Словарь американских идиом (8000 единиц)
Шрифт:
[pick off] <v.> 1. To pull off; remove with the fingers. * /He picked off the burs that had stuck to his overcoat./ 2. To shoot, one at a time; knock down one by one. * /The sniper picked off the slower soldiers as they came out into the road./ 3. To catch a base runner off base by throwing the ball quickly to a fielder who tags him out. * /The pitcher turned around suddenly and threw to the second baseman to pick the runner off second base./ Compare: OFF BASE. 4. To catch and, especially in football, to intercept. * /Alert defenders picked off three of Jack's passes./
[pick on] <v.> 1. <informal> To make a habit of annoying or bothering (someone); do or say bad things to (someone). * /Other boys picked on him until he decided to fight them./ Syn.: PICK AT(3). 2. To single out; choose; select. * /He visited a lot of colleges, and finally picked on Stanford./
[pick one's teeth] <v. phr.> To clean one's teeth with a toothpick. * /It is considered poor manners to pick one's teeth in public./
[pick one's way] <v. phr.> To go ahead carefully in difficult or unfamiliar places; advance with care. * /After nightfall we drove slowly along, picking our way until we found the right turn./ * /He picked his way across the rough and rocky hillside./
[pick out] <v.> 1. To choose. * /It took Mary a long time to pick out a dress at the store./ 2. To see among others; recognize; tell from others. * /We could pick out different places in the city from the airplane./ * /We could not pick Bob out in the big crowd./ Syn.: MAKE OUT(2). 3. To find by examining or trying; tell the meaning. * /The box was so dirty we couldn't pick out the directions on the label./ Compare: FIND OUT.
[pick over] <v.> To select the best of; look at and take what is good from; choose from. * /She picked the apples over and threw out the bad ones./ * /We hurried to the big sale, but we were late and everything had already been picked over./
[pick the brains of] <v. phr.> To get ideas or information about a particular subject by asking an expert. * /If you have time, I'd like to pick your brains about home computers./
[pick to pieces] See: PICK APART, PICK HOLES IN.
[pickup] <n.>, (stress on "pick") 1. A rugged, small truck. * /When he got into the lumber business, Max traded in his comfortable two-door sedan for a pickup./ 2. Scheduled meeting in order to transfer merchandise or stolen goods. * /The pickup goes down at 7 A.M. every day by the loading dock./ * /The dope pushers usually make their pickup on Rush Street./ 3. A person who is easy to persuade to go home with the suitor. * /Sue is said to be an easy pickup./
[pick up] <v.> 1. To take up; lift. * /During the morning Mrs. Carter picked up sticks in the yard./ 2. <informal> To pay for someone else. * /After lunch, in the restaurant, Uncle Bob picked up the check./ 3. To take on or away; receive; get. * /At the next corner the bus stopped and picked up three people./ 4. To get from different places at different times; a little at a time; collect. * /He had picked up rare coins in seaports all over the world./ 5. To get without trying; get accidentally. * /He picked up knowledge of radio just by staying around the radio station./ * /Billy picked up a cold at school./ 6a. To gather together; collect. * /When the carpenter finished making the cabinet, he began picking up his tools./ 6b. To make neat and tidy; tidy up; put in order. * /Pick up your room before Mother sees it./ 6c. To gather things together; tidy a place up. * /It's almost dinner time, children. Time to pick up and get ready./ 7. To catch the sound of. * /He picked up Chicago on the radio./ 8. To get acquainted with (someone) without an introduction; make friends with (a person of the other sex). * /Mother told Mary not to walk home by herself from the party because some stranger might try to pick her up./ 9. <informal> To take to the police station or jail; arrest. * /Police picked the man up for burglary./ 10. To recognize the trail of a hunted person or animal; find. * /State police picked up the bandit's trail./ * /The dogs picked up the fox's smell./ 11. To make (someone) feel better; refresh. * /A little food will pick you up./ 12a. To increase (the speed); make (the speed) faster. * /The teacher told her singing class to pick up the tempo./ * /The car picked up speed./ 12b. To become faster; become livelier. * /The speed of the train began to pick up./ * /After the band practiced for a while, the music began to pick up./ 13. To start again after interruption; go on with. * /The class picked up the story where they had left it before the holiday./ * /They met after five years, and picked up their friendship as if there had been no interruption./ 14. <informal> To become better; recover; gain. * /She picked up in her schoolwork./ * /He picked up gradually after a long illness./ * /His spirits picked up as he came near home./
[pick up the tab] <v. phr.> To pay the bill in a restaurant; be the one who underwrites financially what others are doing. * /"I am always the one who picks up the tab," Charlie complained bitterly. "Others get away with being freeloaders."/ Compare: FOOT THE BILL.
[Pidgin English] <n. phr.> A jargon that consists of some mispronounced English words and some foreign words used by Orientals in talking with Westerners. * /You can conduct a lot of business in Pidgin English in the Far East./
[pie] See: EAT HUMBLE PIE, FINGER IN THE PIE, PIE IN THE SKY, SWEETIE PIE.
[piece] See: BY THE PIECE, CONVERSATION PIECE, GIVE A PIECE OF ONE'S MIND, GO TO PIECES, OF A PIECE, PIECE OF CAKE, SAY ONE'S PIECE or SPEAK ONE'S PIECE, TO PIECES.
[piece of cake] <adj.>, <slang> Easy. * /The final exam was a piece of cake./
[piece out] <v.> 1. To put together from many different pieces; put together from odd parts; patch. * /They pieced out a meal from leftovers./ * /He pieced out the machine with scrap parts./ * /The detective pieced out the story from a stray fact here, a clue there, and a hint somewhere else./ 2. To make larger or longer by adding one or more pieces. * /The girl grew so fast that her mother had to piece out her dresses./
[piecework] <n.> Work paid for in accordance with the quantity produced. * /Al prefers working on a piecework basis to being on a regular salary because he feels he makes more that way./
[pie in the sky] <n. phr.>, <informal> An unrealistic wish or hope. * /Our trip to Hawaii is still only a pie in the sky./ Compare: PIPE DREAM.
[pigeonhole] <v.> 1. To set aside; defer consideration of. * /The plan was pigeonholed until the next committee meeting./ 2. To typecast; give a stereotypical characterization to someone. * /It was unfair of the committee to pigeonhole him as a left-wing troublemaker./
[pigeonhole] <n.> 1. Small compartment for internal mail in an office or a department. * /"You can just put your late exam into my pigeonhole," said Professor Brown to the concerned student./ 2. One of the small compartments in a desk or cabinet. * /He keeps his cufflinks in a pigeonhole in his desk./
[piggy-back] <adj.> or <adv.> Sitting or being carried on the shoulders. * /Little John loved to go for a piggy-back ride on his father's shoulders./ * /When Mary sprained her ankle, John carried her piggy-back to the doctor./
[piggy bank] <n.> A small bank, sometimes in the shape of a pig, for saving coins. * /John's father gave him a piggy bank./
[pigheaded] <adj.> Stubborn; unwilling to compromise. * /"Stop being so pigheaded!" she cried. "I, too, can be right sometimes!"/
[pig in a poke] <n. phr.> An unseen bargain; something accepted or bought without looking at it carefully. * /Buying land by mail is buying a pig in a poke: sometimes the land turns out to be under water./