a different ballpark »
Something totally unrelated or of a vastly different scale or scope.
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all bark and no bite »
Full of big talk but lacking action, power, or substance; pretentious.
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all cats are gray at night »
Variant of all cats are grey in the dark.
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all cats are gray in the dark »
Variant of all cats are grey in the dark.
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all cats are grey at night »
Variant of all cats are grey in the dark.
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all cats are grey in the dark »
In the dark, physical appearance is unimportant.
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ark ruffian »
Rogues who, in conjunction with watermen, robbed, and sometimes murdered, on the water, by picking a quarrel with the passengers in a boat, boarding it, plundering, stripping, and throwing them overboard, etc. A species of badger.
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ballpark estimate »
A ballpark figure, a very rough approximation.
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ballpark figure »
An educated guess or estimation within acceptable bounds.
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bark up the wrong tree »
To attempt or pursue the wrong thing; to take the wrong approach; to follow a false lead.
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barking dogs never bite »
Alternative form of barking dogs seldom bite.
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barking dogs seldom bite »
People who make big threats never usually carry them out.
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beat Banaghan »
An Irish saying of one who tells wonderful stories, or of something which is amazing and remarkable.
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beauty mark »
Or artificially using cosmetics.
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better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness »
In the face of bad times or hopelessness, it is more worthwhile to do some good, however small, in response than to complain about the situation.
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black »
Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and colourless.
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bog standard »
Especially plain, ordinary, or unremarkable; having no special, excess or unusual features; plain vanilla.
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bottom of the line »
The worst, the most lackluster, or lowest quality currently on the market, especially among selections in a product line.
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brickbat »
A criticism or uncomplimentary remark hurled at artwork or other recipient.
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bring out »
On the market; roll out.
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burn rubber »
To accelerate so rapidly from standstill that it leaves a mark of burnt rubber on the road from the tire.
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butt-naked »
Stark-naked, completely nude.
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cast aspersions »
To make damaging or spiteful remarks.
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check out »
To have one's purchases recorded and bagged at a supermarket, and pay for it.
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corner the market »
To have exclusive possession; to possess something to a high or excessive degree.
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corner the market »
To monopolize a resource or commodity, as with the intent of driving up prices.
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correlation does not imply causation »
(statistics) The observed correlation between two parameters, say, the growth of a market and the growth of a neighbor's child may, in fact, have nothing to do with each other's causation.
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cross off »
To finish; to mark something as complete.
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dark horse »
A candidate who is nominated unexpectedly, without previously having been discussed or considered as a likely choice.
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dark horse »
An unexpected success.
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darken somebody's doorstep »
To enter somebody else's home uninvited.
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diamond in the rough »
A person whose goodness or other positive qualities are hidden by a harsh or unremarkable surface appearance.
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draw on »
To sketch or mark with pencil, crayon, etc., on a given surface.
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drug on the market »
Something which is overabundant at the moment and thus not in demand.
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for my money »
Used to mark a statement made by the speaker as an opinion or something not known with certainty.
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full marks »
To exclaim complete satisfaction with someone's efforts.
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get off »
To disembark from mass transportation, such as a bus or train.
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get off »
To disembark.
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go the way of the dinosaurs »
To go extinct or become obsolete; to fall out of common use or practice; to go off the firsthand market; to become a thing of the past.
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go the way of the dodo »
To go extinct or become obsolete; to fall out of common use or practice; to go out of the firsthand market; to become a thing of the past.
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guilt trip »
Remarks intended to produce such a feeling.
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hit one out of the ballpark »
To hit a fair ball so well that the ball flies over all of the spectators' seats and lands outside the stadium.
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hit one out of the ballpark »
To produce a spectacular achievement.
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hold your fire »
Do not discharge your weapon. Used originally for weapons needing a spark or lighting of a fuse to ignite gunpowder, now sometimes used to mean any weapon launching a projectile.
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hole in one »
Any rare, wonderful, or remarkable accomplishment.
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household name »
A genericized trademark or anepronym.
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hunger is a good sauce »
(dated) Being hungry makes one less concerned about the taste of one's food.1854, Mark Lemon, Henry Mayhew, Tom Taylor, Shirley Brooks, Francis Cowley Burnand, Owen Seaman, Punch, Vol. XXVI, Punch Publications Ltd., page 74:His bread and cheese were somewhat dry, to be sure; his ale had become flat, and considerably warmer than was desirable; but hunger is a good sauce, and thirst is not particular.
