wishy-washy: having no colour, firm ideas, principles, or noticeable qualities of

any type:

The candidate gave a few unsatisfactory wishy-washy answers.

it remains to be seen: it is not yet certain:

It remains to be seen who will win.

hetched job: a cruel written or spoken attack on someone or something:

Fleck was certainly not the only critic to do a hatchet job on his latest novel.

Do sb down :to criticize someone in order to make them feel ashamed or to make
other people lose respect:

She felt that everyone in the meeting was trying to do her down.

be close to the bone

If something you say or write is close to the bone, it is close to the truth in a
way that might offend some people.

gutsy: brave and determined:

a gutsy performance

cut (sb) to the quick: to hurt someone's feelings a lot

Her thoughtless remark cut him to the quick.

Chunk in sth: to stop doing something that was a regular job or activity:

I've decided to chuck in my job.

namby-pamby: weak, silly, or emotional:

She thinks we're a bunch of namby-pamby liberals.

suggestible: A suggestible person is easily influenced by other people's opinions:

The success of advertising proves that we are all highly suggestible.

wuss : a coward, person who is not brave.

Bestride: to sit or stand with a leg on either side of an object or animal:

He bestrode the chair as though it were a horse

weak-willed: not having the determination that is needed to continue with a

difficult course of action:

My diets are never successful - I'm just too weak-willed

weak-kneed: not brave or determined enough to defend your beliefs against others.

Instead of defending traditional values, the church frequently seems weak-kneed and
irresolute.
defencelessness: the quality of being weak and unable to protect yourself from
attack.

We naturally associate babies with defencelessness

buck-toothed: having upper front teeth that stick out.

His young neighbour is a sweet, buck-toothed kid.

underbelly: the weakest or most unpleasant part of something:

dimpled: having one or more small hollow areas in the surface, for example of a
person's face when they smile.

swither: to be uncertain about what to do or choose.

He'd swithered for ages wondering what to do.

Cleanse :to make something completely clean

Go ahead and cleanse the cut/wound thoroughly before you bandage it

Cleanse :to make someone or something morally clean or pure.

to cleanse the thoughts of our hearts

cleansing : used to describe something that cleans or is used for cleaning:

a cleansing cream that can be used for cars

Rinse sth out: to quickly wash the inside of something with clean water:

I'll just rinse these glasses out and leave them to dry.

She rinses out her mouth every morning to prevent bad breath.

scour out :to remove dirt from something by rubbing it hard with something rough.

You'll have to scour out those old cooking pots before you use them.

Scour: to search a place or thing very carefully in order to try to find something:

The police are scouring the area for the missing child.

I scoured the shops for a blue and white shirt, but I couldn't find one anywhere.

Scour: an act of removing dirt from something by rubbing it hard with something
rough.

A quick scour with salt and an old toothbrush is a simple way to freshen up stained
cups.

patch into sth: to connect to a device or network.

The team has the ability to patch into the Cleveland Clinic health care system for
instant access to X-rays, MRIs, and other test results.

scourge :something or someone that causes great suffering or a lot of trouble:

the scourge of war/poverty/drugs

Pop-up ads have been described as the scourge of the Internet.

hindrance :something that makes it more difficult for you to do something or for
something to develop:

I've never considered my disability a hindrance, but other people have

Hindered: to limit the ability of someone to do something, or to limit the

development of something.

High winds have hindered firefighters in their efforts to put out the blaze.

fordable (of an area in a river or stream) not deep and able to be crossed on foot
or in a vehicle }

The river wasn't fordable because of all the recent rainfall.

ford: to cross a river, where it is not deep, on foot or in a vehicle

Be a drag on sth: to slow down or limit the development of someone or something.

She didn't want a husband who would be a drag on her caree

Avert: to prevent something bad from happening.

to avert a crisis/ conflict/ strike/ famine/ disaster/ economic collapse

Stand aside: to leave a job or position so that someone else can have it instead:

It's time he stood aside and let a more qualified person do the job

Avert: to turn away your eyes or thoughts:

The shy man was standing before me, his eyes averted.

Averse to: strongly disliking or opposed to

Few people are averse to the idea of a free holiday.

