➜ compare with from head to toe get on top of you If something gets on top of you, it makes you feel sad or upset, and you are not able to deal with it. ❑ I was so fed up. Everything was just getting on top of me. ❑ Things have been getting on top of me lately. Business hasn’t been good, they’re talking of firing some of us. ✪ on top of something If you are on top of a task or situation, you are dealing with it successfully. ❑ That’s the job. You’ve got to be on top of the problems. ❑ The government does not seem able to get on top of the situation. ● If you are beginning to deal with a task or situation successfully, you can say that you are getting on top of it. ❑ We are getting on top of crime but there is much more to be done. on top of the world ➜ see world ✪ over the top If you describe something as over the top, you think that it is too extreme. ❑ At one point, which I think is a bit over the top, he talks about the collapse of civilisation. ❑ Perhaps I was a bit over the top, accusing you of being a traitor. ● You can also say that someone goes over the top if they do something in a way that is too extreme. ❑ Maybe he went a bit over the top with some of his language. ● You can use over-the-top before nouns. ❑ I hate the way models wear all that over-thetop make-up. ● In informal British English, you can also say that something is OTT. This is an abbreviation of ‘over the top’ and it is pronounced ‘o t t’, as if you were spelling it out. ❑ Each design is very different in style. Some are subtle, some gloriously OTT. During the First World War, ‘to go over the top’ meant to climb out of the trenches and run into no-man’s land in order to attack the enemy. In a competition or competitive situation, if something puts you over the top, it results in you winning. [american] ❑ Competitive schools receive applications from dozens of A-grade students. An extra skill may push a candidate over the top.

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blow your top [informal] If you blow your top, you become very angry with someone and shout at them. ❑ Things didn’t go right today and I’m afraid I blew my top. ❑ I never asked personal questions because she’d always blow her top. ➜ compare with blow your stack ✪ from top to bottom If you do something from top to bottom, you do it completely and thoroughly and to every part of something. ❑ I scrubbed the house from top to bottom. ❑ She searched the apartment from top to bottom for the missing letters. ● You can also use top to bottom before a noun. ❑ He called for a top to bottom review of existing regulations. ✪ from top to toe [mainly british] You use from top to toe to talk about the whole of someone’s body. ❑ Carefully, she began to wash her body from top to toe. ❑ She was trembling from top to toe. ❑ He’s dressed from top to toe in black.

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toss-up

✪ be a toss-up

The torch referred to in these expressions is a long stick with burning material at one end which provides a light. This kind of torch is sometimes used in processions or parades.

People say that something is a toss-up when they think that two things are equally likely to happen or be chosen. ❑ She might go to Scapa. Or Rosyth. It’s a toss-up really. ❑ They said it’s a toss-up whether oil prices will go up or down over the days ahead. When you toss a coin, there is an equal chance that the coin will land heads or tails.

carry the torch If you carry the torch for something such as a political party or a particular belief, you support it very strongly and try to persuade other people to support it too. touch ❑ This group aims to carry the torch for the ✪ the common touch millions of people who demonstrated and the If someone in a position of power has the thousands who died. ❑ I just want to thank all of common touch, they are able to you for carrying the torch, for being the solid base communicate well with ordinary people. that makes our party what it is. ❑ Although he was born into wealth, he prides ● Other verbs can be used instead of carry. himself on having the common touch. ❑ There’s nobody left to take up the torch for the ❑ Everyone agrees that he is one of their most group at national level. talented politicians but he lacks the common carry a torch for someone touch. If you carry a torch for someone, you are kick something into touch [mainly in love with them but they do not love british] you. If you kick something into touch, you stop ❑ What makes a woman so special that a man it happening or succeeding. will carry a torch for her all his life? ❑ The controversial proposal to stage the World ● The verb hold is sometimes used instead Cup every two years was kicked into touch of carry. ❑ He never saw the woman again. And yesterday – by its creator. ❑ Her challenge for the he went through the rest of his life holding a torch US Women’s Open Championship was kicked into for her. touch by a foot injury yesterday. pass the torch to someone In rugby football, when the ball is If you pass the torch to someone, you pass kicked into touch it is kicked over one of responsibility for something to them. the lines along each side of the pitch. ❑ Supposedly, he would pass the torch to lose your touch LeMond, seven years his junior. If you lose your touch, you become less toss skillful at doing something. argue the toss [british, informal] ❑ Despite thirteen years in the job, she has not If someone argues the toss, they waste lost her touch. their time by arguing about something ✪ a soft touch or which is not important or which cannot an easy touch be changed anyway. If someone is a soft touch or an easy ❑ While London and Paris were still arguing the toss, touch, it is easy to make them do what the whole situation changed. ❑ He would wake you want or give you what you want. suddenly, ready to argue the toss with anyone. ❑ He did not get where he is today by being either This may refer to someone tossing a coin a soft touch or a poor judge of his businesses. in the air in order to reach a decision. ❑ Pamela was an easy touch when she needed ✪ not give a toss [british, informal, rude] some cash. If you don’t give a toss about something, To touch a person for money means to you do not care about it at all. approach them and persuade them to ❑ I didn’t give a toss about society because it had let you have some money as a loan or a never given a toss about me. ❑ ‘We couldn’t give gift. a toss what journalists think,’ says the band’s ✪ touch and go drummer. If it is touch and go whether In this expression, ‘toss’ is a rude, slang something will happen, you cannot be word meaning to masturbate.

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touch paper

certain whether it will happen or not. ❑ It was touch and go whether she would really go through with the court case. ❑ I thought I was going to win the race, but it was still touch and go. If it is touch and go, you are in a very dangerous situation, where people might die. ❑ Nancy nearly lost control of the boat. For a few moments it was touch and go.

touch paper

light the blue touch paper or light the touch paper [british] If someone lights the blue touch paper or lights the touch paper, they do or say something which causes people to react in an angry or violent way. ❑ This kind of remark is guaranteed to light the blue touch paper with some Labour politicians. ❑ Tension between them had been building up for weeks. All it took was Mason to light the touch paper and stand back. The touch paper on a firework is a small piece of dark blue paper attached to one end. When it is lit, it burns slowly until it sets off the firework.

tower

an ivory tower ➜ see ivory a tower of strength ➜ see strength

town go to town If you go to town, you do something with a lot of enthusiasm or energy, trying to make it as good as possible and often spending a lot of money. ❑ You could really go to town and give her a night at a posh hotel. ❑ I felt I could go to town a bit more in here as it’s a room we only use on special occasions. ● You can also say that you go to town on something to mean that you use a lot of it, do a lot of it, or spend a lot of money on it. ❑ French people also go to town on food for this special day. ❑ The author resists the temptation to go to town on the details of the murder. hit the town When people hit the town, they go out in the evening to bars and clubs. ❑ We relaxed by the pool during the day and hit the town at night. out on the town If someone is out on the town, they are enjoying themselves in a public place such as a bar, club or restaurant. ❑ It was Saturday and he would have liked to be out on the town, not working. paint the town red If you paint the town red, you go out and enjoy yourself, often drinking alcohol and dancing. ❑ Don’t you and the other sisters ever paint the town red? ❑ Preparing yourself to paint the town red on a Saturday night just doesn’t have the same buzz without suitable music to get ready to. This expression is said to have originated in the Wild West. It may have been used to describe groups of Native Americans setting fire to towns. Another possibility is that it referred to

tough

chuck in the towel and start again. ● You can also say that someone throws in the sponge. [mainly british] ❑ You’re not the kind of man who throws in the sponge. You’re a fighter and it’s your fighting spirit which is going to save you. In boxing, a fighter’s trainer sometimes throws a towel or sponge into the ring as a signal of defeat in order to stop the fight before there are any more injuries.

tough as leather If something is as tough as leather, it is very tough. ❑ Her hands were tough as leather. If someone is tough as leather, they have a strong character or body and do not get upset or hurt easily. ❑ He’s shown he’s tough as leather. tough as old boots [british] or tough as nails If someone is tough as old boots or tough as nails, they have a strong character and do not get upset easily. ❑ Barbara is tough as old boots and rules her kids with an iron hand. ❑ This man was a very friendly in a large group, but across a negotiating table was just tough as nails.

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If you throw in the towel, you stop trying to do something, because you know that you cannot succeed. ❑ Klara’s support, when even her son wanted to throw in the towel, was crucial. ● Verbs such as chuck and toss are sometimes used instead of throw. ❑ One day I will be brave enough (or fed up enough) to

✪ throw in the towel

towel

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track

toys ✪

throw your toys out of the pram If someone throws their toys out of the pram, they express their anger or disappointment in a childish way. ❑ They say he may have thrown his toys out of the pram after being made to report to Smith. ● Words for names of toys are often used instead of toys with the same meaning. ❑ I for one, will certainly not be crying into my beer or throwing my rattle out of the pram. ❑ I hope that your girlfriend is prepared to stand up to you as you throw your dummy out of the pram.

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● Fast track is also used as a verb to mean

cowboys threatening to ‘paint the town red’ with the blood of anyone who tried to stop their drunken behaviour.

traces

kick over the traces If someone kicks over the traces, they pay no attention to rules and traditions and behave exactly as they want to. ❑ Harry had kicked over the traces when his father died, and quit going to church. ❑ He found that most of his students had the desire to kick ✪ over the traces, the refusal to accept old values without question. When a horse pulling a cart or carriage kicks over the traces, it steps over the side straps attached to its harness, so it can no longer be controlled effectively by the driver.

track

✪ the fast track

to make something happen quickly. ❑ The chance for Columbus to fast track him to the National Hockey League was too good to miss. A track here is a running track or racing track. have the inside track or have an inside track [mainly american, journalism] If someone has the inside track or has an inside track, they have an advantage such as special knowledge about something because of their position in an organization or their relationship with someone in an organization. ❑ As an agent, you may have the inside track when good deals become available. ❑ Companies that cause pollution are now under pressure, even if they have an inside track of access to sympathetic officials and ministers. On a racing track, the inside track is the shortest, and so the competitors want to use it in order to take advantage of this fact. keep track of something/someone If you keep track of something or someone, you make sure that you have accurate information about them all the time. ❑ I could never keep track of all the visitors to the mansion. ❑ The ability to keep track of time is important for this activity. ● You can also just say keep track. ❑ The financial situation is so confusing it is difficult to keep track sometimes. lose track of something/someone If you lose track of something or someone, you no longer know what is happening to them or where they are. ❑ His family lost track of him under his new name. ❑ You may have wondered how the fund’s administrators could lose track of £20 million. ❑ We were chatting and we just lost track of the time. off the beaten track [british] or off the beaten path [american] If a place is off the beaten track or off the beaten path, it is far away from places where most people live or go. ❑ The house is sufficiently off the beaten track to deter all but a few tourists. ❑ Rents at these malls, which are generally off the beaten path, are lower than at most suburban shopping centers. A track here is a footpath or narrow road.

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The fast track to something is the quickest way of achieving it. ✪ ❑ These students will learn leadership, management and computer skills – and be put on the fast track to a highly paid job. ❑ Like many of his classmates, Chris Urwin believes a university degree will be his passport to the fast track into a company. ● If someone or something is on the fast track or on the fast track to a particular goal or state, they are likely to achieve it very soon or very easily. ❑ This sweet ✪ Carolina gal is on the fast track to becoming country music’s newest star. ❑ Those kids are on a fast track to becoming unhealthy adults. ● You can also talk about a fast-track approach to something or a fast-track way of achieving something. ❑ The fast-track process speeds up approval of international trade agreements. ❑ They offer fast-track promotion schemes for promising young executives.

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tracks ✪ on the right track

make tracks If you make tracks, you leave a place. If someone or something is on the right ❑ Webb looked at the clock. ‘Ten past nine. We track, they are acting or developing in a might as well be making tracks.’ ❑ About 8pm, way that is likely to be successful. we decided it was time to start making tracks, but ❑ We are finding that guests for lunch and we all found it difficult to get going. dinner are returning in increasing numbers – a In this expression, ‘tracks’ are sure sign that we are on the right track. ❑ We footprints. have taken action to put the industry back on the ✪ stop someone in their tracks or right track. stop someone dead in their tracks ➜ compare with on the right lines If something stops you in your tracks or ✪ on the wrong track stops you dead in your tracks, it makes If someone or something is on the wrong you suddenly stop what you are doing track, they are acting or developing in a because you are very surprised or way that is likely to result in failure. frightened. ❑ Do you think the country is going in the right ❑ Seen across wide fields of corn this magnificent direction or is it headed on the wrong track? church cannot fail to stop you in your tracks. ❑ The standard of careers advice given to ● You can also say that someone stops in school-leavers is generally terrible, setting us off their tracks or stops dead in their tracks. on the wrong track from the start. ❑ They stopped in their tracks and stared at him ✪ a track record in amazement. ❑ They turned round. And then The track record of a person, company, or they stopped dead in their tracks, their hearts product is the reputation they have, based beating fast. Somebody was behind them. on what they have done or how good they ✪ stop something in its tracks or have been in the past. stop something dead in its tracks ❑ He joined the BBC as a trainee and quickly If someone or something stops a process developed a track record as an inventive or activity in its tracks or stops it dead in programme maker. ❑ Glasgow Museums and its tracks, they make it immediately stop Galleries have a proven track record of attracting continuing or developing. very large audiences. ❑ The region is known to ❑ Francis felt he would like to stop this have a poor track record in research. conversation in its tracks. ❑ These job losses An athlete’s track record is a record of could stop Britain’s economic revival dead in its the performances he or she has tracks. achieved.

tracks

blaze the trail If someone blazes a trail or blazes the trail, they are the first person to do or discover something new and important, and this makes it easier for other people to do the same thing. ❑ With his first book Parker has blazed a new trail in American literature. ❑ The party is blazing the trail for the advancement of women in politics. ● You can use trail-blazing to describe someone who does something new and important or to describe the thing that they do. ❑ Many companies are happy to follow in the shadow of a trail-blazing competitor. ❑ This trail-blazing study went into immense detail on the habits of pub-goers. ● People or organizations who act like this can be called trail-blazers and what they do is called trail-blazing. ❑ They are

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✪ blaze a trail or

If someone covers their tracks, they hide or destroy evidence of what they have done or where they have been. ❑ He was a very clever man who never took a chance, a man who totally covered his tracks. ❑ The killer may have returned to the scene of the crime to cover his tracks. Tracks here are footprints. from the wrong side of the tracks If someone comes from the wrong side of the tracks, they come from a poor or unfashionable area of town. ❑ I know kids back home who come from the wrong side of the tracks. When they go to school, they haven’t eaten and their clothes are all torn. Railway tracks sometimes mark boundaries between different parts of a town, for example between richer and poorer areas.

trail

✪ cover your tracks

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trend trail-blazers who took on a man’s world and made it theirs. ❑ Despite all his trail-blazing, he spent most of his life looking back to the works of Chaucer and Edmund Spenser. New trails or routes through forests were often marked by ‘blazing’, which involved making white marks called ‘blazes’ on tree trunks, usually by chipping off a piece of bark.

trap

✪ fall into the trap

If someone falls into the trap of doing something, they make a very common mistake, or one that is very easy to make. ❑ School administrators often fall into the trap of thinking that discipline problems are the cause of low levels of achievement. ❑ I refuse to fall into the trap of washing his dishes for him.

traveller

‘Traveller’ is spelled ‘traveler’ in American English.

a fellow traveller A fellow traveller is someone who supports the aims of an organization but is not a member of it. ❑ Although something of a critical fellow traveller, Sampson was very interested in the party.

461

tree. ❑ Robby, we’ve been barking up the wrong tree! We should have been looking for something green! This expression comes from raccoon hunting, which takes place at night. Dogs that are trained to show where raccoons are hiding by barking sometimes indicate the wrong tree. out of your tree [informal] If someone is out of their tree, they are behaving very strangely. ❑ ‘I’m going out of my tree with this.’ – ‘Honey, don’t let it get you down.’ If someone is out of their tree, they are unable to act normally because they have taken drugs or drunk a lot of alcohol. ❑ It was obvious they had taken something. They were both out of their tree. up a tree [american, informal] If you are up a tree, you are in a difficult situation. ❑ Without my wine guide, I’d have been up a tree.

trees

✪ not grow on trees [mainly british]

treatment

If you say that people or things of a particular kind do not grow on trees, you mean that they are very difficult to get. ❑ Mitchell could not be replaced in a hurry: agents with his expertise did not grow on trees. ❑ Investments worth $1.75 billion do not grow on trees. ● People often say money doesn’t grow on trees to tell someone that what they want will not be easy to pay for. ❑ All this extra money you want to spend doesn’t grow on trees. not see the wood for the trees [british] or not see the forest for the trees [american] If someone can’t see the wood for the trees or can’t see the forest for the trees, they are so involved in the details of something that they do not understand or pay attention to the most important parts of it. ❑ He often helped those who could not see the wood for the trees reach the correct decision. ❑ A picture is emerging of an agency that can’t see the forest for the trees.

tree

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If someone is at the top of the tree, they are in the highest position in an organization or in their profession. ❑ She has been at the top of the acting tree for 35 years. ● You can also say that someone is top of the tree. ❑ As a cricketer he is top of the tree and we will see that when the time comes if he is picked for India. be barking up the wrong tree If someone is barking up the wrong tree, they are following the wrong course of action because their beliefs about something are not correct. ❑ Scientists in Switzerland realised that most other researchers had been barking up the wrong

✪ at the top of the tree [british]

give someone the silent treatment If you give someone the silent treatment, you do not speak to them for a period of time because you are annoyed with them. ❑ He fully expected his mother to give him the silent treatment.

trend on trend Things that are on trend are very popular or fashionable at the moment. ❑ Floor-length coats are bang on trend this winter. ❑ They’re not only cool and comfortable but totally on trend.

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trial trial

✪ float a trial balloon [mainly american]

If someone floats a trial balloon they suggest an idea or plan in order to see what people think about it. ❑ The administration has not officially released any details of the president’s economic plan, although numerous trial balloons have been floated. ● Other verbs can be used instead of float. ❑ Weeks ago, the Tories were flying a trial balloon about banning nurses’ strikes. ● You can call an idea or suggestion that is made to test public opinion a trial balloon. ❑ The idea is nothing more than a trial balloon at this point. Balloons were formerly used to find out about weather conditions. ✪ a trial run A trial run is something that you do to practise before you do it at a more important time. ❑ They will use their match with the highly-rated Saracens forwards on Wednesday as a trial run for what awaits them on February 26.

✪ do the trick [informal]

tricks

✪ up to your tricks or

trick

people should have expected it because it is a very common thing that people do. ❑ Well, that’s the oldest trick in the book – to blame someone else for your problems. ❑ He’s using the children to persuade people to part with their money. Oldest trick in the book. use every trick in the book If someone uses every trick in the book, they do everything possible to achieve something. ❑ Companies are using every trick in the book to stay one step in front of their competitors. ❑ These smokers are using every trick in the book to reduce their health risk without actually giving up. ● Other verbs such as try or pull are sometimes used instead of use. ❑ They have tried every trick in the book from secret meetings to spreading false information about me. ● You can also say that someone knows every trick in the book if they know all the possible ways to achieve something. ❑ They know every trick in the book when it comes to spending taxpayers’ money.

up to your old tricks If someone is up to their tricks or up to their old tricks, they are behaving in the same dishonest or foolish way that they have done in the past. ❑ Homeowners wondering if estate agents are no longer up to their tricks should think again. ❑ They seemed to be up to their old tricks of promising one thing and doing the opposite.

If something does the trick, it achieves what you want. ❑ If these self-help remedies don’t do the trick, consult a qualified doctor. ❑ If you’re not sure what your baby wants, then try a cuddle – it usually does the trick. ✪ not miss a trick If someone does not miss a trick, they always know what is happening and take advantage of every situation. ❑ She doesn’t miss a trick – even at 92 her mental and physical agility are superb. ❑ Matthews did not miss a trick, establishing a profitable connection with Adams, the powerful American boxing entrepreneur. ● You can also say that someone misses a trick if they miss an opportunity that would give them an advantage. ❑ She said that writers are missing a trick: ‘Real business figures present great opportunities for fictional characters’. The reference here is to a player winning every trick in a card game such as whist or bridge. the oldest trick in the book If you call a dishonest or unfair action the oldest trick in the book, you mean that

trigger happy If someone is trigger happy, they are too willing to use a gun. ❑ The firing continued throughout the night, trigger happy soldiers making sleep impossible.

trim

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trigger

in fighting trim [mainly american] If someone or something is in fighting trim, they are in very good condition. ❑ I need to be in fighting trim for the months ahead. ● You can also say that someone or something gets into fighting trim. ❑ They need to get the company into fighting trim for the next decade. A boxer who is in fighting trim is fit and ready to fight.

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such as an agreement, contract or argument, it has serious weaknesses off your trolley [british, informal] or faults. If someone is off their trolley, they are ❑ In my view, his fiscal plan is so thin you could behaving in a strange or foolish way. drive a truck through it. ❑ If they think officers are going to give up their ● You can also say that something has cars, they’re off their trolley. ❑ Most people think weaknesses big enough to drive a truck I’m off my trolley, but I’ve never been so sure of through. ❑ Clearly, there were loopholes anything in my life. in the system big enough to drive a truck trooper through. swear like a trooper ✪ have no truck with something/someone If someone swears like a trooper, they If you have no truck with something or swear a lot. someone, you disapprove of them and ❑ Mo was rude and abusive and swore like a trooper. refuse to become involved with them. ● Nouns such as sailor or marine are ❑ As an American, she had no truck with the sometimes used instead of trooper. ❑ The formality of English life. ❑ Great efforts were show has a heroine who drinks like a fish and made to get him on the side of the rebels. He had swears like a sailor. no truck with them. A trooper is a soldier. ● The verbs want and hold are sometimes trot used instead of have. ❑ Most traditional hot to trot [mainly american, informal] doctors hold no truck with these ideas. If someone is hot to trot, they are ‘Truck’ is an old term which referred to sexually excited or sexually exciting. trading goods by bartering. ‘To have no ❑ Donatella was my Italian dream – hot to trot. truck with someone’ literally means to If someone is hot to trot, they are eager have no dealings with them. to do something or have something. true ❑ The Mayor is hot to trot for more and better ring true urban transport. If something that is said or written rings ✪ on the trot [british, informal] true, it seems to be true or sincere. If something happens several times on ❑ It is not an argument that rings true to the trot, it happens that number of times American ears. ❑ When I first heard his reasons, without a break. they didn’t ring true. ❑ It was their fifth win on the trot, a club record. ➜ compare with ring hollow ❑ She had worked 13 days on the trot before the trump accident. ✪ someone’s trump card trousers Your trump card is something which wear the trousers ➜ see wear gives you an important advantage over trowel other people and makes it very likely that lay it on with a trowel [british] you will succeed. If you lay it on with a trowel, you try to ❑ After only two days, the distribution of make something seem more important goods was suffering: and that is the than it really is, especially in order to get railwaymen’s trump card. ❑ He said that the the reaction you want. measure was his trump card in his plan to ❑ You have to make up your mind about whether prevent electoral fraud. Carmen’s telling the truth or laying it on with a ● You can say that someone holds the trowel. trump card when they have an ● You can also say that someone lays on a advantage like this. ❑ In terms of passion particular thing with a trowel if they and commitment, Ireland held every trump emphasize it. ❑ He followed my advice and card. laid on the flattery with a trowel. ● If someone plays their trump card, they ➜ compare with lay it on thick do something unexpected which gives them an important advantage over other truck people. ❑ She could threaten to play her trump can drive a truck through something card, an autobiography that would embarrass [american, informal] If you can drive a truck through something many important people.

trolley

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trumpet In card games such as whist and bridge, one of the four suits is chosen as trumps for each hand. Cards of that suit then rank higher than cards of the other three suits.

trumpet

✪ blow your own trumpet [british]

trust not trust someone as far as you could throw them If you say that you would not trust someone as far as you could throw them, you mean that you do not trust them at all. ❑ He may look innocent, but I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. ● People sometimes use can instead of could. ❑ The government says that it is green, but I wouldn’t trust them as far as I can throw them.

