die

源自中古英語 deyen，源自古英語 dīeġan和古諾爾斯語 deyja，两者均源自原始日耳曼語 *dawjan (“死”)。取代了古英語 sweltan，其派生出现代英语 swelt。

dies (third-person singular present)
dying (present participle)
died (past participle)

被当做死了，被无视，被绝交

The day our sister eloped, she died to our mother.

我姐姐私奔以后，就被我们的妈妈当做死了。

"My dad […] beat us until we couldn't sit down." […] "What about your mother?" […] "She's alive. […] My aunt visits her once a year, but I don't ask about my mother. She died to me the day she chose my father over protecting us." Luke's voice hitched with emotion.

"You haven't been my son since you were ten years old. That boy died to me the day he ran away. I don't know you. You are merely a shell that resembles someone I used to know, but you are dead to me. You are the bringer of pain and death. Leave me be. Leave me with my son, Jyosh." "Mother..." Barlun pleaded.

2017，Mike Hoornstra，Descent into the Maelstrom，頁 366:


king's ransom

源自被绑架的王需要大笔赎金才能救回的说法。

king's ransoms (plural)
kings' ransoms (plural)

"But to yonder pavilion . . . the moon is glimmering on the gilded ball which crowns its roof, and which is worth a king's ransom."

1825，Sir Walter Scott，章號 12, in The Talisman:

These gold, silver and pewter pieces are part of a king’s ransom of Spanish treasure salvaged from the sea off Florida where they had lain for 250 years.

1967 March 10, Archeology: An Ill-Starred Treasure Comes into Its Own (pictorial), LIFE, page 101:

“ […] This commercial message is sponsored by Lebenthal in the heartfelt belief that we’re not the only ones who are going to miss the bonds when they’re gone and it costs a king’s ransom to turn on the lights, boil water, or haul the garbage.”

1986 March 24, Bernice Kanner, The Real James Bond: Jim Lebenthal’s Tax-Bill Crusade, New York, page 46:

Solving longitude was one of the major preoccupations of European nations from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries. King’s ransoms were offered for its solution.

2005, Michael R. Matthews, Colin F. Gauld, Arthur Stinner, The Pendulum: Its Place in Science, Culture and Pedagogy, Michael R. Matthews, Colin F. Gauld, Arthur Stinner (editors), The Pendulum: Scientific, Historical, Philosophical and Educational Perspectives, page 7:

Except that Clarissa Astley would not have been decked out in a king's ransom of diamonds.

2010，Jane Feather，Rushed to the Altar，Pocket Books, 出版於 2010, →ISBN，頁 386:


red tape

一般认为指以前用红带子将政府文件绑起来的习惯。

比喻义一般使用加长构式cutting [through] red tape、bound up in red tape。

All the red tape and paperwork that goes on there prevents any progress.

那边要办一大堆手续，工作根本没法继续。

One conspicuous cost of the compromise reached was a promise made by Senator Chuck Schumer to Manchin on what was vaguely called permitting reform: a catchall phrase referring to a whole host of efforts to cut red tape and ease the rollout of energy infrastructure.

2022年October5日，David Wallace-Wells，“Progressives Should Rally Around a Clean Energy Construction Boom”, in The New York Times:


out of line

不合适地，不恰当地，不妥地

I hope my comments yesterday were not out of line.

我希望我昨天说的话没有不妥之处。


go-getter

He's a promising young go-getter, but he needs to learn some things about office politics.

他是个前途光明，积极向上的年轻人，但是他在办公室政治方面还要多学习学习。

Tom Pitella is a go-getter and does not rely on others to prove things in the field of mathematics to him.

Tom Pitella是一个积极主动的人，不依靠别的数学领域的人向他证明东西。

I must get it from my dad. Can't be from Mom, the world-class go-getter, hand shaker, and baby kisser.”

2008，Ellen Hopkins，Identical, →ISBN，頁 31:


housewarming

In the eyes of Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke the apotheosis of the Celebrity was complete. The people of Asquith were not only willing to attend the house-warming, but had been worked up to the pitch of eagerness.

1897年 12月（標示為1898年），Winston Churchill，章號 5, in The Celebrity: An Episode，紐約: The Macmillan Company；倫敦：Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:


bite off more than one can chew

bites off more than one can chew (third-person singular present)
biting off more than one can chew (present participle)
bit off more than one could chew (past)
bitten off more than one could chew (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-bite off more than one can chew.ogg

常用作忠告“don't bite off more than you can chew”。

I think I bit off more than I could chew when I agreed to paint this house by myself.

我觉得我同意一个人给这个房子上漆的时候有点不自量力了。


beef up

原为大学俚语，源自beef (“肌肉力量”)。

beefs up (third-person singular present)
beefing up (present participle)
beefed up (past participle)

强化，加强，加固 （1941年）

We need to beef up security around the airport.

我们必须加强机场周围的安保。


rain check

take a rain check (on something)　（婉辞邀请）下次吧，以后再说


working girl

It was still September / When your daddy was quite surprised / To find you with the working girls / In the county jail

1973，Donald Fagen, Walter Becker （作曲作詞）, “My Old School”, in Countdown to Ecstasy，演出者 Steely Dan:


get a grip

gets a grip (third-person singular present)
getting a grip (present participle)
got a grip (past)
got a grip
gotten a grip

He needs to get a grip if he's getting that angry over such a little thing.

如果他要为这么小的事生那么大的气的话，那他得冷静点了。

She made her innocent bow, and retired without a suspicion that she had been an embarrassment. Nothing would have happened, now, perhaps, if quiet could have been maintained for a few minutes, so that the people could get a grip upon themselves, but the strain overpowered my old maid partner and she exploded like a bomb; a general and unrestrained crash of laughter followed, of course, the happy tears flowed like brooks, and no one was sorry of the opportunity to laugh himself out and get the blessed relief that comes of that privilege in such circumstances.

1907，“Mark Twain's Fables of Man”, in Little Nelly Tells a Story Out of Her Own Head，University of California Press:

When I reached this stage of visual chaos I stopped for a moment to get a grip on myself. It would not do to let my nerves get the better of me at the very outset of what would surely be a trying experience, […]

1929，H.P. Lovecraft, Zealia Bishop，The Mound, Part VII:

Panic thoughts chased about in my brain. I attempted to get a grip upon myself.

1950，William Frederick Temple，The Triangle of Terror:

Fuck all you hoes.
Get a grip, motherfucker.

1994，片头起0:00, in Juicy (Hip Hop), spoken by The Notorious B.I.G.:


icing on the cake

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-the icing on the cake.ogg

We went out for dinner and dancing and the icing on the cake was when my boyfriend proposed to me as we danced.

我们出去吃饭和跳舞，锦上添花的是我的男朋友在我们跳舞的时候向我求婚。


kiss my ass

（表示拒绝对方的请求或要求等）

When he asked me to help him fix the bike, I told him to kiss my ass.

他来找我帮忙修他的单车的时候，我让他哪凉快哪待着去。


tall tale

He returned on Monday with a tall tale about a 100-pound fish he had caught.

他周一回来就在吹牛他钓到一条100磅的鱼。


put a sock in it

可能源自一种捂住电唱机音响的粗暴方法。

puts a sock in it (third-person singular present)
putting a sock in it (present participle)
put a sock in it (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-put a sock in it.ogg

He went on and on until I finally told him to put a sock in it.

他滔滔不绝没完没了，一直到我叫他住嘴。


pull someone's leg

该短语源自苏格兰，原意为“捉弄某人”，尤其是通过欺骗的方式。一理论认为其来自通过猛拽某人的腿来使其摔倒而捉弄他/她的说法。

pulls someone's leg (third-person singular present)
pulling someone's leg (present participle)
pulled someone's leg (past participle)

捉弄某人，开某人的玩笑，戏耍某人

I hadn't pulled Mrs. Barstow's leg for any of that stuff, she had just handed it to me on a platter, and that wasn't my fault.

1934, Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance, 1992 Bantam edition, ISBN 0553278193, page 111:

No, I'm just pulling your leg, it's crucifixion really.

1979，Life of Brian，spoken by Mr. Cheeky (Eric Idle):

从某人骗钱（通过借钱或敲竹杠等方式）（19世纪末）

I'm very glad to hear of his good fortune; but it's a deuced strange thing, for I saw him at the club last night and he never said a word of it. I'll pull his leg when I see him.

1886，Mark Well，“An Old-Time Tip”, in Wallace's Monthly，卷 12:

The verb 'to-pull-his-leg' means to extract from his pocket all the lucre it will yield.

1893，John Kendrick Bangs，Coffee and Repartee:

"I would 'pull his leg,' but Laura will not work with me." The expression "pulling his leg," Miss Sullivan explained as meaning to coax or wheedle his wealth out of him.


hot air

"You'll never get anywhere so long as youse trail with that reform bunch. It's all hot air and tomfool theory."

1913，William MacLeod Raine，章號 8, in The Vision Splendid:

"You give me a lot of hot air about your conscience. Why don't you get a soap-box and preach on the street-corners?"

Some of the steam in Washington rises from real issues, but a lot is the hot air of partisan politics.

2001 June 24, Johanna McGeary, "How Bad Is China?," Time (retrieved 22 Sept 2013):

Klein diagnoses impressively what hasn’t worked. No more claptrap about fracked gas as a bridge to renewables. Enough already of the international summit meetings that produce sirocco-quality hot air, and nonbinding agreements that bind us all to more emissions.

2014年November6日，Rob Nixon，“Naomi Klein’s ‘This Changes Everything’”, in New York Times:


pray tell

源自pray (“礼貌询问”) + tell (“解释”)。

当“pray”用来强调请求时，构成的一般搭配（如在pray come here、pray help us和pray leave me等中的pray），曾确实是用来认真提问的。但是现在这一段与常用来讽刺性的指出某事不可理喻，尤其强调它在逻辑上的问题。

But how, pray tell, do you "notice" something that happens when you're asleep?

但你能解释一下你睡着的时候是怎么“注意到”有事发生的吗？


pipe dream

源自抽鸦片烟时出现的幻觉。

I think that his plan to become a professional athlete is a pipe dream and that he should stay in school.

我觉得他要成为专业田径选手的目标就是做梦，他应该待在学校里。

Only a year ago it would have needed a "super-Micawber" to be optimistic that the railways would once again pay their way. But it was no longer a pipe dream that B.R. could make a profit, the way to do it was now clear.

1962 December，“Dr. Beeching previews the plan for British Railways”, in Modern Railways，頁 376:


little old

微小的，微不足道的，不大的，无所谓的；无害的

How about a little old game of pool?

You brought the best little old news you'll ever tote. Secretario, if you never promulgate worse news than that, you'll boost your circulation a thousand a day.

1909, Rowland Thomas, The Little Gods, p. 280:

They found afterward to their regret that he was the finest little old poker player that ever struck the village and he carried away a suitcase of yellow-backed bills.

1915, Roy K. Moulton, "On the Spur of the Moment: Appearances", in The Day (New London), 14 August 1915, p. 9:

[Pogo:] I'm takin' care of this li'l' ol' backward child.

1949, Walt Kelly, Pogo (comic strip), 16 May 1949:

We Texans have always bragged about having the best little old this and the best little old that.

1976, Richard West, "The Best of Texas", in Texas Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 7, p. 103:

Well, you nice people, I'm going to let you in on a secret and show you why this kitchen knife is the best little ole product you can get.

1992, Henry I. Christ, Building Power in Reading, p. 131:

Christine Roberts Presley: Elvis was the best little ol' thing. He was so polite.

1995, Rose Clayton (ed.), Elvis Up Close: In the Words of Those Who Knew Him Best, p. 13:

While still marveling over the magnificent overtime victory his team had over St. John's Sunday, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski turned immediately to worrying about what was ahead. […] Duke plays a little old game against North Carolina tonight.

1999, New York Times, "College Basketball: Men's Roundup; Jarvis Keeps His Focus on Tough Road Ahead":

Last time I seen you, you was a little old girl / I had a crush now we grown and we still so thorough

2010, J. Cole, Friday Night Lights (mixtape), "You Got It" lyrics:


birthday suit

源自出生时一丝不挂的说法。

一般用于短语“in one's birthday suit”，但有时亦单独使用。如“Guess what she was wearing? Her birthday suit! (“你猜猜她穿了啥？啥都没穿！”)”。

出生时穿的衣服，即一丝不挂

George embarrassed his aunt by answering the door in his birthday suit.

