Словарь американских идиом (8000 единиц)
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[the devil to pay] <n. phr.> A severe penalty. * /If we don't finish the work by next Monday, there will be the devil to pay./
[the edge] <n.>, <informal> The advantage.
– Usually used in the phrases "get the edge on", "have the edge on". * /In the last quarter of the game, our team got the edge on the other team and kept it./ * /Mary has the edge on Jane in the beauty contest./
[the fickle finger of fate] See: ACT OF GOD.
[the idea] or [the very idea] <n. phr.> - Used in exclamations to show that you do not like something. * /The idea! Thinking Mother was my sister!/ * /The very idea of Tom bringing that dirty dog into my clean house!/
[the lid] <n.>, <slang> Something that holds back or holds out of sight. * /The police blew the lid off the gambling operations./ * /John kept the lid on his plans until he was ready to run for class president./ * /The chief of police placed the lid on gambling in the town./
[the likes of] <informal> Something like or similar to; something of the same kind as. * /I have never seen the likes of John./ * /It was a chocolate sundae the likes of which Mary would never see again./
[the long and the short] or [the long and short] <n. phr.> All that needs to be said; the basic fact; point. * /The long and the short of the matter is that the man is no actor./ * /The money isn't there, and that's the long and short of it./
[the matter] <adj.> Not as it should be; wrong.
– Used in questions or with negatives or "if". * /Why don't you answer me? What's the matter?/ * /John may be slow in arithmetic, but nothing's the matter with his pitching arm./ * /If anything is the matter, please tell me./
[the more --- the more ---] or [the ---er the ---er] - Used in two halves of a sentence to show that when there is more of the first, there is more of the second too. * /The more you eat. the fatter you will get./ * /Get your report in when you can; the sooner, the better./ * /The bigger they are, the harder they fall./ * /The more Bill worked on the arithmetic problem, the more confused he became./
[then] See: AND THEN SOME, EVERY NOW AND THEN, NOW AND THEN.
[then again] <adv.> As an opposite possibility; another thing. * /He may be here tomorrow. Then again, he may not come until next week./ * /I thought you told me about the fire, but then again it could have been Bill./
[then and there] <adv. phr.> At that very time and place in the past; right then. * /He said he wanted his dime back then and there, so I had to give it to him./ Compare: IN ONE'S TRACKS, ON THE SPOT, HERE AND NOW.
[the other day] <adv. phr.> In the recent past. * /I saw an incredible parade of elephants along Michigan Avenue the other day on my way to work./
[the other way around] <adv. phr.> See: JUST THE OTHER WAY.
[the picture] <n.> The way things are or were; the facts about something; the situation; what happened or happens. * /Where does Susan come into the picture./ * /When you are looking for a job your education enters into the picture./ * /Old Mr. Brown is out of the picture now and his son runs the store./ * /After the fight on the playground, the principal talked to the boys who were watching, until he got the whole picture./ Compare: GET THE MESSAGE.
[the pits] <n.>, <slang> 1. A low class, blighted and ill-maintained place, motel room or apartment. * /Max, this motel is the pits, I will not sleep here!/ 2. The end of the road, the point of no return, the point of total ruin of one's health (from the drug anticulture referring to the arm-pits as the only place that had veins for injections). * /John flunked high school this year for the third time; he will never get to college; it's the pits for him./ 3. A very depressed state of mind. * /Poor Marcy is down in the pits over her recent divorce./
[the powers that be] <n. phr.> Constituted authority; those in power. * /I have done all I can; the rest is up to the powers that be./
[there] See: ALL THERE, HERE AND THERE, NEITHER HERE NOR THERE, THEN AND THERE.
[There] or [here you are!] 1. Informal way to say, "Here is what you wanted." * /The doorman politely opened the door of the taxi and said, "There you are, sir!"/ * /The clerk wrapped up the package and handed it to the customer saying, "Here you are, ma'am!"/ 2. You have found the correct answer; you are correct. * /"The reason for the violent crime rate is the all too easy availability of handguns," he said. "Yeah, there you are!" Officer Maloney replied./
[there is more than one way to get a pig to market] or [flay a fox] or [skin a cat] There are always new and different ways to accomplish a difficult task.
– A proverb. * /"'How did you get Tommy to study so hard?" Eleanor asked. "I simply disconnected the television set," Tommy's mother answered. "There's more than one way to get a pig to market."/
[there is nothing to it] Informal way to say, "It is easy." * /Cooking stir-fried Chinese food is really not difficult at all; in fact, there's nothing to it./
[There you go!] 1. Informal way to say, "You are doing it already and you are doing it well." * /"Is roller skating hard?" Freddie asked. "No," Beth replied, "let me show you how to do it. There you go!"/ 2. See: THERE or HERE YOU ARE(2).
[the ropes] <n. plural>, <informal> Thorough or special knowledge of a job; how to do something; the ways of people or the world. * /On a newspaper a cub reporter learns his job from an older reporter who knows the ropes./ * /When you go to a new school it takes a while to learn the ropes./ * /Betty showed Jane the ropes when she was learning to make a dress./ * /Mr. Jones was an orphan and he had to learn the ropes when he was young to make his way in the world./ Compare: BE AROUND, INS AND OUTS, TRICK OF THE TRADE.
[the score] <n.>, <slang> The truth; the real story or information; what is really happening; the way people and the world really are. * /Very few people know the score in politics./ * /You are too young to know the score yet./ * /What's the score anyhow? When will the program begin?/ Compare: KNOW ONE'S STUFF, KNOW ONE'S WAY AROUND, THE ROPES.
[these] See: ONE OF THESE DAYS or SOME OF THESE DAYS.
[the three R's] <n. phr.> (W)riting, reading, and (a)rithmetic, the three basic skills of an elementary education. * /Barry has completed the three R's, but otherwise he has had little formal education./