C
(chat) see

CCC
(chat, Internet) hugs for people you can't quite reach around

CMIIW
(web, chat) correct me if I'm wrong

CU

• CYA

(e-mail, SMS) see you, see ya

CUL8R

• CU
• L8R
• CYA
• CYAL8R

(web, chat) see ya later; see you later

CW2CU
(chat) can't wait to see you

CWOT

• complete
• waste of time
• complete waste
• time
• waste

(SMS Dictionary etc.) Complete waste of time.
Example:
A friend of us actually has a folder named CWOT where he dumps all the random stuff from the Internet he is always downloading.


CYA
(chat) See ya!

CYAL8R

• CYA
• L8R
• CU
• CUL8R

(web, chat) see ya later; see you later

Calamity Jane

• Calamity
• Jane
• Martha Jane Cannary Burke
• Martha Burke
• Martha Cannary
• Jane Cannary Burke
• Jane Burke
• Jane Cannary
• Cannary
• Burke

1. The Jane who predicts the calamity; a prophet of disaster.
Example:
She's a real calamity Jane. You've only got to catch a bad cold for her to start thinking of coffins.
2. A person whom something always happens to. History:
The name was coined as a nickname for Martha Jane Cannary Burke, an American marksperson. Martha Canary is an American frontier figure. She was born in Princeton, Missouri, about 1848-1856, and died in 1903. Journeying to the gold fields of Montana with her parents in 1864, she and her siblings were often left alone to fend for themselves. By 1869 both parents were dead, and there is evidence that Martha was alone in the small Union Pacific railroad camp of Piedmont, Wyoming, probably working in a boarding house. From there she traveled to railroad towns and military posts making her living any way she could, at times working as a prostitute.
The first historical record of Martha using the name of Calamity Jane is when she accompanied the Jenney-Newton geological expedition into the Black Hills in 1875. Her career as a camp follower continued when she joined General George Crooks expedition against the Lakota in February 1876, and a second Crook-led expedition that same spring.
This hard drinking woman wore men's clothing, used their bawdy language, chewed tobacco and was handy with a gun. At her death, the "White Devil of the Yellowstone" was remembered as a saint by the citizens of Deadwood, where she nursed victims of a smallpox epidemic in 1878. She was something of a local legend because the Sioux Indians left her alone (as well as because of her eccentricities, braveness and kindness). Probably, it was from her that Bret Harte took his famous character of Cherokee Sal in "The Luck of Roaring Camp".
Why "Calamity"? That's what she'd threaten to any man who bothered her - a calamity. Or perhaps it was due to her heroic efforts during the smallpox epidemic. Or maybe it was a description of a very hard and tough life.
According to the "Life and Adventures of Calamity Jane" (By Herself): "After that campaign I returned to Fort Sanders, Wyoming, [and] remained there until spring of 1872, when we were ordered out to the Muscle Shell or Nursey Pursey Indian outbreak. In that war, Generals Custer, Miles, Terry and Crook were all engaged. This campaign lasted until fall of 1873. It was during this campaign that I was christened Calamity Jane. It was on Goose Creek, Wyoming, where the town of Sheridan is now located. Capt. Egan was in command of the Post. We were ordered out to quell an uprising of the Indians, and were out for several days, had numerous skirmishes during which six of the soldiers were killed and several severely wounded. When on returning to the Post we were ambushed about a mile and a half from our destination. When fired upon Capt. Egan was shot. I was riding in advance and on hearing the firing turned in my saddle and saw the Captain reeling in his saddle as though about to fall. I turned my horse and galloped back with all haste to his side and got there in time to catch him as he was falling. I lifted him onto my horse in front of me and succeeded in getting him safely to the Fort. Capt. Egan on recovering, laughingly said: "I name you Calamity Jane, the heroine of the plains." I have borne that name up to the present time."
3. (World golf) The name that Bobby Jones gave to his putter. Also putters modeled after his hickory-shafted blade putter.


Cat got your tongue

• Cat got one's tongue
• Cat got your tongue?
• Cat
• got
• get
• tongue

Why aren't you talking?; Is there a reason that you're not speaking?
Example:
Why don't you answer me? Cat got your tongue?
Etymology:
The phrase probably comes from a custom in the Mideast hundreds of years ago, when it was common to punish a thief by cutting off their right hand, and a liar by ripping out their tongue. These severed body parts were given to the king's pet cats as their daily food.
On the other hand, probably someone thought up this saying to ask, "Why don't you talk?" in a clever way, and it caught on.
By the mid-1800s this expression was popular in both the United States and Britain. Though no one is absolutely sure where it came from, but you can imagine that if a cat really got hold of your tongue, you wouldn't be able to say a word.

