知识加油站－词汇天地

lspjy

112bets







all bets are off
If someone says `all bets are off', they mean that it is impossible to say how a particular situation may develop.



This election year all bets seem to be off. In fact, even the folks who make a living predicting what the voters will do find themselves on shaky ground.

It's Scorsese's first period drama, so all bets are off until we see how the cast cope in the costumes.

hedge your bets
If you say that someone is hedging their bets, you mean that they are avoiding making decisions, or are committing themselves to more than one thing, so that they will not make a mistake whichever way the situation develops.



The Rev Donald pioneering Rector of St James's, hedges his bets on whether Carey is the leader the Church needs in troubled times. `I don't really know him so I can't really say.'

Political forecasters are hedging their bets about the likely outcome of this Saturday's Louisiana governor's race.

lspjy

113top







blow your top
If you blow your top, you become very angry with someone and shout at them. Blow your stack means the same.

It's a pent-up rage that I don't let out regularly enough. I blew my top recently and broke my right hand on a dustbin.

I wanted to talk to her about it, to understand her reasoning. But I never asked personal questions because she'd always blow her top.

from top to bottom  
If you say that you have cleaned, tidied, or examined something from top to bottom, you are emphasizing that you have done it completely and thoroughly.

She scrubbed the house from top to bottom.

She searched the apartment from top to bottom for the missing letters.

You can also use top to bottom before a noun.

He for a top to bottom review of existing regulations to see which could be eliminated.

from top to toe
You can use from top to toe to emphasize that you are talking about the whole of someone's body. This expression is used mainly in British English. From head to toe and from head to foot mean the same.

Carefully, methodically, she began to wash her body from top to toe.

She was trembling from top to toe.

He's dressed from top to toe in black.

You can also use top-to-toe before a noun.

Nothing beats a glass of mineral water for a top-to-toe great feeling.

A top to toe body treatment is just about the ultimate in luxury.

get on top of you
If you say that something is getting on top of you, you mean that you are feeling depressed and helpless because it is very difficult or worrying, or because it involves more work than you can cope with.

I was depressed. I was fed up with everything. Everything was just getting on top of me.

Most of us from time to time will have been told by close friends or partners that we are irritable or bad-tempered when things get on top of us.

Things have been getting on top of me lately. Business hasn't been good, they're talking of firing some of us.

on top of something
If you are on top of a task or situation, you are dealing with it successfully. If you are beginning to deal with it successfully, you can say that you are getting on top of it.

That's the job. got to be on top of the problems.

The headlines were mostly about the current unrest and the government's inability to get on top of the situation.

If we don't keep up with modern trends, we'll fail. We are getting on top of crime but there is much more to be done.

over the top1  
OTT
If you describe something as over the top, you are being critical of it because you think it is extreme and exaggerated.

At one point, which I think is a bit over the top, he talks about the collapse of civilisation.

Perhaps I was a bit over the top, accusing you at the inquiry of being a traitor.

When I look at models with all that over-the-top make-up, I think, `What happens when you take your face off, when they see you in the morning?'

In informal British English, you can also say that something is OTT. This is an abbreviation of `over the top' and it is pronounced `o t t', as if you are spelling it out.

Newcastle boss Keegan has vowed to appeal against his fine, imposed for comments to referee after a flare-up at Derby last season. `It's OTT,' said Keegan. `I just feel it's severe.'

Each design is very different in style. Some are subtle, some gloriously OTT.

over the top2     
In a competition or contest, if something puts someone over the top, it results in them winning. This expression is used in American English.

The Challenge had pushed us over the top, allowing us to unseat Coke as the number-one soft drink in supermarkets.

Competitive schools receive applications from dozens of varsity players, newspaper editors, and class presidents, many of whom are `A' students as well. An extracurricular may push a candidate over the top.

lspjy

114woodwork







come out of the woodwork  
You can say that people are coming out of the woodwork if they suddenly start publicly doing something or saying something, when previously they did nothing or kept quiet. You often use this expression when you are critical of them for not having done this earlier. You can replace `come' with another verb such as `crawl'.



People are starting to come out of the woodwork to talk about fraudulent practices in the says Frank Birgfeld, district director for the National Association of Securities Dealers in .

The worst aspect of their decision for Britain is that it will now bring own whingeing, narrow-minded anti-Europeans crawling out of the woodwork once more.

lspjy

115snail







at a snail's pace
If you say that something is moving or developing at a snail's pace or at snail's pace, you mean that it is moving or developing very slowly. You usually use this expression when you think that it would be better if it went more quickly.



The vote counting continues at a snail's pace but our Latin America Robin says clear trends are emerging.

The economy grew at a snail's pace in the first three months of this year.

She was driving at snail's pace, looking in every house.



You can also use snail's pace before a noun.



