This
database is a comprehensive collection of all the American idioms and slang available.
American Idioms are many and varied. We hope you enjoy our collection. We are adding more all the time.
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Dressed to the nines
What does Dressed to the nines mean? | Dressed flamboyantly, dressed well. | New years eve is the one day of the year when people like to go out dressed to the nines.
Common lore has it that a tailor making a high quality suit uses more fabric. The best suits are made from nine yards of fabric. This may seem like a lot but a proper suit does indeed take nine yards of fabric. This is because a good suit has all the fabric cut in the same direction with the warp, or long strands of thread, parallel with the vertical line of the suit. This causes a great amount of waste in suit making, but if you want to go "dressed to the nines", you must pay for such waste. |
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Some Random Idioms
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make (something) right/good
What does "make (something) right/good" mean? | replace or restore something | I worked hard to make my relationship with my friend right.
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hyper
What does "hyper" mean? | excited; eager |
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catch one's eye
What does "catch one's eye" mean? | attract one's attention/interest. | "This brochure about Tahiti caught my eye whenI was at the travel agency."
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ace
What does "ace" mean? | make an "A" on a test, homework assignment, project,
etc. | "Somebody said you aced the test, John. That's great!"
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blow up (at someone)
What does "blow up (at someone)" mean? | to get angry, to lose one's temper | The passenger who was waiting in the line blew up at the ticket agent.
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jive
What does "jive" mean? | lie; lies, nonsense |
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BTDT
What does "BTDT" mean? | been there, done that |
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catch some rays
What does "catch some rays" mean? | sunbathe; get a tan. | Gotta catch some rays, otherwise I'll look totally pale.
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nobody's home
What does "nobody's home" mean? | one`s attention is somewhere else, one has a simple mind | It seems like nobody`s home I thought, as I tried to have a conversation with the strange man.
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throw cold water on (something)
What does "throw cold water on (something)" mean? | to discourage or forbid something | The manager threw cold water on our plan to close the factory for one week in August.
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bump off (someone)
What does "bump off (someone)" mean? | to kill someone | The criminal gang bumped off the leader of the other gang.
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cover a lot of ground
What does "cover a lot of ground" mean? | to deal with much information or facts, to travel a great distance | We covered a lot of ground in our history class at school.
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TA
What does "TA" mean? | Teaching Assistant | Teaching AssistantAfter leaving university he was able to get a job as a TA at the junior college.
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