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My shopping list is usually as long as my arm.
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Something which has a sudden and positive effect on something. start learning
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John's arrival was a real shot in the arm for this party.
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To want something very much. start learning
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to give one's right arm for sth I would give my right arm for water. It's so hot!
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The ability of the police and courts to force people to obey the rules. start learning
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You'd better declare all your earnings or you won't escape the long arm of the law.
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To be extremely expensive. start learning
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This new notebook will cost you an arm and a leg.
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To use force and threats to make people do what one demands. start learning
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to use strong-arm tactics The police had to use strong-arm tactics in order to restore order.
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To persuade someone to do something they do not want to do. start learning
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I didn't want to clean my room, but my mother twisted my arm and I had to do it.
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One after another without interruption. start learning
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I have three lectures back to back.
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A polite phrase for rectum. start learning
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My back passage hurts, I'm afraid I might be ill.
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To do something without somebody knowing, in a way which is unfair. start learning
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to do sth behind someone's back My boss is very demanding, but I often take a coffee break behind his back.
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I break my back doing all the housework without help.
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To stop criticizing somebody. start learning
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to get off somebody's back Just get off his back and let him wear what he likes.
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Clean the table or you'll get my back up.
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We say it when we offer to help someone if they help us. start learning
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You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. If I give Jane your number you'll give Suzy mine. You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.
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To harm someone by treachery or betrayal of trust. start learning
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to stab someone in the back He was my best friend, I couldn't believe he stabbed me in the back like that.
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To stop being involved in something. / To refuse to help someone. start learning
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to turn one's back on something/someone I know, my parents would never turn their back on me.
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A beer belly (or pot belly) is, is the accumulation of visceral fat resulting in an increase in waist size. start learning
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Men in their forties often have beer bellies.
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as smooth as a baby's bottom This silk dress in as smooth as a baby's bottom.
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To reach the lowest point in a continuously changing situation and to be about to improve. start learning
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The prices of strawberries bottomed out last week.
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The movement of people with education and skills from their own country to another country where they are paid more for their work. start learning
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Brain drain is a real disaster for a developing country.
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To hit someone on the head. start learning
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The victim was probably brained as he entered his flat.
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To be physically strong but not very intelligent. start learning
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to be all brawn and no brain Many basketball players, unfortunately, are all brawn and no brain.
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To spend a lot of time worrying about a problem and thinking about how to deal with it. start learning
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I'm beating my brains out trying to find a perfect holiday spot.
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To ask for information or advice from someone who knows more about a subject than you do. start learning
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I don't know how to solve this riddle, I'd better go and pick John's brain.
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When you say something as a joke, although you might appear to be serious. start learning
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I never know when he is saying things tongue in cheek.
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If things or people are cheek by jowl, they are very close together. start learning
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I hate this place! The houses are cheek by jowl, you have no privacy here.
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To show grief or guilt in an obvious or public way. start learning
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to beat one's breast/chest Don't beat your chest it was not your fault.
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To reveal one's pent-up feelings. start learning
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to get sth off one's chest I'm glad I told you that. It feels so good to get it off my chest.
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If you say that food or drink will put hair on someone's chest, you mean that the food will make them strong and healthy or that the drink is very alcoholic. start learning
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to put hairs on one's chest Come on! Have some doughnuts, they will put hairs on your chest.
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Something that you say to someone in a difficult situation in order to encourage them to be brave and to try not to be sad. start learning
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Keep your chin up! We'll figure something out.
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To be brave and not complain when bad things happen to you or people criticise you. start learning
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I admire you, you are so strong, you always take it on the chin.
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To be waiting eagerly to hear about something. start learning
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Tell me what happened, I'm all ears.
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To hit someone on the ear, usually as a punishment. start learning
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Be quiet or I'll box your ears.
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One day she was a top sales manager and the next day she was out on her ear.
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Hard work, especially when cleaning something. start learning
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You'll need some detergents and a lot of elbow grease to clean this mess.
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1. Enough space to move around in. 2. The freedom to do what you want to do. start learning
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If we invite fifty people there'll not be enough elbow room for everyone.
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To end a romantic relationship with someone. start learning
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to give someone the elbow They have been dating for four years and in the end he gave her the elbow.
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If something can be seen with the naked eye, it can be seen without the help of a microscope. start learning
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Viruses and bacteria cannot be seen with the naked eye.
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When someone or something is eye-catching it is particularly attractive or noticeable. start learning
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This dress is very eye-catching, it drives people attention.
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I'll do it in the blink of an eye.
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To watch or look after something or someone. start learning
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to keep an eye on something / someone I'm going to take a shower, could you please keep an eye on the children?
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To watch carefully for someone or something to appear. start learning
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to keep an eye out for something / someone Keep an eye out for rain.
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To look at or read in a cursory manner. start learning
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I didn't read this manual carefully, I just ran my eye over it.
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To ignore something that you know is wrong. start learning
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to turn a blind eye to sth I saw him stealing the car, but I turned a blind eye to it because I was afraid.
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To have a realistic understanding of your own ideas, actions, and decisions. start learning
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to keep one's feet on the ground I would like to have it, but I have to keep my feet on the ground I can't afford it.