If you blow your own trumpet, you tell people good things about yourself. ❑ The three candidates exchanged insults and blew their own trumpets yesterday as each one claimed to be heading for victory. ❑ The actress has few equals when it comes to blowing her truth own trumpet. ‘You either have it or you don’t,’ ✪ economical with the truth she says. ● You can say I’m not blowing my own If someone is economical with the truth, they deceive people by not telling them trumpet when you are saying something the whole truth about something. good about yourself but do not want other ❑ In insisting that no changes had been made people to think you are boasting. ❑ I am to the original plan, his team was being not blowing my own trumpet but I work a lot economical with the truth. ❑ She received a quicker than most people. series of answers which were at best economical In the past, the arrival of important with the truth, at worst deliberately designed to people in a place was announced by the deceive. playing of trumpets. speak truth to power The usual American expression is Someone who speaks truth to power is blow your own horn. not afraid to speak out against those who hold power, especially politicians. trumps ❑ She wrote 50 books, campaigned for women’s ✪ come up trumps or rights and spoke truth to power. turn up trumps [british] If someone or something comes up try trumps or turns up trumps, they are ✪ try it on [british, informal] successful, often when this is not If someone tries it on, they try to start expected. sexual activity with another person. ❑ The Russo brothers came up trumps at the box ❑ He was horrible. He tried it on. I was on my own office with their movie Avengers: Endgame. ❑ It with him. is another gamble. But if it turns up trumps, he If someone tries it on, they try to get could be our next Prime Minister. something or do something, often in a If people or organizations come up dishonest way. ❑ They were just trying it on – applying a little trumps or turn up trumps, they pressure in the hope that they would squeeze unexpectedly help you with your something out of me. problems. If someone, especially a child, tries it ❑ He came up trumps, and invited me to stay at on, they behave badly, to see how badly his home for as long as I needed to. ❑ The dear old they can behave before someone stops National Health Service turned up trumps. From them. being barely able to sit still in February, she ❑ The kids were trying it on with her. progressed to five days in Rome in October. In card games such as whist and tub bridge, one of the four suits is chosen tub-thumping [british, journalism] as trumps for each hand. Cards of that Tub-thumping is used as an adjective suit then rank higher than cards of and a noun to describe people’s the other three suits. The reference behaviour when they are supporting an here is to a player drawing a trump idea or course of action in a loud and from the pack. forceful way.

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tunnel ❑ Economic recovery does not depend on tub-thumping speeches from politicians, but on the Government creating jobs. ❑ The players neither need, nor will respond to, tub-thumping. ● You can call someone who behaves in this way a tub-thumper. ❑ Marsh was far from being a tub-thumper. ● This expression is used to show disapproval. People sometimes used to refer to pulpits (= the place in a church where the priest stands to speak) as ‘tubs’, especially when talking humorously about nonconformist preachers. The image is of a preacher banging the pulpit with his fist to emphasize his message.

This expression is often used to criticize someone for allowing themselves to be controlled.

tubes

down the tubes ➜ see down

tune

465

do whatever they tell you to do, usually without arguing or hesitating. ❑ Trade union leaders were often giving in to managers, sometimes going so far as dancing to their tune. ❑ The danger is that the churches could end up dancing to the tune of their big business sponsors.

✪ call the tune

If someone calls the tune, they are in control of a situation and make all the important decisions. ❑ If managers tried to get players to come back in the afternoon they’d have a riot on their hands. The players call the tune these days. ❑ Whether you’re talking plant-breeding or choice of seed, supermarkets call the tune. This expression comes from the proverb ‘he who pays the piper calls the tune’. can carry a tune If you can carry a tune, you can sing a song with the right notes. ❑ All five can carry a tune, unusual in such a band. ● In American English, people sometimes say that someone can’t carry a tune in a bucket, meaning that they do not sing the right notes. ❑ The fact that he can’t carry a tune in a bucket doesn’t help much. ✪ change your tune If someone changes their tune, they express a different opinion about something from the one they had expressed before. ❑ Wait till they see you in action. They’ll change their tune then. ❑ You’ve changed your tune. You were the one who wanted us to be a family act. ● You can also talk about someone’s change of tune. ❑ These comments mark a change of tune from the president. dance to someone’s tune If you dance to someone else’s tune, you

dance to a tune If someone dances to a particular tune they are forced to behave in a particular way, especially one that is different from the way they were behaving before. ❑ Change is never really easy. It is a case of having to dance to a tune other than the one you are accustomed to. ❑ With different circumstances in Germany and Britain, we cannot dance to the same tune. march to a different tune ➜ see march sing a different tune ➜ see sing to the tune of To the tune of is used before a particular amount of money to show that it is a large amount. ❑ They’ve been sponsoring the World Cup to the tune of a million and a half pounds. ❑ Silas could not even add up properly and his calculations were often out to the tune of hundreds of pounds.

✪ tunnel vision

If someone has tunnel vision, they use all their energy and skill on something that is important to them and ignore other important things. ❑ Unfortunately, government departments tend to exhibit extreme tunnel vision. It is often beyond their capacity to appreciate or support something if it benefits more than one department. ● This expression can also be used to show admiration for someone who has achieved a lot by concentrating on a single thing. ❑ They always say that you have to have tunnel vision to be a champion. You can’t have any outside distractions at all. ● You can also use tunnel-vision before a noun. ❑ The experts sometimes have a bureaucratic, tunnel-vision view of their mission. Tunnel vision is a medical condition in which someone can only see things that are immediately in front of them, and cannot see things that are to the side.

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turkey A turkey shoot is an occasion when people hunt turkeys, which are very go cold turkey [informal] easy to shoot. If someone goes cold turkey, they suddenly stop taking drugs that they turkeys depend on. like turkeys voting for Christmas ❑ You can’t just go cold turkey, because that’s not [british] how you successfully deal with addiction. If someone’s action or choice is like ● People use cold turkey to describe the turkeys voting for Christmas, it will have a very bad result for them. experience of doing this. ❑ His book ❑ Lawyers supporting non-legal methods of describes the 30-day cold turkey of a heroin solving disputes are like turkeys voting for addict. Christmas. ❑ The idea that food bank users If someone goes cold turkey, they would vote for a party that plans to cut suddenly stop having or doing something benefits would be like turkeys voting for that they are used to. Christmas. ❑ Unless you go cold turkey and turn off In Britain and some other countries, notifications, you will have no peace during people traditionally eat turkey at your vacation. ● People use cold turkey to describe the Christmas. experience of doing this. ❑ Compulsive turn shopping is just like any other addiction and ✪ at every turn the recession means cold turkey for Judith If something happens at every turn, it Summers. happens every time you try to do talk turkey [mainly american] something. If people talk turkey, they discuss ❑ Although the government has had a sensible something in an open and serious way, in economic plan, parliament has set out to block it order to solve a problem. at every turn. ❑ Small companies such as mine ❑ Suddenly government and industry are talking are hampered at every turn by big business. turkey. Last month the Prime Minister promised a turn-up partnership to improve the climate for business. a turn-up for the books [british, ❑ The next day we got a call to say that he wanted informal] to talk turkey. If you say that something is a turn-up for This expression is said to have its the books, you mean that it is very origin in an American story about a surprising, and usually pleasing. white man who went hunting with a ❑ Pullman’s victory is not quite the turn-up for Native American. They caught several the books that it appears to be. ❑ He left an wild turkeys and some other birds. estate valued at £1,215,433 net. Really quite a After the trip the white man divided turn-up for the books. the birds unfairly, keeping the turkeys ● You can also just say that something for himself and giving the Native is a turn-up. ❑ Suddenly, I found myself American the less tasty birds. The unable to hurt animals. This came as something Native American protested, saying he of a turn-up. I had loved shooting since the age wanted to ‘talk turkey’. of 12. a turkey shoot The reference here is to a horse that A turkey shoot is a fight or contest where unexpectedly wins a race. The ‘books’ one side is so much stronger than the are the bookmakers’ records of the bets other that the weaker side has no chance taken on the race. of winning. turtle ❑ The fighting stopped earlier than expected turn turtle partly because of public anxiety at the If a boat turns turtle, it turns upside turkey-shoot. ❑ The game was turning into a down in the water. turkey shoot with Roberts blasting the ball past ❑ The boat nearly turned turtle twice, but I the goalkeeper. managed to keep her upright. This expression is usually used to Turtles are helpless when they are turned onto their backs. suggest that the situation is unfair.

turkey

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tyre twain

never the twain shall meet or ne’er the twain shall meet [literary] People say never the twain shall meet or ne’er the twain shall meet when they believe that there are so many differences between two groups of people or two groups of things that they can never exist together. ❑ The British education system is notorious for separating the sciences and the humanities. This academic ‘ne’er the twain shall meet’ policy does not always reflect the needs of the real world. ● People often vary this expression. For example, they say that the twain should meet or the twain are not supposed to meet. ❑ Although they recognised differences between East and West, they went on to argue that the twain should and must meet. ‘Twain’ is an old-fashioned word meaning two. This is a quotation from ‘The Ballad of East and West’ (1889) by the English poet Rudyard Kipling: ‘Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.’

twinkle

two

✪ put two and two together If you put two and two together, you correctly guess the truth about something from the information that you have. ❑ I could see he had put two and two together. Like me he had guessed what the police were searching for. ❑ She saw reports in the Press about the runaway Major and it didn’t take much to put two and two together. ● If you say that someone puts two and two together and makes five or puts two and two together and gets five, you mean that they guess something more exciting or interesting than the truth. ❑ Mr Lane’s solicitor said after the case that the police had put two and two together and made five.

typhoid Typhoid Mary You can describe someone as Typhoid Mary if they bring bad luck or harm to other people. ❑ After the relationship ended, she became a Typhoid Mary, spoiling the romantic lives of everyone around her. Typhoid Mary was a cook who spread the disease typhoid to several hospitals that she worked in, though she never became ill herself.

a twinkle in someone’s eye ➜ see eye

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you do it in a way that is original or different from normal. ❑ The hotel has put its own twist on the dish. ❑ He sang a few classic ballads, giving each his own twist.

round the twist [british, informal] If you say that someone is round the twist, you mean that their ideas or behaviour are very strange or foolish. ❑ You would have to be really round the twist to get pleasure out of this. ❑ This man’s round the twist. ● You can say that someone goes round the twist if they start to behave in a strange or foolish way, often because they are bored or annoyed by something. ❑ Most of them go round the twist in the end, you know. His predecessor killed himself. ❑ I’d go round the twist if I didn’t work. ➜ compare with round the bend your own twist If you put your own twist on something,

‘Tyre’ is spelled ‘tire’ in American English.

a spare tyre If someone has a spare tyre, they have a large circle of fat around their waist. ❑ He had long, wavy hair, a big diamond ring and a spare tyre around his middle.

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Uu SA ugly

unstuck

ugly as sin If someone or something is as ugly as sin, they are very ugly. ❑ I genuinely believed I was ugly as sin. ❑ Some of the buildings on the short list are massive. A few are ugly as sin. But some are actually very good. ● This term could cause offence.

✪ come unstuck [british, informal] If someone or something comes unstuck, they fail. ❑ The Australian came badly unstuck in the third round of the Memorial golf tournament yesterday. ❑ Past promises about multimedia have come unstuck thanks to inadequate technology.

The usual American expression is come unglued.

unbowed

bloodied but unbowed [literary] If a person or organization is bloodied but unbowed, they have had a bad experience, but they have not been defeated or destroyed and are determined to continue with something. ❑ He is bloodied but unbowed after his very narrow election victory. ❑ The group was bloodied but unbowed, selling off its non-tobacco businesses to keep big shareholders happy. ● Adjectives such as battered, bloody and defeated can be used instead of bloodied. ❑ The construction giant has emerged from the recession battered but unbowed. Unbowed means standing upright without showing fear or pain.

unwashed

the great unwashed People use the great unwashed to mean poor or ordinary people. ❑ Once a week the Royal Family invites the great unwashed into its palace gardens. ● This expression is used humorously.

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The usual British expression is come unstuck.

come unglued [american, informal] If someone comes unglued, they cannot control their emotions and they behave in a strange or foolish way. ❑ She had apparently come unglued since losing her job as a magazine writer. ❑ As they watched this, the audience came unglued. They stood up and began to shout at the people on the screen, demanding that this outrage stop. If someone or something comes unglued, they fail. ❑ Their marriage finally came unglued. ❑ Everything seemed to be coming unglued.

If someone or something is on the up, they are becoming very successful and doing well. ❑ Their economy is on the up. ❑ Last year wasn’t great but things are on the up now. ● You can also say that someone or something is on the up and up. ❑ Their career path has flattened out slightly rather than still being on the up and up. on the up and up [american] If a person or an activity is on the up and up it is honest or legal. ❑ We’d like to know where the money came from. It may have been on the up-and-up. ❑ I’m an old man and I’m a pretty good judge of people. If you’re honest and on the up and up, I’ll be able to tell it. swear up and down [american] If someone swears up and down that something is true, they insist very strongly that they are telling you the truth. ❑ He swore up and down he was going to get the cash and bring it right back. ❑ I couldn’t get it

unglued

✪ on the up [british]

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use out of my head that maybe it was all part of his plan, although he swore up and down it wasn’t. The usual British expression is swear blind.

up against it [informal] If you are up against it, you have a very difficult problem or situation to deal with. ❑ Playing into the wind in the second half, the team were really up against it. ❑ You have to help me – I’m really up against it at the moment. ✪ up and coming An up and coming person is someone who is likely to be successful in the future. ❑ The 198 Gallery in Brixton regularly exhibits up and coming artists. ● This expression is often written up-and-coming. ❑ The magazine profiles two up-and-coming Canadian hockey stars. ✪ up and running If a system, business, or plan is up and running, it has started and is functioning successfully. ❑ Luton’s first fully-fledged Business Centre is up and running at last. ❑ The project, once it is up and running, will be very dangerous.

upstairs kick someone upstairs [british] If you kick someone upstairs, you give them a job or position which seems to have a higher status but actually has less power, in order to reduce their influence. ❑ Browne becomes managing director succeeding Robert Thomas, who is kicked upstairs to become deputy chair. ❑ The radicals kicked him upstairs to the then ceremonial job of president.

uptake slow on the uptake If someone is slow on the uptake, they take a long time to understand or realise things. ❑ It’s not like you to be slow on the uptake, Grace. ❑ He is quite anxious sometimes, and a bit slow on the uptake. ● You can say that someone is quick on the uptake to mean that they understand or realise things very quickly. ❑ He is quick on the uptake and knows exactly which points to pick up.

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can forget about receiving dividends for a couple of years. ❑ Simon pays cash for his ceramics because he finds so many potters are down on their uppers. The upper of a shoe is the top part of it, which is attached to the sole and heel. If you are on your uppers, you have worn through the sole and heel.

on your uppers or down on your uppers [british, informal, old-fashioned] If a person or a company is on their uppers or down on their uppers, they have very little money. ❑ The company is on its uppers and shareholders

use

it’s/there’s no use crying over spilled milk ➜ see milk

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Vv SA vacuum

✪ in a vacuum

If something exists or happens in a vacuum, it seems to exist or happen separately from the things that you would expect it to be connected with. ❑ Property values do not exist in a vacuum. The market value of a house can fall if the biggest employer in town closes or a noisy club opens next door. ❑ Such decisions do not occur in a political vacuum, but have serious political implications both at home and abroad.

variety

vest

play your cards close to the vest ➜ see cards

victor to the victor, the spoils or to the victor go the spoils People say to the victor, the spoils or to the victor go the spoils to mean that the person who wins a competition, fight, etc. can take everything of value. ❑ He believed in the principle of to the victor, the spoils.

variety is the spice of life People say that variety is the spice of life, to mean that doing and seeing a lot of different things makes life more enjoyable and interesting. ❑ Families have discovered that variety is the spice of life and are switching to adventurous meals like curries, tacos and Chinese food. ❑ It is important to vary the training program so that boredom is avoided. Exercise should be fun and variety is the spice of life.

and give their opinions a lot are often not very intelligent or talented. ❑ There’s a lot of truth in that old saying, ‘Empty vessels make the most sound’. Those who are actually content with their choices are not usually interested in telling the rest of us about them. ● People like this can be called empty vessels. ❑ These ‘experts’ who talk a lot but actually say nothing have been shown up for the empty vessels they are. A vessel is a container such as a jug, pot or jar.

empty vessels make the most sound or empty vessels make the most noise [old-fashioned] People say empty vessels make the most sound or empty vessels make the most noise to mean that people who talk a lot

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a Pyrrhic victory If you describe a victory as a Pyrrhic victory, you mean that although someone has won or gained something, they have also lost something which was worth even more. ❑ The announcement of plans to change the law in the light of the ruling has left similar companies nursing a Pyrrhic victory and facing the prospect of yet more confusion and red tape. This expression comes from the victory of King Pyrrhus over the Romans, in which much of King Pyrrhus’s army was killed.

draw a veil over something If you draw a veil over something, you deliberately do not talk about it because you want to keep it private or because it is embarrassing. ❑ It would be kinder, perhaps, to draw a veil over the party’s career from 1906 to the outbreak of the War. ❑ Most of us have something in our past career over which we choose to draw a veil. A veil is a piece of cloth used by a woman to cover her face.

victory

veil

view a bird’s-eye view If you have a bird’s-eye view of a place, you are looking down on it from a high position and can see all of it.

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471

❑ If he is indeed the villain of the piece, as the

bird’s-eye view of the beautiful countryside. If you have a bird’s-eye view of a situation, you know what is happening in all the parts of it. ❑ I was a parliamentary journalist, so I had a bird’s eye view of the way politicians encourage people to believe in dreams. ● People often change bird to a word that is relevant to what they are talking about. ❑ He seems to have a soldier’s eye view. ❑ He has a child’s eye view of the war based on his own experiences. ➜ compare with a worm’s eye view ✪ take a dim view of something [british, american] or take a poor view of something [british] If you take a dim view of something or take a poor view of it, you disapprove of it. ❑ He takes a dim view of anyone who drinks soda with a meal. ❑ Fellow critics took a poor view of a critic who reviewed Paramount films and accepted a fee from the studio. a worm’s eye view If you have a a worm’s eye view of something, you see it from a low position. ❑ If only gardeners would take a worm’s eye view of their lawns, they would discover a mass of fascinating and useful information. If someone has a worm’s eye view of a situation, they are able to form an impression of it from an unimportant or junior position. ❑ Let me offer a worm’s eye view of what Thatcherism was, and what its legacy may be. ➜ compare with a bird’s-eye view

police claim he is, he should have been more carefully watched. In this expression, the ‘piece’ is a play.

vine wither on the vine [literary] or die on the vine [american, literary] If something withers on the vine or dies on the vine, it fails or is destroyed because nobody supports it or does anything to make it successful. ❑ The chance to make peace certainly exists, but could still wither on the vine. ❑ I talked to people all over this state who are worried that the American dream is dying on the vine.

violet

a shrinking violet If you describe someone as a shrinking violet, you mean that they are very shy. ❑ Give him a tough assignment and he turns into a shrinking violet. ❑ None of the women he paints could be described as shrinking violets. ● You can say that someone is no shrinking violet to mean that they are very self-confident. ❑ Amber is no shrinking violet. She is a brash colourful character. In the past, violets were considered to be a symbol of modesty, because of their small size and the fact that the flowers remain hidden among the leaves until they open.

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✪ speak volumes

If something speaks volumes, it gives you a lot of information about the true facts of a situation. ❑ What you wear speaks volumes about you. ❑ Her background, while speaking volumes about her business skills, could not convince the arts world that she was part of it. In this expression, a ‘volume’ is a book.

If you describe someone as the villain of the piece, you mean that they are responsible for all the trouble or all the problems in a situation. ❑ The real villains of the piece are the motor manufacturers. In a country where the top speed limit is 70mph, why do they make 140mph cars?

volumes

✪ the villain of the piece [british]

a (lone) voice crying in the wilderness ➜ see wilderness

villain

voice

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Ww SA wad

shoot your wad If someone shoots their wad, they use all their effort or money for something, so that they have no energy or money left. ❑ He gave the impression of a man who shot his wad too early, and was left with only a reputation and some memories. ❑ The team seems to have shot its wad earlier in the season.

wagon

transporting water or for sprinkling the streets. If someone was ‘on the wagon’, they were drinking water and not alcohol.

wagons circle the wagons [mainly american] If a group of people who are in difficulty or danger circle the wagons, they unite in order to protect themselves and fight whoever is attacking them. ❑ She accused senior officials of trying to circle the wagons in their recent defense of the bureau’s performance. ● You can also say that people pull or get their wagons in a circle. ❑ This is designed to get the wagons in a circle and defend the smoking franchise. ● These expressions are usually used to show disapproval. According to some Wild West stories, when wagon trains were attacked by Native Americans, the settlers drove the wagons into a circle in order to defend themselves better.

hitch your wagon to someone/ something If someone hitches their wagon to a successful person or thing, they try to use that person or thing to make themselves more successful. ❑ Jones isn’t the only footballer to have hitched his wagon to brand promotion. ❑ They made a big mistake hitching their wagon to The Beatles. ● You can also say that you hitch your wagon to a star or to someone’s star, with the same meaning. ❑ Giammetti had the good fortune to hitch his wagon to a brilliant star. ❑ A powerful network had by now hitched their wagons to Johnson’s star. wake This is a quotation from the essay ✪ in the wake of something ‘Civilization’ (1870) by the American If an event, especially an unpleasant one, writer Ralph Waldo Emerson: ‘Now that follows in the wake of a previous event, it is the wisdom of a man, in every happens after the earlier event, often as a instance of his labor, to hitch his wagon result of it. to a star, and see his chore done by the ❑ The trouble at Shotts prison follows in the gods themselves.’ wake of unrest at several prisons in England. on the wagon ❑ He remained in office until 2016 when he If someone is on the wagon, they have resigned in the wake of a row. stopped drinking alcohol. The wake of a ship is the line of white ❑ I’m on the wagon for a while. Cleaning out my foaming water behind it. system. ● You can say that someone falls off the ✪ leave something in its/his/her wake If an event or a person leaves an wagon when they start to drink alcohol unpleasant situation in their wake, they again after a period of not drinking it. cause it to exist after the event or person ❑ Sadly, he fell off the wagon after 12 dry years. Originally the expression was ‘on the has happened or gone. water wagon’ or ‘water cart’. Water carts ❑ A deadly cloud of gas swept along the valleys, were horse-drawn carts used for leaving a trail of death and devastation in its

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wall wake. ❑ The rioting died away over the next few days, leaving in its wake three dead and many more injured. ❑ Mr Stevens has disappeared, leaving in his wake debts of over £2 million.

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❑ She knows dozens of Shakespeare speeches by heart and and she’s a walking dictionary. ❑ He

wake-up

✪ a wake-up call A wake-up call is something which shocks people, making them understand how serious a problem is and causing them to take action in order to solve that problem. ❑ These extreme weather patterns should act as a wake-up call. Climate change is happening and we need to act now. ❑ The report is intended as a wake-up call for governments around the world to take action to improve healthcare resources for young people. If you have a wake-up call, you arrange for someone to telephone you at a certain time in the morning so that you are sure to wake up at that time.

was a walking encyclopedia of music, full of wit and charm. ● People sometimes use other words instead of dictionary or encyclopedia. ❑ He’s a walking database on anything relating to insurance.

wall

be banging your head against a brick wall [mainly british] or be banging your head against a wall If you say that you are banging your h ead against a brick wall or banging your head against a wall, you mean that you feel frustrated because you are not making any progress in what you are trying to do. ❑ I’d spent nearly eighteen years in show business, working my guts out, and getting nowhere. I felt as though I was banging my head against a brick wall. ❑ Many sufferers feel they walk are banging their heads against a wall when it take a walk comes to finding treatment. If someone tells you to take a walk, they ● Other verbs are sometimes used instead are telling you very forcefully or angrily to of bang. ❑ Stop fighting this thing. You’re just go away or to stop interfering. beating your head against a wall. ❑ Some of my colleagues on the paper asked the editor not to publish my article. I’m pleased to come up against a brick wall report, he told them to take a walk. If you come up against a brick wall, a walk in the park someone or something stops you from If something is a walk in the park, it is making any progress in what you are very easy or pleasant. trying to do. ❑ That project was a walk in the park compared ❑ I was tired, I’d been working really hard for a to this one. long time and I felt that I’d come up against a ➜ compare with a piece of cake brick wall. ❑ We always come up against a brick walk tall wall because we don’t have the expertise or If you walk tall, you behave in a proud and authority. confident way. ● Verbs such as run and go are ❑ I learned to walk tall, to hold my head up high sometimes used instead of come. ❑ We’d and be proud of myself. run up against a brick wall with the financing for the project. walking drive someone up the wall [informal] a walking If something or someone drives you up If you describe someone as a walking the wall, they annoy you very much. something, you mean that they are an ❑ The noise is driving me up the wall. ❑ He’s so example of that thing or have the uncooperative he’s beginning to drive me up the characteristics of that thing. wall. ❑ She was seen by both lay people and clerics as a walking miracle. ❑ Wayne is a walking disaster. ✪ go to the wall [british] If a person or company goes to the a walking dictionary or wall, they lose all their money and their a walking encyclopedia business fails. If you describe someone as a walking ❑ Over the last year, two football clubs have gone dictionary or a walking encyclopedia, to the wall. ❑ A total of 1,776 companies went to you mean that they know a lot of words the wall in the three months to March. or facts.

