[daily dozen] Go to one’s daily dozen.
the daily grind [someone’s] everyday work
routine. (Informal.) I’m getting very
tired of the daily grind. When my va-
cation was over, I had to go back to the
daily grind.
damn someone or something with faint praise
to criticize someone or something indi-
rectly by not praising enthusiastically.
The critic did not say that he disliked the
play, but he damned it with faint praise.
Mrs. Brown is very proud of her son’s
achievements, but damns her daughter’s
with faint praise.
dance to another tune to shift to a dif-
ferent kind of behavior; to change one’s
behavior or attitude. (See also change
someone’s tune; sing a different tune.)
After being yelled at, Ann danced to an-
other tune. A stern talking-to will make
her dance to another tune.
dance with death to attempt to do some-
thing that is very risky. The crossing of
the border into Adonia was like dancing
with death. You are dancing with death
in your effort to cross that narrow ledge.
dare someone (to do something) to challenge
someone to do something. Sally dared
Jane to race her to the corner. You
wouldn’t do that, would you? I dare you.
dark horse someone or something whose
abilities, plans, or feelings are little
known to others. (From horse racing.)
It’s difficult to predict who will win the
prize—there are two or three dark horses
in the tournament. Everyone was sur-
prised at the results of the election. The
dark horse won.
darken someone’s door [for an unwelcome
person] to come to someone’s door seek-
ing entry. (As if the unwelcome visitor
were casting a shadow on the door. For-
mal or jocular.) Who is this who has
come to darken my door? Is that you,
John, darkening my door again? I thought
you were out of town. The heroine of the
drama told the villain never to darken her
door again. She touched the back of her
hand to her forehead and said, “Go, and
never darken my door again!”
dart in and out [for something moving] to
dart quickly between two things, or into
a number of things, and move away
again. On the highway, a small car was
darting in and out of the two right lanes of
traffic. A small bird darted in and out
of the bush, probably going into a nest
inside.
dash cold water on something Go to pour
cold water on something.
dash something off to send something off,
usually quickly. I’ll dash a quick note
off to Aunt Mary. T Ann just dashed off
a message to her parents.
date back (to sometime) to extend back to
a particular time; to have been alive at a
particular time in the past. My late
grandmother dated back to the Civil War.
This record dates back to the sixties.
How far do you date back?
Davy Jones’s locker the bottom of the sea,
especially when it is a grave. (From the
seamen’s name for the evil spirit of the
sea. See also go to Davy Jones’s locker.)
They were going to sail around the
world, but ended up in Davy Jones’s locker.
Most of the gold from that trading ship
is in Davy Jones’s locker.
day after day every day; daily; all the time.
He wears the same clothes day after day.
She visits her husband in the hospital
day after day.
day and night and night and day all the
time; around the clock. The nurse was
with her day and night. The house is
guarded night and day.
day in and day out and day in, day out
on every day; for each day. She smokes
day in and day out. They eat nothing
but vegetables, day in, day out.
day in, day out Go to day in and day out.
day-to-day daily; everyday; common.
They update their accounts on a day-to-
day basis. Just wear your regular day-
to-day clothing.
[days are numbered] Go to one’s days are
numbered.
dead ahead straight ahead; directly ahead.
Look out! There is a cow in the road
dead ahead. The farmer said that the
town we wanted was dead ahead.
dead and buried gone forever. (Refers lit-
erally to persons and figuratively to ideas
and other things.) Now that memories
of Uncle Bill are dead and buried, we can
throw away his old boots. That kind of
thinking is dead and buried.
dead as a dodo Go to (as) dead as a dodo.
dead as a doornail Go to (as) dead as a
doornail.
a dead duck someone or something that
is failed, finished, or nearly dead. He
missed the exam. He’s a dead duck. Yes,
John’s a dead duck. He drove his car into
a tree.
dead in someone’s or something’s tracks
stopped exactly where someone or some-
thing is at the moment. (This does not
usually have anything to do with death.
The phrase is often used with stop.)
Her unkind words stopped me dead in my
tracks. When I heard the rattlesnake, I
stopped dead in my tracks. The project
came to a halt dead in its tracks.
a dead loss a total loss. My investment
was a dead loss. This car is a dead loss.
