Adam Makkai - Словарь американских идиом: 8000 единиц

[conviction]See: HAVE THE COURAGE OF ONE’S CONVICTIONS.

[cook]See: SHORT-ORDER COOK, WHAT’S UP or WHAT’S COOKING.

[cook one’s goose] {v. phr.} , {slang} To ruin someone hopelessly; destroy one’s future expectations or good name. •/ The bank treasurer cooked his own goose when he stole the bank’s funds. / •/ She cooked John’s goose by reporting what she knew to the police. / •/ The dishonest official knew his goose was cooked when the newspapers printed the story about him. /

[cook up] {v.} , {informal} To plan and put together; make up; invent. •/ The boys cooked up an excuse to explain their absence from school. /

[cool]See: PLOW ONE’S COOL.

[cool as a cucumber] {adj. phr.} , {informal} Very calm and brave; not nervous, worried, or anxious; not excited; composed. •/ Bill is a good football quarterback, always cool as a cucumber. /

[cool customer] {n.} Someone who is calm and in total control of himself; someone showing little emotion. •/ Jim never gets too excited about anything; he is a cool customer. /

[cool down]or [cool off] {v.} To lose or cause to lose the heat of any deep feeling (as love, enthusiasm, or anger); make or become calm, cooled or indifferent; lose interest. •/ A heated argument can be settled better if both sides cool down first. / •/ John was deeply in love with Sally before he left for college, but he cooled off before he got back. / •/ Their friendship cooled off when Jack gave up football. / •/ The neighbor’s complaint about the noise cooled the argument down. /

[cool one’s heels] {v. phr.} , {slang} To be kept waiting by another’s pride or rudeness; be forced to wait by someone in power or authority; wait. •/ He cooled his heels for an hour in another room before the great man would see him. / •/ I was left to cool my heels outside while the others went into the office. /

[coon’s age]See: DOG’S AGE.

[coop]See: FLY THE COOP.

[coop up] {v. phr.} To hedge in; confine; enclose in a small place. •/ How can poor Jane work in that small office, cooped up all day long? /

[cop a feel] {v. phr.} , {vulgar} , {avoidable} To attempt to arouse sexually by manual contact, usually by surprise. •/ John talks big for a 16 year old, but all he’s ever done is cop a feel in a dark movie theater. / Compare: FEEL UP. Contrast: COP A PLEA.

[cop a plea] {v. phr.} , {slang} , {colloquial} To plead guilty during a trial in the hope of getting a lighter sentence as a result. •/ The murderer of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., copped a plea of guilty, and got away with a life sentence instead of the death penalty. /

[cop out] {v. phr.} , {slang} , {informal} To avoid committing oneself in a situation where doing so would result in difficulties. •/ Nixon copped out on the American people with Watergate. /

[cop-out] {n. phr.} , {slang} , {informal} An irresponsible excuse made to avoid something one has to do, a flimsy pretext. •/ Cowe on, Jim, that’s a cheap cop-out, and I don’t believe a word of it! /

[copy cat]n. Someone who copies another person’s work or manner. — Usually used by children or when speaking to children. •/ He called me a copy cat just because my new shoes look like his. /

[corn ball] {n.} , {slang} , {informal} 1. A superficially sentimental movie or musical in which the word "love" is mentioned too often; a theatrical performance that is trivially sentimental. •/ That movie last night was a corn hall. / 2. A person who behaves in a superficially sentimental manner or likes performances portraying such behavior. •/ Suzie can’t stand Joe; she thinks he’s a corn ball. /

[corn belt] {n.} 1. The Midwest; the agricultural section of the United States where much corn is grown. •/ Kansas is one of the slates that lies within the corn belt. /

[corner]See: AROUND THE CORNER, CUT CORNERS, FOUR CORNERS, OUT OF THE CORNER OF ONE’S EYE.

[cost a bomb]or [an arm and a leg] {v. phr.} To be extremely expensive. •/ My new house has cost us an arm and a leg and we’re almost broke. /

[cotton]See: ON TOP OF THE WORLD also SITTING ON HIGH COTTON.

[cotton picking], [cotton-pickin'] {adj.} , {slang} , {colloquial} Worthless, crude, common, messy. •/ Keep your cotton picking hands off my flowers! / •/ You’ve got to clean up your room, son, this is a cotton-pickin' mess! /

[couch case] {n.} , {slang} , {informal} A person judged emotionally so disturbed that people think he ought to see a psychiatrist (who, habitually, make their patients lie down on a couch). •/ Joe’s divorce messed him up so badly that he became a couch case. /

[couch doctor] {n.} , {slang} , {colloquial} A psychoanalyst who puts his patients on a couch following the practice established by Sigmund Freud. •/ I didn’t know your husband was a couch doctor, I thought he was a gynecologist! /

[couch potato] {n.} A person who is addicted to watching television all day. •/ Poor Ted has become such a couch potato that we can’t persuade him to do anything. /

[cough up] {v.} , {slang} 1. To give (money) unwillingly; pay with an effort. •/ Her husband coughed up the money for the party with a good deal of grumbling. / 2. To tell what was secret; make known. •/ He coughed up the whole story for the police. /

[couldn’t care less] {v. phr.} , {informal} To be indifferent; not care at all. •/ The students couldn’t care less about the band; they talk all through the concert. / Also heard increasingly as "could care less" (nonstandard in this form.)

