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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ace of spades »
The playing card belonging to the spades suit and featuring one pip.
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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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and then some »
Used to confirm preceding utterance, while implying that what was said or asked is an understatement.
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baptism by fire »
A trying ordeal that was not experienced before.
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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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bench jockey »
A baseball term for a player, coach or manager who is annoying and distracts opposition players and umpires from his team's dugout bench with verbal repartee.
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blame Canada »
A catch phrase for shifting attention away from a serious social issue by laying responsibility with Canada.
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borganism »
An organization of autonomous organisms that exhibit collectivism: individual "units" that have merged to yield a unified construct. Such an amalgam may possess a collective consciousness, arguably an emergent phenomenon of social networking.
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born in a barn »
Engaging in the annoying behavior of inappropriately, and usually neglectfully, leaving open a door or window.
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boys will be boys »
It is hard, often fruitless, to attempt to curb the natural playfulness and tendency to mischief of most growing boys.1922, James Joyce, Ulysses Chapter 13But just then there was a slight altercation between Master Tommy and Master Jacky. Boys will be boys and our two twins were no exception to this golden rule.Even grown men usually remain somewhat boyish in heart"Boys will be boys", grinned grandpa while he joined his adult son playing with the fancy train-set he gave his grandson for Christmas while the kid was in school.
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bright-line rule »
A clearly defined rule or standard, comprised of objective factors, which leaves little or no room for varying interpretation.
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bring down »
To make something flying fall to the ground. Usually by firing a weapon of some kind.
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bumper crop »
A large yield; an excess of something.
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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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