It was a waste of money.
dead on its feet and dead on one’s feet
exhausted; worn out; no longer useful.
Ann is so tired. She’s really dead on her
feet. He can’t teach well anymore. He’s
dead on his feet. This inefficient com-
pany is dead on its feet.
dead on one’s feet Go to dead on its feet.
dead set against someone or something totally
opposed to someone or something. (See
also one’s heart is (dead) set against some-
thing.) I’m dead set against the new tax
proposal. Everyone is dead set against
the mayor.
deaf and dumb unable to hear or speak.
(Used without any intended malice, but
no longer considered polite. Sometimes
euphemized as “hearing and speech im-
paired.”) Fred objected to being called
deaf and dumb. Aunt Clara—she was
deaf and dumb, you know—lived to be
over 100.
deaf as a post Go to (as) deaf as a post.
deal in something to buy and sell something.
My uncle is a stockbroker. He deals in
stocks and bonds. My aunt deals in
antiques.
death and taxes death, which is inevitable,
and the payment of taxes, which is un-
avoidable. (A saying that emphasizes the
rigor with which taxes are collected.)
There is nothing as certain on this old
planet as death and taxes. Max said he
could get out of anything except death and
taxes.
death on someone or something 1. very effec-
tive in acting against someone or some-
thing. This road is terribly bumpy. It’s
death on tires. The sergeant is death on
lazy soldiers. 2. [with something] accurate
or deadly at doing something requiring
skill or great effort. John is death on
curve balls. He’s our best pitcher. The
boxing champ is really death on those fast
punches.
decide in favor of someone or something to
determine that someone or something is
the winner. The judge decided in favor
of the defendant. I decided in favor of
the red one.
deem that it is necessary Go to deem it
(to be) necessary.
[deepest sympathy] Go to one’s deepest
sympathy.
a den of iniquity a place filled with
wickedness. The town was a den of in-
iquity and vice was everywhere. Police
raided the gambling house, calling it a den
of iniquity.
desert a sinking ship and leave a sink-
ing ship to leave a place, a person, or a
situation when things become difficult or
unpleasant. (Rats are said to be the first
to leave a ship that is sinking.) I hate
to be the one to desert a sinking ship, but
I can’t stand it around here anymore.
There goes Tom. Wouldn’t you know he’d
leave a sinking ship rather than stay
around and try to help?
devil-may-care attitude and devil-may-
care manner a very casual attitude; a
worry-free or carefree attitude. You
must get rid of your devil-may-care atti-
tude if you want to succeed. She acts so
thoughtlessly with her devil-may-care
manner.
devil-may-care manner Go to devil-may-
care attitude.
a devil of a job and the devil’s own job
the most difficult task. (Informal.) We
had a devil of a job fixing the car. It was
the devil’s own job finding a hotel with
vacancies.
the devil’s own job Go to devil of a job.
a diamond in the rough a valuable or po-
tentially excellent person or thing hidden
by an unpolished or rough exterior.
Ann looks like a stupid woman, but she’s
a fine person—a real diamond in the
rough. That piece of property is a dia-
mond in the rough. Someday it will be
valuable.
die a natural death 1. [for someone] to
die by disease or old age rather than by
violence or foul play. I hope to live to
100 and die a natural death. The po-
lice say she didn’t die a natural death, and
they are investigating. 2. [for something]
to fade away or die down. I expect that
all this excitement about computers will
die a natural death. Most fads die a nat-
ural death.
die in one’s boots and die with one’s boots
on to go down fighting; to die in some
fashion other than in bed; to die fighting.
(A cliché popularized by western movies.
The villains of these movies said they
preferred death by gunshot or hanging to
dying in bed. See also go down fighting.)
I won’t let him get me. I’ll die in my
boots. He may give me a hard time, but
I won’t be overcome. I’ll fight him and die
with my boots on.
The die is cast. some process is past the
point of no return. (This die is one of a
pair of dice. This cast means “thrown.”)
After that speech favoring reform of the
education system, the die is cast. This is
now a campaign issue. The die is cast.
There is no turning back on this point.
die laughing 1. to meet one’s death laugh-
ing—in good spirits, revenge, or irony.
