right

right and left and left and right to both

sides; on all sides; everywhere. I

dropped the tennis balls, and they rolled

right and left. There were children

everywhere—running right and left.

right as rain Go to (as) right as rain.

right at a specific time exactly or precisely at

[a specific place or time]. Meet me at

this corner right at noon. The restaurant

is right at First and Main Streets.

right away immediately. Please do it

right away! I’ll be there right away. I’m

leaving this instant.

right down someone’s alley and right up

someone’s alley ideally suited to one’s in-

terests or abilities. (Informal.) Skiing

is right down my alley. I love it. This

kind of thing is right up John’s alley.

right off the bat immediately; first thing.

(Informal.) When he was learning to

ride a bicycle, he fell on his head right off

the bat. The new manager demanded

new office furniture right off the bat.

right on time at the correct time; no later

than the specified time. Bill always

shows up right on time. If you get there

right on time, you’ll get one of the free

tickets.

right side up with the correct side up-

wards, as with a box or some other con-

tainer. Keep this box right side up, or the

contents will be crushed. Please set your

coffee cup right side up so I can fill it.

(right) under someone’s (very) nose 1.

right in front of someone. I thought I’d

lost my purse, but it was sitting on the table

under my very nose. How did Mary fail

to see the book? It was right under her

nose. 2. in someone’s presence. (Note the

variation in the examples.) The thief

stole Jim’s wallet right under his nose.

The jewels were stolen from under the very

noses of the security guards.

right up someone’s alley Go to right down

someone’s alley.

ring a bell [for something] to cause some-

one to remember something or for it to

seem familiar. (Informal.) I’ve never

met John Franklin, but his name rings a

bell. Whenever I see a bee, it rings a bell.

I remember when I was stung by one.

ring down the curtain (on something) and

bring down the curtain (on something)

to bring something to an end; to declare

something to be at an end. It’s time to

ring down the curtain on our relationship.

We have nothing in common anymore.

We’ve tried our best to make this company

a success, but it’s time to ring down the

curtain. After many years the old man

brought down the curtain and closed the

restaurant.

ring in the New Year to celebrate the be-

ginning of the new year at midnight on

December 31. We are planning a big

party to ring in the New Year. How did

you ring in the New Year?

ring something up to record the cost of an

item on a cash register. Please ring this

chewing gum up first, and I’ll put it in my

purse. T The cashier rang up each item

and told me how much money I owed.

ring true to sound or seem true or likely.

(From testing the quality of metal or

glass by striking it and evaluating the

sound made.) The student’s excuse for

being late doesn’t ring true.  Do you

think that Mary’s explanation for her ab-

sence rang true?

rip into someone or something to attack some-

one or something, physically or verbally.

(Informal.) The bear ripped into the

deer. The angry teacher ripped into the

student.

rip someone or something off 1. [with some-

one] to cheat or deceive someone; to steal

from someone. (Slang.) That store op-

erator ripped me off. T They shouldn’t rip

off people like that. 2. [with something] to

steal something. (Slang.) I bought it! I

didn’t rip it off! T The crooks ripped off a

car in broad daylight.

a ripe old age a very old age. Mr. Smith

died last night, but he lived to a ripe old

age—99. All the Smiths seem to reach

a ripe old age.

a ripple of excitement a series of quiet but

excited murmurs. A ripple of excite-

ment spread through the crowd. As the

president came near, a ripple of excitement

indicated that people could really see him.

a ripple of protest a few quiet remarks

protesting something; a small amount of

subdued protest. There was only a rip-

ple of protest about the new tax law. The

rude comedian hardly drew a ripple of

protest.

Rise and shine! Get out of bed and be

lively and energetic! (Informal. Often a

command.) Come on, children! Rise

and shine! We’re going to the beach. Fa-

ther always calls “Rise and shine!” in the

morning when we want to go on sleeping.

rise to the bait to be lured by some kind

of bait. (Literal when referring to a fish.)

I threatened to take another job else-

where, but the boss did not rise to the bait.

When I said I was leaving, Ted rose to

the bait and asked why.

rise to the occasion to meet the challenge

of an event; to try extra hard to do a task.

John was able to rise to the occasion and

make the conference a success. It was a

big challenge, but he rose to the occasion.

risk of rain and risk of showers; risk of

thunder(storms) a chance of precipita-

tion or rain. (Used only in weather fore-

casting. There is no “risk” of hazard or

injury involved.)

