confu-Most people know that the politician was just using smoke and mirrors to make things look better than they really were.. I just can’t stand all this traveling.. I hate to sound lik
Trang 1caused another person to experience.
(Proverb Note the variation in the
ex-amples See also have the shoe on the
other foot.) The teacher is taking a
course in summer school and is finding out
what it’s like when the shoe is on the other
foot When the policeman was arrested,
he learned what it was like to have the shoe
on the other foot.
shook upupset; shocked (Slang See also
shake someone or something up.) Relax,
man! Don’t get shook up! I always get
shook up when I see something like that.
shoot for somethingto try to do something;
to attempt to do something; to aim
toward a goal The industrious student
shot for success The worker shot for a $2
per hour raise.
shoot from the hip 1 to fire a gun that is
held at one’s side, against one’s hip (This
increases one’s speed in firing a gun.)
When I lived at home on the farm, my
fa-ther taught me to shoot from the hip I
quickly shot the snake before it bit my
horse I’m glad I learned to shoot from the
hip.2 to speak directly and frankly
(In-formal.) John has a tendency to shoot
from the hip, but he generally speaks the
truth Don’t pay any attention to John.
He means no harm It’s just his nature to
shoot from the hip.
shoot one’s mouth offto boast or talk too
much; to tell someone’s secrets (Slang.)
Don’t pay any attention to Bob He’s
al-ways shooting his mouth off TOh, Sally!
Stop shooting off your mouth! You don’t
know what you’re talking about.
shoot something out 1 to stick, throw, or
thrust something outward The
dia-mond shot bright shafts of light out when
the sun fell on it TThe little girl shot out
her tongue at the teacher. 2 to settle a
matter by the use of guns (Slang
Typi-cal of gangster or western movies.) Bill
and the cowboy—with whom he had been
arguing—went out in the street and shot it
out TDon’t they know they can settle a
problem by talking? They don’t need to
shoot out the problem when they can talk
shoot the bull to spend time chattingabout one’s accomplishments, especiallywith others who are doing the same.(Slang See also the previous entry.)
Those guys out in the backyard are just ting around shooting the bull It was raining, so everybody spent the day indoors drinking beer and shooting the bull.
sit-shoot the worksto do everything; to use
up everything; to bet everything (Slang.)
Shall I bet half our money, or shall I shoot the works? We shot the works at the carnival—spent every cent we brought with us.
shop around (for something)to shop at ferent stores to find what you want at thebest price I’ve been shopping around for a new car, but they are all priced too high You can find a bargain, but you’ll have to shop around.
dif-short and sweetbrief (and pleasant cause of briefness) That was a good sermon—short and sweet I don’t care what you say, as long as you make it short and sweet.
be-short for something<[of a word] being ashortened form of a word or phrase.>
Photo is short for photograph Dave is short for David.
short of something not having enough ofsomething I wanted to bake a cake, but
I was short of eggs Usually at the end
of the month, I’m short of money.
ashot in the arma boost; something thatgives someone energy (Informal.)
Thank you for cheering me up It was a real shot in the arm Your friendly greet- ing card was just what I needed—a real shot in the arm.
ashot in the darka random or wild guess
or try (Slang.) I don’t know how I guessed the right answer It was just a shot
in the dark I was lucky to hire such a
shook up
Trang 2good worker as Sally When I hired her, it
was just a shot in the dark.
shot through with something containing
something; interwoven, intermixed, or
filled with something The rose was a
lovely pink shot through with streaks of
white John’s comments are often shot
through with sarcasm I want a
well-marbled steak—one shot through with fat.
shot to hellGo to (all) shot to hell
ashotgun weddinga forced wedding
(In-formal From imagery of the bride’s
fa-ther having threatened the bridegroom
with a shotgun to force him to marry.)
Mary was six months pregnant when she
married Bill It was a real shotgun
wed-ding Bob would never have married
Jane if she hadn’t been pregnant Jane’s
fa-ther saw to it that it was a shotgun
wedding.
should have stood in bedshould have
stayed in bed What a horrible day! I
should have stood in bed The minute I
got up and heard the news this morning,
I knew I should have stood in bed.
shoulder to shoulderside by side; with a
shared purpose The two armies fought
shoulder to shoulder against the joint
enemy The strikers said they would
stand shoulder to shoulder against the
management.
shove one’s way somewhereto make a path
through a crowd by pushing The
im-patient man shoved his way through the
crowd The reporter shoved her way to
the front of the crowd.
shove someone or something down someone’s
throat and ram someone or something
down someone’s throat; force someone or
somethingdown someone’s throatto force
someone or something on someone
(Slang and a little rude.) I don’t want
any more insurance, and I don’t want
any-one to shove any insurance down my
throat Mary isn’t invited to my party,
and I don’t wish for anyone to ram her
down my throat! Someone is always
try-ing to force some stupid propaganda down
my throat.
show-and-tell a trivial presentation ofsomething of little interest (Refers to thename of a classroom period in the lowergrades where children bring somethinginteresting into the classroom and show
it to the rest of the class.) I wouldn’t call that meeting useful It was sort of a grown-up show-and-tell After the show-and-tell session where the author talked about his book, we all went into the hall and had refreshments.
show good faithto demonstrate good tentions or good will I’m certain that you showed good faith when you signed the contract Do you doubt that she is show- ing good faith?
in-show off to do things in a way that ismeant to attract attention Please stop showing off! You embarrass me John is always showing off to his girlfriend.
ashow of handsa display of raised hands[in a group of people] that can becounted for the purpose of votes or sur-veys We were asked to vote for the can- didates for captain by a show of hands
Jack wanted us to vote on paper, not by a show of hands, so that we could have a se- cret ballot.
show one’s handto reveal one’s intentions
to someone (From card games.) I don’t know whether Jim is intending to marry Jane or not He’s not one to show his hand If you want to get a raise, don’t show the boss your hand too soon.
show one’s (true) colorsto show what one
is really like or what one is really ing Whose side are you on, John? Come
think-on Show your colors It’s hard to tell what Mary is thinking She never shows her true colors.
show one to one’s seatGo to show someone
to a seat.
show signs of somethingto show hints orindications of something I let the horse run at full speed until it began to show signs of tiring Sally is showing signs of going to sleep.
show someone or something off to displaysomeone or something so that the bestfeatures are apparent TMrs Williams
show someone or something off
Trang 3was showing off her baby to the neighbors.
Bill drove around all afternoon showing
his new car off.
show someone the ropes to tell or show
someone how something is to be done
Since this was my first day on the job, the
manager spent a lot of time showing me
the ropes Take some time and show the
new boy the ropes.
show someone to a seatand show one to
one’sseatto lead or direct someone to a
place to sit May I show you to your
seat, sir? The ushers showed us to our
seats politely and efficiently.
show someone (to) the doorand see
some-oneto the doorto lead or take someone
to the door or exit After we finished
our talk, she showed me to the door Bill
and I finished our chat as he saw me to the
door.
show someone upto make someone’s faults
or shortcomings apparent TJohn’s
ex-cellent effort really showed up Bill, who
didn’t try very hard at all John is always
trying to show someone up to make
him-self look better.
show someone up as somethingto reveal that
someone is really something (else)
The investigation showed her up as a
fraud The test showed the banker up
as unqualified.
show something to good advantageto
dis-play the best features of something; to
display something so that its best features
are apparent Put the vase in the
cen-ter of the table and show it to good
ad-vantage Having and using a large
vo-cabulary shows your intelligence to good
advantage.
shuffle off this mortal coilto die
(Of-ten jocular or formal euphemism Not
of-ten used in consoling someone.)
Cousin Fred shuff led off this mortal coil
after drinking a jug full of rat poison
When I shuff le off this mortal coil, I want
to go out in style—bells, f lowers, and a
long, boring funeral.
shut someone upto silence someone Oh,
shut yourself up! TWill you please shut up
that crying baby!
shut something downGo to close somethingdown.
shut the door on someone or somethingand
close the door on someone or something 1.
to close the door in order to keep one or something out Bob opened the door, and when he saw it was Mary, he closed the door on her “Don’t shut the door on me!” screamed Mary. 2 [with
some-something] to terminate, exclude, or
ob-struct something Your bad attitude shuts the door on any future cooperation from me The bad service at that store closes the door on any more business from
my company.
shuttle someone or something from person to personand shuttle someone or something from place to placeto move or passsomeone or something from person toperson; to move or pass someone orsomething from place to place My phone call was shuttled from person to per- son Mary shuttled her children from home to school to practice.
shuttle someone or something from place to placeGo to shuttle someone or somethingfrom person to person.
shy away (from someone or something) toavoid someone or something The dog shies away from John since he kicked it
I can understand why the dog would shy away I shy away from eating onions I think I’m allergic to them.
sick and tired of someone or somethinggusted and annoyed with someone orsomething I’m sick and tired of Ann and her whistling We are all sick and tired of this old car.
dis-sick as a dogGo to (as) sick as a dog
sick in bedremaining in bed while (one is)ill Tom is sick in bed with the f lu
He’s been sick in bed for nearly a week.
side against someoneto be against one; to take sides against someone I thought you were my friend! I never thought you would side against me! The two brothers were always siding against their sister.
some-show someone the ropes
Trang 4side with someoneto join with someone; to
take someone else’s part; to be on
some-one’s side Why is it that you always side
with him when he and I argue? I never
side with anybody I form my own
opinions.
sight for sore eyes a welcome sight
(Folksy.) Oh, am I glad to see you here!
You’re a sight for sore eyes I’m sure
hun-gry This meal is a sight for sore eyes.
asign of things to comeGo to a
harbin-ger of things to come.
sign one’s own death warrantto do
some-thing (knowingly) that will most likely
result in severe trouble (As if one were
ordering one’s own execution.) I
wouldn’t ever gamble a large sum of
money That would be signing my own
death warrant The killer signed his own
death warrant when he walked into the
po-lice station and gave himself up.
sign on the dotted lineto place one’s
sig-nature on a contract or other important
paper (The line is usually straight and
solid.) This agreement isn’t properly
concluded until we both sign on the dotted
line Here are the papers for the
pur-chase of your car As soon as you sign on
the dotted line, that beautiful, shiny
au-tomobile will be all yours!
sign on (with someone)to sign an
agree-ment to work with or for someone,
es-pecially on a ship The sailor signed on
with Captain Smith Hardly any other
sailor was willing to sign on.
signal (to) someone to do something [for
someone] to give someone a command or
instruction using a signal The traffic
cop signaled me to stop Bill signaled the
other driver to pull over to the side of the
road.
signed, sealed, and deliveredformally
and officially signed; [for a formal
doc-ument to be] executed Here is the deed
to the property—signed, sealed, and
de-livered I can’t begin work on this
pro-ject until I have the contract signed, sealed,
silly as a gooseGo to (as) silly as a goose
silly seasonthe time of year, usually late
in the summer, when there is a lack ofimportant news and newspapers containarticles about unimportant or trivialthings instead It must be the silly sea- son There’s a story here about peculiarly shaped potatoes There’s a piece on the front page about people with big feet Talk about the silly season!
simmer downto get quiet or calm formal.) Hey, you guys! Simmer down! Stop all the noise and go to sleep! I’m very busy now Please come back in a few hours when things have simmered down
(In-a bit.
since time immemorialsince a very longtime ago My hometown has had a big parade on the Fourth of July since time im- memorial Since time immemorial, the trees have blossomed each spring.
sing a different tuneand sing another tune to change one’s manner, usuallyfrom bad to good (Almost the same asdance to another tune.) When she learned that I was a bank director, she be- gan to sing a different tune You will sing another tune as soon as you find out how right I am!
sing another tuneGo to sing a differenttune.
sing someone’s praisesto praise someonehighly and enthusiastically The boss is singing the praises of his new secretary
The theater critics are singing the praises
of the young actor.
single fileGo to (in) single file
sink in[for knowledge] to be understood.(Also literal Informal.) I heard what you said, but it took a while for it to sink
in I pay careful attention to everything
I hear in class, but it usually doesn’t sink in.
sink into despair[for someone] to grieve
or become depressed After losing all
my money, I sank into despair There is
sink into despair
Trang 5no need to sink into despair Everything is
going to be all right.