Central European Time

• Central
• European
• Time
• CET

The time used in Central Europe (France, Germany etc.). It is 2 hours late in relation to Moscow.

Certificate of Good Standing

• Certificate of Existence
• Certificate of Authorization
• Certificate
• Good Standing
• Good
• Standing
• Existence
• Authorization

a certificate issued by a state official as conclusive evidence that a corporation is in existence and is authorized to transact business within that state. The certificate generally sets forth the corporation's name and declares that it is duly incorporated or authorized to transact business, that all fees, taxes, and penalties owed to that state have been paid, that its most recent annual report has been filed, and that it has not yet filed articles of Dissolution.
Example:
In addition every applicant must provide a certificate of good standing from each of his or her home law societies, bars, chambers or courts. (Solicitors' information packs)
Synonyms:
Certificate of Existence, Certificate of Authorization


Chickens come home to roost

• Chickens
• come home
• roost
• Chicken
• come
• home

Words or actions come back to haunt a person; evil acts will return to plague
the doer; we cannot escape the consequences of our actions.
Example:
You'd better be careful what you say when you're angry. Chickens come home to roost.
Etymology:
In 1810 the English poet Robert South wrote, "Curses are like young chickens; they always come home to roost." If you live on a farm, you'll know that chickens allowed to run around the barnyard come back to the chicken coop to sleep. In this expression the "chickens" are angry words or thoughtless actions. When they "come home to roost", they come back to cause trouble. In other words, everyone has to deal with the results of his or her own actions.

Cockaigne

• land
• Cockayne
• land of Cockayne

[kah-KAYN]
Also: Cockayne.
An imaginary land of ease and luxury.
Examples:
1) Outside, in the dark, a wobbly patch of life upon the blue snow, the deer perhaps browsed, her soft blob of a nose rapturously sunk in the chilly winter greenery, her modest brain-stem steeped in some dream of a Cockaigne for herbivores. (John Updike, "Toward the End of Time")
2) Everyone was seeking renewal, a golden century, a Cockaigne of the spirit. (Umberto Eco, "Foucault's Pendulum")
Etymology:
"Cockaigne" comes from Middle English "cokaygne", from Middle French "(pais de) cocaigne" - "(land of) plenty," ultimately adapted or derived from a word meaning "cake."
Trivia: References to Cockaigne are prominent in medieval European lore. George Ellis, in his "Specimens of Early English Poets" (1790), printed an old French poem called "The Land of Cockaign" (13th century) where "the houses were made of barley sugar and cakes, the streets were paved with pastry, and the shops supplied goods for nothing."
Synonym: land of Cockaigne.


Curiosity killed the cat

• Curiosity
• kill
• cat

Be cautious when investigating situations.
Etymology: The saying originally was "care kills a cat," and began in the 16th century. "Care" was a warning that worry was bad for everyones health and could lead to an early grave; the phrase was a recognition that cats seemed to be very cautious and careful. Over time, the word "care" evolved into "curiosity."

c%l
(SMS) cool

c&g
(SMS) chuckle and grin


ca$et
(SMS) casset

cabal
[kuh-BAHL; kuh-BAL]
1. A secret, conspiratorial association of plotters or intriguers whose purpose is usually to bring about an overturn especially in public affairs.
2. The schemes or plots of such an association.
3. To form a cabal; to conspire; to intrigue; to plot.
Examples:
1) If you constantly disagreed with Winters, he wrote you out of his cabal, his conspiracy against the poetry establishment. (Richard Elman, "Namedropping: Mostly Literary Memoirs")
2) My father always had been a collector. There were the stamps, National Geographics, scrapbooks filled with his favorite political cartoons, and booklets justifying his belief that the world was under the control of a global cabal of elites unified by such organizations as the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Freemasons. (Frederick Kempe, "Father/Land")
3) But the new world of toys is by no means simply the product of a profit-mad cabal of toy pushers discovering new ways of exploiting the child market. (Gary Cross, "Kids' Stuff")
4) The Anti-Federalists were not simply concerned that Congress was too small relatively - too small to be truly representative of the great diversity of the nation. Congress was also too small absolutely - too small to be immune from cabal and intrigue. (Akhil Reed Amar, "The Bill of Rights")
Etymology:
"Cabal" derives from Medieval Latin "cabala", a transliteration of Hebrew "qabbalah" ("received," hence "traditional, lore"), from "qabal" ("to receive"). The evolution in sense is: "(secret) tradition, secret, secret plots or intrigues, secret meeting, secret meeters, a group of plotters or intriguers."


