to clean up
To wash up, to put in order; to wash oneself.
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to clear an examination paper
To floor it, or answer every question set.
to clear for action
The same as "to clear the decks." See below.
to clear off
To make oneself scarce, to remove oneself or something else.
To clear out for Guam
A now forgotten shipping phrase; used when a ship is bound for no specific place. In the height of the gold fever, ships carried passengers to Australia without making arrangements for return cargoes. They were, therefore, obliged to leave Melbourne in ballast, and to sail in search of homeward freights.
to clear the air
To remove the clouds, mists, and impurities; figuratively, to remove the misunderstandings or ambiguities of a situation, argument, etc.
to clear the court
To remove all strangers, or persons not officially concerned in the suit.
to clear the decks
To prepare for action by removing everything not required; play- fully used of eating everything eatable on the dinner-table, etc.
to clear the land
A nautical phrase mean- ing to have good sea room.
to clear the room
To remove from it every thing or person not required.
to clear up
To become fine after rain or cloudiness; to make manifest; to elucidate what was obscure; to tidy up.
to click
To snatch. To click a nab; to snatch a hat. CANT.
to clip
To hug or embrace: to clip and cling. To clip the coin; to diminish the current coin. To clip the king's English; to be unable to speak plain through drunkenness.
to clip one's wings
To take down one's conceit; to hamper one's freedom of action.
to clutch the fist
To clench or shut the hand. Clutch fisted; covetous, stingy. See CLOSE-FISTED.
to coax
To fondle, or wheedle. To coax a pair of stockings; to pull down the part soiled into the shoes, so as to give a dirty pair of stockings the appearance of clean ones. Coaxing is also used, instead of darning, to hide the holes about the ancles.
to cobble
To mend, or patch; likewise to do a thing in a bungling manner.
to cock a snook
To make a long nose; to put the thumb to the nose and spread wide the fingers. This is a very ancient gesture of disrespect, contempt, or defiance.
to cock the ears
To prick up the ears, or turn them as a horse does when he listens to a strange sound.
to cock your eye
To shut one eye and look with the other in a somewhat impertinent manner; to glance at questionmgly. Cp. COCK-EYE.
to cock your hat
To set your hat more on one side of the head than on the other; to look knowing and pert.
to cog
To cheat with dice; also to coax or wheedle, To cog a die; to conceal or secure a die. To cog a dinner; to wheedle one out of a dinner.
to coin money
To make money with rapidity and ease. See ANGEL, BAWBEE, CAROLUS, CROSS AND PILE, CROWN, DOLLAR, FARTHING. FLORIN, GROAT, GUINEA, MANCUS, PENNY, PIECES OF EIGHT, SHILLING, SOVEREIGN, etc.
to collar
To seize (a person) by the collar; to steal; to appropriate without leave; to acquire (of possessions).
to collar the bowling
In cricket, to hit the bowlers all over the field so that they become more easy to score off through losing their length.
to colour up
To turn red in the face; to blush. To come off with flying colours.
to colt
Obsolete slang for to befool, gull, cheat. Harebrain: We are fools> tame fools! Bellamore- Come, let's go seek him.
to comb out
To disentangle the hair, or remove foreign bodies from it, with a comb.
to come a buster
To come a cropper; to meet with a serious set-back or fall. In Australia a Southerly Buster is a heavy gale from the south, striking the east coast of Australia and New Zealand.
to come a cropper
See CROPPER. To come down a peg. See PEG.
to come down handsome
To pay a good price, reward, subscription, etc.
to come down upon one
To reproach, to punish severely, to make a peremptory de- mand.
to come home to one
To reach one's heart; to become thoroughly understood or realized.
to come home to roost
Usually said of a lie, fault, hidden sin, etc., which eventually re- bounds to the discomfiture of its originator.
to come into commons
To enter a society in which the members have a common or general dinner table.
to come it strong
To lay it on thick; to exaggerate or overdo. See DRAW IT MILD.
to come oat flat-footed
To state one's be- liefs positively, as though firmly planted on one's feet,
to come off
To occur, to take place, as "my holiday didn't come off after all.
to come over one
To wheedle one to do or give something; to cheat or overreach one; to conquer or get one's own way.
to come short
Not to be sufficient. "To come short of" means to miss or fail of attaining.
to come to
To amount to, to obtain pos- session. "It will not come to much." To regain consciousness after a fainting-fit, etc.
to come to a head
To ripen, to reach a crisis. The allusion is to the ripening, or coming to a head, of a suppurating boil or ulcer.
to come to blows
To start fighting. To come to grief, to hand. See GRIEF; HAND.
to come to hand
To be received; to come under one's notice.
to come to nothing
To turn out a failure; to result in naught.
to come to pass
To happen, to befall, to come about. What thou hast spoken is come to pass. — Jer.
to come to stay
An expression used of something which possesses permanent quali- ties.
to come to terms
To make an agreement with; decide the terms of a bargain.
to come to the ears of
To come to someone's knowledge, especially by hearsay. To get the wrong sow by the ear. See Sow.
to come to the fore
To stand out promin- ently; to distinguish oneself; to stand forth.
to come up smiling
To laugh at dis- comfiture or punishment; to emerge from disaster unruffled.
to come up to
To equal, to obtain the same number of marks, to amount to the same quantity.
to come up to the scratch
To be ready whpn wanted; to fulfil expectations. In prize-- fighting a line was scratched on the ground, and the toe of the fighter must come up to the scratch.
to come upon the parish
To live in the workhouse; to be supported by the parish. What's to come of it ? What's to come of him? A contracted form of become.
To consult the Book of Numbers
A facetious way of saying, "to put it to the vote," "to call for a division.
to cotton on
To catch on, to grasp a line of thought.
to cotton to a person
To cling to or take a fancy to a person. To stick to a person as cotton sticks to our clothes.
to couch a hogshead
To lie down to sleep. CANT.
to count noses
A horse-dealer counts horses by the nose, as cattle are counted by the head\ hence, the expression is sometimes ironically used of numbering votes, as in the Division lobbies.
to count on one's cards
To anticipate success under the circumstances; to rely on one's advantages.
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