idioms and collocations (part 2)

Be the cat’s whiskers

To be better than anyone else

Give sb the heave-ho

Ex: the editor was given the heave-ho yesterday

To take someone’s job away from them , usually because that person has done sth wrong

Give sb the heave-ho

To end a romantic relationship with sb

Fool’s errand

Ex: its a fool’s errand trying to bring him round, you will just work yourself into a lather

An effort that is unlikely to be successful

Hold water

If a reason, statement, belief, etc holds water, it is true

Ring true

Ex; something about his statement didnt quite ring true

If sth sb says or writes rings true, it seems to be true

Carry weight (With)

Ex: his words without a shadow of adounf, carry weight with the kids

To have respect, influence, importance to sth/ sb

ARITCLE of faith

Sth that you believe in very strongly

Head honcho

Người đứng đầu, sếp Lớn, ng có quyền lực nhất nhóm

Take a back seat

To choose not to be in position of responsibility in an organization or activity

Move the goalposts

To change the rules while sb is trying to do sth in order to make it more difficult for them

Paper over the cracks

To hide problems, esp arguments between people in order to make a situation better than it really is

House of cards

A complicated organization or plan that is very weak and can easily be destroyed or easily go wrong

A tower of strength

Ex; he is a reliable tower of strength

Sb or sth that remains stromg and gives a lot of support in a difficult situation

Flight of fancy

An idea that shows a lot of imagniation but is not practical

Poisoned chalice

Sb that seems very good it is first received but in fact does great harm to the person who receives it

Flashpoint (n)

Ex: the city is the flashpoint of the.2 armies

A place or stage at which violence might expect to begin

Up the ante

Ex: the governemtns upped the ante by refusing to negotiate with the terrorists until a ceasefire has been agreed

To increase your demands or the risks in a situation in order to achive a better result

Draw a line in the sand

Vẽ làn ranh đỏ

In the doldrums

Ex: the company is in the doldrums

Unsuccessful or showing no activity or development

STRONG sense

Ex; I have a strong sense of hatred for him

STRONG sense

In the vanguard

Ex: the company is in the vanguard of scientifci process

Being in the most, advanced , leading or pionerring position

On a shoestring

If you do sth on a shoestrimg, you do it with a very small amount of

Money

Heave-ho

A phrase that you say or shout when you are making a big effort to pull or Lift sth

Feast one’s eye on sth / sb

Ex; we walked through tje valley, feasting my eyes on the view around us

To look at sb or sth with great enjoyment

Raise one’s SPIRITS

Ex: I tried my best to raise his spirits

To make sb more happy

Give VOICE to sb/ sth

Ex: the campaign plans to give voice to the disabled

Ex: she finally give voice to her feelings

To express thoughts, feelings , opinions or concerns aloud,

Take the helm

Ex: the new CEO will take the helm soon b

To start to officialy control and organization or Company

Make allowances for

Ex: you should make allowances for him, he has been ill lately aa

To make for allowances for sb/ sth is to think about their characteristics and not judge them too severely

Be on the outside looking in

Ex: you should make allowances for the fact that Quân is on the outside looking in

To be excluded from a group, activity or opportunity , often result in feelingsq

Prison TERM (n)

Ex: he has to face a long prison term

Thời gian ngồi tù

Muddy the waters

To make a situation more difficult to understand and deal with

The FINISHING strokes

A finishing stroke is the final, decisive action that completes a task, project, or movement

CLOSING / CONCLUDING remarks

Phần kết luận trong môtk bài viết hoặc lời nói , tóm tắt ý chinus và nhấn mạnh thông điệp

To a SMALL extent / to a LARGE extent

Ex: I depend on him just to a small extent

To a LARGE extent / to a SMALL extent

Facts and figures

Ex: you need to support your ideas with facts and figures

Exact detailed information

Pipe dream

An idea or plan that is impossible or very unlikely to happen

Not least

Ex: the scenery jn Vietnam is beautiful, not least Da Nang and Nha Trang

= especially

PROHIBITIVELY expensive

A cost so high that it prevents people from buying, using or doing sth

Take the trouble to do sth

To make an effort to do sth

Go to the trouble To do sth

Take the trouble to do sth

Be at a loss

Ex: i am at a loss as to why my email failed

Not to know what to do or what to say

Empty promise (n)

An empty promise is an insincere pledge, vow, or statement of intent that is either not intended to be kept or is worthless, leading to distrust.

