free

free as a bird Go to (as) free as a bird.

free as (the) air Go to (as) free as (the) air.

free-for-all a disorganized fight or contest

involving everyone; a brawl. The pic-

nic turned into a free-for-all after mid-

night. The race started out in an orga-

nized manner, but ended up being a

free-for-all.

free translation a translation that is not

completely accurate and not well thought

out. John gave a free translation of the

sentence, which did not help us at all.

Anne gave a very free translation of the

poem.

fresh as a daisy Go to (as) fresh as a daisy.

fresh out (of something) and clean out (of

something) just now having sold or used up

the last of something. (Folksy.) Sorry,

I can’t serve you scrambled eggs. We are

fresh out of eggs. We are fresh out of

nails. I sold the last box just ten minutes

ago. Lettuce? Sorry. I’m fresh out.

Sorry. We are clean out of dried beans.

A friend in need is a friend indeed. A

true friend is a person who will help you

when you really need someone. (Com-

pare this with fair-weather friend.)

When Bill helped me with geometry, I

really learned the meaning of “A friend in

need is a friend indeed.” “A friend in

need is a friend indeed” sounds silly until

you need someone very badly.

friend or foe a friend or an enemy.

can’t tell whether Jim is friend or foe.

“Who goes there? Friend or foe?” asked the

sentry.

frighten the wits out of someone and

frighten the (living) daylights out of

someone; scare the (living) daylights

out of someone; scare the wits out of

someone to frighten someone very badly.

We nearly had an accident. It frightened

the living daylights out of me. The in-

cident scared the wits out of me.

frightened to death and scared to death

severely frightened. (Also literal.) I

don’t want to go to the dentist today. I’m

frightened to death. I’m frightened to

death of dogs. She’s scared to death she’ll

fail algebra.

fritter something away to waste something

little by little, especially time or money.

(Folksy.) Don’t stand around and frit-

ter the whole day away. T Stop frittering

away my hard-earned money!

from dawn to dusk during the period of

the day when there is light; from the ris-

ing of the sun to the setting of the sun.

I have to work from dawn to dusk on the

farm. The factory runs from dawn to

dusk to produce hats and gloves.

from door to door moving from one door

to another—typically, from one house to

another. (See also door-to-door.) Anne

went from door to door, selling books, to

earn money for college.  The children

went from door to door, saying “Trick or

treat!” at each one.

from far and near and from near and far

from all around, both close by and far-

ther away. (Reversible, but with a pref-

erence for from far and near.) All the

young people from far and near gathered

at the high school for the game. The ea-

gles gathered from near and far at the river

where the salmon were spawning.

from hand to hand from one person to a

series of other persons. The book trav-

eled from hand to hand until it got back

to its owner. By the time the baby had

been passed from hand to hand, it was

crying.

from head to toe from the top of one’s

head to one’s feet; all over the body. (See

also from tip to toe.) She was decked

out in f lowers from head to toe. The

huge parka covered the small child from

head to toe, assuring that she would be well

protected against the cold.

from near and far Go to from far and near.

from overseas from a location on the

other side of the Atlantic or Pacific

Ocean, according to the point of view of

someone located in the U.S. The latest

word from overseas is that the treaty has

been signed.  Is there any news from

overseas about the war?

from pillar to post from one place to a se-

ries of other places; (figuratively) from

person to person, as with gossip. My

father was in the army, and we moved

from pillar to post year after year. Af-

ter I told one person my secret, it went

quickly from pillar to post.

from side to side moving first to one side

and then to the other, repeatedly. The

pendulum of the clock swings from side to

side. The singers swayed from side to

side as they sang.

from start to finish from the beginning to

the end; throughout. I disliked the

whole business from start to finish.

Mary caused problems from start to finish.

from stem to stern from one end to an-

other. (Refers to the front and back ends

of a ship.) Now, I have to clean the

house from stem to stern. I polished my

car carefully from stem to stern.

from the bottom of one’s heart sincerely.

(Compare this with with all one’s heart

and soul.) When I returned the lost kit-

ten to Mrs. Brown, she thanked me from

the bottom of her heart. Oh, thank you!

