don't

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.