知识加油站－词汇天地

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224loaf







half a loaf is better than none

If you say that half a loaf is better than none, you mean that it is better to take what you can get, even if it is very little, than to risk having nothing at all. Other words can be used instead of 'loaf and 'none'.

Leeds are now a point behind Manchester United, who have a game in hand. Their man­ager said: 'Half a loaf is better than none. We'll just have to get on with it.'

I'm very disappointed that all we have in the form of test matches is just one solitary test, but half a loaf is better than no loaf, and we are happy that at least we are getting this test.

'I hate it when they dry up after only half a story.' 'Let's get this tot signed before she changes her mind,' said Dave. 'Half a story's better than no story at all.'

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225lock







lock, stock, and barrel

You use lock, stock, and barrel to empha­size that you do something completely or in­clude every part of something.

It would have been much easier for us to have shut the business down lock, stock and barrel, and to have saved our cash and not paid a dividend.

He has moved down from the north-east, lock, stock and barrel.

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226log







easy as falling off a log

simple as falling off a log

If you say that something is as easy as fall­ing off a log, you are emphasizing that it is very easy to do. You can also say it is as sim­ple as falling off a log or like falling off a log.

She's just the sort of woman who could cook a four-course dinner for 12 while singing all of Faure's Requiem, and making it look to the rest of the world as easy as falling off a log.

The band had only been together for a year when they got signed to Epic. 'Getting signed was like falling off a log,' they said.

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227loggerheads







at loggerheads

If one person or group is at loggerheads with another, they strongly disagree about something.

The European Community has been at logger­heads with America and other farm-goods ex­porters, which want big cuts in farm subsidies.

Social workers and doctors are at logger heads over how well the new system will work.

Trevor and his estranged wife Becky ended up at loggerheads - this time having a shouting match on the doorstep.

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228nail







another nail in the coffin
the last nail in the coffin
the final nail in the coffin
If you say that an event is another nail in the coffin of something or someone, you mean that it is the latest in a series of events which are seriously harming that thing or person.

is another nail in the coffin of the one-party system which country has now largely renounced.

President took the blame for the chaos and it became another nail in the coffin of his regime.

If you say that an event is the last nail or the final nail in the coffin of something, you mean that it finally destroys that thing. If you say that an event is the last nail or the final nail in the coffin for a person, you mean that it finally puts an end to that person's hopes or plans.

Historians may well record the past three days in Moscow as driving the final nail into the coffin of more than seventy years of Soviet communism.

Another in the already crippling interest rates would be the final nail in the coffin for millions of home owners whose mortgage is already worth more than their home.

hit the nail on the head
If someone makes a comment and you say that they have hit the nail on the head, you mean that they have described a situation or problem exactly.

`It really reflects badly on the state of our game when so many top clubs are queuing up to pay ￡3 million for an average like Brian . Football clearly doesn't understand the value of money anymore.' `You've hit the nail right on the head.'

I agree with Dr Carey, everything he says. I think he's hit the nail right on the head.

on the nail1   
If you pay cash on the nail for something, you pay for it immediately and in cash. This expression is used in British English; the American expression is on the barrelhead.

You have to pay cash on the nail sometimes, and this was one of them.

If you pay money on the nail, you pay it at exactly the time you are supposed to.

The Marwood family has subsequently said that the money was never repaid but Violet, who was handling Ford's affairs, said it was, on the nail.

on the nail2   
hit it on the nail
If you talk about a particular time or amount on the nail, you mean that time or amount exactly. If you say that someone has hit it on the nail, you mean that they have described a situation exactly.

`When did Captain Schmidt come to see you?' asked. `Six o'clock, just about on the nail.'

`It sounds as if he almost depended on you as much as you depended on I think so. Hansen: Do you? `You just hit it on the nail.'

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229shades







shades of
If you have just mentioned a person or thing and you say shades of another person or thing, you mean that the first person or thing reminds you of the second one.

Andie who plays Murray's producer in Groundhog crops up again in the bizarre mystery thriller Ruby Cairo, as the wife of a crook who has faked his death (shades of The Third Man, perhaps?) and who tracks him down via his bank accounts around the world.

The debate had been brought forward by a week, in an effort to avert the protest planned for it by the school students' leaders. Shades of 1968, perhaps?

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230prayer







not have a prayer
If you say that someone does not have a prayer of achieving something, you mean that it is impossible for them to achieve it.

He did not seem to have a prayer of regaining the world title.

He must know that he doesn't have a prayer of beating the grand-theft and insurance-fraud charges.