Неизвестен Автор - Словарь американских идиом (8000 единиц)

[by a mile] See: MISS BY A MILE.

[by and by] After a while; at some time in the future; later. * /Roger said he would do his homework by and by./ * /The mother knew her baby would be a man by and by and do a man's work./ Syn.: AFTER A WHILE.

[by and large] As it most often happens; more often than not; usually; mostly. * /There were bad days, but it was a pleasant summer, by and large./ * /By and large, women can bear pain better than men./ Syn.: FOR THE MOST PART, ON THE WHOLE(2).

[by any means] See: BY NO MEANS.

[by a thread] See: HANG BY A THREAD.

[by chance] Without any cause or reason; by accident; accidentally. * /Tom met Bill by chance./ * /The apple fell by chance on Bobby's head./

[by choice] As a result of choosing because of wanting to; freely. * /John helped his father by choice./ * /Mary ate a plum, but not by choice. Her mother told her she must eat it./

[by dint of] By the exertion of; by the use of; through. * /By dint of sheer toughness and real courage, he lived through the jungle difficulties and dangers./ * /His success in college was largely by dint of hard study./

[bye] See: BY THE WAY also BY THE BYE.

[by ear] 1. By sound, without ever reading the printed music of the piece being played. * /The church choir sang the hymns by ear./ 2. Waiting to see what will happen. * /I don't want to plan now; let's just play it by ear./

[by far] By a large difference; much. * /His work was better by far than that of any other printer in the city./ * /The old road is prettier, but it is by far the longer way./ Compare: FAR AND AWAY.

[by fits and starts] or [jerks] With many stops and starts, a little now and a little more later; not all the time; irregularly. * /He had worked on the invention by fits and starts for several years./ * /You will never get anywhere if you study just by fits and starts./ Compare: FROM TIME TO TIME, OFF AND ON.

[bygone] See: LET BYGONES BE BYGONES.

[by heart] By exact memorizing; so well that you remember it; by memory. * /The pupils learned many poems by heart./ * /He knew the records of the major league teams by heart./

[by hook or by crook] By honest ways or dishonest in any way necessary. * /The wolf tried to get the little pigs by hook or by crook./ * /The team was determined to win that last game by hook or by crook, and three players were put out of the game for fouling./

[by inches] By small or slow degrees; little by little; gradually. * /The river was rising by inches./ * /They got a heavy wooden beam under the barn for a lever, and managed to move it by inches./ * /He was dying by inches./

[by leaps and bounds] With long steps; very rapidly. * /Production in the factory was increasing by leaps and bounds./ * /The school enrollment was going up by leaps and bounds./

[by means of] By the use of; with the help of. * /The fisherman saved himself by means of a floating log./ * /By means of monthly payments, people can buy more than in the past./

[by mistake] As the result of a mistake; through error. * /He picked up the wrong hat by mistake./

[by no means] or [not by any means] also [by no manner of means] or [not by any manner of means] Not even a little; certainly not. * /He is by no means bright./ * /"May I stay home from school?" "By no means."/ * /Dick worked on his project Saturday, but he is not finished yet, by any means./ Contrast: BY ALL MEANS.

[B.Y.O.] (Abbreviation) Bring Your Own. Said of a kind of party where the host or hostess does not provide the drinks or food but people ring their own.

[B.Y.O.B.] (Abbreviation) Bring Your Own Bottle. Frequently written on invitations for the kind of party where people bring their own liquor.

[by oneself] 1. Without any others around; separate from others; alone. * /The house stood by itself on a hill./ * /Tom liked to go walking by himself./ * /Betty felt very sad and lonely by herself./ 2. Without the help of anyone else; by your own work only. * /John built a flying model airplane by himself./ * /Lois cleaned the house all by herself./

[by one's own bootstraps] See: PULL ONE SELF UP BY THE BOOTSTRAPS.

[by storm] See: TAKE BY STORM.

[by surprise] See: TAKE BY SURPRISE.

[by the board] See: GO BY THE BOARD also PASS BY THE BOARD.

[by the bootstraps] See: PULL ONESELF UP BY THE BOOTSTRAPS.

[by the bye] See: BY THE WAY.

[by the dozen] or [by the hundred] or [by the thousand] Very many at one time; in great numbers. * /Tommy ate cookies by the down./ Often used in the plural, meaning even larger numbers. * /The ants arrived at the picnic by the hundreds./ * /The enemy attacked the fort by the thousands./

[by the horns] See: TAKE THE BULL BY THE HORNS.

[by the hundred] See: BY THE DOZEN.

[by the nose] See: LEAD BY THE NOSE.

[by the piece] Counted one piece at a time, separately for each single piece. * /John bought boxes full of bags of potato chips and sold them by the piece./ * /Mary made potholders and got paid by the piece./

[by the seat of one's pants] See: FLY BY THE SEAT OF ONE'S PANTS.

[by the skin of one's teeth] By a narrow margin; with no room to spare; barely. * /The drowning man struggled, and I got him to land by the skin of my teeth./ * /She passed English by the skin of her teeth./ Compare: SQUEAK THROUGH, WITHIN AN ACE OF or WITHIN AN INCH OF.

[by the sweat of one's brow] By hard work; by tiring effort; laboriously. * /Even with modern labor-saving machinery, the farmer makes his living by the sweat of his brow./

[by the thousand] See: BY THE DOZEN.