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wallaby

If you are willing to go to the wall for a person or a principle, you support them so strongly that you are prepared to suffer for them. ❑ Above all, he prizes loyalty. He’ll go to the wall for someone or something he believes in. ❑ This man will go to the wall for you if you’re on his side. One explanation for this expression is that it refers to someone who is trapped with their back to a wall and no way of escape. Another explanation is that it refers to medieval chapels in which healthy people used to stand, but which had seats around the walls for sick people. A third explanation is that it refers to someone standing in front of a wall before being executed by a firing squad. hit the wall [informal] If someone or something hits the wall they reach a point where no more progress can be made. ❑ Asked if her career had hit the wall she said: ‘I don’t know. We’ll have to see.’ ❑ To ensure their businesses do not hit the wall, operators must make sure their financial management is strong. nail someone to the wall [informal] If someone nails you to the wall, they make you suffer, because they are very angry with you. ❑ If he could not pay off his debt, they would nail him to the wall. ✪ off-the-wall [informal] If something or someone is off-the-wall, they are unusual and strange. ❑ A few of her ideas were off-the-wall. ● Off-the-wall is used more often before a noun. ❑ He played Melanie Griffith’s off-the-wall boyfriend in the film ‘Something Wild’. ❑ Their endearing brand of innocent, off-the-wall humour is as fresh and funny today as it was back in the ‘50s. ● You can use this expression both when you like this kind of person or thing, and when you do not like them. This may be a reference to a shot in a game such as squash or handball, where the ball bounces off the wall at an unexpected angle. ✪ the writing is on the wall [mainly british] or the handwriting is on the wall [mainly american] If you say the writing is on the wall or the handwriting is on the wall, you mean

that there are clear signs that a situation is going to become difficult or unpleasant, or that something or someone is going to fail. ❑ The writing is clearly on the wall. If we do nothing about it, we shall only have ourselves to blame. ❑ The handwriting was on the wall for Peters when she lost the first set 6-1 in less than 20 minutes. ● You can call something the writing on the wall or the handwriting on the wall when it seems to be a sign of something unpleasant which is likely to happen in the future. ❑ He saw the writing on the wall and knew he had to get out of the company before it collapsed. This expression comes from a Bible story in which a mysterious hand appears and writes a message on the wall, announcing that Belshazzar’s kingdom will soon come to an end. (Daniel 5)

wallaby

on the wallaby track [australian, informal, old-fashioned] If someone is on the wallaby or on the wallaby track, they are unemployed. ❑ They were on the wallaby track, travelling on foot from station to station.

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be bouncing off the walls [informal] If someone is bouncing off the walls, they are acting in a very uncontrolled and excited way. ❑ After another cup of coffee Holly was bouncing off the walls. be climbing the walls If you are climbing the walls, you are feeling very frustrated, bored or anxious. ❑ If I was sitting at home with nothing to do, I’d be climbing the walls. walls have ears You say walls have ears in order to warn someone that they should be careful about what they are saying because people might be listening. ❑ Take care and watch what you say. The walls have ears.

wand wave a magic wand If someone waves a magic wand, they quickly and easily make things the way you want them to be. ❑ As much as I would like to, I can’t solve all your problems by waving a magic wand. ❑ The fans

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did not wish to be flattered: ‘Remark all these roughnesses, pimples, warts, and everything as you see me, otherwise I will never pay a farthing for it.’

think that you just wave a magic wand and you get money. ● This expression is usually used to talk about things which are not possible.

wash

war

✪ a war of nerves ➜ see nerves

a war of words [journalism] A war of words is an argument between two people or groups, in which both sides criticize each other angrily. ❑ Both players are involved in a war of words in the press, each blaming the other for the situation. ❑ A war of words has blown up over who is to blame for a confrontation between police and fans outside the venue.

warpath

on the warpath If someone is on the warpath, they are very angry and getting ready for an argument or fight. ❑ Nolan was on the warpath after reading a bad review of his restaurant. ❑ The message is that consumers are on the warpath – and governments should beware. Native Americans were said to be ‘on the warpath’ when they were on an expedition to attack their enemies. The warpath was the path or route that they took.

come out in the wash If the truth or facts come out in the wash, people find out about them after some time. ❑ Let’s wait to see what comes out in the wash with the inquiry. You tell someone that everything will come out in the wash when you want to reassure them that a difficult situation will definitely end. ❑ This will all come out in the wash – I promise you. something won’t wash If an explanation or idea won’t wash, it will not be believed or accepted. ❑ He might try some such explanation if and when he returns. It won’t wash. ❑ It won’t wash to claim that what we eat is purely a matter of personal responsibility.

waste

wars

lay waste to something If something lays waste to something, it completely destroys it. ❑ The disease itself spread like wildfire, laying waste to whole communities in a matter of days. ❑ People’s rush to the countryside to escape the civil war has laid waste to most of its forest and grassland. a waste of space [british, informal] If you describe someone as a waste of space, you mean that they are completely useless. ❑ The woman in charge of administration is a complete waste of space.

✪ warts and all

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✪ on someone’s watch

If something bad happens on someone’s watch, it happens during a period when they are in a position of power, and are therefore responsible for it. ❑ Mistakes were made on my watch, and accordingly I believe my decision to resign, while painful, is appropriate. ❑ The last two sitting Democratic presidents suffered enormous political damage from foreign policy disasters that occurred on their watch. When someone such as a soldier is on watch, they have been ordered to remain alert, usually while others sleep, so that they can warn of danger or an attack.

If you describe or accept someone or something warts and all, you describe or accept them as they really are, including all their faults. ❑ After all these years, I know Paul very well and I love him, warts and all. ❑ Couldn’t you go ahead anyway and write the unauthorized biography, warts and all? ● You can use warts-and-all before a noun. ❑ This is very much a warts-and-all biography. The 17th century English leader Oliver Cromwell is said to have told an artist who was painting his portrait that he

watch

warts

in the wars [informal] If a person, especially a child, is in the wars, they are injured. ❑ Look at all the bruises on your leg – you’re in the wars! ● You usually use this expression in a fairly light-hearted way.

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water ✪ not hold water If a theory or an argument does not hold be blown out of the water water, you can prove that it is wrong. If something is blown out of the water, it ❑ That explanation does not hold water, is destroyed completely and suddenly. according to senior intelligence sources. ❑ It ❑ The whole idea of regional government has doesn’t really matter that not all of the film’s been blown out of the water by this vote. arguments hold water. ❑ France’s hopes of staying in the World Cup ● You can also say that a theory or an have been blown out of the water with this argument holds water, meaning that it is defeat. true or right. ❑ If these arguments hold water, The image here is of a ship which is then we may have to rethink our policy. completely destroyed by a missile or of the first water [old-fashioned] torpedo. You can use of the first water after a noun can talk under water [mainly australian] to mean that someone is very good at If you say that someone can talk under something or is an extreme example of water, you mean that they talk a lot. something. ❑ My friends tell me that I can talk under water. ❑ Jocelyn had proved herself to be a leader of the ❑ What they didn’t know was that she can also first water. ❑ He was full of energy, Janet talk under water with a mouth full of marbles. recalled, an eccentric of the first water. ✪ dead in the water [journalism] The brilliance of a diamond is called its If something or someone is dead in the water. Diamonds ‘of the first water’ are water, they have failed and they are of very high quality. unlikely to be successful in the future. ✪ pour cold water on something or ❑ I think for all practical purposes, the talks are throw cold water on something now dead in the water. ❑ One backbench Tory If someone pours cold water on someone MP said last night: ‘It looks as if he is dead in the else’s idea or plan or throws cold water water now.’ on it, they criticize it and express no The image here is of a sailing boat enthusiasm for it. which cannot move because there is no ❑ Rachel found it frustrating when he poured wind. cold water on one of her ideas. ❑ Mr Powell said in deep water that neither France nor Germany had thrown cold If you are in deep water, you are in a water on his proposal. difficult or dangerous situation. ❑ Smith plays the part of the innocent Adams ✪ test the water or who finds himself in deep water when he test the waters unintentionally gets caught up in a crime. If you test the water or test the ✪ in hot water waters, you try to find out people’s If someone is in hot water, they have opinions about an idea or plan before done something wrong and people are putting that idea or plan into practice. angry with them. ❑ I was a bit sceptical and decided to test the ❑ Anelka’s outspoken views have regularly water before committing the complete landed him in hot water. ❑ Carlton has found management team. ❑ It’s hard to make a himself in hot water over controversial comment until we test the water at the party statements in the past. conference. like water off a duck’s back If you test the water or test the You say that criticism is like water off a waters, you try something in order to see duck’s back when it does not have any if you like it or it is suitable. effect at all on the person being criticized. ❑ This placement period in a company can ❑ Insults like that are like water off a duck’s provide an excellent opportunity to test the back after all these years. ❑ He insists that the waters without long-term commitment. ❑ Test chants from the fans are like water off a duck’s the water. Rent a motor caravan for a few days and back to him. see how you like it before buying one of your own. The feathers on a duck’s back are ✪ tread water covered with an oily substance which If you tread water, you fail to make stops them absorbing water so that it progress, but instead just continue to do flows straight off them. the same things.

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waves ❑ I feel as if I’ve actually taken a step forward, and that I’m not just treading water. ❑ Without any

hope of promotion, I feel I’m just treading water. When swimmers tread water, they move their arms and legs in order to keep their head above the water without actually making progress in any direction. water under the bridge [british, american] or water over the dam [american] If you say that a bad experience is water under the bridge or water over the dam, you mean that it happened a long time ago and so you do not feel upset or worried about it now. ❑ He didn’t treat me very well at the time but it’s all water under the bridge now. ❑ Mr Bruce said that he was relieved it was over and that he regarded his time in jail as water under the bridge. ● You can also say things such as a lot of water has gone under the bridge to mean that a lot of time has passed or a lot of things have happened since a bad experience. ❑ It’s almost two years since it happened and a lot of water has gone under the bridge. We’re now on speaking terms with Marcia.

wave catch the wave If you catch the wave, you act quickly in order to use an opportunity, especially an opportunity to do something new. ❑ We knew we had to catch the wave now or be left behind in the future. ❑ The venture relies on catching the wave of interest generated by the Tolkien films. Surfers need to catch a wave just as it breaks in order to ride it successfully.

waterfront

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muddy the waters If someone or something muddies the waters, they make a situation or an issue more confusing and complicated. ❑ The society has been accused of trying to muddy the waters through its poll which has been described as ‘misleading’. ❑ This ruling seems only to have muddied the waters and we are seeking clarification. still waters run deep People say still waters run deep when they are talking about someone who is quiet and speaks little, to suggest that they are in fact interesting and complex. ❑ He’s extremely shy and withdrawn, though it may be that still waters run very deep.

✪ on the same wavelength If two people are on the same wavelength, they understand each other well because they share the same attitudes, interests, and opinions. ❑ We work well together partly because we’re on the same wavelength. ❑ Varchione’s sister is nine years older than her, and the two are not close. ‘We’ve never really been on the same wavelength,’ says Wendy. A radio programme cannot be heard unless the radio is tuned to the correct wavelength.

cover the waterfront [mainly american] If you cover the waterfront, you include or deal with a very wide range of things, or every aspect of something. ❑ Moving full-time into TV presenting, Tyler has covered the waterfront from current affairs programmes and documentaries to daytime chat shows.

wavelength

Waterloo

meet your Waterloo If someone meets their Waterloo, they suffer a very severe defeat or failure, especially one which causes them to finally waves stop doing what they are trying to do. ✪ make waves ❑ It was in attempting to climb the summit of this If you make waves, you change a mountain that I realized I had met my Waterloo. situation by doing things in a very In 1815, the French leader Napoleon different way, often in a way that disturbs suffered his final defeat at the Battle of some people. Waterloo in Belgium. ❑ Maathai has a history of making waves. In 1971 she became the first woman in East and Central waters Africa to earn a PhD. ❑ They are part of the new fish in troubled waters breed of furniture makers who are starting to If you fish in troubled waters, you try to make waves on the British scene. get an advantage by getting involved in ● You sometimes use this expression to someone else’s problems. suggest that this is making things better ❑ We must be careful not to appear to be fishing in troubled waters. or more exciting.

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wax wax lyrical about something If you wax lyrical about a subject, you talk about it in an enthusiastic way. ❑ He waxed lyrical about the skills and commitment of his employees.

way

✪

the way for further corporate sponsorship of the event. rub someone up the wrong way [british, informal] or rub someone the wrong way [american, informal] If someone rubs you up the wrong way or rubs you the wrong way, they annoy you. ❑ She rubbed a lot of people up the wrong way while she was working here. ❑ That woman just rubs me the wrong way. Cats do not like having their fur rubbed ‘the wrong way’, that is in the opposite direction to the way it naturally grows. smooth the way ➜ see smooth take the easy way out If someone takes the easy way out, they do what is easiest for them in a difficult situation, rather than dealing with it properly. ❑ As soon as things got difficult he took the easy way out. ❑ She almost wished she had taken the easy way out and stayed in Cape Town. ● People also just say the easy way out to mean an action that is easy. ❑ It is the easy way out to blame others for our failure. way to go! People say way to go! to show that they are pleased or impressed by something someone has done. ❑ Upon exiting, the fans broke into applause and someone called out ‘Way to go, Mike’. which way the wind is blowing ➜ see wind

be laughing all the way to the bank ➜ see bank do something the hard way If you do something the hard way, you have difficulty doing it or it is unpleasant for you to do it, often as a result of your own actions or decisions. ❑ Anything I’ve achieved has been done the hard way, through a lot of hard work. ❑ Ms Lomax, we can do this the hard way or the easy way. the easy way out The easy way out is a way of dealing with a difficult situation that seems easy for you but does not solve the problem properly. ❑ It is the easy way out to blame others for our failure, and this is bad practice. ❑ As soon as problems arose in the relationship, he took the easy way out and left. go back a long way [mainly british] or go way back [mainly american] If two or more people go back a long way or go way back, they have been friends for a very long time. ❑ We go back a long way, and she’s always kept in touch, always been there for me. ❑ This here is Dan Parker. We go way back. look the other way If someone looks the other way, they deliberately ignore something bad that is happening when they should be trying to ways deal with it or stop it. ❑ The government are fully aware of the problem ✪ can’t have it both ways If you say that someone can’t have it but they just look the other way. ❑ I was always both ways, you mean that if they benefit in trouble. Most of the time, we just paid the from one good thing, there is another police to look the other way. ● You usually use this expression to good thing they will not be able to benefit from. suggest that this is a bad thing to do. ❑ Countries cannot have it both ways: the cost of no way [informal] a cleaner environment may sometimes be fewer You can say no way as an emphatic way of jobs in dirty industries. saying no. ● You can also say that someone tries to ❑ Mike, no way am I playing cards with you for have it both ways or wants to have it money. ❑ That was not the life Jack Hewitt both ways. ❑ If you go into the big leagues, planned to live. No way! you’ve got to play by the rules of the game, but pave the way she’s trying to have it both ways. If one thing paves the way for another, ● People sometimes say that someone has the first thing makes it easier for the it both ways to say that they are second to happen.

✪

❑ A peace agreement last year paved the way for this week’s elections. ❑ The deal is likely to pave

✪

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✪

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successful in benefiting from two things. pressure, or fall by the wayside. ❑ Only about ❑ You can have it both ways. If you want half of this group will graduate. The rest will fall company, hang around the pool area, and if you by the wayside. have had enough, head for the hills. ● You can also say that someone falls by If you say that someone can’t have it the way. ❑ Various team members have fallen both ways, you mean that one thing they by the way over the years. say or do shows that they are not sincere If something falls by the wayside, it about another thing. fails or is forgotten about. ❑ She chastised journalists for raising the same ❑ His marriage had fallen by the wayside some personal issues in interviews that she was sharing years earlier. ❑ Other proposals fell by the with us. You can’t have it both ways, surely? wayside. ❑ Parties change over the years as ● You can also say that someone tries to games and dancing fall by the wayside. ● You can also say that something falls by have it both ways or wants to have it both ways. ❑ He tries to have it both ways on the way. ❑ Bullick said a number of other international law, criticizing foreign governments businesses had fallen by the way for similar who do not respect the law, but refusing to accept reasons. laws that damage his own country. This expression comes from the story of cut both ways the sower told by Jesus in the Bible. The If something cuts both ways, it has two seed which falls by the wayside and is eaten by birds represents the people different effects, usually one good and who listen to what Jesus says, but are one bad. soon tempted by Satan and disregard ❑ Celebrity cuts both ways, of course, and the what they have heard. (Mark 4:4) benefits do not always outweigh the disadvantages. wear ● You can also say that something cuts ✪ wear and tear two ways, with the same meaning. Wear and tear is the damage that ❑ Evidence of a harsh childhood might cut two happens to something as a result of it ways with a jury. It might create sympathy or it being used in a normal way. might be seen as proof that the defendant was ❑ Being overweight can add to the wear and tear likely to become a criminal. on hip joints. ❑ The table in a busy family kitchen ✪ mend your ways is likely to come in for a considerable amount of If someone mends their ways, they stop wear and tear. behaving badly or illegally and improve wear the trousers [british] or their behaviour. wear the pants ❑ He seemed to accept his sentence meekly, If one person in a couple wears the promising to work hard in prison and to mend his trousers or wears the pants, they make ways. ❑ When asked if he intended to mend his all the important decisions. ways, he told us ‘I’ll try my best.’ ❑ It’s quite obvious who wears the trousers in set in your ways that household! ❑ My father said he wanted to If someone is set in their ways, they have discuss the investment with my mother, to which very fixed habits and ideas which they are the salesman demanded, ‘Who wears the pants in unwilling to change. your family?’ ● This expression is usually used about ❑ At 76, he was too set in his ways to change. ❑ His brother’s wife made no secret of the fact women who seem to control their that she thought him boring and too set in his husbands or partners. ways. weather ● This expression is usually used to show keep a weather eye on something/ disapproval. someone [mainly british] wayside If you keep a weather eye on something ✪ fall by the wayside or someone, you watch them carefully so If someone falls by the wayside, they that you are ready to take action if there fail in something they are doing and give are problems. up trying to succeed in it. ❑ Keep a weather eye on your symptoms and stay ❑ Players either perform well and deal with the alert to any changes which occur. ❑ Amy moved

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web away from a neighbourhood where she’d kept a weather eye on an old lady. ● Other prepositions are sometimes used instead of on, for example out and for. ❑ The police were there, keeping a weather eye out for trouble of any sort. This expression was originally used by sailors, who had to keep a constant watch on the weather and wind direction. make heavy weather of something [british] If someone makes heavy weather of a task, they behave as if the task is more difficult than it really is or take too much time doing it. ❑ She was carrying a bag of groceries and making heavy weather of it. ❑ Milligan’s troubled team made heavy weather of last night’s draw at Stockport County. Ships were said to make heavy weather when they handled badly and were difficult to control in rough seas. ✪ under the weather If you are under the weather, you are feeling ill. ❑ I’d been feeling a bit under the weather for a couple of weeks. ❑ She was suffering from stress and generally under the weather.

seems harmless or unimportant at present but is likely to become much worse in the future. ❑ I think it’s the thin end of the wedge when you have armed police permanently on patrol round a city. ❑ This decision could prove to be the thin end of the wedge towards making the 1.68 inch ball the legal ball the world over.

weight

carry the weight of the world on your shoulders If you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, you suffer because you feel you have too many problems or responsibilities. ❑ He was only 18 but he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. ❑ You look as if you’re carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. ● Other verbs, such as have are sometimes used instead of carry. ❑ His body language suggests he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. ● You can also say that someone looks as if the weight of the world has been lifted off their shoulders, when they suddenly stop looking worried and look happy. ❑ I told him the good news and he looked as if the weight of the world had been lifted off his web shoulders. a tangled web This expression may be a reference to A tangled web is a situation that is very Atlas, a giant in Greek mythology, who confused and difficult to understand. was punished by Zeus by being made to ❑ This is only one of a series of troubling carry the heavens on his shoulders, and questions that are emerging from the tangled web who is often portrayed with the world of evidence connected to the case. ❑ It is on his back. sometimes difficult to cut through the tangled ✪ carry weight web of government information in order to work If a person or their opinion carries out the benefits you can claim. weight, they are respected and are able to influence people. wedge ❑ If it had happened today, when children’s ✪ drive a wedge between someone and testimonies carry more weight, he might not have someone been so lucky. ❑ El Tiempo is Colombia’s leading If someone or something drives a wedge newspaper and its opinions carry considerable between people who are close, they cause weight in the country. bad feelings between them and this a dead weight causes the relationship to fail. A dead weight is something that makes ❑ This was all part of his plan to separate me change or progress extremely difficult. from my daughter and drive a wedge between us. ❑ We must reduce the dead weight of ❑ His aim was to destabilize the country by bureaucracy. ❑ The company is already driving a wedge between the people and their struggling under the dead weight of $14 billion government. debt. the thin end of the wedge [british] ✪ pull your weight The thin end of the wedge is the If you pull your weight, you work as hard beginning of something bad which

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wheat

as everyone else who is involved in the same task or activity. ❑ We cannot afford to carry members who are not pulling their weight. ❑ I felt that John wasn’t pulling his weight around the house and asked him to do a bit more of the cleaning. ❑ Socialism is about everyone being given a chance to pull their weight and get a fair reward for what they do. punch above your weight [british] If a person, organization or place punches above their weight, they have more influence or power than people would expect them to have. ❑ The small Florida city of Tallahassee has always considered itself to punch above its weight when it comes to sport. ❑ Villa have punched above their weight all season and it will be a remarkable achievement if they finish fifth. punch your weight [british, journalism] If someone punches their weight, they have as much influence or power as you would expect them to have. ❑ Some feel that the North will never be able to punch its weight against the wealthy and populous South-East, unless a greater northern region is formed. take the weight off your feet If you take the weight off your feet, you sit down. ❑ If you want to take the weight off your feet, taxis are very reasonably priced. ✪ throw your weight around [british, american] or throw your weight about [british] If someone throws their weight around or about, they behave aggressively and use their authority over other people more forcefully than they need to. ❑ Some people regarded him as a bully who was inclined to throw his weight around. ❑ As a Party boss he used to throw his weight about. ✪ throw your weight behind something If you throw your weight behind a person or plan, you do everything you can to support them. ❑ The U.S. government is promising now to throw its weight behind the peace negotiations. ❑ Northern Ireland’s three newly elected MEPs have all thrown their weight behind the campaign. ❑ Western governments have thrown their weight behind the leader. a weight off your mind ➜ see mind worth your weight in gold If you say that someone or something is worth their weight in gold, you mean

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that they are extremely helpful or useful. ❑ An employee that you can trust to do these tasks is worth their weight in gold. ❑ A caller display device is worth its weight in gold.

west

go west [old-fashioned] When someone goes west, they die. ❑ When he went west, he wanted to be remembered. When something goes west, it stops existing or working. ❑ His hopes of a professional singing career went west long ago. The sun ‘goes west’ when it sinks below the horizon in the west at the end of the day. The comparison between going west and dying has been used in many different languages and cultures for many centuries. For example, people sometimes associate this expression with Native Americans, who used to say that a dying person went west to meet the sinking sun.

whale

have a whale of a time [informal] If you have a whale of a time, you enjoy yourself a lot. ❑ I had a whale of a time in London. ❑ Kids of all ages will have a whale of a time at the water park. double whammy A double whammy is a situation where two usually negative things happen at the same time. Winter flu outbreaks are a double whammy for hospitals: they both increase the number of patients and put staff out of action.

what

know what’s what If you know what’s what, you know the important things that need to be known about a situation. ❑ You have to know what’s what and when to draw the line. ❑ You should come across the river with us. Then you will really see what’s what. for what it’s worth People say for what it’s worth before giving an opinion when they are not sure if their opinion is useful or helpful. ❑ For what it’s worth, I agree with them. ❑ That’s my feeling, for what it’s worth.

