Словарь американских идиом (8000 единиц)
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[blow over] <v.> To come to an end; pass away with little or no bad effects. * /The sky was black, as if a bad storm were coming, but it blew over and the sun came out./ * /They were bitter enemies for a while, but the quarrel blew over./ * /He was much criticized for the divorce, but it all blew over after a few years./
[blow taps] <v. phr.> To sound the final bugle call of the evening in a camp or military base. * /After taps is blown the boy scouts go to their bunks to sleep./
[blow the gaff] <v. phr.> To open one's mouth to reveal a secret. * /When Al cheated on his wife, his younger brother blew the gaff on him./
[blow the lid off] <v. phr.>, <informal> Suddenly to reveal the truth about a matter that has been kept as a secret either by private persons or by some governmental agency. * /The clever journalists blew the lid off the Watergate cover-up./
[blow the whistle on] <v. phr.>, <slang> 1. To inform against; betray. * /The police caught one of the bank robbers, and he blew the whistle on two more./ 2. To act against, stop, or tell people the secrets of (crime or lawlessness). * /The mayor blew the whistle on gambling./ * /The police blew the whistle on hot reading./
[blow up] <v.> 1a. To break or destroy or to be destroyed by explosion. * /He blew up the plane by means of a concealed bomb./ * /The fireworks factory blew up when something went wrong in an electric switch./ 1b. <informal> To explode with anger or strong feeling; lose control of yourself. * /When Father bent the nail for the third time, he blew up./ Compare: BLOW A FUSE. 1c. To stop playing well in a game or contest, usually because you are in danger of losing or are tired; <especially>: To lose skill or control in pitching baseball. * /The champion blew up and lost the tennis match./ * /Our team was behind but the pitcher on the other team blew up and we got the winning runs./ 2. <informal> To be ruined as if by explosion; be ended suddenly. * /The whole scheme for a big party suddenly blew up./ 3a. To pump full of air; inflate. * /He blew his tires up at a filling station./ 3b. To make (something) seem bigger or important. * /It was a small thing to happen but the newspapers had blown it up until it seemed important./ 4. To bring on bad weather; also, to come on as bad weather. * /The wind had blown up a storm./ * /A storm had blown up./ 5. To copy in bigger form; enlarge. * /He blew up the snapshot to a larger size./
[blow up in one's face] <v. phr.>, <informal> To fail completely and with unexpected force. * /The thief's plan to rob the bank blew up in his face when a policeman stopped him./
[blue] See: BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA, BOLT FROM THE BLUE, ONCE IN A BLUE MOON, OUT OF THE BLUE or OUT OF A CLEAR BLUE SKY.
[blue around the gills] See: GREEN AROUND THE GILLS.
[blue collar worker] <n. phr.> A manual laborer who is probably a labor union member. * /Because Jack's father is a blue collar worker, Jack was so anxious to become an intellectual./ Contrast: WHITE COLLAR WORKER.
[blue in the face] <adj. phr.>, <informal> Very angry or upset; excited and very emotional. * /Tom argued with Bill until he was blue in the face./ * /Mary scolded Jane until she was blue in the face, but Jane kept on using Mary's paints./
[blue Monday] <n.> A Monday when you have to work after a happy weekend. * /It was blue Monday and John nodded sleepily over his books./ * /Housewives sometimes wish they could sleep through blue Monday./
[blue-pencil] <v.> To edit. * /The editor blue-penciled John's manuscript./
[bluff] See: CALL ONE'S BLUFF.
[blurt out] <v. phr.> To suddenly say something even if one was not planning to do so, or if it was not expected of them. * /"My brother Bob is in jail," Tony blurted out, before anybody could stop him./
[blush] See: AT FIRST BLUSH.
[board] See: ACROSS THE BOARD, COLLEGE BOARDS, GO BY THE BOARD or PASS BY THE BOARD, ON BOARD, SANDWICH BOARD.
[boat] See: BURN ONE'S BRIDGES also BURN ONE'S BOATS, IN THE SAME BOAT, MISS THE BOAT, ROCK THE BOAT.
[bobby-soxer] <n.> A teen-aged girl. (1940s idiom) * /My two daughters, age 13 and 14, are typical bobby-soxers./
[bob up] See: POP UP(1).
[body] See: KEEP BODY AND SOUL TOGETHER.
[body blow] <n.>, <informal> A great disappointment; a bitter failure. * /When he failed to get on the team it came as a body blow to him./
[body English] <n.>, <informal> The wishful attempt to make a ball move in the right direction after it has been hit or let go, by twisting the body in the desired direction. * /He tried to help the putt fall by using body English./
[bog down] <v. phr.> To be immobilized in mud, snow, etc.; slow down. * /Our research got bogged down for a lack of appropriate funding./ * /Don't get bogged down in too much detail when you write an action story./
[bog down, to get bogged down] <v. phr.>, <mostly intransitive or passive> 1. To stop progressing; to slow to a halt. * /Work on the new building bogged down, because the contractor didn't deliver the needed concrete blocks./ 2. To become entangled with a variety of obstacles making your efforts unproductive or unsatisfying. * /The novelist wrote tittle last summer because she got bogged down in housework./
[boggle the mind] <v. phr.>, <informal> To stop the rational thinking process by virtue of being too fantastic or incredible. * /It boggles the mind that John should have been inside a flying saucer!/
[boil] See: MAKE ONE'S BLOOD BOIL or MAKE THE BLOOD BOIL.
[boil down] <v.> 1. To boil away some of the water from; make less by boiling. * /She boiled down the maple sap to a thick syrup./ * /The fruit juice boiled down until it was almost not good for jelly./ 2. To reduce the length of; cut down; shorten. * /The reporter boiled the story down to half the original length./ 3. To reduce itself to; come down to; be briefly or basically. * /The whole discussion boils down to the question of whether the government should fix prices./
[boil over] <v. phr.> 1. To rise due to boiling and overflow down the sides of a pan or a pot. * /"Watch out!" Jane cried. "The milk is boiling over on the stove!"/ 2. To become enraged to the point of being unable to contain oneself. * /John took a lot of abuse from his boss, but after 25 minutes he suddenly boiled over and told him what he thought of him./
[boiling point] <n.> 1. The temperature at which a liquid boils. * /The boiling point of water is 272° Fahrenheit./ 2. The time when you become very angry. * /He has a low boiling point./ * /After being teased for a long time, John reached the boiling point./ * /When John made the same mistake for the fourth time, his teacher reached the boiling point./ Compare: BLOW UP(1b), MAKE ONE'S BLOOD BOIL.