Turn down
1. To go back in the opposite direction.
Turn around! We just passed the theater. Turn down.
2. To lower the power of something, such as lights or volume.
Turn down the TV! It's too loud.
3. To enter a road, especially a secondary road thought of as leading to a lower place
You need to turn down this road and continue to the bottom of the hill.
4. To refuse
It was a great job offer, but I had to turn it down because it was too much work.
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Swoop in
All at once, in a single action
James Rodriguez has signed for Bayern Munich on a two-year loan from Real Madrid.
The Colombia international, 25, has been linked with a move away from the Champions League winners since the start of the summer.
Manchester United were reported to be keen on James but Bayern have swooped in to secure his services until June 2019.
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Tail wags the dog
Said of situations in which a minor part is in control of the whole.
He is just a minor employee at the firm, yet he gives everyone orders, a case of the tail wagging the dog.
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Chicken switch
1. The emergency eject button used by test pilots in fast and high flying aircraft by means of which they can parachute to safety if the engine fails; later adopted by astronauts in space capsules.
Don't pull the chicken switch, unless absolutely necessary.
2. The panic button; a panicky reaction to an unforeseen situation, such as unreasonable or hysterical telephone calls to friends for help.
Joe pulled the chicken switch on his neighbor when the grease started burning in the kitchen.
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Shy away from
Avoid, evade
We are not going to shy away from asking serious questions about what it means, and why it is important. Only through tackling the most difficult topic
first does everything else fall into place so much more easily.
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Save up
To put away for future use; keep as savings; save.
John was saving up for a new bicycle.
Mary saved up pieces of cloth to make a quilt.
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Speak volumes
to provide a lot of information about something : to show something very clearly
Trump's silence after attack on Muslims speaks volumes
For a long time, a lot of Muslims had their heads in the sand when it came to jihadist violence. They preferred to pretend as if it did not exist, or that foreign policy was solely to blame.
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Nail down
to succeed in getting or achieving something
From a footballing family, Jordan Torunarigha broke into the Hertha Berlin first team in the final months of the 2016/2017 campaign. Having already been compared to his role model Jerome Boateng, the Germany Under-20 international will now look to nail down a starting place with the Old Lady.
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A cut above sth/sb
better than other people or things
The number nine only turned 17 in January, but he already looks a cut above most of his peers around Europe. In his Germany's next group game against the Republic of Ireland he demonstrated the full range of his talents, scoring his team’s second, fourth and fifth goals in a 7-0 demolition.
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Granny nanny
A grandmother who cares for her grandchildren while their parents are working.
One way is that we’re in our grand children's lives more than ever before, whether from across the country thanks to Skype and FaceTime or as "granny nannies"—in some cases full time.
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Billionaire bait
An item designed to appeal to a person who is extremely rich.
The gorgeous fuselage is billionaire bait, but the bravura style is wedded to pure function.
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Your name is bud
in trouble, disgraced, or discredited because of something you have said or done
Friend 1: Do you think you could use your influence with the bouncers to get us in to this bar?
Friend 2: After being booted out a couple of times for fighting my name is mud here.
Friend 1: Well, that is not going to help us get in. Maybe we should just go somewhere else.
Friend 2: Good idea.
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Run of luck
A period of good luck.
I had a run of luck last Saturday when I went fishing and caught seven big ones.
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Records were made ______ by CDs, but now they are making a comeback among collectors.
anonymous poll
Obsolete – 37
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 60%
Popular – 12
👍👍 19%
Standard – 5
👍 8%
Sought – 4
👍 6%
Recommend – 4
👍 6%
👥 62 people voted so far.
Up front
If you give someone an amount of money up front, you pay them before they do something for you; in advance
@e14glish_time
the same time, we acknowledge, up front, that answers to these three questions will often be interdependent, and it will be useful to keep this in mind as we proceed with our analysis, particularly at the neural mechanisms level.
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Hunt up
To find or locate by search.
When John was in Chicago, he hunted up some old friends.
The first thing Fred had to do was to hunt up a hotel room.
