fond

fond of someone or something to like some-

one or something. I’m fond of choco-

late. Mary isn’t fond of me, but I’m fond

of her.

A fool and his money are soon parted.

A person who acts unwisely with money

soon loses it. (Often said about a person

who has just lost a sum of money because

of poor judgment.) When Bill lost a

$400 bet on a horse race, Mary said, “A

fool and his money are soon parted.”

When John bought a cheap used car that

fell apart the next day, he said, “Oh, well,

a fool and his money are soon parted.”

fool around (with someone or something) to

fiddle, play, or mess with someone or

something; to waste time with someone

or something. (Informal.) John is out

fooling around with his friends again.

That child spends most of his time fooling

around. Please don’t fool around with

the light switch. You’ll break it. There

are lots of interesting things in here, but

you must leave them alone. Don’t fool

around

footloose and fancy-free without re-

sponsibilities or commitments. All the

rest of them have wives, but John is foot-

loose and fancy-free. Mary never stays

long in any job. She likes being footloose

and fancy-free.

for a lark and on a lark for a joke; as

something done for fun. For a lark, I

wore a clown’s wig to school. On a lark,

I skipped school and drove to the beach.

for all I know according to the informa-

tion I have; I think; probably. (Informal.)

For all I know, the mayor has resigned

already. She may have gone to town for

all I know.

for all intents and purposes virtually;

practically speaking; in effect. (Some-

times this expression has very little mean-

ing.) He entered the room, looking for

all intents and purposes as if he would

burst into song. She said that for all in-

tents and purposes she had completed her

assignment.

for all it’s worth and for what(ever) it’s

worth if it has any value. My idea—for

all it’s worth—is to offer them only $300.

Here is my thinking, for whatever it’s

worth. Ask her to give us her opinion,

for what it’s worth.

for better or for worse under any condi-

tions; no matter what happens. I mar-

ried you for better or for worse. For bet-

ter or for worse, I’m going to quit my job.

for chicken feed and for peanuts for

nearly nothing; for very little money. (In-

formal.) Bob doesn’t get paid much. He

works for chicken feed. You can buy an

old car for chicken feed. I won’t do that

kind of work for peanuts!

For crying out loud! For heaven’s sake!; I

am amazed! (An exclamation of surprise

and mild shock.) For crying out loud!

I didn’t expect to see you here. For cry-

ing out loud! What a time to call someone

on the telephone.

for fear of something out of fear of some-

thing; because of fear of something.

He doesn’t drive for fear of an accident.

They lock their doors for fear of being

robbed.

for free for no charge or cost; free of any

cost. They let us into the movie for free.

I will let you have a sample of the candy

for free.

for good forever; permanently. I finally

left home for good. They tried to repair

it many times before they fixed it for good.

for good measure as extra; (adding) a lit-

tle more to make sure there is enough.

When I bought a pound of nails, the clerk

threw in a few extra nails for good mea-

sure. I always put a little extra salt in

the soup for good measure.

for hours on end for many hours. We

sat and waited for the doctor for hours on

end. We listened to the speaker for hours

on end.

for instance for example. I’ve lived in

many cities, for instance, Boston, Chicago,

and Detroit. Jane is very generous. For

instance, she volunteers her time and gives

money to charities.

for keeps forever; permanently. (Informal.

See also play for keeps. Compare this

with for good.) When I get married, it’ll

be for keeps. We’ve moved around a lot.

Now I think we’ll stay here for keeps.

for kicks for fun; just for entertainment; for

no good reason. (Slang.) They didn’t

mean any harm. They just did it for kicks.

We drove over to the next town for kicks.

for life for the remainder of one’s life.

The accident caused me to become blind

for life. She will stay in prison for life.

for one’s (own) part as far as one is con-

cerned; from one’s point of view. For

my own part, I wish to stay here. For her

part, she prefers chocolate.

for openers and for starters to start with.

(Informal.) For openers, they played a

song everyone knows. For starters, I’ll

serve a delicious soup.

for peanuts Go to for chicken feed.

for real authentic; genuine; really. (Infor-

mal or slang.) Is this diamond for real?