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whammy

wheat

separate the wheat from the chaff ➜ see chaff

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wheel wheel

a big wheel A big wheel in an organization or society is someone who has an important and powerful position in it. ❑ He’s a big wheel in the Department of Science now. ❑ They flew Gene to New York, where Jack’s uncle was a big wheel at Memorial Hospital. a fifth wheel or a third wheel [american] A fifth wheel or a third wheel in a situation is someone who is not needed or wanted there. ❑ As a single person, you’re somewhat of a third wheel when traveling with couples. ❑ I just wanted to feel like part of the family instead of a fifth wheel. I wanted to feel like I belonged! A fifth wheel on a car or a third wheel on a bicycle would be unnecessary. reinvent the wheel If someone reinvents the wheel, they develop an idea or project that they consider new or different, when it is really no better than something that already exists. ❑ To avoid reinventing the wheel, it is important that managers are familiar with established research findings in this area. ❑ The problem is that they tend to reinvent the wheel each time they are called upon to respond to a new refugee emergency. the squeaky wheel gets the grease [american, informal] People say the squeaky wheel gets the grease to mean that people who complain loudly get attention. ❑ The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Council is listening to the small minority of people who scream loudest. wheel and deal If someone wheels and deals, they use a lot of different methods and contacts to achieve what they want in business or politics. ❑ He still wheels and deals around the globe. ● This kind of activity can be called wheeling and dealing. ❑ He hates the wheeling and dealing associated with political life. ● This expression is often used to show that you think someone is behaving dishonestly.

system, they help things to happen successfully and without problems. ❑ The Bank of Amsterdam, a government bank owned by the city, had been established specifically to help oil the wheels of commerce. ❑ This effectively oils the wheels of diplomacy. ❑ Credit cards greased the wheels of the consumer boom by allowing us to buy what we want, when we want. set the wheels in motion If you set the wheels in motion you do what is necessary to start something happening. ❑ So if you’ll just sign the agreement, we’ll set the wheels in motion. ❑ By 2015, she had set the wheels in motion to divorce Harrison. ● The verb put is sometimes used instead of set. ❑ Less than 30 days after becoming leader of his party, he put the wheels in motion to forge a merger with the Alliance. ● You can also say that the wheels are in motion. ❑ Sources indicated the wheels are in motion for the two sides to meet following tomorrow’s Grey Cup game. spin your wheels [mainly american] If someone spins their wheels, they fail to achieve anything satisfactory. ❑ He’s not getting anywhere. He’s just spinning his wheels. ❑ For almost an hour now he had been spinning his wheels, accomplishing nothing. the wheels turn If you say that the wheels turn in a process or situation, you mean that progress is made. ❑ The wheels continue to turn on plans to convert the building into a bookstore. ● You can also say that someone or something keeps the wheels turning to mean that they cause progress to be made. ❑ It is the small entrepreneurs of this country that keep the wheels of commerce turning. wheels within wheels If you say that there are wheels within wheels in a situation, you mean that it is very complicated and there are many different things involved in it, all of which influence each another. ❑ Our culture is more complex than he knows. Wheels within wheels and hierarchies. ❑ There are wheels within wheels within wheels in the espionage game. This expression comes from the Bible: ‘And their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.’ (Ezekiel 1:16)

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oil the wheels [british] or grease the wheels [mainly american] If someone or something oils the wheels or greases the wheels of a process or

wheels

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❑ I’d never tried acupuncture before so I thought, why not give it a whirl? ❑ Later, when Helen

where where it’s at [informal] People describe a place as where it’s at to mean that it is a lively and popular place with something impressive happening there. ❑ Who needs his million dollar show? This is where it’s at. If something is where it’s at, it is fashionable. ❑ Wooden decking, black-stemmed bamboo and olive trees is where it’s at in Islington, says Mr Swift.

invited Dawn to invest in the business, she decided to give it a whirl.

whirlwind

reap the whirlwind ➜ see reap

whisker

by a whisker If you succeed or fail to do something by a whisker, you succeed or fail, but only just. ❑ The French government only scraped a Yes vote by a whisker. ❑ At the end we lost by a whisker and we were so disappointed. whip ✪ come within a whisker of something crack the whip If you come within a whisker of doing If a person in authority cracks the whip, something, you almost do it. they make people work hard by being ❑ He came within a whisker of scoring the most strict. spectacular goal. ❑ Meanwhile, he came within ❑ They’ve recently installed a new management a whisker of losing his mansion. team to crack the whip. ❑ Donna stayed at ● You can also say that someone is within home and cracked the whip over her three girls a whisker of doing something. ❑ The two and son. firms are within a whisker of agreeing a deal. ❑ Yet ● When someone makes people work hard Miller had been within a whisker of being sacked. by being strict with them, you can talk within a whisker of something about the crack of their whip. ❑ He has, he If something is within a whisker of a says ‘a team of ten working hard under’ him. You particular amount, it is almost that can almost hear the crack of his whip. amount. a fair crack of the whip [british] ❑ The price of gold is now within a whisker of If you get a fair crack of the whip, you get $330 an ounce. the chance to prove how good you are at whistle something. ✪ blow the whistle on someone/something ❑ All I wanted was to be given a chance to prove If you blow the whistle on something myself and I felt I didn’t get a fair crack of the dishonest or illegal, or on someone who is whip. ❑ None of them is expecting any favours, doing something dishonest or illegal, you just a fair crack of the whip. ❑ The manager gives tell the authorities about them because everyone a fair crack of the whip to earn a place in you feel strongly that what they are doing the team. is wrong. have the whip hand or ❑ Members of Queensland coastal communities hold the whip hand are being asked to blow the whistle on activities If you have the whip hand or hold the that damage the marine environment. ❑ The whip hand in a situation, you have more week he died, the Foreign Minister was planning power than the other people involved, to blow the whistle on corrupt top-level officials. and so you have an advantage or control ● You can refer to this activity as over them. whistle-blowing or use whistle-blowing ❑ Consumers will be in the unusual position of before nouns. ❑ It took internal whistlehaving the whip hand over the agents. ❑ As the blowing to uncover the corruption. ❑ As one Democrats have majorities in both Houses and whistle-blowing former drug salesperson said on therefore control the relevant committees, they the film: ‘I sometimes wondered if people were now seem to hold the whip hand. dying as a result of what I was doing.’

whirl give something a whirl [informal] If you give something a whirl, you try it in order to see whether you like it or are good at it.

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● A whistle-blower is someone who does this. ❑ The department needs to protect whistle-blowers – the health professionals who care enough to want to make a change in the system.

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white

In games such as football, the referee blows a whistle to stop play when a player has committed a foul. clean as a whistle ➜ see clean wet your whistle [old-fashioned, informal] If you wet your whistle, you have a drink, especially an alcoholic drink. ❑ There’s a mouth-watering menu and an excellent selection of beers to wet your whistle. ‘Whistle’ is an old slang word for mouth or throat. whistle for something [old-fashioned] If you tell someone that they can whistle for something, you are telling them rudely that you will not give it to them. ❑ And if he wants a pay-rise, as far as I’m concerned, he can whistle for it! There was an old superstition among sailors that they could make the wind blow by whistling.

white

white as a sheet or white as a ghost If someone looks as white as a sheet or as white as a ghost, they look very pale because they are frightened, shocked or ill. ❑ When I saw him his face was as white as a sheet and he was crying. ❑ She was as white as a ghost and trembling all over. white as snow If something is as white as snow, it is very white in colour. ❑ Aged 90, her hair is now as white as snow. whiter than white If someone is whiter than white, their actions are always completely honest and moral. ❑ He is an elected member of parliament and must be seen to be whiter than white. ❑ Now more than ever, the government wants to be seen as whiter than white. ● You can use whiter than white before a noun. ❑ This brush with the law seems to have been the only taint in an otherwise whiter than white lifestyle. ● This idiom is sometimes used when expressing doubts about a person’s honesty and general character.

❑ Even successful bosses need to be queried about the whys and wherefores of their actions.

❑ He is not interested in discussing the whys and wherefores of his time abroad. ‘Wherefore’ is an old-fashioned word meaning ‘for what’ or ‘why’.

wick get on someone’s wick [british, informal, rude, old-fashioned] If someone or something gets on your wick, they annoy you. ❑ After three or four songs that voice really gets on my wick. ‘Wick’ comes from ‘Hampton Wick’, cockney rhyming slang for ‘prick’. ‘Prick’ is a slang term for penis, which many people find offensive.

wicket

on a sticky wicket [british, informal] If someone is on a sticky wicket, they are in a difficult situation and will find it hard to deal with their problems. ❑ It seemed to me that we were on rather a sticky wicket. We couldn’t admit that we had got the figures without causing a major row to break out. ● You can call a difficult situation a sticky wicket. ❑ The Tottenham manager confessed it had been ‘a bit of a sticky wicket’ for the past couple of weeks. On a cricket pitch, the wicket is the area of grass between the two sets of stumps. When a lot of rain has fallen on the wicket it becomes soft or ‘sticky’, and in these conditions, it is difficult for the batsmen to predict which way the ball will bounce.

be wide open If a contest or competition is wide open, it is very difficult to say who will win because the competitors are all equally good. ❑ Both polls indicate that the election race is still wide open. ❑ The competition has been thrown wide open by the absence of the world champion. blow something wide open If someone blows a way of doing things wide open, they change it completely by doing things in a totally different way. ❑ The youthful, informal Harrison has blown the old newsreader image wide open. ● Verbs such as throw, bust, and split are sometimes used instead of blow. ❑ This whole affair could split the Italian political

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the whys and wherefores The whys and wherefores of something are the reasons for it.

whys

wide

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wind system wide open. ❑ That was the old system and it was bust wide open. If someone blows something wide open, they reveal something secret that other people have been trying to hide. ❑ You wait. My lawyer will blow this wide open. ❑ Has it occurred to you that he can blow the operation wide open?

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mountainside is enough to give anyone the willies – especially when the wolves howl.

wind

be blowing in the wind [mainly american] If something such as an idea or agreement is blowing in the wind, it is being thought about and discussed, but no decision has yet been taken about it. wilderness ❑ The agreement blowing in the wind at ✪ in the wilderness [british, journalism] Montreal signals a change in business conditions. A person or organization’s time in the be spitting in the wind wilderness is a period when they do not If someone is spitting in the wind, they have an important role to play and people are wasting their time by trying to do are not interested in them. something which has little or no chance ❑ He is delighted to get another chance to of success. represent his country after a period in the ❑ As an approach to the problem, this is scarcely wilderness. ❑ After 10 years in the political more than spitting in the wind. wilderness the Danish Labour Party appeared be whistling in the wind yesterday to be on the verge of returning to power. If someone is whistling in the wind, what a voice crying in the wilderness or they are saying is not realistic or will a lone voice in the wilderness never happen. If you describe someone as a voice crying ❑ Until there is a dramatic improvement in in the wilderness or a lone voice in the employment prospects, these so-called experts on wilderness, you mean that they are getting a job are just whistling in the wind. telling people about the dangers in an ❑ The government is whistling in the wind if it important situation or the truth about it, believes that it will achieve a lasting settlement. but nobody is paying any attention. ✪ get wind of something ❑ Until recently, Dr Seddon’s was a voice crying in If you get wind of something such as a the wilderness. But people are starting to listen to plan or information, you find out about what he has to say. ❑ For years, he was a lone it, often when other people did not want voice in the wilderness, and a lot of it came across you to. as self-serving. But I’ll tell you, the man was right. ❑ Singapore authorities got wind of the plot. This is from the Bible, and refers to John ❑ The local press recently got wind of the story, the Baptist who preached the coming of and published an article about it. the Messiah but was often ignored. ● You can also say that you catch wind of (Matthew 3:3) something. ❑ It wasn’t long before Hollywood wildfire had caught wind of the story. ✪ spread like wildfire This expression refers to animals being If something, especially information or a able to smell hunters or other animals disease, spreads like wildfire, it very when they are some way off, because quickly reaches or affects a lot of people. the smell is carried to them on the wind. ❑ The news of his release spread like wildfire. gone with the wind ❑ These stories were spreading like wildfire If something has gone with the wind, it through the neighbourhood. ❑ The virus swept has disappeared forever. through the team like wildfire. ❑ There will be more promises, and the promises This expression may refer to the way of the previous year will have gone with the wind. that fires which start in the countryside ‘Gone With the Wind’ is the title of a spread very quickly and are difficult to 1936 novel about the American Civil control. War. It deals with the fact that the war completely changed the way of life in willies the South. give you the willies [informal] in the wind If something gives you the willies, it If something is in the wind, it is likely to makes you feel nervous or frightened. happen soon. ❑ This place gives me the willies. ❑ Living on the

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wind ❑ By 2017, change was in the wind again. ❑ She

probably knew that something was in the wind but chose not to enquire too closely about it. it’s an ill wind If you say it’s an ill wind you mean that bad events and situations often have unexpected good effects. ❑ I spent three months in hospital recovering from the illness. But it’s an ill wind – I fell in love with and married the woman who nursed me there. ❑ It’s an ill wind, of course, and what is bad for the oil companies is good for the consumer and inflation. ● This expression comes from the proverb it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good and sometimes, people use that full proverb. ❑ It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good, though it is hard to see how these horrific events could be to anyone’s advantage. like the wind If someone or something runs or moves like the wind, they run or move very quickly. ❑ She was a wonderful kid. Ran like the wind on our track team. ❑ Out on the water, the boat goes like the wind. put the wind up someone [mainly british, informal] If someone or something puts the wind up you, they make you afraid or worried. ❑ The delay put the wind up me because, by then, I knew something was very wrong. ❑ He has already put the wind up his management team by speaking of cuts. ● You can also say that someone gets the wind up when they become afraid or worried. ❑ He got the wind up when he learned of their investigations. sail close to the wind [mainly british] If someone or something sails close to the wind, they take a risk by doing or saying something which almost breaks rules or laws. ❑ Max warned her she was sailing dangerously close to the wind and risked prosecution. ❑ I have never known a comedy series to sail so close to the wind. If someone sails a boat too close to the wind, they try to sail in the direction from which the wind is blowing, and stop or capsize as a result. a second wind If you get a second wind when you are tired or unsuccessful, you suddenly feel energetic or determined again and can continue

and succeed in what you are doing. ❑ I was weary and my legs were feeling heavy. Then, suddenly, midway through the fourth set, I got a second wind. ❑ On the way back to the house, I found a second wind and decided to go and visit Charlie. If runners who are out of breath get their ‘second wind’, their breathing becomes easier and they are able to continue. take the wind out of someone’s sails or take the wind out of someone’s sail [american] If something takes the wind out of your sails or takes the wind out of your sail, it makes you suddenly feel much less confident or determined in what you are doing or saying. ❑ The disappointment of that defeat took the wind out of our sails for a while. ❑ She suddenly apologized and it took the wind out of my sails. ❑ He missed the shot and it seemed to take a little wind out of his sail. twist in the wind or swing in the wind If someone twists in the wind or swings in the wind, they are in a difficult situation that they cannot control for a long period, usually because of something that someone else has done. ❑ The court case that had been planned to start in April 2004 was abandoned, leaving the parents concerned twisting in the wind. ● You can also say that someone swings in the wind. ❑ Critics accused the Prime Minister of leaving the minister swinging in the wind and insist that he should back him or sack him. ● Other verbs such as hang or turn are sometimes used instead of twist and swing. ❑ ‘I didn’t want to leave them hanging in the wind,’ Johnson said of his team-mates. which way the wind is blowing or the way the wind is blowing If someone sees which way the wind is blowing or the way the wind is blowing, they consider how a situation is developing when deciding what to do. ❑ He wasn’t one to make decisions before he was sure which way the wind was blowing. ❑ The minister has sensed the way the wind is blowing and is calling for a full public inquiry into the activities of credit card companies. ● You can also say that someone sees how the wind is blowing. ❑ I think she’ll wait to see how the wind is blowing before she commits to a course of action.

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wings

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The image here is of a hen gathering her chicks under her wing. under the wing of someone/something If you are under the wing of someone or something, they control you or take responsibility for you. ❑ They claim that these rightwing groups operate under the wing of the state. ❑ What the government should do is to remove the office from under the wing of the economics ministry. The image here is of a hen gathering her chicks under her wing.

windmills

tilt at windmills [literary] If someone tilts at windmills, they waste their time on problems which do not exist or are unimportant. ❑ Of course with their petition and their campaign, they are all tilting at windmills. ❑ His critics considered him a tiresome idealist who spent an idle life tilting at windmills. This expression refers to the novel ‘Don Quixote’ (1605) by the Spanish writer Cervantes, in which Don Quixote sees some windmills, thinks that they are wings giants, and tries to attack them. ✪ be waiting in the wings If someone is waiting in the wings, they window are waiting for an opportunity to take ✪ go out the window [british, american] or action, especially to take over another go out of the window [british] person’s job. If something such as a plan or a way of ❑ The last time Joe Clark stepped down as leader, thinking or behaving goes out the Brian Mulroney was waiting in the wings. ❑ He window or goes out of the window, it was one of a number of young, up-and-coming suddenly disappears completely. American players who were waiting in the wings ❑ Finding myself in a country with so much for the next Major Championship. delicious food, all thoughts of dieting went out ➜ compare with in the wings the window. ❑ When people are so desperate to do something, common sense often goes out of In a theatre, the wings are the hidden the window. areas to the left and right of a stage, ● Other verbs such as fly are sometimes where the actors wait before going on to used instead of go. ❑ Three years later she the stage. met Mick, and her good intentions flew out the ✪ clip someone’s wings window. If someone clips your wings, they limit your freedom to do what you want. wing ❑ Since then, these companies have become big on a wing and a prayer business, with no government having the courage If you do something on a wing and a to clip their wings. ❑ Congress tried to clip his prayer, you do it in the hope that you will wings and cancel his referendum. succeed, even though you do not have People sometimes clip the wings of what you need to do it. birds to prevent them from flying away. ❑ Dozens of airlines have entered the industry on in the wings a wing and a prayer, and dozens have gone If something is in the wings, it is about to bankrupt. ❑ In the past, teams have been run on happen or be made public. a wing and a prayer. ❑ More bad news could be in the wings in the This is the title of a song by H. Adamson, form of rises in licence fees. written in 1943, which referred to the ➜ compare with be waiting in the wings emergency landing of an aircraft: ‘Tho’ In a theatre, the wings are the hidden there’s one motor gone, we can still carry areas to the left and right of a stage, on, Comin’ In On A Wing And A Pray’r.’ where the actors wait before going on to ✪ take someone under your wing the stage. If you take someone under your wing, you ✪ spread your wings start to look after them and make sure If you spread your wings, you start to do that they are well and have what they new or more interesting things. need. ❑ Michelle has been in the show since she left ❑ She has taken the youngster under her wing, school and feels like she needs to spread her giving her advice and helping her prepare for the wings. ❑ I was 23 and still living with my tour. ❑ Tanya took me under her wing when I parents. I just felt it was time to spread my wings. started at the company.

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wink try your wings If you try your wings, you try to do something new to find out if you can succeed. ❑ A good school should encourage you to try your wings. ❑ He was very keen to try his wings and be a deputy on his own.

wink

❑ Work was completed just under the wire. ❑ One or two companies got in under the wire and made loans to executives before the U.S. ban came into effect. If a person or animal goes under the wire in a race, they get to the finishing point. ❑ Elliott rode the horse hard all the way under the wire. The ‘wire’ here is a an imaginary one which the horses pass under at the end of a race.

not sleep a wink If you do not sleep a wink, you do not sleep at all although you try hard to. ❑ This was my first Grand Prix win of the season and I was so excited I couldn’t sleep a wink that wires night. get your wires crossed ➜ see crossed ● You can also say that you do not get a witless wink of sleep with the same meaning. scare someone witless [informal] ❑ The hotel was so noisy, I didn’t get a wink of If something or someone scares you sleep. witless, they make you very frightened or tip someone the wink [british, oldworried. fashioned] ❑ I saw that film when I was in Paris and it scared If you tip someone the wink, you secretly me witless. ❑ You read about all these things give them information that helps them. that can cause cancer and it scares you witless. ❑ As a developer, he established relationships wits with estate agents who would tip him the wink ✪ at your wits’ end ahead of private buyers when desirable properties If you are at your wits’ end, you are came up for sale. extremely worried about a serious winks problem that you have tried hard to solve forty winks [old-fashioned, informal] but cannot. If you have forty winks, you have a short ❑ Josh became very difficult after his father’s sleep. death: he was rebellious and rude, and refused to ❑ He always has forty winks after lunch. go to school. I was at my wits’ end. ❑ We row all wire the time and I’m at my wit’s end. ✪ down to the wire collect your wits or If you do something down to the wire, gather your wits [literary] you continue doing it until the last If you collect your wits or gather your possible moment. wits, you make an effort to control ❑ Sutton claims the race for the championship yourself and become calm again, after a will go right down to the wire. ❑ Negotiations frightening or shocking experience. are likely to go down to the wire. ❑ I took a deep breath and tried to gather my The ‘wire’ here is a an imaginary one wits. The news was so shocking that I was which the horses pass under at the end scarcely able to take it in. ❑ Sinking into a leather of a race. armchair, I attempted to collect my wits and a live wire decide what on earth I was going to tell Lucy. A live wire is a very lively and energetic have your wits about you person. If you have your wits about you, you are ❑ She is a wonderful girl, a real live wire and full alert and ready to take action in a difficult of fun. or new situation. A live wire is an electric wire or cable ❑ You’ve got to have your wits about you when that has an electric current running you’re driving a car. ● You can also say that you keep your through it. under the wire [mainly american] wits about you with the same meaning. If you do something under the wire, ❑ Obviously divers need to keep their wits you succeed in doing it at the last about them. ● You can also say that you need your wits possible moment.

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wolves

about you, meaning that it is important for you to behave in this way. ❑ You need your wits about you when you’re dealing with people like this. pit your wits against someone [british] If you pit your wits against someone, you use your intelligence to try to defeat them. ❑ I’m as ambitious as the next man. I’d like to manage a team at the very highest level and pit my wits against the best. ❑ He enjoyed pitting his wits against those of the Wall Street analysts. scare someone out of their wits If something or someone scares you out of your wits, they make you very frightened or worried. ❑ Oh, I’m so glad you’re all right! You scared us out of our wits. We heard you had an accident. ● You can also say that something or someone scares the wits out of you. ❑ His writing scares the wits out of me. ● The verb frighten is sometimes used instead of scare. ❑ The tree crashed through the conservatory, frightening me out of my wits.

✪ an old wives’ tale

wives

489

❑ Farmers have cried wolf in the past but this

time, the industry really is at crisis point. keep the wolf from the door Something which keeps the wolf from the door provides you with enough money to live on. ❑ He was doing two jobs just to keep the wolf from the door. ❑ Government pension provisions will keep the wolf from the door but they will not provide you with a comfortable old age. For many centuries in the past, wolves were symbols of hunger. a lone wolf A lone wolf is an independent person who likes doing things on their own, rather than doing them with other people. ❑ He was also somewhat of a lone wolf, never marrying. ❑ Latham’s personal style is that of a political lone wolf. a wolf in sheep’s clothing A wolf in sheep’s clothing is someone or something that appears harmless or ordinary but is in fact very dangerous or powerful. ❑ The judge said he appeared to be a nice young gentleman, but was in fact a wolf in sheep’s clothing – a ruthless individual with absolutely no morals. ❑ This car has to be the ultimate wolf in sheep’s clothing. It looks like an ever-so sensible estate – until you hit the accelerator. ● Less often, people describe someone as a sheep in wolf ’s clothing, meaning that a person seems dangerous or powerful, but in fact is harmless or ordinary. ❑ She was tall, with a loud voice and could seem a little intimidating but was in fact a sheep in wolf ’s clothing, loved by all who knew her. In one of Aesop’s fables, a wolf wraps itself in a fleece and manages to get into a sheepfold without being noticed. It then attacks the sheep and eats them. This image is also used in the Bible: ‘Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.’ (Matthew 7:15)

An old wives’ tale is a belief that a lot of people have that is based on traditional ideas, often ones which have been proved to be incorrect. ❑ My mother used to tell me to feed a cold and starve a fever. Is it just an old wives’ tale? ❑ It’s not just an old wives’ tale, you know, that full moons and madness go together.

✪ cry wolf If someone cries wolf, they claim that they are in danger or trouble when they are not, so that when they really are in danger or trouble and ask for help, no one believes them or helps them. ❑ Tom was just crying wolf. He wanted attention.

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wolf

throw a wobbly or throw a wobbler [british, informal] If someone throws a wobbly or throws a wobbler, they lose their temper and get very angry, usually about something unimportant. ❑ I can’t even mention the problem to Peter because I know he’ll just throw a wobbly. ❑ I’m sure a lot of other girls of her age would have thrown a wobbler about it and made a big fuss, but not Catherine.

wobbly

wolves throw someone to the wolves If someone throws you to the wolves, they allow you to be criticized severely or treated badly, and they do not try to protect you. ❑ Being released into the general prison population was like being thrown to the wolves.

