知识加油站－词汇天地

lspjy

169wrench







throw a wrench into the works
throw a monkey wrench into the works
If someone or something throws a wrench into the works or throws a monkey wrench into the works, they cause problems which prevent something from happening in the way that it was planned. These expressions are used in American English; the British expression is throw a spanner in the works.

When Elton was robbed it threw a monkey wrench into the works.

Instead of saying `into the works', people often mention the process in which the problem is caused.

The US delegation threw a giant monkey wrench into the process this week by raising all sorts of objections.

The federal government has thrown a wrench in the multi-billion dollar Japanese buyout of an American company.

lspjy

170pasture







put someone out to pasture   
If someone is put out to pasture, they are made to retire from their job, or they are moved to an unimportant job, usually because people think that they are too old to be useful. Put someone out to grass means the same.

I'm retiring next month. They're putting me out to pasture.

should not yet be put out to pasture. His ministerial going back to the Menzies-mcewen is valuable.

At 28, I'm hardly ready to be put out to pasture and it's not so long ago I was England's No 1 strike bowler for 18 months.

lspjy

171elbows







rub elbows with someone
If you rub elbows with someone important or famous, you associate with them for a while. This expression is used mainly in American English; the usual British expression is rub shoulders with someone.

At the famous parties that he threw several times a month in his Park Avenue penthouse, where writers, artists, and celebrities rubbed elbows with the ultra-rich and the socially =e1lite, his shyness was legendary.

He was a disc jockey at Studio 54, Kamikaze, Limelight and other trendy Manhattan clubs. In the 10 years prior to that job, he rubbed elbows with dozens of political super-celebrities, including Richard Nixon, Imelda Marcos, Gerald Ford.

lspjy

172lights

the lights are on but nobody is at home    If you say of someone that the lights are on but nobody is at home, you think that although they seem to be normal or satisfactory, they are in fact very stupid or useless. According to Mark Harrington, many projects are insufficiently co-ordinated or thought through: `You get the feeling that the lights are on but no one's at home.'