sink one’s teeth into something 1 to take a
bite of some kind of food, usually a
spe-cial kind of food I can’t wait to sink
my teeth into a nice juicy steak Look
at that chocolate cake! Don’t you want to
sink your teeth into that? 2 to get a
chance to do, learn, or control
some-thing That appears to be a very
chal-lenging assignment I can’t wait to sink my
teeth into it Being the manager of this
department is a big task I’m very eager to
sink my teeth into it.
sink or swimto fail or succeed After I’ve
studied and learned all I can, I have to take
the test and sink or swim It’s too late
to help John now It’s sink or swim for him.
sit around (somewhere) to sit somewhere
and relax or do nothing; to sit idly
some-where Tom likes to sit around the house
in shorts and a T-shirt on hot days Too
many people are just sitting around doing
nothing at my office.
sit at someone’s feet to admire someone
greatly; to be influenced by someone’s
teaching; to be taught by someone
Jack sat at the feet of Picasso when he was
studying in Europe Tom would love to
sit at the feet of the musician Yehudi
Menuhin.
sit back and let something happento relax
and not interfere with something; to let
something happen without playing a part
in it I can’t just sit back and let you
waste all our money! Don’t worry Just
sit back and let things take care of
themselves.
sit bolt uprightto sit up straight Tony
sat bolt upright and listened to what the
teacher was saying to him After sitting
bolt upright for almost an hour in that
crowded airplane, I swore I would never
travel again.
sit (idly) byto remain inactive when other
people are doing something; to ignore a
situation that calls for help Bob sat idly
by even though everyone else was hard at
work I can’t sit by while all those
peo-ple need food.
sit in for someoneto take someone’s else’splace in a specific activity (The activityusually involves being seated.) I can’t
be at the meeting Thursday Will you sit
in for me? Sorry, I can’t sit in for you John is also going to be absent, and I am sitting in for him.
sit in (on something)to witness or observesomething without participating (Usu-ally involves being seated.) I can’t sign
up for the history class, but I have sion to sit in on it I asked the professor
permis-if I could sit in.
sit on its hands[for an audience] to refuse
to applaud We saw a very poor mance of the play The audience sat on its hands for the entire play The audience just sat on its hands.
perfor-sit on one’s handsto do nothing; to fail tohelp When we needed help from Mary, she just sat on her hands We need the cooperation of everyone You can’t sit on your hands!
sit on someone or somethingto hold someone
or something back; to delay someone orsomething (Also literal Informal.)
The project cannot be finished because the city council is sitting on the final approval.
Ann deserves to be promoted, but the manager is sitting on her because of a disagreement.
sit on the fencenot to take sides in a pute; not to make a clear choice betweentwo possibilities (Also literal.) When Jane and Tom argue, it is well to sit on the fence and then you won’t make either of them angry No one knows which of the candidates Joan will vote for She’s sitting
dis-on the fence.
sit something outnot to participate in thing; to wait until something is over be-fore participating Oh, please play with
some-us Don’t sit it out TI’m tired of playing cards, so I think I’ll sit out this game.
sit through somethingto witness or endureall of something The performance was
so bad that I could hardly sit through it.
You can’t expect small children to sit through a long movie.
sink one’s teeth into something
Trang 6sit tightto wait; to wait patiently
(Infor-mal This does not necessarily refer to
sit-ting.) Just relax and sit tight I’ll be right
with you We were waiting in line for the
gates to open when someone came out and
told us to sit tight because it wouldn’t be
much longer before we could go in.
sit up and take noticeto become alert and
pay attention A loud noise from the
front of the room caused everyone to sit up
and take notice The company
would-n’t pay any attention to my complaints.
When I had my lawyer write them a
let-ter, they sat up and took notice.
sit up with someoneto stay with someone
through the night, especially with a sick
or troubled person or with someone who
is waiting for something I had to sit up
with my younger sister when she was ill
I sat up with Bill while he waited for an
overseas telephone call.
sit with someone 1 to stay with someone; to
sit up with someone Sally was upset, so
I sat with her for a while My uncle sat
with me my first day in the hospital.2 to
stay with and care for one or more
chil-dren; to baby-sit for someone I hired
Mrs Wilson to sit with the children We
couldn’t go out for dinner because we
couldn’t find anyone to sit with the kids.
asitting ducksomeone or something
vul-nerable to attack, physical or verbal
(Pre-ceded by be, become, seem like, or act like.
See also asitting target.) You are a
sit-ting duck out there Get in here where the
enemy cannot fire at you The senator
was a sitting duck because of his position
on school reform.
sitting on a powder kegin a risky or
ex-plosive situation; in a situation where
something serious or dangerous may
happen at any time (Informal A
pow-der keg is a keg of gunpowpow-der.) Things
are very tense at work The whole office is
sitting on a powder keg The fire at the
oil field seems to be under control for now,
but all the workers there are sitting on a
powder keg.
(sitting) on top of the worldfeeling
won-derful; glorious; ecstatic Wow, I feel on
top of the world Since he got a new job, he’s on top of the world.
sitting prettyliving in comfort or luxury;
in a good situation (Informal.) My uncle died and left enough money for me
to be sitting pretty for the rest of my life.
Now that I have a good-paying job, I’m sitting pretty.
asitting targetsomeone or something that
is in a position that is easily attacked (Seealso asitting duck.) The old man was
a sitting target for the burglars He lived alone and did not have a telephone Peo- ple recently hired will be sitting targets if the company needs to cut back.
six of one and half a dozen of the other
about the same one way or another It doesn’t matter to me which way you do it It’s six of one and half a dozen of the other.
What difference does it make? They’re both the same—six of one and half a dozen of the other.
sixth sensea supposed power to know orfeel things that are not perceptible by thefive senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste,and touch I have a sixth sense that told
me to avoid going home by my usual route Later I discovered there had been a fatal accident on it Jane’s sixth sense de- manded that she not trust Tom, even though he seemed honest enough.
size someone or something up to observesomeone or something to get informa-tion; to check someone or something The comedian sized the audience up and de- cided not to use his new material TI like
to size up a situation before I act.
skate on thin iceto be in a risky situation.(Also literal See also on thin ice.) I try
to stay well informed so I don’t end up skating on thin ice when the teacher asks
me a question You are skating on thin ice when you ask me that!
a skeleton in the closetand skeletons
in the closeta hidden and shocking cret You can ask anyone about how re- liable I am I don’t mind I don’t have any skeletons in the closet My uncle was in jail for a day once That’s our family’s skeleton in the closet.
se-a skeleton in the closet
Trang 7skin and bonesGo to nothing but skin and
bones.
skin someone aliveto be very angry with
someone; to scold someone severely
(Folksy.) I was so mad at Jane that I
could have skinned her alive If I don’t
get home on time, my parents will skin me
alive.
skip bailGo to jump bail
skip out (on someone or something)to sneak
away from someone or some event; to
leave someone or an event in secret
(Slang.) I heard that Bill skipped out
on his wife I’m not surprised I thought
he should have skipped out long ago.
skip ropeto jump over an arc of rope that
is passed beneath one’s feet then over
one’s head, repeatedly The children
skipped rope on the playground The
boxer skipped rope while training.
Thesky’s the limit.There is no limit to the
success that can be achieved or the
money that can be gained or spent If
you take a job with us, you’ll find the
pro-motion prospects very good The sky’s the
limit, in fact The insurance salesmen
were told that the sky was the limit when
it came to potential earnings.
slack off 1 to taper off; to reduce
gradu-ally Business tends to slack off during
the winter months The storms begin to
slack off in April.2 to become less active;
to become lazy or inefficient Near the
end of the school year, Sally began to slack
off, and her grades showed it John got
fired for slacking off during the busy
season.
a slap in the facean insult; an act that
causes disappointment or
discourage-ment Losing the election was a slap in
the face for the club president Failing to
get into a good college was a slap in the face
to Tim after his years of study.
slap someone down to rebuke or rebuff
someone, possibly with actual slapping
You may disagree with her, but you
needn’t slap her down like that I only
asked you what time it was! There’s no
need to slap me down! What a rotten
hu-mor you’re in!
slap someone on the wristGo to give onea slap on the wrist.
some-slap someone’s wristGo to give someone a slap on the wrist.
slap something togetherGo to throw thingtogether.
some-slated for somethingscheduled for thing (Refers to a schedule written on aslate.) John was slated for Friday’s game, but he couldn’t play with the team Ann
some-is slated for promotion next year.
slated to do something scheduled to dosomething John was slated to play ball Friday Who is slated to work this weekend?
aslave to somethingsomeone who is underthe control of something; someone who
is controlled by something (Preceded by
be, become, seem like, or act like.) Mary
is a slave to her job Bill is a slave to his drug addiction.
sleep into oversleep; to sleep late in themorning If you sleep in again, you’ll get fired I really felt like sleeping in this morning.
sleep like a babyGo to sleep like a log
sleep like a logand sleep like a baby
to sleep very soundly Everyone in our family sleeps like a log, so no one heard the fire engines in the middle of the night
Nothing can wake me up I usually sleep like a baby.
sleep on somethingto think about thing overnight; to weigh a decision over-night I don’t know whether I agree to
some-do it Let me sleep on it I slept on it, and I’ve decided to accept your offer.
sleep something offto sleep while the effects
of liquor or drugs pass away John drank too much and went home to sleep
it off TBill is at home sleeping off the fects of the drug they gave him.
ef-sleep with someone 1 to share a bed withsomeone Do I have to sleep with my lit- tle brother? Many little boys have to sleep with their brothers.2 to copulatewith someone (Euphemistic.) I hear
skin and bones
Trang 8Sam’s sleeping with Sally now Whom
did you say he slept with?
aslice of the cakea share of something
(Also literal.) There’s not much work
around and so everyone must get a slice of
the cake The company makes huge
profits and the workers want a slice of the
cake.
slick as a whistleGo to (as) slick as a
whistle.
slip away and slip off; slip out to go
away or escape quietly or in secret I
slipped away when no one was looking
Let’s slip off somewhere and have a little
talk I’ll try to slip out for an hour or two
when Tom is asleep.
slip offGo to slip away
aslip of the tonguean error in speaking
where a word is pronounced incorrectly,
or where something that the speaker did
not mean to say is said I didn’t mean
to tell her that It was a slip of the tongue.
I failed to understand the instructions
because the speaker made a slip of the
tongue at an important point.
slip one’s mind[for something that was to
be remembered] to be forgotten I
meant to go to the grocery store on the way
home, but it slipped my mind My
birth-day slipped my mind I guess I wanted to
forget it.
slip out 1 [for secret information] to be
revealed I asked her to keep our
en-gagement secret, but she let it slip out
I didn’t mean to tell It just slipped out.2.
Go to slip away
slip through someone’s fingersto get away
from someone; for someone to lose track
(of something or someone) (Also
lit-eral.) I had a copy of the book you want,
but somehow it slipped through my fingers.
There was a detective following me, but
I managed to slip through his fingers.
slip upto make an error (Informal Also
without up.) Try as hard as you can to
do it right and not slip up Everything
was going fine until the last minute when
Delib-“Slow and steady wins the race.” Ann won the race because she started off slowly and established a good pace The other runners tried to sprint the whole distance, and they tired out before the final lap Ann’s trainer said, “You see! I told you! Slow and steady wins the race.”
slow as molasses in JanuaryGo to (as)slow as molasses in January.
slow goingthe rate of speed when one ismaking progress It was slow going at first, but I was able to finish the project
by the weekend Getting the heavy rocks out of the field is slow going.
slow on the draw 1 slow in drawing agun (Slang Compare this with quick onthe draw.Cowboy and gangster talk.)
Bill got shot because he’s so slow on the draw The gunslinger said, “I have to
be fast If I’m slow on the draw, I’m dead.”
