Don’t hold your breath. Do not stop
breathing (while waiting a long time for
something to happen). (Informal.) You
think he’ll get a job? Ha! Don’t hold your
breath. I’ll finish building the fence as
soon as I have time, but don’t hold your
breath.
Don’t let it out of this room Go to Don’t
let it go any further.
Don’t let someone or something get you
down. Do not allow yourself to be over-
come by someone or something. Don’t
let their constant teasing get you down.
Don’t let Tom get you down. He’s not al-
ways unpleasant.
Don’t quit your day job. You are not very
good at what you are doing, so don’t quit
your regular job in hopes that you can
support yourself doing this. I saw your
comedy act at the nightclub. Don’t quit
your day job! So, you laid the bricks in
this wall. Well, don’t quit your day job.
doomed to failure certain to fail, usually
because of some obvious flaw. This
project was doomed to failure from the
very beginning. The play is doomed to
failure because there is not a good story
line.
door-to-door 1. having to do with move-
ment from one door to another or from
one house to another. (See also from door
to door.) John is a door-to-door sales-
man. We spent two weeks making a
door-to-door survey. 2. by moving from
one door to another or one house to an-
Anne is selling books door-to-
door. We went door-to-door, collecting
money.
a dose of one’s own medicine the same
kind of treatment that one gives to other
people. (Often with get or have.) Sally
never is very friendly. Someone is going to
give her a dose of her own medicine some-
day. He didn’t like getting a dose of his
own medicine.
double back (on someone or something) [for
a person or animal] to reverse motion,
moving toward someone or something
rather than away from someone or some-
thing. The deer doubled back on the
hunter. The robber doubled back on the
police, and they lost track of him. He
doubled back on his trail.
double in brass to serve two purposes; to
be useful for two different things. (Refers
to a musician who can play a trumpet or
trombone, etc., in addition to some other
instrument.) The English teacher also
doubles in brass as the football coach.
The drummer doubles in brass as a
violinist.
double up (with someone) to share some-
thing with someone. We don’t have
enough books. Tom, will you double up
with Jane? When we get more books, we
won’t have to double up anymore. We’ll
share hotel rooms to save money. Tom and
Bill will double up.
doubting Thomas someone who will not
easily believe something without strong
proof or evidence. (From the Bible.)
Mary won’t believe that I have a dog un-
til she sees him. She’s such a doubting
Thomas. This school is full of doubting
Thomases. They want to see Jimmy’s new
bike with their own eyes.
down-and-dirty sneaky, unfair, low-down,
and nasty. (Slang.) The boys played a
real down-and-dirty trick on the teacher.
A political campaign provides a lot of
down-and-dirty speeches that only confuse
the voters.
down-and-out having no money or means
of support. There are many young peo-
ple down-and-out in Los Angeles just now.
John gambled away all his fortune and
is now completely down-and-out.
down-at-the-heels shabby; poorly
dressed. (Refers to shoes that are worn
down at the heels.) The hobo was really
down-at-the-heels. Tom’s house needs
paint. It looks down-at-the-heels.
down by some amount having a score that is
lower, by the specified amount, than
someone else’s score or the other team’s
score. At halftime, the home team was
down by 14 points. Down by one run,
the team scored two runs in the ninth in-
ning and won the game.
fighter remains down [resting] until the
last count, or even beyond.) After the
professor rebuked me in class, I knew I was
down for the count. I am down for the
count, but I’ll try again tomorrow.
down in the dumps sad or depressed. (In-
formal.) I’ve been down in the dumps
for the past few days. Try to cheer Jane
up. She’s down in the dumps for some
reason.
down in the mouth sad-faced; depressed
and unsmiling. Since her dog died, Bar-
bara has been down in the mouth. Bob
has been down in the mouth since the car
wreck.
down on one’s luck without any money;
unlucky. (Euphemistic for broke.) Can
you lend me twenty dollars? I’ve been
down on my luck lately. The gambler
had to get a job because he had been down
on his luck and didn’t earn enough money
to live on.
down on someone or something against some-
one or something; negative about some-
one or something. I’ve been down on
red meat lately. It’s better to eat chicken
or fish. The teacher was down on Tom
because he’s always talking in class.
down South to or in the southeastern
United States. (See also back East; out
West; up North.) I used to live down
South. We are going down South for the
winter.
down the drain lost forever; wasted. (Also
literal. Informal.) I just hate to see all
that money go down the drain. Well,
there goes the whole project, right down the
drain.
down the hatch [to] swallow (something).