Are you for real? Are we there for real?

for safekeeping for the purpose of keep-

ing someone or something safe. I put

my jewelry in the vault for safekeeping.

I checked my fur coat at the entrance to the

bar for safekeeping.

for sale available for purchase; buyable.

(Compare this with on sale.) Is this

item for sale? How long has this house

been for sale? My car is for sale. Are you

interested?

for short in a short form. (Usually refers to

names of people or things.) My name

is William. They call me Bill for short.

Almost everyone who is named Robert is

called Bob for short.

for starters Go to for openers.

for sure certainly; surely. (Informal or

MARY: Do you like my new

jacket? JANE: For sure. For sure, I want

to go on the picnic.

for that matter besides; in addition. If

you’re hungry, take one of my doughnuts.

For that matter, take two. I don’t like

this house. The roof leaks. For that matter,

the whole place is falling apart. Tom is

quite arrogant. So is his sister, for that

matter.

[for the asking] Go to one’s for the asking.

for the best Go to (all) for the best.

for the better better; an improvement.

(See also take a turn for the better.) A

change of government would be for the

better. A new winter coat would cer-

tainly be for the better.

for the birds worthless; undesirable.

(Slang.) This television program is for

the birds.  Winter weather is for the

birds.

for the devil of it and for the heck of

it; for the hell of it just for fun; because

it is slightly evil; for no good reason. (In-

formal. Use caution with hell.)  We

filled their garage with leaves just for the

devil of it. Tom tripped Bill for the heck

of it. John picked a fight with Tom just

for the hell of it.

for the duration for the whole time that

something continues; for the entire pe-

riod of time required for something to be

completed; for as long as something

takes. We are in this war for the dura-

tion. However long it takes, we’ll wait.

We are here for the duration.

for the good of someone or something for the

benefit, profit, or advantage of someone

or something. The president said the

strict drug laws were for the good of the

country. David took a second job for the

good of his family.

for the heck of it Go to for the devil of it.

for the hell of it Go to for the devil of it.

for the life of one even if one’s life were

threatened; even in exchange for one’s

life. (Informal. Always with a negative,

and usually having to do with one’s

memory.) For the life of me, I don’t re-

member your name. She couldn’t recall

the correct numbers for the life of her.

For the life of them, they couldn’t remem-

ber the way home.

for the moment and for the time being

for the present; for now; temporarily.

This will have to do for the moment.

This is all right for the time being. It’ll have

to be improved next week, however. This

good feeling will last only for the time be-

ing. This solution is satisfactory for the

moment.

for the most part mostly; in general. For

the most part, the class is enjoying geom-

etry. I like working here for the most

part.

for the odds to be against one for things

to be against one generally; for one’s

chances of success to be slim. You can

give it a try, but the odds are against you.

I know the odds are against me, but I

wish to run in the race anyway.

for the record so that (one’s own version

of ) the facts will be known; so there will

be a record of a particular fact. (This of-

ten is said when there are reporters pre-

sent.) I’d like to say—for the record—

that at no time have I ever accepted a bribe

from anyone. For the record, I’ve never

been able to get anything done around city

hall without bribing someone.

for the sake of someone or something for the

good of someone or something; for the

honor or recognition of someone or

something. (Compare this with for one’s

own sake.) I did it for the sake of all

those people who helped me get through

school. I’m investing in a house for the

sake of my children. For the sake of hon-

esty, Bill shared all the information he had.

for the time being Go to for the moment.

for what(ever) it’s worth Go to for all it’s

worth.

forbidden fruit someone or something that

one finds attractive or desirable partly

because having the person or thing is im-

moral or illegal. (From the fruit in the

Garden of Eden that was forbidden to

Adam by God.) Jim f lirts with his sis-

ter-in-law only because she’s forbidden

The boy watches that program

only when his parents are out. It’s forbid-

den fruit.

force someone or something down someone’s

throat Go to shove someone or something

down someone’s throat.

force someone out (of office) and drive

someone out (of office) to pressure some-

one to leave an elective office. The city

council forced the mayor out of office.