George一丝不挂地去应门，让他的阿姨尴尬不已。

Nature, the universal tailor, provides for every other animal a birthday suit of clothes which is to outlast his life; but man, though so peculiarly sensitive to the assaults of the elements, is ushered into this nether sphere without any covering, in order that he may be compelled to exert his faculties, and become his own tailor, and thereby his own civilizer.

1842，H.，“Short Rides in an Author's Omnibus”, in The New Monthly Magazine and Humorist，頁 267:

At last I'm down to the nitty-gritty, my original birthday suit. Where do I put my hands? I need pockets.

1998，Paul Vaughn，“Confessions of a Naked Writer”, in Orange Coast，頁 185:

The terms naturalistic and naturalism suffer from the fact that they have a range of meanings, covering a variety of things from the Romantic submission to nature or the collecting of butterflies to the practice of bathing on the beach clad only in one's birthday suit.

2000，Denis Charles Phillips，The Expanded Social Scientist's Bestiary: A Guide to Fabled Threats to, and Defenses of, Naturalistic Social Science，頁 85:

A person suddenly caught naked by the collapse of a building wall is treated quite differently than a person who intentionally “streaks” a public gathering in his or her birthday suit.

2001，Tom Slattery，Immodest Proposals: Through the Pornographic Looking Glass，頁 181:


cough up

coughs up (third-person singular present)
coughing up (present participle)
coughed up (past participle)

不情愿地交出
（指钱） （不情愿地）给，支付

Do you think he'll be able to cough up the three grand by Tuesday?

你觉得他周二前能交出三千美元吗？

"[…] Usually businessmen. Married, middle-aged guys who'll cough up fifty bucks to smoke my pole."

2006，K. M. Soehnlein，You Can Say You Knew Me When，頁 240:

不情愿地交出
（指其他事物） 交出

"Anyhow, you go and cough it up and then we shall see."

1926，Sir Arthur Conan Doyle，The Land of Mist:

Cough it up, Cooper.

2013, The Big Bang Theory, season 6, episode 14:

（在比赛快结束时出岔子而）失败

That team had the game won, but they coughed it up in the end.

那个队本来稳赢的，但是最后还是出岔子输了。

England had never before come back to win from a margin of more than 12 points, and the errors continued to come thick and fast as Tom Croft became the latest to cough up the ball.

2011，Tom Fordyce，Rugby World Cup 2011: England 12-19 France:


mouth breather

乡巴佬；傻子，呆子；无趣的人

She's a philosophy major from Brown, now working retail at Niagara Falls, living in a trailer and working for a "mouth breather" of a boss.

2004年March12日，Tim Goodman，“Trinkets are spirit guides in Fox's brilliant 'Wonderfalls'”, in San Francisco Chronicle:


reach for the sky

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-reach for the sky.ogg

hands up

举起手来！ （指举手投降）

stick 'em up

举起手来！ （指举手投降）

举起手来！ （指举手投降）

(我們能否查找並添加chapter 10 from By the Great Horn Spoon!引用過本詞的語句？)


blue state

blue + state。藍色是美國民主黨的代表色。

“藍色州”，支持民主黨的美國州份。


penny pincher

Over the years, he developed a reputation as a penny pincher who wouldn't spend money for anything.

多年來，他成了別人口中不願為任何事物花錢的吝嗇鬼。


make a run for it

makes a run for it (third-person singular present)
making a run for it (present participle)
made a run for it (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-make a run for it.ogg

An explosion! All’s over—I have nothing to do but to make a run for it.

1824, George Soane, Pride Shall Have a Fall: A Comedy, London: Hurst, Robinson & Co., Act 4, Scene 2, p. 79,

Nannie Slagg, terrified at this suggestion, raised her little bony hands to her mouth and raised her shoulders to her ears. Then she gave one frightened look down the passage and was about to make a run for it …

1946, Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, “Prunesquallor’s Knee-Cap,”

… he began to go over in his mind the many occasions on which he had heard that toll coming faintly down the breeze, and had to pack his rod in a hurry and make a run for it, to get in before the gates were shut.

1857, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown’s School Days, Part 2, Chapter 6,

In the depths of his body, Bird felt the beginning of an irrepressible and certain crisis. … Could he make it in time if he charged in that direction? But how much better to ride the crisis out without having to make a run for it.

1964, John Nathan (translator), A Personal Matter by Kenzaburō Ōe, New York: Grove Press, 1969, Chapter 5, p. 83,


egg on

* 源自中古英語 eggen (“煽动；催促；唆使”)，源自古諾爾斯語 eggja (“促使”)，源自egg (“边缘”)。详见edge。
* 古旧形式“edge on”的变体。

eggs on (third-person singular present)
egging on (present participle)
egged on (past participle)

唆使，怂恿，哄骗 （尤指让某人去干蠢事或鲁莽的事）

Then I heard that at morning one brother the other / With edges of irons egged on to murder,

1892，Lesslie Hall (translator)，章號 35, in Beowulf:

He resented the idea of interference from those who had […] egged him on to a new peril.

1908，Robert Louis Stevenson，章號 25, in In the South Seas:

She had deliberately egged him on to wreck his prospects.

1912，P. G. Wodehouse，章號 8, in The Adventures of Sally:


give in

gives in (third-person singular present)
giving in (present participle)
gave in (past)
given in (past participle)

I finally gave in and let him stay up to watch TV.

我最后终于放弃了，只得让他熬夜看电视。

OK, I don't know the answer. I give in.

好吧，我不知道答案。我认输。

Try not to give in to temptation.


see you later

“I will see you later”或“I hope to see you later”的縮略。


on a shoestring

The first year after we bought the house, we lived on a shoestring, but we survived.

買完房子的第一年，我們只能勒緊褲腰帶過日子，不過也算是撐過來了。


around the clock

They worked around the clock to finish the project on time.

他們夜以繼日工作以按時完成計劃。


around the clock

The around-the-clock workers tried to finish the project.

夜以繼日工作的工人們盡力完成計劃。


round the clock

He had his team work round the clock to get the project finished in time.

為了按時完成計劃，他讓團隊夜以繼日工作。


round the clock

They are protected by round-the-clock guards.

他們一天二十四小時都有保鏢保護。


the other day

day 可以用 night、evening、afternoon、morning代替。用 week 和 month 則比較少。

I was in San Francisco just the other day.


hold up

holds up (third-person singular present)
holding up (present participle)
held up (past participle)

hold up to scrutiny

hold up to heavy use

完成 (某协定的自己那部分)

I don't think he's holding up his end of the bargain.

我觉得他完不成那他部分约定。

The guy tried to hold up a bank.


under no circumstances

Under no circumstances should I be responsible for your reckless driving of my vehicle.

我無論如何都不會為你魯莽駕駛我的車輛而負責。


zonk out

zonks out (third-person singular present)
zonking out (present participle)
zonked out (past participle)

After a full day of playing, you'd think that kid would finally zonk out.

那小孩玩了一整天后，还以为他/她终于会昏睡过去了。


offer one's condolences

offers one's condolences (third-person singular present)
offering one's condolences (present participle)
offered one's condolences (past participle)

The president offered his condolences to the mother of the dead soldier.

總統向死難士兵的母親致以哀悼。


sweet tooth

He eats a healthy diet most of the time, but has a sweet tooth when it comes to candy.

他大部分時間飲食都很健康，但只要有糖他就愛不釋手。


haul ass

hauls ass (third-person singular present)
hauling ass (present participle)
hauled ass (past participle)

趕緊，趕快移動（尤指離開）

It's the cops! Haul ass!

trucks hauling ass on the interstate, trying to make up time

卡車在州際公路上飛馳，試圖彌補浪費掉的時間


crème de la crème

借自法語 crème de la crème (字面意思是“奶油中的奶油”)。

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-us-crème de la crème.ogg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-uk-creme de la creme.ogg

To be an astronaut you must be the crème de la crème.

要成為宇航員，你必須得是精英中的精英。


cream of the crop

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-cream of the crop.ogg

They hoped to hire only the cream of the crop for the new project team.

他們希望只為新項目團隊聘請最優秀的人才。


on the sly

This diversion was enjoyed on the sly, and unknown to the ladies of the house.

1857, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Virginians, ch. 16:


eyeblink

源自eye + blink。與南非語 oomblik、荷蘭語 ogenblik、德語 Augenblick、德國低地德語 Ogenblick同源。


blink of an eye

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-blink of an eye.ogg


stumbling block

可能起於聖經欽定本羅馬書 14:13 或哥林多前書 8:9，仿譯自通用希臘語 πρόσκομμα (próskomma)。

Idioms are a common stumbling block for learners of a language.

俗語是語言學習者路上常見的絆腳石。


kick in

kicks in (third-person singular present)
kicking in (present participle)
kicked in (past participle)

People expect women [when they give birth] to have this instinct that kicks in.

2013，Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke，Before Midnight (motion picture), Julie Delpy (actor):

Once the wet kicks in up north, you can be stranded for months waiting for swollen rivers to subside to a crossable depth.]

2005，Sean Dooley，The Big Twitch，Sydney: Allen and Unwin，頁 289:

You have to push the switch hard to get the heater to kick in.

你要用力推开关，才能把暖气打开。

I took my medication an hour ago, and it hasn't kicked in yet.

我一小时前服的药，现在还没见效。

贡献，交 （到某个筹款活动）

For the year-end party, we're asking each employee to kick in twenty dollars.

我们要求每个员工给年末聚会交20美元。

This is a worthy charity, so everyone should kick in.

这个慈善活动很有意义，每个人都应该捐点钱。


old hat

不详。《牛津英语词典》认为与德語 alter Hut (名词，字面意思是“旧帽子”)有关。

more old hat (comparative)
most old hat (superlative)

banal

司空见惯的，老生常谈的；陈腐的，老一套的 （自20世纪）

commonplace

司空见惯的，老生常谈的；陈腐的，老一套的 （自20世纪）

cliché

司空见惯的，老生常谈的；陈腐的，老一套的 （自20世纪）

démodé

司空见惯的，老生常谈的；陈腐的，老一套的 （自20世纪）

passé

司空见惯的，老生常谈的；陈腐的，老一套的 （自20世纪）

unchic

司空见惯的，老生常谈的；陈腐的，老一套的 （自20世纪）

司空见惯的，老生常谈的；陈腐的，老一套的 （自20世纪）

Coward is such an old hand at this kind of thing that he makes it seem old hat.

1946年November11日，“New Plays in Manhattan”, in Time:

In fact, monorails are rather old hat.

1964 July，“The mythology of monorails”, in Modern Railways，頁 1:

It is old hat for a sex scandal to bring down a politician.

1987年May8日，Elaine Sciolino，“Washington Talk: The Hart Story Grips the Capital”, in New York Times:

Based on the size of the crowd, perhaps the queen is old hat.

2007年May4日，Fredrick Kunkle, Paul Duggan，“Straining for a Glimpse of Royalty”, in Washington Post:

The only real knock against “Mortshall” is that “Rick and Morty get sick of each other and split up for a while” feels kind of old hat at this point—the comic premise of the show requires their relationship to be toxic (because a lot of the humor comes from seeing Rick be a shit and seeing Morty try haplessly to deal with Rick being a shit), and they can only try and sell the illusion that anything is going to change so many times before it starts to get stale.

2021年September6日，Zack Handlen，“Rick And Morty ends its fifth season looking for an escape hatch”, in AV Club:


banana republic

由美國的作家歐·亨利在1901年造出，用於他的短篇小說 Money Maze 中，為虛構國家“安楚里亞”（Anchuria）的別名，該國是根據歐·亨利1896-1897年在洪都拉斯旅行時對該國的印象創作的。香蕉也是包括該國在內，許多中南美洲國家的重要出口農產品。

At that time we had a treaty with about every foreign country except Belgium, and that banana republic, Anchuria.

那時我們和除了比利時，以及“香蕉共和國”安楚里亞之外的其他所有國家都簽有協議。

1901年May13日，O. Henry，“Money Maze”, in Ainslee's Magazine，卷 vii, 期 4, New York，頁 305:

The banana workers of this former banana republic were exceptionally well organized and effective in their demands from the very beginning of the revolution.

2001, Cindy Forster, The Time of Freedom: Campesino Workers in Guatemala's October Revolution, University of Pittsburgh Press (ISBN 9780822973942), page 117:


get up on the wrong side of the bed

gets up on the wrong side of the bed (third-person singular present)
getting up on the wrong side of the bed (present participle)
got up on the wrong side of the bed (past)
got up on the wrong side of the bed
gotten up on the wrong side of the bed

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-get up on the wrong side of the bed.ogg

吃错药 （没有特别理由而心情差，烦躁）

I think my boss got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. He's been grumpy all day.

