breath

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.