Словарь американских идиом (8000 единиц)
Шрифт:
[conk out] <v. phr.>, <slang>, <informal> To fall asleep suddenly with great fatigue or after having drunk too much. * /We conked out right after the guests had left./
[consent] See: SILENCE GIVES CONSENT.
[consequence] See: IN CONSEQUENCE, IN CONSEQUENCE OF.
[consideration] See: IN CONSIDERATION OF.
[consumer goods] or [consumer items] <n.> Food and manufactured things that people buy for their own use. * /In time of war, the supply of consumer goods is greatly reduced./
[content] See: TO ONE'S HEART'S CONTENT.
[contention] See: BONE OF CONTENTION.
[contrary] See: ON THE CONTRARY, TO THE CONTRARY.
[control room] <n.> A room containing the panels and switches used to control something (like a TV broadcast). * /While a television program is on the air, engineers are at their places in the control room./
[control tower] <n.> A tower with large windows and a good view of an airport so that the traffic of airplanes can be seen and controlled, usually by radio. * /We could see the lights at the control tower as our plane landed during the night./
[conversation] See: MAKE CONVERSATION.
[conversation piece] <n.> Something that interests people and makes them talk about it; something that looks unusual, comical, or strange. * /Uncle Fred has a glass monkey on top of his piano that he keeps for a conversation piece./
[conviction] See: HAVE THE COURAGE OF ONE'S CONVICTIONS.
[cook] See: SHORT-ORDER COOK, WHAT'S UP or WHAT'S COOKING.
[cook one's goose] <v. phr.>, <slang> To ruin someone hopelessly; destroy one's future expectations or good name. * /The bank treasurer cooked his own goose when he stole the bank's funds./ * /She cooked John's goose by reporting what she knew to the police./ * /The dishonest official knew his goose was cooked when the newspapers printed the story about him./
[cook up] <v.>, <informal> To plan and put together; make up; invent. * /The boys cooked up an excuse to explain their absence from school./
[cool] See: PLOW ONE'S COOL.
[cool as a cucumber] <adj. phr.>, <informal> Very calm and brave; not nervous, worried, or anxious; not excited; composed. * /Bill is a good football quarterback, always cool as a cucumber./
[cool customer] <n.> Someone who is calm and in total control of himself; someone showing little emotion. * /Jim never gets too excited about anything; he is a cool customer./
[cool down] or [cool off] <v.> To lose or cause to lose the heat of any deep feeling (as love, enthusiasm, or anger); make or become calm, cooled or indifferent; lose interest. * /A heated argument can be settled better if both sides cool down first./ * /John was deeply in love with Sally before he left for college, but he cooled off before he got back./ * /Their friendship cooled off when Jack gave up football./ * /The neighbor's complaint about the noise cooled the argument down./
[cool one's heels] <v. phr.>, <slang> To be kept waiting by another's pride or rudeness; be forced to wait by someone in power or authority; wait. * /He cooled his heels for an hour in another room before the great man would see him./ * /I was left to cool my heels outside while the others went into the office./
[coon's age] See: DOG'S AGE.
[coop] See: FLY THE COOP.
[coop up] <v. phr.> To hedge in; confine; enclose in a small place. * /How can poor Jane work in that small office, cooped up all day long?/
[cop a feel] <v. phr.>, <vulgar>, <avoidable> To attempt to arouse sexually by manual contact, usually by surprise. * /John talks big for a 16 year old, but all he's ever done is cop a feel in a dark movie theater./ Compare: FEEL UP. Contrast: COP A PLEA.
[cop a plea] <v. phr.>, <slang>, <colloquial> To plead guilty during a trial in the hope of getting a lighter sentence as a result. * /The murderer of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., copped a plea of guilty, and got away with a life sentence instead of the death penalty./
[cop out] <v. phr.>, <slang>, <informal> To avoid committing oneself in a situation where doing so would result in difficulties. * /Nixon copped out on the American people with Watergate./
[cop-out] <n. phr.>, <slang>, <informal> An irresponsible excuse made to avoid something one has to do, a flimsy pretext. * /Cowe on, Jim, that's a cheap cop-out, and I don't believe a word of it!/
[copy cat] n. Someone who copies another person's work or manner. Usually used by children or when speaking to children. * /He called me a copy cat just because my new shoes look like his./
[corn ball] <n.>, <slang>, <informal> 1. A superficially sentimental movie or musical in which the word "love" is mentioned too often; a theatrical performance that is trivially sentimental. * /That movie last night was a corn hall./ 2. A person who behaves in a superficially sentimental manner or likes performances portraying such behavior. * /Suzie can't stand Joe; she thinks he's a corn ball./
[corn belt] <n.> 1. The Midwest; the agricultural section of the United States where much corn is grown. * /Kansas is one of the slates that lies within the corn belt./
[corner] See: AROUND THE CORNER, CUT CORNERS, FOUR CORNERS, OUT OF THE CORNER OF ONE'S EYE.
[cost a bomb] or [an arm and a leg] <v. phr.> To be extremely expensive. * /My new house has cost us an arm and a leg and we're almost broke./
[cotton] See: ON TOP OF THE WORLD also SITTING ON HIGH COTTON.
[cotton picking], [cotton-pickin'] <adj.>, <slang>, <colloquial> Worthless, crude, common, messy. * /Keep your cotton picking hands off my flowers!/ * /You've got to clean up your room, son, this is a cotton-pickin' mess!/