cabarenaissance
(Brit.) A term attempting to conjure up a fashion of the moment.
Example:
"Johnnie Walker Gold Label" ... decided that the "cabarenaissance" provided the perfect backdrop to launch a new "serving suggestion" intended to attract the younger whisky sipper. (Jonathan Heaf, "Life is a cabaret", The Guardian, Friday July 2, 2004)
Etymology: The word is formed by wedging "cabaret" and "renaissance" together. It refers to a type of dressy night out, one step up in sophistication from clubbing - if it is possible to describe a mixture of cocktails, jazz, dance cards and striptease in that way.



cabbage
[KAB-ij]
1. A type of leafy vegetable.
2. Steal, filch; pilfer, take someone else's things.
Example:
In the late 18th-century play "The Reconciliation", Mrs. Grim confesses that she "now and then cabbaged a penny."
History:
Does the "filching" sense of "cabbage" bring to mind an image of thieves sneaking out of farm fields with armloads of pilfered produce? If so, you're in for a surprise. That "cabbage" has nothing to do with the leafy vegetable. It originally referred to the practice among tailors of pocketing part of the cloth given to them to make garments. The verb was cut from the same cloth as an older British noun "cabbage," which meant "pieces of cloth left in cutting out garments and traditionally kept by tailors as perquisites." Both of those ethically questionable "cabbages" probably derived from "cabas," the Middle French word for "cheating or theft." The "cabbage" found in cole slaw, on the other hand, comes from Middle English "caboche," which means "head."


cabin fever

• cabin
• fever

Boredom and restlessness resulting from being indoors too long.
Examples:
1) After the tenth straight day of snow, I started getting cabin fever. 2) Ned was sick with the flu, and by the end of the week he had a bad case of cabin fever.
Etymology:
A 'cabin' is a small house, and 'fever' is sickness. So if you have 'cabin fever', you are sick of being inside your house.


cachet
[ka-SHAY]
1. A seal used especially as a mark of official approval.
2. A feature or quality conferring prestige; also: prestige.
Example:
Robin's chosen college didn't have the same cachet as an Ivy League school, but it had the best program for her needs.
Etymology:
In the years before the French Revolution, a "lettre de cachet" was a letter, signed by both the French king and another officer, that was used to authorize a person's imprisonment. Documents such as these were usually made official by being marked with a seal pressed into soft wax. This seal was known in French as a "cachet". This word derived from the Middle French verb "cacher," meaning "to press" or "to hide." The "seal" sense of "cachet" has been used in English since the mid-17th century, and in the 19th century it acquired its extended sense, that of a distinguishing mark that is used to identify something as being prestigious.


cachinnate
[KAK-uh-nayt]
to laugh loudly or immoderately
Example:
"He looked in at the door and snickered, then in at the window, then peeked down from between the rafters and cachinnated till his sides must have ached." (John Burroughs, "A Bed of Boughs")
Etymology:
"Cachinnate" has been whooping it up in English since the 19th century. The word derives from the Latin verb "cachinnare", meaning "to laugh loudly," and "cachinnare" was probably coined in imitation of a loud laugh. As such, "cachinnare" is much like the Old English "ceahhetan", the Old High German "kachazzen", and the Greek "kachazein" - all words of imitative origin that essentially meant "to laugh loudly". Our word "cackle" has a different ancestor than any of these words (the Middle English "cakelen"), but this word, too, is believed to have been modeled after the sound of laughter.

cacophony

• cacophonous

[kuh-KAH-fuh-nee]
1. Harsh or discordant sound; dissonance.
2. The use of harsh or discordant sounds in literary composition.
Examples:
1) New York was then a cacophony of sounds - a dozen accents ricocheting off surrounding buildings as immigrant mothers called their children home for supper, noon whistles blowing, vendors hawking their wares on the streets, children shouting, horses whinnying, and people yelling. (Herbert G. Goldman, "Banjo Eyes")
2) The mammoth central station towered over the platforms, and with the cacophony from whooshing steam, shrill whistles, shouts and the heaving of hand and horse carts, not only was it the biggest, noisiest, most confusing experience any of them had ever encountered, but the city was almost unimaginable. (Christopher Ogden, "Legacy: A Biography of Moses and Walter Annenberg")
Etymology:
"Cacophony" comes from Greek "kakophonia", from "kakophonos", from "kakos" ("bad") + "phone" ("sound"). The adjective form is cacophonous. The opposite of cacophony is euphony.