(Informal or slang. Sometimes said when
someone takes a drink of alcohol.)
Come on, Billy. Eat your dinner. Down the
hatch! John raised his glass of beer and
said, “Down the hatch.”
down the tubes ruined; wasted. (Slang.)
His political career went down the tubes
after the scandal. He’s lost his job. The
business went down the tubes.
down-to-earth 1. direct, frank, and hon-
est. You can depend on Ann. She’s very
down-to-earth. It’s good that she’s
down-to-earth and will give us a frank re-
sponse. 2. practical; not theoretical; not
fanciful. Her ideas for the boutique are
always very down-to-earth. The com-
mittee’s plans for the village are anything
but down-to-earth.
down to the last detail considering all of
the details. Jean planned the party very
carefully, down to the last detail. Mary
wanted to be in charge of everything right
down to the last detail.
down to the wire at the very last minute;
up to the very last instant. (Refers to a
wire that marks the end of a horse race.)
I have to turn this in tomorrow, and I’ll
be working down to the wire. When we
get down to the wire, we’ll know better
what to do.
down with some disease ill; sick at home.
(Can be said about many diseases.)
Tom isn’t here. He’s down with a cold.
Sally is down with the f lu. The whole
office has come down with something.
downhill all the way easy all the way. (In-
formal.) Don’t worry about your alge-
bra course. It’s downhill all the way. The
mayor said that the job of mayor is easy—
in fact, downhill all the way.
downhill from here on easy from this
point on. (Informal.) The worst part
is over. It’s downhill from here on. The
painful part of this procedure is over. It’s
downhill from here on.
drag one’s feet to act very slowly, often de-
liberately. The government is dragging
its feet on this bill because it costs too
much. If the planning department had
not dragged their feet, the building would
have been built by now.
seems like a drag on Mrs. Franklin.
I’d expect him to be a drag.
draw a bead on someone or something to aim
at someone or something; to pick out
someone or something for special treat-
ment. (Informal.) Ann wants a new car,
and she has drawn a bead on a red con-
vertible. Jane wants to get married, and
she has drawn a bead on Tom.
draw a blank 1. to get no response; to find
nothing. I asked him about Tom’s fi-
nancial problems, and I just drew a blank.
We looked in the files for an hour, but
we drew a blank. 2. to fail to remember
(something). I tried to remember her
telephone number, but I could only draw
a blank. It was a very hard test with just
one question to answer, and I drew a
blank.
draw blood 1. to make a wound that
bleeds. The dog chased me and bit me
hard, but it didn’t draw blood.
boxer landed just one punch and drew
blood immediately. 2. to anger or insult
a person. Sally screamed out a terrible
insult at Tom. Judging by the look on his
face, she really drew blood. Tom started
yelling and cursing, trying to insult Sally.
He wouldn’t be satisfied until he had
drawn blood, too.
draw interest 1. to appear interesting and
get (someone’s) attention. (Note the vari-
ation in the examples below.) This kind
of event isn’t likely to draw a lot of inter-
est. What kind of thing will draw in-
terest? 2. [for money] to earn interest
while on deposit. Put your money in the
bank so it will draw interest. The cash
value of some insurance policies also draws
interest.
draw lots and draw straws to choose
from a group of things to determine who
will do something. (Typically, to choose
a straw from a bundle of straws. The per-
son with the shortest straw is selected.)
We drew lots to decide who would wash
the dishes. The players drew straws to
determine who would go first.
draw someone or something out 1. [with some-
one] to coax someone to speak or answer;
to bring someone into a conversation or
other social interaction. Jane is usually
very shy with older men, but Tom really
drew her out last evening. T John drew out
Mr. Smith on the question of tax increases.