我觉得我老板吃错药了，整天都特别暴躁。


own up

owns up (third-person singular present)
owning up (present participle)
owned up (past participle)

I'll own up: I glued your mouse to its mat.

我坦白：是我把你鼠标粘到垫子上的。

If you own up to breaking the glass, you'll be forgiven.

你承认是你打碎的玻璃就原谅你。


chip away

chips away (third-person singular present)
chipping away (present participle)
chipped away (past participle)

一点点地削减，一点点地削弱 （常带at）

Iraneus contrasts the unity and integrity of these writings with the distorted, contextless citations of the Gnostics. He describes the code of textual harassment that allows these heretics to chip away at the Scriptures, […]

1991，Jan Gorak，The Making of the Modern Canon: Genesis and Crisis of a Literary Idea，頁 24:

Matthew Towers, senior industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan, thinks the PowerPC will gradually build market share over the next several years. “They'll ‘chip’ away at Intel, but slowly,” he says.

1995年June15日，John Edwards，引 Matthew Towers, “How the Chips Fall”, in CIO，卷 8, 號 17, CXO Media, Inc., →ISSN，頁 76:

Antismoking groups continue their efforts to chip away at the public support for smoking as well as at the favorable treatment of tobacco products.

1997，Robert L. Heath，Strategic Issues Management: Organizations and Public Policy Challenges，SAGE Publications, →ISBN，頁 77:


dead of night

常作“in the dead of night”，但有时亦作“at dead of night”（类似“at midnight”）。

I was feeling just as I had felt in the old Malvern House epoch when I used to sneak down to [the schoolmaster]'s study at dead of night in quest of the biscuits he kept there in a tin on his desk, and there came back to me the memory of the occasion when, not letting a twig snap beneath my feet, I had entered his sanctum in pyjamas and a dressing-gown, to find him seated in his chair, tucking into the biscuits himself.

1960，P. G. Wodehouse，Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VII:

Blackbird singing in the dead of night / Take these broken wings and learn to fly

1968，“Blackbird”, in Paul McCartney 作詞, The Beatles，演出者 The Beatles:


at all

whatsoever

表示比零更大的程度、数量或频率：最小程度上、用任何方法、在任何时间或在任何情况下。

You mustn't speak to her at all.

Can you see anyone at all?

Are you at all bothered by the noise?

Let me know if you are at all concerned.

如果您有任何顧慮，請告訴我。

Were you angry that he was laughing too hard, or that he was laughing at all?

你是为他笑得太厉害而生气，还是就为他在笑而生气？

I'm glad that she didn't stay long, but sorry that she came at all.

我很高兴她没有呆很久，但对她的到来感到遗憾。

This is the only one of the issues for which I am at all responsible.

这是唯一一个由我负责的问题。


move house

moves house (third-person singular present)
moving house (present participle)
moved house (past participle)

I haven’t got any mail since I(’ve) moved house.

自從搬家之後，我就沒收到過任何郵件。


move on

moves on (third-person singular present)
moving on (present participle)
moved on (past participle)

After spending the night resting in an abandoned church, the group decided to move on in their quest.

在废弃教堂休息了一晚上后，这队人决定继续远征。

Moving on again, I catch another GWR Class 802 bound for Oxford via the Cotswold Line.

2020年December2日，Paul Bigland，“My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail，頁 67:

The best revenge is always to just happily move on and let karma do the rest.

最好的复仇就是不管，让报应收拾他们。


on the money

exactly

位置准确地，不偏不倚地，正中地，准确地，正确地

on the dot

位置准确地，不偏不倚地，正中地，准确地，正确地

on the mark

位置准确地，不偏不倚地，正中地，准确地，正确地

位置准确地，不偏不倚地，正中地，准确地，正确地

Did you have the wrong kind? I've never had the wrong kind. Ever. My worst one was right on the money.

1979，Woody Allen，Manhattan，spoken by Isaac Davis (Woody Allen):

Two of the A-4s landed on the money. The third was not so lucky.

1987年July13日，Maj. Michael B. Perini，“In Good Hands with Gold 11”, in Air Force Magazine，卷 70, 號 7, retrieved 2014-05-10:

For years, Gore had been dismissed, even ridiculed, for his traveling Power Point extravaganza warning about climate change. […] Today, few would disagree that Al was pretty much on the money.

2008年October10日，Richard Friebe，“How Nobel Winners Spend Their Prize Money: Al Gore”, in Time，存檔自the original on 2014-03-06:

I always felt that Bob Dylan was on the money when he sang: "When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose."

2011年August19日，The Secret Footballer，“For new boys there's nothing like the big time”, in The Guardian (UK), retrieved retrieved 10 May 2014:

Its mileage claims were right on the money: I averaged a little over 33 m.p.g. over a weekend of combined city-highway driving in the 2012 SL.

2013年February1日，Robert Peele，“The Mouse That Roars”, in New York Times, retrieved 2014-05-10:


loaf around

loafs around (third-person singular present)
loafing around (present participle)
loafed around (past participle)


sign in

signs in (third-person singular present)
signing in (present participle)
signed in (past participle)

In order to get into the office after hours, you'll have to sign in at the security desk.

下班后进办公室需要到保安服务台登记。


no biggie

It's no biggie. It should only take five minutes to make a new one.

不要紧，做一个新的应该只要五分钟。

My teeth are, like, too small / But no biggie / It's so awesome

1982，Frank Zappa, Moon Zappa （作曲作詞）, “Valley Girl”, in Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch:


tongue-in-cheek

该短语暗指了将自己的舌头伸出搭到自己脸上的面部表情。首个书面引文见于1828年，但是已经不清楚它指的是字面意思还是现在的意思。较晚出现的Richard Barham的引文中的这个词的意思则很清楚。

more tongue-in-cheek (comparative)
most tongue-in-cheek (superlative)

不是认真的，开玩笑的，随便说说的

He gave a tongue-in-cheek explanation of why the sky was blue, offering a theory about some primordial discount on light blue paint.

他开玩笑解释为什么天空是蓝的，说什么开天辟地时天蓝色染料在打折。

It was in this era, too, that author and Scotland the Brave songwriter Cliff Hanley penned The Glasgow Underground, a tongue-in-cheek love letter to the Subway in song.

2021年December29日，Conrad Landin，“Glasgow Subway: a city institution”, in RAIL，期 947，頁 45:


hoover up

hoovers up (third-person singular present)
hoovering up (present participle)
hoovered up (past participle)

狼吞虎咽 （尤指不用餐具直接从盘子吃）


butt heads

源自带角动物用角互相顶撞来争斗的习惯。

butts heads (third-person singular present)
butting heads (present participle)
butted heads (past participle)

They always seem to butt heads when they end up talking about politics.

他们聊到政治的时候似乎老是吵起来。

"Eventually, I just pieced it together, figuring your butting heads could probably be explained by a break up. Years of anime shipping trained me for this."

2018年November21日，Jocelyn Samara D.，Rain (webcomic), Comic 1101 - Rose:


fall foul

falls foul (third-person singular present)
falling foul (present participle)
fell foul (past)
fallen foul (past participle)

冲撞，攻击 （+ on、of或upon）

1624，Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton]，The Anatomy of Melancholy: […]，第2nd版, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:

He was, literally speaking, drunk; which circumstance, together with his natural impetuosity, could produce no other effect than his running immediately up to his daughter, upon whom he fell foul with his tongue in the most inveterate manner [...]

1749，Henry Fielding，The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling [棄兒湯姆·瓊斯的歷史]，卷 (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book v:

Sky News fell foul of its own woolly reporting on Tuesday, when it reported "human remains" had been found on Saddleworth Moor. Ever keen to spin a good yarn, they immediately linked the story to moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley - only for the police to emerge seven hours later and announce that, after very careful inspection, they could confirm the carcass was not human …

2008, The Guardian, Media Monkey, 4 Aug 2008:

If Chelsea were to fall foul of profit and sustainability, they would be expected to cite unforeseen circumstances, much as some clubs have claimed Covid writedowns: their books would have been sound but for the pandemic.

March 11 2022，David Hytner，“Chelsea are in crisis but there is no will to leave club on their knees”, in The Guardian:


bat an eyelid

源自bat (“震颤”)，约1900年。

bats an eyelid (third-person singular present)
batting an eyelid (present participle)
batted an eyelid (past participle)

flinch

关心，注意，有反应，理睬

关心，注意，有反应，理睬

When laptop computers first came out they were something of a novelty. These days, nobody bats an eyelid.

笔记本电脑刚问世的时候很新奇，现在大家都见怪不怪了。

[…]he got the drop on Cox, the only time I had seen or heard of its being done — had his pistol out and stuck in Cox's face before Cox could bat an eyelid.

1914，Edgar Beecher Bronson，The Vanguard，頁 155:

If you were to walk into a salon in America after a few 10–12 hour days of sweaty, dusty travel with no shower, you'd probably be politely asked to leave and not return until you've cleaned up. But here in a land whose resources and infrastructure cannot sustain such frivolity, the barber doesn't even bat an eyelid.

2006，Pete Takeda，An Eye at the Top of the World，頁 116:

Dublin's not a bad place to be gay. Most people wouldn't bat an eyelid at public displays of affection between same-sex couples[…]

2007，Fionn Davenport，Dublin Encounter，頁 153:


out and about

出门在外的，在日常活动的

He carried a cellular phone so that friends could reach him when he was out and about.

他带着手机，好让自己在外面时朋友能联系上他。

She had been in hospital, but now she is out and about again.

她之前住院，现在已经又可以出门了。


take stock

takes stock (third-person singular present)
taking stock (present participle)
took stock (past)
taken stock (past participle)

At the outset of any inquiry it is proper to take stock of the results obtained by previous explorers of the same field.

1882, Leslie Stephen, The Science of Ethics

In 2009, he underwent heart surgery for an aortic valve replacement at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, an event that Mr. Williams said caused him to take stock of his life.

2014 August 11, Dave Itzkoff, "Robin Williams, Oscar-Winning Comedian, Dies at 63 in Suspected Suicide," New York Times

[…]and the pillar of smoke which had recently begun to dissipate, as many of the fires amidships had been smothered by the onrushing water, was replaced by a vast mushroom cloud of steam, smoke, flame, and debris as the magazines detonated. In the pall of this apocalyptic destruction, the U.S. fleet takes stock.

2021年May5日，Drachinifel，片头起42:53, in Battle of Samar - What if TF34 was there?，存檔自the original on 2022-08-19:


party to

对...知情的；参与...的


good head on one's shoulders

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-good head on one's shoulders.ogg


bite the dust

bites the dust (third-person singular present)
biting the dust (present participle)
bit the dust (past)
bitten the dust (past participle)

Ulysses killed Demoptolemus, Telemachus Euryades, Eumæus Elatus, while the stockman killed Pisander. These all bit the dust, and as the others drew back into a corner Ulysses and his men rushed forward and regained their spears by drawing them from the bodies of the dead

1900, Samuel Butler, transl. The Odyssey, Book XXII., page 293

Three more warriors bit the dust...

1877, Frances Fuller Victor, Eleven years in the Rocky Mountains and a life on the frontier, Chapter IX, p. 156

Tons of engine sheds would bite the dust with the end of steam, and many would be demolished with their time in the spotlight over. We're lucky that the one at Didcot survived into preservation.

2021年December29日，Stephen Roberts，“Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Didcot (1932)”, in RAIL，期 947，頁 61:

London calling, now don't look to us / Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust

My old backpack finally bit the dust the other day.

前几天我的旧背包终于坏了。


of late

I have not visited them of late, but I hear they are doing well.

我最近没有去看他们，但是我听说他们过得挺好的。


all the while

the while

与此同时 （常指较长的时间）

通常用来暗示这一时间段背后隐瞒的事。

与此同时 （常指较长的时间）

The good fortune which attended him throughout life may have been partly owing to this cause as well as to his undoubted valour, for though he never lost a battle, nothing is more astounding than his imprudence and the easy confidence with which he trusted Somerset, Warwick, Montague, and others, all the while they were betraying him.

1889，Leslie Stephen，Dictionary of National Biography，頁 82:

Sulla, encamped near Scipio, and amusing him with caresses under pretence of an approaching peace, was all the while corrupting his troops.

And all with that vital piece of evidence burning a hole in his pocket the while!