2 and slow on the uptakeslow to ure something out; slow-thinking.(Slang Compare this with quick on thedraw.) Sally didn’t get the joke because she’s sort of slow on the draw Bill— who’s slow on the uptake—didn’t get the joke until it was explained to him.
fig-slow on the uptakeGo to slow on thedraw.
slow someone or something downGo to slowsomeone or somethingup.
slow someone or something upand slow
some-one or something downto cause someone
or something to reduce speed (The
phrases with up are informal.) I’m in
a hurry Don’t try to slow me down T
Please slow up the train There are sheep near the track.
slower and slowerat a decreasing rate ofspeed; slow and then even slower The car is going slower and slower and will stop
slower and slower
Trang 9soon The dog’s breathing got slower and
slower as it went to sleep.
slower than molasses in JanuaryGo to
(as) slow as molasses in January.
slow(ly) but sure(ly) slowly but with a
purpose; slowly and deliberately (The
ex-pression without the -ly is informal.)
Slowly but surely, the little train reached
the top of the mountain Progress was
slow but sure Someday we would be
finished.
sly as a foxGo to (as) sly as a fox
smack-dab in the middle right in the
middle (Informal.) I want a big
help-ing of mashed potatoes with a glob of
but-ter smack-dab in the middle Tom and
Sally were having a terrible argument, and
I was trapped—smack-dab in the middle.
small fry 1 unimportant people (Small fry
are small, juvenile fish.) The police
have only caught the small fry The leader
of the gang is still free You people are
just small fry! I want to talk to the boss.
2 children Peter’s taking the small fry
to the zoo We should take the small fry
to the pantomime.
small hours (of the night) and wee
hours (of the night)the hours
imme-diately after midnight The dance went
on into the small hours of the night Jim
goes to bed in the wee hours and gets up
at lunchtime.
thesmall printand thefine printthe part
of a document that is not easily noticed,
often because of the smallness of the
print, and that often contains important
information You should have read the
small print before signing the contract
You should always read the fine print in an
insurance policy.
small-timesmall; on a small scale
(Infor-mal.) Our business is small-time just
now, but it’s growing He’s a small-time
crook.
smear campaign (against someone)a
cam-paign aimed at damaging someone’s
rep-utation by making accusations and
spreading rumors The politician’s
op-ponents are engaging in a smear campaign
against him Jack started a smear paign against Tom so that Tom wouldn’t get the manager’s job.
cam-smell a ratto suspect that something iswrong; to sense that someone has causedsomething wrong (Slang.) I don’t think this was an accident I smell a rat Bob had something to do with this The minute
I came in, I smelled a rat Sure enough, I had been robbed.
smell to high heavenGo to stink to highheaven.
smile on someone or somethingto be favorable
to someone or something Fate smiled
on me and I got the job Lady luck smiled on our venture and we made a profit.
smoke and mirrorsdeception and sion (Said of statements or more com-plicated rhetoric used to mislead peoplerather than inform Refers to the way amagician uses optical illusion to createbelievability while performing a trick.)
confu-Most people know that the politician was just using smoke and mirrors to make things look better than they really were
Her report was little more than smoke and mirrors No one will believe any of it.
smoke someone or something out to forcesomeone or something out (of some-thing), perhaps with smoke (In cowboy
or gangster talk this refers to the smokefrom gunfire.) There was a mouse in the attic, but I smoked it out TThe sher- iff and the deputies smoked out the bank robbers.
smooth as glass Go to (as) smooth as glass.
smooth as silkGo to (as) smooth as silk
smooth something outGo to smooth thingover.
some-smooth something overand smooth
some-thingoutto reduce the intensity of an gument or a misunderstanding; to try tomake people feel better about somethingthat has happened (Also literal.) Mary and John had a terrible argument, and they are both trying to smooth it over
ar-Let’s get everyone together and try to
slower than molasses in January
Trang 10smooth things out We can’t keep on
argu-ing with one another TWe can smooth
over the whole affair.
a snake in the grassa low and deceitful
person Sally said that Bob couldn’t be
trusted because he was a snake in the grass.
“You snake in the grass!” cried Sally.
“You cheated me.”
snap at someoneto speak sharply or angrily
to someone Don’t snap at me What
did I do? Why did you snap at me?
What did I do?
snap out of somethingto become suddenly
freed from a state (Informal The state
can be a depression, an illness,
uncon-sciousness, etc.) I was very depressed for
a week, but this morning I snapped out of
it It isn’t often that a cold gets me down.
Usually I can snap out of it quickly.
snap something up 1 to grab and buy
some-thing I always snap bargains up
when-ever I go shopping TI went to the store,
and they had soup on sale, so I snapped up
plenty.2 to make something go faster
You’re playing this music too slowly Snap
it up! TThis performance is getting slow
and dull Let’s snap up the whole thing!
sniff someone or something outto locate
some-one or something (Also literal.) TI’ll see
if I can sniff out the correct stylus for your
stereo Billy was lost, but by looking
around, we were able to sniff him out.
snug as a bug in a rugGo to (as) snug
as a bug in a rug.
so-and-soa despised person (Informal
This expression is used in place of other
very insulting terms Often modified, as
in the example below.) You dirty
so-and-so! I can’t stand you! Don’t you call
me a so-and-so, you creep!
So be it.This is the way it will be If you
insist on running off and marrying her, so
be it Only don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Mary has decided that this is what she
wants So be it.
so clean you could eat off the floor[of
a room or a house] very clean Her
kitchen is so clean you could eat off the
f loor! It’s so clean here you could eat off the f loor I prefer a little mess, myself.
so far as anyone knowsGo to (as) far asanyone knows.
so far as possibleGo to as far as possible
so far as someone or something is concerned
Go to (as) far as someone or something is concerned.
so far as something is concernedGo to (as)far as somethingis concerned.
So far, so good.All is going well so far
We are half finished with our project So far, so good The operation is proceed- ing quite nicely—so far, so good.
So it goes.That is the kind of thing thathappens.; That is life Too bad about John and his problems So it goes I just lost a twenty-dollar bill, and I can’t find
it anywhere So it goes.
so longgood-bye (Informal.) So long, see you later As John got out of the car,
he said, “Thanks for the ride So long.”
so long asGo to as long as
so mad I could screamvery mad I am just so mad I could scream! Why is he such
a jerk? She makes me so made I could scream.
so much for someone or somethingthat is thelast of someone or something; there is noneed to consider someone or somethinganymore It just started raining So much for our picnic this afternoon So much for John He just called in sick and can’t come to work today.
so much the bettereven better; all to thebetter (Informal.) Please come to the picnic If you can bring a salad, so much the better The f lowers look lovely on the shelf It would be so much the better if you put them on the table.
so quiet you could hear a pin dropGo
to so still you could hear a pin drop
so-sonot good and not bad; mediocre formal.) I didn’t have a bad day It was just so-so The players put on a so-so performance.
(In-so-so
Trang 11so soon early; before the regular time;
ahead of schedule I got there early
be-cause my bus arrived so soon Because
the meeting ended so soon, I had some
ex-tra time.
so still you could hear a pin dropand
so quiet you could hear a pin drop
very quiet (Also with can.) When I
came into the room, it was so still you
could hear a pin drop Then everyone
shouted, “Happy birthday!” Please be
quiet Be so quiet you can hear a pin drop.
so to speakas one might say; said a
cer-tain way, even though the words are not
exactly accurate John helps me with my
taxes He’s my accountant, so to speak
I just love my little poodle She’s my baby,
so to speak.
soaked to the skinwith one’s clothing wet
clear through to the skin I was caught
in the rain and got soaked to the skin
Oh, come in and dry off! You must be
soaked to the skin.
sober as a judgeGo to (as) sober as a
judge.
sock something awayto store something in
a safe place (Informal.) While I worked
in the city, I was able to sock $100 away
every month TAt the present time, I can’t
sock away that much.
soft as a baby’s bottomGo to (as) soft as
a baby’s bottom.
soft as downGo to (as) soft as down
soft as silkGo to (as) soft as silk
soft as velvetGo to (as) soft as velvet
soil one’s diaper(s)[for a baby] to excrete
waste into its diaper The baby soiled
his diapers I detect that someone has
soiled his diaper.
soil one’s handsGo to get one’shands dirty.
sold out[of a product] completely sold
with no more items remaining; [of a
store] having no more of a particular
product The tickets were sold out so we
couldn’t go to the concert I wanted new
shoes like yours, but they were sold out.
solid as a rockGo to (as) solid as a rock
(some) new bloodnew personnel; newmembers brought into a group to revive
it This company needs some new blood
on its board to bring in new ideas We’re trying to get some new blood in the club Our membership is falling Our club needs new blood It has become boring
The firm’s management has at last got a little new blood Things should improve now.
someone or somethingchecks outsomeone orsomething is verified or authenticated.(Informal.) I spent all afternoon work- ing with my checkbook, trying to get the figures to check out The police would- n’t believe that I am who I say I am until they made a few telephone calls to see if my story checked out.
someoneof notea person who is famous
We invited a speaker of note to lecture at the next meeting The baseball player
of note was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
someone’s ace in the hole something orsomeone held (secretly) in reserve; any-thing that can help in an emergency.(Slang Refers to an ace dealt facedown inpoker.) The hostages served as the ter- rorists’ ace in the hole for getting what they wanted The twenty-dollar bill in my shoe is my ace in the hole.
someone’sbread and buttersomeone’s come; someone’s livelihood—the source
in-of one’s food (Work or a job leads to apaycheck that will buy bread and butter.)
I can’t miss another day of work That’s
my bread and butter I like to go to ness conferences That’s good because that’s
busi-my bread and butter.
someone’sgoose is cookedone is finished;one has been found out and is in trou-ble It’s over His goose is cooked! If
I get caught, my goose is cooked.
someone’slast will and testamenta will;the last edition of someone’s will The lawyer read Uncle Charles’s last will and testament to a group of expectant relatives.
Fred dictated his last will and testament
on his deathbed.
so soon
Trang 12someone’smission in lifeone’s purpose for
living; the reason for which one lives on
the earth Bob’s mission in life is to
make money My mission in life is to
help people live in peace.
someone’s pet hatesomething that is
dis-liked intensely by someone and is a
con-stant or repeated annoyance My pet
hate is being put on hold on the telephone.
Another pet hate of mine is having to
stand in line.
someone’spet peeveone’s “favorite” or most
often encountered annoyance My pet
peeve is someone who always comes into
the theater after the show has started
Drivers who don’t signal are John’s pet
peeve.
someone’splace of businessa place where
business is done; a factory or office
Our place of business opens at noon each
day You will have to come to our place
of business to make a purchase.
someone’sswan songthe last work or
per-formance of a playwright, musician,
ac-tor, etc., before death or retirement
His portrayal of Lear was the actor’s swan
song We didn’t know that her
perfor-mance last night was the singer’s swan
song.
someone’strain of thoughtsomeone’s
pat-tern of thinking; someone’s sequence of
ideas; what one was just thinking about
(See also lose one’s train of thought.)
My train of thought is probably not as clear
as it should be I cannot seem to follow
your train of thought on this matter Will
you explain it a little more carefully,
please?
someonewrote the book on somethingto be
very authoritative about something; to
know enough about something to write
the definitive book on it (Also literal
Al-ways in past tense.) Ted wrote the book
on unemployment He’s been looking for
work in three states for two years Do I
know about misery? I wrote the book on
misery!
something about someone or something
something strange, special, or curious
about someone or something There is
something about Jane I just can’t figure her out I love Mexican food There’s just something about it.
something else something wonderful;something extra special (Also literal In-formal.) Did you see her new car? That’s really something else! John hit a ball yes- terday that went out of the stadium and kept on going He’s something else!
something else (again) something tirely different (Informal.) Borrowing
en-is one thing, but stealing en-is something else.
Skin diving is easy and fun, but scuba diving is something else again.
something of the sortsomething of thekind just mentioned This is a spruce tree, or something of the sort Jane has
a cold or something of the sort.
something or othersomething; one thing
or another (Informal.) I can’t ber what Ann said—something or other
remem-A messenger came by and dropped off something or other at the front desk.
something to that effectand words to that effectsomething like what was justsaid (Informal.) She said she wouldn’t
be available until after three, or something
to that effect I was told to keep out of the house—or something to that effect.
something’s upsomething is going to pen; something is going on (Slang.)
hap-Everybody looks very nervous I think something’s up From the looks of all the activity around here, I think something’s up.
