Week 4 Day 5 Flashcards
horse around
if someone horses around, he behaves in a silly way, making noises and causing disruptions (My friends and I were horsing around the library. We got told to leave there.) (My friends were horsing around after the class. Everybody was looking at them.)
from the horse’s mouth
if you hear sth from the horse’s mouth you hear it from the original source, therefore, it must be true (They’re going to have a plan to build a new house. I heard it from the horse’s mouth.)
domesticated
domesticated animals are able to work for people or live with them as pets (Horses were domesticated 6000 years ago on grasslands in Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan.)
hold the fort
it means you take care of a place when the person normally in charge is away (When my boss went on holiday, he asked me to hold the fort.) (President Obama went to the Geneva meeting, therefore, the vice president hold the fort in his absence.)
to be like Fort Knox
if a building or house is like Fort Knox it means it’s well protected and very difficult to enter or leave that place (My office is like Fort Knox. If you forget to bring your ID card they won’t let you in.)
by and large
use it when you want to make a general statement (By and large, the new arrangements have worked well.) (By and large, my son is a calm person. But being stuck in the traffic jam for a few hours is frustrating him.)
now and then
occasionally (My friend is a vegetarian. However, he does eat meat now and then.)
ins and outs
all the exact details of a complicated situation, problem or system (I really want to help, but I don’t know the ins and outs of the matter.) (Professional lawyers know ins and outs of the legal system, It’s very complicated.)
under the table
money paid under the table is money that is paid illegally and secretly (Payments were made under the table to local officials.)
to drink someone under the table
sb who drinks more alcohol that sb else without becoming as drunk as they do (My friend always drinks too much but he could drink anyone under the table.)
libel
when sb writes or prints untrue statements about sb so that other people could have bad opinion about them (He sued the newspaper for libel.) (Nowadays social media sites have been the cause of many libels about famous people.)
anonymity
when other people do not know who you are or what your name is (One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the white house took the threat very seriously.)
ambiguous
when sth is unclear, confusing or not certain, especially because it can understood in more than one way (His role in the affair is ambiguous.) (I didn’t get what he was trying to say because he was totally ambiguous.)
conceivable
able to be believed or imagined (It is conceivable that you may get full compensation, but it’s not likely.) (If we are going to overcome the problem, it’s conceivable to have a comprehension focus on the matter.)
bow to sb/sth
to finally agree to do sth, even though you don’t want to do it (The institute finally bowed to common usage and now recommends email without hyphen.)
