breath of fresh air 1. air that is not stale
or smelly. (This is the literal sense.) I
feel faint. I think I need a breath of fresh
air. You look ill, John. What you need
is a breath of fresh air. 2. air that is not
(figuratively) contaminated with un-
pleasant people or situations. (This is a
sarcastic version of sense 1.) You peo-
ple are disgusting. I have to get out of here
and get a breath of fresh air. I believe I’ll
go get a breath of fresh air. The intellectual
atmosphere in here is stif ling. 3. a new,
fresh, and imaginative approach (to
something). (Usually with like.) Sally,
with all her wonderful ideas, is a breath
of fresh air. New furniture in this room
is like a breath of fresh air.
breathe down someone’s neck 1. to keep
close watch on someone; to watch some-
one’s activities. (Also literal. Refers to
standing very close behind a person.)
I can’t work with you breathing down my
neck all the time. Go away. I will get
through my life without your help. Stop
breathing down my neck. 2. to try to
hurry someone along; to make someone
get something done on time. (The sub-
ject does not have to be a person. See the
second example.) I have to finish my
taxes today. The tax collector is breathing
down my neck. I have a deadline breath-
ing down my neck.
breathe easy to assume a relaxed state af-
ter a stressful period. (Also literal.) Af-
ter all this is over, I’ll be able to breathe
easy again. He won’t be able to breathe
easy until he pays off his debts.
breathe one’s last to die; to breathe one’s
last breath in the process of dying.
Mrs. Smith breathed her last this morning.
I’ll keep running every day until I
breathe my last.
brew a plot to plot something; to make a
plot. The children brewed an evil plot to
get revenge on their teacher. We brewed
a plot so that we would not have to help
with dinner.
bricks and mortar buildings. (The build-
ings referred to can be constructed out of
anything.) The new president of the col-
lege preferred to invest in new faculty
members rather than bricks and mortar.
Sometimes people are happy to donate mil-
lions of dollars for bricks and mortar, but
they never think of the additional cost of
annual maintenance.
bright and early very early. Yes, I’ll be
there bright and early. I want to see you
here on time tomorrow, bright and early,
or you’re fired!
bright as a button Go to (as) bright as a
button.
bright as a new pin Go to (as) bright as
a new pin.
bright-eyed and bushy-tailed very cheer-
ful and eager. (Refers to the twinkling
eyes and quick, energetic movements of
a squirrel.) She appeared at the top of
the stairs, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed,
ready to start the day. I am awake, but
I am hardly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
brimming with something 1. full of some
kind of happy behavior. The volunteer
worker was brimming with goodwill.
The giggling children were brimming with
joy. 2. full to the point of overflowing.
Tom’s glass was brimming with milk.
The pool was brimming with water.
bring down the curtain (on something) Go
to ring down the curtain (on something).
bring down the house to excite a theatri-
cal audience to laughter or applause or
both. Her performance didn’t bring
down the house—it emptied it. T This is
a great joke. The last time I told it, it
brought the house down.
bring home the bacon to earn a salary.
(Folksy.) I’ve got to get to work if I’m
going to bring home the bacon. Go out
and get a job so you can bring home the
bacon.
bring people or other creatures out in droves
to lure or draw out someone or some
creature in great number. The avail-
ability of free drinks brought people out in
droves. The fresh grass sprouts brought
the deer out in droves.
bring someone around 1. to bring someone
for a visit; to bring someone for someone
(else) to meet. Please bring your wife
around sometime. I’d love to meet her.
You’ve just got to bring the doctor around
for dinner. 2. to bring someone to con-
sciousness. The doctor brought Tom
around with smelling salts. The boxer
was knocked out, but the doctor brought
him around. 3. to persuade someone (to
accept something); to manage to get
someone to agree (to something). The
last debate brought a lot of voters around
to our candidate. I knew I could bring
her around if I just had enough time to
talk to her.
bring someone or something up 1. to mention
a person or a thing. I’m sorry. I won’t
bring him up again. T Please don’t bring
up that matter again. T Please don’t bring
up John Jones’s name again. 2. to raise a
child or an animal. Her uncle brought
her up. T It’s difficult to bring up a pet
monkey.
bring someone or something up-to-date to
make someone or something more mod-
ern. (See also bring someone up-to-date
(on someone or something).) Let’s buy some
new furniture and bring this room up-to-
date. John tried to bring himself up-to-
date by changing his hairstyle, but he still
looked like the same old John.
bring someone to to bring someone to con-
sciousness; to wake someone up. (See
also bring someone around; come to.)
The nurse brought the patient to. She’s
hurt! Come on, help me bring her to.
bring someone up-to-date (on someone or
something) to tell someone the news about
something. Please bring me up-to-date
on the Middle East situation.
bring me up-to-date on John. I want to
hear all the news. And bring me up-to-
date, too.
bring something about to make something
happen. Is she clever enough to bring it
about? T Oh, yes, she can bring about any-
thing she wants.
bring something crashing down (around
one) to destroy something that one has
built; to destroy something that one has
a special interest in. She brought her
whole life crashing down around her.
