trip

trip someone up 1. to trip someone. Bob

tripped himself up on his own feet. T The

loose gravel beside the track tripped up

Bob, and he fell. 2. to cause difficulty for

someone; to cause someone to fail. Bill

tripped Tom up during the spelling contest,

and Tom lost. T I didn’t mean to trip up

anyone. I’m sorry I caused trouble.

trot something out to mention something

regularly or habitually, without giving it

much thought. (Informal.) Jack always

trots the same excuses out for being late. T

When James disagreed with Mary, she sim-

ply trotted out her same old political

arguments.

trouble oneself about someone or something to

worry oneself about someone or some-

thing. (Usually in the negative.) Please

don’t trouble yourself about me. I’m do-

ing fine. I can’t take time to trouble my-

self about this matter. Do it yourself.

trouble oneself (to do something) to bother

oneself to do something. He didn’t

even trouble himself to turn off the light

when he left. No, thank you. I don’t need

any help. Please don’t trouble yourself.

trouble one’s head about someone or some-

thing to worry about someone or some-

thing; to trouble oneself about someone or

something that is none of one’s business.

(Folksy. Usually in the negative. Also

with pretty, as in the example. Usually in

the negative, meaning “to mind one’s

own business.”) Now, now, don’t trou-

ble your pretty head about all these things.

You needn’t trouble your head about

Sally.

trouble someone for something to ask some-

one to pass something or give something.

(Usually a question.) Could I trouble

you for the salt? Could I trouble you for

some advice?

trouble someone to do something to ask some-

one to do something. (Usually a ques-

tion.) Could I trouble you to pass the

salt?  Could I trouble you to give me

some advice?

true as steel Go to (as) true as steel.

true to form exactly as expected; following

the usual pattern. (Often with running,

as in the example.) As usual, John is

late. At least he’s true to form. And true

to form, Mary left before the meeting was

adjourned. This winter season is run-

ning true to form—miserable!

true to one’s word keeping one’s promise.

True to his word, Tom showed up at ex-

actly eight o’clock. We’ll soon know if

Jane is true to her word. We’ll see if she

does what she promised.

The truth will out. eventually, the truth

will become known; truth tends to be-

come known, even when it is being con-

cealed. The truth will out! Some day my

name will be cleared. We just found out

about corruption in the mayor’s office. Like

they say, “The truth will out.”

try one’s hand (at something) to take a try at

something. Someday I’d like to try my

hand at f lying a plane.  Give me a

chance. Let me try my hand!

try one’s luck (at something) to attempt to do

something (where success requires luck).

My great-grandfather came to Califor-

nia to try his luck at finding gold. I went

into a gambling casino to try my luck.

try out (for something) to test one’s fitness

for a role in a play, a position on a sports

team, etc. I sing pretty well, so I thought

I’d try out for the chorus. Hardly any-

one else showed up to try out.

try (out) one’s wings to try to do some-

thing one has recently become qualified

to do. (Like a young bird uses its wings

to try to fly.) John just got his driver’s

license and wants to borrow the car to try

out his wings. I learned to skin-dive, and

I want to go to the seaside to try my wings.

T She was eager to try out her wings.

try someone’s patience to do something an-

noying that may cause someone to lose

patience; to cause someone to be an-

noyed. Stop whistling. You’re trying my

patience. Very soon I’m going to lose my

temper. Some students think it’s fun to

try the teacher’s patience.

try something out on someone to test some-

thing on someone (to see how it works or

if it is liked). I found a recipe for oys-

ter stew and tried it out on my roommate.

T I’m glad you didn’t try out that stuff on

me! I have a tremendous idea! Let me

try it out on you. T I want to try out my

plan on you. Please give me your honest

opinion.

tuck into something to eat something with

hunger and enjoyment. (Informal.)