(somewhere) in the neighborhood of an
amountapproximately a particular surement I take somewhere in the neighborhood of ten pills a day for my var- ious ailments My rent is in the neigh- borhood of $700 per month.
mea-somewhere to hang (up) one’s hatand a
place to hang one’s hat; a place to call
one’s owna place to live; a place to callone’s home What I need is somewhere
to hang up my hat I just can’t stand all this traveling A home is a lot more than a place to hang your hat.
somewhere to hang (up) one’s hat
Trang 13son of a bitch 1 a very horrible person.
(Informal Use with caution Usually
in-tended as a strong insult Never used
ca-sually.) Bill called Bob a son of a bitch,
and Bob punched Bill in the face This
guy’s a son of a bitch He treats everybody
rotten.2 a useless annoyance; something
worthless This car is a son of a bitch.
It won’t ever start when it’s cold This
bumpy old road needs paving It’s a real
son of a bitch.3 a difficult task
(Infor-mal.) This job is a son of a bitch I
can’t do this kind of thing It’s too hard—
a real son of a bitch.
son of a gun 1 a horrible person
(Infor-mal A euphemism for son of a bitch.Use
with caution.) When is that plumber
going to show up and fix this leak? The
stu-pid son of a gun! Bob is a rotten son of
a gun if he thinks he can get away with
that. 2 old (male) friend (Informal A
friendly—male to male—way of
refer-ring to a friend Use with caution.)
Why Bill, you old son of a gun, I haven’t
seen you in three or four years When
is that son of a gun John going to come visit
us? He’s neglecting his friends.
son of a sea biscuita person, usually a
male (Sometimes a substitute for son of
a bitch.) Why, good to see you, you old
son of a sea biscuit You son of a sea
bis-cuit! You make me so mad I could slug you.
soon as possible Go to (as) soon as
possible.
sooner or latereventually; in the short
term or in the long term He’ll have to
pay the bill sooner or later She’ll get
what she deserves sooner or later.
sorryGo to (I’m) sorry
sort of somethingand kind of something
al-most something; somewhat; somehow
(Informal.) Isn’t it sort of cold out?
That was kind of a stupid thing to do,
wasn’t it?
sort something outto clear up confusion; to
straighten out something disorderly
(Also literal.) TNow that things are
set-tled down, I can sort out my life This
place is a mess Let’s sort things out before
so (Sound like is colloquial.) It sounds
as if you had a good vacation You sound like you are angry.
sound likeGo to sound as if
sound like a broken recordto say thesame thing over and over again (From anearlier age when a crack in a 78 rpmrecord would cause the needle (or stylus)
to stay in the same groove and play it overand over.) He’s always complaining about the way she treats him He sounds like a broken record! I hate to sound like
a broken record, but we just don’t have enough people on the payroll to work efficiently.
sound like something to seem like thing That sounds like a good idea
some-Your explanation sounds like an excuse!
sound off (about something)to speak loudlyand freely about something, especiallywhen complaining (Informal.) The people at the bus stop were sounding off about the poor transportation services
Bob was sounding off about the ment’s economic policies Sam sounds off every chance he gets.
govern-sound someone outto try to find out whatsomeone thinks (about something) I don’t know what Jane thinks about your suggestion, but I’ll sound her out TPlease sound out everyone in your department.
soup something upto make something pecially a car) more powerful (Slang.)
(es-I wish someone would soup my car up (es-It’ll hardly run TBill spent all summer soup- ing up that old car he bought.
sour as vinegarGo to (as) sour as vinegar
sow one’s wild oatsto do wild and foolishthings in one’s youth (Often assumed tohave some sort of sexual meaning.)
Dale was out sowing his wild oats last night, and he’s in jail this morning Mrs Smith told Mr Smith that he was too old
to be sowing his wild oats.
son of a bitch
Trang 14spaced-outdopey; giddy (Slang.) I don’t
see how Sally can accomplish anything.
She’s so spaced-out! She’s not really
spaced-out She acts that way on purpose.
spare someone somethingto exempt someone
from having to listen to or experience
something I’ll spare you the details and
get to the point Please, spare me the
story and tell me what you want.
speak for itself and speak for
them-selves[for something] not to need
ex-plaining; [for things] to have an obvious
meaning The evidence speaks for itself.
The facts speak for themselves Tom is
guilty Your results speak for themselves.
You need to work harder.
speak for themselves Go to speak for
itself.
speak highly of someone or somethingto say
good things about someone or
some-thing (Note the variation in the
exam-ples See also think a lot ofsomeone or
some-thing.) Ann speaks quite highly of Jane’s
work Everyone speaks very highly of
Jane.
speak ill of someoneto say something bad
about someone I refuse to speak ill of
any of my friends Max speaks ill of no
one and refuses to repeat gossip.
speak off the cuffto speak in public
with-out preparation I’m not too good at
speaking off the cuff I need to prepare
a speech for Friday, although I speak off
the cuff quite well.
speak of the devil said when someone
whose name has just been mentioned
ap-pears or is heard from Well, speak of
the devil! Hello, Tom We were just
talk-ing about you I had just mentioned
Sally when—speak of the devil—she
walked in the door.
speak one’s mindto say frankly what one
thinks (about something) (See also
speak out (on something).) Please let me
speak my mind, and then you can do
whatever you wish You can always
de-pend on John to speak his mind He’ll let
you know what he really thinks.
speak out of turnto say something unwise
or imprudent; to say the right thing at thewrong time Excuse me if I’m speaking out of turn, but what you are proposing is quite wrong Bob was quite honest, even
if he was speaking out of turn.
speak out (on something)to say somethingfrankly and directly; to speak one’smind.(See also speak up.) This law is wrong, and I intend to speak out on it until it is repealed You must speak out People need to know what you think.
speak the same language[for people] tohave similar ideas, tastes, etc (Also lit-eral.) Jane and Jack get along very well They really speak the same language about almost everything Bob and his father didn’t speak the same language when it comes to politics.
speak up 1 to speak more loudly They can’t hear you in the back of the room Please speak up What? Speak up, please I’m hard of hearing.2 to speak out (on something) If you think that this
is wrong, you must speak up and say so.
I’m too shy to speak up.
speak up for someone or somethingto speak
in favor of someone or something; tospeak in someone’s defense If anybody says bad things about me, I hope you speak
up for me I want to speak up for the rights of students.
speak with a forked tongueto tell lies; totry to deceive someone Jean’s mother sounds very charming, but she speaks with
a forked tongue People tend to believe Fred because he seems plausible, but we know he speaks with a forked tongue.
spell something out 1 to spell something (in
letters) (Also without out.) I can’t derstand your name Can you spell it out?
un-TPlease spell out all the strange words so
I can write them down correctly.2 to giveall the details of something I want you
to understand this completely, so I’m ing to spell it out very carefully TThe in- struction book for my computer spells out everything very carefully.
go-spell troubleto signify future trouble; tomean trouble (Informal.) This letter
spell trouble
Trang 15that came today spells trouble The sky
looks angry and dark That spells trouble.
spick-and-spanvery clean (Informal.)
I have to clean up the house and get it
spick-and-span for the party Friday night.
I love to have everything around me
spick-and-span.
spill the beansGo to let the cat out of the
bag.
spin a yarnto tell a tale Grandpa spun
an unbelievable yarn for us My uncle is
always spinning yarns about his childhood.
spin one’s wheelsto be in motion, but get
nowhere (Slang.) This is a terrible job.
I’m just spinning my wheels and not
get-ting anywhere Get organized and try to
accomplish something Stop spinning your
wheels!
spin something offto create something as a
by-product of something else When
the company reorganized, it spun its
bank-ing division off TBy spinning off part of
its assets, a company gets needed capital.
spit (something) upto throw something up;
to vomit something (A little gentler than
throw (something) up.) I guess that the
food didn’t agree with the dog, because he
spit it up TThe baby has been spitting
up all morning TBob spit up his whole
dinner.
split hairsto quibble; to try to make petty
distinctions They don’t have any
seri-ous differences They are just splitting
hairs Don’t waste time splitting hairs.
Accept it the way it is.
split one’s sides (with laughter)to laugh
so hard that one’s sides almost split
(Al-ways an exaggeration.) The members of
the audience almost split their sides with
laughter When I heard what happened
to Patricia, I almost split my sides.
split people upto separate two or more
people (from one another) If you two
don’t stop chattering, I’ll have to split you
up The group of people grew too large,
so we had to split them up TI will have
to split up that twosome in the corner.
split something fifty-fiftyGo to divide
some-thingfifty-fifty.
split the differenceto divide the ence evenly (with someone else) You want to sell for $120, and I want to buy for
differ-$100 Let’s split the difference and close the deal at $110 I don’t want to split the difference I want $120.
split up[for people] to separate or leaveone another; [for a couple] to divorce orspearate I heard that Mr and Mrs Brown have split up Our little club had
to split up because everyone was too busy.
spoken fortaken; reserved (for someone)
I’m sorry, but this one is already ken for Pardon me Can I sit here, or is this seat spoken for?
spo-spook someone or somethingto startle or orient someone or something (Folksy.)
dis-A snake spooked my horse, and I nearly fell off Your warning spooked me, and
I was upset for the rest of the day.
spoon-feed someoneto treat someone withtoo much care or help; to teach someonewith methods that are too easy and donot stimulate the learner to independentthinking (Also literal.) The teacher spoon-feeds the students by dictating notes
on the novel instead of getting the children
to read the books You mustn’t feed the new recruits by telling them what
spoon-to do all the time They must use their initiative.
a sporting chance a reasonably goodchance (See also fighting chance.) If you hurry, you have a sporting chance of catching the bus The small company has only a sporting chance of getting the export order.
spout off (about someone or something)totalk too much about someone or some-thing (Informal.) Why do you always have to spout off about things that don’t concern you? Everyone in our office spouts off about the boss There is no need to spout off like that Calm down and think about what you’re saying.
spread it on thickGo to lay it on thick
spread like wildfireto spread rapidly andwithout control The epidemic is spreading like wildfire Everyone is getting
spick-and-span
Trang 16sick John told a joke that was so funny
it spread like wildfire.
spread oneself too thin to do so many
things that you can do none of them well
It’s a good idea to get involved in a lot
of activities, but don’t spread yourself too
thin I’m too busy these days I’m afraid
I’ve spread myself too thin.
spring for somethingto treat (someone) to
something (Slang.) John and I went
out last night, and he sprang for dinner.
At the park Bill usually springs for ice
cream.
spring something on someone to surprise
someone with something (Informal.)
I’m glad you told me now, rather than
springing it on me at the last minute I
sprang the news on my parents last night.
They were not glad to hear it.
spruce someone or something up to make
someone or something clean and orderly
I’ll be ready to go as soon as I spruce
my-self up a bit T I have to spruce up the
house for the party.
square accounts (with someone) 1 to
set-tle one’s financial accounts with
some-one I have to square accounts with the
bank this week, or it’ll take back my car
I called the bank and said I needed to come
in and square accounts. 2 to get even
with someone; to straighten out a
mis-understanding with someone
(Infor-mal.) I’m going to square accounts with
Tom He insulted me in public, and he
owes me an apology Tom, you and I are
going to have to square accounts.
square deala fair and honest transaction;
fair treatment (Informal.) All the
workers want is a square deal, but their
boss underpays them You always get a
square deal with that travel company.
square meala nourishing, filling meal
All you’ve eaten today is junk food You
should sit down to a square meal The
poor old man hadn’t had a square meal in
weeks.
square off (for something)to get ready for
an argument or a fight John was
an-gry and appeared to be squaring off for a
fight When those two square off, one gets out of the way.
every-asquare peg in a round holea misfit
John can’t seem to get along with the ple he works with He’s just a square peg in
peo-a round hole I’m not a square peg in a round hole It’s just that no one under- stands me.
square someone or something away to getsomeone or something arranged or prop-erly taken care of See if you can square Bob away in his new office T Please square away the problems we discussed earlier.
square up to someone or somethingto facesomeone or something bravely; to tacklesomeone or something You’ll have to square up to the bully or he’ll make your life miserable It’s time to square up to your financial problems You can’t just ig- nore them.
square up with someoneto pay someonewhat one owes; to pay one’s share ofsomething to someone (Informal.) I’ll square up with you later if you pay the whole bill now Bob said he would square up with Tom for his share of the gas.
squared awayarranged or properly takencare of Is Ann squared away yet? I will talk to you when I am squared away.
squeak by (someone or something) to justbarely get by someone or something (In-formal.) The guard was almost asleep,
so I squeaked by him I wasn’t very well prepared for the test, and I just squeaked by.
squirrel something away to hide or storesomething (Folksy.) Billy has been squirreling candy away in his top drawer.