Observers hope that the meeting will speed up two years of snail's-pace talks, marked by repeated breakdowns and little advance on issues of substance.

lspjy

116road







down the road
If you talk about something happening a particular number of years or months down the road, you are talking about its happening after that amount of time. Down the line means the same.

Twenty-five years down the road from independence, we have to start making new priorities.

The index is designed to predict economic performance six to nine months down the road.

Many authorities are concerned that long-term side effects will show up years down the road.

hit the road
If you hit the road, you begin a journey.

The band plan to release a new single and hit the road for a tour in November.

President Clinton hits the road again today, this time heading west; first to New Mexico, then on to California.

take the high road
take the low road
If you say that someone takes the high road, you mean that they follow the course of action which is the most moral or most correct and which is least likely to harm or upset other people. This expression is used in American English.

Carol stayed out of the crossfire and was perceived as taking a high road.

US diplomats say the president is likely to take the high road in his statements about trade.

You can say that someone takes the low road when they follow an immoral or dishonest course of action.

was charged with taking the low road, which he seemed to do with relish.

lspjy

117word







a dirty word
If you say that something is a dirty word to someone, you mean that they disapprove of it and do not want to have anything to do with it.

At the root of problems was the misplaced belief that good sell themselves. Marketing became a dirty word at the company.

A lot of younger women in the '80s and '90s somehow thought feminism was a dirty word.

Responsibility and duty are dirty words in progressive circles. That must change.

from the word go
From the word go means from the very beginning of an activity.

Right from the word go, many of the players looked out of breath and out of their depth.

Pensions can be a money maze and it's essential you make the right decisions from the word go or you won't be able to enjoy your retirement.

get a word in edgeways
get a word in edgewise
If you cannot get a word in edgeways or get a word in edgewise in a conversation, you find it difficult to say anything because someone else is talking so much. `Get a word in edgeways' is used only in British English and `get a word in edgewise' is used mainly in American English.

For heaven's sake, Sue, will you let me get a word in edgeways!

Ernest dominated the conversation. Zhou reportedly could hardly get a word in edgewise.

someone's word is law     
If someone's word is law in an organization or group, everyone has to obey them. This expression is sometimes used to suggest that this kind of behaviour is unreasonable.

His word was law inside the firm, and subordinates literally trembled when he stalked into a room, waving one of his giant cigars.

His father was the kind of parent who saw no reason to discuss anything with his son; his word was law.

a word in someone's ear
If you have a word in someone's ear, you speak to them quietly and privately about a delicate or difficult matter. This expression is used in British English.

I'll go and see Quennell. some It won't be official, mind. Just a word in his ear over a drink.

We won't get away with that kind of display against Spain next month, and although I won't name names, I've had words in the right ears and told certain people they've got to show a big improvement.

lspjy

118goose







cook your goose
your goose is cooked
If you cook your goose, you do something which gets you into trouble or spoils your chances of success. You can also cook someone else's goose.

By trying to nick my he cooked his goose. After that I just had to

There was another possibility; that somehow they had been able to check up on me and had discovered my false history. That, I was sure, would me in the shoemaker class and effectively cook my goose.

If you are in trouble or will certainly fail at something, you can say that your goose is cooked.

I fully expected we would be attacked by ground forces. We all felt that our goose was you know, there were just--not much you could do--is take as many of them as you could with you, you There was absolutely no way to retreat.

kill the goose that lays the golden egg
kill the golden goose
If something kills the goose that lays the golden egg or kills the golden goose, it results in an important source of income being destroyed or seriously reduced.

Most professionals in the travel and tourism if those this writer has spoken to are a guide, would not object to tougher regulation of what tourists can do, when and how. know than that unregulated tourism can kill the goose that laid their golden egg.

Few councils would today risk killing the golden goose by levying too onerous a local tax.

You can refer to an important source of income as a golden goose, especially when it is in danger of being destroyed or seriously reduced.

It was alleged in court that Hewitt treated Whittaker as a `golden goose'.

No one can be sure that the golden goose of manufacturing industry hasn't been so badly battered during the past decade that it is incapable of delivering the revenues to which we have become accustomed.

a wild goose chase
If you complain that you have been sent on a wild goose chase, you are complaining that you have wasted a lot of time searching for something that you have little chance of finding, because you have been given misleading information.

If he wasted police time, and thus police money, on a wild goose when a perfectly adequate and chargeable suspect was , his superiors would take a dim view.

Every time I've gone to Rome to try to find out if the story could be true, it has turned out to be a wild-goose chase.

wouldn't say boo to a goose     
If you say that someone wouldn't say boo to a goose, you mean that they are very timid, gentle, and shy.

`If you remember, at college I wouldn't say boo to a goose.' `That's right, you were very quiet.'

She would fall into that category of people who tend the sick and visit the old, never saying boo to a goose.