to spiflicate
To confound, silence, or dumbfound.
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to spike a drink
To add strong spirits to increase the alcoholic content. Spill the Beans, To. To reveal a secret pre- maturely; to let the cat out of the bag, to upset the applecart.
to spike one's guns for him
To render his plans abortive, frustrate the scheme he has been laying, "draw his teeth." The allusion is to the old way of making a gun useless by driving a spike into the touch-hole.
to spill the beans
To give away a secret; to let the cat out of the bag.
to spirit away
To kidnap, abduct; to make away with speedily and secretly. The phrase first came into use in the 17th century, in connexion with kidnapping youths and trans- porting them to the West Indian plantations.
to split hairs
To argue over petty points, make fine, cavilling distinctions, quibble over trifles.
to split the infinitive
To interpose some word between to and the verb, as "to thoroughly understand the subject.
to split with laughter
To laugh uproariously or unrestrainedly; to "split one's sides.
to sponge on a man
To live on him like a parasite, sucking up all he has as a dry sponge will suck up water.
to sport
To exhibit: as, Jack Jehu sported a new gig yesterday: I shall sport a new suit next week. To sport or flash one's ivory; to shew one's teeth. To sport timber; to keep one's outside door shut; this term is used in the inns of court to signify denying one's self. N.B. The word SPORT was in great vogue ann. 1783 and 1784.
to sport blubber
Said of a large coarse woman, who exposes her bosom.
to spout
To rehearse theatrically.
to spring a leak
Said of ships, etc., that open or crack so as to admit the water.
to square a person
To bribe him, or to pay him for some extra trouble he has taken.
to square the circle
To attempt an impossi- bility. The allusion is to the impossibility of exactly determining the precise ratio between the diameter and the circumference of a circle, and thus constructing a circle of the same area as a given square. Popularly it is 3-14159 . . . the next decimals would be 26537, but the numbers would go on ad infinitum.
to stag
To find, discover, or observe.
to stand by
To be ready to give assistance in case of need. A stand-by is a person or thing on which one can confidently rely.
to stand for a child
To be sponsor for it; to stand in its place and answer for it.
to stand in one's own light
To act in such a way as to hinder advancement.
to stand in with
To go shares ; also, to have an understanding or community of interests with.
to stand off and on
A nautical phrase for tacking in and out along the shore. To stand Sam, stand to reason, stand treat, etc. See these -words.
to stand on one's own legs
Jo be independ- ent, to be earning one's own living. Of course, the allusion is to being nursed, and standing "alone.
to stand one's ground
Not to yield or give way; to stick to one's colours; to have the courage of one's opinion.
to stand the gaff
To bear punishment or raillery, with calmness.
to stand the racket
To bear the expense; to put up with the consequences.
to stand to a bargain
To abide by it; the Lat. stare conventis, conditionibus stare, pactis stare, etc.
to stand to one's guns
To persist in a statement; not to give way. A military phrase.
to stand up for
Support, take his (or its) part. To stand up for one's privilege or on punctilios. Quietly to insist on one's position, etc., being recognized; this is the Latin insisto.
to star the glaze
To break and rob a jeweller's show glass. CANT.
to stare like a stuck pig
With open mouth and staring eyes, as a pig thaHs being killed ; in the utmost astonishment, mingled sometimes with fear.
to start with a clean slate
To be given another chance, one's past misdeeds having been forgiven and expunged, as writing is sponged from a slate.
to steal a march on one
To obtain an advantage by stealth, as when an army appears unexpectedly before an enemy.
to steal one's thunder
To forestall him; or to adopt his own special methods as one's own. The phrase comes from the anecdote of John Dennis (1657-1734) the critic and playwright who invented an effective device for producing stage thunder, for his play Appius and Virginia. The play was a failure and was withdrawn, but shortly afterwards Dennis heard his thunder used in a performance of Macbeth.