TI’ve been squirreling away a little money each week for years.
stab someone in the backto betray one (Also literal Informal.) I thought
some-we some-were friends! Why did you stab me in the back? You don’t expect a person whom you trust to stab you in the back.
stack something upto make a stack of things
(Also without the up.) Where should I
stack something up
Trang 17stack them up? T Please stack up these
boxes.
stack the cards (against someone or
some-thing)Go to stack the deck (against
some-one or something).
stack the deck (against someone or
some-thing) and stack the cards (against
someone or something) to arrange things
against someone or something (Slang
Originally from card playing.) I can’t
get ahead at my office Someone has
stacked the cards against me Do you
really think that someone has stacked the
deck? Isn’t it just fate?
stake a claim (to something)to lay or make
a claim for something (Informal.) I
want to stake a claim to that last piece of
pie You don’t need to stake a claim Just
ask politely.
stall someone or something offto put off or
de-lay someone or something The sheriff
is at the door I’ll stall him off while you
get out the back door TYou can stall off
the sheriff, but you can’t stall off justice.
stamp someone or something out 1 [with
someone] to get rid of or kill someone.
(Slang.) You just can’t stamp somebody
out on your own! TThe victim wanted to
stamp out the robbers without a trial. 2.
[with something] to extinguish
some-thing Quick, stamp that fire out before
it spreads TTom stamped out the sparks
before they started a fire.3 [with
some-thing] to eliminate something The
doctors hope they can stamp cancer out T
Many people think that they can stamp out
evil.
stand a chanceto have a chance Do you
think I stand a chance of winning first
place? Everyone stands a chance of
catching the disease.
stand and deliverto give up something
to someone who demands it (Originally
used by highway robbers asking for
pas-sengers’ valuables Now used
figura-tively.) And when the tax agent says
“Stand and deliver” you have to be
pre-pared to pay what is demanded The
robber stopped the coach and demanded of
Lady Ellen, “Stand and deliver!”
stand behind someone or something and
stand (in) back of someone or somethingtoendorse or guarantee something or theactions of a person (Also literal.) Our company stands behind this product 100 percent I stand behind Bill and every- thing he does.
stand byto wait and remain ready erally heard in communication, such asbroadcasting, telephones, etc.) Your transatlantic telephone call is almost ready Please stand by Is everyone ready for the telecast? Only ten seconds—stand by.
(Gen-stand by someoneto support someone; tocontinue supporting someone even whenthings are bad (Also literal Comparethis with stick by someone or something.)
Don’t worry I’ll stand by you no matter what I feel as though I have to stand
by my brother even if he goes to jail.
stand corrected to admit that one hasbeen wrong I realize that I accused him wrongly I stand corrected We appreci- ate now that our conclusions were wrong.
We stand corrected.
stand for something 1 to endure something
The teacher won’t stand for any pering in class We just can’t stand for that kind of behavior.2 to signify some-thing In a traffic signal, the red light stands for “stop.” The abbreviation Dr stands for “doctor.”3 to endorse or sup-port an ideal The mayor claims to stand for honesty in government and jobs for everyone Every candidate for pub- lic office stands for all the good things in life.
whis-stand in awe (of someone or something)to beoverwhelmed with respect for someone
or something Many people stand in awe of the president Bob says he stands
in awe of a big juicy steak I think he’s aggerating When it comes to food, you can say that it’s delicious, but one hardly stands in awe.
ex-stand (in) back of someone or somethingGo
to stand behind someone or something.
stand in (for someone) to substitute forsomeone; to serve in someone’s place
The famous opera singer was ill, and an
in-stack the cards (against someone or something)
Trang 18experienced singer had to stand in for her.
The new singer was grateful for the
op-portunity to stand in.
stand in someone’s wayto be a barrier to
someone’s desires or intentions (Also
lit-eral.) I know you want a divorce so you
can marry Ann Well, I won’t stand in your
way You can have the divorce I know
you want to leave home, and I don’t want
to stand in your way You’re free to go.
stand on ceremonyto hold rigidly to
pro-tocol or formal manners (Often in the
negative.) Please help yourself to more.
Don’t stand on ceremony We are very
informal around here Hardly anyone
stands on ceremony.
stand one’s groundand hold one’s ground
to stand up for one’s rights; to resist an
attack The lawyer tried to confuse me
when I was giving testimony, but I
man-aged to stand my ground Some people
were trying to crowd us off the beach, but
we held our ground.
stand on one’s own two feetto be
inde-pendent and self-sufficient (Informal
Compare this with get back on one’s
feet.) I’ll be glad when I have a good job
and can stand on my own two feet
When Jane gets out of debt, she’ll be able
to stand on her own two feet again.
stand outto be uniquely visible or
con-spicuous This computer stands out as
one of the best available Because John
is so tall, he really stands out in a crowd.
stand over someone to monitor or watch
over someone, possibly while actually
standing near the person You don’t
have to stand over me I can do it by
my-self I know from previous experience
that if I don’t stand over you, you’ll never
finish.
stand patto remain as is; to preserve the
status quo (Informal.) We can’t just
stand pat! We have to keep making
progress! This company isn’t increasing
sales It’s just standing pat.
stand someone in good steadto be useful
or beneficial to someone This is a fine
overcoat I’m sure it’ll stand you in good
stead for many years I did the mayor a
favor that I’m sure will stand me in good stead.
stand someone to a treatto pay for food
or drink for someone as a special favor
We went to the zoo, and my father stood
us all to a treat We had ice cream and soft drinks We went to a nice restaurant and had a fine meal It was even better when
Mr Williams told us he’d stand us to a treat, and he picked up the bill.
stand someone upto fail to meet someonefor a date or an appointment John and Jane were supposed to go out last night, but she stood him up TIf you stand up peo- ple very often, you’ll find that you have no friends at all.
stand still for somethingand hold still for
somethingto tolerate or endure something.(Often in the negative.) I won’t stand still for that kind of behavior! She won’t hold still for that kind of talk.
stand to reasonto seem reasonable It stands to reason that it’ll be colder in Jan- uary than it is in November It stands to reason that Bill left in a hurry, although
no one saw him go.
stand up and be countedto state one’ssupport (for someone or something); tocome out for someone or something If you believe in more government help for farm- ers, write your representative—stand up and be counted I’m generally in favor
of what you propose, but not enough to stand up and be counted.
a standing joke a subject that regularlyand over a period of time causes amuse-ment whenever it is mentioned Uncle Jim’s driving was a standing joke He used
to drive incredibly slowly Their mother’s inability to make a decision was
a standing joke in the Smith family all their lives.
stare someone in the faceGo to look onein the face.
some-stark raving mad totally insane; pletely crazy; out of control (Often anexaggeration.) When she heard about what happened at the office, she went stark raving mad You must be stark raving
com-stark raving mad
Trang 19mad if you think I would trust you with
my car!
start from scratchto start from the
be-ginning; to start from nothing
(Infor-mal Compare this with make something
from scratch.) Whenever I bake a cake,
I start from scratch I never use a cake mix
in a box I built every bit of my own
house I started from scratch and did
everything with my own hands.
start off on the wrong foot to begin
[something] by doing something wrong
(Also literal See also be off on the wrong
foot; get off on the wrong foot.) I don’t
want to start off on the wrong foot by
say-ing somethsay-ing stupid What should I say?
Poor Donna started off on the wrong
foot when she arrived forty minutes late.
start (off ) with a clean slateand start
(over) with a clean slate to start out
again afresh; to ignore the past and start
over again (Refers to making marks on
a [clean] slate with chalk.) I plowed
un-der all last year’s f lowers so I could start
with a clean slate next spring If I start
off with a clean slate, then I’ll know
ex-actly what each plant is When Bob got
out of jail, he started over with a clean
slate.
start (over) with a clean slateGo to start
(off) with a clean slate.
start someone in (as something)and start
someoneout (as something)to start
some-one on a job as a certain kind of worker
I got a job in a restaurant today They
started me in as a dishwasher I now
work for the telephone company They
started me out as a local operator.
start someone out (as something)Go to start
someonein (as something).
start somethingto start a fight or an
argu-ment (Also literal Something is anything
or nothing in the negative.) Hey, you!
Better be careful unless you want to start
something I don’t want to start
any-thing I’m just leaving.
start something upto start something, such
as a car or some procedure (Also
with-out up.) TIt was cold, but I managed to
start up the car without any difficulty
We can’t start the project up until we have more money.
start the ball rollingGo to get the ball rolling.
stay after someoneGo to keep after someone.
stay in touch (with someone)Go to keep
in touch (with someone).
stay putnot to move; to stay where one is.(Informal.) We’ve decided to stay put and not to move to Florida If the chil- dren just stay put, their parents will come for them soon.
steady as a rockGo to (as) steady as arock.
steal a baseto sneak from one base to other in baseball The runner stole sec- ond base, but he nearly got put out on the way Tom runs so slowly that he never tries to steal a base.
an-steal a march (on someone)to get somesort of an advantage over someone with-out being noticed I got the contract be- cause I was able to steal a march on my competitor You have to be clever and fast—not dishonest—to steal a march.
steal someone’s thunderto lessen someone’sforce or authority What do you mean
by coming in here and stealing my der? I’m in charge here! Someone stole
thun-my thunder by leaking thun-my announcement
to the press.
steal the showGo to steal the spotlight
steal the spotlightand steal the show
to give the best performance in a show,play, or some other event; to get attentionfor oneself The lead in the play was very good, but the butler stole the show
Ann always tries to steal the spotlight when she and I make a presentation.
steamed upangry (Informal.) What Bob said really got me steamed up Why
do you get so steamed up about nothing?
steaming (mad) very angry; very mad;very upset The steaming coach yelled
at the clumsy players The principal was steaming mad when he found that his of- fice had been vandalized.
start from scratch
Trang 20steer clear (of someone or something)to avoid
someone or something John is mad at
me, so I’ve been steering clear of him
Steer clear of that book It has many errors
in it Good advice I’ll steer clear.
step-by-steplittle by little, one step at a
time (Refers both to walking and
fol-lowing instructions.) Just follow the
in-structions step-by-step, and everything
will be fine The old man slowly moved
across the lawn step-by-step.
step down (from something)to resign a job
or a responsibility (Also literal.) The
mayor stepped down from office last week.
It’s unusual for a mayor to step down.
step into someone’s shoesto take over a job
or some role from someone I was
pre-pared to step into the boss’s shoes, so there
was no disruption when he left for another
job There was no one who could step
into Alice’s shoes when she left, so
every-thing came to a stop.
step in(to the breach) to move into a
space or vacancy; to assume the job of
someone who has left it When Ann
re-signed as president, I stepped into the
breach A number of people asked me
to step in and take her place.
step on itGo to step on the gas
step on someone’s toesto interfere with or
offend someone (Also literal.) When
you’re in public office, you have to avoid
stepping on anyone’s toes Ann stepped
on someone’s toes during the last campaign
and lost the election.
step on the gasand step on ithurry up
(Informal.) I’m in a hurry, driver Step
on it! I can’t step on the gas, mister.
There’s too much traffic.
step out of lineto misbehave; to do
some-thing offensive (Also literal.) I’m
ter-ribly sorry I hope I didn’t step out of line.
John is a lot of fun to go out with, but
he has a tendency to step out of line.
step (right) upto move forward, toward
someone Step up and get your mail
when I call your name Come on,
every-body Step right up and help yourself to
supper.
step something upto cause something to gofaster T The factory was not making enough cars, so they stepped up produc- tion The music was not fast enough, so the conductor told everyone to step it up.
stew in one’s own juiceto be left alone tosuffer one’s anger or disappointment (In-formal.) John has such a terrible tem- per When he got mad at us, we just let him
go away and stew in his own juice ter John stewed in his own juice for a while,
Af-he decided to come back and apologize to us.
stick around[for a person] to remain in
a place (Informal.) The kids stuck around for a time after the party was over.
