知识加油站－词汇天地

lspjy

022fat







chew the fat
If you chew the fat with someone, you chat with them in an informal and friendly way about things that interest you.

We'd been lounging around, chewing the fat for a couple of hours.

It's a chat show Cilla's which gives her the chance to chew the fat with the likes of Tony Curtis, Diana Ross and Sir Peter Ustinov.

the fat is in the fire
If you say that the fat is in the fire, you mean that someone has said or done something which is going to upset other people and cause a lot of trouble.

Immediately the fat was in the fire, for in making an accusation directly and in the open, the minister for education and science had broken all the rules.

You can say that someone pulls the fat out of the fire when they prevent or stop trouble by taking acting at a very late stage.

Don't rely on pulling the fat out of the fire by launching a late, last-ditch negative campaign against Clinton.

the fat of the land
If you say that someone is living off the fat of the land, you mean that they have a rich and comfortable lifestyle without having to work hard for it. You often use this expression to criticize someone who is rich because they are exploiting people.

He was pretty fed up with these bloated royalists who were living off the fat of the land and off American aid while the rest of the country was starving, literally.

lspjy

023means







by fair means or foul
If someone tries to achieve something by fair means or foul, they are prepared to use any possible method to achieve it, and they do not care if their behaviour is dishonest or unfair.

She never gave up trying to recover her property, by fair means or foul.

He accused company of being hell bent on achieving its cuts by whatever means, fair means or foul, irrespective of the financial and emotional impact.

lspjy

024feelers







put out feelers
In a difficult situation, if you put out feelers, you carefully try to find out about other people's feelings or plans, so that you will know what to do next. You can replace `put' with other verbs such as `send', `have', or `throw'.

We're going to the United States in mid-May to put some feelers out and have a bit of a break, but we've really got more than enough work locally.

`I'm looking to play in Britain at the end of the next Australian season,' he said last night. `I've had some feelers out for one or two clubs already.'

lspjy

025fig







a fig leaf
Something which is intended to hide an embarrassing or awkward situation can be referred to as a fig leaf.

My interpretation is that the pledge to rejoin the ERM was a fig leaf, designed to indicate that the government's economic strategy was not dead but merely sleeping.

The western world was swift to praise America's intervention, behind the fig-leaf of the United Nations in Somalia.

lspjy

026fish







a big fish
If you refer to someone as a big fish, you mean that they are important or powerful.

In the Seventies three MPs became embroiled in a scandal surrounding the corrupt activities of a Pontefract architect called John Poulson. Two of them were nonentities, the third was a very big fish indeed.

The four who were arrested here last September were described as really big fish by the U.S. Drug Enforcement agents here, and they are wanted for extradition to the United .

a big fish in a small pond
a big frog in a small pond
If you refer to someone as a big fish in a small pond, you mean that they are one of the most important and influential people in a small organization or social group. You often use this expression to suggest that they would be less important or interesting if they were part of a larger organization or group. This expression is very variable. In American English, you can also talk about a big frog in a small pond, with the same meaning.

In Rhodesia I was a big fish in a small pond. But here there'd be many lean years before I built up a reputation.

As a large fish in a small pond, Smith found it easy to dominate fashion photography in Australia.

Being a big fish in a tiny, stagnant pool clearly gives controversial columnists ideas way above their station.

You can refer to someone as a small fish in a big pond if they are not very important or influential because they are part of a much larger organization or social group.

I was used to being a big fish in a small pond. Now I'm the smallest fish in a very big pond. But that has its own advantages because it stretches you as a designer to try to achieve more.

a cold fish
If you refer to someone as a cold fish, you mean that they seem unemotional, and this makes them appear unfriendly or unsympathetic.

Since is generally seen as a cold fish, it is all the more impressive when he does show his feelings.

He didn't really show much emotion -- he is a bit of a cold fish.

drink like a fish   
If you say that someone drinks like a fish, you mean that they regularly drink a lot of alcohol.

When I was younger I could drink like a fish and eat like a pig.

The father was not too bad but the mother drank like a fish.

a fish out of water
If you feel like a fish out of water, you feel awkward or ill at ease because you are in an unfamiliar situation or surroundings.

I think he thought of himself as a country gentleman and was like a fish out of water in Birmingham.

It's not as if I had any obvious trauma in my life; I just felt like a fish out of water.