1986，Michael Dibdin，A Rich Full Death，頁 60:

All the while, my intention was to amuse her, and divert her out of her hellish thoughts, and show to her the wide world of which she could now be a part.


I'll be damned

I'll be hanged

表示自己不会允许某事发生的情绪激动的发言。

表示自己不会允许某事发生的情绪激动的发言。

I'll be damned if I'm having a thief like him stay in my house.

我绝对不会允许他那样的贼住在我家里。

My mechanisms / Of defense are down / And my resistance / Is out on the town / I was alarmed by your attack / This isn't a boxing match / But I'll be damned if I ever let you win

2011，Lenka and Ben H. Allen （作曲作詞）, “Roll with the Punches”, in Two，演出者 Lenka:


pull out of one's ass

pulls out of one's ass (third-person singular present)
pulling out of one's ass (present participle)
pulled out of one's ass (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-pull out of one's ass.ogg

Don says his community is 95% Caucasian, but I think he pulled that figure out of his ass.

Don说他的社区有95%的人是白种人，但我觉得那个数字是他胡诌的。


quake in one's boots

quakes in one's boots (third-person singular present)
quaking in one's boots (present participle)
quaked in one's boots (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-quake in one's boots.ogg

The thought of climbing that high had him quaking in his boots.

想到爬到那么高的地方他就怕得不行。


mince words

minces words (third-person singular present)
mincing words (present participle)
minced words (past participle)

通常用否定，即“直截了当”，“不拐弯抹角”，“心直口快”。

"I ask you, William, could I suppose that the Emperor of Austria was a damned traitor—a traitor, and nothing more? I don’t mince words—a double-faced infernal traitor and schemer."

1847 January – 1848 July，William Makepeace Thackeray，章號 20, in Vanity Fair. A Novel without a Hero，London: Bradbury and Evans, […], 出版於 1848, →OCLC:

The detective did not mince words. "It's plain that you're a boob," he said.

1920, Upton Sinclair, 100%: The Story of a Patriot, ch. 2:

We remember, too, those admirable reports issued to every passenger during the final stages of the Kent Coast electrification, which did not mince words about the disruption of normal working, but which often turned the situations into an instructive illustration of the complexity of modern railway working.

1962 August，“Let's have plain speaking”, in Modern Railways，頁 73:

They all sought the President's views on the world situation in general and the Asian situation in particular. Without mincing words he would comment on his favorite theme, namely, the insidious scheme of the international Communists to conquer the free world.

1983，James C. H. Shen，“Rejoining the Government”, in The U.S. & Free China: How the U.S. Sold Out Its Ally，Washington, D.C.: Acropolis Books Ltd., →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC，頁 28:

The coroner did not mince words, in charging the jury with their duty: "The bridge had been utterly neglected from the time that it was built and there had been no proper inspection of it... [...]."

2022年July27日，Dr Joseph Brennan，“Bridge disasters that spanned an Empire”, in RAIL，期 962，頁 58:

有關使用本詞的更多用例，請參閱Citations:mince words。


make headway

makes headway (third-person singular present)
making headway (present participle)
made headway (past participle)

I worked on them all day, but barely made headway at all.

我做了他们一天的工作，但是几乎没有什么进展。


then and there

When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit, Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.

1897年 12月（標示為1898年），Winston Churchill，章號 5, in The Celebrity: An Episode，紐約: The Macmillan Company；倫敦：Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

'Well, I soon saw to that, I told him to bolt it then and there[.]'

1934，Agatha Christie，章號 4, in Murder on the Orient Express，London: HarperCollins, 出版於 2017，頁 99:


rain or shine

无论如何；不管下不下雨，不管天气怎么样

同類詞：come what may、hell or high water、no matter what

The game will be held on Saturday rain or shine.

不管天气怎么样，比赛都会在周六举行。

He always showed up right on time, rain or shine.

无论如何他都总是按时到。

This very morning we begin rebuilding the windmill, and we will build all through the winter, rain or shine.

1945年August17日，George Orwell [筆名；本名 Eric Arthur Blair]，章號 6, in Animal Farm […]，London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC:


pull out all the stops

暗指organ stop (“琴栓，音栓”)。在管风琴中，将琴栓拔出可以打开其一系列发声管，然后才能发出声音。将栓全部拔出后，其所有声音均能发出，也同时达到最大的音量。

pulls out all the stops (third-person singular present)
pulling out all the stops (present participle)
pulled out all the stops (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-pull out all the stops.ogg

They pulled out all the stops for the gala wedding.

他们在婚宴上全力以赴[准备]了。


put one's feet up

puts one's feet up (third-person singular present)
putting one's feet up (present participle)
put one's feet up (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-put one's feet up.ogg

kick one's feet up

放松，松口气 （字面意思为“把脚抬起来”）

放松，松口气 （字面意思为“把脚抬起来”）


snap out of

snaps out of (third-person singular present)
snapping out of (present participle)
snapped out of (past participle)

从...（突然）摆脱出来 （指摆脱某种感情）

I felt sad that he had left, but I had to snap out of it and get on with my life.

他离开了我很伤心，但是我必须振作起来继续我的生活。


fly on the wall

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-fly on the wall.ogg

旁观者，（暗中的）见证者，偷看者

James W. Gerard, ex-Ambassador to Germany, the first speaker of the evening, said that at that moment he would like to be a fly on the wall of the palace at Potsdam to hear what the Potsdam gang were saying about our soldiers.

1918, "Clark Would Draft Even Men of 68," New York Times, 9 Aug., p. 11 (retrieved 28 Oct. 2008),


up to here

I have been up to here in paperwork all week.

They have their lives to live and I'm up to here in disgust with mine.

1953, Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye, chapter 12


nature calls

nature beckons

（我）内急 （用来指某人（一般是说话人）需要排尿或排便。）

（我）内急 （用来指某人（一般是说话人）需要排尿或排便。）


me three

将me too诙谐性地解读为me two的双关语。还可以后接me four、me five等。

我也是 （用来在某人说“me too”以后表示同意，还可以后接me four、me five等。）

“...Come if you can—he’d like that a lot.” / “Me, too.” / “Me, three.” She gave a girlish giggle and unlocked her door.

1982, Richard Kluger, Un-American Activities, Doubleday Publishing, page 524

“I hate saying good-bye,” Lulu said sadly. / “Me too,” Pam said. / “Me three,” Anna said.

1995，Jeanne Betancourt，Give Me Back My Pony，Scholastic Paperbacks,, →ISBN，頁 16:

Perhaps a first worker complained about an aspect of their work environment, and others chimed in—Me too, me three!

2006, Michelle Murphy, Sick Building Syndrome and the Problem of Uncertainty: Environmental Politics, Technoscience, and Women Workers, Duke University Press, ISBN 0822336715, page 1


me three

我也是 （上面那句话本身）

Mostly, I just wanted to say sort of a me-too, or me-three, or me-ten statement at this point: The census is extremely important.

1980 June 7, in U.S. House Subcommittee on Census and Population, Oversight hearings on the 1980 census: hearings before the Subcommittee on Census and Population of the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, House of Representatives, Ninety-sixth Congress, first [-second] session, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 95


full of oneself

more full of oneself (comparative)
most full of oneself (superlative)

自满的，自以为是的，得意洋洋的

I thought it not amiss to write him a line to let him know the regard you had for him, for as I know him to be vastly vain and full of himself I thought this might be a spur to his zeale.

1897，Andrew Lang，章號 8, in Pickle the Spy:


full of it

more full of it (comparative)
most full of it (superlative)

full of shit (“在撒谎的，在放屁的”)的碎誓形式。

Do you believe him? I think he's full of it.

你信他吗，我觉得他在放屁。


go downtown

goes downtown (third-person singular present)
going downtown (present participle)
went downtown (past)
gone downtown (past participle)

Rappin about going downtown on the kitty Let me do you and I won't cum too soon.

Go downtown on her for an oral dessert.

2016，David James，Love and Sex at the Post Office:

You see my mistress needs new sexy lingerie and a VACATION TO A REMOTE ISLAND FAR FROM THE CITY where my wife resides. I must provide this for her, because, she goes downtown on me.

2017，Melisa Karpinske，Twelve Rounds With Cancer & Life，頁 54:

Are these normal reactions to your still-hot looking ex? I suppose so. I mean, it was merely a month ago since that mouth went downtown on my body.


bean counter

可能是源自德語 Erbsenzähler (字面意思是“数豌豆的人”)。

过于精打细算的人（常指那些纠结于成本和利润而无视其他东西或大局的人，广泛略带贬义，有时甚至诙谐地作accountant (“会计”)、CEO、CFO或其他管理财政决策等的政府、企业官员的近义词）

As any good bean counter will tell you, it costs money to treat people at a hospital.

1985 Aug. 2, "Editorial: Sniffing at DOC health costs," Gainsville Sun, p. 14A (retrieved 13 Sep 2009):

And, in our case, the accounting firm of Halpern & Mantovani, CPA, in Encino, Calif., Chais' chief bean counter, pumped out the quarterly statements as if it were all rock solid.

2008 Dec. 23, Robert Chew, "Who Is Bernie Madoff? Many Investors Didn't Ask," Time (retrieved 13 Sep 2009):


in the same breath

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-in the same breath.ogg

同时地，一起地，连起来地，紧接着地 （一般用来说其说或做自相矛盾的事）


bucket of bolts

rattletrap

破烂，废铁 （没用、破旧的机械，如旧车等）

rustbucket

破烂，废铁 （没用、破旧的机械，如旧车等）

破烂，废铁 （没用、破旧的机械，如旧车等）

On the outside, the Trans-Am still looked like a rusty bucket of bolts, but if all his little adjustments kicked in as planned, the thing should take off like a rocket.


odd duck

怪人 （性格乖僻或行为怪异的人）

This lad Kelley is an odd duck in many ways. . . . Unlike most college youngsters, he has no hobbies.

1936 Dec. 11, Bill Lush, "Kelley Reveals Technique of Successful Pass Play," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, p. 27 (retrieved 28 July 2010):

If you are a married woman over 45 and are thinking of taking a plunge into the job market bear in mind that you won't be an odd duck in the employment pool.

1971 June 18, "The Job Market: A New Start—Mature Women Who Work," The Dispatch (North Carolina), p. 6 (retrieved 28 July 2010):

Is [Peter] O'Toole—skinny, tottering, eccentric in everything from costume to line-readings—wonderful in this role? Indeed he is. Always more of an odd duck than a leading man, age (he's 74) has given him license to play his essential weirdness.

2006 Dec. 21, "Sentiment—Not Sentimentality" (film review of Venus), Time (retrieved 28 July 2010):


odd fish

We are constantly told how normal and honorable Thoreau was, yet it seems that we would get much further in understanding him if we began, by conceding that he was an odd fish, full of peculiar conceits.

2001, Paul Theroux, Fresh Air Fiend: Travel Writings (page 355)

The second work is more promising, but something of an odd fish: the anonymous German treatise Schwester Katrei.

2010，Stephen Mossman，Marquard von Lindau and the Challenges of Religious Life:


twiddle one's thumbs

twiddles one's thumbs (third-person singular present)
twiddling one's thumbs (present participle)
twiddled one's thumbs (past participle)

He twiddled his thumbs for almost a week while he waited for somebody to set up his computer.

他等别人帮他配置电脑，干等了一星期。


simmer down

simmers down (third-person singular present)
simmering down (present participle)
simmered down (past participle)

"Silence! Now ye had better go slow, my good fellow. This is two or three times you've tried to get off some of your insolence. Lip won't do here. You've got to simmer down."

1870, Mark Twain, "Goldsmith's Friend Abroad Again," letter 4:

The agitation, thus deprived of its chief hope, might very well have been expected to simmer down, to die away slowly.

1910, Stewart Edward White, The Rules of the Game, ch. 73:

Although the street demonstrations have simmered down, protests have continued in other forms.

2003 June 30, Nazila Fathi, "British Minister Presses Iran To Allow Nuclear Inspections," New York Times (retrieved 9 Apr 2009):


everyone and their mother

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-everyone and their mother.ogg

DS Andy Wainwright: You do know there are more guns in the country than there are in the city.


everyone and their brother

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-everyone and their brother.ogg


skeleton in the closet

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-skeleton in the closet.ogg

难以启齿的秘密，丢人的秘密


count one's blessings

counts one's blessings (third-person singular present)
counting one's blessings (present participle)
counted one's blessings (past participle)

知足，感激自己现在的状况

Rupert Murdoch isn't somebody to sit back and count his blessings.