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woman ❑ Suddenly, aged 23, he was thrown to the

policies were designed to streamline the industry and remove some of the dead wood. ✪ touch wood [mainly british] or knock on wood [mainly american] When you are talking about a good situation, you say touch wood or knock on wood to mean that you hope this woman continues and that you will not have bad make an honest woman of someone luck. If a man makes an honest woman of his ❑ She’s such a healthy, happy child, touch wood. girlfriend, he marries her. She’s never even been to the doctor’s. ❑ ‘And ❑ Her boyfriend had emailed to say he couldn’t knock on wood, I have been at the company for live without her and if she would join him in 13 years, and I have not missed one day’s work Australia he would make an honest woman of her. through illness.’ ● This expression can be used humorously. ● In American English, you can also However, some people dislike this simply say knock wood. ❑ So far, knock expression because of the sexist attitude wood, everything seems good. it represents. This expression may come from the wonder ancient belief that good spirits lived in a one-day wonder or trees and people used to tap on them to a nine-day wonder ask the spirits for help or protection. A one-day wonder or a nine-day wonder Alternatively, it may be related to the is someone or something that is Christian practice of touching a rosary interesting, effective or successful for or crucifix. People sometimes actually only a very short time. touch or knock on a wooden surface as ❑ If the goal was simply to make people aware of they say this. environmental problems it was a great success. woods Our fear, though, is that this may prove to be a ✪ not out of the woods one-day wonder. ❑ When such an incident was If someone or something is not out of the occasionally reported in the press it was a woods, they are still having difficulties or nine-day wonder. ● Other numbers can be used instead of are still in danger. ❑ The Prime Minister is by no means out of the one or nine. ❑ The right-wing politician had woods, and must fight to defend his leadership at until recently been dismissed as a seven-day wonder following the success of his party in local a crisis Cabinet meeting today. ❑ The nation’s elections. economy is not out of the woods yet. ‘A nine-day wonder’ may be related to This may come from the proverb ‘Don’t the Catholic ‘Novena’ festivals, which halloo till you are out of the wood’, last for nine days. which is a warning not to celebrate something before you have actually wonders achieved your aim. ✪ work wonders not set the woods on fire If someone or something works wonders, If someone or something does not set the they have a very good effect on something. woods on fire, they do not cause great ❑ A few moments of relaxation can work excitement or interest or have great wonders. ❑ The new manager has worked success. wonders at the club. ❑ Our team isn’t exactly setting the woods on fire wood this year. dead wood wolves, and made to answer very personal and deeply insulting questions by a pack of journalists. ➜ compare with throw someone to the lions

If you describe someone or something as dead wood, you mean that they are no longer useful or effective in a particular organization or situation and you want to get rid of them. ❑ It is now time for the dead wood at the top of the party to be cut away. ❑ The Government’s

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woodwork come out of the woodwork If people come out of the woodwork they suddenly start publicly talking about something or making claims, when previously they said nothing. ❑ People are starting to come out of the

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woodwork to talk about fraudulent practices in beginning of something. the industry. ❑ Right from the word go, half of the team looked ● You can replace come with another verb out of breath and slow. ❑ The whole show was a such as crawl. ❑ The worst aspect of their disaster from the word go. decision for Britain is that it will now bring ✪ the last word or anti-Europeans crawling out of the woodwork the final word once more. If someone has the last word or the final ● People usually use this expression to word in a discussion or argument, they show that they disapprove either of the are the one who wins it or who makes the sort of things that people are saying, or of final decision. the fact that they have only just started to ❑ She does like to have the last word in any say these things. discussion. ❑ The final word will come from the Secretary of State. wool the last word in something ✪ dyed-in-the-wool If you say that something is the last word You use dyed-in-the-wool to describe a in luxury, comfort, or some other quality, supporter of a particular set of beliefs or a you mean that it has a great deal of this member of a particular group, meaning quality. that their beliefs or feelings are very ❑ The spa is the last word in luxury and efficiency. strong and will never change. not get a word in edgeways [british] or ❑ I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Labour man so he’ll not not get a word in edgewise [american] get my vote. ❑ Mr Purves has made Hong Kong If you cannot get a word in edgeways or his home for the past 38 years but he remains a edgewise in a conversation, you find it dyed-in-the-wool Scotsman. ❑ Michael is a difficult to say anything because dyed-in-the-wool traditionalist. someone else is talking so much. In medieval times, wool was often dyed ❑ For heaven’s sake, Sue, will you let me get a before it was spun and woven. This word in edgeways! ❑ Jamie dominated the meant that colour was more evenly distributed in the wool, and lasted conversation and Zhou could hardly get a word in longer. edgewise. pull the wool over someone’s eyes someone’s word is law If someone pulls the wool over your eyes, If someone’s word is law in an they try to deceive you, sometimes in organization or group, everyone has to order to get an advantage over you. obey them. ❑ I just thought he was trying to pull the wool ❑ Inside the firm, Potter’s word was law. ❑ His over my eyes to get a better price. ❑ Parents who father was the kind of parent who saw no reason to were slipping chocolate into their kids’ lunch discuss anything with his son; his word was law. ● This expression is often used to suggest boxes would find it difficult to pull the wool over her eyes. that this kind of behaviour is In the past, wigs for men were unreasonable. sometimes called ‘wool’ because they ✪ take my word for it looked like a sheep’s fleece. It was easy If you say to someone take my word for it, to pull wigs over people’s eyes, either as you mean that they should believe you a joke or in order to rob them. because you know that what you are saying is correct. word ❑ You’ll have nothing but trouble if you buy that ✪ a dirty word house, take my word for it. If something is a dirty word to someone, a word in someone’s ear [british] they disapprove of it and reject it. If you have a word in someone’s ear, you ❑ At the root of the company’s problems was the speak to them quietly and privately, misplaced belief that good products sell usually to give them advice. themselves. Marketing was a dirty word with ❑ I really don’t think he should speak to Alice like them. ❑ Wolfe asked why ‘feminism’ had become that in meetings. Perhaps I should have a word in a dirty word, even among women. his ear. ❑ I’ll go and see Quennell. It won’t be ✪ from the word go From the word go means from the very official, mind. Just a word in his ear over a drink.

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words words

✪ eat your words

and she didn’t mince her words. ❑ You always know you’ll get the truth from Dan. He’s not one to mince his words. ❑ I tell it like it is. I don’t mince words. put words into someone’s mouth or put words in someone’s mouth If someone puts words into your mouth or in your mouth, they claim that you said something that you did not actually say. ❑ She claimed that she had never made that statement and that the interviewer had put words into her mouth. If someone puts words into your mouth or in your mouth, they tell you what they think your opinion is instead of listening to what you say. ❑ Hey, you’re putting words into my mouth – I never once said you were lazy! take the words out of someone’s mouth If you take the words out of someone’s mouth, you say the thing that they were just about to say. ❑ ‘Let’s have lunch.’ – ‘Ah, you took the words right out of my mouth, Lisa.’

If someone has to eat their words, they have to admit that an opinion that they stated publicly has now been proved wrong. ❑ He was very doubtful about our chances of success but he’ll be eating his words now. ❑ The company’s chairwoman has had to eat her words about the company being recession-proof. famous last words You say famous last words, after you claim that something will definitely happen in a certain way, in order to suggest, humorously, that you may be proved wrong. ❑ No, I think this time, I’ll manage just fine on my own. Famous last words. ❑ ‘Yes, it’s all under control.’ said Bertie, adding ‘Famous last words.’ with a grin. ● You can also use famous last words to admit that you were in fact wrong about something. ❑ When I set out from Birmingham I thought, at least I’ll be finished early. Famous last words. in words of one syllable If you explain something to someone in work words of one syllable, you explain it very ✪ do someone’s dirty work simply and clearly. If you do someone’s dirty work, you do ❑ I’m sure I don’t have to spell things out in words something unpleasant or difficult for of one syllable to you. ❑ He wanted to know if I them because they do not want to do it would help out. I told him in words of one syllable themselves. that I would not. ❑ He’s always got other people to do his dirty ● You sometimes use this expression to work for him. ❑ She can do it herself – I’m not suggest that the other person is stupid or going to do her dirty work for her! slow to understand something. ✪ have your work cut out or ✪ lost for words or have your work cut out for you at a loss for words [informal] If you are lost for words or at a loss for If you have your work cut out or have words, you are so amazed, shocked, or sad your work cut out for you, you have a very that you do not know what to say or how big and difficult problem or task to deal to express your feelings in words. with. ❑ She looked shocked and was, for a moment, lost ❑ Williamson has his work cut out to turn around for words. ❑ They were all waiting for me to say a team which has not won a league game since something. But for the first time in my life I felt at October. ❑ She’ll have her work cut out for her a loss for words. getting a class of forty kids under control. ● You can also say that you are stuck for make light work of someone words. ❑ I was astonished to have been given If you make light work of an opponent, the award – I was stuck for words. you defeat them easily. ✪ not mince your words or ❑ The 2009 champion made light work of his not mince words opponent. If you do not mince your words or do not ✪ make light work of something mince words, you state your opinions If someone or something makes light clearly and directly, even if it offends work of a task or activity, they do it people. quickly and easily. ❑ She told him exactly where he’d gone wrong

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quality because they did not have the correct things to do it with, to mean that it is really because they did not have enough skill. ❑ Complaining about the poor script, he added: ‘But they say a bad workman blames his tools.’

chopping onions, carrots, mushrooms, peppers etc. ❑ The quiet and efficient pool cleaners make light work of keeping the pool sparkling clean. make short work of something If you make short work of something, you deal with it or complete it quickly works and easily. gum up the works ❑ His car made short work of the steep hills. If something gums up the works, it ❑ A spray paint will make short work of painting makes it difficult for a process or activity awkward objects. to happen. If you make short work of someone or ❑ We hope to use the new electronic voting something, you defeat them, destroy machines, but legal challenges could still gum up them or get rid of them quickly and easily. the works. ❑ Britain’s No 2 made short work of his opponent ✪ in the works [mainly american] in the Toulouse Open quarter-final. ❑ My friend If something is in the works, it is being made short work of the salad of rocket and planned or is in progress. parmesan. ❑ He said there were dozens of similar projects in a nasty piece of work the works. ❑ He had a documentary film in the If someone is a nasty piece of work, they works. are very unpleasant. ➜ compare with in the pipeline ❑ What about the husband, then? He’s a real the works or nasty piece of work. the whole works ● Sometimes people use bit instead of You say the works or the whole works to piece, or use another adjective instead of mean all the things that would normally nasty. ❑ He was a killer and a conman – an be included in a particular situation. all-round nasty bit of work. ❑ She was a dreadful ❑ Our agents are watching all exits from New piece of work and anyone with eyes could have York City – airports, train stations, bus stations, seen that. tunnels, bridges, the works. ❑ Amazing place nice work if you can get it he’s got there – squash courts, swimming pool, People say nice work if you can get it jacuzzi, the whole works. when they are talking about a job that world they think is easy and enjoyable. come down in the world [old-fashioned] ❑ All I have to do is sit, listen and ask the If someone has come down in the world, occasional question – nice work if you can get it. they are not as rich as they used to be and a piece of work [american, informal] have a lower social status. If you say that someone is a piece of work, ❑ Young women of middle class families which you mean that they are very surprising, had come down in the world also found work in unusual, or impressive. the upper ranges of domestic service. ❑ Jorg was ❑ He shook his head in disbelief. ‘You are a piece behind the wheel, accompanied by Thomas, of work,’ he said. ‘Do you have any idea what another Berliner who had come down in the you’re playing around with?’ world. work your arse off [british, very rude] or come up in the world [old-fashioned] work your ass off [american, rude] If someone has come up in the world, If you work your arse off or work your ass they are richer or more powerful than off, you work very hard. they used to be and have a higher social ❑ He’s working his arse off to make the shop his status. triumph. ❑ I’m working my ass off to get to ❑ A polite and pleasant young man, he was said where I need to be. to have been an ordinary worker who had come up workman in the world. ● You can also say that someone has gone a bad workman blames his tools People say a bad workman blames his up in the world or moved up in the world. tools when someone says that ❑ This was the rich man’s end of town; Jerrold something they have done is not of good must have gone up in the world to live here.

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worlds

dead to the world [informal] ✪ on top of the world If someone is dead to the world, they are If you feel on top of the world, you feel sleeping very deeply. extremely happy. ❑ Sarah was dead to the world by the time I came ❑ The combination of cold, crisp snow and warm to bed. ❑ Both kids were dead to the world and sunshine makes you feel on top of the world. the house was silent. ❑ When she came back from that holiday she was it’s a small world or so happy, on top of the world. small world ✪ out of this world You say it’s a small world or small world If something is out of this world, it is to express your surprise when you extremely good or impressive. unexpectedly meet someone you know ❑ The music in the show was fantastic and the in an unusual place, or when you are costumes were out of this world. ❑ The seafood talking to someone and are surprised to there is just out of this world. discover that you both know the same ● You can also use out-of-this-world person. before a noun. ❑ Spencer delivered an ❑ Thirty years after leaving Oxford, I bumped out-of-this-world performance after Andy Dibble into him again in the Isle of Wight where he was was sent off after just 38 seconds. Deputy County Surveyor. It is indeed a small think the world of someone world. ❑ I had no idea you knew the Proberts. If you think the world of someone, you Well, well, it’s a small world. like and admire them very much or are a man of the world or very fond of them. a woman of the world ❑ He thinks the world of his little grandson. If you call someone a man of the world ❑ She was a lovely woman and I thought the or a woman of the world, you mean that world of her. they have had a lot of experiences and are the world is your oyster not easily shocked. If you tell someone the world is your ❑ Look, we are both men of the world, would oyster, you mean that they can do anyone really mind? ❑ She was an elegant, clever anything they like and go anywhere they and tough woman of the world. like. ✪ not the end of the world ❑ When I was 29 I was a millionaire. You come You say it is not the end of the world to from nothing and suddenly the world is your mean that something bad that happens is oyster. ❑ Think of all the opportunities before not too serious. you. The world is your oyster. ❑ If I make a mistake, it’s not the end of the world. This expression suggests that success I can always go back and correct it. ❑ I’ve enjoyed can be taken from the world in the same my time in international football, but it won’t be way that pearls can be taken from the end of the world if I’m not selected again. oysters. This idea was used by not long for this world Shakespeare in ‘The Merry Wives Of If someone is not long for this world, they Windsor’: ‘Why, then the world’s mine are very old or ill and likely to die soon. oyster, Which I with sword will open.’ ❑ She’s 93 and in fairly poor health. I should (Act 2, Scene 2) imagine she’s not long for this world. ❑ Hastings worlds asked him to become his assistant earlier that ✪ the best of both worlds year, perhaps knowing that he was not long for If you have the best of both worlds, you this world. are in a situation where you have all the not set the world on fire or advantages of two different things, not set the world alight without any of the problems or If someone or something does not set the disadvantages. world on fire or does not set the world ❑ We have the town two miles away and the alight, they do not cause great excitement countryside at the end of our garden so we have or interest. the best of both worlds here. ❑ The instant ❑ The 29-year-old Frenchman hasn’t exactly set response of a gas hob combined with the the tennis world on fire. ❑ The series isn’t setting cleanliness of an electric oven and separate grill the world alight, despite some good writing and offer the best of both worlds. solid performances.

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wraps ✪ the worst of both worlds If you have the worst of both worlds, you have all the problems and disadvantages of two different things without any of the advantages. ❑ Some might say that this gives you the worst of both worlds – none of the comfort of a car with none of the convenience of a motorbike.

over the eyes, and the champion was beginning to look the worse for wear. If someone is the worse for wear, they are drunk. [informal] ❑ He turned up at one important function two hours late and noticeably the worse for wear.

wounds

✪ lick your wounds

worm

the worm has turned You say the worm has turned if someone who has accepted a lot of bad treatment from other people without complaining suddenly decides that they are not going to accept the situation any longer. ❑ Then my mother came home and said, ‘The worm has turned. Things are going to be different around here.’ a worm’s-eye view ➜ see view

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❑ In the fourth round both fighters suffered cuts

✪ a can of worms

If someone licks their wounds, they feel embarrassed and disappointed, especially after being defeated very easily. ❑ England’s cricketers are licking their wounds after being soundly defeated in the second Test against Australia at Melbourne. Some animals, such as dogs and cats, lick their wounds when they are injured. open old wounds or reopen old wounds If something or someone opens old wounds or reopens old wounds, they remind you of an unpleasant experience in the past that you would prefer to forget. ❑ I didn’t raise the subject again – I was in no hurry to open old wounds. ❑ It is said that the row is reopening old wounds among Conservative MPs.

A can of worms is a situation or subject that is very complicated, difficult or unpleasant to deal with or discuss. ❑ Now we have uncovered a can of worms in which there has not only been shameful abuse of power, but a failure of moral authority of the worst kind. ● You can also use the expression to open a can of worms, meaning to start dealing with or discussing something so wraps complicated, difficult or unpleasant that ✪ keep something under wraps it would be better not to deal with or If someone keeps something under discuss it at all. ❑ Whenever a company wraps, they keep it secret. changes Internet service provider, it opens a can of ❑ The producers have tried to keep details of the worms in security terms. ❑ Many people worry film’s cast under wraps. ❑ The official report has that by uncovering the cause of their unhappiness been kept under wraps for months by legal they might be opening a can of worms that they objections from the company. can’t then deal with. ● You can also say that something worries remains under wraps. ❑ It was essential ✪ no worries that the plans should remain under wraps. People say no worries to mean that take the wraps off something something will not be difficult for them, If someone takes the wraps off or to say to someone who has apologized something such as a plan or a new that they do not mind what they have product, they tell people about it for the done. first time. ❑ I can handle the production side of things, no ❑ The minister took the wraps off ambitious worries. ❑ ‘Could you help me with these bags?’ plans to create Ireland’s first purpose-built – ‘Sure, no worries.’ ❑ ‘Sorry I spilled your drink.’ national soccer stadium. ❑ The company also – ‘No worries, there’s plenty more.’ took the wraps off their new game machine. ● You can also say that the wraps come off worse something with the same meaning. ✪ the worse for wear ❑ This Saturday, the wraps will come off the If someone is the worse for wear, they are tired or injured. competition’s official shortlist.

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wrench wrench

throw a wrench into the works or throw a monkey wrench into the works [american] If someone or something throws a wrench into the works or throws a monkey wrench into the works, they cause problems which prevent something from happening in the way that was planned. ❑ Of course they may not sign the agreement by the sixteenth and that would throw a monkey wrench into the works. ● Instead of saying the works, people often describe the situation in which the problem is caused. ❑ Most healthrelated problems, of course, are not lifethreatening, but they can throw a wrench into an otherwise pleasant holiday. ❑ The US delegation threw a giant monkey wrench into

the process this week by raising all sorts of petty objections. The usual British expression is throw a spanner in the works.

wringer go through the wringer [informal] If you go through the wringer, you experience a very difficult period or situation which makes you ill or unhappy. ❑ The last couple of years have been hard for her – she freely admits she went through the wringer in her personal life. ● You can also say that you are put through the wringer. ❑ He was put through the wringer by the media who seemed, for no good reason, to hate him. the writing is on the wall ➜ see wall

writing

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Yy SA yard

not in my back yard or not in my backyard People use not in my back yard or not in my backyard to talk about a situation where people do not want something to exist or happen near them, although they do want it to exist or happen somewhere else. ❑ The inner city needs that kind of development, but it comes with predictable ‘not in my back yard’ cries of opposition from local residents.

yards

go the whole nine yards [american] If you go the whole nine yards, you do something to the fullest extent possible. ❑ When it comes to lack of common sense, this school went the whole nine yards. ❑ The designer’s spring collection went the whole nine yards on glamour. ● You can also use just the whole nine yards to talk about something that exists or is done to the fullest extent possible. ❑ She’s got a manager, a publicist, the whole nine yards. This expression refers to the amount of cement, nine cubic yards, which is contained in a cement-mixer truck.

way it is since the year dot or from the year dot, you mean it has been like that for a very long time. ❑ Most of these folks have been here since the year dot. ❑ That’s the way contracts have been done from the year dot.

yesterday

not born yesterday If you say that someone wasn’t born yesterday you mean that they have enough experience to not be easily tricked. ❑ Listen, I wasn’t born yesterday. This looks like a work of fiction to me. ● This expression is often varied. For instance, you can say that someone must think you were born yesterday if they treat you as if you are stupid. ❑ They must think I was born yesterday if they think I’d fall for a trick like that.

since the year dot or from the year dot [british] If you say that something has been the

into the wide blue yonder or into the wild blue yonder [literary] If someone goes into the wide blue yonder or into the wild blue yonder, they go somewhere that is far away and not known to them. ❑ Sailing into the wide blue yonder, Colin discovered his very own desert island. ❑ They packed their bags and headed for the airport and the wild blue yonder.

year

yonder

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Zz SA

A zero-sum game is one in which the winnings and losses of all the players add up to zero.

zero-sum

a zero-sum game [journalism] If a situation is a zero-sum game, the advantage that one person gains from it must have an equal disadvantage for someone else. ❑ The idea that foreign investment is a zero-sum game – that one country’s gain is another’s loss – is mistaken. ● Other nouns are sometimes used instead of game. ❑ Employee benefits are a zero-sum gain. If costs for one benefit rise, it’s often at the expense of another, such as paid vacation and health insurance.

zoo

it’s a zoo [american, informal] People say it’s a zoo to mean that a situation is noisy and uncontrolled. ❑ Les Baux’s views may be gorgeous, but at nearly two million visitors a year, it’s a zoo.

Zs catch some Zs [mainly american, informal] If you catch some Zs, you sleep. ❑ Danny glanced at his watch and decided he’d go catch some Zs.

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british and american idioms

british and american equivalents of common idioms

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The majority of idioms are used in both British and American English, and widespread access to the internet has led to the distinction between British and American English becoming less clear-cut over time. However, there are still some interesting differences in idiom use between the two varieties of English.

Many idioms in British English change only slightly to form the American English equivalent. In some cases only the preposition changes.

For example:

on the cards , in the cards at a pinch , in a pinch

In other idioms itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the form of one of the words that changes. For example:

british and american idioms

British and American equivalents of common idioms

go by the board , go by the boards

Often, the British English and American English idioms are distinguished by the use of a different noun or adjective. For example:

take the biscuit , take the cake

drop in the ocean , drop in the bucket plain sailing , rough sailing scream blue murder , scream bloody murder

be left holding the baby , be left holding the bag

However, the majority of idioms which are peculiar to either British or American English include specifically British or American vocabulary or concepts. For example:

like a child in a sweet shop , like a kid in a candy store daft as a brush , crazy as a bedbug two a penny , a dime a dozen have your hand in the till , have your hand in the cookie jar

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The following section lists many common British English idioms and their American English equivalents:

British English

American English

the ace in your hand In politics, you have to convince your opponent that you have the ace in your hand.

the card up your sleeve Even his critics admit that he seems always to have the card up his sleeve.

a big ask It’s a pretty big ask to run faster in the second half of the race.

a lot to ask (for) His teacher has demanded that he give up everything other than dancing, which is a lot to ask of a 16-year-old boy.

be left holding the baby More often than he liked, Taylor was left holding the baby.

be left holding the bag If a project goes bust, investors are left holding the bag.

play a straight bat But last Saturday the interviewee played a straight bat, referring all inquiries to his solicitors.

take or plead the fifth When asked how much she sold the business for, she pleads the fifth.

be way off beam Some of their remarks were way off beam.

be way off base For him to blame his mother for this is way off base.

take the biscuit I’ve heard some odd things in my time but that took the biscuit.

take the cake I mean, he’s done a lot of crazy things, but this really takes the cake.

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on the fritz My mother’s toaster went on the fritz.

first off the (starting) blocks The Liberal Democrats were first off the blocks with their manifesto on Monday.

first out of the box They are definitely first out of the box with an alternative gas for cars without catalytic converters.

go by the board You may find that all your efforts go by the board when he is at university.

go by the boards There were a lot of civil rights that went by the boards.

come to the boil Their anger came to the boil last week when they officially protested at what they saw as a media campaign against them.

come to a boil The issue has come to a boil because the government has threatened to seize their money.

the boot is on the other foot If the boot was on the other foot, the club would quickly be looking to punish the player.

the shoe is on the other foot If the shoe was on the other foot, I wouldn’t expect him to interfere in my private life.

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on the blink We had to have the washing done at the laundry because our machine was on the blink.

