a closed mouth gathers no feet »
One who does not speak can be certain he won't say anything embarrassing.
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a little bird told me »
Of information which was gathered from a source not to be overtly exposed.
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a picture paints a thousand words »
A visualisation is a better description than a verbal description.1971, David Gates (of Bread), If, from Manna album:If a picture paints a thousand wordsThen why can't I paint you;The words will never showThe you I've come to know.1989, Alan Kay, quoted in K?o-tung Huang, Timothy D. Huang, Introduction to Chinese, Japanese and Korean Computing, World Scientific, ISBN 9971506645, p. 9:Most human beings, no matter how familiar they are with abstract symbols, respond to voice and images better than written language. In other words, A picture paints a thousand words.2006, Paul Shakespeare, Building a Dune Buggy: The Essential Manual, ISBN 1904788734, p. 52:See accompanying diagram: a picture paints a thousand words, and all that!
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a rolling stone gathers no moss »
A person who never settles in one place will never be successful.A person who does not keep active will grow mouldy.
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birds of a feather flock together »
People of similar character, background, or taste tend to congregate or associate with one another.
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birds of the feather flock together »
People who are alike physically tend to congregate and socialize together, despite government efforts at forced integration.
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bite the bullet »
To accept a negative aspect of a situation in order to continue moving forward.
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bounce back »
To recover from a negative without seemingly any damage.
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bragging rights »
The prerogative to praise oneself for an accomplishment or for possession of a superior characteristic.
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bridge »
An elevated platform above the upper deck of a mechanically propelled ship from which it is navigated and from which all activities on deck can be seen and controlled by the captain, etc; smaller ships have a wheelhouse, and sailing ships were controlled from a quarterdeck.
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business before pleasure »
An admonishment that discharging one's obligations must take precedence over devoting time to pursuits meant solely for one's own gratification.
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chase down »
To investigate the cause of something.
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cross paths »
August 5 2004, SFGate.com.
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cry one's eyes out »
To weep for an elongated time, or in an excessive manner.
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damned if one does and damned if one doesn't »
A dilemma where either choice results in a negative outcome.
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deliver the message to Garcia »
...heaves in a deep breath, gathers himself as though he's crossed a continent to deliver the message to Garcia.
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dig up dirt »
To examine in order to find negative information for public opinion, usually with the purpose of embarrassing or discrediting a person.
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drain the swamp when up to one's neck in alligators »
(idiomatic) When performing a long and complex task, and when you've gotten utterly immersed in secondary and tertiary unexpected tangential subtasks, it's easy to lose sight of the initial objective. This sort of distraction can be particularly problematic if the all-consuming subtask or sub-subtask is not, after all, particularly vital to the original, primary goal, but ends up sucking up time and resources (out of all proportion to its actual importance) only because it seems so urgent.
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drill down »
To examine information at another level or in greater detail; especially in a database, to navigate to a more detailed level or record.
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drop the ball »
To fail in one's responsibilities or duties, or to make a mistake, especially at a critical point or when the result is very negative.
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every cloud has a silver lining »
In every bad situation there is an element of good1881, National Academy of Code Administration (U.S.), Folio, page 417:Every cloud has a silver lining; but in the old-fashioned meeting-houses every cloud of hymnal melody generally had a nasal lining before the congregation...1887, Shakers, Religion, page 36:that "a little reserve and thou'lt fail surely," will prove to be true in our experience. Every cloud has a silver lining and so has every sorrow,1918, George Jean Nathan, Performing Arts, page 222:But the most popular attitude toward what we may call "sad" plays is the peculiar one of believing that, since every cloud has a silver lining,
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free lunch »
Something obtained without any payment, obligation or effort.
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give a shit »
To care, often used in the negative.
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go from zero to hero »
To change from negative outcome to positive outcome. To improve one's fortunes significantly.
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grunt work »
That is considered undesirable and therefore delegated to underlings.
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hold up one's end »
To hold up one's end of the bargain; to fulfill one's promise or obligation.
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lay down the law »
To promulgate law.
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lex dubia non obligat »
(law) A doubtful law is not binding.
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loaded word »
Any word, set phrase or idiom that has strong positive or negative connotations beyond their ordinary definition.
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look into »
To investigate, explore, or consider.
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no joy »
A negative outcome.
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no strings attached »
Without conditions or obligations; without a catch.
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nut-cutting time »
Time to gather nuts before they are taken by other animals or buried in snow.
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off one's own bat »
At one's own instigation.
