1998
1- The last ditch
A desperate final attempt
We’re making a last-ditch effort to finish on time.
This expression alludes to the military sense of last ditch, “the last line of defence.” Its figurative use dates from the early 1800s.
2- A square meal
A substantial or complete meal
These airlines never feed you; I haven’t had a square meal on one yet. [Mid-1800s]
3- Go public
Become a publicly held company, that is, issue ownership shares in the form of stock.
As soon as the company grows a little bigger and begins to show a profit, we intend to go public. [Mid-1900s]
4- Run riot (wild)
Behave in a frenzied, out-of-control, or unrestrained manner
I was afraid that if I left the toddler alone she would run amok and have a hard time calming down.
The weeds are running riot in the lawn
The children were running wild in the playground.
Amok comes from a Malay word for “frenzied” and was adopted into English, and at first spelled amuck, in the second half of the 1600s.
Run riot dates from the early 1500s and derives from an earlier sense, that is, a hound’s following an animal scent. Run wild alludes to an animal reverting to its natural, uncultivated state; its figurative use dates from the late 1700s.
5- The backroom boy
Men who play poker and smoke in a room at the back of the store
When the police raided Gino’s they arrested four of the backroom boys.
6- Foot the bill
The person who foots the bill pays the bill for everybody, settle the accounts
The bride’s father was resigned to footing the bill for the wedding.
This expression uses foot in the sense of “add up and put the total at the foot, or bottom, of an account.” [Colloquial; early 1800s]
7- Set the pace
Establish a standard for others to follow
Jim has set the pace for the department, exceeding the monthly quota every time.
This expression comes from racing, where it is said of a horse that passes the others and leads the field. It was transferred to other activities in the early 1900s.
8- At times
Occasionally, sometimes
Away from home for the first time, Mary was homesick at times. [Early 1500s]
9- Steal the show / steal the spotlight
Be the center of attention
The speeches were interesting but Eliza’s singing stole the show.
This idiom alludes to unexpectedly outshining the rest of the cast in a theatrical production. [First half of 1900s]
10- Grey matter
Grey/gray matter is the human brain
1997
a) To beat the air / beat the wind
Continue to make futile attempts, fight to no purpose
The candidates for office were so much alike that we thought our vote amounted to beating the air.
These phrases call up a vivid image of someone flailing away at nothing. [Late 1300s]
b) To beggar description
Defy or outdo any possible description
The stage set was so elaborate, it beggared description.
This term, alluding to the idea that words are insufficient to do something justice, was already used by Shakespeare in Antony and Cleopatra (2:2):
“For her own person It beggared all description.”
c) To bring to mind
Cause to be remembered
The film brought to mind the first time I ever climbed a mountain.
This idiom, first recorded in 1433, appears in Robert Burns’s familiar “Auld Lang Syne” (1788), in which the poet asks if old times should never be brought to mind.
d) To call in question / call into question
Dispute, challenge; also, cast doubt on
How can you call her honesty into question?
This usage was first recorded in John Lyly’s Euphues (1579): “That … I should call in question the demeanour of all.”
e) To cap it all / cap it all off
Finish or complete something
To cap it all off they served three kinds of dessert.
Surpass or outdo something
This last story of Henry’s caps them all.
Both usages employ cap in the sense of “topping” something. [First half of 1800s]
f) To clip one’s wings
To end a person’s privileges; to take away someone’s power or freedom to do something
My father said that if I dind’t start behaving, he was going to clip my wings.
In acient Rome thousands of years ago, people clipped the wings of pet birds so that they couldn’t fly away. For centuries people have used the idiom “Clip one’s wings” to mean brings a person under control.
g) To cross the Rubicon
Irrevocably commit to a course of action, make a fateful and final decision.
Once he submitted his resignation, he had crossed the Rubicon.
This phrase alludes to Julius Caesar’s crossing the Rubicon River (between Italy and Gaul) in 49 B.C., thereby starting a war against Pompey and the Roman Senate. Recounted in Plutarch’s Lives: Julius Caesar (c. A.D. 110), the crossing gave rise to the figurative English usage by the early 1600s.
h) To feel the pulse / feel the pulse of
Try to determine the intentions or sentiments of a person or group
These exit polls allegedly take the pulse of the voters, but I don’t believe they’re very meaningful. [First half of 1600s]
i) To fly in the face of / fly in the teeth of
Act in direct opposition to or defiance of
This decision flies in the face of all precedent.
They went out without permission, flying in the teeth of house rules. This metaphoric expression alludes to a physical attack. [Mid-1500s]
j) To rise like a phoenix from its ashes
In life we should all learn from the mistakes that we have made and try not to repeat them. We should not let sorrow overcome us and stand in our way. Learn to overcome hardships in life is all what life is worth living about. After all that’s the definition of life. Hence the saying “rise like a phoenix from the ashes”
Phoenix is supposed to be a mythological bird of fire that is believed to die in flames and turn to ash. But then it comes back to life from the same ash.
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