Could

Could be worse. satisfactory, but not as

bad as it could be. Q: How are things?

A: Could be worse.  Things could be

worse, and in a little while, they probably

will be.

could do with someone or something to want

or need someone or something; to bene-

fit from someone or something. (Com-

pare this with go for someone or something.)

I could do with a nice cool drink right

now. I could do with some help on this

project. This house could do with some

cleaning up. They said they could do

with John to help them finish faster. My

car could do with a bigger engine.

couldn’t be better completely satisfactory.

I feeling great and couldn’t be better.

We had a wonderful time and our vaca-

tion couldn’t have been better.

couldn’t be happier totally happy. We

are delighted. Couldn’t be happier. They

both couldn’t be happier since they got

married.

could(n’t) care less unable to care at all.

(Informal. Could care less is almost

slang.) John couldn’t care less whether

he goes to the party or not. So she won

first place. I couldn’t care less. I could

care less if I live or die.

count noses to count people. I’ll tell you

how many people are here after I count

noses. Everyone is here. Let’s count noses

so we can order hamburgers.

count one’s chickens before they hatch

to plan how to utilize good results before

they have occurred. (Frequently used in

the negative.) You’re way ahead of your-

self. Don’t count your chickens before they

hatch. You may be disappointed if you

count your chickens before they hatch.

count someone out (for something) to exclude

someone from something. (Compare this

with count someone in (on something).)

Please count me out for the party next Sat-

urday. I have other plans. You should

count the whole family out. We are going

to the beach for the weekend.

a couple of two; two or three; a few; some;

not many. Bill grabbed a couple of beers

from the refrigerator. I hung a couple

of pictures on the wall.

course of action the procedures or se-

quence of actions that someone will fol-

low to accomplish a goal. I plan to take

a course of action that will produce the best

results. The committee planned a course

of action that would reduce costs and elim-

inate employees.

cover a lot of ground and cover a lot of

territory 1. to travel over a great dis-

tance; to investigate a wide expanse of

land. The prospectors covered a lot of

ground, looking for gold. My car can

cover a lot of ground in one day. 2. to deal

with much information and many facts.

The history lecture covered a lot of

ground today. Mr. and Mrs. Franklin

always cover a lot of ground when they

argue.

cover a lot of territory Go to cover a lot

of ground.

cover for someone 1. to make excuses for

someone; to conceal someone’s errors.

If I miss class, please cover for me. If

you’re late, I’ll cover for you. 2. to handle

someone else’s work. Dr. Johnson’s

partner agreed to cover for him during his

vacation. I’m on duty this afternoon.

Will you please cover for me? I have a doc-

tor’s appointment.

cover something up to conceal something.

(Also literal.) T They covered up the truth

about the crime. We’ll cover this little

matter up and make up a story for the

press.

cover the territory Go to cover the

waterfront.

cover the waterfront and cover the ter-

ritory to deal with many things, much

space, or much information from many

points of view. (Informal.) That lecture

really covered the waterfront. I could

hardly follow it. Why can’t she stick to

the point? She has to cover the territory

every time she talks.

cozy up (to someone) to be extra friendly

with someone, perhaps in hope of special

favors in return. (Informal or slang.)

Look at that lawyer cozying up to the

judge! Lawyers who cozy up like that

usually get into big trouble.

crack a book to open a book to study.

(Slang. Almost always in the negative.)

I passed that test with an A, and I didn’t

even crack a book. If you think you can

get through college without cracking a

book, you’re wrong.

crack a smile to smile a little, perhaps re-

luctantly. (Informal.) She cracked a

smile, so I knew she was kidding. The

soldier cracked a smile at the wrong time

and had to march for an hour as

punishment.

crack someone or something up 1. [with some-

thing] to crash something; to destroy

something (in an accident). The dri-

ver cracked the car up in an accident. T

The pilot cracked up the plane. 2. [with

someone] to make someone laugh. She

told a joke that really cracked us up. T I

cracked up my history class with a silly

remark.

crack something wide open to expose and

reveal some great wrongdoing. (Also lit-

eral.) The police cracked the drug ring

wide open. The newspaper story cracked

the trouble at city hall wide open.

crack up 1. [for a plane, boat, car, etc.] to

crash. The plane cracked up in the

storm. The boat cracked up on the rocks.

2. [for someone] to break out in laugh-

ter. The audience really cracked up dur-

ing the second act. The class cracked up

when I told my joke, but the teacher did-

n’t like it. 3. to go crazy. (Slang.) The

mayor cracked up after only a year in of-

fice. I was afraid the mayor would crack

up because of too much work.

crank something out to produce something;

to make something in a casual and me-

chanical way. (Slang.) John can crank a

lot of work out in a single day. T That fac-

tory keeps cranking out cars even though

no one buys them.

crazy as a betsy bug Go to (as) crazy as

a betsy bug.

crazy as a loon Go to (as) crazy as a loon.

crazy as a peach-orchard boar Go to (as)

crazy as a peach-orchard boar.

crazy for someone or something Go to crazy

about someone or something.

the cream of the crop the best of all.

This particular car is the cream of the crop.

The kids are very bright. They are the

cream of the crop.

create an uproar and make an uproar to

cause an outburst or sensation. (Espe-

cially with such.)  The dog got into

church and made an uproar. Her poo-

dle created an uproar in the restaurant.