Bob’s low grade in English brought every-
thing crashing down when his parents
grounded him.
bring something home to someone to cause
someone to realize the truth of some-
thing. Seeing the starving refugees on
television really brings home the tragedy of
their situation. It wasn’t until she failed
her test that the importance of studying
was brought home to her.
bring something into question to question
something; to raise a question about
something. It was necessary to bring
your part in this matter into question.
The city council brought the building pro-
ject into question.
bring something off to make something hap-
pen; to produce a great event. She
managed to bring the party off with no dif-
ficulty. T She brought off a similar party
last season.
bring something to a head to cause some-
thing to come to the point when a deci-
sion has to be made or an action taken.
The latest disagreement between man-
agement and the union has brought mat-
ters to a head. There will be an all-out
strike now. It’s a relief that things have
been brought to a head. The disputes have
been going on for months.
bring something to light to make something
known; to discover something.
scientists brought their findings to light.
We must bring this new evidence to light.
bring something to someone’s attention to
make someone aware of something; to
mention or show something to someone.
I would like to bring this problem to
your attention. If there is something I
should know about, please bring it to my
attention.
bring up the rear to move along behind
everyone else; to be at the end of the line.
(Originally referred to marching sol-
diers.) Here comes John, bringing up the
rear. Hurry up, Tom! Why are you al-
ways bringing up the rear?
broad as a barn door Go to (as) broad as
a barn door.
broad in the beam with wide hips or large
buttocks. (From a nautical expression for
a wide ship.) I am getting a little broad
in the beam. It’s time to go on a diet.
John is just naturally broad in the beam.
[brother ’s keeper] Go to one’s brother’s
keeper.
brush up (on something) to review some-
thing, especially a school subject. I
think I should brush up on my Spanish be-
fore I go to Mexico. I’ve heard you speak
Spanish. You need to do more than brush
buck for something to aim, try, or strike for
a goal. (Originally referred to trying to
get a higher military rank.) Bill acts
that way because he’s bucking for corporal.
Tom is bucking for a larger office.
buck up cheer up. Buck up, old friend!
Things can’t be all that bad. I know I
have to buck up. Life must go on.
buckle down (to something) to settle down
to something; to begin to work seriously
at something. If you don’t buckle down
to your job, you’ll be fired. You had bet-
ter buckle down and get busy.
bug out to leave; to pack up and get out.
(Slang.) It’s time to bug out. Let’s get out
of here. I just got a call from headquar-
ters. They say to bug out immediately.
bug someone to irritate someone; to bother
someone. (Slang.) Go away! Stop bug-
ging me! Leave me alone. Go bug some-
one else.
build a case (against someone) and as-
semble a case (against someone);
gather a case (against someone) to put
together the evidence needed to make a
legal or disciplinary case against some-
one. The police easily built a case
against the drunken driver. As soon as
we gather the case against her, we will ar-
rest her.
build a fire under someone to do something
to make someone else start doing some-
thing. (Informal.) The teacher built a
fire under the students, and they really
started working. Somebody built a fire
under Bill, so he finally went out and got
a job.
build castles in Spain Go to build castles
in the air.
build castles in the air and build castles
in Spain to daydream; to make plans that
can never come true. Ann spends most
of her time building castles in Spain. I
really like to sit on the porch in the evening,
just building castles in the air.
build (someone or something) up 1. to make
someone or something stronger or big-
ger. Tom is eating lots of fresh fruits and
vegetables to build himself up for basket-
ball. Tom needs to build up. Tom
needs to build himself up. T The farmer
built up his stone fences where they had
weakened. 2. to advertise, praise, or pro-
mote someone or something. T Theatri-
cal agents work very hard to build up their
clients. T An advertising agency can build
up a product so much that everyone will
want it.
build something to order to build something
especially for the customer who ordered
it. (See also make something to order.)
Our new car was built to order just for us.
My company builds computers to order.
No two are alike.
build up to something to lead up to some-
thing; to work up to something. You
could tell by the way she was talking that
she was building up to something. The
sky was building up to a storm.
a bull in a china shop a very clumsy or
wild person around breakable things; a
thoughtless or tactless person. (China is
fine crockery.) Look at Bill, as awkward
as a bull in a china shop. Get that big
dog out of my garden. It’s like a bull in a
china shop. Bob is so rude, a regular bull
in a china shop.
bump into someone and run into someone
to chance on someone; to meet someone
by chance. (Also literal.) Guess who I
bumped into downtown today?
into Bob Jones yesterday.
bump someone off and knock someone off
to kill someone. (Slang, especially crim-
inal slang.) They tried to bump her off,
bundle of nerves someone who is very
nervous and anxious. Mary was a bun-
dle of nerves until she heard that she
passed the test. You always seem to be
such a bundle of nerves.
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