The children really tucked into the ice

cream. Jean would like to have tucked

into the chocolate cake, but she’s on a strict

diet.

tuckered out Go to (all) tuckered out.

tune someone or something out to ignore

someone or something; to become un-

aware of someone or something. Sally

annoys me sometimes, so I just tune her

out. T Your radio doesn’t bother me. I just

tune out the noise.

tune (something) in to set a radio or televi-

sion control so as to receive something.

Why don’t you try to tune the ball game

in? T This is a cheap radio, and I can’t

tune in distant stations. Please try to

tune in.

turn a blind eye to someone or something to

ignore someone or something trouble-

some and pretend not to see it. The

usher turned a blind eye to the little boy

who sneaked into the theater. How can

you turn a blind eye to all those starving

children?

turn a deaf ear (to someone or something) to

ignore what someone requests; to ignore

a cry for help. How can you just turn a

deaf ear to their cries for food and shel-

ter? The government has turned a deaf

ear.

turn in to go to bed. It’s late. I think I’ll

turn in. We usually turn in at about

midnight.

turn of the century the end of one cen-

tury and the beginning of another. It’s

just a few years until the turn of the cen-

tury. People like to celebrate the turn of

the century.

turn on a dime to turn in a very tight turn.

(Informal.) This car handles very well.

It can turn on a dime. The speeding car

turned on a dime and headed in the other

direction.

turn one’s back (on someone or something) to

abandon or ignore someone or some-

thing. (Also literal.) Don’t turn your

back on your old friends. Bob has a ten-

dency to turn his back on serious problems.

This matter needs your attention. Please

don’t just turn your back.

turn one’s nose up at someone or something

to sneer at someone or something; to re-

ject someone or something.

turned his nose up at Ann, and that hurt

her feelings. T I never turn up my nose at

dessert, no matter what it is.

turn on the waterworks to begin to cry.

(Slang.) Every time Billy got homesick,

he turned on the waterworks. Sally hurt

her knee and turned on the waterworks for

about twenty minutes.

turn out (all right) and pan out; work

out (all right) to end satisfactorily.

(Compare this with work out for the

best.) I hope everything turns out all

right. Oh, yes. It’ll all pan out. Things

usually work out, no matter how bad they

seem.

turn out (that) something is so to happen

that; to end up that. After it was all

over, it turned out that both of us were

pleased with the bargain.  Have you

heard how the game turned out?

turn over and kick over [for an engine] to

start or to rotate. My car engine was so

cold that it wouldn’t even turn over. The

engine turned over a few times and then

stopped for good.

turn over a new leaf to start again with

the intention of doing better; to begin

again, ignoring past errors. (Leaf is a

page. This refers to starting a new page.)

Tom promised to turn over a new leaf

and do better from now on. After a mi-

nor accident, Sally decided to turn over a

new leaf and drive more carefully.

turn (over) in one’s grave and roll (over)

in one’s grave [for a dead person] to be

shocked or horrified. (Refers to some-

thing that would be so shocking to a per-

son who is actually dead, that the dead

person would quicken enough to turn

If Beethoven heard Mary play

one of his sonatas, he’d turn over in his

grave. If Aunt Jane knew what you were

doing with her favorite chair, she would

roll over in her grave.

turn someone on to excite someone; to ex-

cite someone sexually. (Informal. Often

ambiguous.) Sally said she preferred not

to watch movies that attempted to turn

people on. T The lecture was very good.

It turned on the whole class.

turn someone or something down 1. [with

someone] to refuse or deny someone.

I applied for a job with the city, but they

turned me down. T They turned down

Mary who also applied. 2. to deny some-

one’s request. I offered her some help,

but she turned it down. T She had turned

down John’s offer of help, too. 3. [with

something] to fold part of something

downward. The hotel maid turned the

bed down while I was at dinner. T In the

mail-order catalog, I always turn down a

page that interests me. 4. [with some-

thing] to lower the volume or amount of

something, such as heat, sound, water, air

pressure, etc. It’s hot in here. Please

turn down the heat.  Turn the stereo

down. It’s too loud.

turn someone or something out 1. [with some-

one] to send someone out of somewhere.

