知识加油站－词汇天地

lspjy

162nickel







nickel and dime1
If you describe someone or something as nickel and dime, you mean that they are not very important or only function on a small scale. `Nickels and dimes' and `nickel-dime' are also used with the same meaning. These expressions are used in American English.

The boss is dead and now every nickel and dime drug dealer money launderer can come in here and ply his trade.

It's only a nickels and dimes business.

It's nickel-dime stuff, though, compared to what you and Michael have to deal with.

nickel and dime2
If you accuse a person of nickel and diming someone or something, you are criticizing that person for weakening or exhausting them, for example by continually taking small amounts of money away from them, or by continually making small changes or requests. This expression is used in American English.

Larger spending cuts are often easier to swallow than smaller ones. It's easier to carve out a chunk someplace and meet your target than it is to nickel and dime everyone and have everybody angry at you.

Oakland, like other cities, has been reeling from financial she writes, and consequently has been nickel-and-diming essential services for years.

The price tag was becoming more than the budget could absorb. A fundamentally solid idea was about to be nickeled and dimed to death.

a wooden nickel   
If you refer to something as a wooden nickel, you mean that it is completely false or worthless. This expression is used in American English.

He looked at the card as though it were a wooden nickel. `That doesn't prove a thing,' he said.

lspjy

163blank







draw a blank1
If you are trying to find someone or something and you draw a blank, you cannot find them. If you are trying to find out about something and you draw a blank, you fail to find out about it.

I searched among the bottles and under and behind and inside everything I could think of and drew a blank.

We asked couple of the if they'd been in. We drew a blank.

We know a lot about what it does in mammals, birds, fish and reptiles, but we tend to draw a blank when it comes to humans.

draw a blank2   
If you draw a blank, you are unable to remember something or to answer a question you are asked. This expression is used mainly in American English.

They asked him what reform policies China still plans to pursue. Mr. Yao seemed to draw a blank. Finally an aide prompted him.

Why do we recognise a face, but sometimes draw a blank when it comes to the name?

draw a blank3   
In a sporting contest, if a team or competitor draws a blank, they do not score any goals or points, or win any races. This expression is used mainly in British journalism.

Rangers drew a blank at Hibernian -- the champions were held nil-nil.

He now leads Pat Eddery, who drew a blank, 79-68 in the title race.

lspjy

164shine







take a shine to someone
If you take a shine to someone or something, you like them a lot from the very first time that you come into contact with them. This expression is used in British English.

Laura took a shine to her the run of Governess, and offered her the job without any prompting from me.

singer, songwriter and guitarist, is courteous, then curt. is not renowned for taking a shine to strangers.

take the shine off something
If something takes the shine off a pleasant event or achievement, it makes it less enjoyable than it should be. This expression is used mainly in British English.

There are two factors Baltic leaders will very soon have to take into consideration and which may take the shine off the immediate euphoria following the end of the coup.

For Labour, their reverses in parts of London have taken the shine off what they otherwise describe as their best local election performance ever.

lspjy

165peg







a peg on which to hang something
If you use something as a peg on which to hang your ideas or opinions, you use it to introduce or draw attention to these ideas or opinions. This expression can be used to indicate that the ideas or opinions are not directly relevant to the main subject being discussed.

rarely discusses the book, using it as a peg on which to hang his opinions -- and not necessarily those related to the book.

In a purely political sense the detail is of little importance. the circumstances surrounding the collapse of BCCI, It gives Opposition spokesmen a peg on which to try to hang accusations of government incompetence and mismanagement.

a square peg in a round hole
If you say that someone is a square peg in a round hole, you mean that they are in a situation or are doing a task that does not suit them at all. You can also talk about a system forcing a square peg into a round hole to refer to this kind of situation.

Taylor is clearly the wrong man for the job -- a square peg in a round hole.

The social conditioning factor has, in my opinion, caused more mental and physical illness than might be imagined. Too many square pegs have been forced into round holes.

This is an example of a square peg being driven mercilessly into a round hole.

People often vary this expression.

The system too often leads to round pegs being appointed to square holes.

Can the work place provide enough square holes for square pegs, or society round pegs for round holes? Should we even expect perfect person-job fit?

take someone down a peg or two
bring someone down a peg or two
If you say that someone needs taking or bringing down a peg or two, you mean that they are behaving in an arrogant and unpleasant way and they should be made to realize that they are not as important or talented as they think.

I do think he needed taking down a peg or two.

We thought it was time they were brought down a peg or two.

We'd have liked to see her taken down a peg, but not this way.

You can make this expression more emphatic by talking about taking someone down a peg or three or taking them down several pegs.

Perhaps it was just as well that my first contact with my relatives should take me down several pegs.

lspjy

166breadline







on the breadline
People who are living on the breadline are extremely poor.

Too many men children and then forget about them -- leaving the children and the mothers living on the breadline.

should be stripped of everything they own but the bare essentials. Let them feel what it is like to be on the breadline.

You can use the breadline in other ways. For example, someone who is just above the breadline has just enough money to survive on. Someone who is below the breadline cannot survive on the money they have.

Obviously I'd want to earn enough to keep me above the breadline.

Families scraping a living on low incomes and benefits are already living below the breadline.

lspjy

167milk







it's no use crying over spilled milk
If you tell someone `it's no use crying over spilled milk', you are telling them that it is pointless to worry or be upset about something that has happened and cannot be changed.

She couldn't help but wonder, though, if knowing the truth would have made any more loving toward not that there was any point in crying over spilled milk.

I'm a man, I can take it. I ain't going to cry over spilt milk, I was beaten fair and square.

milk and honey
the land of milk and honey
You can describe a time or a situation in which you are very contented and have plenty of money as a time of milk and honey. This is a literary expression.

Many of the musicians working with him, including Charlie Parker, made the biggest money of their careers. It was an era of milk and honey for jazz.

The days of milk and honey are back -- at least for US equity salesmen in the City.

You can use milk and honey before a noun.

In her best-selling guide to household management for today's woman, Shirley Conran urged her readers to ignore the `impossible milk and honey standards of the impossible TV housewife.'

This expression is a shortened form of the land of milk and honey which describes a place where people will be happy and have plenty of food and wealth.

They represent the golden when we lived in the land of milk and honey.

milk and water   
If you describe something or someone as milk and water, you mean that they are weak and ineffectual. This expression is used in British English.

Now, looking at the faces around her, Amy realized that her own groping ideas were as weak and vague as milk and water beside the ideals that flared here.

Fryer dismissed the Cadbury report as milk and water.

You can use milk and water before a noun.

The only time we have ever won an election, is when in it was fought on principle; and 1974 were also quite strong on every other time we've put forward this milk and water liberalism, and we've lost.

lspjy

168cockles







warm the cockles of your heart   
If something warms the cockles of your heart, it makes you feel happy and contented. This is a fairly old-fashioned expression.

In the bold black and white setting, the sunny yellow color of the house warmed the cockles of my heart.

Running on Tuesday from 6 , this year's series Discerning Eye: Collectors and is sure to warm the cockles of the cultured heart on the bleakest of winter days.