2. [with something] to make something
longer in length or time. T Jane drew out
the conversation for more than twenty
minutes. Bill drew the taffy candy out
into a long string.
draw something to a close to make some-
thing end. It is now time to draw this
evening to a close. What a lovely vaca-
tion. It’s a shame that we must draw it to
a close.
draw something up to put something into
writing; to prepare a written document;
to put plans on paper. (Used especially
with legal documents prepared by a
lawyer.) You should draw a will up as
soon as you can. T I went to see my lawyer
this morning about drawing up a will. T
The architect is drawing up plans for the
new city hall.
draw straws Go to draw lots.
draw the line (at something) to set a limit
at something; to decide when a limit has
been reached. (See also hold the line (at
someone or something).) You can make as
much noise as you want, but I draw the
line at fighting. It’s hard to keep young
people under control, but you have to draw
the line somewhere.
draw the line between something and
something else Go to draw a line between
something and something else.
draw to a close to end; to come to an end.
This evening is drawing to a close. It’s
a shame that our vacation is drawing to a
close.
drawn and quartered dealt with very se-
verely. (Refers to a practice of torturing
someone guilty of treason, usually a
male, by disemboweling and dividing the
body into four parts.) Todd was prac-
tically drawn and quartered for losing the
Wilson contract. You were much too
harsh with Jean. No matter what she did,
she didn’t need to be drawn and quartered
for it!
a dream come true a wish or a dream that
has become real. Going to Hawaii is like
a dream come true. Having you for a
friend is a dream come true.
Dream on. What you are expecting or
wanting to happen is nothing but fantasy,
so enjoy yourself and create as many fan-
tasies as you want. You want to get pro-
moted to general manager? Dream on.
You, an opera singer? Dream on.
dredge something up Go to rake something up.
dress someone down to bawl someone out;
to give someone a good scolding. (Pri-
marily military.) The sergeant dressed
the soldier down severely. I know they’ll
dress me down when I get home.
dressed to kill dressed in fancy or stylish
clothes. (Slang.) Wow, look at Sally!
She’s really dressed to kill. A person
doesn’t go to church dressed to kill.
dribs and drabs in small irregular quan-
tities. (Especially with in and by.) The
checks for the charity are coming in in
dribs and drabs. The members of the or-
chestra arrived by dribs and drabs. All
her fortune was spent in dribs and drabs
on silly things—like clothes and fine wines.
drink to excess to drink too much alco-
hol; to drink alcohol continually. Mr.
Franklin drinks to excess. Some people
drink to excess only at parties.
drive a hard bargain to work hard to ne-
gotiate prices or agreements in one’s own
favor. (Informal.) I saved $200 by driv-
ing a hard bargain when I bought my new
car. All right, sir, you drive a hard bar-
gain. I’ll sell you this car for $12,450.
You drive a hard bargain, Jane, but I’ll sign
the contract.
drive at something to be making a point; to
be approaching the making of a point.
I do not understand what you are telling
me. What are you driving at? She was
driving at how important it is to get an
education.
drive someone crazy and drive someone
mad 1. to make someone insane. He’s
so strange that he actually drove his wife
crazy. Doctor, there are little green peo-
ple following me around trying to drive me
mad. 2. to annoy or irritate someone.
This itch is driving me crazy. All these
telephone calls are driving me mad.
drive someone mad Go to drive someone
crazy.
drive someone out (of office) Go to force
someone out (of office).
drive someone to the wall Go to force some-
one to the wall.
drive something home to make something
clearly understood. (Also literal.) Why
do I always have to shout at you to drive
something home? T Sometimes you have
to be forceful to drive home a point.
drive something into the ground Go to run
something into the ground.
driving force (behind someone or something)
a person or a thing that motivates or di-
rects someone or something. Money is
the driving force behind most businesses.
Ambition is the driving force behind
Tom. Love can also be a driving force.
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