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too big for your britches Getting too big for their britches, kids these days.

the whole kit and caboodle They have financed the whole kit and caboodle.

the whole ball of wax We wanted it all – the fame, the money, the glamour – the whole ball of wax.

cap in hand Separated from Central Asia, it had to go cap in hand to its neighbours for oil and gas.

hat in hand The state had to go hat in hand to financiers in New York, London, and Boston to rescue its finances.

on the cards Reform of the way hospitals and schools are funded is on the cards.

in the cards There’s no need to look so surprised. It’s been in the cards, as they say, for a long time.

by a long chalk In fact this book is by a long chalk the best biography of the musician so far published.

by a long shot No city has escaped the recession, but Seattle has fared best by a long shot.

like a headless chicken Instead of running round like a headless chicken, try to use your efforts in a more productive way.

like a chicken with its head cut off They were all running around like chickens with their heads cut off – they didn’t know where to go, where to sit, or who to talk to.

under the table Competitors sometimes lied, or took money under the table.

under the counter The shirts disappeared from the displays but could still be purchased under the counter as recently as last Friday.

like a kid in a candy store I was like a kid in a candy store, entranced by all the possibilities and unable to commit to any one choice.

like a child in a sweet shop With so many options before me, I was like a child in a sweet shop.

robbing the cradle There’ll always be those who accuse you of robbing the cradle.

daft as a brush She was as daft as a brush. Couldn’t say anything with any sense in it.

crazy as a bedbug By now she’d concluded that Peters was crazy as a bedbug.

look like death warmed up You were looking like death warmed up, but you seem a lot better now.

look like death warmed over He came in just after the funeral, sneezing and sniffing and looking like death warmed over.

a rough diamond Marden was a rough diamond, feared for his ruthlessness but respected for his background.

a diamond in the rough I liked Neil, who was something of a diamond in the rough.

cradle-snatching You could say I was cradle snatching – but I really didn’t care.

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british and american idioms

American English

too big for your boots In Britain, people seem to have a thing about not letting someone get too big for their boots.

British English

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British English

American English

close the stable door after the horse has bolted It is nice to see the water company offering a reward to catch the fish killers, even though it might look like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.

close the barn door after the horse has bolted People have been complaining about a strong smell of gas for seven years. This is closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.

down-at-heel He had two rooms above a down-at-heel shop.

down-at-the-heels When I was a down-at-the-heels detective, I couldn’t afford to eat here.

drop in the ocean The size of the grants have been attacked by welfare groups as merely a drop in the ocean.

drop in the bucket This is the right approach, but it is really just a drop in the bucket.

laughing on the other side of your face The league leaders will be laughing on the other side of their faces if they lose tomorrow.

laughing out of the other side of your mouth When this game is over, you’ll be laughing out of the other side of your mouth.

have green fingers Even if you were not born with green fingers you can easily learn a few simple techniques.

have a green thumb She had a green thumb and grew tomatoes, scallions, peonies, roses and bumper crops of fruit.

british and american idioms

502

hold the fort Her husband holds the fort at their Norfolk home during the week.

hold down the fort Can you hold down the fort here? I shouldn’t be too long.

turn over in your grave If the person who wrote that song could hear that guy sing it, he’d turn over in his grave.

keep your hair on ‘All right, keep your hair on. I was only asking,’ he muttered.

keep your shirt on The doorbell rang. Helen told the caller to keep his shirt on while she got to the door.

happy as Larry I gave her a police badge to wear on her sleeve and she was as happy as Larry.

happy as a clam Join the other kids. Do that, and before you know it you’ll be happy as a clam.

wash your dirty laundry in public We shouldn’t wash our dirty laundry in public and if I was in his position, I’d say nothing at all.

air your dirty linen in public She thinks she can score points by airing the family’s dirty linen in public.

flog a dead horse After putting in all that hard work it feels like we’re flogging a dead horse.

beat a dead horse You’re beating a dead horse on this. These guys are defeated.

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turn in your grave The late prime minister would turn in his grave if he could hear the poor quality of the public speaking in Parliament these days.

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503

left and right The Postal Service has been losing customers left and right.

life and soul of the party She was having a very enjoyable time and was clearly the life and soul of the party.

life of the party Your mother is always the life of the party, isn’t she, Leigh?

scream blue murder They resent every penny they pay in council tax and yet scream blue murder when the council proposes to cut a service.

scream bloody murder Cities will scream bloody murder if the provinces try to stop the flow of federal dollars.

on the nail She enjoyed collecting the payments which she made sure were made on the nail.

on the barrelhead Customers usually pay cash on the barrelhead, so bad debts aren’t much of a problem.

give someone their marching orders He was given his marching orders after attacking the opposition goalkeeper twice.

give someone their walking papers Barker was called in and given his walking papers during a short meeting yesterday.

pen pusher People who used to be called administrators, and perhaps seen as just pen pushers, have been transformed into senior managers.

pencil pusher Many of these people are pencil pushers with qualifications from top schools, but lack experience in business.

two a penny Books on golf are two a penny.

your two cents’ worth She kept telling me to hush up but I had to put in my two cents’ worth.

your two penn’orth worth I’m just putting my two penn’orth in, that’s all.

a dime a dozen Writers are a dime a dozen, a new one will be easy enough to find.

eat crow He wanted to make his critics eat crow.

sugar the pill Stirling tried to sugar the pill for his employee. ‘There’ll be a ten thousand pound bonus if you agree to go quietly.’

sugar-coat the pill His bitter pill was sugar-coated with a promise of ‘free and fair’ elections.

at a pinch Allow an hour for the dish to stand when it comes out of the oven, but 10-15 minutes will do at a pinch.

in a pinch The ballroom could easily handle two hundred chairs, more in a pinch.

in the pipeline There are nearly 300 more similar projects in the pipeline.

in the works He already had a documentary wildlife film in the works.

eat humble pie The Prime Minister was forced to eat humble pie yesterday and publicly apologize.

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british and american idioms

American English

left, right, and centre They’re expecting the state to pay out money left, right, and centre.

British English

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British English

American English

hand someone something on a plate He had had everything, the whole world handed to him on a plate.

hand someone something on a platter The Opposition has been handed this issue on a platter.

touch something with a barge pole The history of the building kept the price down. No one would touch it with a barge pole.

touch something with a ten-foot pole I do know it’s nothing I’d touch with a ten-foot pole.

daylight robbery You have to pay thousands for the service. It’s daylight robbery!

highway robbery They’re charging ten bucks for the comics, which sounds like highway robbery to us.

plain sailing Once I got used to the diet it was plain sailing and I lost six kilos over a four-month period.

smooth sailing All of a sudden, my life started to improve, which is not to say that it was all smooth sailing from then on.

take with a pinch of salt Reports from the authorities should perhaps be taken with a pinch of salt.

take with a grain of salt You have to take these findings with a grain of salt.

all over the shop She was in a foul mood, throwing stuff all over the shop.

all over the lot The company’s investments have been all over the lot.

rub shoulders with someone Working on a ship can mean rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous.

rub elbows with someone He rubbed elbows with his movie star clients and appeared on numerous TV talk shows.

british and american idioms

504

throw a spanner in the works If they suddenly change the arrangement, it’s going to throw a spanner in the works.

throw a monkey wrench in the works Of course they may not sign the agreement and that would throw a monkey wrench into the works.

tempest in a teapot She said that the argument over the painting was a tempest in a teapot.

swear blind They swore blind that they hadn’t taken the money.

swear up and down He swore up and down he was going to get the cash and bring it right back.

have your fingers in the till There are rumours that a number of officials have had their fingers in the till.

have your hand in the cookie jar Among those who had their hand in the cookie jar was, it is alleged, the director of the program.

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storm in a teacup He said that he thought the whole matter was a storm in a teacup, and that it would pass quickly.

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Topic index The topic index is a guide to the meaning of many of the idioms in the Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary.

Within each topic, the idioms are organized in alphabetical order. Each idiom is illustrated with a short example that shows a typical context for usage, and helps you to see how the idiom works in a sentence. The topic index will help you if:

•

you are looking for an idiom on a particular theme you wish to develop your vocabulary in a particular area you would like to find an idiom in English with a similar meaning to an idiom in your own language you cannot remember the exact form of an idiom, but you know its general meaning.

• • •

The themes included in the topic index are:

Theme

Information, understanding, memory and mind

Page 506

Importance and priorities, decisions

509

Communication, help and encouragement

511

Involvement and interest

513

Starting and stopping

Quality and effort Deception, hiding and revealing

Anger, irritation, frustration and fear

10 Disagreement

518

519 521

524

Success and failure, progress and expectation

Trouble and difficulty, safety and risk

Money

Authority, responsibility, control and restriction

534

Love

538

Death and illness

538

Happiness

539

Sadness

540

529 532

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525

topic index

Honesty and fairness

515

516

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506

Information, understanding, memory and mind information keep someone posted If anything happens, I’ll keep you posted.

draw a blank I was trying to get her address, but I drew a blank.

a little bird told me How do I know? A little bird told me.

drop a bombshell Then she dropped the bombshell: she was leaving.

off the record She told me off the record that we would get the money.

from the horse’s mouth I got the information from the horse’s mouth.

on the record She is on the record as saying she opposes fox hunting.

at your fingertips We have huge amounts of data at our fingertips.

get wind of something If Mum gets wind of what you’re doing, there will be trouble.

a pearl of wisdom We listened in silence to his pearls of wisdom. put someone in the picture We need to put Hassan in the picture about the deal.

have your finger on the pulse He always manages to have his finger on the pulse.

set/put the record straight I wrote the article to set the record straight.

have/keep your ear to the ground You need to keep your ear to the ground in this business.

ignorance is bliss I’d rather not know if I’m ill – ignorance is bliss.

a wild goose chase My trip to find the documents turned out to be a wild goose chase.

in the loop Can you keep me in the loop about this, please?

a word in someone’s ear I’ll have a word in his ear about the money.

understanding and knowledge

topic index

up to speed It will take a couple of weeks to bring her up to speed with the system.

hear something through/on the grapevine I heard on the grapevine that you were back.

all at sea When it came to analysing the figures, we were all at sea.

bring something home to someone Seeing those children brought it home to me how much they are suffering.

be living in a fool’s paradise If they think they don’t have to work, they’re living in a fool’s paradise.

cannot make head nor tail of something I can’t make head nor tail of these figures.

be news to someone He’s a successful businessman? That’s news to me. a blind spot He has a blind spot when it comes to record keeping.

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cut and dried The situation is not cut and dried. dead from the neck up Her husband’s dead from the neck up. fall into place When I read the letter, everything fell into place.

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507 get the hang of something It’s a new system but you’ll soon get the hang of it.

learn the ropes I quickly learned the ropes.

get the picture He expects everyone to do exactly what he says? OK, I get the picture.

light dawns When I saw her face, light dawned.

get to the bottom of something I’m determined to get to the bottom of the matter. get your head around something It’s so complicated – I just can’t get my head around it.

the lights are on but nobody’s home Poor old Stella. The lights are on but nobody’s at home.

not born yesterday Don’t tell me that. I wasn’t born yesterday. not have a clue I haven’t a clue where she is.

go in one ear and out the other Everything I tell him goes in one ear and out the other.

not have the foggiest idea I didn’t have the foggiest idea what he meant.

go over someone’s head The discussion about literature went over my head.

not know the meaning of the word Kindness? She doesn’t know the meaning of the word.

a grey area This aspect of the law is a bit of a grey area.

not miss a trick You don’t miss a trick, do you?

have got something taped At first I found selling things difficult, but I’ve got it taped now.

out of your depth I was out of my depth with all those academics.

have the measure of someone He can be difficult, but Suzi’s got the measure of him.

parrot fashion We learned our lessons parrot fashion. the penny drops When I saw them there, the penny dropped.

have the inside track She works there, so she has the inside track on what’s going on.

put your finger on something John put his finger on it when he said it is his attitude rather than his performance that is the problem.

keep someone in the dark We kept him in the dark about what we were doing.

a question mark There is a question mark over her reliability.

know the score He won’t cause you any trouble. He knows the score.

quick off the mark You will be able to earn a lot of money if you’re quick off the mark.

know something backwards I know the system backwards.

read between the lines Reading between the lines, I guessed he was angry.

know something like the back of your hand He knows the area like the back of his hand.

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know something inside out She knows the business inside out.

jump to conclusions I saw them together and jumped to conclusions.

topic index

have someone’s number I’ve got your number, so just be careful.

put two and two together When I saw you talking to him, I put two and two together.

a rule of thumb As a rule of thumb, I use 100g butter to 200g flour.

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508 shed light on something I wonder if Laura can shed any light on the matter. take something on board I didn’t really take on board how much it would cost.

there’s more to something/someone than meets the eye Watch out for Bobby – there’s more to him than meets the eye.

memory and mind

at the back of your mind I always had this worry at the back of my mind.

bear/keep something in mind Bear in mind that she’s never seen these figures before.

a blast from the past Seeing Laura again was a real blast from the past. a brain like a sieve Oh dear, I’ve got a brain like a sieve.

cross your mind It didn’t cross my mind that he might know her.

nutty as a fruitcake He’s nutty as a fruitcake, but we all love him. off the top of your head Off the top of my head, I’d say there were 200 people there. off your rocker You’re going to lend him the money? You must be off your rocker. off your trolley People probably think I’m off my trolley.

food for thought My conversation with Alexi certainly gave me food for thought.

not be all there He can’t help not understanding. He’s not all there, you know.

have a screw loose His sister seems to have a screw loose.

have your wits about you You need to have your wits about you in this job.

topic index

out of your head I was almost out of my head with worry.

out of your mind You’re going to marry her? Are you out of your mind?

miles away Sorry, what did you say? I was miles away.

out of sight, out of mind I don’t care what Raul would say – out of sight, out of mind.

lose your marbles Swimming in this weather? Have you lost your marbles?

on the tip of your tongue The name of the place is on the tip of my tongue.

lose the plot She’s so tired, she’s losing the plot completely.

mad as a hatter My Aunty Vi is mad as a hatter.

one sandwich short of a picnic I’ve always thought she was one sandwich short of a picnic.

the mind boggles Kazuo is going to sing? The mind boggles.

out to lunch It’s no good asking her – she’s out to lunch most of the time.

mind over matter You can do it – it’s a case of mind over matter.

pick someone’s brain/brains I need to pick your brain about buying a car.

nobody in their right mind Nobody in their right mind would agree to something like this.

rack your brain/brains I’ve been racking my brains to think of a good present for Andrew.

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509 ring a bell The name rings a bell.

slip your mind I’m sorry, the meeting slipped my mind.

round the twist The children have been driving me round the twist.

thick as two (short) planks Honestly, he’s thick as two short planks.

2 Importance and priorities, decisions importance and priorities

at any price I’m determined to succeed at any price.

put the cart before the horse Taking on staff before you’ve won the contract is really putting the cart before the horse.

the bottom line The bottom line is he’s my brother and I care about him.

put something on ice We’ve had to put our plans on ice. a red-letter day This is a red-letter day for our company.

cross that bridge when you come to it I don’t know what we’ll do when he leaves, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

set your sights on something We’ve set our sights on winning the championship.

cut to the chase His report really cut to the chase.

the 64,000 dollar question Who will pay? That’s the 64,000 dollar question.

chicken feed As far as he’s concerned, we’re just chicken feed.

have other/bigger fish to fry She doesn’t care about you – she’s got bigger fish to fry.

not see the forest/wood for the trees He’s so involved in the detail of his work, he can’t see the wood for the trees. on the back burner We’ve had to put our plans on the back burner. play second fiddle She always had to play second fiddle to her sister.

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take centre stage These proposals took centre stage at the conference.

topic index

not the be-all and end-all Money isn’t the be-all and end-all of life, you know.

take a back seat I’ve decided to take a back seat on this project.

a matter of life and death Please hurry – it’s a matter of life and death.

make a mountain out of a molehill I think you’re making a mountain out of a molehill.

a storm in a teacup She said the argument was just a storm in a teacup.

the icing on the cake Winning the prize was the icing on the cake.

split hairs Don’t split hairs – you know what I mean.

take a rain check I’m busy tonight – can I take a raincheck?

the tip of the iceberg She’s admitted to debts of £3,000, but I think that’s just the tip of the iceberg. treat/handle someone with kid gloves We always had to treat him with kid gloves.

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510

decisions back the wrong horse They soon discovered that they had backed the wrong horse. the ball is in your court I’ve made all the contacts – the ball is in your court now.

beggars can’t be choosers I don’t like this house much, but beggars can’t be choosers.

be a toss-up We can’t decide where to go – it’s a toss-up between Spain and Croatia.

between the devil and the deep blue sea Whatever I do, I’m going to upset someone – I feel as though I’m caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

bite the bullet I decided to bite the bullet and give up my job.

in the balance Her whole career is in the balance. in two minds I’m in two minds about whether to tell her. the jury is (still) out The jury is still out on whether or not he was a good chairman. keep/juggle balls in the air In her job, you have to keep a lot of balls in the air. play for time They don’t really need to do more research – they’re just playing for time. play it by ear I don’t know what will happen – I’m playing it by ear at the moment. signed and sealed The deal is signed and sealed.

a change of heart He was going to apply for the job, but then he had a change of heart.

hold your horses Hold your horses – isn’t that illegal?

stick to your guns He stuck to his guns and refused to leave.

the day of reckoning Friday is election day – the day of reckoning for the prime minister.

tip the balance A high-altitude venue could tip the balance in their team’s favour.

a foot in both camps I work in Hollywood, but also make small budget movies, so I have a foot in both camps.

up in the air The wedding plans are all up in the air now.

give something the thumbs down Our proposals got the thumbs down.

a waiting game We’ve put forward our proposal and now it’s a waiting game.

give something the thumbs up We have just been given the thumbs up for our new project.

when it comes to the crunch When it came to the crunch, only a few of them could cope with the hard conditions.

Hobson’s choice It was Hobson’s choice – if we didn’t accept the offer we would lose everything.

which way the wind is blowing Let’s wait a couple of days and see which way the wind is blowing.

topic index

cross the Rubicon When he accepted that job, he crossed the Rubicon.

sit on the fence It’s no good sitting on the fence – either you support me or you support Jenny.

change your tune He’ll change his tune after a few days without electricity.

hold fire We decided to hold fire on the product launch.

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511

3 Communication, help and encouragement communication and relationships at cross purposes I think we’ve been talking at cross purposes.

go off on/at a tangent His talk was good, but he kept going off at a tangent.

birds of a feather Your daughter has some nice friends – birds of a feather.

hit it off We hit it off as soon as we met.

break the ice We found out we both liked sailing, and that broke the ice.

in black and white It was a shock to see the facts written down in black and white.

come out of your shell By the end of the week, he was beginning to come out of his shell.

in full flow You can’t interrupt Philip when he’s in full flow.

joined at the hip Adam and Joe are joined at the hip.

find common ground We discussed the matter and were able to find some common ground.

find your tongue I eventually found my tongue and introduced myself.

little/no love lost There’s no love lost between Marie and Judith. live in each other’s pockets I see her quite often, but we don’t live in each other’s pockets.

flesh and blood I have to look after him – he’s my own flesh and blood.

on the rocks By then, their marriage was on the rocks.

a passing acquaintance I only had a passing acquaintance with her.

get your wires crossed I think we got our wires crossed – I was waiting outside and he was inside.

rub shoulders with someone In his job, he’s rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous.

the gift of the gab He’d make a great salesman – he has the gift of the gab.

sparks fly When the conversation turned to politics, sparks began to fly.

give someone the cold shoulder I met her a few times, but she always gave me the cold shoulder.

talk the hind leg off a donkey My uncle Arthur could talk the hind leg off a donkey.

go back a long way Ken and I go back a long way.

talk nineteen to the dozen She was talking nineteen to the dozen, telling us all about her plans.

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get on like a house on fire The two girls got on like a house on fire.

topic index

on the same wavelength I find it difficult to talk to Janet – we’re not really on the same wavelength.

get off on the wrong foot We got off on the wrong foot when I forgot her name.

get (hold of) the wrong end of the stick I think I must have got hold of the wrong end of the stick – I thought you were his wife.

mind your p’s and q’s I have to mind my p’s and q’s when my father-in-law’s around.

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512 thick as thieves The two boys were thick as thieves.

touch base I’ll touch base with you next week to see how you’re getting on.

help and encouragement bang the drum He’s always banging the drum for the poor.

in the same boat I know how hard it is to lose your job – I’m in the same boat myself.

be my guest You need to borrow a phone? Be my guest.

in your corner He’s a useful person to have in your corner.

bend over backwards They really bent over backwards to help us.

be there for someone Whenever I’ve had a problem, my Mum has been there for me. brownie points I thought I’d earn some brownie points by tidying the house.

build bridges We are trying to build bridges within the community.

keep your chin up Try to keep your chin up – things will be better soon. a kick up the backside Failing the exam was just the kick up the backside he needed. a knight in shining armour When my car broke down, Oliver was my knight in shining armour.

leave someone in the lurch Our suppliers pulled out of the deal, leaving us in the lurch. lend (someone) a hand Could you lend me a hand with the decorating, please?

cold comfort Knowing that they had a good time without me is cold comfort to me.

give and take A good marriage relies on a bit of give and take.

go easy on someone Go easy on her – she’s had a hard time recently. hold out an olive branch They seemed to be holding out an olive branch to us. hold someone’s hand She’s new to the job so you’ll need to hold her hand for a bit.

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oil the wheels A few words from the minister definitely helped to oil the wheels.

give someone their head She can be very creative if you give her her head.

meet someone halfway I offered to meet him halfway by agreeing to take down the wall.

give someone a leg up Having so many actors in her family gave her a leg up.

look the other way His colleagues were prepared to look the other way when he did these things.

topic index

cut someone some slack I’ve been trying to cut him some slack because I know he has problems at home.

a pat on the back He got a pat on the back from his manager. pour oil on troubled waters If you see him, could you try to pour oil on troubled waters?

put your heads together We put our heads together to come up with a plan. a shot in the arm Winning the contract has been a real shot in the arm for us.

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513 sugar the pill They’ve offered us a bit more money to sugar the pill.

sing someone’s/something’s praises Paul was singing your praises in a meeting the other day.

take someone under your wing She took me under her wing when I first started the job.

smooth ruffled feathers I met with them both to try to smooth ruffled feathers.

throw your weight behind something He decided to throw his weight behind the scheme.

stand shoulder to shoulder He stood shoulder to shoulder with the striking miners.

you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours I’ll look after your kids if you give me a lift to the hospital – you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.

a silver lining Seeing a lot more of my grandchildren is the silver lining in the cloud of unemployment.

4 Involvement and interest

all hands on deck In the days before a major exhibition, it’s all hands on deck.

get the bit between your teeth There’s no stopping her when she gets the bit between her teeth.

at arm’s length I try to keep his relatives at arm’s length.

float someone’s boat That kind of music doesn’t really float my boat.

beat a path to someone’s door He had investors beating a path to his door.

blow hot and cold We were thinking of going to America, but Annette keeps blowing hot and cold about the idea. close/dear to your heart Cancer research is a cause close to her heart.

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topic index

be twiddling your thumbs I was just twiddling my thumbs for most of the day.

give something a whirl She invited me to go skiing, so I thought I’d give it a whirl.

be straining at the leash Many of the younger players are straining at the leash for a place in the team.

get your teeth into something I hate doing small bits of work – I want something I can get my teeth into.

be/get in on the act Lots of other companies are trying to get in on the act.

get your hands dirty She always worked with us – she wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty.

be champing at the bit All our new recruits are champing at the bit.

get a foot in the door I took a low-paid job there just to get a foot in the door.

at the drop of a hat He’d stand up and sing at the drop of a hat.

give your right arm I’d give my right arm for a job like that.

go at it hammer and tongs She’s a great cleaner – she goes at it hammer and tongs. hand in glove They were working hand in glove with the police. have a crack at something I decided to have a crack at horse riding.

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514 have a finger in every pie Fashion, art, restaurants – she seems to have a finger in every pie. hook, line and sinker I fell in love with him, hook, line and sinker. in for a penny, in for a pound OK, I’ll try the abseiling too – in for a penny, in for a pound.

not your cup of tea Jazz isn’t really my cup of tea. poke/stick your nose into something He’s always poking his nose into our business. prick up your ears She pricked up her ears when she heard the word ‘chocolate’. put your oar in I had almost solved the problem before you put your oar in.

in the picture She lived in London – Bob wasn’t in the picture at that time.

stay the course If you can stay the course, you’ll find this a great experience.

in the thick of it There was a huge fight going on and we were in the thick of it.

steer clear of someone/something I try to steer clear of theme parks.

in full flow You can’t interrupt him when he’s in full flow.

jump on the bandwagon Politicians from all parties are jumping on the bandwagon.

keep a low profile He has been keeping a very low profile recently.

throw your hat into the ring When I heard they needed a new chairman, I decided to throw my hat in to the ring. try your hand at something I thought I might try my hand at oil painting. turn a blind eye to something Many companies turn a blind eye to personal phone use.

keep something/someone at bay I eat lots of fresh food to keep colds at bay.

up to your ears I’m up to my ears in work at the moment.

keep yourself to yourself He’s a quiet person who keeps himself to himself.

up to your eyes I’m up to my eyes in paperwork.

a labour of love Restoring our house was a labour of love.

up to your neck He was up to his neck in illegal deals.

live and breathe something Maurice lives and breathes music.

wouldn’t touch something/someone with a barge pole He’s offered you a job? I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole.

not give two hoots I don’t give two hoots about your cricket match.

