Словарь американских идиом (8000 единиц)

[throw up one's hands] <v. phr.> To give up trying; admit that you cannot succeed. * /Mrs. Jones threw up her hands when the children messed up the living room for the third time./ * /When Mary saw the number of dishes to be washed, she threw up her hands in dismay./

[throw up one's hands in horror] <v. phr.> To be horrified; feel alarmed; give up hope of straightening things out; be shocked by something terrible. * /When Mrs. Brown saw the mess the children were making in her living room, she threw up her hands in horror./ * /Everybody threw up their hands in horror at the destruction caused by the hurricane./

[throw up the sponge] See: THROW IN THE SPONGE.

[thumb] See: ALL THUMBS, GREEN THUMB, TURN THUMBS DOWN, TWIDDLE ONE'S THUMBS, UNDER ONE'S THUMB or UNDER THE THUMB OF.

[thumb a ride] <v. phr.>, <informal> To get a ride by hitchhiking; hitchhike. * /Not having much money, Carl decided to thumb a ride to New York./

[thumb one's nose] <v. phr.> 1. To hold one's open hand in front of one's face with one's thumb pointed at one's nose as a sign of scorn or dislike. * /After Bob ran into the house he thumbed his nose at Tom through the window./ 2. <informal> To look with disfavor or dislike; regard with scorn; refuse to obey.
– Used with "at". * /Betty thumbed her nose at her mother's command to stay home./ * /Mary thumbed her nose at convention by wearing odd clothes./ Compare: LOOK DOWN ON.

[thumb through] <v. phr.> To examine superficially; read cursorily. * /I have read "War and Peace" but Fran has only thumbed through it./

[thunder] See: BLOOD AND THUNDER, STEAL ONE'S THUNDER.

[thus and so] also [thus and thus] <adv. phr.> In a particular way; according to directions that have been given. * /The teacher is very fussy about the way you write your report. If you don't do it thus and so, she gives you a lower mark./

[thus far] See: SO FAR.

[ticket] See: SPLIT TICKET, STRAIGHT TICKET, THE TICKET, WALKING PAPERS also WALKING TICKET.

[tickle pink] <v. phr.>, <informal> To please very much; thrill; delight. Usually used in the passive participle. * /Nancy was tickled pink with her new dress./

[tickle to death] See: TO DEATH.

[tick off] <v.> 1. To mention one after the other; list. * /The teacher ticked off the assignments that Jane had to do./ 2. To scold; rebuke. * /The boss ticked off the waitress for dropping her tray./ 3. To anger or upset.
– Usually used as ticked off. * /She was ticked off at him for breaking their dinner date again./

[tide] See: TURN THE TIDE.

[tide over] <v.> To carry past a difficulty or danger; help in bad times or in trouble. * /He was out of work last winter but he had saved enough money to tide him over until spring./ * /An ice cream cone in the afternoon tided her over until supper./ Compare: SEE THROUGH.

[tide turn] See: TURN THE TIDE.

[tidy sum] <n. phr.> A large amount of money. * /The Smith's big new home cost them a tidy sum./ Compare: PRETTY PENNY.

[tie] See: FIT TO BE TIED.

[tie down] <v.> To keep (someone) from going somewhere or doing something; prevent from leaving; keep in. * /Mrs. Brown can't come to the party. She's tied down at home with the children sick./ * /The navy tied the enemy down with big gunfire while the marines landed on the beach./ * /I can't help you with history now! I'm tied down with these algebra problems./

[tied to one's mother's apron strings] Not independent of your mother; not able to do anything without asking your mother. * /Even after he grew up he was still tied to his mother's apron strings./

[tie in] <v.> To connect with something else; make a connection for.
– Often used with "with". * /The teacher tied in what she said with last week's lesson./ * /The English teacher sometimes gives compositions that tie in with things we are studying in other classes./ * /The detectives tied in the fingerprints on the man's gun with those found on the safe, so they knew that he was the thief./

[tie-in] <n.> A connection; a point of meeting. * /John's essay on World War II provides a perfect tie-in with his earlier work on World War I./

[tie in knots] <v. phr.> To make (someone) very nervous or worried. * /The thought of having her tooth pulled tied Joan in knots./ * /The little boy's experience with the kidnapper tied him in knots and it was hard for him to sleep well for a long time./

[tie into] See: LACE INTO.

[tie one's hands] <v. phr.> To make (a person) unable to do anything.
– Usually used in the passive. * /Since Mary would not tell her mother what was bothering her, her mother's hands were tied./ * /Charles wanted to help John get elected president of the class, but his promise to another boy tied his hands./ * /Father hoped Jim would not quit school, but his hands were tied; Jim was old enough to quit if he wanted to./

[tie the knot] <v. phr.>, <informal> To get married; also to perform a wedding ceremony. * /Diane and Bill tied the knot yesterday./ * /The minister tied the knot for Diane and Bill yesterday./

[tie up] <v. phr.> 1. To show or stop the movement or action of; hinder; tangle. * /The crash of the two trucks tied up all traffic in the center of town./ * /The strike tied up the factory./ 2. To take all the time of. * /The meeting will tie the President up until noon./ * /The Senate didn't vote because a debate on a small point kept it tied up all week./ * /He can't see you now. He's tied up on the telephone./ 3. To limit or prevent the use of. * /His money is tied up in a trust fund and he can't take it out./ * /Susan tied up the bathroom for an hour./ 4. To enter into an association or partnership; join. * /Our company has tied up with another firm to support the show./ 5. To dock. * /The ships tied up at New York./ 6. <slang> To finish; complete. * /We've talked long enough; let's tie up these plans and start doing things./

[tie-up] <n.> A congestion; a stoppage of the normal flow of traffic, business or correspondence. * /There was a two-hour traffic tie-up on the highway./ * /No pay checks were delivered because of the mail service tie-up./

[tight] See: SIT TIGHT.

[tight end] <n.> An end in football who plays close to the tackle in the line. * /The tight end is used to catch passes but most often to block./ Contrast: SPLIT END.

[tighten one's belt] <v. phr.> To live on less money than usual; use less food and other things. * /When father lost his job we had to tighten our belts./ Often used in the expression "tighten one's belt another notch". * /When the husband lost his job, the Smiths had to do without many things, but when their savings were all spent, they had to tighten their belts another notch./

[tighten the screws] <v. phr.> To try to make someone do something by making it more and more difficult not to do it; apply pressure. * /When many students still missed class after he began giving daily quizzes, the teacher tightened the screws by failing anyone absent four times./

[tight-lipped] <adj.> A taciturn person; one who doesn't say much. * /The witness was tight-lipped about what she saw for fear of physical retaliation by the mob./

[tight money] <n. phr.> The opposite of inflation, when money is hard to borrow from the banks. * /The government decided that tight money is the way to bring down inflation./