Collocation Flashcards
get something over with
to do something as fast as you can, often because it isn’t very pleasant.
You’re trying to get something done that you really don’t want to do
“True enough
meaning yes, that’s true, I agree
Nobody can fault him on mastery of the
music.”
To “fault” someone means to say that someone did something wrong, to
say that this person is not very good at something. You may say, “I won’t fault
you for not knowing how to type” – I won’t blame you, I won’t say you didsomething wrong. She says no one “can fault him on mastery of the music.”
“Mastery” (mastery) means expertise, having a full or complete knowledge of
something or ability to do something. It’s another way of saying to be very good
at something.
“duke something out”
“I think we should duke it out and the winner gets his or
her choice.”
means to fight
someone in order to decide an argument. To actually hit them, that sort of
fighting: “to duke it out.” “The two boxers duked it out” – they fought each other.
“be flattered”
“I would be flattered if we weren’t all volunteers!
to be happy that someone said something nice about you, to be happy
that someone likes you or what you have done.
Be sure to “enunciate”
speak very clearly
applying for
I’m interested in applying for
the job as assistant manager.
to fill
out an application and be interviewed.
To “field calls”
to answer
phone calls for someone else – for another person, usually a more important
person, someone that you are working for who doesn’t want to answer his or her
own phone calls. So, to “field calls” also means to decide which phone calls are
important enough to give to the person you work for
“spell out
to provide detailed information, to include all of the details.
to give details.
The job
description spells out all the things that you need to do in order to get paid.
That’s half the fun of buying a
new computer!”
When we say something is “half the fun,” we mean that’s part of
the excitement – that’s part of the fun of doing something.
“pitfalls”
(things that often go wrong).
crawl into bed
(=get into bed feeling very tired) We finally crawled into bed at three in the morning.
take to your bed
written (=go to bed because you feel ill) Guy had a stomach ache and took to his bed.
not sleep a wink
informal (=not sleep at all) I didn’t sleep a wink last night.
▪ forty winks
informal a short sleep, especially during the day: I’m just going to have forty winks. | I felt a lot better after I had had forty winks.