1995, Richard Lacayo et al., "Bart Simpson Calling," Time, 22 May:

The other out-of-town Dons patiently listened, perhaps counting their blessings that each had a city all to himself.

2006，Mark Winegardner，The Godfather's Revenge, →ISBN，頁 175:


shotgun wedding

暗指新郎被新娘的亲戚用霰弹枪逼上婚礼堂。

If Red Skelton's joke can still elicit laughs, it is only because there is a minority who can still remember a shotgun wedding and even recall the understandings that lay behind that insistence, now seeming quaint, that a couple sleeping together should really be married.

2012，Charles W. Dunn，American Culture in Peril，University Press of Kentucky, →ISBN，頁 48:

以类似方式强行促成的关系

But all this fails when we try to have a shotgun wedding between the two great theories of nature, relativity and quantum theory.


reap what one sows

源自《圣经》中《加拉太书》 6:7（詹姆斯王译本，拼写已现代化）：“Be not deceived, God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”（國語和合譯本：“不要自欺、神是輕慢不得的．人種的是甚麼、收的也是甚麼。”）

reaps what one sows (third-person singular present)
reaping what one sows (present participle)
reaped what one sowed (past)
reaped what one had sown (past)
reaped what one has sown (past participle)
reaped what one had sown (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-reap what one sows.ogg

"We will reap what we sow; live with what we do not act to change," he said.

2005 November 15, Tony Blair, The Guardian:


string along

strings along (third-person singular present)
stringing along (present participle)
strung along (past participle)

哄骗，画饼 （让对方长时间误解自己有某种打算）

She's been telling me for ages that she wants to meet up, but won't give me a date. I'm convinced she's stringing me along.

她一直说想和我见面，但是就是不约日期，我觉得她在耍我。

What irks is the DfT's response of stringing the industry along. Far better would be for the DfT to say: "No, we are not upgrading this or that part of the railway - we must make the best of what we have."

2021年May5日，Philip Haigh，“I think we need better than this from the rail industry”, in RAIL，期 930，頁 51:


chase one's tail

chases one's tail (third-person singular present)
chasing one's tail (present participle)
chased one's tail (past participle)

People wanting to get married . . . would have to trail around separately to arrange flowers, cars, a photographer, the cake and a reception venue. . . . "At the moment, they have to chase their tail making sure all these things are done."

1994 Aug. 4, Lynn Eaton, "Planning a wedding in one easy stop," The Independent (UK) (retrieved 26 June 2014):

"You're forever chasing your tail when you're dealing with such large areas. . . . It was difficult to see how we would ever get on top of the problem."

2001 July 2, Lisa Clausen, "Warren Peace Australia missed its first chance to wipe out the rabbit scourge," Time (retrieved 26 June 2014):

The phone rings pretty much immediately and I have a conversation, usually apologising for something or explaining why I haven't managed to do something. I'm always chasing my tail.

2006 Aug. 14, Natalie Hanman, "Hidden passions," The Guardian (UK) (retrieved 26 June 2014):

“If you end up changing your strategy based on hot or cold tendencies, more often than not, you’re chasing your tail and you’re actually destroying value rather than sticking to what you know is right based off the data over a longer period of time,” Luhnow said.

2012 Aug. 12, Tyler Kepner, "Astros Begin Again, Starting With Youth and Hope," New York Times (retrieved 26 June 2014):

What is unbearable, in fact, is the feeling, 13 years after 9/11, that America has been chasing its tail; that, in some whack-a-mole horror show, the quashing of a jihadi enclave here only spurs the sprouting of another there; that the ideology of Al Qaeda is still reverberating through a blocked Arab world whose Sunni-Shia balance (insofar as that went) was upended by the American invasion of Iraq.

2014年November17日，Roger Cohen，“The horror! The horror! The trauma of ISIS [print version: International New York Times, 18 November 2014, p. 9]”, in The New York Times:


worlds apart

In terms of technology, today's media and that of the 19th century are worlds apart, but they still serve the same purpose.

在技术上，现在的媒体和19世纪的媒体已经如同天壤之别，但是它们的目的还是一样的。


on the prowl

在找东西，在觅食；鬼鬼祟祟地四处徘徊

The cat was always on the prowl for bit of string or a dangling shoelace.

那只猫老是到处找线或者垂下来的鞋带。


dead wood

Everybody knows that when you have a layoff, you use it as chance to get rid of the people you wanted to get rid of anyway, but couldn't document or hadn't bothered documenting as bad employees […]。If you don't have much dead wood, you hope they make you use a seniority list, because then you can say it's out of your control.

2001，Michael B. Arthur，Denise M. Rousseau，The Boundaryless Career: A New Employment Principle for a New Organizational Era，Oxford University Press, →ISBN，頁 140:


the jig is up

jig曾指“活泼的舞蹈”，在伊丽莎白时代，还曾经是指“恶作剧”的俚语。该词即派生自这个弃用俚语词。

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-the jig is up.ogg

（当自己说时）我们被打了个措手不及，我们完蛋了，我们穿帮了；（当对他人说时）你们已经被拆穿了，你们完蛋了

We knew then the jig was up, and it was no grin matter for us.

When I first told 'em how the jig was up with us, that the British were going to have the land, without any fighting about it, I never see fellows so mad before in my life, unless it was Major Eaton at Washington when he sot out to flog Mr. Ingham.

1833，Seba Smith (as Jack Downing)，The life and writings of Major Jack Downing, of Downingville, away down East in the State of Maine，Lilly; Wait; Colman & Holden，頁 176:

After I had returned home in the spring of 1893 from Washington, where I saw so many gray-haired men who had held high elective office begging for the crumbs from Cleveland's table, I gave my wife an account of what I observed, and told her that when the jig was up for me I would hasten back to Missouri to begin the practice of law once more and be a man among men.

1920，Champ Clark，My Quarter Century of American Politics，Harper & brothers，頁 96:

The universe works in strange ways: just when you think the jig is up, you get a second chance.

2007，Mary Newport, in Jerry Newport and Mary Newport，Mozart and the Whale: An Asperger's Love Story，Simon and Schuster, →ISBN，頁 248:


beat the daylights out of

beats the daylights out of (third-person singular present)
beating the daylights out of (present participle)
beat the daylights out of (past)
beaten the daylights out of (past participle)
beat the daylights out of (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-beat the daylights out of.ogg

Punching fast and furiously, I would beat the daylights out of them until they were bloody all over.

1993，Lester Sumrall，The Life Story of Lester Sumrall, →ISBN:

让...惨败 （尤指在肢体冲突中）

The guy beat the daylights out of me, and I made a dollar. My wrestling license cost five dollars.

2007，Greg Oliver，The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Heels, →ISBN，頁 42:


in the buff

源自buff (字面意思是“褐黄色的”)，表示了皮肤的颜色。

She was in the buff on the beach.

The streaker ran across the playing field in the buff.

裸跑者光着身子跑过了操场。

Not to mention, nudity can be just plain convenient. “Laundry is minimal,” Schulte notes. It also doesn’t hurt that being in the buff spices up his workday.

2021年October18日，Ian Lecklitzner，“The Inevitable Rise of the Work-From-Home Nudist”, in MEL Magazine:


rake over the coals

最早用例见于1565年：“S. Augustine, that knewe best how to fetche an heretike ouer the coles.”（牛津英语词典）。源自天主教会将异教徒拖过烧着的炭的酷刑。

rakes over the coals (third-person singular present)
raking over the coals (present participle)
raked over the coals (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-rake over the coals.ogg


cut of one's jib

源自cut (“样子，风格”)和jib (“艏三角帆”)，原为航海用语，指通过帆的形状来辨别远处航行的船只。俗语意可能是因为三角帆形似人的鼻子而产生。

cut of their jibs (plural)
cuts of their jibs (plural)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-cut of one's jib.ogg

常作构式“to like (or dislike) the cut of someone’s jib”。

（人的） 外貌，外表，风格 （自19世纪初叶）

I have seen that girl on the deck, and I like the cut of her jib. I like the way she walks. Her independence suits me.

1896，Robert Barr，章號 XIII, in A Woman Intervenes: Or The Mistress of the Mine，New York, N.Y., London: Frederick A[bbott] Stokes Company, →OCLC，頁 122:

Jack thinks, by the cut of their jibs, they were Frenchmen, one an officer and the other his servant.

1911，John Oxenham [pseudonym; William Arthur Dunkerley]，“An Unexpected Guest”, in The Coil of Carne，Toronto, Ont.: The Copp, Clark Co., →OCLC，頁 157:

Mr Bloom watched her as she limped away. Poor girl! That's why she's left on the shelf and the others did a sprint. Thought something was wrong by the cut of her jib. Jilted beauty. A defect is ten times worse in a woman.

1922 February，James Joyce，“[Episode 13: Nausicaa]”, in Ulysses，Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey]，頁 351:

We were drawn together from the first as young men will be: we liked the cuts of each other's jibs: we were both sailors (and there is only one sea-service in spite of the guns and gold-lace) and then the far distant dim relationship gave us the feeling that many of the barriers, of race and faith and custom, were down from between us.

1934，John Masefield，The Taking of the Gry，London: William Heinemann, →OCLC，頁 22:

"By the cut of their jibs I shall know them!" That's the way Ham Hamberger summed it up as he looked ahead to his coming battle employment, and speculated upon those with whom he would be called upon to serve—not knowing. And by the cut of their jibs he did know them when the time came, and they him, […]

1959，Ken Jones，“The Eagles Gather”, in Destroyer Squadron 23: Combat Exploits of Arleigh Burke’s Gallant Force，Philadelphia, Pa., New York, N.Y.: Book Division, Chilton Company, →OCLC，頁 60:

"You don't like me much, do you?" / "Let's just say I don't like the cut of your jib, Mr. Tate."

2003 June，Ted Bell，章號 42, in Hawke […]，New York, N.Y.: Atria Books, →ISBN，頁 277:


have one's cake and eat it too

字面意思为“（想同时）拥有蛋糕，和吃掉它”，因为吃了蛋糕就没有了，吃蛋糕和拥有蛋糕两件事无法同时达成。

has one's cake and eats it too (third-person singular present)
having one's cake and eating it too (present participle)
had one's cake and ate it too (past)
had one's cake and eaten it too (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-have one's cake and eat it too.ogg

一般以谚语的形式出现：One cannot have one's cake and eat it too。

又要马儿好，又要马儿不吃草 （同时达到两个互斥的目的）

It's not possible to get your savings and keep the piggy bank intact. You can't have your cake and eat it too!

你没办法又能拿到存着的钱，又要存钱罐完好无损。鱼和熊掌不可兼得。


at the mercy of

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-at the mercy of.ogg

任凭...处置的，对...束手无策的

The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.

1897年 12月（標示為1898年），Winston Churchill，章號 1, in The Celebrity: An Episode，紐約: The Macmillan Company；倫敦：Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

The ball game is scheduled for Saturday, but we're still at the mercy of the weather.

球赛定在周六，但是还是得看天气。


chow down

chows down (third-person singular present)
chowing down (present participle)
chowed down (past participle)

We're all famished; it's time to chow down.

我们都饿坏了，该好好吃一顿了。


get the ball rolling

gets the ball rolling (third-person singular present)
getting the ball rolling (present participle)
got the ball rolling (past)
got the ball rolling
gotten the ball rolling

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-get the ball rolling.ogg

Did you ever get the ball rolling on your plans to build a shed?

你有没有开始着手你的建小屋计划？

The execution of Littlefinger is formal, although his trial admittedly gives us ample opportunity to appreciate the tables finally turning on the man who got the ball rolling on all this bloodshed.

2017年August27日，Brandon Nowalk，“Game Of Thrones slows down for the longest, and best, episode of the season (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club:


stay put

stays put (third-person singular present)
staying put (present participle)
stayed put (past participle)

I'm not moving there; I'd rather stay put.

I keep adjusting the focus, but it won't stay put.

我一直在调焦，但是它就是固定不下来。


beat it

beats it (third-person singular present)
beating it (present participle)
beat it (past)
beat it (past participle)
beaten it (past participle)

[…] and he said, "You beat it." So I beat it two squares up to Seventeenth Street and went into a saloon.

1916，United States. Commission on Industrial Relations, Francis Patrick Walsh, Basil Maxwell Manly，Industrial relations: Final report and testimony，頁 10986:

Showin' how funky and strong is your fight / It doesn't matter who's wrong or right / Just beat it

1983，Michael Jackson （作曲作詞）, “Beat It”, in Thriller:


wide awake

more wide awake (comparative)
most wide awake (superlative)

完全清醒的；警醒的，警觉的

"They are almost awake, not quite," said Lucy. She knew she herself was wide awake, wider than anyone usually is.

