Неизвестен Автор - Словарь американских идиом (8000 единиц)

[pickpocket] A thief; a petty criminal who steals things and money out of people's pockets on a bus, train, etc. * /In some big cities many poor children become pickpockets out of poverty./

[pick off] 1. To pull off; remove with the fingers. * /He picked off the burs that had stuck to his overcoat./ 2. To shoot, one at a time; knock down one by one. * /The sniper picked off the slower soldiers as they came out into the road./ 3. To catch a base runner off base by throwing the ball quickly to a fielder who tags him out. * /The pitcher turned around suddenly and threw to the second baseman to pick the runner off second base./ Compare: OFF BASE. 4. To catch and, especially in football, to intercept. * /Alert defenders picked off three of Jack's passes./

[pick on] 1. To make a habit of annoying or bothering (someone); do or say bad things to (someone). * /Other boys picked on him until he decided to fight them./ Syn.: PICK AT(3). 2. To single out; choose; select. * /He visited a lot of colleges, and finally picked on Stanford./

[pick one's teeth] To clean one's teeth with a toothpick. * /It is considered poor manners to pick one's teeth in public./

[pick one's way] To go ahead carefully in difficult or unfamiliar places; advance with care. * /After nightfall we drove slowly along, picking our way until we found the right turn./ * /He picked his way across the rough and rocky hillside./

[pick out] 1. To choose. * /It took Mary a long time to pick out a dress at the store./ 2. To see among others; recognize; tell from others. * /We could pick out different places in the city from the airplane./ * /We could not pick Bob out in the big crowd./ Syn.: MAKE OUT(2). 3. To find by examining or trying; tell the meaning. * /The box was so dirty we couldn't pick out the directions on the label./ Compare: FIND OUT.

[pick over] To select the best of; look at and take what is good from; choose from. * /She picked the apples over and threw out the bad ones./ * /We hurried to the big sale, but we were late and everything had already been picked over./

[pick the brains of] To get ideas or information about a particular subject by asking an expert. * /If you have time, I'd like to pick your brains about home computers./

[pick to pieces] See: PICK APART, PICK HOLES IN.

[pickup] , (stress on "pick") 1. A rugged, small truck. * /When he got into the lumber business, Max traded in his comfortable two-door sedan for a pickup./ 2. Scheduled meeting in order to transfer merchandise or stolen goods. * /The pickup goes down at 7 A.M. every day by the loading dock./ * /The dope pushers usually make their pickup on Rush Street./ 3. A person who is easy to persuade to go home with the suitor. * /Sue is said to be an easy pickup./

[pick up] 1. To take up; lift. * /During the morning Mrs. Carter picked up sticks in the yard./ 2. To pay for someone else. * /After lunch, in the restaurant, Uncle Bob picked up the check./ 3. To take on or away; receive; get. * /At the next corner the bus stopped and picked up three people./ 4. To get from different places at different times; a little at a time; collect. * /He had picked up rare coins in seaports all over the world./ 5. To get without trying; get accidentally. * /He picked up knowledge of radio just by staying around the radio station./ * /Billy picked up a cold at school./ 6a. To gather together; collect. * /When the carpenter finished making the cabinet, he began picking up his tools./ 6b. To make neat and tidy; tidy up; put in order. * /Pick up your room before Mother sees it./ 6c. To gather things together; tidy a place up. * /It's almost dinner time, children. Time to pick up and get ready./ 7. To catch the sound of. * /He picked up Chicago on the radio./ 8. To get acquainted with (someone) without an introduction; make friends with (a person of the other sex). * /Mother told Mary not to walk home by herself from the party because some stranger might try to pick her up./ 9. To take to the police station or jail; arrest. * /Police picked the man up for burglary./ 10. To recognize the trail of a hunted person or animal; find. * /State police picked up the bandit's trail./ * /The dogs picked up the fox's smell./ 11. To make (someone) feel better; refresh. * /A little food will pick you up./ 12a. To increase (the speed); make (the speed) faster. * /The teacher told her singing class to pick up the tempo./ * /The car picked up speed./ 12b. To become faster; become livelier. * /The speed of the train began to pick up./ * /After the band practiced for a while, the music began to pick up./ 13. To start again after interruption; go on with. * /The class picked up the story where they had left it before the holiday./ * /They met after five years, and picked up their friendship as if there had been no interruption./ 14. To become better; recover; gain. * /She picked up in her schoolwork./ * /He picked up gradually after a long illness./ * /His spirits picked up as he came near home./

[pick up the tab] To pay the bill in a restaurant; be the one who underwrites financially what others are doing. * /"I am always the one who picks up the tab," Charlie complained bitterly. "Others get away with being freeloaders."/ Compare: FOOT THE BILL.

[Pidgin English] A jargon that consists of some mispronounced English words and some foreign words used by Orientals in talking with Westerners. * /You can conduct a lot of business in Pidgin English in the Far East./

[pie] See: EAT HUMBLE PIE, FINGER IN THE PIE, PIE IN THE SKY, SWEETIE PIE.

[piece] See: BY THE PIECE, CONVERSATION PIECE, GIVE A PIECE OF ONE'S MIND, GO TO PIECES, OF A PIECE, PIECE OF CAKE, SAY ONE'S PIECE or SPEAK ONE'S PIECE, TO PIECES.

