Tiêu đề 102 - Book of Idioms From A to Z.pdf.pdf ✅

A A 1 excellent; first-rate. i O The full form of this expression is >47 at ! Lloyd's. In Lloyd's Register of Shipping, the j phrase was used of ships in first-class I 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. from A to B from your starting point to your destination; from one place to another. 1987 K. Rushforth Tree Planting & Management The purpose of street tree planting is to... make the roads and thoroughfares pleasant in their own right, not just as places used to travel from A to B. from A to Z over the entire range; in every particular. 1998 Salmon, Trout & Sea-Trout In order to have seen Scotland's game fishing in its entirety, from A to Z, visiting 30 stretches of river and 350 lochs a year, you would have to be travelling for a hundred years. aback take someone aback shock, surprise, or disconcert someone. ! O The phrase is frequently used in the i passive form (be taken aback): this was ; adopted in the mid 19th century from i earlier (mid 18th-century) nautical i terminology, to describe the situation of a i ship with its sails pressed back against the ! mast by a headwind, preventing forward | movement. 1991 Kathleen Jones Learning Not To Be First They were taken aback by the shabbiness of the hotel and lack of cleanliness in the city generally. ABC as easy (or simple) as ABC extremely easy or straightforward. I O From the 15th to the 17th century, a I child's first spelling and reading book was ! commonly called an ABC, and this led to the j j development of its metaphorical use, 'the | basic elements or rudiments of something'. Aa abdabs give someone the screaming abdabs induce an attack of extreme anxiety or irritation in someone. j O Abdabs (or habdabs) is mid 20th-century ! ! slang whose origin is unknown. The word is j sometimes also used to mean an attack of j delirium tremens. abet aid and abet: see AID. about know what you are about be aware of the implications of your actions or of a situation, and of how best to deal with them, informal 1993 Ski Survey He ran a 3-star guest house before this, so knows what he is about. above 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. Abraham in Abraham's bosom in heaven, the place of rest for the souls of the blessed, dated j O The phrase is taken from Luke 16:22: 'And ! i it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was I j carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom', j j In the Bible, Abraham was the Hebrew i patriarch from whom all Jews traced their I descent. j acceptable the acceptable face of the tolerable or attractive manifestation or aspect of.
accident 2 1996 New York Review of Books He presents himself as the acceptable face of gambling... the man who, almost single- handedly, has turned a huckster's paradise into a gangster-free zone. accident an accident waiting to happen Qa 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'. a chapter of accidents: see CHAPTER. accord of your own accord voluntarily or without outside intervention. 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. 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'. 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. i O The ac e is t n e highest playing card in its I suit in many card games, so a cheating player j I mightwellhideonetouseagainstan unwary ; j opponent. A North American variant is an ace \ I in the hole. The next two idioms are also j based on this meaning of ace. hold all the aces have all the advantages. play your ace use your best resource. within an ace of very close to. i O Ace here has the figurative meaning of 'a j j tiny amount' and is used with reference to i 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 O In Greek mythology, the nymph Thetis j dipped her infant son Achilles in the water of j i 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 j battle by an arrow wound in this one i vulnerable spot. 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. acid the acid test a situation or event which finally proves whether something is good or bad, true or false, etc. i O The original use of the phrase was to I describe a method of testing for gold with i nitric acid (gold being resistant to the effects j i of nitric acid). 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 & New Zealand informal acquaintance have a nodding acquaintance with someone or something: see NODDING. scrape acquaintance with: see SCRAPE. acre God's acre: see GOD.
3 admirable across across the board applying to all. ! O , n the USA, this expression refers to a j horse-racing bet in which equal amounts are j i staked on the same horse to win, place, or I 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 act act your age behave in a manner appropriate to your age and not to someone much younger. act the goat: see GOAT. 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. 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 . action action stations an order or warning to prepare for action. I O Originally, this was an order to naval ; personnel to go to their allocated positions j ready to engage the enemy. 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. 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. 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. 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. | O This expression originally referred to j James Crichton of Clunie (1560-85?), a j Scottish nobleman renowned for his i intellectual and physical prowess. In J. M. ! Barrie's play The Admirable Crichton (1902), i i the eponymous hero is a butler who takes j charge when his master's family is ship- i wrecked on a desert island.