1951，C. S. Lewis，Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia:

I woke with a start. With the blackout curtains closed I didn't know what time it was. I looked at my watch. It said four o'clock. I had been asleep for only two hours, but I was wide awake.

1978，Richard Nixon，“The Presidency 1973-1974”, in RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon，Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL，頁 1085:


catch some z's

源自常用来表达人睡着时发出的声音的Z。

catches some z's (third-person singular present)
catching some z's (present participle)
caught some z's (past participle)

His boss found him catching some z's at his desk yesterday.

他老板昨天抓到他在自己的桌上睡觉。


low on the totem pole

派生自totem pole，印第安人所做的图腾柱，这种柱子从下到上常刻有几个图案。上下顺序曾被非印第安人误认为是按地位的高低排列的。

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-low on the totem pole.ogg

低级的，较低贱的，地位较低的

Gaston said, however, that the boycott would not substantially affect Negroes because they are "so low on the totem pole."

1965, 7th of April, Washington Observer, King Defends Alabama Boycott, Answers Critics


stave off

staves off (third-person singular present)
staving off (present participle)
staved off (past participle)
stove off (past participle)

He drank plenty of orange juice, hoping to stave off the cold making the rounds at the office.

他喝了很多橙汁，希望能够抵御办公室里的冷气。

LANCE: Only through my training as a sex machine am I able to stave off genital turgidity.

2011，Jamie Noguchi，Yellow Peril: The View:

So it was perhaps political backlash from the trebling of public transport times between Harlech to Porthmadog if buses took over that staved off immediate talks of closure and the release of a £241,000 subsidy (2020: £3.8m).

2020年April8日，Howard Johnston，“East-ended? When the ECML was at risk”, in Rail，頁 69:


save something for a rainy day

saves something for a rainy day (third-person singular present)
saving something for a rainy day (present participle)
saved something for a rainy day (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-save something for a rainy day.ogg


go to town

goes to town (third-person singular present)
going to town (present participle)
went to town (past)
gone to town (past participle)

She really went to town with the party preparations.

她准备派对准备得很开心。

The greatest impact, good and bad, fell on the city's northeast suburbs, 60-plus minutes from the downtown Huairou district, a key APEC venue. Obama and other VIPs spent just seven hours there Tuesday, but Huairou went to town as perhaps only China can. The district spent about $4.9 billion preparing for APEC, according to state media including the Beijing Youth Daily and China Daily newspapers.

2014年November12日，Calum MacLeod，“As with 2008 Olympics, China spends big to look good”, in USA Today, →ISSN, →OCLC，存檔自the original on 2014-11-14:

Never slow to bang the drum, the English press went to town, calling Lineker the “Matador of Madrid” and announcing that “Spain are Linekered.”

2018年October15日，Steven Pye，“When Gary Lineker scored four goals to help England win 4-2 in Spain”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

The news channels had been the first to figure out that particular wrinkle, but the religions really went to town with it.

2018 November，N. K. Jemisin，How Long 'til Black Future Month?，Hachette, →ISBN:

Oh, I went to town in the last lockdown, spent a lot of money on the paints, the brushes, the figurines for a game called Hero Quest.

2022年May29日，Tom Lamont，引 Jim Howick, “‘We were always trying to push boundaries’: Jim Howick on breaking taboos, coping with life and the joy of dogs”, in The Observer, →ISSN:


in the nick of time

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-in the nick of time.ogg

eleventh hour

正好，正是时候；踩着点，在最后时刻

under the wire

正好，正是时候；踩着点，在最后时刻

just in time

正好，正是时候；踩着点，在最后时刻

正好，正是时候；踩着点，在最后时刻

He finished writing his paper and slid it under the door just in the nick of time.


the cat's pyjamas

大概与the bee's knees、cat's whiskers等相似词语一同，在1922年起即已在美国普及，有时被认为与漫画家Tad Dorgan有关。

很厉害的东西，很精致奢华的东西

That new car was really the cat's pyjamas.


that does it

that tears it

够了 （用来表达自己的耐心已经到达极限）

that's torn it

够了 （用来表达自己的耐心已经到达极限）

够了 （用来表达自己的耐心已经到达极限）

That does it! I'm not waiting here any longer. I'll come back tomorrow instead.

我受够了！我不等了。我明天再来。

好了 （用来表示完成了某项工作）。


pack heat

packs heat (third-person singular present)
packing heat (present participle)
packed heat (past participle)

If the current trend toward relaxation of concealed-weapons laws continues, soon the most important gun restrictions may involve destinations: the states will probably allow various venues—public gathering places, offices, stores—to ban firearms on the premises. The only problem will be how to know who is packing heat.

1995年March27日，David Van Biema，“Peekaboo: The New Detector”, in Time:


elbow grease

It is astonishing what miserable saws are sometimes used by mechanics, or those claiming to be such. The only way they can be coaxed or driven through the wood is by having an enormous set, a liberal use of oil, and another lubricator called elbow-grease.

1864，Henry Wells Holly，章號 3, in The Art of Saw-Filing，頁 12:

When we were young we used to be told, in our house at home, that "elbow-grease" was the one essential necessary to getting a tough piece of work well done. If a mahogany table was to be made to shine, it was elbow-grease that the operation needed.

1879，Anthony Trollope，章號 5, in William Makepeace Thackeray:

Some soapy water and a little elbow grease and we'll have the Glam Van clean in no time.

2019 Sunny, "Violet's Adventure", Sunny Day


fuck with

fucks with (third-person singular present)
fucking with (present participle)
fucked with (past participle)

roll with

与...合作，与...有关联； 喜欢，中意

Don't fuck with that gang! They all carry guns!

别惹那个黑帮！他们都有枪的！

Don't take it serious, man, I'm just fucking with you.

别认真啊，兄弟，和你开个玩笑而已。

The thought that she might be cheating on me is really fucking with me.

一想到她可能给我戴绿帽了，我就寝食难安。

与...合作，与...有关联； 喜欢，中意

特別用於非洲裔美國人白話

I fuck with you heavy.

“I’m promoting you, dawg. I’m planning an early retirement, and I gotta know that my business is in good hands. I worked hard to get shit to this point, yo. You think you could handle being the boss one day?” “Muthafuckin’ right,” Smurf said beating his chest. “I’m ready to do whatever is asked of me for the team.” “That’s why I fuck with you, Smurf,” Dink said with a sly smile.

2005，Lisa Lennox，Crack Head, →ISBN，頁 211:

“Yo, Kid, Dude is my cousin.” “Oh well! I’m sorry, Son, but your cousin fucked up!” “Nah, I mean, you’re my peoples. I fuck with you heavy. I don’t even fuck with that nigga like that, but he is family. If you kill him, then I gotta go to the funeral.”

2012，Michael Archer，Trunk-Space: The Retribution of A Psychopath, →ISBN:

How can I fuck with the fun again, when I'm known?

2013，“Tennis Court”, in Pure Heroine，演出者 Lorde:

“Boss, no disrespect. I fuck with you, and what shorty just pulled was foul. I know y’all got history, but I hope you ain’t planning on going back to the bitch anytime soon.”

2017，Dana Shontale，Naked Truth, Naked Truths, →ISBN:

RODOLFO RAMIREZ (played by Amaury Nolasco):What do you know about how we roll on the West coast? TOMMY EGAN (played by Joseph Sikora): Not much. But I fucks with that Cali herb hard.

2019年October7日，Courtney A. Kemp, Theo Travers, Andre J. Ferguson，章號 7 (片头起21:15), in Power(Like Father, Like Son) (6) (TV series), spoken by Tommy Egan (Joseph Sikora):


grow out of

grows out of (third-person singular present)
growing out of (present participle)
grew out of (past)
grown out of (past participle)

长大后不再适合 （尤指衣物）

I give my old clothes to charity when I've grown out of them.

我会把我穿不下的旧衣服捐给慈善机构。

长大成熟后不再有，长大后改掉 （爱好，习惯等）

Still, I see you mean well enough, and are merely suffering from the debilitating cheerfulness of youth. You will soon grow out of that.

2002, House of the Seven Gables - Page 37


cold fish

He wouldn't have thought her such a cold fish. Pity. Still, there was plenty of time. Perhaps when she got used to his company she would thaw a little.

You're a cold fish. You have no heart.

2003，Robert Wilson，The Blind Man of Seville, →ISBN，頁 13:


friend with benefits

可能首次由艾拉妮丝·莫莉塞特使用于1995年歌曲“Head over Feet”中，但是在这个歌词语境中，其似乎特指正式的交往关系而非随便的性伴侣关系。

“I’m just saying that usually when you have a friend who’s a girl, it’s not just that she’s your friend. Either you’ve known her a long time, or she’s a friend with benefits.”

Gender norms influence how young men orient themselves to sexual partners and girlfriends, and men’s procreative consciousness is sometimes affected by how they define a potential or actual sex partner (e.g., casual or serious girlfriend, “friend with benefits”, hookup).

2003，William Marsiglio，“Making Males Mindful of Their Sexual and Procreative Identities: Using Self-Narratives in Field Settings”, in Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health，卷 35, 期 5:

“Can I be so bold as to ask if I can be a friend with benefits?”

The College Relationship is the hook up that turns into a “a person to hang out with,” more or less, a friend with benefits. This is a person whose company you sincerely enjoy, and you choose to spend extra time both hanging out and hooking up with, but there is no spoken commitment involved.

2005，Jennifer Klein，University of Pennsylvania:


cut it

cuts it (third-person singular present)
cutting it (present participle)
cut it (past participle)

Sometimes, professional tools are necessary and homespun solutions just don't cut it.

有时候还是得用专业工具，平常的解决方法还是不够的。

I couldn't cut it as a poor man, stealing


bite the big one

bites the big one (third-person singular present)
biting the big one (present participle)
bit the big one (past)
bitten the big one (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-bite the big one.ogg

Empire of the Sun was an enormous literary and commercial success in Britain but pretty much bit the Big One on its own in the United States.

1990，Norman Spinrad，Science fiction in the real world，頁 183:


zip one's lip

zips one's lip (third-person singular present)
zipping one's lip (present participle)
zipped one's lip (past participle)

Why don’t you just zip your lip? I’m tired of listening to you.

你能不能别说话了？我听都听烦了。


get the lead out

“get the lead out of one's shoes”或“...one's pants”的缩短形式，其中lead指很重的金属，因此这句话可能指“把拖后腿的重物丢掉然后加快脚步”。

gets the lead out (third-person singular present)
getting the lead out (present participle)
got the lead out (past)
got the lead out
gotten the lead out


ring a bell

rings a bell (third-person singular present)
ringing a bell (present participle)
rang a bell (past)
rung a bell (past participle)

His face rings a bell. I wonder if I know him from somewhere.

他看着有点眼熟，我是不是在哪遇到过他。

让人回忆起什么，有点耳熟


meet one's maker

多种宗教均认为人死后会到达天堂等可以见到造物主的地方。

meets one's maker (third-person singular present)
meeting one's maker (present participle)
met one's maker (past participle)

On the gallows high he has met his Maker...Your victim waits for you to meet your Maker

1871，Unknown (Execution ballad)，“Execution of Frederick Baker.”, in Curiosities of Street Literature, Comprising "cocks," Or "catch Pennies"，頁 205:

This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late parrot! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies!

1969年December7日，Monty Python，“Full Frontal Nudity, Dead Parrot sketch”, in Monty Python's Flying Circus，spoken by Mr Praline (John Cleese):


lose one's mind

loses one's mind (third-person singular present)
losing one's mind (present participle)
lost one's mind (past participle)


wear one's heart on one's sleeve

wears one's heart on one's sleeve (third-person singular present)
wearing one's heart on one's sleeve (present participle)
wore one's heart on one's sleeve (past)
worn one's heart on one's sleeve (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-wear one's heart on one's sleeve.ogg

Iago: For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, 'tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.

约1603–1604年，威廉·莎士比亚，“The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice [奥赛罗]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (第一对开本)，伦敦: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, 出版於 1623, →OCLC, [Act 1, scene 1]，行 64:

There was something very direct and childlike in Virginie Poucette. She could not pretend; she wore her heart on her sleeve.