And for tomorrow,

there is a slight risk of showers in the

morning. There is a 50 percent risk of

rain tonight.

risk of showers Go to risk of rain.

risk of thunder(storms) Go to risk of rain.

risk one’s neck (to do something) to risk phys-

ical harm in order to accomplish some-

thing. (Informal.) Look at that traffic!

I refuse to risk my neck just to cross the

street to buy a paper. I refuse to risk my

neck at all.

rivet someone’s attention to keep someone’s

attention fixed [on something]. The

movie riveted the audience’s attention.

Professor Jones’s lecture riveted the stu-

dents’ attention.

road-hog someone who drives carelessly

and selfishly. Look at that road-hog

driving in the middle of the road and stop-

ping other drivers from passing him.

That road-hog nearly knocked the children

over. He was driving too fast.

rob Peter to pay Paul to take from one in

order to give to another. Why borrow

money to pay your bills? That’s just rob-

bing Peter to pay Paul. There’s no point

in robbing Peter to pay Paul. You will still

be in debt.

rob the cradle to marry or date someone

who is much younger than you are. (In-

formal.) I hear that Bill is dating Ann.

Isn’t that sort of robbing the cradle? She’s

much younger than he is. Uncle Bill—

who is nearly eighty—married a thirty-

year-old woman. That is really robbing the

cradle.

rock the boat to cause trouble where none

is welcome; to disturb a situation that is

otherwise stable and satisfactory. (Also

literal. Often negative.) Look, Tom,

everything is going fine here. Don’t rock

the boat! You can depend on Tom to

mess things up by rocking the boat.

roll in to come in large numbers or

amounts. (Informal.) We didn’t expect

many people at the party, but they just kept

rolling in. Money is simply rolling in for

our charity appeal.

roll one’s sleeves up to get ready to do

some work. (Also literal.) Roll your

sleeves up and get busy. This isn’t a pic-

nic. This is work! T Come on, you guys,

get busy. Roll up your sleeves and go to

work.

roll out the red carpet for someone to pro-

vide special treatment for someone. (Lit-

eral when the special treatment actually

includes a length of red carpeting.)

There’s no need to roll out the red carpet

for me. We rolled out the red carpet for

the king and queen.

roll (over) in one’s grave Go to turn (over)

in one’s grave.

roll something back to reduce a price to a

previous amount. (Also literal.) The

government forced the company to roll its

prices back. T It wouldn’t have rolled back

its prices if the government hadn’t forced it

to.

rolling in something having large amounts of

something, usually money. (Informal.)

That family is rolling in money. Jack

doesn’t need to earn money. He’s rolling in

it.

A rolling stone gathers no moss. A per-

son who keeps changing jobs or resi-

dences and, therefore, accumulates no

possessions or responsibilities. (Proverb.)

“John just can’t seem to stay in one

place,” said Sally. “Oh, well, a rolling stone

gathers no moss.” Bill has no furniture

to bother with because he keeps on the

move. He keeps saying that a rolling stone

gathers no moss.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Important

things don’t happen overnight. (Prov-

erb.) Don’t expect a lot to happen right

away. Rome wasn’t built in a day, you

know. Don’t be anxious about how fast

you are growing. Rome wasn’t built in a

day.

room and board food to eat and a place

to live; the cost of food and lodging.

That college charges too much for room

and board. How much is your room and

board?

root for someone or something to cheer and en-

courage someone or something. (Infor-

mal.) Are you rooting for anyone in par-

ticular, or are you just shouting because

you’re excited? I’m rooting for the home  team

root something out to get rid of something

completely; to destroy something. No

government will ever root out crime com-

pletely. The headmaster wants to root

troublemakers out at the local school.

rooted in something based on something;

connected to a source or cause. The

civil war was rooted in old ethnic hatred.

This fictional book was rooted in ac-

tual events.

rooted to the spot unable to move be-

cause of fear or surprise. Joan stood

rooted to the spot when she saw the ghostly

figure. Mary was rooted to the spot as

the mugger snatched her bag.

rope someone into doing something to per-

suade or trick someone into doing some-

thing. (Informal.) I don’t know who

roped me into this, but I don’t want to do

it. See if you can rope somebody into

taking this to the post office.

rotten to the core completely no good and

worthless. (Also literal in reference to ap-

ples or other edible things.) Fred is rot-

ten to the core. He will never be a good

member of society. I hope that just be-

cause I made one little mistake with my life

that you don’t think I am rotten to the core.

rough-and-ready strong, active, and ready

for anything. John is not exactly rough-

and-ready, but he is a moderately good

athlete. Ralph is very rough-and-ready,

but his table manners are very bad.

rough-and-tumble [of physical activity]

rough; [of living creatures] overly active.

