a day late and a dollar short »
Action that was taken too late and too feeble to be of any use.
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all holiday »
A saying signifying that it is all over with the business or person spoken of or alluded to/.
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be taken ill »
Due to sudden illness.
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be taken ill »
To become ill.
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bleep out »
To censor inappropriate spoken words by obscuring them with the sound of a bleep.
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brace of shakes »
The time taken for a sail to shake or shiver twice as a ship comes into the wind.
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broken vessel »
A person who is destroyed or forgotten, or who feels flawed or broken.
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broken-hearted »
Alternative spelling of brokenhearted. Feeling depressed, despondent, or hopeless, especially over losing a love.
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busy work »
Work or activity performed with the intention or result of occupying time, and not necessarily to accomplish something productive; routine work of low priority undertaken for the sake of avoiding idleness.
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by the same token »
For a similar reason; in a similar manner; similarly; likewise; along the same lines.
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chicken feed »
A very small or insignificant quantity, especially of money.
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chicken feed »
Food given to poultry.
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chicken out »
To shy away from a daring task; to decline, refuse, or avoid something due to fear or uncertainty.
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chickens coming home to roost »
Consequences visited upon someone who originally had appeared to escape them.
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choke the chicken »
To masturbate.
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darken somebody's doorstep »
To enter somebody else's home uninvited.
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dead »
Broken or inoperable.
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dead ringer »
Someone or something that very closely resembles another; someone or something easily mistaken for another.
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don't count your chickens before they're hatched »
You should not count on something before it happens.
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doorprikken »
To expose as false.
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doorprikken »
To puncture.
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drive-by media »
Media professionals who "spray" a bunch of repetitive misstatements, mistaken and misinterpreted news reports to cause excitement and confusion. They then figuratively "drive off" leaving the cleanup of their mess and hysteria to others, to correct and properly explain and interpret.
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e pluribus unum »
A national motto of the United States of America, meaning "From many, one", or "out of many, one", referring to the integration of 13 independent colonies into one country, and that has taken an additional meaning, giving the pluralistic nature of American society from immigration.
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eat crow »
To recognize that one has been shown to be mistaken or outdone, especially by admitting that one has made a humiliating error.
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field day »
A day of class taken away from school for a field trip.
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free ride »
An opportunity or benefit which has no cost, especially one enjoyed or undertaken at the expense of others.
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from my cold, dead hands »
A statement that something will not be taken away from you until the day you die.
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get taken in »
To be fooled; to fall for.
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get taken in »
To be unofficially fostered.
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gross out »
To sicken.
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hair of the dog »
An alcoholic drink taken the morning after to cure a hangover or withdrawal symptoms.
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his back is up »
He is offended or angry; an expression or idea taken from a cat; that animal, when angry, always raising its back. An allusion also sometimes used to jeer a crooked man.
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holding pattern »
A path taken by an aircraft waiting to land.
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how do I get to Carnegie Hall »
A set phrase, spoken as a rhetorical question, which is answered "Practice, practice, practice!" or sometimes with the humorous literal directions to Seventh Avenue between 56th and 57th.
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in Dutch »
Written or spoken in the dutch language.
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in vino veritas »
drunken folks speak truth, one tells the truth under the influence of alcohol
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it's not the whistle that pulls the train »
Boasting and loud talk should not be mistaken for the work that produces real achievements; bravado is no proof of action.1956, James Reston, "Washington: It's Not the Whistle that Pulls the Train," New York Times, 1 July, p. E8:
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let up »
slacken
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make an example of »
He made an example of the drunken sailor with twenty lashes, to show that he must have a sober crew.
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mother hen »
A female chicken who bears eggs or chicks.
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mother hen »
An outspoken and overprotective woman dealing with others' affairs.
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muck out »
To clean the excrement and other rubbish from the area where an animal is kept, such as a horse stable or a dog kennel.
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no spring chicken »
Said of a person who is no longer particularly young.
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not touch something with a ten foot pole »
Francis Lynde, The Quickening.
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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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one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind »
Words spoken by Neil Armstrong when taking the first steps on the moon.
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out of fix »
Wrong, broken, nonfunctional.
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out of the way »
Taken care of.
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out of whack »
Wrong, broken; specifically.
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pay out »
To slacken a rope by lengthening it; to allow a rope to run out.
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pelt of the dog »
An immoderate, excessive quantity of alcohol drunk the morning after whilst suffering withdrawal symptoms or a hangover, which goes beyond alleviating the complaint to causing drunkenness; cf. hair of the dog.
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pope's nose »
The tail end piece of a cooked chicken.
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prone out »
In order to be propelled shorewards by a broken wave.
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quote unquote »
Emphasizes the following word or phrase for irony, as used almost exclusively in spoken language.
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rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic »
To do something pointless or insignificant that will soon be overtaken by events, or that contributes nothing to the solution of a current problem.
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rebound relationship »
A relationship proceeding a longterm relationship, usually short in duration and used to help mend the "broken heart".
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rubber-chicken dinner »
A formal dinner or event thrown by politicians to raise funds.
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rules are made to be broken »
it is acceptable to break rules.
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run for the roses »
Nickname for the Kentucky Derby horse race.
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smallpox blanket »
An apparently benevolent offering whose real intent is to disrupt, destabilize or weaken.
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so far so good »
Up to this point, all is OK.Well, you've packed your bags for the holiday, bought your tickets, reserved the hotel and put the dog in kennels. So far so good, now let's get to Minorca without any troubles.
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straight out of the chute »
Something done immediately, or "from the beginning". Taken from rodeo routine: the bucking bronco, or bull, or the calf for the calf-roping contest is kept in a narrow pen, a chute, until it is released and dashes out to its fate.
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the jig is up »
An expression used to mean "We have been caught out and have no defence", or if spoken to a person who's just been found out as the perpetrator of an offense, it means "You've been discovered.".
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the plot thickens »
Used, often ironically, to describe an increasingly complex or mysterious situation.
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the rabbit died »
A statement spoken to indicate one's own pregnancy, or that someone has found out they are pregnant.
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to go »
Served in a package or takeout container so as to be taken away from a restaurant rather than eaten on the premises.
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trash out »
To criticize the person spoken to in a rant.
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tuits »
Virtual tokens for an amount of time or attention that a particular issue would need to resolve.
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under erasure »
Of a bit of text, written and strickenthrough; hence, figuratively in some sense both present and absent.
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watered-down »
Weakened or simplified.
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weekend warrior »
A part-time soldier, or reservist.
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weekend warrior »
A person who indulges in a sport or pastime on an infrequent basis, usually on weekends when work commitments are not present.
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well ain't that the catfish in the trap »
A sentence commonly spoken in the Southern United States. It can often be used in place of "well, I'll be damned". Used to express surprise.
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what the dickens »
Euphemism for what the Devil, used to add emphasis to "what" when beginning a question.
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whole enchilada »
All of something or a group of related things taken in totality.
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why the dickens »
Euphemism for why the Devil, used to add emphasis to "why" when beginning a question.
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you never know what you've got till it's gone »
Good friends and acquaintances shouldn't be taken for granted.
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