Sally is such an optimist that she’ll proba-
bly die laughing. Bob tried to poison his
rich aunt, who then died laughing because
she had taken Bob out of her will. 2. to
laugh very long and hard. (Informal.)
The joke was so funny that I almost died
laughing. The play was meant to be
funny, but the audience didn’t exactly die
laughing.
die of a broken heart 1. to die of emo-
tional distress. I was not surprised to
hear of her death. They say she died of a
broken heart. In the movie, the heroine
appeared to die of a broken heart, but the
audience knew she was poisoned. 2. to suf-
fer from emotional distress, especially
from a failed romance. Tom and Mary
broke off their romance and both died of
broken hearts. Please don’t leave me. I
know I’ll die of a broken heart.
die of boredom to suffer from boredom;
to be very bored. No one has ever really
died of boredom. We sat there and lis-
tened politely, even though we almost died
of boredom.
die on someone 1. [for someone] to die
while in someone’s care. The ambu-
lance driver didn’t want his patient to die
on him. “Come on, don’t die on me!”
cried the emergency room doctor. 2. [for
something, such as a car engine] to stop
running while one is using it. My car
just died on me. His computer keeps dy-
ing on him.
die on the vine Go to wither on the vine.
die with one’s boots on Go to die in one’s
boots.
different as night and day Go to (as) dif-
ferent as night and day.
dig in 1. to eat a meal; to begin eating a
meal. (Informal. See also Come and get
it!) Dinner’s ready, Tom. Sit down and
dig in. The cowboy helped himself to
some beans and dug in. 2. to apply one-
self to a task; to tackle (something) vig-
orously. Sally looked at the big job
ahead of her. Then she rolled up her sleeves
and dug in. “Tom,” hollered Mrs. Smith,
“you get to that pile of homework and dig
in this very minute.”
dig one’s heels in to refuse to alter one’s
course of action or opinions; to be ob-
stinate or determined. The student dug
her heels in and refused to obey the in-
structions. I’m digging in my heels. I’m
not going back.
dig one’s own grave to be responsible for
one’s own downfall or ruin. The man-
ager tried to get rid of his assistant, but he
dug his own grave. He got fired himself for
trying. The committee has dug its own
grave with the new tax bill.
dig someone or something to understand some-
thing; to relate to a person or a thing.
(Slang.) I really dig Tom. He’s a special
guy. I really dig rock music.
dig someone or something up to go to great ef-
fort to find someone or something.
(There is an implication that the thing or
person dug up is not the most desirable,
but is all that could be found.) Mary
dug a date up for the dance next Friday.
T I dug up a recipe for roast pork with
pineapple. T I dug up a carpenter who
doesn’t charge very much.
dig something out to work hard to locate
something and bring it forth. (Also lit-
eral.) They dug the contract out of the
file cabinet. I dug this old suit out of a
box in the attic. T I dug out an old dress
and wore it to the fifties party.
dine out Go to eat (a meal) out.
dip in(to something) to take or borrow from
a supply of something, especially a sup-
ply of money. (Also literal.) I had to
dip into my savings account to pay for the
car. I hate to dip in like that. She put
out her hand and dipped into the choco-
late box.
dirt cheap extremely cheap. (Informal.)
Buy some more of those plums. They’re
dirt cheap. In Italy, the peaches are dirt
cheap.
dirty old man an older man who is exces-
sively interested in sex. Tell your
daughter to stay away from him. He’s a
dirty old man and might attack her.
There were several dirty old men looking
at pornographic magazines in the park.
dirty one’s hands Go to get one’s hands
dirty.
divide and conquer to cause the enemy
to split into two or more warring fac-
tions, and then move in to conquer all of
them. Mary thought she could divide
and conquer the board of directors, but
they had survived such tactics many times,
and her efforts failed. Sam led his men
to divide and conquer the enemy platoon,
and his strategy succeeded.
divide something fifty-fifty and split some-
thing fifty-fifty to divide something into
two equal parts. (Informal. Each fifty
means 50 percent.) Tommy and Billy
divided the candy fifty-fifty. The rob-
bers split the money fifty-fifty.
No comments:
Post a Comment