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Lip service
support for someone or something that is expressed by someone in words but that is not shown in that person's actions
@e14glish_time
Having a youth academy is not something German clubs merely pay lip-service too; it is a pre-requisite to gaining their license each year and as such they take it very seriously. With a good pool of coaches plying their trade across the nation, plenty of well-trained players are bound to emerge.
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Xerox Subsidy
Euphemism for swiping free photocopies from one's workplace.
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1. Mash up
A blend of different things
2. Chime in
to add your comment or opinion to a conversation or discussion that you have been listening to
@e14glish_time
Deep down you are mysterious. You’re the type of person who hasn’t figured yourself out, so good luck to anyone else who plans to try! You are a mash up of many contradictions, and your mood changes daily. Once find yourself, you’ve changed into someone else. You don’t show the world much about yourself. You are a person of few words and confusing actions. You prefer to observe and learn about people before you chime in. You only say things that you are sure of.
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Tie in knots
To make (someone) very nervous or worried.
The thought of having her tooth pulled tied Joan in knots.
The little boy's experience with the kidnapper tied him in knots and it was hard for him to sleep well for a long time.
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Five Ways to Ask for Clarification
1. Pardon? (if you didn’t hear or understand what the person said)
2. Would you mind repeating that?
3. What do you mean? (asking for more information)
4. I’m not sure I follow you. (= I don’t understand)
5. Could you explain…
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Hard and fast
Defined, fixed, invariable
While ESL/EFL learners may want to know exactly when they can or cannot use the possessive ’s, there is no hard and fast rule for them to follow, only general guidelines.
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*Phrasal verbs in context*
Do you thumb through the magazines when you are waiting at the doctor’s or dentist’s?
If you thumb through something such as a book or magazine, you turn the pages quickly rather than reading each page carefully.
● Do you find it easy to face up to the problems in your life?
Confront or accept an unpleasant or difficult situation.
● Who do you talk to when you want to get something off your chest?
to tell someone about something that has been making you upset or unhappy.
● Who’s the most gullible person you know? Is it easy to palm them off with silly answers?
Pass off by deception, substitute with intent to deceive.
● What’s the most valuable thing an older person has ever handed down to you?
If you hand down something such as knowledge, a possession, or a skill, you give or leave it to people who belong to a younger generation.
● Can you knuckle down to hard work when you have to or are you a steady worker?
Apply oneself seriously to some task or goal.
● Have you ever eyed someone up at a party? How about on the bus or train?
to look at someone in a way which shows that you are sexually interested in them.
● When you argue with people do you back down to keep the peace or do you stick to your guns?
to admit that you are wrong or that you have been defeated.
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Take down a notch
1. instruction to an individual to regulate his or her level of enthusiasm.
2. Deflate or humble someone
Let’s just put it like this: extremes don’t look good. When you wear pants so tight that we end up learning things about you that only your girlfriend or boyfriend should know, then it’s time to take it down a notch.
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Text neck
Neck and upper back pain caused by an excessive and prolonged forward head tilt, such as when texting or performing other mobile device tasks.
Lanman and Cuellar suggest simple lifestyle changes to relieve the stress from the 'text neck' posture. They recommend holding cell phones in front of the face, or near eye level, while texting. They also suggest using two hands and two thumbs to create a more symmetrical and comfortable position for the spine.
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Mom as a service
Software and online tools that provide services similar to the tasks performed by a mother.
This small subculture of wealthy technophiles promotes investment into luxury goods for rich people, or into "mom as a service" types of companies that cater to spoiled workaholics in the tech industry. And so we end up with things like a $120M juice squeezer, or three startups competing to deliver organic baby food.
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Pandora's box
A thing or problem that, if activated, will give rise to many unmanageable problems.
If they insist on having that inquiry, they will open up a Pandora's box.
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Take over
someone takes over a country or building, they get control of it by force, for example with the help of the army.
Today’s society is completely taken over by numbers. Numbers are everywhere you look, from billboards showing the on-time statistics for a particular airline, to sports shows discussing the Las Vegas odds for upcoming football games. The evening news is filled with stories focusing on crime rates, the expected life span of junk-food junkies, and the president’s approval rating.
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