You can use fish-out-of-water before a noun, to describe a situation where someone feels awkward or uncomfortable.

The fish-out-of-water feeling continued when she went to study in Cambridge, having already spent two years working in Africa.

have other fish to fry
have bigger fish to fry
If you say that someone is not interested in something because they have other fish to fry or have bigger fish to fry, you mean that they are not interested because they have more important, interesting, or profitable things to do.

I didn't pursue it in detail because I'm afraid I had other fish to fry at the time.

Although she nearly lost her temper with Baker, Linda Robinson tried to avoid wasting time on bureaucratic squabbling. She had bigger fish to fry.

This phrase is often varied. For example, if someone has their own fish to fry, they are not interested in doing something because they have business of their own to attend to.

Tony comes and goes. got his own fish to fry, as they say.

like shooting fish in a barrel   
If you say that a battle or contest is like shooting fish in a barrel, you mean that one side is so much stronger than the other that the weaker side has no chance at all of winning.

I heard one case where some of the had come out and they were saying like shooting fish in a barrel.

While Taylor insists that he is not treating this game as a one-off opportunity to shoot fish in a barrel, he is well aware of the necessity for his players to take a high proportion of the chances that are bound to arise.

neither fish nor fowl
If you say that something or someone is neither fish nor fowl, you mean that they are difficult to identify, classify, or understand, because they seem partly one thing and partly another. People occasionally replace `fish' with `flesh'.

Brunel's vessel was neither fish nor fowl: a passenger liner too ugly and dirty to offer much beyond novelty value.

By the mid-1980s, Canada had a constitution that was neither fish nor fowl in terms of political philosophy.

He thought of that young man Corsari, neither flesh nor fowl, who had made a friend of both girls.

there are plenty more fish in the sea   
there are other fish in the sea
If your romance or love affair has ended and someone says to you `there are plenty more fish in the sea' or `there are other fish in the sea', they are trying to comfort you by pointing out that there are still many other people who you might have a successful relationship with in the future.

If your daughter is upset because her boyfriend left her, declaring cheerfully `There are other fish in the sea' won't help.

Never mind, he says, there are plenty more fish in the sea.

lspjy

027flag







fly the flag
If you fly the flag for your country or a group to which you belong, you represent it at a sporting event or at some other special occasion, or you do something to show your support for it. Verbs such as `carry' and `show' are sometimes used instead of `fly'.

It doesn't matter whether you are flying the flag for your country, or the Horse Trials Group, or your sponsor, the image you present is all-important.

The Kuwaiti team however have made many friends. They won no medals, but said they were only in Peking to show the flag.

He believed in the sacred power of great music: he felt that he was carrying the flag of high culture, speaking of lofty truths to an educated elite.

keep the flag flying
If you keep the flag flying, you do something to show your support for a group to which you belong, or to show your support for something that you agree with.

I would ask members to keep the flag flying by entering some of their plants in both shows.

It's important that people artists say that they have an entirely different opinion and that they will keep the flag of tolerance flying.

a red flag
You can refer to something that gives a warning of a bad or dangerous situation or event as a red flag. This expression is more commonly used in American English than British. Compare a red flag before a bull; see bull.

These are devices that are necessary components of nuclear weapons, and clearly that raised a red flag in the minds of a lot of people.

I have never seen a set of financial statements that showed more red flags and raised more questions in my life.

Cholesterol was the red flag that alerted millions of Americans to the fact that diet really does matter.

wrap yourself in the flag     
drape yourself in the flag
If you say that someone, especially a politician, is wrapping themselves in the flag or is draping themselves in the flag of their country, you are criticizing them for trying to do something for their own advantage while pretending to do it for the good of their country. These expressions are used mainly in American English.

Politicians always try to wrap themselves in the as politicians do on Independence Day, but I think people can see through that.

Mr. Doherty also chastised advertisers for fighting proposed cigarette ad restrictions by draping themselves in the flag and lecturing about their First Amendment freedoms of speech.

lspjy

028furniture







part of the furniture
If you say that someone or something is part of the furniture, you mean that they have been present somewhere for such a long time that everyone accepts their presence without questioning it or noticing them.

In ten years he has become part of the furniture of English life, his place on the stage firmly fixed and universally respected.

Once cameras have become part of the furniture, witnesses are so absorbed in answering questions that they forget the cameras are there.