Oh, Ann Please stick around for a while I want to talk to you later.
stick by someone or somethingand stick with
someone or somethingto support someone orsomething; to continue supporting some-one or something when things are bad.(Informal Compare this with stand bysomeone.) Don’t worry I’ll stick by you
no matter what I feel as if I have to stick
by my brother even if he goes to jail I’ll stick by my ideas whether you like them
or not.
Stick ’em up!Go to Hands up!
stick-in-the-mudsomeone who is bornly old-fashioned Come on to the party with us and have some fun Don’t
stub-be an old stick-in-the-mud! Tom is no stick-in-the-mud He’s really up-to-date.
stick one’s foot in one’s mouthGo to putone’sfoot in one’s mouth.
stick one’s neck out (for someone or
some-thing)to take a risk (Informal.) Why should I stick my neck out to do something for her? What’s she ever done for me? He made a risky investment He stuck his neck out for the deal because he thought he could make some money.
stick one’s nose in(to something)Go to pokeone’snose in(to something).
stick out like a sore thumbto be veryprominent or unsightly; to be obviousand visible (Informal.) Bob is so tall that he sticks out like a sore thumb in a
stick out like a sore thumb
Trang 21crowd The house next door needs
paint-ing It sticks out like a sore thumb.
stick someone or something up 1 [with
some-thing] to affix or attach something onto
a wall, post, etc This notice ought to be
on the bulletin board Please stick it up.
TI’m going to stick up this poster near the
entrance. 2 to rob someone or
some-thing One robber stuck the cashier up
first, but someone sounded the alarm
be-fore any money was taken TThe robbers
came in and tried to stick up the bank, but
they got caught first.
stick someone with someone or something to
burden someone with someone or
some-thing (Informal.) The dishonest
mer-chant stuck me with a faulty television set.
John stuck me with his talkative uncle
and went off with his friends.
stick something outto endure something
(Also literal.) The play was terribly
bor-ing, but I managed to stick it out
Col-lege was very difficult for Bill, but he
de-cided to stick it out.
stick together to remain together as a
group (Also literal Informal.) Come
on, you guys Let’s stick together
Other-wise somebody will get lost Our group
of friends has managed to stick together for
almost twenty years.
stick to one’s gunsto remain firm in one’s
convictions; to stand up for one’s rights
(Informal Compare this with stand one’s
ground.) I’ll stick to my guns on this
matter I’m sure I’m right Bob can be
persuaded to do it our way He probably
won’t stick to his guns on this point.
stick to one’s ribs[for food] to last long and
fortify one well; [for food] to sustain one
even in the coldest weather (Refers to the
inside of one’s ribs.) This oatmeal
ought to stick to your ribs You need
some-thing hearty on a cold day like this I
don’t want soup! I want something that
will stick to my ribs.
stick up for someone or somethingto support
someone or something; to speak in favor
of someone or something Everyone
was making unpleasant remarks about
John, but I stuck up for him Our team was losing, but I stuck up for it anyway.
stick with someone or somethingGo to stick bysomeone or something.
sticks and stoneselements of harm rected at someone] (Part of a rhyme,
[di-“Sticks and stones may break my bones,but words will never hurt me.”) I have had enough of your sticks and stones I have enough trouble without your adding
to it After the opposing candidate had used sticks and stones for a month, sud- denly there were kind words heard.
stiff as a pokerGo to (as) stiff as a poker
still as deathGo to (as) still as death
stink to high heavenand smell to high heavento smell very bad What hap- pened? This place stinks to high heaven
This meat smells to high heaven Throw it away!
stir someone or something up 1 [with one] to make someone angry or excited;
some-to make someone get active (Also eral.) I need a cup of hot coffee to stir
lit-me up in the morning T Reading the newspaper always stirs up my father. 2.
[with something] to cause trouble; to
fo-ment disagreefo-ment and difficulty T
They stirred up quite a commotion T
Who stirred up this matter?
stir up a hornet’s nestto create trouble ordifficulties (Also literal Informal.)
What a mess you have made of things You’ve really stirred up a hornet’s nest
Bill stirred up a hornet’s nest when he covered the theft.
dis-stock up (on something)to build up a ply of something Before the first snow,
sup-we always stock up on firewood John drinks a lot of milk, so we stock up when
we know he’s coming.
a stone’s throw (away) (from something)
Go to within a stone’s throw (of thing).
some-stoop to doing somethingto degrade oneself
or condescend to doing something; to dosomething that is beneath one Who- ever thought that the manager of the de-
stick someone or something up
Trang 22partment would stoop to typing? I never
dreamed that Bill would stoop to stealing.
stop-and-gohalting repeatedly; stopping
and continuing repeatedly This project
has been stop-and-go since we began.
Problems keep appearing The traffic
was stop-and-go for miles I thought I
would never get here!
stop at nothingto do everything possible
(to accomplish something); to be
un-scrupulous Bill would stop at nothing
to get his way Bob is completely
deter-mined to get promoted He’ll stop at
nothing.
stop by (somewhere) and stop in
(some-where)to visit a place, usually briefly
I was coming home, but I decided to stop
by my aunt’s on the way She was very
glad that I stopped in.
stop in (somewhere) Go to stop by (
some-where).
stop, look, and listento exercise caution
at street corners and railroad crossings,
by stopping, looking to the left and to the
right, and listening for approaching
ve-hicles or a train Sally’s mother trained
her to stop, look, and listen at every street
corner It is a good practice to stop, look,
and listen at a railroad crossing.
stop off (somewhere)to stop somewhere on
the way to some other place I stopped
off at the store to buy milk on the way
home We stopped off for a few minutes
and chatted with my uncle.
stop over (somewhere)to break one’s
jour-ney somewhere, usually overnight or
even longer (Compare this with lay over
(somewhere).) On our way to New York,
we stopped over in Philadelphia for the
night That’s a good place to stop over.
There are some nice hotels in Philadelphia.
stop short of doing somethingnot to go as far
as doing something; not to go as far as
something Fortunately Bob stopped
short of hitting Tom The boss criticized
Jane’s work, but stopped short of
repri-manding her Jack was furious but
stopped short of hitting Tom Jane
wouldn’t stop short of telling lies in order
to get a job.
Astorm is brewing 1.There is going to
be a storm Look at the clouds A storm
is brewing A storm is brewing in the west. 2.There is going to be trouble oremotional upset He looks angry A storm is brewing.
the straight and narrowa straight andlaw-abiding route through life (Infor-
mal From straight and narrow pathway.)
You should have no trouble with the lice if you stick to the straight and narrow.
po- Roger was the kind who followed the straight and narrow every day of his life.
straight as an arrowGo to (as) straight as
an arrow.
(straight) from the horse’s mouthfrom
an authoritative or dependable source
I know it’s true! I heard it straight from the horse’s mouth! This comes from the horse’s mouth, so it has to be believed.
straight from the shoulder sincerely;frankly; holding nothing back Sally al- ways speaks straight from the shoulder You never have to guess what she really means.
Bill gave a good presentation—straight from the shoulder and brief.
straighten someone or something out 1 [with
someone] to make someone understand
something (Also literal.) Jane was fused about the date, so I straightened her out TI took a few minutes and straight- ened out everyone. 2 [with someone] to
con-reform someone Most people think that jail never straightens anybody out T
The judge felt that a few years at hard bor would straighten out the thief.3 [with
la-something] to make a situation less
con-fused John made a mess of the contract,
so I helped him straighten it out TPlease straighten out your checking account It’s all messed up.
straighten someone or something up 1 to putsomeone or something into an uprightposition The fence is tilted Please straighten up that post when you get a chance Bill, you’re slouching again Straighten yourself up.2 to tidy up some-one or something John straightened himself up a little before going on stage.
straighten someone or something up
Trang 23TThis room is a mess Let’s straighten up
this place, right now!
straighten up 1 to sit or stand more
straight Billy’s mother told him to
straighten up or he’d fall out of his chair.
John straightened up so he’d look taller.
2 to behave better Bill was acting
badly for a while; then he straightened up.
Sally, straighten up, or I will punish you!
stranger to something or somewheresomeone
who is new to an area or place
Al-though John was no stranger to big cities,
he did not enjoy visiting New York You
are a stranger to our town, and I hope you
feel welcome.
strapped (for something)very much in need
of money (Informal.) I’m strapped for
a few bucks Can you loan me five dollars?
Sorry, I’m strapped, too.
stretch a pointand stretch the pointto
interpret a point flexibly and with great
latitude Would it be stretching a point
to suggest that everyone is invited to your
picnic? To say that everyone is invited
is stretching the point.
stretch one’s legsto walk around after
sit-ting down or lying down for a time
We wanted to stretch our legs during the
theater intermission After sitting in the
car all day, the travelers decided to stretch
their legs.
stretch the pointGo to stretch a point
stretch the truth to exaggerate; to
mis-represent the truth just a little bit She
was stretching the truth when she said
everything was ready for the party I
don’t want to stretch the truth Our town
is probably the wealthiest around here.
(strictly) on the levelhonest; dependably
open and fair How can I be sure you’re
on the level? You can trust Sally She’s
strictly on the level.
(strictly) on the up-and-uphonest; fair
and straight (Slang Compare this with
on the level.) Do you think that the
mayor is on the up-and-up? Yes, the
mayor is strictly on the up-and-up.
strike a balance (between two or more
things)to find a satisfactory compromise
between two extremes The political party must strike a balance between the right wing and the left wing Jane is overdressed for the party and Sally is un- derdressed What a pity they didn’t strike
a balance.
strike a bargainto reach an agreement on
a price (for something) They argued for a while and finally struck a bargain.
They were unable to strike a bargain, so they left.
strike a chord (with someone) to causesomeone to remember something; to re-mind someone or something; to be fa-miliar The woman in the portrait struck a chord and I realized that it was my grandmother His name strikes a chord with me, but I don’t know why.
strike a happy mediumand hit a happy medium; find a happy medium. tofind a compromise position; to arrive at
a position halfway between two ceptable extremes Ann likes very spicy food, but Bob doesn’t care for spicy food at all We are trying to find a restaurant that strikes a happy medium Tom is either very happy or very sad He can’t seem to hit a happy medium.
unac-strike a matchto light a match Mary struck a match and lit a candle When Sally struck a match to light a cigarette, Jane said quickly, “No smoking, please.”
strike a poseto position oneself in a tain posture Bob struck a pose in front
cer-of the mirror to see how much he had grown Lisa walked into the room and struck a pose, hoping she would be noticed.
strike a sour noteand hit a sour note
to signify something unpleasant mal.) Jane’s sad announcement struck a sour note at the annual banquet News
(Infor-of the crime hit a sour note in our holiday celebration.
strike homeGo to hit home
strike it richto acquire wealth suddenly.(Informal.) If I could strike it rich, I wouldn’t have to work anymore Sally ordered a dozen oysters and found a huge pearl in one of them She struck it rich!
straighten up
Trang 24strike out 1 [for a baseball batter] to be
declared “out” after three strikes (See
also strike someone out.) Bill almost
never strikes out John struck out at least
once in every game this season.2 to fail
(Slang.) Ann did her best, but she struck
out anyway Give it another try Just
be-cause you struck out once doesn’t mean you
can’t do better now.
strike out at someone or somethingto
(figu-ratively or literally) hit at or attack
some-one or something She was so angry she
struck out at the person she was arguing
with I was frantic I wanted to strike
out at everything and everybody.
strike someone as something[for a thought or
behavior] to affect someone a certain
way John’s rude behavior struck me as
odd Mary’s attitude struck me as
childish.
strike someone funny to seem funny to
someone Sally has a great sense of
hu-mor Everything she says strikes me funny.