The game got sort of rough-and-tum-

ble, so I stopped playing. Jane runs with

a rough-and-tumble crowd that’s always

involved in some sort of sport.

rough it to live in discomfort; to live in un-

comfortable conditions without the usual

amenities, such as on a camping trip. (In-

formal.) The students are roughing it in

a shack with no running water. Bob and

Jack had nowhere to live and so they had

to rough it in a tent till they found

somewhere.

rough someone up to beat or physically ha-

rass someone. (Slang.) The gangsters

roughed their victim up. T The police

roughed up the suspect, and they got in

trouble for it.

round out something Go to round something

round something off 1. to change a number

to the next higher or lower whole num-

ber. You should round 8.122 off. T I

rounded off 8.789 to 9. 2. and round out

something to finish something by doing

something special. She rounded her

schooling off with a trip to Europe. T I like

to round out the day with a period of

meditation.

round something off to something and round

something up to something; round something

down to something to express a number in

the nearest whole amount or nearest

group of 1, 10, 100, 1,000, 1⁄10, 1⁄100, 1⁄1,000,

etc. When doing taxes, Anne rounded

her figures off to the nearest dollar.

These census figures are rounded up to the

nearest million.

round something up to something Go to round

something off to something.

round the clock Go to (a)round the clock.

round-trip ticket a ticket (for a plane,

train, bus, etc.) that allows one to go to

a destination and return. A round-trip

ticket is usually cheaper than a one-way

ticket. How much is a round-trip ticket

to San Francisco?

the royal treatment very good treatment;

very good and thoughtful care of a per-

son. I was well cared for. They gave me

the royal treatment.  I had the royal

treatment when I stayed at that expensive

hotel.

rub elbows (with someone) and rub

shoulders with someone to associate with

someone; to work closely with someone.

I don’t care to rub elbows with some-

one who acts like that! I rub shoulders

with John at work. We are good friends.

rub off (on someone) [for a characteristic of

one person] to seem to transfer to some-

one else. (Also literal.) I’ll sit by Ann.

She has been lucky all evening. Maybe it’ll

rub off on me. Sorry. I don’t think that

luck rubs off.

rub salt in the wound deliberately to

make someone’s unhappiness, shame, or

misfortune worse. (Also literal.) Don’t

rub salt in the wound by telling me how

enjoyable the party was. Jim is feeling

miserable about losing his job, and Fred is

rubbing salt into the wound by saying how

good his replacement is.

rub shoulders with someone Go to rub el-

bows (with someone).

rub someone out to kill someone. (Slang.)

The crook said, “Bill is getting to be a prob-

lem. We’re going to have to rub him out.”

T The gangsters tried to rub out the

witness.

rub someone(‘s fur) the wrong way to irri-

tate someone. (From the rubbing of a

cat’s or dog’s fur the wrong way.) I’m

sorry I rubbed your fur the wrong way. I

didn’t mean to upset you. Don’t rub her

the wrong way!

rub someone’s nose in it to remind one of

something one has done wrong; to re-

mind one of something bad or unfortu-

nate that has happened. (From a method

of housebreaking pets.) When Bob

failed his exam, his brother rubbed his nose

in it. Mary knows she shouldn’t have

broken off her engagement. Don’t rub her

nose in it.

rub something in to keep reminding one of

one’s failures; to nag someone about

something. (Also literal. Informal.) I

like to rub it in. You deserve it! T Why do

you have to rub in everything I do wrong?

ruffle its feathers [for a bird] to point its

feathers outward. The bird ruff led its

feathers when it was annoyed. My par-

rot ruff les its feathers whenever it is ready

to preen itself.

ruffle someone’s feathers to upset or an-

noy someone. (See ruffle its feathers for

an explanation.) You certainly ruff led

Mrs. Smith’s feathers by criticizing her gar-

den. Try to be tactful and not ruffle peo-

ple’s feathers.

the ruin of someone or something the cause of

destruction; a failure. Your bad judg-

ment will be the ruin of this company!

The greedy politicians were the ruin of the

old empire.

a rule of thumb a rough or an inexact

guide; a basic or accepted pattern or rule.

