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oxford university press great clarendon street oxford 0x2 6dp oxford university press is a department of the university of oxford it furthers the university s objective of excellence in research scholarship and education by publishing worldwide in oxford new york auckland bangkok buenos aires cape town chennai dar es salaam delhi hong kong istanbul karachi kolkata kuala lumpur madrid melbourne mexico city mumbai nairobi sào paulo shanghai taipei tokyo toronto oxford is a registered trade mark of oxford university press in the uk and in certain other countries published in the united states by oxford university press inc new york © oxford university press 1999 2004 the moral rights of the author have been asserted database right oxford university press maker first published 1999 second edition 2004 all rights reserved no part of this publication maybe reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of oxford university press or as expressly permitted by law or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the rights department oxford university press at the address above you must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer british library cataloguing in publication data data available library of congress cataloging in publication data data available isbn 0-19-852711-x 1 designed by jane stevenson typeset in swift and frutiger by kolam information services india printed in great britain by clays ltd.[close]
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preface the aim of the oxford dictionary of idioms is to provide clear definitions of phrases and sayings for those who do not know what they mean but also to offer the curious reader interesting facts about the origins of phrases and examples of their use this second edition of the oxford dictionary ofidioms is based on the first edition edited by jennifer speake it maintains the first edition s focus on contemporary and historical phrases sayings and proverbs and uses a combination of definition and where required explanatory note and illustrative quotation to provide a rounded picture of idiomatic usage the coverage of the previous edition has been extended by the inclusion of more than 350 new idioms and a great many contemporary illustrative quotations have also been added these quotations have been taken from a variety of sources from novels to travel guides broadsheet newspapers to teenage magazines they help to give the reader a better understanding of how an idiom is used a typical context a certain tone or a particular resonance the formation of new phrases and sayings is one of the most colourful aspects of language development and by adding idioms such as chew the scenery be in like flynn and give someone the hairy eyeball and quotations from the likes of anthony bourdain arundhati roy melvin burgess and tom clancy the new edition hopes to reflect this colour a new index section at the end of the book groups together idioms which share a common theme or subject so giving readers a vivid snapshot of those areas and aspects of life that have generated a particularly rich variety offigurativeexpressions my thanks must go to richard jones for his work on sourcing quotations to georgia hole for proofreading and above all to sara hawker for her help and insight throughout the project judith siefring[close]
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aa a a 1 excellent first-rate i j i o the full form of this expression is >47 at lloyd s in lloyd s register of shipping the phrase was used of ships in first-class condition as to the hull a and stores 1 the us equivalent is a no 7 both have been in figurative use since the mid 19th century abdabs give someone the screaming abdabs induce an attack of extreme anxiety or irritation in someone j j j o abdabs or habdabs is mid 20th-century slang whose origin is unknown the word is sometimes also used to mean an attack of delirium tremens from a to b from your starting point to your destination from one place to another abet 1987 k rushforth tree planting management and abet see aid aid the purpose of street tree planting is to make the roads and thoroughfares pleasant in their own right not just as places about used to travel from a to b know what you are about be aware of the implications of your actions or of a from a to z over the entire range in every situation and of how best to deal with particular 1998 salmon trout sea-trout in order to have them informal seen scotland s gamefishingin its entirety 1993 ski survey he ran a 3-star guest house from a to z visiting 30 stretches ofriverand before this so knows what he is about 350 lochs a year you would have to be travelling for a hundred years above aback take someone aback shock surprise or disconcert someone i i i i o the phrase is frequently used in the passive form be taken aback this was adopted in the mid 19th century from earlier mid 18th-century nautical terminology to describe the situation of a ship with its sails pressed back against the mast by a headwind preventing forward movement above yourself conceited arrogant 1999 frank mccourt tis many a man made his way in america by the sweat of his brow and his strong back and it s a good thing to learn your station in life and not be getting above yourself not be above be capable of stooping to an unworthy act 1991 maureen duffy illuminations the copyist was not above turning author or forger and several ms s from this period must be viewed as highly suspect 1991 kathleen jones learning not to be first abraham they were taken aback by the shabbiness of the hotel and lack of cleanliness in the city in abraham s bosom in heaven the place of generally rest for the souls of the blessed dated abc as easy or simple as abc extremely easy or straightforward i i j o from the 15th to the 17th century a child s first spelling and reading book was commonly called an abc and this led to the j development of its metaphorical use the basic elements or rudiments of something jijjiio the phrase is taken from luke 16:22 and it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into abraham s bosom in the bible abraham was the hebrew patriarch from whom all jews traced their descent i j j acceptable the acceptable face of the tolerable or attractive manifestation or aspect of.[close]