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a nosey parker My neighbour is a real nosey parker.

mean business He says he’s going to shake up the company, and I think he means business.

topic index

keep you on the edge of your seat The movie kept us on the edge of our seats.

your eyes glued to something They spent all day with their eyes glued to the TV.

your heart isn’t in something He made some attempt to keep the business going but his heart wasn’t in it.

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515

5 Starting and stopping hit the ground running The new government has promised to hit the ground running.

call it a day At five o’clock we decided to call it a day.

in business If we can raise another £1,000, we’re in business.

call it quits Mike and I have decided to call it quits.

it’s all systems go It’s all systems go for the new building work.

call time on something We decided to call time on our weekly meetings.

kick something into touch Their proposals have been kicked into touch.

cut your losses We decided to cut our losses and close the business.

knock something on the head The club was so unpopular we decided to knock it on the head.

bring the curtain down on something These events bring the curtain down on a truly historic period.

a dead end I’ve reached a dead end in my work.

a death blow The decision was a death blow for their economy.

draw a line under something It’s time to draw a line under the past.

full steam ahead We’re going full steam ahead with our plans for a new website.

get (something) off the ground It was difficult to get the business off the ground. go up in flames His career went up in flames. grind to a halt The whole production line ground to a halt.

set/start the ball rolling I’ll introduce myself just to set the ball rolling. set the wheels in motion They have set the wheels in motion for new legislation.

topic index

get the show on the road Come on – let’s get the show on the road!

run its course Their relationship had run its course.

get off the mark The team got off the mark with their first win of the season.

put paid to something That put paid to his chances of promotion.

get into gear It took us a while to get into gear.

pull the plug on something Management have pulled the plug on the project.

get cracking We’d better get cracking – there’s a lot to do.

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pick/take up the gauntlet He challenged me to a debate and I decided to pick up the gauntlet.

from scratch We built up the business from scratch.

off the blocks The project never really got off the blocks.

the end of the road/line This is the end of the line for our business.

nip something in the bud You need to nip that kind of behaviour in the bud.

shut up shop We were forced to shut up shop during the recession.

start off on the right foot I tried to start off on the right foot with my new colleagues.

stop something in its tracks This will stop the economic recovery in its tracks. throw in your hand I was losing the game so badly, I decided to throw in my hand.

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516 turn over a new leaf I’m going to turn over a new leaf and start exercising every day.

up and running The committee is up and running now.

6 Quality and effort

be firing on all cylinders I’m doing a few bits of work, but I’m not really firing on all cylinders at the moment.

below par Her performance was a little below par today.

be scraping the barrel They were scraping the barrel when they gave her a job. the best thing since sliced bread He thinks this band is the best thing since sliced bread.

be working overtime My immune system was working overtime to fight off infections.

a dime a dozen Cafes like this are a dime a dozen. do your level best I did my level best to please him. elbow grease It won’t be hard to clean the surfaces – it just needs a bit of elbow grease. fall/drop into your lap You can’t expect a good job to fall into your lap. a free ride He joined the family firm, hoping for a free ride.

get/put your thinking cap on Get your thinking cap on – we need to find a way to make money.

break your back There’s no need to break your back doing this.

topic index

can’t hold a candle to someone/something Louise can’t hold a candle to his previous girlfriend.

go the extra mile We’re looking for someone who’s prepared to go the extra mile.

by hook or by crook By hook or by crook we’re going to find that letter.

go all out They went all out to get the work finished.

bust a gut Don’t bust a gut – we’ve got plenty of time.

give something your best shot I don’t know if I can win the competition, but I’m going to give it my best shot.

burn the candle at both ends He’s been burning the candle at both ends, studying and working.

get your head down I need to get my head down and do some serious studying.

blood, sweat and tears A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into that farm.

go for broke I decided to go for broke and turn professional.

common-or-garden It’s just a common-or-garden cold.

go into overdrive At that point, our advertising team went into overdrive.

a cut above the rest His restaurant really is a cut above the rest.

grasp the nettle We need to grasp the nettle and sell our house.

cut corners If you start to cut corners, the quality of your product will fall.

the greasy pole I spent twenty years climbing the greasy pole.

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517 hand something to someone on a plate Success was handed to her on a plate.

not up to scratch Her work wasn’t really up to scratch.

head and shoulders above someone/ something When it comes to maths, Tilly is head and shoulders above her classmates.

not worth the paper it’s written on The contract wasn’t worth the paper it was written on. on point No one can be on point with their outfit every day.

keep you on your toes It’s good to have some competition to keep you on your toes. keep your nose to the grindstone I haven’t been out much lately – I’ve been keeping my nose to the grindstone.

land/fall on your feet When I left university, I landed on my feet, getting a job in TV.

on the ball My new manager is really on the ball. pick holes in something He was always picking holes in my work. pull out all the stops We pulled out all the stops to give him a good time. pull your finger out If you want to get better grades, you’ll have to pull your finger out.

make a meal of something I only asked him to enter a few figures in the database and he made such a meal of it.

pull your socks up If you don’t pull your socks up, you’re off the course.

move heaven and earth Terry moved heaven and earth to get us somewhere to live.

pull your weight Everyone on the team has to pull their weight.

leave no stone unturned They left no stone unturned in their efforts to find the criminal.

no teacher, actor, etc. worth their salt No artist worth their salt would say such a thing. nothing to write home about The food there was nothing to write home about. not lift a finger Andrew didn’t lift a finger to help us. not a patch on someone/something He’s not a patch on my old doctor.

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not do things by halves My Dad never does things by halves.

roll up your sleeves We just rolled up our sleeves and got on with it.

topic index

not all it’s cracked up to be I don’t think the school is all it’s cracked up to be.

put your shoulder to the wheel We need everyone to put their shoulder to the wheel.

no pain, no gain I go to the gym every day – no pain, no gain.

put your best foot forward The train’s in ten minutes – you need to put your best foot forward.

no great shakes His piano playing is no great shakes.

move mountains They moved mountains to make the business a success.

put your back into something You’ll have the ground dug by lunchtime if you put your back into it.

separate the sheep from the goats I gave them some harder calculations to separate the sheep from the goats.

streets ahead Freya is streets ahead of her brother in music. ten/two a penny Accountants are ten a penny these days. throw the baby out with the bath water If we stop the project altogether, we’ll be throwing the baby out with the bath water.

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518 a track record She has a proven track record in sales.

work your socks off He worked his socks off for those exams.

with a fine-tooth comb Police searched the area with a fine-tooth comb.

you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear I’ve been asked to improve his report, but you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

work your fingers to the bone She worked her fingers to the bone trying to provide for her family.

your heart out I gave him a job and he worked his heart out.

7 Honesty and fairness honesty

above board All her business affairs were above board.

make no bones about something He made no bones about the fact that he was only interested in the money.

bite your tongue I try to bite my tongue when she complains. come clean I think I should come clean with you.

nail your colours to the mast Let me nail my colours to the mast – I’m a great admirer of hers.

from the bottom of your heart I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.

not mince your words He told Dan his work wasn’t satisfactory, and he didn’t mince his words. not pull your punches He told me what he thought, and he didn’t pull his punches.

honest as the day is long Jack’s as honest as the day is long.

on the level Are you sure that all his deals are on the level?

in words of one syllable I told him in words of one syllable that he wasn’t welcome here any more.

open your heart That evening, he opened his heart to me.

lay your cards on the table It’s time I laid my cards on the table.

keep your nose clean You just need to work hard and keep your nose clean.

topic index

down to earth She’s very down to earth and practical.

not beat about/around the bush There’s no point in beating about the bush – I’ve decided to leave.

do something by the book In an organization like this, we have to do everything by the book.

pour your heart out I sat next to her and she poured out her heart.

speak out of both sides of your mouth He thinks all politicians speak out of both sides of their mouths.

look someone in the face Can you look me in the face and tell me that?

squeaky clean We need to make sure that all our staff are squeaky clean.

make a clean breast of something I decided to make a clean breast of it.

straight as a die He’s as straight as a die.

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519 take something as gospel You shouldn’t take what he says as gospel.

wear your heart on your sleeve My Dad always wears his heart on his sleeve.

to someone’s face He wouldn’t dare say that to her face.

fairness be left holding the baby She was left holding the baby.

a level playing field The trouble is that kids don’t start life with a level playing field.

below the belt Her comments were a bit below the belt.

move the goalposts As soon as I think I’m coping with my job, my boss moves the goalposts.

bite the hand that feeds you You can’t criticize your clients – that would be biting the hand that feeds you.

out of line Your behaviour was way out of line.

by fair means or foul I’m determined to get that house, by fair means or foul.

stab someone in the back After all I did for her, she stabbed me in the back.

fair and square I won the contract fair and square.

it’s just not cricket You can’t claim credit for his work – it’s just not cricket.

steal someone’s thunder He was just about to make an announcement when Mia came along and stole his thunder.

8 Deception, hiding and revealing

do the dirty on someone My business partner did the dirty on me. economical with the truth He didn’t exactly lie, but he was economical with the truth. get fleeced We believed all their lies – we got fleeced.

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topic index

cook the books The chief executive is accused of cooking the books.

go through the motions He attended classes, but he was just going through the motions.

a cock and bull story She told us some cock and bull story about a broken down car.

go behind someone’s back She went behind my back and told Frank all about it.

cloak-and-dagger They were rescued in a cloak-and-dagger operation.

deception

have your hand in the till One of the staff had her hand in the till.

lead someone up the garden path They led him up the garden path with promises of fame and fortune. lie through your teeth I just lies through my teeth and said it was delicious.

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520 live a lie All those years, he was living a lie.

put/throw someone off the scent We used false names to put them off the scent.

monkey business There seems to have been some monkey business with the finances.

sell someone down the river I feel that I was sold down the river by my boss.

on the fiddle It turned out that her boss was on the fiddle.

pay lip service to something They pay lip service to the safety regulations. pull a fast one Don’t give them any money – they’re trying to pull a fast one.

pull someone’s leg Don’t take any notice of them – they’re only pulling your leg.

slippery as an eel Be very careful with her – she’s as slippery as an eel. smell a rat The trick came to light when one of the staff smelt a rat. smoke and mirrors Her business looks impressive, but it’s all smoke and mirrors. take someone for a ride He was taken for a ride by some of his pupils.

pull the wool over someone’s eyes He wasn’t really a doctor, but he managed to pull the wool over people’s eyes for years.

a white lie I told a white lie and said I’d try to get there.

hiding and revealing get something off your chest Why don’t you talk to him about it? It would be good to get it off your chest.

behind closed doors All the meetings were held behind closed doors.

blow the lid off something The documentary blew the lid off the scandal of violence in care homes.

by/through the back door This is just a way of bringing in job cuts by the back door.

keep the lid on something The government is desperate to keep the lid on these figures.

cover your tracks They paid a boy in another city to mail letters from them to cover their tracks.

keep something dark If she knew who it was, she kept it dark.

dish the dirt I’m hoping that Kathryn will dish the dirt on Mario. draw a veil over something I think we’d better draw a veil over what happened next.

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topic index

hole-and-corner I’m fed up with these hole-and-corner meetings.

button your lip What he said was rubbish, but I managed to button my lip.

a hidden agenda He says he just wants to help, but I’m sure he has a hidden agenda.

blow the whistle on someone/something They are being asked to blow the whistle on firms that damage the environment.

give the game away She said she hadn’t been outside, but the mud on her shoes gave the game away.

keep something to yourself OK, what’s the joke? Don’t keep it to yourself! keep something under wraps All their plans have been kept under wraps until now. keep something under your hat I’m having a baby, but keep it under your hat for a while.

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521 kiss-and-tell They publish a lot of kiss-and-tell stories.

speak truth to power It is important for journalists to speak truth to power.

let the cat out of the bag It was supposed to be a surprise party, but Jon let the cat out of the bag.

spill the beans Come on, spill the beans – who’s the present from?

open someone’s eyes A month working with these children really opened my eyes.

spill the tea OK, come on; spill the tea – all of it! a stiff upper lip I know it’s upsetting, but try to keep a stiff upper lip.

play your cards close to your chest You never quite know what she’s thinking – she plays her cards close to her chest.

sweep something under the carpet There was some scandal in his youth, but it was all swept under the carpet.

put someone out of their misery I know you’re waiting for your exam results and I’m here to put you out of your misery.

under the table They were accused of taking money under the table.

shoot your mouth off I wanted to keep it secret, but Jerry’s been shooting his mouth off.

wash your dirty linen in public I never talk to journalists – I prefer not to wash my dirty linen in public.

show your true colours When things got difficult, some of the people started to show their true colours.

written all over your face His amazement was written all over his face.

paper over the cracks Our family isn’t close, but we do our best to paper over the cracks.

your lips are sealed I know where they’re going for their honeymoon, but my lips are sealed.

a skeleton in the cupboard Does the prime minister have a skeleton in his cupboard?

anger and irritation after your blood If you write that, you’ll have the whole town after your blood.

blow a fuse He’ll blow a fuse when you tell him what you’ve done.

be breathing fire She came into the office breathing fire.

blow your stack I expected him to blow his stack.

be on a short fuse Be careful with Tanya – she’s on a short fuse.

blow your top When I tried to argue with him, he blew his top.

bite someone’s head off I only asked her for something to eat and she bit my head off.

build up a head of steam By the time I was able to talk to them, they had built up a head of steam.

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topic index

9 Anger, irritation, frustration and fear

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522 a dirty/filthy look When I mentioned his wife, he gave me a dirty look. do your nut When he saw his bike was missing, he did his nut. drive someone to distraction Their constant questions were driving me to distraction.

have a chip on your shoulder She’s got a chip on her shoulder about not going to university. have a fit When she found out, she had a fit. hit the ceiling When I said I didn’t like the food, he hit the ceiling. hit the roof Dough will hit the roof when I tell him.

a face like thunder He came in the room with a face like thunder.

keep your hair on Keep you hair on – I’m doing it as fast as I can.

fed up to the back teeth I’m fed up to the back teeth with hearing about his days in the army.

let off steam I went for a run to let off steam.

drive someone up the wall The children are driving me up the wall today.

flip your lid When she saw the damage, she flipped her lid. fly off the handle She flew off the handle, accusing him of lying.

lose your rag Try not to lose your rag with the kids. make your blood boil It makes my blood boil when people drop litter. on the warpath Someone has broken a window, and grandma’s on the warpath.

get hot under the collar George was getting hot under the collar about the noise.

lose it When he realised he’d been tricked, he really lost it.

get out of bed (on) the wrong side He’s very grumpy – he must have got out of bed on the wrong side this morning.

give someone hell She’s not a great teacher, and her pupils give her hell. go ballistic My mum went ballistic when she saw the mess. go off the deep end He went off the deep end, shouting and swearing at us. go through the roof When he saw the mess, he went through the roof.

rub someone up the wrong way There’s something about Michael that just rubs me up the wrong way.

topic index

get up someone’s nose His attitude really gets up my nose.

rattle someone’s cage Who’s rattled her cage?

get under your skin Her rudeness really gets under my skin.

raise someone’s hackles I knew their comments had raised his hackles.

get/put someone’s back up Her constant criticism really got my back up.

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a pain in the neck Having to get two buses every day is a real pain in the neck.

get on someone’s nerves Her singing really gets on my nerves.

ruffle feathers I think their questions ruffled some feathers. see red When he criticized my work, I just saw red.

a sore point Don’t mention the holiday – it’s a sore point with Sam. stick in your throat It really sticks in my throat to have to be polite to her.

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523 tear someone limb from limb If you hurt my son, I’ll tear you limb from limb. there’s nothing worse than … There’s nothing worse than being stuck in traffic when you’ve got a plane to catch.

throw shade I used to throw shade at people who thought that, but now I totally get it.

a thorn in your side Her brother-in-law was always a thorn in her side. up in arms Local people are up in arms at the idea of a rubbish dump near the village.

frustration and fear

at the end of your tether She keeps giving me more and more work, and I’m at the end of my teather.

frighten the life out of someone You frightened the life out of me! get/have cold feet Two days before the trip, he started getting cold feet.

at your wits’ end My son was in trouble with the police and I was at my wits’ end trying to control him.

be banging your head against a brick wall I’ve warned him about these people, but I’m banging my head against a brick wall.

hot and bothered I could see that Moira was getting a bit hot and bothered.

be hanging over your head He still has a court appearance hanging over his head.

give someone the creeps Those cats really give me the creeps.

be shaking like a leaf When he left, I realised I was shaking like a leaf.

be quaking in your boots He was in a terrible mood, and his staff were quaking in their boots.

hot and cold When I saw the knife, I went hot and cold. jump out of your skin When I walked in, he nearly jumped out of his skin. kick your heels I’ve just been kicking my heels at the hotel.

a bundle of nerves She was a bundle of nerves before the interview.

like a deer/rabbit caught in the headlights When she saw us there, she stood like a deer caught in the headlights.

butterflies in your stomach Waiting for her to arrive, I had butterflies in my stomach.

make your blood run cold What I saw that day made my blood run cold.

come up against a brick wall When I tried to get a visa, I came up against a brick wall.

not get a word in edgeways When David gets started, nobody else can get a word in edgeways.

Dutch courage If I’m going to do the speech, I’ll need some Dutch courage first.

on edge Stephen seems a bit on edge this morning.

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the final/last straw When he asked me for money, it was the final straw.

like a cat on a hot tin roof He’s been pacing around like a cat on a hot tin roof.

topic index

be tearing your hair out I’ve been tearing my hair out, trying to organize food for 100 people.

on tenterhooks We were on tenterhooks waiting for the judge’s decision.

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524 out of your mind Where have you been? I’ve been out of my mind with worry. red tape We want to build on the land, but there’s a lot of red tape involved.

scare the living daylights out of someone We crept up from behind and scared the living daylights out of her.

send a chill down someone’s spine His words sent a chill down my spine. until you are blue in the face I’ve nagged her about being careful until I’m blue in the face. your heart is in your mouth I stood at the top of the jump with my heart in my mouth.

scare someone out of their wits His dog leaped at us, scaring us out of our wits.

10 Disagreement

add insult to injury To add insult to injury, he was out when I eventually got there.

clear the air It was good to talk to them and clear the air.

agree to differ We’ll have to agree to differ on that.

cross swords They have crossed swords several times in the past.

fight like cat and dog The two children fight like cat and dog.

at each other’s throats The situation was very unpleasant, with most of the group at each other’s throats all the time.

fight tooth and nail She fought tooth and nail for the best treatment for her child.

at loggerheads The group is at loggerheads with council officials.

give someone a piece of your mind If I see people dropping litter, I always give them a piece of my mind.

at odds with someone He and the chancellor are at odds about the best way to tackle unemployment.

the gloves are off It’s a fight for justice, and the gloves are off.

bad blood There’s bad blood between the two sides of the family.

topic index

at daggers drawn The two men always seemed to be at daggers drawn.

drive a wedge between someone and someone His new hobby has driven a wedge between him and his wife.

argue the toss We stood there arguing the toss about who should drive.

go against the grain It goes against the grain to ask for help.

go at it hammer and tongs Carol and Holly were going at it hammer and tongs.

a battle of wills There’s a battle of wills going on between the sisters.

have a bone to pick with someone Ah, Nancy, I’ve got a bone to pick with you.

a bone of contention Housework is a bone of contention in our house.

have a go at someone She had a go at me about staying out late.

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525 play devil’s advocate I don’t really think you’re wrong – I’m just playing devil’s advocate.

jump down someone’s throat It was only a suggestion – there’s no need to jump down my throat!

put someone’s nose out of joint I think she put Jake’s nose out of joint by insisting on hiring a professional decorator.

kiss and make up We have some terrible fights, but we always manage to kiss and make up.

send someone away with a flea in their ear She sent him away with a flea in his ear.

lock horns The two of them locked horns over foreign policy.

a shouting match Greg and Barry were having a shouting match.

mend fences We decided to meet up and try to mend fences.

a slap on the wrist He thought he would lose his job, but his boss just gave him a slap on the wrist.

in someone’s bad books I was in Gloria’s bad books for forgetting her birthday.

not see eye to eye with someone I didn’t really see eye to eye with Hamish over this issue.

11 Success and failure, progress and expectation

success and failure

bang goes something Bang goes my promotion!

the bubble bursts These firms used to be very successful, but the bubble has burst.

back to the drawing board Nobody liked the plan, so we’ve had to go back to the drawing board.

carry the day Eventually, Marie’s views carried the day.

be dropping like flies Course members are dropping like flies.

come apart at the seams Our family was coming apart at the seams.

be fighting a losing battle I try to keep the place clean, but I’m fighting a losing battle.

come a cropper He came a cropper when he tried to take on too much work.

be going places He looks like a man who’s going places.

come unstuck We came unstuck when we tried to take the paintings out of the country.

bite the dust Many small businesses have bitten the dust. bring the house down Her performance brought the house down.

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the big time She hit the big time when she moved to America.

close but no cigar 5,600? Sorry, close but no cigar.

topic index

beat someone hollow Jim and I played golf, and he beat me hollow.

come up in the world Daniel has certainly come up in the world. come up smelling of roses Whatever he gets involved in, he always seems to come up smelling of roses.

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526 come up trumps My Dad came up trumps and offered me a job for the summer.

have had your chips At 4–0 down, it was obvious the team had had its chips.

dead in the water The project is dead in the water.

hit the buffers The project hit the buffers when funding was withdrawn.

deliver the goods He looks well qualified, but we will have to see if he can deliver the goods. dizzy heights By that time, I had reached the dizzy heights of senior editor.

down and out Ted appears to be down and out as a candidate for governor.

fall by the wayside My exercise plan seems to have fallen by the wayside.

hit the jackpot We hit the jackpot with our new product. hit the mark Their latest album really hit the mark. hit the nail on the head Adam hit the nail on the head when he said they were trying to do too much. home and dry At this rate, we’ll be home and dry by March. in the bag After such a good interview, the job was in the bag.

fall flat on your face It should have been the performance of a lifetime, but he fell flat on his face.

make the grade Only a quarter of the applicants make the grade. make a pig’s ear of something I’ve made a pig’s ear of wrapping this parcel.

go belly-up Eventually, the business went belly-up.

not set the Thames on fire His latest novel won’t set the Thames on fire.

a feather in someone’s cap Winning the prize was a real feather in his cap.

go the distance He’s playing so well, he could easily go the distance.

not set the world on fire The new magazine did not set the world on fire. on the crest of a wave The business was doing well and we were on the crest of a wave.

go downhill His schoolwork has really gone downhill.

on a hiding to nothing You’re on a hiding to nothing trying to change the way they work.

go down like a lead balloon His suggestion went down like a lead balloon.

on the ropes The government is now on the ropes.

go from strength to strength The business is going from strength to strength.

plain sailing We finished the work, but it wasn’t exactly plain sailing.

go pear-shaped It was later that summer that everything started to go pear-shaped.

put the kibosh on something Rain put the kibosh on our plans for a picnic.

go to the wall Many businesses went to the wall at that time.

save the day Micky saved the day when he turned up with baskets of food.

go up in smoke Her whole life’s work went up in smoke.

a sinking ship Most of the staff see the company as a sinking ship.

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topic index

go by the board By that stage, rules and regulations had gone by the board.

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527 the sky’s the limit We’re hoping to double production this year, but really the sky’s the limit.

win the battle, but lose the war He won the battle, but he lost the war. win hands down It was the most important match of his career, and he won hands down.

strike a blow for something She has struck a blow for women everywhere. sweep the board The movie swept the board at the Oscars.

wipe the floor with someone I played squash with her once and she wiped the floor with me.

throw in the towel After yet another knee injury, I decided to throw in the towel.

with flying colours He passed all his exams with flying colours.

too many cooks spoil the broth You need to use fewer people – too many cooks spoil the broth.

work like a charm Our plan worked like a charm. the writing is on the wall The writing is on the wall for independent bookshops.

touch and go It was touch and go at times, but we made the deadline. a white elephant The building has become a massive white elephant.

progress

bear fruit All his hard work eventually bore fruit.

the cutting edge of something They are at the cutting edge of scientific research.

in the pipeline We have some new designs in the pipeline.

light at the end of the tunnel At last we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

gain ground Their views are beginning to gain ground.

lose ground Their party appears to be losing ground to the opposition.

get into your stride He was nervous at the start of his talk, but once he got into his stride he was interesting and funny.

make headway If the weather is good, we’ll be able to make headway with clearing the land.