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idiot light »
Any warning light or indicator on the dashboard of a car, designed to alert the driver of problems, such as the parking brake being on or the oil being low.
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in the dark »
Without information.
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in the dark »
Without light; somewhere that is dark.
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it's not what you know but who you know »
For success, and especially to obtain employment, one's knowledge and skills are less useful and less important than one's network of personal contacts.1951, G. P. Bush and L. H. Hattery, "Federal Recruitment of Junior Engineers," Science, vol. 114, no. 2966, p. 456:Eighty-four students referred to political influence as a disadvantage of federal employment with such remarks as: "There are too many political connections necessary . . . it's not what you know but who you know
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jug ears »
Ears whose plane is markedly not parallel to the plane of the head.
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jump the shark »
To undergo a storyline development which is so ridiculous that previous quality is considered to have been lost.
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lay rubber »
To accelerate so rapidly from standstill that it leaves a mark of burnt rubber on the road from the tire.
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left-handed compliment »
A complimentary remark which is ambiguous or ineptly worded, so that it may be interpreted as having an unflattering or dismissive sense.
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little pitchers have big ears »
Small children often overhear more of what is said than adults realize or desire.1844, Charlotte M. Yonge, Abbeychurch, ch. 2:Seeing me listening to something she was saying to Mamma, she turned round upon me with that odious proverb, "Little pitchers have long ears."1939, "Bedtime Bedlam," Time, 17 Apr.:A caution to U. S. parents, but a joy to radio merchandising, is the dread truth that little pitchers have big ears.2002, Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, ISBN 9780743455961, p. 185:I suppose he might say pushed or went woowoo, but took a shit is, I fear, very much in the ballpark (little pitchers have big ears, after all).
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long shot »
Something unlikely; something that has little chance of happening or working. The term arose from the accuracy of early ship guns, which were effective only at close range and unlikely to hit the mark at any great distance.
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mark down »
To reduce the price of.
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mark down »
To write a memorandum about.
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mark my words »
Listen to me; used before a statement one wishes to emphasize.
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mark time »
Marching in place; not going anywhere.
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mark up »
To increase the price of something between its wholesale and retail phase.
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mark up »
To add coding to text so that it will display properly on a computer.
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meat market »
A market where meat is sold.
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meat market »
Or night club.
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member for Barkshire »
Said of one troubled with a cough, vulgarly styled barking.
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miss the mark »
To fail to hit the target.
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miss the mark »
To fail to reach the result that was intended.
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naked as a jaybird »
Stark naked; nude; especially, naked in a public setting and without embarrassment.
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noarch »
Short for "no architecture". It is a term used mainly in package management systems to mark packages which are architecture independent. Such packages usually contain graphics, documentation or similar data that can be used on any architecture.
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off the mark »
Inaccurate; not correct or appropriate.
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oh dark hundred »
Some unspecified hour in the early morning.
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oh dark thirty »
Some unspecified hour in the early morning.
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on end »
Remarkably long; continuously.
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on opposite sides of the barricades »
Of starkly different, opposite views on an issue.
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one's bark is worse than one's bite »
The individual acts threatening but is relatively harmless.
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orphan drug »
But which is not manufactured or marketed because the demand is insufficient to cover the costs of supply.
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outsider »
A competitor or contestant who has little chance of winning; a long shot; a dark horse.
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park that thought »
Alternative form of hold that thought.
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park the car in Harvard Yard »
A sentence used to illustrate that the Boston accent is non-rhotic; typically pronounced "pahk the cah in Hahvad Yahd".
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parking lot »
A major thruway blocked by stop and go traffic.
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parking lot »
An open area, generally paved, where automobiles may be left when not in use.
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pass out »
To graduate, usually marked by the ceremony at the end of their training.
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peel out »
To start abruptly from a standing stop, accelerating rapidly, especially so as to produce skid marks.
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play the race card »
Mark Fuhrman, Murder in Brentwood p.153.
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price out of the market »
To charge an exorbitant price for a service or product so that no one will purchase it.
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pull my finger »
A phrase used when playing a prank regarding flatulence, in which a mark is asked to pull the finger of the person playing the prank, who simultaneously flatulates so as to suggest a causal relationship between the pulling of the finger and the resulting expulsion of gas.
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put paid to »
To mark a bill or a debt record as "paid".