Please resign immediately, or I’ll have to

drive you out.

force someone’s hand to force a person to

reveal plans, strategies, or secrets. (Refers

to a handful of cards in card playing.)

We didn’t know what she was doing until

Tom forced her hand. We couldn’t plan

our game until we forced the other team’s

hand in the last play.

force someone to the wall and drive some-

one to the wall to push someone to an

extreme position; to put someone into an

awkward position. He wouldn’t tell the

truth until we forced him to the wall.

They don’t pay their bills until you drive

them to the wall.

a force to be reckoned with someone or

something that is important and power-

ful and must not be ignored. Walter is

a force to be reckoned with. Be prepared

to deal with him. The growing discon-

tent with the political system is a power-

ful force to be reckoned with.

fore and aft at the front and the back, usu-

ally of a boat or ship. They had to at-

tach new lights fore and aft because the old

ones were not bright enough to meet the

new regulations. The captain ordered a

watch stationed fore and aft.

a foregone conclusion a conclusion al-

ready reached; an inevitable result.

That the company was moving to Califor-

nia was a foregone conclusion. That the

mayor will win reelection is a foregone

conclusion.

forever and ever and forever and a day

forever. I will love you forever and ever.

This car won’t keep running forever and

ever. We’ll have to get a new one sometime.

We have enough money to last forever

and a day.

forget oneself to forget one’s manners or

training. (Said in formal situations al-

luding to belching, bad table manners,

and, in the case of very young children,

pants-wetting.) Sorry, Mother, I forgot

myself. John, we are going out to din-

ner tonight. Please don’t forget yourself.

forgive and forget to forgive someone (for

something) and forget that it ever hap-

pened. I’m sorry, John. Let’s forgive and

forget. What do you say? It was nothing.

We’ll just have to forgive and forget.

fork money out (for something) to pay (per-

haps unwillingly) for something. (Infor-

mal. Often mention is made of the

amount of money. See the examples be-

low.) Do you think I’m going to fork

twenty dollars out for that book? Fork-

ing money out to everyone is part of life

in a busy economy. T I like that stereo, but

I don’t want to fork out a lot of money.

fork something over to give something to

someone. (Refers to handing over money.

Slang. Usually used in a command.)

Now! Fork it over now! T Okay, Joe. Fork

over that twenty dollars you owe me.

form and substance meaningful content;

structure and meaningful content. (See

also sum and substance.) The first act

of the play was one screaming match af-

ter another. It lacked form and substance

throughout. Jane’s report was good. The

teacher commented on the excellent form

and substance of the paper.

form an opinion to think up or decide on

an opinion. (Note the variation in the ex-

amples.) I don’t know enough about the

issue to form an opinion. Don’t tell me

how to think! I can form my own opinion.

I don’t form opinions without careful

consideration.

winks on the plane. If you’re lucky you’ll

get forty winks while the children are out.

foul one’s own nest to harm one’s own in-

terests; to bring disadvantage upon one-

self. He tried to discredit a fellow sena-

tor with the president, but just succeeded

in fouling his own nest. The boss really

dislikes Mary. She certainly fouled her own

nest when she spread those rumors about

him.

foul play illegal activity; bad practices.

The police investigating the death suspect

foul play. Each student got an A on the

test, and the teacher imagined it was the

result of foul play.

foul someone or something up to cause disor-

der and confusion for someone or some-

thing; to tangle up someone or some-

thing; to mess someone or something up.

(Informal.) Go away! Don’t foul me up

any more. T You’ve fouled up my whole

day. T Watch out! You’re going to foul up

my kite strings. T Stay off the field. You’re

going to foul up the coach.

foul up to do (something) badly; to mess

something up. (Informal.) At the last

minute, he fouled up and failed the course.

Take your time. Plan your moves, and

don’t foul up.

fouled up messed up; in disorder.

fishing line is all fouled up. The foot-

ball team got fouled up and lost the game.

fraught with danger [of something] full

of something dangerous or unpleasant.

The spy’s trip to Russia was fraught with

danger. My escape from the kidnappers

was fraught with danger.