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- CAMBRIDGE - INTERNATION L IC11 RV I I PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB22RU, UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia Ruiz de Alarc6n 13,28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http://www.cambridge.org © Cambridge University Press 1998 'm.••. ".pUB' The pages in this book marked ©Cambridge University Press 1998 may be photocopied free of charge by the purchasing individual or institution. This permission to copy does not extend to branches or additional schools of an institution. All other copying issubject to permission from the publisher. First published 1998 Fifth printing 2002 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press,Cambridge Typeset in Adobe Frutiger and Monotype Nimrod A catalogue record for thisbook isavailable from the British Library Library of CongressCataloguing inPublication data applied for ISBN0521 62364 2 hardback ISBN0521 62567 X paperback Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms Academic Consultant Professor Michael McCarthy Commissioning Editor Elizabeth Waiter Project Manager Glennis Pye Lexicographers Kerry Maxwell CleaMcEnery Elaine McGregor Susannah Wintersgill Kate Woodford Stephen Curtis AIiceGrandison Sandra Pyne American English Consultants Carol-June Cassidy Sabina Sahni Australian English Consultants Barbara Gassmann SueBremner Design and Production Samantha Dumiak Andrew Robinson Software Development Robert Fleischman Editorial contributions have been made by Annetta Butterworth Dominic Gurney Emma Malfroy Geraldine Mark Contents Introduction vi How to usethis dictionary x IdiomsA-Z 1 Themepanels 439 Anger 440 sustness 441 Dishonesty 442 Happiness&Sadness 443 Health 444 Helping 445 Intelligence &Stupidity 446 Interest &Boredom 447 Liking &not Liking 448 Money 449 Power &Authority 450 Remembering &Forgetting 451 Speaking&Conversation 452 Success&Failure 453 Understanding 454 Exercises 455 Answer Key 467 Introduction Idioms are acolourful and fascinating aspect of English. They are commonly used inalltypes of language, informal and formal, spoken and written. Your language skills will increase rapidly if you can understand idioms and use them confidently and correctly. One of the main problems students have with idioms isthat it isoften impossible to guess the meaning of an idiom from the words it contains. In addition, idioms often have a stronger meaning than non-idiomatic phrases. For example, look daggers at someone hasmore emphasis than look angrily at someone, but they mean the same thing. Idioms may also suggest a particular attitude of the person using them, for example disapproval, humour, exasperation or admiration, so you must usethem carefully. The Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms explains the meaning and useof around 7,000 idioms in aclear and helpful way. Itisatruly international dictionary: it covers current British, American and Australian idioms. It includes: • traditional idioms (e.g. turn a blind eye to sth, throw the baby out with the bathwater) • idiomatic compounds (e.g. fall guy, turkey shoot) • similes and comparisons (e.g. asdull asditchwater, swear like atrooper) • exclamations and sayings (e.g. Bully for you!, Over my dead body!) • cliches (e.g. all part of life's rich tapestry, There's many atrue word spoken injest.) The definitions are clear and precise. They have been written using acarefully controlled defining vocabulary of under 2,000 words. Every idiom is illustrated with examples based on sentences from the Cambridge International Corpus. This means that all of the examples reflect natural written and spoken English. Information about grammar isshown clearly, without complicated grammar codes.The origins of idioms are explained, where appropriate, to help understanding. Inaddition, there are theme panels showing idioms grouped according to their meaning or function. There are also photocopiable exercises at the back of the dictionary. This dictionary aims to help you not only asa comprehensive reference book but alsoasavaluable learning aid. viii How to use this dictionary Findingan idiom Where doyou look? Thebestwayto searchfor anidiom isto look inthe indexatthe backofthe dictionary. Youcan look under anyimportant word inthe idiom to find out where the entry for that idiom is. The keyword (theword where youwill find theentry) isshown indarktype: takepot luck (pot isthe keyword, sothe entry isat 'pot') givesomeoneatasteoftheir own medicine (medicineisthe keyword, sothe entry isat 'medicine') Eachentry islistedunderakeyword. The anacidtest keyword isshown indarktype inthe index. atest which willreally prove the value, quality, ortruth ofsomething. Thenew show was well received but viewing figuresfor thenextepisodewillbethereal acidtest. Idiomsarenot usuallylisted inthe index underwords like'a', 'the', 'all', 'these', 'where' or'no', exceptwhen thewhole idiom ismadeofsuchwords,e.g.beallin,beoutof it. Wordsarelisted inthe index inthe sameform asthey appear inthe idiom. Forinstance,look up 'pushing upthedaisies'at'pushing' or'daisies',not'push'or'daisy'. Whenthere areseveralidiomslistedunderonekeyword, theentriesareordered asfollows: •entriesbeginning with the keyword •entriesbeginning with 'a'+ keyword •entriesbeginning with 'the' +keyword •allother entriesinalphabetical orderofthewordsthey beginwith Forexample,theentriesunderthe keyword 'tongue' areordered likethis: tongue incheek tongue-in-cheek atongue-lashing biteyourtongue find yourtongue getyourtongue round/around sth holdyourtongue loosenyourtongue trip off thetongue Where British andAmerican idioms havedifferent spellings,e.g.take centre stage(British)/take center stage (American), the idiom isatthe British keyword, but youcanlook upthe American spelling inthe indextofind outwhere itis. ix paint the town red informal Thisisthe basicform ofthe idiom. to go out and enjoy yourself in the evening, often drinking alot ofalcohol and dancing •Jackfinished his exams todaysohe'sgoneofftopaint thetownred withhisfriends. Manyidiomshavedifferent possibleforms. -1put/stick the knife inlBritish & Whenthat difference isjustinoneword, itis Australian, informal shown likethis. to do or say something unpleasant to someone inan unkind way. 'Noonein theofficelikesyou, you know, Tim,' she said,putting theknife in.• Thereviewer from TheTimes reallystuck theknife in, callingittheworstplay he'dseeninyears. raise(sb's)hackles Whenthedifference ismorethan oneword, thealternative formsareshownondifferent make (sb's) hacklesrise toannoysomeoneID Hacklesarethehairs lines. onthebackofadog'sneckwhichstandup when itisangry. •Thepolitician's frank interview mayhaveraisedhackles inhis party.• Themavie'spro-warmessagemade manypeople'shacklesrise. Words inbrackets canbeomitted, andthe meaningwill bethesame. Idiomswith different formsinBritish,American blow araspberry British &Australian, orAustralianareshownonseparatelines.There informal isalistof regional labelsonpagexv. give araspberry American, informal to make a rude noise by putting your tongue between your lips and blowing •(often +at) A boyofnomorethan six appeared, blew a raspberry at me and thenranaway. Ifanidiom isformal, informal, old-fashioned, etc.,this isshownwith alabel.Thereisalist "<,b~/go(out) onthe razzleBritish, of registerlabelsonpagexv. ~ informal, old-fashionedI toenjoyyourselfbydoingthingslikegoing toparties ordances> We'regoing outon therazzleonNewYear'sEve-doyoujancy coming?