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put the cat among the pigeons »
Professor Stephen Hawking put the cat among the pigeons last week with his cheery remarks about comet Machholz-2, which some astronomers believe could be heading our way. — The Times, 19 September 1994.
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question mark »
Doubt or uncertainty.
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question mark »
The punctuation mark “?”, used at the end of a sentence to indicate a question..
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rest his soul »
Used parenthetically to mark the referent as being deceased.
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seller's market »
An excess of demand over supply, leading to abnormally high prices; a market condition favoring the seller.
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shot in the dark »
A guess, attempt, or choice made with little or no evidence or knowledge.
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smart arse »
One who is particularly flippant or insolent or tends to make snide remarks or jokes.
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snake oil »
Any product with exaggerated marketing but questionable or unverifiable quality.
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snap someone's head off »
To suddenly and sharply rebuke or insult a person, especially in response to a harmless remark.
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socialized medicine »
A politically charged term used to contrast such systems with free market alternatives and emphasize the perceived link to socialism.
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soft shoe »
A speech, explanation, sales pitch, or other set of remarks delivered in a restrained or conciliatory manner in order to persuade, distract, or otherwise influence someone.
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spark off »
To initiate something by providing the necessary conditions.
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spark spread »
The difference between the cost of the fuel required to produce a unit of electricity, and the price of that same unit of electricity.
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swim with sharks »
To operate among dangerous people.
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swim with sharks »
To take a huge risk.
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take a shot in the dark »
To try on something without having any knowledge about the subject.
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talk out of turn »
To make a remark or provide information when it is inappropriate or indiscreet to do so, or when one does not have permission or the authority to do so.
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the dogs bark, but the caravan goes on »
Life goes on, even if some will try to stop or talk against progress.
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throw enough mud at the wall, some of it will stick »
Try the same thing (or similar things) often enough, and, even if the general standard is poor, sometimes one will be successful.2001, And still no one is shouting stop. read in The Kingdom archives at [1] on 02 Nov 06,Many team managers are of the philosophy that if you throw enough mud at the wall some of it will stick. They believe that team preparation is all about physical fitness. They run the players into the ground and they believe they will be "flying on the day".2001, Robert McCrum, Let them eat cake, in The Observer 16 Dec 01, read on Guardian Unlimited site at [2] on 02 Nov 06,Australian publishing boomed and in the past 10 years the country's literary culture has undergone a mini golden age, capped by Carey's triumph at the 2001 Booker Prize. As one Australian arts administrator said to me many years ago: 'Listen, mate, if you throw enough mud at the wall, some of it will stick.'2001, Chris Collin, Re: 2-cp speys on The Strathspey Server mailing list archive at [3] on 02 Nov 06,I am finding that "if you throw enough mud at the wall, some of it will stick". It doesn't always work of course (especially on the nights when the class is mostly the beginners), but the class seems to thrive on the challange.2005, Ray Craft (poster on The right scale blog), Fitzhooie and his Burden, read at [4] on 02 Nov 06,Prosecutors everywhere have bad habits of overcharging lots of cases, knowing that if the throw enough mud at the wall some of it will stick.2005, Sean Kelleher, Spike Milligan: His part in our downfall in Business 07 Aug 05, read at [5] on 02 Nov 06,As long as there is negligible regulation and enforcement anyone can actually try and do the job...Weak regulation allows the industry to build strategies on full time recruitment. The theory goes: throw enough mud at the wall, some of it will stick.c2005, Everything You've Learned About Marketing Is Wrong, read on LINC Performance website at [6] on 02 Nov 06,They have the money to continue to believe in the repetition side of the equation. You throw enough mud at the wall, some of it will stick. But it still isn
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touch a nerve »
To make a remark or perform a deed which produces a strong response, especially an emotional response such as anxiety or annoyance, because it calls to mind something which has been a source of concern or embarrassment.
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trailer park trash »
Lower-class people who live in trailer parks.
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trailer trash »
Trailer park trash.
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trump up »
Heavily publicise, promote or market a product.
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up with the larks »
To wake up early, to be an early bird.
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walk in the park »
A recreational walk in a park.
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walk in the park »
Something easy or pleasant, especially by comparison to something.
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walk the line »
To mark or secure a boundary by walking along it.
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whistle in the dark »
To speak of something despite having little knowledge of it.
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wide of the mark »
Inaccurate.
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wide of the mark »
Missing the target.
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wouldn't shout if a shark bit him »
Frugal, miserly.
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