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To postpone doing what one should be doing. start learning
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Come on, clean the table, don't drag your feet.
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To suddenly become too frightened to do something you had planned to do. start learning
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I usually get cold feet just before the first date.
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If you are keeping your fingers crossed, you are hoping for a positive outcome. start learning
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to keep one's fingers crossed I'm going for the job interview today, co keep your fingers crossed.
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To be involved in lots of different things. start learning
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to have a finger in every pie Ask him, he might know he has, after all, he has a finger in every pie.
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To identify someone as the guilty person. start learning
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to point the finger at somebody Don't point the finger at me, I didn't do it.
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I know where I left it, I just can't put my finger on the exact spot.
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To be clumsy and unable to hold things steadily without fear of dropping or damaging them. start learning
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to be all fingers and thumbs You'd better not give her this vase, she's all fingers and thumbs.
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to put one's best foot forward Try to put your best foot forward and complete this project in time.
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To say something by accident which embarrasses or upsets someone. start learning
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I thought she was pregnant, I guess I put my foot in it when I asked her when she was due.
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To be very good at something. start learning
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He is a dab hand at cooking. He cooks as if he were a chef.
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To have the power to do what you want. start learning
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I'm interested in the final result, you have free hand in everything else.
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To have power and control. start learning
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No surprise Italians won the match, they have the upper hand during the whole game,
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To be discovered doing something illegal or wrong. start learning
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He couldn't deny doing it, he was caught red handed.
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To have an extremely close relationship, especially at work. start learning
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Mary and Jane are hand in glove, they barely need to speak to know each other's thoughts.
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When everyone helps to do something, it gets done quickly. start learning
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Many hands make light work. We got the tent standing in 5 minutes. Many hands make light work.
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Said when asking someone to be kinder to you. start learning
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Have a heart! Don't make me work so late!
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To cause a feeling of affectionate happiness. start learning
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to warm the cockles of one's heart Memories of my childhood always warm the cockles of my heart.
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A person who treats other people badly and unfairly. start learning
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Don't marry him, he's a heel. I bet he's going to beat you.
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A fault or weakness in a person or system that can result in its failure. start learning
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Sweets are my Achilles heel.
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To look shabby due to a lack of money start learning
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This restaurant looks rather down at heel, I'm not sure if it's a good idea to eat here.
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To be completely controlled by something or someone. start learning
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Kate and John are under their mother's heel.
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We are having a little knees up tonight, will you come?
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Used to wish someone good luck, especially used in the theatre. start learning
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See you after the show! Break a leg!
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To help someone to be more successful. start learning
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It gives one a leg up if one wants to become a doctor and has a doctor in the family.
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To try to persuade someone to believe something which is not true as a joke. start learning
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Don't get mad, I was just pulling your leg.
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To talk for a long time without stopping. start learning
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to talk the hind leg(s) off a donkey I can't stand her, she can talk the hind legs off a donkey.
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If something crosses your mind, it means you think about it. start learning
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Such an idea didn't even cross my mind.
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In speech but not in writing. start learning
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This agreement was reached by word of mouth, it's very informal.
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Someone who has the brass neck to do something has no sense of shame about what they do. start learning
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John has a brass neck to organize loud all-night parties.
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To keep close watch on someone. start learning
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to breathe down sb's neck I can't focus with you breathing down my neck.
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To be punished or severely criticized. start learning
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I really got it in the neck when I hit my little brother.
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He shouldn't have stuck his neck out this way.
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To be very involved in a situation. start learning
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to be up to one's neck in sth Judy is up to her neck in organizing her wedding.
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to get on someone's nerves My boss really gets on my nerves.
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To do something because you are angry, even if it is not in your best interest. start learning
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to cut off one's nose to spite one's face Don't quit your job because you're angry, it would be like cutting off your nose to spite your face.
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You can use this expression to show that you don't care about something. start learning
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It's no skin off my nose. You can choose whichever you want, it's no skin off my nose.
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When a woman says she is going to "powder her nose", she means she is going to the toilet. start learning
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Excuse me, I need to powder my nose.
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My father hates me singing, it really gets up his nose.
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Not to like something because you think it is not good enough for you. start learning
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to turn one's nose up at something I gave him some beer, but he turned his nose up at it.
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If you are thick-skinned, you do not get upset when people criticize you. start learning
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to have a thick skin / to be thick skinned He is very thick skinned, no remark can hurt him.
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If you are thin-skinned, you get upset when people criticize you. start learning
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to have a thin skin / to be thin skinned Don't criticize him, he's very thin skinned.
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by the skin of one's teeth It was close, we escaped by the skin of our teeth.
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To react angrily to something that someone says or does. start learning
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to jump down someone's throat My wife always jumps down my throat when I smoke.
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If you have a green thumb or even green thumbs it means you are good at gardening, or growing plants. start learning
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My father had a beautiful garden, well, he had a green thumb.
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To conform to certain rules or standards. start learning
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He will have to toe the party line, if he wants to become a minister.
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An error in speaking in which a word is pronounced incorrectly, or in which the speaker says something unintentionally. start learning
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I didn't mean to reveal the secret, it was just a slip of tongue.
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