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off the top of one's head »
Without great thought or investigation; extemporaneous; natural; offhand.
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ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny »
(biology, social sciences, art, philosophy) The physical, cultural, moral, or intellectual development of each individual passes through stages similar to the developmental stages of that individual's species, society, or civilization.1905, J. A. Harris, "The Importance of Investigations of Seedling Stages," Science, New Series, vol. 22, no. 554, p. 186:With reference to seedling stages the statement that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny must be made with great reserve.1961, M. E. Wolfgang, "Pioneers in Criminology: Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909)," The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science, vol. 52, no. 4, p. 367:Haeckel maintained that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, and this idea was incorporated by Lombroso into his parallelism between the criminal and the child.2002, B. S. Jackson, "Models in Legal History: The Case of Biblical Law," Journal of Law and Religion, vol. 18, no. 1, p. 11:For even if we accept that "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny," those responsible for the drafting of ancient legal documents were not children, and are hardly to be endowed with some form of infantile mentality.
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peachy keen »
Extremely good, exactly right; all right. Often used in the negative or with an ironic or sarcastic connotation to mean the opposite.
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penny wise and pound foolish »
Prudent and thrifty with small amounts of money, but wasteful and profligate with large amounts.
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pissing contest »
An argument which is instigated, or exacerbated while consuming alcohol.
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press the flesh »
To shake hands and socialize, especially in a political gathering.
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private eye »
A private personal detective, employed to gather information about someone.
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pull one's own weight »
To do the work that one is obligated to.
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pull one's weight »
To do the work that one is obligated to.
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put out feelers »
To explore or watch for; ask around; investigate.
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put through the wringer »
To interrogate or scrutinize closely; to subject to some trial or ordeal.
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red letter day »
Usually very positive, sometimes very negative.
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rumor mill »
A group or network of persons who originate or promulgate gossip and other unsubstantiated claims.
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scope out »
To examine; to scout; to investigate; to check out.
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scrape together »
To collect, assemble or gather small amounts , from various sources, with some difficulty.
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see the forest for the trees »
To discern an overall pattern from a mass of detail; to see the bigger picture, or the broader, more general situation. Generally used in the negative.
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shoot oneself in the foot »
To deliberately sabotage an activity in order to avoid obligation, though it causes personal suffering. Origins in first world war trench warfare.
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show somebody the door »
To escort someone to the exit of the premises; to expel someone from a room, gathering, etc.
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sing along »
A gathering or event where participants are encouraged to add their voices in song.
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smear campaign »
An effort to damage or call into question someone's reputation, by propounding negative propaganda.
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so-called »
Same as above, without the negative connotation.
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take its toll »
To affect, especially negatively; to damage or degrade; to cause destruction.
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take to the cleaners »
To take a significant quantity of a person's money or valuables, through gambling, unfavorable investing, fraud, litigation, etc.
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take upon »
To take charge of an item of business, or an obligation, as a personal initiative.
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tear away »
To remove oneself reluctantly; often expressed in the negative.
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third degree »
Intensive rough interrogation in order to extract information or a confession.
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throw dirt enough, and some will stick »
If enough allegations are made about someone or something, then even if they are all untrue, people's opinion of the person or thing will be diminished.1759, John Wesley, letter to John Downes, Rector of St. Michael's, Wood Street, read at Wesley Center Online at [1] on 14 Oct 06.I hope...that you are ignorant of the whole affair, and are so bold only because you are blind...And blind enough; so that you blunder on through thick and thin, bespattering all that come in your way, according to the old, laudable maxim, 'Throw dirt enough, and some will stick.'1857, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's Schooldays, read at fullbooks.com on 14 Oct 06,But whatever harm a spiteful tongue could do them, he took care should be done. Only throw dirt enough, and some will stick.1864, John Henry Newman, Apologia Pro Vita Sua, Penguin Classics (1994), p. 10,Archbishop Whately used to say
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time heals all wounds »
Negative feelings eventually erode away
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under the yoke »
Under subjugation.
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ups and downs »
Periods of positive and negative events, moods, or interactions; highs and lows.
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walk it off »
To deal with an negative emotional event without complaint; to take it like a man.
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wear rose-colored glasses »
To see the positive in things while being oblivious to the negative.
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when you're up to your neck in alligators, it's easy to forget that the initial objective was to drain the swamp »
Only because it seems so urgent.
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when, as, and if »
Used to indicate the timing and contingency of some obligation in contracts, especially financial.
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you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar »
It's easier to persuade others with polite requests and a positive attitude than with rude demands and negativity.
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