(From the use of one’s thumb to make

quick and rough measurements.) It’s

a rule of thumb that the bus will be late

whenever I’m in a hurry. As a good rule

of thumb, prepare two large potatoes for

each person.

rule someone or something out to prevent, dis-

qualify, overrule, or cancel someone or

something. John’s bad temper rules him

out for the job. T The weather ruled out

a picnic for the weekend.

rule the roost to be the boss or manager,

especially at home. (Informal.) Who

rules the roost at your house? Our new

office manager really rules the roost.

rump session a meeting held after a larger

meeting. A rump session continued af-

ter the meeting was adjourned. A lot of

business was conducted in the rump

session.

run across someone or something Go to come

across someone or something.

run a fever and run a temperature to

have a body temperature higher than

normal; to have a fever. I ran a fever

when I had the f lu. The baby is running

a temperature and is grouchy.

run afoul of someone or something Go to fall

afoul of someone or something.

run after someone to chase someone of the

opposite sex hoping for a date or some at-

tention. (Also literal.) Is John still run-

ning after Ann? No, Ann is running af-

ter John.

run an errand and do an errand; go on

an errand to take a short trip to do a

specific thing; to complete an errand.

(The plural is with some errands.) I’ve

got to run an errand. I’ll be back in a

minute. John has gone on an errand.

He’ll be back shortly.

run a risk (of something) and run the risk

(of something) to take a chance that some-

thing (bad) will happen. I don’t want

to run the risk of losing my job. Don’t

worry. You won’t have to run a risk.

run (around) in circles Go to run around

like a chicken with its head cut off.

run around like a chicken with its head

cut off and run (around) in circles to

run around frantically and aimlessly; to

be in a state of chaos. (See also go

(a)round in circles. ) I spent all after-

noon running around like a chicken with

its head cut off. If you run around in cir-

cles, you’ll never get anything done. Get

organized and stop running in circles.

run around with someone to be friends with

someone; to go places with regular

friends. John and I were great friends.

We used to run around with each other all

the time. Mary ran around with Jane for

about a year.

run a taut ship Go to run a tight ship.

run a temperature Go to run a fever.

run a tight ship and run a taut ship to

run a ship or an organization in an or-

derly and disciplined manner. (Taut and

tight mean the same thing. Taut is correct

nautical use.) The new office manager

really runs a tight ship. Captain Jones

is known for running a taut ship.

run circles around someone and run rings

around someone to outrun or outdo

someone. (Informal.) John is a much

better racer than Mary. He can run circles

around her. Mary can run rings around

Sally.

run counter to something to be in opposi-

tion to something; to run against some-

thing. Your proposal runs counter to

what is required by the manager. His

idea runs counter to good sense.

run for it to try to escape by running. (In-

formal.) The guard’s not looking. Let’s

run for it! The convict tried to run for

it, but the guard caught him.

run for one’s life to run away to save one’s

The dam has burst! Run for your

life! The captain told us all to run for

our lives.

run in the family for a characteristic to ap-

pear in all (or most) members of a fam-

My grandparents lived well into

their nineties, and it runs in the family.

My brothers and I have red hair. It runs

in the family.

run into a stone wall to come to a bar-

rier against further progress. (Also literal.

Informal.) We’ve run into a stone wall

in our investigation. Algebra was hard

for Tom, but he really ran into a stone wall

with geometry.

run into someone Go to bump into someone.

run like clockwork to run very well; to

progress very well. I want this office to

run like clockwork—with everything on

time and everything done right.  The

plans for the party were made and we

knew that we could depend on Alice to

make sure that everything ran like

clockwork.

run low (on something) to near the end of a

supply of something. (See also run short

(of something).) We are running low on

salt. It’s time to buy more. The car is

running low on gas.

run off at the mouth to talk excessively.

(Slang.) Shut up, John. You’re always

running off at the mouth. There is no

need to run off at the mouth. Stop talking

so much for so long.

run off with someone or something 1. to take

something or someone away; to steal

something or kidnap someone.

thief ran off with the lady’s purse. The

kidnapper ran off with the baby. 2. [with

someone] and run off to run away with

someone, as in an elopement. Tom ran

off with Ann. Tom and Ann ran off and

got married.

run-of-the-mill common or average; typ-

ical. The restaurant we went to was

nothing special—just run-of-the-mill.

