Словарь американских идиом (8000 единиц)
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[feel one's oats] <v. phr.>, <slang> 1. To feel frisky or playful; be eager and excited. * /The horses were feeling their oats./ * /When they first got to camp, the boys were feeling their oats./ 2. To act in a proud or important way. * /The new gardener was feeling his oats and started to boss the other men./
[feel one's way] <v. phr.> To proceed cautiously by trial and error; probe. * /I won't ask her to marry me directly; I will feel my way first./
[feel] or [look small] <v. phr.> To have the impression that one is insignificant, foolish, or humiliated. * /"I feel small next to Hemingway," the young student of creative writing said./
[feel out] <v.> To talk or act carefully with someone and find what he thinks or can do. * /The pupils felt out the principal about a party after the game./ * /John felt out his father about letting him have the car that evening./ * /At first the boxers felt each other out./ Compare: SOUND OUT.
[feel out of place] <v. phr.> To experience the sensation of not belonging in a certain place or company. * /Dave felt out of place among all those chess players as he knows nothing about chess./
[feel the pinch] <v. phr.> To be short of money; experience monetary difficulties. * /If we are going to have a recession, everybody will feel the pinch./
[feel up] <v. phr.>, <vulgar>, <avoidable> To arouse sexually by manual contact. * /You mean to tell me that you've been going out for six months and he hasn't ever tried to feel you up?/ Contrast: COP A FEEL.
[feel up to something] <v. phr.>, <informal> To feel adequately knowledgeable, strong, or equipped to handle a given task. * /Do you feel up to jogging a mile a day with me?/ Contrast: BE UP TO SOMETHING.
[feet] See: FOOT.
[feet of clay] <n. phr.> A hidden fault or weakness in a person which is discovered or shown. * /The famous general showed he had feet of clay when he began to drink liquor./ * /The banker seemed to be honest, but he had feet of clay and was arrested for stealing./
[feet on the ground] <n. phr.> An understanding of what can be done; sensible ideas. Used with a possessive. * /John has his feet on the ground; he knows he cannot learn everything at once./ * /Ted dreams of sudden riches, but Henry keeps his feet on the ground and expects to work for his money./ * /Mrs. Smith was a dreamer, but her husband was a man with his feet on the ground./ Contrast: IN THE CLOUDS.
[fell] See: AT ONE FELL SWOOP.
[fellow] See: HAIL-FELLOW-WELL-MET, REGULAR GUY or REGULAR FELLOW.
[fellow traveller] <n.> A sympathizer with a political movement who does not officially belong to the political party in question. * /Many Germans after World War II were innocently accused of being fellow travellers of Nazism./ * /During the McCarthy era, many Americans were accused of being Communist fellow travellers./
[fence] See: GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE, MEND ONE'S FENCES, ON THE FENCE.
[fence in] or [hedge in] or [hem in] <v.> To keep (someone) from doing what he or she would like to do. Usually used in the passive. * /Mary felt fenced in because her father would not let her drive a car or have dates with boys./ * /John didn't like his job because he had to do the same kind of work all the time. He felt that he was hemmed in./
[fence-sitter] <n.> A person unable to pick between two sides; a person who does not want to choose. * /Daddy says he is a fence-sitter because he doesn't know which man he wants for President./
[fence-sitting] <n.> or <adj.> Choosing neither side. * /You have been fence-sitting for too long. It is time you made up your mind./ Contrast: MAKE UP ONE'S MIND, TAKE SIDES.
[fence with] or [spar with] <v.> To talk with (someone) as if you were fighting like a swordsman or boxer; to give skillful answers or arguments against (someone). * /The governor was an expert at fencing with reporters at press conferences./
[ferret out] <literary> or [smell out] or [sniff out] <v.> To hunt or drive from hiding; to bring out into the open; search for and find. * /John ferreted out the answer to the question in the library./ * /Jane smelled out the boys' secret hiding place in the woods./
[few] See: MAN OF FEW WORDS, NOT A FEW, QUITE A FEW.
[few and far between] <adj. phr.> Not many; few and scattered; not often met or found; rare.
– Used in the predicate. * /People who will work as hard as Thomas A. Edison are few and far between./ * /Places where you can get water are few and far between in the desert./ * /Really exciting games are few and far between./
[fickle finger of fate] See: ACT OF GOD.
[fiddle] See: PLAY SECOND FIDDLE.
[fiddle around] See: FOOL AROUND(3).
[fiddler] See: PAY THE PIPER or PAY THE FIDDLER.
[fiddle with] <v. phr.> To carelessly play with something. * /If Jimmy continues to fiddle with our computer, he is liable to ruin it./
[field] See: CENTER FIELD, LEFT FIELD, OUT IN LEFT FIELD, PLAY THE FIELD, RIGHT FIELD.
[field goal] <n.> 1. A score in football made by kicking the ball over the bar between the goal posts. * /The Giants were not able to make a touchdown but they kicked two field goals./ Compare: EXTRA POINT. 2. A score in basketball made by a successful shot through the basket not made on a free throw. * /A field goal counts two points./ Compare: FOUL SHOT, FREE THROW.
[fifth] See: TAKE THE FIFTH.
[fifth column] <n. phr.> A group or organization within a country that works to bring about the country's downfall, usually through acts of espionage and sabotage. * /The Communist party in the United States was considered by Senator McCarthy to be the Soviet Union's fifth column./
[flfty-flfty(1)] <adv.>, <informal> Equally; evenly. * /The two boys divided the marbles they won fifty-fifty./ * /When Dick and Sam bought an old car, they divided the cost fifty-fifty./