[by the way] also [by the bye] Just as some added fact or news; as something else that I think of. - Used to introduce something related to the general subject, or brought to mind by it. * /We shall expect you; by the way, dinner will be at eight./ * /I was reading when the earthquake occurred, and, by the way, it was The Last Days of Pompeii that I was reading./

[by the wayside] See: FALL BY THE WAYSIDE.

[by turns] First one and then another in a regular way; one substituting for or following another according to a repeated plan. * /On the drive to Chicago, the three men took the wheel by turns./ * /The teachers were on duty by turns./ * /When John had a fever, he felt cold and hot by turns./ Syn.: IN TURN. Compare: TAKE TURNS.

[by virtue of] also [in virtue of] On the strength of; because of; by reason of. * /By virtue of his high rank and position, the President takes social leadership over almost everyone else./ * /Plastic bags are useful for holding many kinds of food, by virtue of their clearness, toughness, and low cost./ Compare: BY DINT OF.

[by way of] 1. For the sake or purpose of; as. * /By way of example, he described his own experience./ 2. Through; by a route including; via. * /He went from New York to San Francisco by way of Chicago./

[by word of mouth] From person to person by the spoken word; orally. * /The news got around by word of mouth./ * /The message reached him quietly by word of mouth./

C

[cahoots] See: IN LEAGUE WITH or IN CAHOOTS WITH.

[Cain] See: RAISE CAIN.

[cake] See: EAT-ONE'S CAKE AND HAVE IT TOO, PAT-A-CAKE, TAKE THE CAKE.

[calculated risk] An action that may fail but is judged more likely to succeed. * /The sending of troops to the rebellious island was a calculated risk./

[calf love] See: PUPPY LOVE.

[call] See: AT CALL, AT ONE'S BECK AND CALL, CLOSE CALL, ON CALL, PORT OF CALL, POT CALLS THE KETTLE BLACK, WITHIN CALL.

[call a halt] To give a command to stop. * /The scouts were tired during the hike, and the scoutmaster called a halt./ * /When the children's play, got too noisy, their mother called a halt./

[call a spade a spade] To call a person or thing a name that is true but not polite; speak bluntly; use the plainest language. * /A boy took some money from Dick's desk and said he borrowed it, but I told him he stole it; I believe in calling a spade a spade./

[call down] also [dress down] , To scold. * /Jim was called down by his teacher for being late to class./ * /Mother called Bob down for walking into the kitchen with muddy boots./ Compare: CALL ON THE CARPET, CHEW OUT, BAWL OUT, READ THE RIOT ACT.

[call for] 1. To come or go to get (someone or something). * /John called for Mary to take her to the dance./ Syn.: PICK UP. 2. To need; require. * /The cake recipe calls for two cups of flour./ * /Success in school calls for much hard study./

[call girl] , A prostitute catering to wealthy clientele, especially one who is contacted by telephone for an appointment. * /Rush Street is full of call girls./

[calling down] also [dressing down] , A scolding; reprimand. * /The judge gave the boy a calling down for speeding./

[call in question] or [call into question] or [call in doubt] To say (something) may be a mistake; express doubt about; question. * /Bill called in question Ed's remark that basketball is safer than football./

[call it a day] To declare that a given day's work has been accomplished and go home; to quit for the day. * /"Let's call it a day," the boss said, "and go out for a drink."/ * /It was nearly midnight, so Mrs. Byron decided to call it a day, and left the party, and went home./ * /The four golfers played nine holes and then called it a day./ Compare: CLOSE UP SHOP.

[call it a night] To declare that an evening party or other activity conducted late in the day is finished. * /I am so tired that I am going to call it a night and go to bed./

[call it quits] , 1. To decide to stop what you are doing; quit. * /When Tom had painted half the garage, he called it quits./ 2. To agree that each side in a fight is satisfied; stop fighting because a wrong has been paid back; say things are even. * /Pete called Tom a bad name, and they fought till Tom gave Pete a bloody nose; then they called it quits./ 3. To cultivate a habit no longer. * /"Yes, I called it quits with cigarettes three years ago."/

[call names] To use ugly or unkind words when speaking to someone or when talking about someone. - Usually used by or to children. * /Bill got so mad he started calling Frank names./

[call off] To stop (something planned); quit; cancel. * /When the ice became soft and sloppy, we had to call off the ice-skating party./ * /The baseball game was called off because of rain./

[call on] or [call upon] 1. To make a call upon; visit. * /Mr. Brown called on an old friend while he was in the city./ 2. To ask for help. * /He called on a friend to give him money for the busfare to his home./

[call one's bluff] , To ask someone to prove what he says he can or will do. (Originally from the card game of poker.) * /Tom said he could jump twenty feet and so Dick called his bluff and said "Let's see you do it!"/

[call one's shot] 1. To tell before firing where a bullet will hit. * /An expert rifleman can call his shot regularly./ * /The wind was strong and John couldn't call his shots./ 2. or [call the turn] To tell in advance the result of something before you do it. * /Mary won three games in a row, just as she said she would. She called her turns well./ * /Nothing ever happens as Tom says it will. He is very poor at calling his turns./

[call on the carpet] , To call (a person) before an authority (as a boss or teacher) for a scolding or reprimand. * /The worker was called on the carpet by the boss for sleeping on the job./ * /The principal called Tom on the carpet and warned him to stop coming to school late./

[call the roll] To read out the names on a certain list, usually in alphabetical order. * /The sergeant called the roll of the newly enlisted volunteers in the army./

[call the shots] , To give orders; be in charge; direct; control. * /Bob is a first-rate leader who knows how to call the shots./ * /The quarterback called the shots well, and the team gained twenty yards in five plays./ Syn.: CALL THE TUNE.