The service was good, but the food was

run-of-the-mill or worse.

run out of gas to use up all the gasoline

in a car’s tank. I hope we don’t run out

I am sorry I am late. I ran out

of gas.

run out of patience to become annoyed

after being patient for a while. I finally

ran out of patience and lost my temper.

The boss ran out of patience with me and

sent me back to my desk.

run out of something to use up all of some-

thing and have no more. We ran out of

milk, so we will have to buy some more.

I usually run out of money at the end

of the month.

run out of time to use up all the available

time. I ran out of time and couldn’t fin-

ish. I hope she answers the question be-

fore she runs out of time.

run rampant to run, develop, or grow out

of control. The children ran rampant

through the house.  Weeds have run

rampant around the abandoned house.

run rings around someone Go to run circles

around someone.

run riot and run wild to go out of control.

The dandelions have run riot in our

lawn.  The children ran wild at the

birthday party and had to be taken home.

run scared to behave as if one were going

to fail. (Informal. Typically said of some-

one running for election.) The mayor

was running scared, but won anyway.

When we lost that big contract, everyone

in the office was running scared. We

thought we’d be fired.

run short (of something) to use up almost all

of something; to have too little or few of

something left. (See also run low (on

something).) We are running short of

milk. Please buy some on the way home.

When it comes to money, we are always

running short.

run someone in to take someone to the po-

lice station and make an arrest. “Don’t

run me in,” cried the driver. “I’m inno-

cent.” T The police officer was angry and

ran in the motorist.

run someone or something down 1. to degrade

physically or put wear on someone or

something. All these years of hard work

have run Mrs. Brown down severely. T

Our neighbors ran down their house before

they sold it. 2. to say bad things about

someone or something. Why are you

always running your friends down? T

Don’t run down my paintings! You just

don’t understand art! 3. to look for and

finally find someone or something. I

finally ran John Smith down. He had

moved to another town. T I will see if I

can run down the book that you want.

run someone or something to earth to find

someone or something after a search.

run the good race to do the best that one

could; to live life as well and as fully as

possible. (Also literal.) He didn’t get

what he wanted, but he ran the good race.

Joan ran the good race, and she will be

remembered by all of us.

run the risk (of something) Go to run a risk

(of something).

run through something 1. to waste some-

thing; to use up something rapidly. (Also

literal.) Have you run through all those




Lisa finally ran her long-lost cousin to

eggs already?

I ran through my al-




earth in Paris. After months of search-

ing, I ran a copy of Jim’s book to earth.

run someone ragged to run someone hard

and fast; to keep someone very busy. (In-

formal.) This busy season is running us

all ragged at the store. What a busy day.

I ran myself ragged.

run something into the ground and drive

something into the ground to carry some-

thing too far. (Informal.) It was a good

joke at first, Tom, but you’ve run it into the

ground. Just because everyone laughed

once, you don’t have to drive it into the

ground.

run something up 1. to raise a flag. I run

it up every day except when it’s raining.

T We run up the f lag every day. 2. to add

to a bill; to add many charges to one’s ac-

count. He ran the bill up until they

asked him to pay part of it. T Tom ran up

a big tab at the hotel.

run that by (someone) again say that again.

(Slang.) I didn’t hear you. Could you

run that by me again?  Run that by

again. I don’t believe my ears.

run the gamut to cover the range [from

one thing to another]. She wants to buy

the house, but her requests run the gamut

from expensive new carpeting to com-

pletely new landscaping.  His hobbies

run the gamut from piano repair to por-

trait painting.

lowance in one day. 2. to read through

something rapidly. I ran through your

report, and it looks okay. I didn’t read

the novel, I only ran through it.

run to an amount of money to amount to a cer-

tain amount of money. In the end, the

bill ran to thousands of dollars. His ac-

count ran to more than I expected.

run to seed and go to seed to become

worn-out and uncared for. (Said espe-

cially of a lawn that needs care.) Look

at that lawn. The whole thing has run to

seed. Pick things up around here. This

place is going to seed. What a mess!

run wild Go to run riot.

running high [for feelings] to be in a state

of excitement or anger. Feelings were

running high as the general election ap-

proached. The mood of the crowd was

running high when they saw the mother

slap her child.

a rush on something a large demand for

something. There was a rush on bottled

water during the drought. During the

hot summer, there was a rush on air

conditioners.

rustle something up to find and prepare

some food. (Folksy.) I’m sure he can

rustle something up. T Just go out into the

kitchen and ask Bill to rustle up some food.