Why did you make such an uproar?

create a scene Go to make a scene.

create a stink (about something) and

make a stink (about something); raise a

stink (about something) to make a major

issue out of something; to make much

over something; to make a lot of com-

plaints and criticisms about something.

(Slang. Compare this with make a federal

case out of something.) Tom created a

stink about Bob’s remarks. Why did he

make a stink about that? Tom is always

trying to raise a stink.

creature comforts things that make peo-

ple comfortable. The hotel room was

sparse, but all the creature comforts were

there.  The entire country of Adonia

seemed to lack the expected creature

comforts.

a credit to someone or something someone or

something that is of value or benefit.

(Preceded by be, become, or seem like.)

I always want to be a credit to my school.

John is not what you would call a credit

to his family.

a crick in one’s back a twisted or cramped

place in the back that causes pain. I

can’t move! I’ve got a crick in my back!

I had a crick in my back all night and I

couldn’t sleep.

a crick in one’s neck a twisted place or a

cramp in the neck that causes pain. I

got a crick in my neck from sleeping in a

draft. When I read on the plane, I get a

crick in my neck.

crooked as a barrel of fishhooks Go to

(as) crooked as a barrel of fishhooks.

crooked as a dog’s hind leg Go to (as)

crooked as a dog’s hind leg.

crooked as a fishhook Go to (as) crooked

as a fishhook.

cross a bridge before one comes to it to

worry excessively about something before

it happens. (Note the variation in the ex-

amples.) There is no sense in crossing

that bridge before you come to it. She’s

always crossing bridges before coming to

them. She needs to learn to relax.

cross a bridge when one comes to it to

deal with a problem only when one is

faced with the problem. (Note the varia-

tion in the examples.) Please wait and

cross that bridge when you come to it.

He shouldn’t worry about it now. He can

cross that bridge when he comes to it.

cross-examine someone to ask someone

questions in great detail; to question a

suspect or a witness at great length.

The police cross-examined the suspect for

three hours. The lawyer plans to cross-

examine the witness tomorrow morning.

cross one’s fingers Go to keep one’s fingers

crossed (for someone or something).

cross one’s heart (and hope to die) to

pledge or vow that the truth is being told.

It’s true, cross my heart and hope to die.

It’s really true—cross my heart.

cross someone’s mind Go to pass through

someone’s mind.

cross someone up to give someone trouble;

to defy or betray someone. (Also without

up.) You really crossed me up when you

told Tom what I said. Please don’t cross

me up again.

cross swords (with someone) (on something)

to enter into an argument with someone.

I don’t want to cross swords with Tom

on this matter. The last time we crossed

swords, we had a terrible time.

cross the Rubicon to do something that

inevitably commits one to following a

certain course of action. (The crossing of

the River Rubicon by Julius Caesar in-

evitably involved him in a war with the

senate in 49 b.c.) Jane crossed the

Rubicon by signing the contract. Find

another job before you cross the Rubicon

and resign from this one.

crushed by something demoralized; with

hurt feelings. (Also literal.) The whole

family was completely crushed by the news.

I was just crushed by your attitude. I

thought we were friends.

the crux of the matter the central issue

of the matter. (Crux is an old word mean-

ing “cross.”) All right, this is the crux of

the matter.  It’s about time that we

looked at the crux of the matter.

cry before one is hurt to cry or complain

before one is injured. Bill always cries

before he’s hurt. There is no point in cry-

ing before one is hurt.

cry bloody murder to scream as if some-

thing very serious has happened. (See

also scream bloody murder.) Now that

Bill is really hurt, he’s crying bloody mur-

der. There is no point in crying bloody

murder about the bill if you aren’t going to

pay it.

cry over spilled milk to be unhappy about

something that cannot be undone. (Also

literal.) I’m sorry that you broke your

bicycle, Tom. But there is nothing that can

be done now. Don’t cry over spilled milk.

Ann is always crying over spilled milk.

cry wolf to cry or complain about some-

thing when nothing is really wrong.

Pay no attention. She’s just crying wolf

again. Don’t cry wolf too often. No one

will come.

crying need for someone or something a def-

inite or desperate need for someone or

something. There is a crying need for

someone to come in and straighten things

out. All the people in that area have a

crying need for better housing.

a crying shame a very unfortunate situa-

tion; a real shame. It’s a crying shame

that people cannot afford adequate hous-

ing. That everyone could not attend the

concert was a crying shame.

cue someone in 1. to give someone a cue; to

indicate to someone that the time has

come. Now, cue the orchestra director

in. T All right, cue in the announcer. 2.

to tell someone what is going on. (Infor-

mal. Almost the same as clue someone in

(on something).) I want to know what’s

going on. Cue me in. T Cue in the general

about the troop movement.

curdle someone’s blood to frighten or dis-

gust someone severely. The story was

scary enough to curdle your blood. The

terrible scream was enough to curdle my

blood.

Curiosity killed the cat. It is dangerous

to be curious. (Proverb.) Don’t ask so

many questions, Billy. Curiosity killed the

cat. Curiosity killed the cat. Mind your

own business.

curl up and die to retreat and die. When

I heard you say that, I could have curled

up and died. No, it wasn’t an illness. She

just curled up and died.

curry favor (with someone) to try to win fa-

vor from someone. The lawyer tried to

curry favor with the judge. It’s silly to

curry favor. Just be yourself.