chicken

chicken out (of something) to withdraw

from something due to fear or cowardice.

(Informal.) Jane was going to go para-

chuting with us, but she chickened out at

the last minute. I’d never chicken out of

parachute jumping, because I’d never agree

to do it in the first place!

The chickens have come home to roost.

All the problems have returned to the

person who caused them and that person

must now solve them or take the blame.

(Literal for chickens whose home is a

chicken house. See also come home (to

roost).) You took on too much credit

card debt and now you are broke. The

chickens have finally come home to roost.

Your car broke down because you never

changed the oil. The chickens have come

home to roost.

child’s play something very easy to do.

The test was child’s play to her. Find-

ing the right street was child’s play with a

map.

chilled to the bone very cold. I was

chilled to the bone in that snowstorm.

The children were chilled to the bone in the

unheated room.

chime in (with something) to add one’s voice

to something; to add something to the

discussion, usually by interrupting.

Billy chimed in by reminding us to come to

dinner. Everyone chimed in on the fi-

nal chorus of the song.

chink in one’s armor a special weakness

that provides a means for attacking or

impressing someone otherwise invulner-

able. His love for his child is the chink

in his armor. Jane’s insecurity is a chink

in her armor.

chip in something on something Go to chip in

(on something).

a chip off the old block a person (usu-

ally a male) who behaves in the same way

as his father or resembles his father.

(Usually informal.) John looks like his

father—a real chip off the old block. Bill

Jones, Jr., is a chip off the old block. He’s

a banker just like his father.

chip something in (on something) Go to chip

in (on something).

chips and dip potato chips, or some other

kind of crisply fried substance, and a

sauce or dressing to dip them into before

eating them. There were tons of chips

and dip and all kinds of cold pop avail-

able for everyone.

chisel someone out of something to cheat

someone to get money or belongings.

The company tried to chisel the govern-

ment out of taxes it owed. Bill chiseled

his little sister out of her allowance.

choke someone up to make a person become

overemotional and speechless; to make a

person begin to cry. (Informal.) The

sight of all those smiling people choked Bob

up, and he couldn’t go on speaking. T The

funeral procession choked up the whole

family.

choke something off to stifle something; to

force something to an end. The car ran

over the hose and choked the water off. T

The president choked off the debate.

chomp at the bit Go to champ at the bit.

choose up sides to form into two oppos-

ing teams by having a leader or captain

take turns choosing players.

choose up sides and play baseball. When

I choose up sides, all the best players don’t

end up on the same team.

claim a life [for something] to take the life

of someone. The killer tornado claimed

the lives of six people at the trailer park.

The athlete’s life was claimed in a ski-

ing accident.

clam up to shut up; to refuse to talk; to

close one’s mouth (as tightly as a clam

closes its shell). (Slang.) You talk too

much, John. Clam up! When they tried

to question her, she clammed up.

clamp down (on someone or something) to be-

come strict with someone; to become

strict about something. (Also literal.)

Because Bob’s grades were getting worse,

his parents clamped down on him. The

police have clamped down on speeders in

this town. Things have already gone too

far. It’s too late to clamp down.

clap eyes on someone or something to see

someone or something, perhaps for the

first time; to set eyes on someone or

something. (Informal.) I wish she had

never clapped eyes on her fiancé.  I

haven’t clapped eyes on a red squirrel for

years.

clean as a hound’s tooth Go to (as) clean

as a hound’s tooth.

clean as a whistle Go to (as) clean as a

whistle.

clean out (of something) Go to fresh out (of

something).

clean up to make a great profit. (Also lit-

eral. Informal.) John won at the races

and really cleaned up. Ann cleaned up

by taking a job selling encyclopedias.

clean up one’s act to reform one’s conduct;

to improve one’s performance. (Informal.

Originally referred to polishing one’s

stage performance.) T Since Sally cleaned

her act up, she has become very productive.

If you don’t clean up your act, you’ll be

sent home.

clear as a bell Go to (as) clear as a bell.

clear as crystal Go to (as) clear as crystal.

clear as mud Go to (as) clear as mud.

clear as vodka Go to (as) clear as vodka.

clear of something without touching some-

thing; away from something.

stand clear of the doors while the train is

moving. Make sure the dog moves clear

of the driveway before backing the car up.

clear out to get out (of a place); to leave.

All right, you people, clear out of here

now. I knew right then that it was time

to clear out.

clear sailing progress made without any

difficulty; an easy situation. Once

you’ve passed that exam, it will be clear

sailing. Working there was not all clear

sailing. The boss had a very bad temper.

clear someone’s name to prove that some-

one is not guilty of a crime or misdeed.

I was accused of theft, but I cleared my

name.   The student was accused of

cheating, but her name was cleared.

clear something up 1. to explain something;

to solve a mystery. I think that we can

clear this matter up without calling in the

police. T First we have to clear up the

problem of the missing jewels. 2. to cure

a disease or a medical condition. (Espe-

cially facial pimples.) There is no med-

icine that will clear pimples up. T The doc-

tor will give you something to clear up your

cold.

clear the air to get rid of doubts or hard

feelings. (Also literal. Sometimes this is

said about an argument or other un-

pleasantness.) All right, let’s discuss this

frankly. It’ll be better if we clear the air.