to steal someone's thunder
To preempt someone and rob them of gravitas or attention. To take credit for something someone else did.
to stew in one's own juice
To suffer the natural consequences of one's actions, to reap as you have sown.
to stick at nothing
To be heedless of all obstacles in accomplishing one's desire; to be utterly unscrupulous.
to stick it up
Old slang for leaving one's "score" at the tavern to be paid later; a note of it was stuck, or chalked up, at the back of the door.
to stick one's neck out
To expose oneself to being hurt, as a chjcken might stick out its neck for the axe.
to stick to one's guns
To maintain one's position, argument, etc., in spite of opposition.
to stick up
Australian for to waylay and rob a coach, etc ; also in common use for raiding a bank and so on in daylight, the raiders closing the doors and covering all present with revolvers telling them to "stick 'em up," or hold up their hands above their heads.
to stir one's stumps
To get on faster; to set upon something expeditiously. This makes him stirre his stumps.
to stomach an insult
To swallow it and not resent it. If you must believe, stomach not all. — SHAKE- SPEARE: Antony and Cleopatra, iii, 4.
to strain a point
To go beyond one's usual, or the proper, limits; to give way a bit more than one has any right to.
to strain courtesy
To stand upon ceremony. Here, strain is to stretch, as parchment is strained on a drum-head.
to stretch a point
To exceed what is strictly right. There may be an allusion here to the tagged laces called points, formerly used in costume; to "truss a point" was to tie the laces which held the breeches; to "stretch a point" to stretch these laces, so as to adjust the dress to extra growth, or the temporary full- ness of good feeding.
to strike a balance
To calculate the exact difference, if any, between the debit and credit side of an account.
to strike an attitude
To pose; to assume an exaggerated or theatrical attitude.
to strike at the foundations
To attempt to undermine the whole thing, to overthrow it utterly.
to strike camp
To lower the tents and move off; hence, to abandon one's position. A military phrase, adopted from the nautical phrase "to strike colours." See FLAG.
to strike hands
To make a contract, to become surety for another. See Prov. xvii, 1 8, and xxii, 26.
to strike lead
To make a good hit. That, after the failure of the king, he should "strike lead" in his own house seemed ... an inevitable law — BRET..HARTE: Fool of Five Forks.
to strike lucky
See STRIKE. Lucullus sups with Luculhis (luk uTus). Said of a glutton who gormandizes alone. Lucullus was a rich Roman, noted for his magnificence and self-indulgence. Sometimes above £1,700 was expended on a single meal, and Horace tells us he had 5,000 rich purple robes in his house.
to strike oil
To make a happy hit or valuable discovery. The phrase refers to hitting upon or discovering a bed of petroleum or mineral oil.
to strike sail
To acknowledge oneself beaten; to eat humble pie. A nautical expres- sion. When a ship in fight or on meeting an- other ship, let down her topsails at least half- mast high, she was said to strike, meaning that she submitted or paid respect to the other.
to strike the flag
To lower it. The phrase is used of an admiral relinquishing his command afloat; the action is also a token of respect, submission, or surrender.
to strike up
To begin, start operations; as to strike up an acquaintance, to set it going. Originally of an orchestra or company of singers, who "struck up" the music.
to stumble at a straw
To be pulled up short by a trifle. To throw straws against the wind.
to stump up
To pay one's reckoning, pay what is due. Ready money is called stumpy or stumps. An Americanism, meaning money paid down on the spot — i.e. on the stump of a tree. Cp. NAIL, ON THE.
to suck the monkey
Sailor's slang for surreptitiously sucking liquor from a cask through a straw (see MONKEY, above); and when milk has been taken from a coconut, and rum has been substituted, "sucking the monkey" is drinking this mm.
to swallow a gudgeon
To be bamboozled with a most palpable lie, as silly fish are caught by gudgeons. (Fr. goujon, whence the phrase avaler le goujon, to swallow the bait, to die.
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