I’m grateful from the bottom of my heart.

from the cradle to the grave from birth

to death; throughout one’s life.

government promised to take care of us

from the cradle to the grave. You can feel

secure and well protected from the cradle

to the grave.

from the ground up from the beginning;

from start to finish. (Refers to the build-

ing of a house or other building.) We

must plan our sales campaign carefully

from the ground up. Sorry, but you’ll

have to start all over again from the

ground up.

from the heart from a deep and sincere

emotional source. I know that your

kind words come from the heart. We

don’t want your gift unless it comes from

the heart.

from the horse’s mouth Go to (straight)

from the horse’s mouth.

from the old school holding attitudes or

ideas that were popular and important in

the past, but which are no longer con-

sidered relevant or in line with modern

trends. Grammar was not taught much

in my son’s school, but fortunately he had

a teacher from the old school. Aunt Jane

is from the old school. She never goes out

without wearing a hat and gloves.

from the outset from the beginning. We

had problems with this machine from the

outset. We knew about the unfriendly

judge from the outset of our trial.

from the top from the beginning of some-

thing, such as a song or a script. Okay,

let’s try it again from the top. Play it

from the top one more time.

from the word go from the beginning.

(Informal.) I knew about the problem

from the word go. She was failing the

class from the word go.

from time to time occasionally.

pizza from time to time. From time to

time, a visitor comes to our door.

from tip to toe from the top to the bot-

tom. (Not necessarily of a person. See

also from head to toe.) She is wearing

all new clothes from tip to toe.  The

house needs to be cleaned thoroughly from

tip to toe.

from top to bottom from the highest

point to the lowest point; throughout.

(Compare this with from stem to stern.)

I have to clean the house from top to

bottom today. We need to replace our

elected officials from top to bottom.

from way back from far in the past; from

an earlier time. (Informal.) Grandfa-

ther comes from way back. This antique

clock is from way back.

fruit(s) of one’s labor(s) the results of one’s

work. We displayed the fruits of our la-

bor at the convention. What have you

accomplished? Where is the fruit of your

labors?

full as a tick Go to (as) full as a tick.

full blast Go to (at) full blast.

full of beans Go to full of hot air.

full of bull Go to full of hot air.

full of hot air and full of beans; full of

bull; full of it; full of prunes full of

nonsense; talking nonsense. (Slang.)

Oh, shut up, Mary. You’re full of hot air.

Don’t pay any attention to Bill. He’s full

of beans. My English professor is full of

bull. You’re full of it. She doesn’t know

what she’s talking about. She’s just full of

prunes.

full of it Go to full of hot air.

full of Old Nick Go to full of the devil.

full of the devil and full of Old Nick al-

ways making mischief. (Informal. Old

Nick is another name for the devil.)

Tom is a lot of fun, but he’s sure full of the

devil. I’ve never seen a child get into so

much mischief. He’s really full of Old Nick.

full steam ahead forward at the greatest

speed possible; with as much energy and

enthusiasm as possible. (From an in-

struction given to engineers on

steamships.) It will have to be full steam

ahead for everybody if the factory gets this

order. It’s going to be full steam ahead

for me this year. I take my final exams.

fun and games playing around; doing

worthless things. (Informal.) All right,

Bill, the fun and games are over. It’s time

to get down to work. This isn’t a seri-

ous course. It’s nothing but fun and games.

funny as a barrel of monkeys Go to (as)

funny as a barrel of monkeys.

funny as a crutch Go to (as) funny as a

crutch.

funny business trickery or deception; il-

legal activity. From the silence as she

entered the room, the teacher knew there

was some funny business going on.

There’s some funny business going on at the

warehouse. Stock keeps disappearing.

funny ha-ha amusing; comical. (Informal.

Compare this with funny peculiar.) I

didn’t mean that Mrs. Peters is funny ha-

ha. She’s weird—funny peculiar, in fact.

Mike thinks his jokes are funny ha-ha, but

we laugh because they are so silly.

funny peculiar odd; eccentric. (Informal.

Compare this with funny ha-ha.) I

didn’t mean that Mary is funny ha-ha.

She’s weird—funny peculiar, in fact. His

face is sort of funny—funny peculiar,

that is.