Why are you laughing? Did something
I said strike you funny?
strike someone out[for a baseball pitcher]
to get a batter declared “out” after three
strikes I never thought he’d strike Tom
out TBill struck out all our best players.
strike someone’s fancyto appeal to
some-one (See also tickle someone’sfancy.) I’ll
have some ice cream, please Chocolate
strikes my fancy right now Why don’t
you go to the store and buy a record
al-bum that strikes your fancy?
strike the right noteto achieve the desired
effect; to do something suitable or
pleas-ing (A musical reference.) Meg struck
the right note when she wore a dark suit
to the interview The politician’s speech
failed to strike the right note with the
crowd.
strike up a conversationto start a
con-versation (with someone) I struck up
an interesting conversation with someone
on the bus yesterday It’s easy to strike
up a conversation with someone when
you’re traveling.
strike up a friendshipto become friends
(with someone) I struck up a
friend-ship with John while we were on a business trip together If you’re lonely, you should
go out and try to strike up a friendship with someone you like.
strike while the iron is hotto do thing at the best possible time; to dosomething when the time is ripe He was in a good mood, so I asked for a loan
some-of $200 I thought I’d better strike while the iron was hot Please go to the bank and settle this matter now! They are will- ing to be reasonable You’ve got to strike while the iron is hot.
string along (with someone)to accompanysomeone; to run around with someone
Sally seemed to know where she was going,
so I decided to string along with her She said it was okay if I strung along.
string something outto draw something out(in time); to make something last a longtime (Also literal.) The meeting was long enough There was no need to string
it out further with all those speeches T
They tried to string out the meeting to make things seem more important.
astroke of lucka bit of luck; a lucky pening I had a stroke of luck and found Tom at home when I called He’s not usu- ally there Unless I have a stroke of luck, I’m not going to finish this report by tomorrow.
hap-strong as a horseGo to (as) strong as a horse.
strong as a lionGo to (as) strong as a lion
strong as an oxGo to (as) strong as anox.
astruggle to the deatha bitter struggleeither to success or failure (Also literal.)
It was a struggle to the death, but I nally finished my report on time I had
fi-a terrible time getting my cfi-ar stfi-arted It was a struggle to the death, but it finally started.
strung out 1 extended in time; overlylong Why was that lecture so strung out? She talked and talked It was strung out because there was very little to be said.
2 doped or drugged (Slang.) Bob acted very strangely—as if he were strung
strung out
Trang 25out or something I’ve never seen Bob
or any of his friends strung out.
stubborn as a muleGo to (as) stubborn
as a mule.
(stuck) in a rutkept in an established way
of living that never changes David felt
like he was stuck in a rut, so he went back
to school Anne was tired of being in a
rut, so she moved to Los Angeles.
stuck in trafficto be caught in a traffic
jam I am sorry I am late I was stuck
in traffic Our taxi was stuck in traffic,
and I thought I would never get to the
air-port on time.
stuck on someone or something 1 [with
one] to be fond of or in love with
some-one John was stuck on Sally, but she
didn’t know it He always is stuck on the
wrong person.2 [with something] to be
locked into an idea, cause, or purpose
Mary is really stuck on the idea of
go-ing to France this sprgo-ing You’ve
pro-posed a good plan, Jane, but you’re stuck
on it We may have to make some changes.
stuck with someone or somethingburdened
with someone or something; left having
to care for someone or something
(In-formal.) Please don’t leave me stuck
with your aunt She talks too much My
roommate quit school and left me stuck
with the telephone bill.
stuff and nonsensenonsense (Informal.)
Come on! Don’t give me all that stuff
and nonsense! I don’t understand this
book It’s all stuff and nonsense as far as I
am concerned.
stuff the ballot boxto put fraudulent
bal-lots into a ballot box; to cheat in
count-ing the votes in an election The
elec-tion judge was caught stuffing the ballot
box in the election yesterday Election
officials are supposed to guard against
stuffing the ballot box.
stumble across someone or something and
stumble into someone or something;
stum-ble (up)on someone or something to find
someone or something, usually by
acci-dent I stumbled across an interesting
book yesterday when I was shopping
Guess who I stumbled into at the library
yesterday? I stumbled on a real bargain
at the bookstore last week.
stumble into someone or something 1 tobump into someone or something acci-dentally I stumbled into John, and I apologized It was my fault I stumbled into a post and hurt my arm. 2 Go tostumble across someone or something. 3.
[with something] to enter something or
a place by stumbling I tripped on the curb and stumbled into the car I stum- bled into the house, exhausted and in need
of a cool drink.
stumble (up)on someone or something 1 Go
to stumble across someone or something.2.
to trip over someone or something
There were three of us sleeping in the small tent Each of us would stumble on the oth- ers whenever we went out or came in I stumbled on the curb and twisted my ankle.
stumbling blocksomething that prevents
or obstructs progress We’d like to buy that house, but the high price is the stum- bling block Jim’s age is a stumbling block to getting another job He’s over 60.
subject to something 1.likely to have thing, such as a physical disorder The sick man was subject to dizzy spells I
some-am subject to frequent headaches.2.tative, depending on something; vulner-able to something I have made all the necessary plans, subject to your approval,
ten-of course My remarks are, of course, subject to your criticisms.
subscribe to somethingto have a standingorder for a magazine or something sim-ilar I usually buy my monthly maga- zines at the newsstand I don’t subscribe
to them I subscribe to all the magazines
I read because it’s nice to have them livered by mail.
de-such and de-such someone or somethingwhose name has been forgotten or shouldnot be said (Informal.) Mary said that such and such was coming to her party, but
I forgot their names If you walk into a store and ask for such and such and they don’t have it, you go to a different store.
stubborn as a mule
Trang 26such as 1.of a particular kind; of the sort
that is; like Where can I get a haircut
such as yours? I’d like to buy a vase such
as the one in your display case.2.for
ex-ample Bill enjoys many kinds of fruit,
such as apples, pears, and plums Mary
has many hobbies, such as swimming,
bowling, and running.
such as it isin the imperfect state that one
sees it; in the less-than-perfect condition
in which one finds it This is where I
live This is my glorious home—such as it
is I’ve worked for days on this report,
and I’ve done the best that I can do It’s my
supreme effort—such as it is.
Such is life!That is the way things happen,
even it isn’t the way I want it to be! Oh,
well Everything can’t be perfect Such is
life! So I failed my test Such is life! I can
take it again some time.
suck someone inand take someone into
de-ceive someone (The expression with suck
is slang.) I try to shop carefully so that
no one can take me in T I think that
someone sucked in both of them I don’t
know why they bought this car.
suggestive of something reminiscent of
something; seeming to suggest
some-thing Bill’s homemade soup is
sugges-tive of his mother’s The new movie was
suggestive of an old one I had seen on TV.
suit oneself to do something one’s own
way; to do something to please oneself
If he doesn’t want to do it my way, he
can suit himself Take either of the books
that you like Suit yourself I’ll read the
other one.
suit someone to a Tand fit someone to a T
to be very appropriate for someone
This kind of job suits me to a T This is
Sally’s kind of house It fits her to a T.
sum and substancea summary; the gist
(See also form and substance.) Can you
quickly tell me the sum and substance of
your proposal? In trying to explain the
sum and substance of the essay, Thomas
failed to mention the middle name of the
hero.
sum something upto summarize something
(Literally, to figure out the total.) TAt
the end of the lecture, Dr Williams summed up the important points He said when he finished, “Well, that about sums it up.”
Sunday-go-to-meeting clothesone’s bestclothes (Folksy See also in one’s Sunday best.) John was all dressed up in his Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes I hate to
be wearing my Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes when everyone else is casually dressed.
supply and demand the availability ofthings or people as compared to the need
to utilize the things or people; the ability of goods compared to the number
avail-of willing customers for the goods
Sometimes you can find what you want by shopping around and other times almost
no store carries the items you are looking for It depends entirely on supply and de- mand Sometimes customers ask for things we do not carry in stock and other times we have things in abundance that no one wants to buy Whether or not we can make money off of a product depends en- tirely on supply and demand.
supposed to do somethingexpected or tended to do something; obliged or al-lowed to do something You’re sup- posed to say “excuse me” when you burp.
in-Mom says you’re supposed to come side for dinner now.
in-sure as deathGo to (as) sure as death
surf and turffish and beef; lobster andbeef (A type of meal incorporating bothexpensive seafood and an expensive cut
of beef Refers to the sea and to the ture.) Walter ordered the surf and turf, but Alice ordered only a tiny salad No surf and turf for me I want fish and fish alone.
pas-thesurvival of the fittestthe idea that themost able or fit will survive (while theless able and less fit will perish) (This isused literally as a part of the theory ofevolution.) In college, it’s the survival of the fittest You have to keep working in or- der to survive and graduate I don’t give
my houseplants very good care, but the
the survival of the fittest
Trang 27ones I have are really f lourishing It’s the
survival of the fittest, I guess.
susceptible to something 1. easily
per-suaded; easily influenced The students
were susceptible to the allure of drugs
The young revolutionaries were
suscepti-ble to propaganda.2.likely to contract a
sickness; likely to become sick People
with AIDS are susceptible to pneumonia.
Infants and the elderly are more
sus-ceptible to illness than other people.
swallow one’s prideto forget one’s pride
and accept something humiliating I
had to swallow my pride and admit that I
was wrong When you’re a student, you
find yourself swallowing your pride quite
often.
swallow something, hook, line, and sinker
to believe something completely (Slang
These terms refer to fishing and fooling
a fish into being caught.) I made up a
story about why I was so late The boss
swallowed it, hook, line, and sinker I
feel like a fool I swallowed it, hook, line,
and sinker.
[swan song]Go to someone’sswan song.
swear by someone or something 1 to take an
oath on someone or something My
uncle is sort of old-fashioned He makes
promises by swearing by his “sainted
mother.” He sometimes swears by his
foot!2 to have complete faith and
con-fidence in someone or something I’m
willing to swear by John He’s completely
dependable This is an excellent brand
of detergent My sister swears by it.
swear on a stack of Biblesand swear on
one’smother ’s graveto state something
very earnestly, pledging to tell the truth
(Stack of Bibles refers to swearing to tell
the truth in court by placing one’s hand
on a Bible.) I swear on a stack of Bibles
that I am telling the truth Of course,
I’m telling the truth I swear on my
mother’s grave!
swear on one’s mother ’s grave Go to
swear on a stack of Bibles.
sweat bloodto be very anxious and tense
(Slang.) What a terrible test! I was
really sweating blood at the last Bob is
such a bad driver I sweat blood every time
I ride with him.
sweat something outto endure or wait forsomething that causes tension or bore-dom (Informal.) I had to wait for her
in the reception area It was a long wait, but I managed to sweat it out TI took the test and then spent a week sweating out the results.
sweep one off one’s feetand knock one off
one’sfeet 1 to knock someone down
The wind swept me off my feet Bill punched Bob playfully, and knocked him off his feet. 2 to overwhelm someone(figuratively) (Informal.) Mary is madly in love with Bill He swept her off her feet The news was so exciting that
it knocked me off my feet.
sweep out of somewhereto move or leave in
a flamboyant or theatrical way The sulted customer swept out of the store
in-The celebrity rose from his table and swept out of the restaurant.
sweep something under the carpetand
sweep something under the rugto try tohide something unpleasant, shameful,etc., from the attention of others The boss said he couldn’t sweep the theft un- der the carpet, that he’d have to call in the police Roger had a tendency to sweep all the problems under the rug.
sweep something under the rug Go tosweep somethingunder the carpet.
sweet and low[of music] pleasing andquiet Play me something that is sweet and low I like dance music that is sweet and low—not any of this rowdy, violent stuff.
sweet and soura combination of fruitysweet and sour, but not necessarily salty,flavors (Often refers to certain Chinese-American foods.) I prefer sweet and sour pork to anything else on the menu
Alice does not care for sweet and sour dishes, but she will usually eat whatever we serve her.
sweet as honeyGo to (as) sweet as honey
sweet as sugarGo to (as) sweet as honey.susceptible to something
Trang 28sweet nothingsaffectionate but
unimpor-tant or meaningless words spoken to a
loved one Jack was whispering sweet
nothings in Joan’s ear when they were
dancing The two lovers sat in the
cin-ema exchanging sweet nothings.
sweet on someone fond of someone
(Folksy.) Tom is sweet on Mary He may
ask her to marry him Mary’s sweet on
him, too.
sweet-talk someoneto talk convincingly to
someone with much flattery (Folksy.)