I'm not averse to (= I like) the occasional glass of champagne myself

not have a civil word to say about sb

to not be able to think of anything good to say about someone

antipathetic: showing or feeling a strong dislike, opposition, or anger:

He has an antipathetic attitude towards smokers

Abide : If you can't abide someone or something, you dislike them very much:

I can't abide her/ He couldn't abide laziness.

abhor: to hate a way of behaving or thinking, often because you think it is not
moral:

I abhor all forms of racism.

not know what sb sees in sb/sth : to not understand why someone likes a particular
person or thing:

He's so boring - I don't know what she sees in him.

not take kindly to sth: to not like something:

After years of being looked after by his mother, he didn't take kindly to being
told to cook for himself.

not go much on sth: to dislike something

I don't go much on white wine

Go off: to stop liking or being interested in someone or something

I went off beefburgers after I got food poisoning from a takeaway.

I did go off Peter when he said those dreadful things about Clare.

Go off the rails: to start behaving in a way that is not generally acceptable,
especially dishonestly or illegally

He went off the rails in his first year at university.

go off the boil: to lose interest or become less urgent.

They were really excited about the project, but now they seem to have gone off the
boil.

be watching the clock(also have/keep your eye on the clock)

to be looking to see what the time is, usually because you are bored or eager to
leave

I had a train to catch, so I was watching the clock all through the meeting

underwhelmed :feeling no excitement about or admiration for something or someone

I get the feeling that John's colleagues are distinctly underwhelmed by his latest
proposal.

out of/from the corner of your eye

If you see something out of/from the corner of your eye, you see it but not clearly
because it happens to the side of you:

I saw something move out of the corner of my eye

rakishly: in a confidently careless and informal way

There was a paintbrush stuck rakishly behind his ear.

rakishly: in an immoral way, used especially in relation to a man who has sex with
a lot of women.

"I'm not a good person," Stephen tells Molly, whom he has treated rakishly.
Rake-off

a dishonest or illegal share in profits that is given to someone who has been
involved in making the profits

rakish : A rakish man, especially a rich man, lives in an immoral way, especially
having sex with a lot of women.

He has a rakish air about him.

Rakishness: the quality of being confidently careless and informal

They wear tweed caps in various angles of rakishness.

rakishness :immoral behaviour, often that of a man who has sex with a lot of women

The three women are wary of the rakishness of men.

Rally around: to help or support someone.

When I'm ill, my friends always rally around.

Abet: to help or encourage someone to do something wrong or illegal

His accountant had aided and abetted him in the fraud.

give sb a leg up: to help someone to improve their situation, especially at work

start sb off: to help someone to start an activity, especially a piece of work

I'll start her off on some fairly basic stuff and see how she gets on

start off :to make someone start to laugh, cry, or talk about something that they
talk about often.

I could see Emma trying not to laugh and of course that started me off.

See me through: to help or support someone during a difficult period in their life:

He was a prisoner of war for five years, but his courage saw him through.

My brother lent me $500 to see me through the next few weeks.

Patch sb through :to connect someone to a phone number or network.

I patched her through to customer service.

Patch up: to give basic medical care to someone that helps them temporarily

If you've cut your hand, the first-aider will patch you up.

deprescribe: to reduce or stop prescribing a particular drug (= giving it as a

medical treatment) because it may be harmful or not helpful.

With older people, who may be taking five or more medications regularly, the best
course of action may be to deprescribe

By deprescribing medications, it is often possible to improve patient function and

quality of life.
Birth tourism :travel to another country for the purpose of giving birth there.

Often, the end goal in birth tourism is obtaining a passport for the baby.

Parents often consider birth tourism in light of what opportunities they can give
to their newborn.

Interfere: to involve yourself in a situation when your involvement is not wanted

or is not helpful.

It's their problem and I'm not going to interfere

Interfere: to involve yourself in matters connected with other people without being
asked or needed.

Interfering in other people’s arguments is always a mistake.

Patch sth into: to connect one device to another or to a network.

The cameras are patched into a computer that sees the video in real time and
analyzes it.

Interfere: to prevent something from working effectively or from developing

successfully

Even a low level of noise interferes with my concentration

Overload: to put too many things in or on something.

Don't overload the washing machine, or it won't get the clothes clean.

take it on the chin

to accept unpleasant events bravely and without complaining

Resign yourself to sth: to make yourself accept something that you do not like
because you cannot change it

He resigned himself to living alone.

sweat it out: to wait nervously for an unpleasant situation to end or improve

I had the blood test last Tuesday, and I've been sweating it out ever since,
waiting for the results.

Sweat it out :to do hard physical exercise:

I like to sweat it out in the gym for a couple of hours every day.

Stick it out: to continue to the end of a difficult or unpleasant situation

I know things are difficult right now, but if we just stick it out, I'm sure
everything will be OK in the end

Sit out: to not take part in a physical activity such as a dance or a game, because
you are tired or injured:

I'm feeling rather tired, so I think I'll sit out the next dance.