[counsel]See: KEEP ONE’S OWN COUNSEL.

[count]See: STAND UP AND BE COUNTED.

[countdown] {n.} . {Space English} , {informal} 1. A step-by-step process which leads to the launching of a rocket. •/ Countdown starts at 23:00 hours tomorrow night and continues for 24 hours. / 2. Process of counting inversely during the acts leading to a launch; liftoff occurs at zero. 3. The time immediately preceding an important undertaking, borrowed from Space English. •/ We’re leaving for Hawaii tomorrow afternoon; this is countdown time for us. /

[counter]See: UNDER THE COUNTER.

[count heads]or [count noses] {v. phr.} , {informal} To count the number of people in a group. •/ On the class picnic, we counted heads before we left and when we arrived to be sure that no one got lost. / •/ The usher was told to look out into the audience and count noses. /

[count off] {v.} 1. To count aloud from one end of a line of men to the other, each man counting in turn. •/ The soldiers counted off from right to left. / 2. To place into a separate group or groups by counting. •/ The coach counted off three boys to carry in the equipment. / •/ Tom counted off enough newspapers for his route. /

[count on] {v.} 1. To depend on; rely on; trust. •/ The team was counting on Joe to win the race. / •/ I’ll do it; you know you can count on me. / •/ The company was counting on Brown’s making the right decision. / Syn.: BANK ON. 2. See: FIGURE ON(2).

[count one’s chickens before they’re hatched] {v. phr.} , {informal} To depend on getting a profit or gain before you have it; make plans that suppose something will happen; be too sure that something will happen. Usually used in negative sentences. •/ When Jim said that he would be made captain of the team, John told him not to count his chickens before they were hatched. / •/ Maybe some of your customers won’t pay, and then where will you be? Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched. /

[count out] {v.} 1. To leave (someone) out of a plan; not expect (someone) to share in an activity; exclude. •/ "Will this party cost anything? If it does, count me out, because I’m broke." / •/ When the coach was planning who would play in the big game he counted Paul out, because Paul had a hurt leg. / 2. To count out loud to ten to show that (a boxer who has been knocked down in a fight) is beaten or knocked out if he does not get up before ten is counted. •/ The champion was counted. out in the third round. / 3a. To add up; count again to be sure of the amount. •/ Mary counted out the number of pennies she had. / 3b. To count out loud, (especially the beats in a measure of music). •/ The music teacher counted out the beats "one-two-three-four," so the class would sing in time. /

[count to ten] {v. phr.} , {informal} To count from one to ten so you will have time to calm down or get control of yourself; put off action when angry or excited so as not to do anything wrong. •/ Father always told us to count to ten before doing anything when we got angry. / Compare: KEEP ONE’S HEAD. Contrast: BLOW A FUSE, FLY OFF THE HANDLE.

[county mounty] {n.} , {slang} , {citizen’s hand radio jargon} Sheriff’s deputy. •/ The county mounties are parked under the bridge. /

[courage]See: HAVE THE COURAGE OF ONE’S CONVICTIONS, SCREW UP ONE’S COURAGE.

[course]See: IN DUE COURSE, MATTER OF COURSE, OF COURSE, PAR FOR THE COURSE.

[court]See: DAY IN COURT, FRONT COURT, HOLD COURT, KANGAROO COURT.

[cousin]See: FIRST COUSIN, SECOND COUSIN.

[cover]See: FROM COVER TO COVER at FROM --- TO(3), UNDER COVER.

[cover a lot of ground] {v. phr.} To process a great deal of information and various facts. •/ Professor Brown’s thorough lecture on asteroids covered a lot of ground today. /

[covered-dish supper]or [potluck supper]A meal to which each guest brings a share of the food. •/ Dolly made a chicken casserole for the covered-dish supper. /

[cover girl] {n.} A pretty girl or woman whose picture is put on the cover of a magazine. •/ Ann is not a cover girl, but she is pretty enough to be. /

[cover ground]or [cover the ground] {v. phr.} 1. To go a distance; travel. •/ Mr. Rogers likes to travel in planes, because they cover ground so quickly. / 2. {informal} To move over an area at a speed that is pleasing; move quickly over a lot of ground. •/ The new infielder really covers the ground at second base. / •/ Herby’s new car really covers ground! / 3. To give or receive the important facts and details about a subject. •/ If you’re thinking about a trip to Europe, the airline has a booklet that covers the ground pretty well. / •/ The class spent two days studying the Revolutionary War, because they couldn’t cover that much ground in one day. /