1915，Gilbert Parker，章號 18, in The Money Master:

I'm not being smart or trying to be cold on my part / And I'm not gonna wear my heart on my sleeve / But you know people get all emotional

1978，Lou Reed （作曲作詞）, “Street Hassle”, in Street Hassle:

I feel so close to you right now, it's a force field / I wear my heart on my sleeve, like a big deal

2011，“Feel So Close”, 演出者 Calvin Harris:


open book

好懂的事物，易懂的事物，一目了然的事物

There is one, with a dark and thoughtful eye,
Who is to all others a mystery;
But his soul is to me an open book,
And I read his mood in his slightest look; ...

1860，Abby Maria Hemenway，“The Priest and The Maiden”, in Poets and Poetry of Vermont:

This is the secret of Hegel, and the key to his hieroglyphics, and, if consistently used to interpret the sayings of his logic, it becomes an open book.

1898，John Wesley Powell，Truth and Error or the Science of Intellection:

On the surface of the ground or through the swaying branches of the trees the spoor of man or beast was an open book to the ape-man, but even his acute senses were baffled by the spoorless trail of the airship.

1921，Edgar Rice Burroughs，Tarzan the Untamed:

But I have never argued – and never will – that our most sensitive national security matters should be an open book.

2009, May 21, Barack Obama, speech, Protecting Our Security and Our Values

直白的人，坦率的人，很容易看透的人，胸无城府的人

He is an open book. Everyone can see that he removes nothing, conceals nothing, reserves nothing for himself.

1986，Adrienne von Speyr, Hans Urs von Balthasar，The Christian State of Life:

Chapter 3: Are You an Open Book? How Much Do I Need to Disclose?

1997，Matthew J. DeLuca，Best Answers to the 201 Most Frequently Asked Interview Questions:

Emile's most striking characteristic is that he hides nothing. He is an open book, acting the same in private as in public — "Emile is worse at disguising his feelings than any man in the world."

2002，Linda Lange，Feminist Interpretations of Jean-Jacques Rousseau:


turn in one's grave

turns in one's grave (third-person singular present)
turning in one's grave (present participle)
turned in one's grave (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-turn in one's grave.ogg

死不瞑目，棺材板都压不住

Beethoven is probably turning in his grave at the way that rock group mangled his Ninth Symphony.

贝多芬看到那个摇滚乐队这样糟蹋他的《第九交响乐》的话，他估计都得从坟里爬出来。

The new scientific discovery about the gravitation particle could make Isaac Newton turn in his grave.

关于引力粒子的新科学发现可以让牛顿从坟墓里爬出来。

Brought forth wind that made critics rave / While Verdi turned round in his grave

1937，Rodgers and Hart （作曲作詞）, “Johnny One Note”:

If he ever finds out who's hijacked his name / He'll cut out his heart and turn in his grave

1989，The The （作曲作詞）, “Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)”, in Mind Bomb:


break a leg

不详，有很多未证实及争议不断的说法。最有说服力的是，其源自意第緒語 הצלחה און ברכה (hatslokhe un brokhe，“成功和祝福”)，因阿什肯纳兹犹太人在美国戏剧界的重大影响而传播开来，其源自德語对该短语的错误理解产生的词Hals- und Beinbruch (“脖子断腿断”)。意第绪语短语本身源自希伯來語 הַצְלָחָה וּבְרָכָה (hatzlakhá u-v'rakhá，“成功和祝福”)。另一理论认为其源自祝霉运反而不会给演员带来霉运的说法。

toi, toi, toi

祝你好运！加油！ （对即将出演戏剧等的演员的祝福，也可用于其他祝福成功的场景。）

Go out there and break a leg tonight. Put on a great show!

I told my friend to break a leg, before she went on stage.

我给我朋友祝了好运，她就上台了。


swan song

仿譯自德語 Schwanenlied（源自Schwan + Lied）或Schwanengesang，源自疣鼻天鹅不会叫，但会在死前歌唱的说法。

绝唱 （隐退前最后的表演或成就）

Yet, on the whole, our good Saint-Pierre is musical, poetical though most morbid: we will call his Book the swan-song of old dying France.

1837，Thomas Carlyle，章號 VIII, in The French Revolution: A History […]，卷 I (The Bastille), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book II (The Paper Age):

"A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court"[…]—a pretentious volume which Mark Twain really considered his last. "It's my swan-song, my retirement from literature permanently," he wrote Howells, though certainly he was young, fifty-four, to have reached this conclusion.

1916，Albert Bigelow Paine，The Boys' Life of Mark Twain:

[…]McCartney III could mark the end of his recording career. For a musician as continually prolific as McCartney (this is his 18th solo record), that seems unlikely. But if it is indeed a swan song, McCartney III will stand as a proper coda for the singer-songwriter we’ve been listening to for fifty-odd years: sentimental yet strong, a bit wistful, but as always, looking ahead.

2020年November9日，Gwen Ihnat，“With McCartney III, Paul McCartney offers lessons from a legendary life”, in The A.V. Club:

Merkel’s political and scientific sides slug it out in swan song presser [title]

2021年July22日，Philip Oltermann，“Merkel’s political and scientific sides slug it out in swan song presser”, in The Guardian:

[S]pielberg was keen to stress that The Fabelmans is not a full stop: “It is not because I decided to retire, and this is my swan song, don’t believe that.”

2022年October22日，Wendy Ide，引 Steven Spielberg, “‘It’s a way to bring my mum and dad back’: Steven Spielberg on the new wave of cine-memoirs”, in The Guardian:


play hooky

对于hooky的词源，参见该词条；该词构成类似play truant。

plays hooky (third-person singular present)
playing hooky (present participle)
played hooky (past participle)

Plenty of people played hooky from work to go see the movie on opening day.

电影上映那天好多人旷工去看那部电影。


shoot the breeze

shoots the breeze (third-person singular present)
shooting the breeze (present participle)
shot the breeze (past participle)

We were just standing around shooting the breeze.

Oh, I've just been upstairs with your boss, shooting the breeze… shooting his fish.

1989，Lethal Weapon 2 (motion picture), spoken by Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson):

Listen, I came here to do some business, not shoot the breeze. If you want to expound your personal philosophies, write another book.

1999，The Ninth Gate (motion picture), spoken by Dean Corso (Johnny Depp):


tough luck

真倒霉 （用来给经历坏事的人一种无所谓的回应）

Your car broke down? Well, tough luck, you're due at work in 15 minutes. Better run.

你的车坏了？真惨哪，离上班时间还有15分钟，你得跑过去了。


up to no good

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-up to no good.ogg

He seems like an angel on the surface, but I can tell he's up to no good.

他看起来像个天使一样，但我知道他肯定很调皮。


all over the place

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-all over the place.ogg

at random

乱七八糟，前后矛盾；胡乱，随意；前言不搭后语

They started firing all over the place.

In Genoa there are stray cats all over the place.

I've been looking for you all over the place.

I couldn't believe it. “This is insane! You don't know what you're getting into, Dad. We can't have lots of people swarming all over the place. You're supposed to be getting rest.”

2004，Ruth Ozeki，All Over Creation，Penguin, →ISBN，頁 267:

乱七八糟，前后矛盾；胡乱，随意；前言不搭后语

I asked each person in turn, and their answers were all over the place.

我把他们一个个问过去，他们的回答前后不搭。


dressed to kill

She's a scented magazine/Looking sharp and living clean/Living well and dressed to kill/But she looks like hell to me

2000，Tré Cool （作曲作詞）, “Fashion Victim”, in Warning，演出者 Green day:

During the 1980s, its vivid streetlife became a symbol of the “consumer socialism” that distinguished Hungary from other Eastern Bloc states, but Budapesters today are rather less enamoured of Váci: dressed-to-kill babes and their sugar daddies would rather pose in malls, and teenagers can find McDonald's anywhere, leaving Váci utterly dependent on tourists for its livelihood and bustle.

2002，Charles Hebbert, Dan Richardson，The Rough Guide to Budapest，第2nd版, London: Rough Guides, →ISBN，頁 73:


water under the bridge

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-water under the bridge.ogg

water over the dam

过去的事 （过去的无可挽回，只能接受、原谅的事）

过去的事 （过去的无可挽回，只能接受、原谅的事）

They agreed that their old disputes were water under the bridge and decided to make a fresh start.

他们同意忘了以前的争吵，重新开始。

Ilsa: It's been a long time.
Sam: Yes, ma'am. A lot of water under the bridge.

1942，Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch，Casablanca:

Lot of water under the bridge; lot of other stuff, too / Don’t get up, gentlemen, I’m only passing through

2000，Bob Dylan （作曲作詞）, “Things Have Changed”:


hit the bottle

hits the bottle (third-person singular present)
hitting the bottle (present participle)
hit the bottle (past participle)

（尤指因心情不好而长时间地）饮酒

He's been hitting the bottle hard since his wife left him.

他妻子离开他以后他就一直在酗酒。


pull strings

来源于木偶戏，其中的角色需要拉动人偶上的线才能活动。

pulls strings (third-person singular present)
pulling strings (present participle)
pulled strings (past participle)

牵线，打招呼 （用自己的影响力请别人为自己做有利的事）

He has the job not because of talent, but because his dad pulled strings with the boss.

他并非因为他的才华而得到工作，而是因为他爸爸让老板开了后门。

通常在“string”前加“the”

“his”之类形容词性物主代词

We know who pulls the strings around here.


sob story

悲惨的故事，伤感故事 （尤指用来引起人同情的）

"Dis picture is called De Tale o' Two Cities, and it's de French revolution. It's about a feller vot takes anodder feller's place and gits his head cut off; and say, dere's a sob story in it vot's a vunder."

1922，Upton Sinclair，章號 14, in They call Me Carpenter:

Mr. Martin objected at first to the bastardization of my talent, but I gave him a sob story about needing money for lessons.

2006，Keith Donohue，The Stolen Child, →ISBN，頁 56:


save it

saves it (third-person singular present)
saving it (present participle)
saved it (past participle)


come to grips with

comes to grips with (third-person singular present)
coming to grips with (present participle)
came to grips with (past)
come to grips with (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-come to grips with.ogg

Until she comes to grips with her mother's death, she has no hope of putting it behind her.

On Thursday, Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, put the sale of the company’s “noncore” channels, including ABC and FX, on the table. He called the decline in traditional television “a reality we have to come to grips with.”

2023年July15日，Brooks Barnes，引 Robert A. Iger, “In Hollywood, the Strikes Are Just Part of the Problem”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:


by any stretch of the imagination

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-by any stretch of the imagination.ogg

完全（不），一点也（不），不管怎么想都（不）

The British Prime Minister isn't a monarch by any stretch of the imagination.

英国首相绝不是什么君主。


anyone's guess

拿不准的事情，大家都不知道的事情

It was a disappointing way for the game to finish, with Sagna guilty of leaning his head in towards Zabaleta's after a challenge by the touchline, though what the Argentine did to warrant a dismissal is anyone's guess.

2011年January5日，Jonathan Stevenson，“Arsenal 0 - 0 Man City”, in BBC:


hear the end of it

hears the end of it (third-person singular present)
hearing the end of it (present participle)
heard the end of it (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-hear the end of it.ogg

多用于否定，和will或would连用。

If I spilled wine on their new carpet, I'd never hear the end of it.

如果我把酒撒到他们的新毯子上，他们就会没完没了地说我。


look the part

looks the part (third-person singular present)
looking the part (present participle)
looked the part (past participle)

If you want to be a successful business person, you have to look the part.

你想做成功的商务人士的话，你就要仪表得体。

We were going to cast him in our new movie but unfortunately he didn't look the part.

我们本来想找他出演我们的新电影，但是他外貌不太合适。

Turner looked assured, picking out his men at the lineouts, while Redpath was seeing plenty of the ball and also looked the part as the Scots probed for opening.

2021年February6日，Graham Bean，“Scotland beat England at Twickenham for the first time in 38 years”, in The Scotsman:


add insult to injury

派生自公元前一世纪的菲得洛斯寓言。寓言中，有一个秃子打落在自己头上的苍蝇，但却给了自己的头一击。苍蝇说：“你因为我碰了你你就想杀我，那你现在在伤口上撒盐（added insult to injury），你要对自己做什么呢？”首个英语内的措辞记载出现于18世纪中叶。

adds insult to injury (third-person singular present)
adding insult to injury (present participle)
added insult to injury (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-add insult to injury.ogg

To add insult to injury,...

As if the hostile takeover weren't enough, to add insult to injury they scrapped ninety percent of our products and replaced them with their own.