I didn’t pay my rent, so the manager

turned me out. T I’m glad it’s not winter.

I’d hate to turn out someone in the snow.

2. [with something] to manufacture

something; to produce something.

John wasn’t turning enough work out, so

the manager had a talk with him. T This

machine can turn out two thousand items

a day.

turn someone or something up to search for

and find someone or something. Let

me try to see if I can turn someone up who

knows how to do the job. T I turned up a

number of interesting items when I went

through Aunt Jane’s attic.

turn someone’s stomach to disgust some-

one. (Refers to an attack of nausea.)

Your rude remarks simply turn my stom-

ach. The play was so bad that it turned

my stomach.

turn something to good account to use

something in such a way that it is to one’s

advantage; to make good use of a situa-

tion, experience, etc. Pam turned her

illness to good account and did a lot of

reading. Many people turn their retire-

ment time to good account and take up in-

teresting hobbies.

turn something to one’s advantage to make

an advantage for oneself out of some-

thing (which might otherwise be a dis-

advantage). Sally found a way to turn

the problem to her advantage. The ice

cream store manager was able to turn the

hot weather to her advantage.

turn the clock back to try to return to the

past. (Also literal.) You are not facing

up to the future. You are trying to turn the

clock back to a time when you were more

comfortable. Let us turn the clock back

and pretend we are living at the turn of the

century—the time that our story takes

place. T No, you can’t turn back the clock.

turn the heat up (on someone) to use force

to persuade someone to do something; to

increase the pressure on someone to do

something. (Informal.) Management is

turning the heat up to increase production.

T The teacher really turned up the heat on

the students by saying that everyone would

be punished if the real culprit was not

found.

turn the other cheek to ignore abuse or

an insult. When Bob got mad at Mary

and yelled at her, she just turned the other

cheek. Usually I turn the other cheek

when someone is rude to me.

turn the tables (on someone) to cause a re-

versal in someone’s plans; to make one’s

plans turn back on one. I went to Jane’s

house to help get ready for a surprise party

for Bob. It turned out that the surprise

party was for me! Jane really turned the ta-

bles on me! Turning the tables like that

requires a lot of planning and a lot of

secrecy.

turn the tide to cause a reversal in the di-

rection of events; to cause a reversal in

public opinion. It looked as if the team

was going to lose, but near the end of the

game, our star player turned the tide. At

first, people were opposed to our plan. Af-

ter a lot of discussion, we were able to turn

the tide.

turn to to begin to get busy. Come on,

you guys! Turn to! Let’s get to work. If

you people will turn to, we can finish this

work in no time at all.

turn turtle to turn upside down. (Slang.)

The sailboat turned turtle, but the

sailors only got wet. The car ran off the

road and turned turtle in the ditch.

turn up to appear. We’ll send out invita-

tions and see who turns up. Guess who

turned up at my door last night?

turn up one’s toes to die. (Slang.)

I turn up my toes, I want a big funeral with

lots of f lowers. Our cat turned up his

toes during the night. He was nearly ten

years old.

twiddle one’s thumbs to fill up time by

playing with one’s fingers. What am I

supposed to do while waiting for you? Sit

here and twiddle my thumbs? Don’t sit

around twiddling your thumbs. Get busy!

twist someone around one’s little finger to

manipulate and control someone. Bob

really fell for Jane. She can twist him

around her little finger. Billy’s mother

has twisted him around her little finger.

He’s very dependent on her.

two bricks shy of a load Go to a few cards

shy of a full deck.

two of a kind people or things of the same

type or that are similar in character, at-

titude, etc. Jack and Tom are two of a

kind. They’re both ambitious. The com-

panies are two of a kind. They both pay

their employees badly.

Two’s company(, three’s a crowd). Two

people want to be alone and a third per-

son will be in the way. (Proverb.) Two’s

company. I’m sure Tom and Jill won’t want

his sister to go to the movies with them.

John has been invited to join Jane and

Peter on their picnic, but he says, “Two’s

company, three’s a crowd.”