I didn’t want to help her, but she
sweet-talked me into it He sweet-talked her
for a while, and she finally agreed to go to
the dance with him.
swift and surefast and certain (As with
the flight of a well-aimed arrow.) The
response of the governor to the criticism by
the opposing party was swift and sure
The boxer’s punch was swift and sure and
resulted in a quick knockout and a very
Mary always swims against the current She’s a very contrary person.
swing into actionGo to go into action
swing somethingto make something happen.(Slang.) I hope I can swing a deal that will make us all a lot of money We all hope you can swing it.
swing something
Trang 29table the motionto postpone the
discus-sion of something during a meeting
Mary suggested that they should table the
motion TThe motion for a new policy
was tabled until the next meeting.
tag alongto go along with or follow
some-one, often when uninvited or unwanted
Lisa always tags along when Tim and
Sally go out on a date I took my
chil-dren to the zoo and the neighbor’s chilchil-dren
tagged along.
thetail wagging the doga situation where
a small part is controlling the whole
thing John was just hired yesterday, and
today he’s bossing everyone around It’s a
case of the tail wagging the dog Why
is this small matter so important? Now we
see the tail wagging the dog!
take a backseat (to someone)to defer to
someone; to give control to someone
I decided to take a backseat to Mary and
let her manage the project I had done
the best I could, but it was time to take a
backseat and let someone else run things.
take a bathGo to take a shower
take a bath (on something)to have large
fi-nancial losses on an investment (Slang.)
I took a bath on all my oil stock I should
have sold it sooner I don’t mind losing
a little money now and then, but I really
took a bath this time.
take a bowto bow and receive credit for
a good performance At the end of the
concerto, the pianist rose and took a bow.
The audience applauded wildly and
de-manded that the conductor come out and
take a bow again.
take a breakand take one’s breakto have
a short rest period in one’s work It’s
ten o’clock—time to take a break I don’t usually take my break until 10:30.
take a chance and take a risk to trysomething where failure or bad fortune
is likely Come on, take a chance You may lose, but it’s worth trying I’m not reckless, but I don’t mind taking a risk now and then.
take a course (in something)to enroll in acourse and do the required work I de- cided to take a course in history Bob drives into the city where he is taking a course.
take a crack at somethingto have a try atsomething;to give something a try (Infor-mal.) I don’t think I can convince her
to leave, but I’ll take a crack at it one had to try to rescue the child Bill said he’d take a crack at it.
Some-take a dig at someoneand take digs at
someoneto insult someone; to say thing that will irritate a person (Slang.)
some-Jane took a dig at Bob for being late all the time Jane is always taking digs at Bob, but she never really means any harm.
take a dim view of somethingto regardsomething skeptically or pessimistically
My aunt takes a dim view of most things that young people do The manager took
a dim view of my efforts on the project I guess I didn’t try hard enough.
take advantage of someone or something 1.
[with someone] to cheat or deceive
some-one The store owner took advantage of
me, and I’m angry You must be alert when you shop to make sure that someone doesn’t take advantage of you.2 to utilizesomeone or something to one’s own ben-efit Jane can be of great help to me, and
I intend to take advantage of her Try
T
Trang 30to take advantage of every opportunity
that comes your way.
take a fancy to someone or something and
take a liking to someone or something; take
a shine to someone or somethingto develop
a fondness or a preference for someone
or something (Folksy.) John began to
take a fancy to Sally late last August at the
picnic I’ve never taken a liking to
cooked carrots I think my teacher has
taken a shine to me.
take after someone to resemble a close,
older relative Don’t you think that Sally
takes after her mother? No, Sally takes
after her Aunt Ann.
take a gander (at someone or something)to
examine someone or something; to take
a look (at someone or something).(Slang.)
Hey, will you take a gander at that fancy
car! Drive it over here so I can take a
gander.
take a hand in somethingto help plan or do
something I was glad to take a hand
in planning the picnic Jane refused to
take a hand in any of the work.
take a hard line (with someone)to be firm
with someone; to have a firm policy for
dealing with someone The manager
takes a hard line with people who show up
late This is a serious matter The
po-lice are likely to take a hard line.
Take a hike!Go to Go climb a tree!
take a hintto understand a hint and
be-have accordingly I said I didn’t want to
see you anymore Can’t you take a hint? I
don’t like you Sure I can take a hint, but
I’d rather be told directly.
take (a)hold of someone or somethingand get
(a)hold of someone or somethingto get in
control of someone or something (Also
literal.) Take hold of yourself! Calm
down and relax She took a few minutes
to get hold of herself, and then she spoke.
take aim (at someone or something) 1 to aim
(something) at someone or something
The hunter took aim at the deer and pulled
the trigger You must take aim carefully
before you shoot. 2 to prepare to deal
with someone or something Now we
have to take aim at the problem and try
to get it solved He turned to me and took aim I knew he was going to scold me severely.
take a leaf out of someone’s bookto have or to do something in the way thatsomeone else would When you act like that, you’re taking a leaf out of your sis- ter’s book, and I don’t like it! You had better do it your way Don’t take a leaf out
be-of my book I don’t do it well.
take a lickingGo to get a licking
take a liking to someone or somethingGo totake a fancy to someone or something.
take a load off one’s feetGo to get a loadoff one’sfeet.
Take a long walk off a short pier.and
Go play in the traffic.Get out of here!;
Go do something that will get you manently out of here! Get out of here! Take a long walk off a short pier! You bother me Go play in the traffic.
per-take a look (at someone or something)to amine (briefly) someone or something
ex-(Also with have, as in the example
be-low.) I asked the doctor to take a look
at my ankle that has been hurting “So your ankle’s hurting,” said the doctor.
“Let’s take a look.” Please have a look
at my car It’s not running well.
take a look for someone or somethingand
have a look for someone or somethingtomake a visual search for someone orsomething; to look for someone or some-thing Please go to the library and have
a look for a book about snakes Take a look for a man in a black suit He is your guide.
take a napto have a brief period of sleep
I took a short nap just after lunch
The baby takes a long nap each afternoon.
take a new turn[for something] to begin
a new course or direction When I ceived the telegram with the exciting news,
re-my life took a new turn I began taking the medicine at noon, and by evening the disease had begun to take a new turn I was getting better!
take a new turn
Trang 31take an interest (in something)to develop
an interest in something I wish John
would take an interest in his schoolwork.
We hoped you’d take an interest and join
our club.
take an oathto make an oath; to swear to
something You must take an oath that
you will never tell anyone about this
When I was a witness in court, I had to
take an oath that I would tell the truth.
take a nosediveGo to go into a nosedive
take a peepGo to have a peep
take a potshot at someone or something to
criticize someone or something; to
in-clude a criticism of someone or
some-thing in a broader or more general
criti-cism Daily, the media took potshots at
the foolish politician John is taking
pot-shots at me in his condemnation of office
workers.
take a powderto leave (a place); to sneak
out or run out (of a place) (Slang.)
When the police came to the door, Tom
de-cided it was time to take a powder He left
by the back door When the party got a
little dull, Bill and his friend took a
powder.
take a punch at someoneto strike or strike
at someone with one’s fist (Informal.)
Mary got so angry at Bob that she took a
punch at him She took a punch at him,
but she missed.
take a rain check (on something)Go to get
a rain check (on something).
take a riskGo to take a chance
take a shellackingGo to get a shellacking
take a shine to someone or somethingGo to
take a fancy to someone or something.
take a shot at somethingGo to give something
a shot; take a try at something.
take a showerand take a bathto bathe
I take a shower every morning John
takes a hot bath to relax.
take a spillto have a fall; to tip over (Also
with bad, nasty, quite, etc Also with
have.) Ann tripped on the curb and took
a nasty spill John had quite a spill when
he fell off his bicycle.
take a stab at somethingGo to take a try atsomething.
take a stand (against someone or something)
to take a position in opposition to one or something; to oppose or resistsomeone or something The treasurer was forced to take a stand against the board because of its wasteful spending
some-The treasurer took a stand, and others agreed.
take a toll the damage or wear that iscaused by using something or by hard liv-ing Years of sunbathing took a toll on Mary’s skin Drug abuse takes a heavy toll on the lives of people.
take a try at somethingand take a shot at
something; take a stab at something; take
a whack at somethingto try to do
some-thing (Also with have; see the variants at
have a try at something The second, third,and fourth entries can also be literal.)
I don’t know if I can eat a whole pizza, but I’ll be happy to take a shot at it I can’t seem to get this computer to work right Would you like to take a try at it? Sure Take a stab at it I don’t know if I can
do it or not, but I’ll take a whack at it.
take attendanceto make a record of sons attending something The teacher took attendance before starting the class.
per-I will take attendance each day.
take a turn for the betterto start to prove; to start to get well (The opposite
im-of the following entry.) She was very sick for a month; then suddenly she took
a turn for the better Things are taking
a turn for the better at my store I may make a profit this year.
take a turn for the worseto start to getworse (The opposite of the previous en-try.) It appeared that she was going to get well; then, unfortunately, she took a turn for the worse My job was going quite well; then last week things took a turn for the worse.
take a vacationto go somewhere for a cation; to stop work to have a vacation
va- Sue took a vacation at the Grand Canyon last year I need to take a va- cation and relax.
take an interest (in something)
Trang 32Take a walk!Go to Go climb a tree!
take a whack at someone or something 1.
[with someone] (Slang Whack is
some-times spelled wack Also with have, as in
the examples below.) to hit at someone;
to hit someone He took a whack at me,
so I punched him Don’t try to take a
whack at me again! I’ll have a wack at
you!2 [with something] Go to take a try
at something.
take care of someone or something 1.to deal
with someone or something; to handle or
manage someone or something Would
you please take care of this little problem?
This is an easy thing to take care of I
will fix it immediately.2.to provide care
for someone or something John and
Mary took care of their aged grandmother.
Please take care of my plants while I am
on vacation. 3. [with someone] to tip
someone I took care of the doorman
as we left Did you remember to take
care of the waiter? 4.[with someone] to
kill or dispose of someone Max said
he was going to take care of Lefty once and
for all The crime king ordered Max to
take care of a certain private detective.
take charge (of someone or something)to take
(over) control of someone or something
The president came in late and took
charge of the meeting When the new
manager took charge, things really began
to happen.
take coldGo to catch cold
take digs at someone Go to take a dig at
someone.
take effectGo to go into effect
take exception (to something)to disagree
with something (that someone has said)
I take exception to your remarks, and I
would like to discuss them with you I’m
sorry you take exception Let’s discuss the
matter.
take fiveto take a five-minute rest period
(Slang.) Okay, everybody Take five!
Hey, Bob I’m tired Can we take five?
take forty winksGo to catch forty winks
take (great) pains (to do something) to
make a great effort to do something
Tom took pains to decorate the room actly right We took pains to get there on time.
ex-take heartto be brave; to have courage
Take heart, John Things could be worse!
I told her to take heart and try again next time.
take heedto be cautious Take heed, and don’t get involved with the wrong kind of people Just take heed, and you’ll be safe.
take illGo to take sick
take inventoryto make an inventory list
They are taking inventory in the house, counting each item and writing the number on a list The hardware store closed once a year in order to take inventory.
ware-take issue (with someone)to argue withsomeone; to dispute a point with some-one I hate to take issue with you on such a minor point, but I’m quite sure you’re wrong I don’t mind if you take issue, but I’m sure I’m right.
take it awayto start up a performance.(Also literal Typically a public an-nouncement of the beginning of a mu-sical performance Slang.) And now, here is the band playing “Song of Songs.” Take it away! Sally will now sing us a song Take it away, Sally!
Take it easy.Good-bye and take care ofyourself (Informal.) Bye, Tom Take it easy Take it easy I’ll see you later.
take it easy (on someone or something) 1 to
be gentle (with someone or something).(See also go easy (on someone or some-thing).) Take it easy on Mary She’s been sick Please take it easy on the furniture.
It has to last us many years Take it easy! You will break the chair!2 [with some- thing] to use less of something (rather
than more) (Informal.) Take it easy on the soup There’s just enough for one serv- ing for each person Please take it easy! There are hardly any left.
take it on the chinto experience and dure a direct blow or assault The bad news was a real shock, and John took it on
en-take it on the chin