a lie has no legs »
You can't get away with a lie, the truth will always come out.
|
a miss is as good as a mile »
A failure remains a failure, regardless of how close to success one has actually come.
|
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!
|
all good things come to an end »
Nothing lasts forever.
|
all things come to those who wait »
(dated) A patient seeker will be satisfied in due time; patience is a virtue.
|
at bay »
Unable to come closer; at a distance.
|
back off »
To become less aggressive, particularly when one had appeared committed to act.
|
backseat driver »
By extension, anybody offering unsolicited or unwelcome advice.
|
balls-up »
Something which becomes muddled or botched in some way.
|
be taken ill »
To become ill.
|
beside oneself »
Overcome; consumed by an emotion.
|
best laid plans »
A proverbial expression used to signify the futility of making detailed plans when the outcome is uncertain.
|
blanket term »
A word or phrase that is used to describe multiple groups of related things. The degree of relation may vary. Blanket terms often trade specificity for ease-of-use; in other words, a blanket term by itself gives little detail about the things that it describes or the relationships between them, but is easy to say and remember. Blanket terms often originate as slang, and eventually become integrated into the general vocabulary.
|
blimp out »
To become fat or fatter, especially as a result of excessive eating.
|
blood is thicker than water »
Family relations and loyalties are stronger than relationships with people who are not family members.1866, Anthony Trollope, The Belton Estate, ch. 30,Blood is thicker than water, is it not? If cousins are not friends, who can be?circa 1915, Lucy Fitch Perkins, The Scotch Twins, ch. 5,The old clans are scattered now, but blood is thicker than water still, and you're welcome to the fireside of your kinsman!
|
| BTW, Why won't you become an editor? |