[piece of cake] , Easy. * /The final exam was a piece of cake./

[piece out] 1. To put together from many different pieces; put together from odd parts; patch. * /They pieced out a meal from leftovers./ * /He pieced out the machine with scrap parts./ * /The detective pieced out the story from a stray fact here, a clue there, and a hint somewhere else./ 2. To make larger or longer by adding one or more pieces. * /The girl grew so fast that her mother had to piece out her dresses./

[piecework] Work paid for in accordance with the quantity produced. * /Al prefers working on a piecework basis to being on a regular salary because he feels he makes more that way./

[pie in the sky] , An unrealistic wish or hope. * /Our trip to Hawaii is still only a pie in the sky./ Compare: PIPE DREAM.

[pigeonhole] 1. To set aside; defer consideration of. * /The plan was pigeonholed until the next committee meeting./ 2. To typecast; give a stereotypical characterization to someone. * /It was unfair of the committee to pigeonhole him as a left-wing troublemaker./

[pigeonhole] 1. Small compartment for internal mail in an office or a department. * /"You can just put your late exam into my pigeonhole," said Professor Brown to the concerned student./ 2. One of the small compartments in a desk or cabinet. * /He keeps his cufflinks in a pigeonhole in his desk./

[piggy-back] or Sitting or being carried on the shoulders. * /Little John loved to go for a piggy-back ride on his father's shoulders./ * /When Mary sprained her ankle, John carried her piggy-back to the doctor./

[piggy bank] A small bank, sometimes in the shape of a pig, for saving coins. * /John's father gave him a piggy bank./

[pigheaded] Stubborn; unwilling to compromise. * /"Stop being so pigheaded!" she cried. "I, too, can be right sometimes!"/

[pig in a poke] An unseen bargain; something accepted or bought without looking at it carefully. * /Buying land by mail is buying a pig in a poke: sometimes the land turns out to be under water./

[pig out] 1. To eat a tremendous amount of food. * /"I always pig out on my birthday," she confessed./ 2. To peruse; have great fun with; indulge in for a longer period of time. * /"Go to bed and pig out on a good mystery story," the doctor recommended./

[pile up] 1. To grow into a big heap. * /He didn't go into his office for three days and his work kept piling up./ 2. To run aground. * /Boats often pile up on the rocks in the shallow water./ 3. To crash. * /One car made a sudden stop and the two cars behind it piled up./

[pile-up] 1. A heap; a deposit of one object on top of another. * /There is a huge pile-up of junked cars in this vacant lot./ 2. A large number of objects in the same place, said of traffic. * /I was late because of the traffic pile-up on the highway./

[pill] See: BITTER PILL.

[pillar of society] A leading figure who contributes to the support and the well-being of his/her society; a person of irreproachable character. * /Mrs. Brown, the director of our classical symphony fund, is a true pillar of society./

[pillar to post] See: FROM PILLAR TO POST.

[pimple] See: GOOSE BUMPS or GOOSE PIMPLES.

[pin] See: ON PINS AND NEEDLES.

[pinch] See: TAKE WITH A GRAIN OF SALT also TAKE WITH A PINCH OF SALT, WHERE THE SHOE PINCHES.

[pinch and scrape] To save as much money as possible by spending as little as possible. * /They are trying to buy their first house so they are pinching and scraping every penny they can./

[pinch-hit] 1. To substitute for another player at bat in a baseball game. * /Smith was sent in to pinch-hit for Jones./ 2. To act for a while, or in an emergency, for another person; take someone's place for a while. * /I asked him to pinch-hit for me while I was away./ * /The president of the City Council pinch-hits for the mayor when the mayor is out of town./ - [pinch-hitter] * /Jones was hit by a pitched ball and Smith came in as a pinch-hitter./ * /When our teacher was sick, Mrs. Harris was called as a pinch-hitter./ - [pinch-hitting] or * /Pinch-hitting for another teacher is a hard job./

[pinch pennies] , Not spend a penny more than necessary; be very saving or thrifty. * /When Tom and Mary were saving money to buy a house, they had to pinch pennies./ - [penny-pincher] , A stingy or selfish person; miser. * /He spent so little money that he began to get the name of a penny-pincher./ [penny-pinching] or , * /Bob saved enough money by penny-pinching to buy a bicycle./

[pin curl] A curl made with a hair clip or bobby pin. * /Mary washed her hair and put it up in pin curls./ * /All the girls had their hair in pin curls to get ready for the party./

[pin down] 1a. To keep (someone) from moving; make stay in a place or position; trap. * /Mr. Jones' leg was pinned down under the car after the accident./ * /The soldier was pinned down in the hole because rifle bullets were flying over his head./ 1b. To keep (someone) from changing what (he) says or means; make (someone) admit the truth; make (someone) agree to something. * /Mary didn't like the book but I couldn't pin her down to say what she didn't like about it./ * /I tried to pin Bob down to fix my bicycle tomorrow, but he wouldn't say that he could./ 2. To tell clearly and exactly; explain so that there is no doubt. * /The police tried to pin down the blame for the fire in the school./

[pine away] To waste away with grief. * /After George was sent abroad, his wife pined away for him so much that she became ill./

[pink] See: IN THE PINK, TICKLE PINK.

[pink around the gills] See: GREEN AROUND THE GILLS.

[pin money] Extra money used for incidentals. * /She has a regular full-time job but she earns extra pin money by doing a lot of baby-sitting./

[pin one's ears back] , 1. To beat; defeat. * /After winning three games in a row, the Reds had their ears pinned back by the Blues./ 2. To scold. * /Mrs. Smith pinned Mary's ears back for not doing her homework./

[pin one's faith on] To depend upon; trust. * /We pinned our faith on our home basketball team to win the state finals, and they did!/

[pin one's heart on one's sleeve] See: WEAR ONE'S HEART ON ONE'S SLEEVE.