恶意收购还不够，他们还雪上加霜，把我们百分之九十的产品都换成了他们的。

[...] the line crossed over an iron bridge spanning Ludgate Hill itself [...] neatly obliterating any view of St Paul's from Ludgate Circus and Fleet Street. A thousand people had put their names to a petition against the bridge. To add insult to injury it carried a small thicket of railway signals as well as regular steam trains.

2012，Andrew Martin，Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube，Profile Books, ISBN 978-1846684777，頁 52:


gloss over

glosses over (third-person singular present)
glossing over (present participle)
glossed over (past participle)

They glossed over the problem, hoping that the customers wouldn't notice.

他们隐瞒了那个问题，希望顾客们注意不到。

忽略，忽视，对...关心不足

This book only glosses over quantum mechanics, and doesn't go into detail.

这本书对量子力学只是一笔带过，没有细讲。


send someone packing

sends someone packing (third-person singular present)
sending someone packing (present participle)
sent someone packing (past participle)

拒绝某人，回绝某人；赶走某人

[T]he parliament, to their immortal honour, presently sent him packing.

c. 1695，Dr. Robert South，“To Archbishop of Dublin”, in Sermons, Vol. III:

Two ladies called one day, pale and anxious, and begged earnestly, humbly, to be allowed to see Mr. Moore one instant: Mrs. Yorke hardened her heart, and sent them packing.

1849，Currer Bell [筆名; Charlotte Brontë]，章號 32, in Shirley. A Tale. […]，卷 (請指定|volume=I、II或III), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC:

"Monsieur, you and yours are not for me. Seek elsewhere." . . .
"You send me packing!" he blurted out, getting red in the face.

1904，Gilbert Parker，章號 2, in Michel and Angele:

[L]eague authorities sent him packing after ruling he was registered with a fake Dominican passport under circumstances that remain murky.

2014年June14日，Anne Marie Garcia，“Cuba ballplayers chase dreams, big bucks, overseas”, in Businessweek, retrieved 2014-07-08:


hand someone his hat

hands someone his hat (third-person singular present)
handing someone his hat (present participle)
handed someone his hat (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-hand someone his hat.ogg

有时用被动语气，如：have one's hat handed to one或get one's hat handed to one

McNeil replied, "It may have been Hitler who helped Chamberlain with his overcoat but don't forget it was the British people who handed him his hat."

1948年November27日，Drew Pearson，“The Washington Merry-go-round”, in Ludington Daily News，US, retrieved 2015-11-10，頁 4:

You grew up under dictators who would have put people to the sword if they dared hand them their hats and invite them to buzz off.

1972年July25日，Bob Considine，“Letter to Kremlin”, in Reading Eagle，US, retrieved 2015-11-10，頁 4:

The President's men, nonetheless, view him the way the Vatican saw Galileo—as a dangerous heretic. . . . They would hand him his hat if they dared.

1984年February6日，Mary McGrory，“Feldstein doggedly speaks his mind”, in Eugene Register-Guard，US, retrieved 2015-11-10，頁 15A:


grow on

grows on (third-person singular present)
growing on (present participle)
grew on (past)
grown on (past participle)

I didn't like this song at first, but now it's starting to grow on me.

我一开始不喜欢这首歌，但是现在越来越喜欢。

Blinking and swallowing, she checked her list of questions. “What are some of your favorite outdoor and indoor activities?” “Well, whale watching is growing on me.”

2015，Jenny Elliott，Save Me，Macmillan, →ISBN，頁 82:


get a rise out of

gets a rise out of (third-person singular present)
getting a rise out of (present participle)
got a rise out of (past)
got a rise out of
gotten a rise out of

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-get a rise out of.ogg

He's just doing it to get a rise out of you. Just ignore him.

1985，John Hughes，The Breakfast Club，spoken by Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald):

Ahmadinejad is no simpleton. . . . His Holocaust denial is a flagrant ploy—the easiest way to get a rise out of the Jewish community.

2007年September26日，Joe Klein，“Inflating a Little Man”, in Time:


keep tabs on

见tab (“用来记录的小板子”)。

keeps tabs on (third-person singular present)
keeping tabs on (present participle)
kept tabs on (past participle)

If you are careful to keep tabs on your finances, you should be able to stay within a budget.

The police kept close tabs on him during the holidays.

He might have spent the hours camped under the trees of the more remote meadow, whence in the brilliant moonlight he could keep tabs on the trails.

1910，Stewart Edward White，章號 85, in The Rules of the Game:

I'll catch him—I'll trip him up—I'll keep tabs on his arguments.

1919，Lucy Maud Montgomery，章號 16, in Rainbow Valley:

Syria's much feared state-security apparatus keeps close tabs on everyone entering and leaving the embassy.

2010，Andrew Lee Butters，“Why the U.S. Is Back on the Road to Damascus”, in Time:

Nadal, absent from the draw for the first time nearly two decades, said he won’t watch it all from afar, but he will be keeping tabs.

2023年May18日，Christopher Clarey，“Even as He’s Out, Rafael Nadal Will Always Be a Part of the French Open”, in The New York Times:


put the cart before the horse

puts the cart before the horse (third-person singular present)
putting the cart before the horse (present participle)
put the cart before the horse (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-put the cart before the horse.ogg

The hour had struck; and with it, as always, appeared the man. So it has ever been in the history of the world; though we, with characteristic vanity, uniformly put the cart before the horse, and declare that it is the man that brings the hour.

1898，Julian Hawthorne，章號 1, in The History of the United States:

To attempt to remove the armaments before removing these substantive conflicts of interest is to put the cart before the horse.

1957年December2日，“Corruption of the Mind”, in Time:

Mr. Schumer said that the idea of agreeing to a date for a vote before the committee had held hearings was "to put the cart before horse."

2005年July27日，David D. Kirkpatrick，“Timing of Hearings and Vote Stalls Confirmation Talks”, in New York Times, retrieved 2008-11-06:


make a point

makes a point (third-person singular present)
making a point (present participle)
made a point (past participle)

I suppose the people who wrote that stuff on the wall were trying to make a point, but they mainly made a mess.

我认为在墙上写东西的人想说点什么，但是他们弄得乱七八糟。

Make a point to carry [or of carrying] your calendar with you at all times.

记得到哪都要带着你的记事本。


come to terms with

comes to terms with (third-person singular present)
coming to terms with (present participle)
came to terms with (past)
come to terms with (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-come to terms with.ogg

She finally came to terms with her addictions at her third rehab clinic and rarely drank again.

她终于在第三家复健诊所治好了她的瘾，之后几乎没再喝过酒。

接受，妥协，面对 （让人心理上痛苦的事物）

Until he comes to terms with the likelihood of failure, he will not succeed.

在他接受失败的可能性之前，他不会成功。


get a kick out of

gets a kick out of (third-person singular present)
getting a kick out of (present participle)
got a kick out of (past)
got a kick out of
gotten a kick out of

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-get a kick out of.ogg

高兴于，喜欢，从...得到乐趣

I really got a kick out of that clown's juggling act.

我觉得那个小丑的杂技特别好玩。

Some get a kick from cocaine / I'm sure that if I took even one sniff / That would bore me terrifically too / Yet I get a kick out of you

1934，Cole Porter （作曲作詞）, “I Get a Kick Out of You”:


knock for a loop

knocks for a loop (third-person singular present)
knocking for a loop (present participle)
knocked for a loop (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-knock for a loop.ogg

throw for a loop

使...惊讶，使...困惑，使...动摇，使...犹豫

throw off

使...惊讶，使...困惑，使...动摇，使...犹豫

使...惊讶，使...困惑，使...动摇，使...犹豫

[Denham answered] "Gas bombs, Old Man! My own prescription. […] Gas bombs powerful enough to knock a row of elephants for a loop."

1932，Delos W. Lovelace，King Kong，出版於 1965，頁 7:

[A] triple threat to the U.S. economy[…]has knocked stock prices for a loop.

1967 November 17，“Wall Street: Big Casino”, in Time, retrieved 2014-08-02:

Poor Janice, she'll be knocked for a loop. She'll feel she's let her father down.

1990，John Updike，Rabbit at Rest, →ISBN，頁 394:

Karyn McNay as Ulla, the sexy Swedish actress/receptionist/cleaning woman, knocks the audience for a loop too.

2008 September 7，Anita Gates，“Stage: Dinner and a Show, in One Spot, at One Price”, in The New York Times, retrieved 2014-08-02:


screw the pooch

20世纪50年代，源自早期形式fuck the dog (“浪费时间”)（1935年）（对比fuck around），后面意思为“犯丢人的错误”（对比screw up、fuck up）。由汤姆·沃尔夫所著的《太空先锋》（1979年）及其电影改编（1983年）普及开来。

screws the pooch (third-person singular present)
screwing the pooch (present participle)
screwed the pooch (past participle)


what the doctor ordered

指医生开处方时定下的能让病情更快好转的嘱咐（如健康饮食、多休息等）。

/ˌʍɒt ðə ˈdɒktə ˌɔːdəd/

/ˌʍɑt ðə ˈdɑktɚ ˌɔɹdɚd/

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-just what the doctor ordered.ogg

正好需要的事物，正好合适的事物


twenty-twenty hindsight

20/20指的是使用斯内伦视力表测视力时的正常视力水平。


hindsight is 20/20

20/20指的是使用斯内伦视力表测视力时的正常视力水平。

Another common error dealing with memory is that of "hindsight bias." This is the tendency to exaggerate what could have been anticipated in the past. This is also known as "Monday morning quarter backing" or "hindsight is 20/20" where the "right" decision as to what should have been done appears to be more obvious now than it was in the past.

2009，Joseph Grcic，Facing Reality: An Introduction to Philosophy，第Revised版, Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse，頁 57:

Honestly? If you would have told me that becoming a professional tennis player might net me a decent supply of free pasta, I would have never begged my mom to quit my lessons. 😭 Hindsight = 20/20.

2023年July30日，Gretty Garcia，“Coco Gauff Is Still a Teenager, but Her Net Worth Reveals That She’s Already a Millionaire”, in Cosmopolitan:


out of the woods

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-out of the woods.ogg

The patient is feeling a little better, but she's not out of the woods yet.

患者稍微舒服了一些，但是还没有完全脱离危险。


fit the bill

源自早期形式fill the bill，可能与戏剧表演有关。

fits the bill (third-person singular present)
fitting the bill (present participle)
fit the bill (past participle)


get down to brass tacks

不详。字面意思是「黄铜钉子」。最早记录出现于1863年美国德克萨斯。一个理论认为，其源自五金店或布店的柜台上用来以准确单位量布的黄铜钉子（而不是用一边放在鼻子前，另一边放在伸长的手臂上来近似量出一码）。还有一种说法是，其源自19世纪通行于美国的用黄铜钉子在棺材上写出死者名字的做法。再有一种说法是，美国西部早期用黄铜钉子来装饰枪托的习惯。用黄铜是因为其不会生锈而且易于抛光。根据作家Stanley Vestal的说法，“钉在步枪上的黄铜钉子记录了死在枪口下的受害者的数量。黄铜钉子。”

gets down to brass tacks (third-person singular present)
getting down to brass tacks (present participle)
got down to brass tacks (past)
gotten down to brass tacks (past participle)
got down to brass tacks (past participle)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-get down to brass tacks.ogg

When you come down to brass tacks – if we may be allowed the expression – everybody is governed by selfishness.

1863, January 21, 1863, The Tri-Weekly Telegraph, newspaper of Houston, Texas

That's no answer. Get down to brass tacks.

Let's get down to brass tacks here. How much for the ape?

1972, Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream

We're gonna stop playing games with these Arabs and get down to brass tacks!

You must be Jules, which would make you Vincent. Let's get down to brass tacks, gentlemen. If I was informed correctly, the clock is ticking. Is that right, Jimmie?

1994，Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary，Pulp Fiction，spoken by The Wolf (Harvey Keitel):

And if the government got a grip, got down to brass tacks and started doing their actual job, all these things could be avoided.

2023年April2日，Pippa Crerar, Robyn Vinter，引 Lisa Nandy, “Suella Braverman denies Brexit to blame for Dover queues of 14 hours”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:


glutton for punishment

sucker for punishment

不怕吃苦的人，坚持不懈的人，百折不挠的人

不怕吃苦的人，坚持不懈的人，百折不挠的人

I should have quit this job long ago, but I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment.

我早就该辞掉这份工作，但是我觉得我这人可能比较不怕吃苦。

Other gluttons for punishment include Phil Whittingham，源自Avanti West Coast, who has returned for four events in a row.

2021年October6日，Paul Bigland，“The hills were alive... again”, in RAIL，期 941，頁 54: