The CASSELL DICTIONARY of ENGLISH IDIOMS I THE nose The CASSELL DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH IDIOMS The CASSELL DICTIONARY OF ENGUSH IDIOMS CASSELL Cassell Wellington House 125 Strand London WC2R OBB First published 1999 © Cassell 1999 All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently and incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner, except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copjn-ight Licensing Authority, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WIP 9HE Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0-304-35009-5 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Mackays of Chatham pic, Chatham, Kent Contents vii Acknowledgements viii How to use The Cassell Dictionary of English Idioms xi Chief Abbreviations 1 The Cassell Dictionary of English Idioms , % r' ' Spiffs „ vi r v-'^;|r !2 ': 'K^’V^y V :> r?? , ^' •• &1 '• if > - 4 - 1^ h •'vA ?.v7 ^'' i% ^45 ?' V* •>’ , ? ; JS? S^,V?1 r m; ’^;l »./ - ^;:v-.^ * • •••••*:: -T •T-.4ir XV .- • Vii ''’.•Mi vf^ ^, - ’"fe ., — v,V 'i.-,- •; i,.Vv' * » # riiii?»- F'feg Acknowledgements Editor Rosalind Fergusson Publisher Richard Milbank Database Editor Rebecca Skipwith Proof-readers Jessica Feinstein Database Technology Alice Grandison Typesetting Michael Janes Gentian I.T Gonsultants Gem Graphics