to know the ropes
To be up to all the tricks and dodges ; to know exactly what is the proper thing to do.
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to know where the shoe pinches. (14th century)
to know someone's problem or difficulty
to knuckle down to it
To work away at it, heart and soul ; to do one's best.
to knuckle one's wipe
To steal his handkerchief.
to lag
To drop behind, to keep back. Lag last; the last of a company.
to laugh at a man's beard
To attempt to make a fool of him — to deceive by ridiculous exaggeration.
to laugh in one's beard
To laugh up one's sleeve, that is, surreptitiously.
to laugh in one's sleeve
See SLEEVE. To laugh on the wrong, or the other side of one's mouth. To be made to feel vexation and annoyance after mirth or satisfaction; to be bitterly disappointed; to cry.
to laugh out of court
To cover with ridicule and so treat as not worth considering.
to laugh to scorn
To treat with the utmost contempt. All they that see me laugh me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head. — Ps. xxn, 7.
to lay a gun
To aim it (used only of artillery). To run away from one's own guns.
to lay by the heels
To render powerless. The allusion is to the stocks, in which vagrants and other petty offenders were confined by the ankles.
to lay down arms
To cease from armed hostility; to surrender.
to lay down the law
To speak in a dictatorial manner; to give directions or order in an offensive and high-handed way.
to lay hands on
To apprehend; to lay hold of. Lay hands on the villain. Taming of the Shrew, v, 1.
to lay on the table
The parliamentary phrase for postponing consideration of a motion, proposal, bill, etc., indefinitely. Hence, to table a matter is to defer it sine die.
to lay out
(a) To disburse. (&) To display goods; place in convenient order what is required for wear.
to lay to one's charge
To attribute an offence to a person. And he [Stephen] kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord lay not this sin to their charge — Acts, vii, 60. The phrase occurs again in the Bible, e.g. Deut. xxi, 8; Rom. viii, 33, etc.
to lead a dog's life
To be bothered and harried from pillar to post, never to be left in peace.
to lead apes in hell
It is an old saying (frequent in the Elizabethan dramatists) that this is the fate of old maids. Hence, ape-leader, an old maid.
To learn a language is to have one more window from which to look at the world (Chinese proverb)
Knowing a language expands one's perspective
to learn by heart
The heart is the seat of understanding; thus the Scripture speaks of men "wise in heart"; and "slow of heart" means dull of understanding. To learn by heart is to learn and understand, but we com- monly employ the phrase as a synonym for committing to memory; to learn by rote is to learn so as to be able to repeat.
to leave no stone unturned
To spare no trouble, time, expense, etc., in endeavouring to accomplish your aim. After the defeat of Mardonius at Plataea (477 B.C.), a report was current that the Persian general had left great treasures in his tent. Polycrates the Theban sought long but found them not.
to let a thing stand over
To defer considera- tion of it to a more favourable opportunity.
to lib
To lie together. CANT.
to lick
To beat; also to wash, or to paint slightly over. I'll give you a good lick o' the chops; I'll give you a good stroke or blow on the face. Jack tumbled into a cow t--d, and nastied his best clothes, for which his father stept up, and licked him neatly.--I'll lick you! the dovetail to which is, If you lick me all over, you won't miss--.
to lick a man's shoes
To be humble or ab- jectly servile towards him. Cp. LICKSPITTLE.
to lick into shape
To make presentable ; to give a good appearance, decent manners, etc., to. In allusion to the tradition that the cubs of bears are cast shapeless, and remain so till the dam has licked them into proper form. See BEAR.
to lick one's chops
To relish in anticipa- tion. Finally, in the slang phrase first chop, meaning excellent, the word is the Hindi chhap, a print or stamp, used in India and China by English residents for an official seal, also for a passport or permit; and a Chinese custom-house is known as a chop-house.
to lick one's lips
To give evident signs of the enjoyment of anticipation.
to lie at rack and manger
To live without thought of the morrow, like cattle or horses whose food is placed before them without themselves taking thought; hence, to live at reckless expense.
to lie at the catch
In Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress Talkative says to Faithful, "You lie at the catch, I perceive." To which Faithful replies, "No, not I; I am only for setting things right." To lie at or on the catch is to lie in wait or to lay a trap to catch one.
to lie in a nutshell
To be explained in a few words; to be capable of easy solution,
to lie in one's beard
To accuse someone of so doing is to stress the severity of the accusation (Elizabethan).
to lie in one's throat
To lie most out- rageously, well knowing that you are lying, and meaning to do so.
to lie in state
Said of a corpse of a royal or distinguished person that is displayed to the general public.
to lie low
To conceal oneself or one's intentions. All this while Brer Rabbit lay low.— JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS: Uncle Remus.
to lie over
To be deferred; as, this question must lie over till next sessions.
to lie to
To stop the progress of a vessel at sea by reducing the sails and counter- bracing the yards; hence, to cease from doing something.
to lie up
To refrain from work, especially on account of ill health; to rest.
to lie upon the catch
To lie in wait; to try to catch one tripping.
to lie with one's fathers
To be buried in one's native place. I will he with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt. — Gen. xlvii, 30.
to lift the elbow
To drink; usually said of an habitual drinker.
to light upon
To discover by accident; to come across by a lucky chance. Thus, Dr.
to little avail
With little or no success
to live a clean life
To live blameless and undefiled. To make a clean breast of it. To make a full and unreserved confession.
to live from hand to mouth
To live without any provision for the morrow.
to live in a small way
Keep a modest unpretentious household; make both ends meet, but with little to spare and no ostentation,
to live like a lord
To fare luxuriously, live like a fighting-cock (#.v.). To lord it, or lord it over. To play the lord; to rule tyrannically, to domineer.
to live like a plover
To live on nothing, to live on air. Plovers, however, live on small insects and worms, which they hunt for in newly ploughed fields.
to live under the cat's foot
To be under petticoat government; to be henpecked.
to lollop
To lean with one's elbows on a table.
to lope
To leap, to run away. He loped down the dancers; he ran down stairs.
to lose caste
To lose position in society. To get degraded from one caste to an inferior one.
to lose face
To be lowered in the esteem of others through an affront to one's dignity — a matter of the utmost importance in the Far East.
to lose ground
To become less popular or less successful; to drift away from the object aimed at.
to lose one's bearings
To become be- wildered; to get perplexed as to which is the right road.
to lose one's tongue
To become tongue- tied or speechless through shyness, fear, etc.
to lose the day
To lose the battle; to be defeated. To win (or gain) the day is to be victorious.
to lower one's flag
To eat humble pie; to confess onself in the wrong; to eat one's own words.
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