Английские идиомы

[pin money] {n. phr.} Extra money used for incidentals. She hasa regular full-time job but she earns extra pin money by doing a lotof baby-sitting.

[in the soup] {adj. phr.}, {slang} In serious trouble; inconfusion; in disorder. When his wife overdrew their bank accountwithout telling him, Mr. Phillips suddenly found himself really in thesoup. The police misunderstood Harry’s night errand, and arrestedhim, which put him in the soup with the boss.

[whitewash something] {v.}, {informal} To explain a major, nationalscandal in soothing official terms so as to assure the public thatthings are under control and there is no need to panic. Many peoplein the United States believe that President Kennedy’s assassinationwas whitewashed by the Warren Commission. See: WHITEWASH.

Идиома: hang in there / hang on in there Идиома: hang in there / hang on in there разг. Перевод: держаться, не сдаваться Пример: You should hang in there and not quit your job even if you hate the supervisor. Тебе следует держаться и не бросать работу, даже если тебе не нравится менеджер.

Идиома: the small hours (of the night / morning) / the wee hours (of the night / morning) Перевод: рассвет или время перед рассветом; часы после полуночи Пример: My father likes to read the newspaper in the small hours of the night. Моему отцу нравится читать газеты по ночам.

Идиома: on the ropes Перевод: на грани поражения, провала; в отчаянном положении Пример: His political career is on the ropes. Его политическая карьера на грани провала.

[break with] {v.} To separate yourself from; end membership in; stop friendly association with. He broke with the Democratic party on the question of civil rights. He had broken with some friends who had changed in their ideas.

[snow in] {v.} To block up or trap by much snow; keep inside, After the storm the farmer and his family were snowed in for threedays. The train went off the track and the passengers were snowedin for several days.

[keep the home fires burning] {v. phr.} To keep things going asusual while someone is away; wait at home to welcome someone back. While John was in the army, Mary kept the home fires burning.

[put one’s hand to] or [set one’s hand to] or [turn one’s hand to]{v. phr.} To start working at; try to do. Hal does a good job ateverything mat he turns his hand to. After Mr. Sullivan foundfarming unprofitable, he moved to town and turned his hand tocarpentry.

[pull oneself up by the bootstraps] or [pull oneself up by one’sown bootstraps] {adv. phr.} To succeed without help; succeed by yourown efforts. He had to pull himself up by the bootstraps.

Идиома: against the odds / against all odds Перевод: вопреки трудностям, наперекор обстоятельствам Пример: Against all odds — poor weather, student pilot — we landed safely. Вопреки всем обстоятельствам — плохой погоде, начинающему пилоту — мы приземлились удачно.

[side with] {v.} To agree with; help. Alan always sides withJohnny in an argument. Gerald sided with the plan to move theclub. Contrast: SIDE AGAINST.

Идиома: run an errand Перевод: выполнять поручение Пример: I was late for work because I had to run an errand in the morning. Я опоздал на работу потому, что мне пришлось выполнить одно поручение утром.

Идиома: talk in riddles Перевод: говорить загадками Пример: He always talks in riddles, so it may be hard for you to understand him at first. Он всегда говорит загадками, поэтому поначалу тебе может быть трудно его понять.

[run true to form] {v. phr.} To follow a usual way; act asexpected; agree with how a person usually acts. The little boy’sactions ran true to form. He bothered his mother until she gave himhis way. Compare: PAR FOR THE COURSE.

[fall in with] {v.}, {informal} 1. To meet by accident. Maryfell in with some of her friends downtown. 2. To agree to help with;support. I fell in with Jack’s plan to play a trick on his father. 3. To become associated with a group detrimental to the newcomer. John fell in with a wild bunch; … Читать далее

[easy mark] {n.} A foolishly generous person; one from whom it iseasy to get money. Bill is known to all the neighborhood beggars asan easy mark. See: SOFT TOUCH.

Идиома: get a word in edgeways Идиома: get a word in edgeways разг. Перевод: вставить словечко; найти возможность сказать что-нибудь в то время, как кто-либо ведет разговор Пример: The customer could not get a word in edgeways while talking to the salesman. Покупатель не мог и слова вставить, пока разговаривал с продавцом.

[opposite number] {n. phr.} A person occupying the same position assomeone in a different group, organization, or country. Theopposite number of the President of the United States in Germany isthe Chancellor of the Federal Republic.

[call up] {v.} 1. To make someone think of; bring to mind; remind. The picture of the Capitol called up memories of our class trip. 2. To tell to come. The district attorney called up three witnesses. 3. To bring together for a purpose; bring into action. Jim called up all his strength, pushed past … Читать далее

Идиома: at gunpoint Перевод: под дулом пистолета Пример: The bank robbers held the hostages at gunpoint. Грабители банка держали заложников под дулом пистолета.

[close at hand] {adj. phr.} Handy; close by; within one’s range. My calendar isn’t close at hand, so I can’t tell you whether we can come next week or not. I always keep my pencils and erasers close at hand when I work on a draft proposal.

[all over but the shouting] {adv. phr.,} {informal} Finally decided or won; brought to an end; not able to be changed. After Bill’s touchdown, the game was all over but the shouting. John and Tom both tried to win Jane, but after John’s promotion it was all over but the shouting.

Идиома: hit the ground running Перевод: быстро включиться в работу; сразу погрузиться в выполнение чего-либо Пример: If elected, they promise to hit the ground running in their first few weeks of office. Если их выберут, они обещают включиться в работу в первые несколько недель своего пребывания у власти.