Put sb in the shade = leave sb in the shade

Ex: her score put me in the shade

To be so good that another person or thing does mot seem important or worth very much

MUTUAL understanding

MUTUAL understanding

There and back

Ẽ: it was 20 miles there and back

Bao gồm cả đi cả về (về thiiwf gian hoặc khoảng cách)

Go through a bad / difficult / rough / sticky patch

To experience a lot of difficulties in the period of your life

In installments

Ex: the novel has been serialized in installments for the past 3 years

(If something, such as a story, a plan or a payment),happens in installments, it is divided into seperate parts , so that each part happens or is paid at different times until the emd of total is tracjdd

Pinnacle (n)

To most successful Or admired part of a system or achivement

Be hard on someone

Ex: she is kinda hard on herself

To criticize sb severely, or to treat sb unfairly

Red-hot news

Tin tức nóng hổi

Get one’s foot in the door of

Take a first step toward small job, opportunity with an eye to improving in the future

Under the cosh

Suffering or being harmed because of a difficult situation

Under the cosh

In sport, if a team is under the cosh, it is defending continuosly

Hook into

Attack , criticize sb agrresigely

Bang on about sth

Ex: he is garrulous and from time to time bangs on about jobbing

To talk about sth for too long in an annoying, repetitive way

Cast about for

Ex: Samsung is casting about for new AI features that make its customers tick

Look for sth by truijg many options eithout a clear plan

Fawn over

Ex: he fawned over the boss for his own game

To show excessive admiration, attention to sb, usually insincere

Be in tune with

To ujderstand or agree with sb , sth

Get down to the nitty-gritty

To consider or deal with the basic, important facts of a situation

Get down to brass tacks

To start talking about the most jmportant or basic facts of a situation

Blow up in one’s face

(Of an action? Plan etc), to fail or go wrong in a way that harms or damages the person who did the action, made the plan ? Etc

Call it quits

To stop doing sth l

With an eye to

With a view to

From start to finish

Tuwf đầu đến cuối

Be bad luck on sb

Ex; it was bad luck on him that he had to set the Thames on fire though he didnt want to

To be sth bad that happen to sb by happenstance

Fall / go to PIECES

To break apart into smaller parts

Fall / go to pieces

If sb fails or goes to pieces, that person becomes unable to thunk clearly, and control their emotions because of sth bad, unplesdant they have gone through

Set the Thames on fire

To cause a lot of excitement or strong feelings

Young at heart

Behaving or thinking as if you were younger than

Stock still

Idle, completely still, not moving

Keep one’s end up

To perform one’s part in sth just as well as all the others who are involved

Forever and a day

Ex: i have been here forever and a day

For a very long time

Keep one’s powder dry

To wait before taking actions, but be ready to take actions if it is necessary

Captain of industry

A prrson who has an important job in an industry and who can influence company and national funding

Spread oneself too thin

To try to do many things at the same time, so you cannot give enough time or attention to any of them

STUMBLING block

Sth that prevents action or agreement

Have somebody over a barrel

To put sb in a very difficukt situation in which the oerson had no choice about what they do

FREEZING cold

Extremely cold

Streaming cold

A severe common cold

Disruptive influence (n)

Sth that negatively affectd , interrups or impedes the normal operation of a system

A slippery customer

Aperson who is untrustworthy, dishonetst or difficult to pin down and deal with

Live wire

Sb who is very active and have a lot of energy

Pull the rug / carpet from under sb’s feet

To suddenly take away help or support from sb, or to suddenly do sth that causes many problems for them

Jocular (a)

Funny or intended to make sb laugh

Sinking fast

(Of a person’s health), getting much worse quickly so that death is likely

Metropolitan elite

A group of people who live in large cities and are well/educated, has other and other advantages , who are seen as not unferstand the problems or views of the ordinary people

Play the game

To behave fairly

Romp home = romp in

To win hands down (win easily)