lspjy

173foot

the boot is on the other footthe shoe is on the other footIf you say that the boot is on the other foot, you mean that a situation has been reversed completely, so that the people who were previously in a better position are now in a worse one, while the people who were previously in a worse position are now in a better one. This form of the expression is used in British English; in American English, the form is the shoe is on the other foot. Comments like that from a manager are better made in private. If the boot was on the other foot and a player went public like that after a game, his club would quickly be looking to slap a fine on him. The fact is, I'm in the job. You may have assisted along the way, but as far as I know you're not in a position to remove me. The boot is now on the other foot. That's a view conservatives have espoused for years, but they said it when they thought the courts were working against majority opinion. Now the shoe's on the other foot, and liberals are going to the people to overturn the courts. caught on the wrong foot  If you are caught on the wrong foot, something happens quickly and unexpectedly, and surprises you because you are not ready for it. Compare get off on the wrong foot and start off on the right foot. supermarket seems to have been caught on the wrong foot, still trying to escape its `cheap' past just as it should be capitalising on that record. The recent change of mood has caught the government clumsily on the wrong foot. The verb wrong-foot is also used, and is much more common. Again and again European and UN diplomacy has been wrong-footed by events in the Balkans. Newspapers, radio and television wrong-footed ministers by highlighting one emotive aspect of the speech at the expense of the broader, gentler, message. a foot in both camps    a foot in each campIf someone has a foot in both camps, they support or belong to two different groups, without making a firm commitment to either of them. You can also say that someone has a foot in each camp. With an Indian father and an English mother, had a foot in both camps -- or in neither. Sagdeev is trying to promote a compromise because he has one foot in each camp. a foot in the door1If someone is trying to get involved in something, for example to start doing business in a new area, and you say that they have got a foot in the door, you mean that they have made a small but successful start and are likely to do well in the future. is opening its state owned airlines to foreign investors and if British Airways gets a foot in the door, the profits will be enormous. He's now trying to capitalise on his connections in the region. He wants to get his foot in the door ahead of his long time rival. said it issued the low bid because it wanted a foot in the door of a potentially lucrative market. foot-in-the-door2    If you describe a way of doing something as foot-in-the-door, you mean that it is done in an aggressive or forceful way, in order to persuade someone to agree to do something which they probably do not want to do. Double glazing salesmen have become a bit of a national joke, with their foot-in-the-door methods. get off on the wrong footIf you start doing something and you get off on the wrong foot, you start badly or in an unfortunate way. Compare caught on the wrong foot and start off on the right foot. The last few times I've been at home on leave everything seems to have gone wrong. We seem to get off on the wrong foot from the start. We row a lot. Even though they called the election and had been preparing for it for some time, they got off on the wrong foot. not put a foot wrongIf you don't put a foot wrong, you do not make any mistakes. This expression is used in British English. John Walker has said that all great athletes have a season in which they don't put a foot wrong. He glided smoothly through his news conference, never putting a foot wrong and giving a strong impression of a man who is recapturing the political initiative from his more radical opponents. He hardly put a foot wrong in defence and was fine in attack, except for one misdirected pass. one foot in the graveIf you say that someone has one foot in the grave, you mean that they are very ill or very old and are likely to die soon. You use this expression when you are talking about illness and death in a light-hearted way. The guard and warder are taken in, they're convinced De Fiore's got one foot in the grave. Richard is far from having one foot in the grave -- and he never means to get to that point. put your best foot forwardIf you are doing something and you put your best foot forward, you work hard and energetically to make sure it is a success. We remember our mother's stern instructions not to boast, but completely forget her advice to put our best foot forward. Sir David said that having been faced with a warning of one last chance, the commission should have put its best foot forward and produced something independent. put your foot down1If you put your foot down, you use your authority in order to stop something from happening. Annabel went through a spell of saying: `I can do my homework and watch TV.' Naturally I put my foot down. He had planned to go skiing on his in but his wife had decided to put her foot down. put your foot down2If you put your foot down when you are driving, you start to drive as fast as you can. This expression is used in British English. Once out of the park and finding a clear stretch of the Bayswater Road, he put his foot down. gives this advice to those setting off on car journeys from London to Scotland: `Just stick in the fast lane and put your foot down.' put your foot in it put your foot in your mouthIf you put your foot in it or put your foot in your mouth, you say something which embarrasses or offends the person you are with, and embarrasses you as a result. I put my foot in it straight away, referring to folk music. Tom sat forward and glared. `It's not folk music, man. It's heritage music.' To majority voters, is hopelessly unpresidential, a lightweight, forever putting his foot in his mouth. Journalists sometimes refer humorously to someone's foot-in-mouth tendencies. I loved Prince Philip's latest attack of foot-in-mouth disease when he asked a Cayman Islander: `Aren't most of you descended from pirates?' shoot yourself in the footIf you shoot yourself in the foot, you do or say something stupid which causes problems for yourself or harms your chances of success. If I was to insult the contestants I would be shooting myself in the foot. shop ran a 25 per cent off sale early in and another It now looks as if it shot itself in the foot, attracting people who meant to shop there anyway to do so during the promotion instead. Unless he shoots himself in the foot, in all probability he will become President. start off on the right foot    If you start off on the right foot, you immediately have success when you begin to do something. Compare caught on the wrong foot and get off on the wrong foot. Share your feelings, both positive and negative. If you decide to go ahead, you will be starting off on the right foot. To me this was a man who was prepared to start off on the right foot; he was mature with some common sense, and the type who would not become an expert in a very short time.

lspjy

174warpath







on the warpath
If you say that someone is on the warpath, you mean that they are very angry and getting ready for a fight or quarrel.

If only I had warned the children that daddy was on the warpath.

St Vincent and Grenadines' biggest businessmen are on the warpath after claims that nationals are trying to con them out of thousands of dollars.

lspjy

175grips







get to grips with something
come to grips with something
If you get to grips with a problem or come to grips with it, you start dealing with it seriously, for example by getting a proper understanding of it.

The stop-go nature of economic policy is a worrying sign of country's inability to get to grips with the real problems.

I felt near to tears and attempted to come to grips with the situation by firing off a lot of questions which the Dr Paul tried to answer.