[out to lunch] {adj.}, {slang}, {informal} 1. Gone for the middaymeal. 2. Inattentive; daydreaming; inefficient; stupid. Neil Benderis just out to lunch today.

[sell short] {v.} To think less good orvaluable than is true; underestimate. Don’t sell the team short;the players are better than you think. Some teachers sold Johnshort.

[raise a stink] {v. phr.} To cause a disturbance; complain; proteststrongly. Quite a stink was raised in the office when the bossdiscovered that several employees had left early.

[in the cards] also [on the cards] {adj. phr.}, {informal} To beexpected; likely to happen; foreseeable; predictable. It was in thecards for the son to succeed his father as head of the business. John finally decided that it wasn’t in the cards for him to succeedwith that company.

[look in the eye] or [look in the face] {v. phr.} To meet with asteady look; to face bravely or without shame. Mary looked thegangster in the eye, and he turned away without hurting her. Johnhad looked death in the face many times. We often believe a personwho looks us in the eye, but it … Читать далее

Идиома: keep a stiff upper lip Перевод: быть храбрым, храбро встретить неприятности Пример: The storm victims tried hard to keep a stiff upper lip in the difficult situation. Жертвы шторма старались храбро себя вести в трудной ситуации.

Идиома: make points with someone Перевод: добиться расположения кого-либо, завоевать благосклонность кого-либо; набрать очки Пример: The woman is more interested in making points with her boss than doing a good job. Этой женщине больше интересно добиться расположения своего начальника, чем хорошо выполнить свою работу.

Идиома: a girl Friday / a man Friday / a person Friday Перевод: девушка / мужчина / человек, выполняющий разную подсобную работу в офисе Пример: Jan is our girl Friday. She does the important jobs in our office. Джен — наша верная помощница. Она выполняет важную работу в нашем офисе.

[go legit] {v. phr.} To start practicing a legitimate businessafter having been operating outside of the law. «The old days areover,» the crime boss said to his friends. «We are going legit as ofright now.»

[U. F. O.] {n. phr.} Unidentified Flying Object. Some people thinkthat the U. F. O. s are extraterrestrial beings of higher than humandevelopment who pay periodic visits to Earth to warn us of ourself-destructive tendencies.

Идиома: the in thing (to do) Перевод: модная вещь, популярная вещь Пример: Eating low-fat food is the in thing to do. Есть пищу с низким содержанием жиров сейчас модно.

[stir up a hornet’s nest] {v. phr.} To make many people angry; dosomething that many people don’t like. The principal stirred up ahornet’s nest by changing the rules at school.

[ear to the ground] {n. phr.}, {informal} Attention directed to theway things are going, or seem likely to go, or to the way people feeland think. The city manager kept an ear to the ground for a whilebefore deciding to raise the city employees’ pay. Reporters keepan ear to the ground so as to know … Читать далее

Идиома: lion’s share (of something) Перевод: львиная доля; большая часть чего-либо Пример: I gave the lion’s share of my old CD collection to my neighbor. Я дал львиную долю своих старых CD моему соседу.

Идиома: lie in wait (for someone or something) Перевод: поджидать (что-либо или кого-либо), подстерегать (что-либо или кого-либо) Пример: This person was hiding behind a wall, as if he were lying in wait for someone. Этот человек прятался за стеной, как будто он поджидал кого-то.

Идиома: take pride (in something) Перевод: гордиться чем-либо Пример: The couple take pride in their beautiful house. Эта пара гордится своим красивым домом.

[on time] {adv.} or {adj. phr.} 1. At the time arranged; not late;promptly. The train left on time. Mary is always on time for anappointment. Contrast: AHEAD OF TIME, BEHIND TIME. 2. On theinstallment plan; on credit, paying a little at a time. John boughta car on time. You can buy things at the department … Читать далее

[collective farm] {n.} A large government-run farm made by combining many small farms. The Russian farmers used to live on collective farms.

Идиома: from the heart Перевод: честно, искренне Пример: The boy gave his girlfriend some flowers with a message from the heart. Молодой человек дал своей девушке цветы с искренним посланием.

[beat it] {v.}, {slang} To go away in a hurry; get out quickly. When he heard the crash he beat it as fast as he could. — Often used as a command. The big boy said, «Beat it, kid. We don’t want you with us.» Compare: CLEAR OUT, LIGHT OUT, HEAD FOR THE HILLS.

[give pause] {v. phr.} To cause you to stop and think; make youdoubt or worry. The heavy monthly payments gave Mr. Smith pause inhis plans to buy a new car. The bad weather gave Miss Carter pauseabout driving to New York City.

Идиома: which way the wind blows Перевод: куда ветер дует; как обстоят дела, куда повернутся события Пример: We will have to see which way the wind blows to see if we can go to London or not. Нужно будет посмотреть, куда повернутся события, и решить, сможем мы поехать в Лондон или нет.

[knock for a loop] or [throw for a loop] {v. phr.}, {slang} Tosurprise very much. When I heard they were moving, I was reallyknocked for a loop. The news of their marriage threw me for aloop.

Идиома: at peace Перевод: спокойно, безмятежно, счастливо Пример: The woman was relaxed and at peace after her friend’s funeral. После смерти ее подруги, женщина была спокойна и безмятежна.

[good nature] {n.} Readiness to please others and to be pleased. Cheerfulness, pleasantness. Everybody likes Mr. Crowe because ofhis good nature. Miss Reynolds was remembered by her students forher good nature.