Mr. and Mrs. Brown always seem to

have to clear the air with a big argument

before they can be sociable.

clear the decks get out of the way; get out

of this area. (From a naval expression,

“Clear the decks for action!” urging sea-

man to prepare for battle or other ac-

tion.) Clear the decks! Here comes the

teacher. Clear the decks and take your

seats.

clear the table to remove the dishes and

other eating utensils from the table after

a meal. (The opposite of set the table.)

Will you please help clear the table? Af-

ter you clear the table, we’ll play cards.

climb on the bandwagon to join others in

supporting someone or something. (See

also get on the bandwagon, jump on the

bandwagon.) Come join us! Climb on

the bandwagon and support Senator

Smith! Look at all those people climb-

ing on the bandwagon! They don’t know

what they are getting into!

climb the wall(s) to do something des-

perate when one is extremely anxious,

bored, or excited. (Informal or slang.)

I’m so upset I could climb the wall. The

meeting was so long and the speaker so

boring that most of the audience wanted

to climb the wall.

clip someone’s wings to restrain someone;

to reduce or put an end to a teenager’s

privileges. (Informal.) You had better

learn to get home on time, or I will clip

your wings.  My mother clipped my

wings. I can’t go out tonight.

cloak-and-dagger involving secrecy and

plotting. A great deal of cloak-and-dag-

ger stuff goes on in political circles. A lot

of cloak-and-dagger activity was involved

in the appointment of the director.

close as two coats of paint Go to (as)

close as two coats of paint.

close at hand within reach; handy. (See

also at hand.) I’m sorry, but your let-

ter isn’t close at hand. Please remind me

what you said in it. When you’re cook-

ing, you should keep all the ingredients

close at hand.

close enough for government work

fairly close or accurate. (Jocular.) I can

do math pretty well. Close enough for gov-

ernment work anyway. This isn’t quite

right, but it’s close enough for government

work.

close in (on someone or something) to over-

whelm or surround someone or some-

think. My problems are closing in on

me. The wolves closed in on the elk.

They howled as they closed in.

close one’s eyes to something to ignore

something; to pretend that something is

not really happening. You can’t close

your eyes to hunger in the world. I just

closed my eyes to the problem and pre-

tended that it wasn’t there.

close ranks to move closer together in a

military formation. (See also close ranks

(behind someone or something); close ranks

(with someone).) The soldiers closed

ranks and marched on the enemy. All

right! Stop that talking and close ranks.

close ranks (behind someone or something)

to support someone or something; to

back someone or something. We will

close ranks behind the candidate. She

needs our help. Let’s close ranks behind her

and give her the support she needs.

close ranks (with someone) to join with

someone. We can fight this menace only

if we close ranks. Let’s all close ranks

with Ann and adopt her suggestions.

close something down and shut something

down to make something stop operating;

to put something out of business. The

police closed the factory down. T The

manager shut down the factory for the hol-

idays. T The city council closed down the

amusement park.

close the books (on someone or something)

to put an end to a matter that concerns

someone or something. (The books here

refers to financial accounting records.)

It’s time to close the books on the Frank-

lin case. Yes, let’s close the books on Mr.

Franklin. You closed the books too soon.

Here is some new information.

close the door on someone or something Go

to shut the door on someone or something.

close to home and where one lives af-

fecting one personally and intimately.

(Informal.) Her remarks were a bit too

close to home. I was afraid she was dis-

cussing me! She’s got me figured out all

right. She knows where I live. Every crit-

icism she made of the performance hit a

little too close to home for my comfort. I

didn’t know I was so bad! When you go

through an experience like that and see the

horror of a hurricane face to face, that sort

of gets you where you live!

close to someone fond of someone; very

good friends with someone.

very close to Mary. They may get married.

Mr. Smith isn’t exactly close to Mrs.

Smith.

close up shop to quit working, for the day

or forever. (Informal.) It’s five o’clock.

Time to close up shop. I can’t make any

money in this town. The time has come to

close up shop and move to another town.

closefisted (with money) Go to tight-

fisted (with money).

cloud up 1. [for the sky] to get cloudy, as

if it were going to rain. All of a sud-

den it clouded up and began to rain. It

usually clouds up at sunset. 2. [for some-

one] to grow very sad, as if to cry. (See

also turn on the waterworks.) The baby

clouded up and let out a howl. When-

ever Mary got homesick, she’d cloud up.

She really wanted to go home.

clue someone in (on something) to inform

someone of something. (Informal.)

Please clue me in on what’s going on.

Yes, clue her in.

clutch at straws to continue to seek solu-

tions, ideas, or hopes that are insubstan-

tial. When you talk of inheriting money,

you are just clutching at straws. That is

not a real solution to the problem. You are

just clutching at straws.

The coast is clear. There is no visible dan-

ger. I’m going to stay hidden here until

the coast is clear. You can come out of

your hiding place now. The coast is clear.

coast-to-coast from the Atlantic to the Pa-

cific Oceans (in the continental U.S.A.);

all the land between the Atlantic and Pa-

cific Oceans. My voice was once heard

on a coast-to-coast radio broadcast. Our

car made the coast-to-coast trip in eighty

hours.