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accident 1996 new york review of books he presents himself as the acceptable face of gambling the man who almost singlehandedly has turned a huckster s paradise into a gangster-free zone iiijij 2 o the aceistne highest playing card in its suit in many card games so a cheating player j mightwellhideonetouseagainstan unwary opponent a north american variant is an ace in the hole the next two idioms are also based on this meaning of ace accident an accident waiting to happen q a potentially disastrous situation usually caused by negligent or faulty procedures © a person certain to cause trouble 01997 times accidents are often said to be waiting to happen it does not take much imagination to see that the chaotic start to the whitbread round-the-world race could easily have ended in tragedy accidents will happen however careful you try to be it is inevitable that some unfortunate or unforeseen events will occur o this phrase is a shortened form of the i early 19th-century proverb accidents will i happen in the best regulated families hold all the aces have all the advantages play your ace use your best resource within an ace of very close to i j i o ace here has the figurative meaning of a j tiny amount and is used with reference to thesinglespotontheplayingcard.thephrase i was first recorded in the early 18th century achilles an achilles heel a person s only vulnerable spot a serious or fatal weakness j j i j i o in greek mythology the nymph thetis dipped her infant son achilles in the water of j the river styx to make him immortal but the i heel by which she held him was not touched j by the water he was ultimately killed in battle by an arrow wound in this one vulnerable spot a chapter of accidents see chapter accord of your own accord voluntarily or without outside intervention 1998 times the inclination to outlaw that of which it disapproves is if not the cloven hoof beneath the hem of tony blair s government certainly its achilles heel account give a good or bad account of yourself make a favourable or unfavourable impression through your performance or actions settle {or square accounts with someone 0 pay money owed to someone q have revenge on someone acid the acid test a situation or event which finally proves whether something is good or bad true or false etc iiiio the original use of the phrase was to describe a method of testing for gold with nitric acid gold being resistant to the effects j of nitric acid accounting there s no accounting for tastes it s impossible to explain why different people like different things especially those things which the speaker considers unappealing proverb 1 o since the late 18th century this has been j the usual english form of the latin expression i de gustibus non est disputandum there is no disputing about tastes 1990 which these deals are designed to encourage impulse buying so the acid test is whether you would have bought anyway come the acid be unpleasant or offensive speak in a caustic or sarcastic manner put the acid on someone try to extract a loan or favour from someone australian n w e zealand informal acquaintance have a nodding acquaintance with someone or something see nodding scrape acquaintance with see scrape ace have an ace up your sleeve have an effective resource or piece of information kept hidden until it is necessary to use it have a secret advantage acre god s acre see god.[close]
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3 admirable i o originally this was an order to naval personnel to go to their allocated positions j ready to engage the enemy across across the board applying to all jiio n the usa this expression refers to a horse-racing bet in which equal amounts are j staked on the same horse to win place or show in a race 1999 wall street journal the decline for the euro across the board was mainly attributed to the further erosion of global investors confidence toward the euro-zone economy be across something fully understand the details or complexity of an issue or situation australian man of action a man whose life is characterized by physical activity or deeds rather than by words or intellectual matters a piece of the action see piece where the action is where important or interesting things are happening informal 1971 gourmet you can dine outside weather permitting or in the bar where the action is act act your age behave in a manner appropriate to your age and not to someone much younger act the goat see goat actual your actual the real genuine or important thing specified informal 1968 kenneth williams diary there s no doubt about it on a good day i look quite lovely in your actual gamin fashion act of god an instance of uncontrollable natural forces in operation i o this phrase is often used in insurance j contracts to refer to incidents such as j lightning strikes or floods a class act see class adam not know someone from adam not know or be completely unable to recognize the person in question informal the old adam unregenerate human nature o in christian symbolism the old adam represents fallen man as contrasted with the second adam jesus christ clean up your act see clean do a disappearing act see disappearing get your act together organize yourself in the manner required in order to achieve something informal 2002 new york times there are still many who think all that the dirty homeless man on the corner talking to himself needs is just to get his act together a hard or tough act to follow an achievement or performance which sets a standard difficult for others to measure up to 1996 independent her determination and championing of tourism will be a tough act to follow in on the act involved in a particular activity in order to gain profit or advantage informal 1997 what cellphone conference calls are becoming big business for the fixed-line operators and now there are signs that the mobile networks are getting in on the act read someone the riot act see read 1993 outdoor canada it is the old adam in us we are descendants of a long line of dirt farmers sheepherders and so forth add add fuel to the fire see fuel add insult to injury see insult adder deaf as an adder see deaf admirable an admirable crichton a person who excels in all kinds of studies and pursuits or who is noted for supreme competence j j i ijio this expression originally referred to james crichton of clunie 1560-85 a scottish nobleman renowned for his intellectual and physical prowess in j m barrie s play the admirable crichton 1902 the eponymous hero is a butler who takes charge when his master s family is shipwrecked on a desert island i action action stations an order or warning to prepare for action.[close]
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