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topic index

break the back of something Another hour of hard work and we’ll have broken the back of the task.

in leaps and bounds The school’s exam results are improving in leaps and bounds.

be going great guns His team is going great guns this season.

in the doldrums The economy is in the doldrums.

be flogging a dead horse You’ll never get kids to enjoy classical music—you’re flogging a dead horse.

go round in circles We need to make a decision – we’re just going round in circles at the moment.

be dragging your feet The government is dragging its feet on environmental measures.

get your act together You could do really well in your exams if you get your act together.

be barking up the wrong tree I think we’re barking up the wrong tree trying to sell these to young women.

get to grips with something I haven’t got to grips with the accounts yet.

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528 on the right track The business is definitely on the right track.

Rome was not built in a day Give it some time – Rome was not built in a day.

on a roll With three wins this season, the team is on a roll.

a sticking point Money was a sticking point in the negotiations.

on the up and up Her career is on the up and up.

tread water The business is doing well, and I’m happy to tread water for a year or two.

on the wrong track We were given poor information and that set us off on the wrong track. put something on hold They’ve put all new staff appointments on hold.

turn the corner The business was doing badly, but I think we’ve turned the corner now. within striking distance We are within striking distance of our goals.

expectation and likelihood

ask for the moon She seemed to be asking for the moon.

not count your chickens You may not make that much money – don’t count your chickens.

be hanging over your head I’ve got these exams hanging over my head. a bolt from the blue The news came as a bolt from the blue.

not have a prayer He wants to be a pop star, but he doesn’t have a prayer. not a snowball’s chance in hell He doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning.

castles in the air The whole scheme was just castles in the air.

it’s early days It’s early days, but things are going well so far.

like looking for a needle in a haystack You’ll never find her in London – it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. a long shot I know it’s a long shot, but we could ask Anna. not a cat in hell’s chance There isn’t a cat in hell’s chance of getting there in time.

on the off-chance I just called in on the off-chance that you’d be here. out of the blue She just turned up, out of the blue.

out of a clear blue sky This event came out of a clear blue sky.

just around the corner The elections are just around the corner.

on course for something The company is on course for record profits.

topic index

a flash in the pan His interest in opera was just a flash in the pan.

on the cards I think a major announcement is on the cards.

feel something in your bones She’ll be back – I can feel it in my bones.

the calm before the storm We’re not very busy at the moment, but it’s just the calm before the storm.

par for the course The builders are late, but that’s par for the course. pigs might fly Ella’s going to practise the piano for an hour a day? Pigs might fly. the smart money The smart money is on him losing his seat in parliament. someone’s days are numbered The president’s days are numbered.

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529

12 Trouble and difficulty, safety and risk trouble and difficulty an Achilles heel Pride was her Achilles heel.

the eye of the storm As I was staying with them that weekend, I found myself in the eye of the storm.

add fuel to the fire Bernard’s comments just added fuel to the fire. a baptism of fire They left me looking after 20 teenagers – it was a real baptism of fire.

bear the brunt of something I was very ill, and my wife bore the brunt of my frustration.

the fat is in the fire Karen saw the letter so the fat is in the fire now. the fly in the ointment The only fly in the ointment was her continued ill health. get your fingers burned He got his fingers badly burned in the property market.

be asking for trouble If you go climbing without the right equipment, you’re asking for trouble.

go through hell They went through hell after their son was arrested. go through the mill They went through the mill with their kids.

be no picnic It’s no picnic looking after grandma.

go through the wringer Her family’s fine now, but she’s been through the wringer.

be hung out to dry He was hung out to dry by his former colleagues.

bite off more than you can chew I agreed to do the project, but I think I’ve bitten off more than I can chew.

clutch at straws She says he may come later, but I think she’s clutching at straws. count the cost We are now counting the cost of our failure to plan. a cross to bear My husband has very different political views from me – it’s a cross I have to bear.

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in a hole I’m in a bit of a hole – my essay’s due tomorrow and I haven’t started it yet.

topic index

chicken and egg It’s chicken and egg – I can’t get a job without experience but I can’t get experience without a job.

hole-and-corner They had a series of hole-and-corner meetings.

a Catch 22 We found ourselves in a Catch 22 situation.

have your work cut out You’ll have your work cut out with a garden that big.

a can of worms When we started looking at their finances, we found a real can of worms.

have your back to the wall Who knows what the president will do when he has his back to the wall?

blow up in your face All her schemes blew up in her face.

go to hell and back We’ve been to hell and back in our fight for justice.

between a rock and a hard place With the demands of his family and his job he found himself between a rock and a hard place.

in hot water Local councillors found themselves in hot water over the traffic scheme.

in over your head When they started to talk about money, I realised I was in over my head. in the soup His rude comments landed him in the soup. in a (tight) corner We found ourselves in a tight corner after Alex left.

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530 like getting blood out of a stone Asking him about his private life’s like getting blood out of a stone.

put your foot in it Oh dear, I think I put my foot in it by mentioning Laura.

like pulling teeth Getting an opinion out of her is like pulling teeth.

rock the boat The team is working well together and I don’t want to rock the boat.

make waves He has certainly made waves in the government.

a mountain to climb If she’s going to win the competition now, she has a mountain to climb. need something like a hole in the head I need more work like I need a hole in the head.

not have a leg to stand on He says the accident was my fault, but he doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

a rough ride He had a pretty rough ride in the army. the shit hits the fan I’m glad I won’t be there when the shit hits the fan. stir up a hornet’s nest His latest speech stirred up a hornet’s nest. a stumbling block The cost of materials was the stumbling block. a tall order Cooking a hot meal for 50 is a tall order.

on the spot I’ll send him a private email because I don’t want to put him on the spot.

a tangled web She was caught in a tangled web of lies and broken promises.

on a sticky wicket We were on a sticky wicket in trying to claim that they owed us money.

teething problems/troubles The company was experiencing some teething problems.

open a Pandora’s box If I try to talk to my parents about it, I worry that I’ll be opening a Pandora’s box.

there’ll be hell to pay If Frank finds out what you’ve done, there’ll be hell to pay.

not out of the woods He’s been very ill and he’s not out of the woods yet.

an own goal He scored an own goal by speaking publicly – even his friends think he was wrong to do so.

a vicious circle The more weight I put on the more I ate for comfort – it was a vicious circle.

put/set the cat among the pigeons Her accusations really put the cat among the pigeons.

up the creek We’re up the creek without a car.

play hell with something The cold weather plays hell with my arthritis.

throw a spanner in the works Johnnie threw a spanner in the works by refusing to let us use his software.

topic index

out of the frying pan into the fire The new job was a disaster – out of the frying pan into the fire.

when the chips are down He likes to have a joke, but when the chips are down, he works really hard.

safety and risk be on the safe side I took a spare tyre, just to be on the safe side.

be sitting pretty Once he sold the castle, he was sitting pretty for life.

be playing with fire If you try to trick her, you’ll be playing with fire.

be skating on thin ice I was trying to get information from her, but I could see that I was skating on thin ice.

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531 be walking a tightrope She is walking a tightrope between making cuts and keeping staff happy.

lightning doesn’t strike twice You’ll be fine this time – lightning doesn’t strike twice.

by the skin of your teeth I managed to get everything done, by the skin of my teeth.

on a knife-edge His career was on a knife-edge. out on a limb With his love of literature, he found himself out on a limb.

chance your arm I decided to chance my arm at skiing.

play it safe I decided to play it safe and wear a simple, black dress.

a close call He kept his job, but it was a close call. a close shave I had a close shave when a bus nearly knocked me off my bike.

put all your eggs in one basket I have several clients – I don’t like to put all my eggs in one basket.

the coast is clear I’ll slip out when the coast is clear.

put/stick your head in a noose OK, make a complaint if you want to put your head in a noose.

cover your back I made copies of all the documents, just to cover my back.

dice with death He climbed on the roof, dicing with death.

in the firing line When customers are not satisfied, it’s the shop staff who are in the firing line.

put your neck on the line I put my neck on the line to get this deal.

let someone off the hook We mustn’t let the government off the hook for this.

sail close to the wind Some of his remarks were sailing close to the wind.

topic index

leave yourself wide open to something These comments left her wide open to attack.

safe as houses You can leave your things here – they’ll be safe as houses.

a leap in the dark When I decided to move to Germany, it was a leap in the dark for me.

run the gauntlet of something/someone She had to run the gauntlet of waiting journalists.

in safe hands I know the children are in safe hands with you.

risk your neck I risked my neck to help you.

in the line of fire He had come to complain, and I was in the line of fire.

light the fuse By making a public statement, he lit the fuse on the argument.

risk life and limb These soldiers risk life and limb every day.

hedge your bets I hedged my bets by doing a teaching course before setting up my business.

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put your head/neck on the block I put my neck on the block for you.

a good/safe bet It’s a safe bet that Donna will be there.

put your head above the parapet He was brave enough to put his head above the parapet in support of the government.

stick your neck out She was willing to stick her neck out and say that the idea was wrong.

take your life in your hands If you go in there, you take your life in your hands. throw caution to the wind I decided to throw caution to the wind and put my life savings into the new business. a wolf in sheep’s clothing He described the minister as a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

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532

13 Money at a price You can get anything you want, at a price.

everyone has their price He says he’ll never leave his current job, but everyone has their price.

be burning a hole in your pocket He had £50 burning a hole in his pocket.

a fat cat He’s one of these fat cats in the city.

be laughing all the way to the bank These people are laughing all the way to the bank.

be robbing Peter to pay Paul I took the money from some savings, but it’s just robbing Peter to pay Paul. be rolling in it His parents are rolling in it.

feather your nest Her lodgers are living in poverty while she’s feathering her nest. feel the pinch We’ve been feeling the pinch since the interest rates went up. follow the money If you follow the money, it starts to make more sense.

a blank cheque My boss has given me a blank cheque for this project.

foot the bill Dora offered to foot the bill for his course.

bleed someone dry The children are bleeding me dry.

go Dutch Shall we go Dutch on the meal?

blow a hole in something That new sofa has blown a hole in my savings.

for a song There was some good furniture going for a song.

chicken feed That amount of money is chicken feed to them.

grease someone’s palm If you want to get into the club, you’ll have to grease his palm.

the colour of someone’s money Before I do any deal with him I want to see the colour of his money.

a gravy train The software gravy train can’t go on much longer.

hand over fist They’re making money hand over fist.

topic index

bring home the bacon While she was looking after the kids, he was bringing home the bacon.

go through the roof Prices have gone through the roof recently.

bread and butter I sell some paintings, but teaching is my bread and butter.

cost an arm and a leg I want a computer that won’t cost an arm and a leg.

have money to burn Gold door handles? She must have money to burn.

daylight robbery £4 for a coffee? That’s daylight robbery!

hold the purse strings My mum holds the purse strings in our family.

down and out He was down and out and living in London.

in the black My account is in the black at the moment.

down the drain Employing them is just money down the drain.

in the lap of luxury I was living in the lap of luxury.

earn a crust Teaching’s not a bad way to earn a crust.

in the red We were in the red for several months in a row.

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533 keep body and soul together We barely earned enough to keep body and soul together.

not break the bank Dinner here is a treat that won’t break the bank. not have a penny to your name He turned up in Madrid without a penny to his name.

keep the wolf from the door I do a bit of journalism to keep the wolf from the door.

not have two pennies to rub together He says he is a lord, though he doesn’t have two pennies to rub together.

keep your head above water The money Barbara gives me helps me keep my head above water.

on the breadline There are a lot of families on the breadline round here.

a king’s ransom They’ll mend your car, but they’ll charge you a king’s ransom.

on a shoestring We organized our wedding on a shoestring.

keep up with the Joneses Everyone’s trying to keep up with the Joneses.

on skid row He used to be a successful businessman, but he’s on skid row now.

a licence to print money That place is a licence to print money.

on the slate Can you put those things on the slate?

line your pockets They are lining their pockets with money intended for the poor.

live from hand to mouth Most of these families live from hand to mouth.

on your uppers I met her when she was on her uppers. out of pocket I want to make sure that Charlotte doesn’t end up out of pocket.

make ends meet With Don out of work, it’s hard to make ends meet.

poor as a church mouse He was as poor as a church mouse.

quids in If you invest in these shares, you’ll be quids in. rags to riches His is a real rags to riches story.

more money than sense People who buy this phone have either more money than sense or access to a company credit card.

save (something) for a rainy day I’ve been saving for a rainy day.

a nest egg That money will be my nest egg.

the smart money The smart money is going into financial companies.

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topic index

money talks He gave them a few thousand pounds and suddenly he was allowed to build as many houses as he wanted to – money talks.

pick up the tab Zara picked up the tab for the evening meal.

money for old rope Looking after his children is money for old rope.

pay through the nose for something If you make phone calls from the hotel, you’ll pay through the nose for them.

a meal ticket She sees her showbiz connections as a meal ticket.

pay over the odds I think he paid over the odds for that car.

make a killing They made a killing when they sold their house.

live like a king You can live like a king for very little money here.

a small fortune They paid a small fortune for that car.

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534 spend money like water He spends money like water.

throw money at something/someone I needed to sort the house out quickly, so I decided to throw money at the problem.

strike gold She really struck gold with her business.

tighten your belt Since becoming a student again, I’ve had to tighten my belt.

strike it rich She struck it rich in the IT industry.

when your ship comes in I’m going to buy a caravan when my ship comes in.

take someone to the cleaners He was taken to the cleaners by a dishonest builder.

wipe the slate clean After years of hard work, she was able to wipe the slate clean.

there’s no such thing as a free lunch You’ll have to help him – there’s no such thing as a free lunch. throw good money after bad There’s no point throwing good money after bad.

14 Authority, responsibility, control and restriction authority and responsibility

a big fish in a small pond In his new job he’s a big fish in a small pond.

the blind leading the blind I tried to explain the system, but it was a case of the blind leading the blind really.

carry/wield a big stick Seb came in, wielding a big stick. come down on someone like a ton of bricks If you catch them stealing, you must come down on them like a ton of bricks. get away with murder She lets those kids get away with murder.

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have enough on your plate Don’t ask Alfie – he’s got enough on his plate. kick ass/butt They brought in a new manager to kick ass.

carry the can He ended up carrying the can for their mistakes.

haul someone over the coals Her boss called her in and hauled her over the coals.

the buck stops here I take full responsibility – the buck stops here.

face the music It was time to go home and face the music.

topic index

a big wheel She’s a big wheel on the committee.

a big gun He’s a big gun in the city.

go over someone’s head She went over my head and complained to my boss.

land in your lap The opportunity just landed in my lap.

lay down the law Our boss has laid down the law about personal phone calls in work time. lay something at someone’s door The report laid blame for the accident at Foster’s door. a lightning rod for something He has been a lightning rod for parents’ anger.

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535 the movers and shakers Who are the movers and shakers in the industry?

run the show Kath ended up running the show.

not someone’s keeper I don’t know where Rick is – I’m not his keeper.

shoot the messenger I’m only telling you the facts – don’t shoot the messenger.

off your hands The children will soon be off our hands.

sit in judgment on someone He’s in no position to sit in judgment on other people.

on the carpet His boss had him on the carpet.

stand up and be counted I decided it was time to stand up and be counted.

on someone’s watch There won’t be any mistakes on my watch.

step into someone’s shoes We need to find someone to step into her shoes.

out of your hands The matter’s out of my hands now.

take a back seat I need a break, so I’m going to take a back seat for a while.

pass the buck She always tries to pass the buck.

take the law into your own hands I took the law into my own hands and went to his house.

point the finger at someone After her death, some people pointed the finger at her husband.

take the rap His brother took the rap for his crime.

the pecking order I was new to the company, and way down the pecking order.

throw the book at someone He urged the judge to throw the book at Cooper.

pull rank He pulled rank to get me a place at the event.

rap someone on the knuckles She was rapped on the knuckles for failing to spot the error.

throw your weight around/about She’d only been in the job a couple of weeks before she started throwing her weight around.

put your foot down I put my foot down and told him he had to leave.

toe the line Any players that don’t toe the line will be out of the team.

ride roughshod over someone/ something She rides roughshod over everyone.

wash your hands of something/someone Organising the party caused so many arguments I decided to wash my hands of it.

at the top of the tree As a cricketer he is at the top of the tree. be at someone’s beck and call I’m at her beck and call all day.

control and influence

bring someone to heel She was wild, and her parents failed to bring her to heel.

be breathing down someone’s neck I’ve got my accountant breathing down my neck.

call the shots He’s the manager, but it’s the players who call the shots.

be brought to book It is time these criminals were brought to book.

call the tune She pays, so she calls the tune.

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topic index

too many chiefs and not enough Indians Nothing ever got done – there were too many chiefs and not enough Indians.

read (someone) the riot act When mum saw the mess, she read us the riot act.

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536 carry weight Her opinions carry weight.

in high places She’s got friends in high places.

crack the whip My staff aren’t bad but I have to crack the whip now and then.

in the palm of your hand She’s got him in the palm of her hand.

dig in your heels I dug in my heels and refused to move. divide and conquer/rule You take two of the children and I’ll take the other two – divide and rule.

in your hands Your future is in your hands. an iron fist He crushed the rebellion with an iron fist.

flex your muscles He was new in the job and just flexing his muscles.

force someone’s hand He won’t make a decision unless you force his hand. get out of hand Their behaviour is getting out of hand.

go with the flow When I’m working in a team, I just go with the flow.

kick someone upstairs They couldn’t sack him, so they kicked him upstairs. a lame duck The president is a lame duck now.

a heavy hand He dealt with the situation with a heavy hand.

in the driving seat During the project, Saunders was in the driving seat.

lead someone by the nose He’s being led by the nose by his friends. a loose cannon Larry really is a loose cannon.

on a short leash Her dad keeps her on a short leash.

hold someone to ransom She’s holding him to ransom, threatening to take back all the money.

lead the field He leads the field in this branch of physics.

hold/put a gun to someone’s head The bank’s threats have put a gun to my head.

a hostage to fortune With no influence at all, I was a hostage to fortune.

a law unto yourself Gemma never follows the rules – she’s a law unto herself.

have someone over a barrel Since he has all our money, he has us over a barrel.

topic index

keep tabs on someone/something He phones every few hours to keep tabs on me.

have someone eating out of your hand She’s got the media eating out of her hand.

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jump through hoops We had to jump through hoops to get the funding.

have the ear of someone She has the ear of the president.

in someone’s pocket They accused him of being in the minister’s pocket.

on top of something He’s not really on top of the job.

the power behind the throne His wife was the power behind the throne. pull strings His father is in a position to pull strings. rule the roost In our family, mum rules the roost.

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537 run rings around someone His staff were running rings around him.

twist someone’s arm She’ll agree if you twist her arm.

run a tight ship I run a tight ship – you won’t find any waste here.

twist/wrap someone around your little finger She can wrap her father around her little finger.

a soft touch I always ask Dad for money – he’s a soft touch.

under someone’s thumb She’s really under her mother’s thumb.

someone’s word is law Round here, Alice’s word is law.

the upper hand She had the upper hand in the situation.

take someone in hand He was eating very badly until his wife took him in hand.

wear the trousers/pants Who wears the trousers in your house?

tighten/turn the screw on someone I owe him quite a lot of money, and he’s starting to tighten the screw on me.

your life is in someone’s hands When you travel by air, your life is in the pilot’s hands.

limitations and restrictions have your hands full I had my hands full with a hotel to run.

beyond the pale He considered her views to be beyond the pale.

keep a tight rein on someone/something Her parents keep a tight rein on her spending.

clip someone’s wings Not having transport has clipped her wings a bit.

off limits The upstairs rooms are off limits to visitors.

bend the rules They bent the rules to allow her to take part.

overstep the mark She overstepped the mark in what she said.

a sacred cow These policies have become a sacred cow that can’t be challenged.

a fine line between something There’s a fine line between letting your children be independent and neglecting them.

step/tread on someone’s toes I’d like to help but I don’t want to tread on anyone’s toes.

give someone free rein Our parents gave us free rein to develop creatively.

with no strings attached He gave me the money with no strings attached.

the glass ceiling At forty, she felt she had hit the glass ceiling.

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draw the line I draw the line at making bread.

topic index

over the top I thought the security arrangements were a bit over the top.

the dos and don’ts Here are some of the dos and don’ts for a successful party.

out of bounds My father’s study was out of bounds.

cross the line He crossed the line with those remarks.

cramp someone’s style I don’t want my little brother to cramp my style.

your hands are tied I’d like to help, but my hands are tied.

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538

15 Love the apple of your eye Her son is the apple of her eye. can’t take your eyes off someone/ something She was so beautiful I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

only have eyes for someone I tried to talk to him, but he only had eyes for Emma. set your cap at someone She decided to set her cap at the vicar. sweep someone off their feet They met in Paris and he swept her off her feet.

fall head over heels (in love) They fell head over heels in love.

take a shine to someone Adam seems to have taken a shine to your friend.

make eyes at someone He was making eyes at the waitress all evening.

there are plenty more fish in the sea Don’t worry about him – there are plenty more fish in the sea.

carry a torch for someone He carried a torch for her all his life.

of your dreams I’ve finally met the man of my dreams.

think the world of someone You know I think the world of you.

an old flame He was having lunch with an old flame.

E U

16 Death and illness

be dropping like flies All her old friends are dropping like flies.

below par I’ve been feeling a bit below par recently. be past it My children think I’m past it. blow someone to kingdom come The blast blew them to kingdom come. come to a sticky end Not surprisingly, Jackson came to a sticky end.

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the Grim Reaper They are waiting for the Grim Reaper. hang by a thread His life was hanging by a thread.

be living on borrowed time She’s living on borrowed time.

give up the ghost My computer seems to have given up the ghost.

be fighting for your life Following the accident, two people are fighting for their lives.

end it all It was such a bad time, I considered ending it all.

topic index

be curtains for someone He had a massive heart attack, so it was curtains for him.

dead as a dodo/doornail You’re right. That animal is dead as a dodo.

at death’s door Apparently, her husband’s at death’s door.

have a good innings She was 89, so she had a good innings. in the wars I hear Ethan’s been in the wars.

kick the bucket I’m waiting for Uncle Harry to kick the bucket. like death warmed up She was looking like death warmed up this morning.

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idiom 539 not long for this world I’m afraid he’s not long for this world.

pop your clogs When I pop my clogs, all this will be yours.

one foot in the grave Most of these people have got one foot in the grave.

under par She went to the doctor’s because she had been under par for weeks.

on your last legs I feel as though I’m on my last legs.

over the hill He likes to play tennis, but he’s over the hill really.

under the weather I’ve had flu and I’m still a bit under the weather.

17 Happiness be grinning from ear to ear As he raised the cup above his head, he was grinning from ear to ear.

in your element Put him on a boat and he’s in his element. laugh like a drain When he heard about the accident, he laughed like a drain.

be grinning like a Cheshire cat He came in grinning like a Cheshire cat.

be rolling in the aisles The comedian had us rolling in the aisles.

be walking on air He’s been walking on air since she agreed to marry him.

let your hair down It’s good to get away from work and let your hair down for a bit.

happy as a pig in muck When he’s working in his shed, he’s happy as a pig in muck. happy as a sandboy She wandered around the garden, happy as a sandboy. have a whale of a time We had a whale of a time in Italy.

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on cloud nine She’s been on cloud nine ever since she heard she’d got the job.

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happy as Larry The children were happy as Larry all day.

make someone’s day A phone call from Mollie really made my day.

full of beans The children were full of beans this morning.

look on the bright side Try to look on the bright side – at least you won’t have to work with Christa any more.

feel like a million dollars After a week’s holiday, she was feeling like a million dollars.

like the cat that got the cream Have you seen her with her new boyfriend? She looks like the cat that got the cream.

everything is coming up roses He’s had a tough few years, but everything is coming up roses now.

bright-eyed and bushy-tailed He was up at six, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

life is a bowl of cherries For Edie, life is a bowl of cherries.

on top of the world I’m fully recovered now and feeling on top of the world. over the moon We were over the moon to hear your news.

a ray of sunshine Her visit was a ray of sunshine in a miserable year. tickled pink She was tickled pink to discover we were related.

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18 Sadness at a low ebb She was at a low ebb and the holiday did her good.

in the doldrums He’s been in the doldrums since Monica left.

break your heart It breaks your heart to see those children’s injuries.

it’s no use crying over spilt milk It’s done now – it’s no use crying over spilt milk.

cry your heart out She cried her heart out when they told her the news. down in the dumps I’ve got flu and I’m feeling a bit down in the dumps.

a long face He’s been going round with a long face all week. not be a barrel of laughs His aunty isn’t exactly a barrel of laughs.

not a happy bunny When I discovered the train had already gone, I was not a happy bunny. a shoulder to cry on I’m always here if you need a shoulder to cry on.

get on top of you You mustn’t let things get on top of you.

a wet blanket Why don’t you stop being such a wet blanket and try to have some fun?

down in the mouth Everyone’s a bit down in the mouth about losing the contract.

hit rock bottom When I lost my job, I hit rock bottom.

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U Cob Idioms Topic Index Final.indd 540

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