cadge

• codger
• old codger

1. Donation to a beggar.
2. A circular frame on which cadgers carry hawks for sale.
3. (Proverb or slang) To beg for money; to intrude or live on another meanly; to ask for and get free; be a parasite.
Synonyms: mooch, bum, grub, sponge, beg, nag 4. To obtain or seek to obtain by wheedling.
Synonym: scrounge
5. (Proverb - English and Scotland) To carry, as a burden.
6. (Proverb) To hawk or peddle, as fish, poultry, etc.
Examples:
1) He is always shnorring cigarettes from his friends.
2) He cadged a tenner off me yesterday.
3) See if you can cadge a lift to the pub.
History, related words, more examples:
The word starts its recorded life with men of that name in Northern England and Scotland in the late 15th c. They were itinerant hawkers and peddlers with a horse and cart or a packhorse, who collected butter, eggs, poultry and other farm produce for sale in the local market and who in return took out small items to farms from the local shops. They did not enjoy a high reputation: often hard bargainers and hard swearers ("to curse like a cadger" was once a Scots simile), they were at the bottom of the social order. An old Scots proverb says "the king's errand may come to the cadger's gate yet", meaning that even the highest in the land may sometimes need the help of the most humble. About 1600 we start to see the verb "to cadge", meaning to carry things about, as a cadger does. In the 19th c. the word went even further downhill, when it started to be applied in England to men who pretended to be hawkers or street traders but who were actually beggars or tramps. An early example, of 1860, is in "The Roman Question", by Edmond About: "Pray give something to yonder sham cripple; give to that cadger who pretends to have lost an arm; and be sure you don't forget that blind young man leaning on his father's arm!" A little later, the word shifted to refer to men who "borrowed" small sums from acquaintances and friends but conveniently forgot to return them. R. Austin Freeman (an almost forgotten crime writer, well-known in his day) acutely observed the type in "For The Defence, Dr Thorndyke" of 1934: "Ronald Barton was an inveterate cadger, a confirmed borrower; and, as is the way of the habitual borrower, as soon as the loan had been obtained, the transaction was finished and the incident closed so far as he was concerned." There's another sort of "cadge", in falconry: the padded wooden frame on which hooded hawks are taken out to the field. This is often said to be linked to the other senses but it seems instead to have been an alteration of "cage" under the influence of "cadge" in the sense of carrying things. The man who carried the cadge was also a cadger, but despite comments in falconry books this has nothing to do with the begging sense. There's also "codger", which often turns up these days as "old codger", meaning a man who is mildly eccentric and of mature years. This may well be a variation on "cadger" that comes through the idea of an old beggar or tramp (at one time in English dialect "codger" could refer to a disagreeable or miserly old man) but which has softened somewhat over time. Falconers sometimes like to say this is also connected with cadges, since those who carried them were often old men good for nothing better. Again, this just muddies the etymological waters.

cadre
[KAD-ree; -ray; KAH-dray; -druh]
1. A core or nucleus of trained or otherwise qualified personnel around which an organization is formed.
2. A tightly knit and trained group of dedicated members active in promoting the interests of a revolutionary party.
3. A member of such a group.
4. A group of people with a unifying relationship.
5. A framework upon which a larger entity can be built.
Synonym: scheme.
Examples:
1) Trained cadres flowed across the porous border and down the blossoming supply trail through eastern Laos. (Peter Gay, "Pleasure Wars")
2) Around 1880, the year Flaubert died, the French avant-garde was made up of a cadre of bitter, highly self-conscious poets, painters, novelists, and critics. (Daniel Okrent, "Twilight of the Boomers," Time, June 12, 2000)
3) The prison's existence was known only to those who worked or were imprisoned there and to a handful of high-ranking cadres, known as the Party Center, who reviewed the documents emerging from S-21 and selected the individuals and the military and other units to be purged. (David Chandler, "Voices From S-21)
4) The failure of the League of Nations and the shock of Munich had spurred more support, sometimes from names that were widely known, for a federation of free peoples, a union of sovereign states, or whatever similar arrangement might lower the possibility of conflict. Adherents came from the usual cadre of pious dreamers. (Hugo Young, "This Blessed Plot")
Etymology:
Upon entering the English language around 1830 via Sir Walter Scott's "Introduction to The Lay of the Last Minstrel", this word first meant "framework," and by the 1850s was a term for a group of people. It was borrowed from the French "cadre" ("a picture frame"), from Italian "quadro" ("framework"), from Latin "quadrum" ("square, four-sided thing").
Squares can make good frameworks - a fact that makes it easier to understand why first French speakers and later English speakers used "cadre" as a word meaning "framework." If you think of a core group of officers in a regiment as the framework that holds things together for the unit, you'll understand how the "central unit" sense of "cadre" developed. Military leaders and their troops are well-trained and work together as a unified team, which may explain why "cadre" is now sometimes used more generally to refer to any group of people who have some kind of unifying characteristic, even if they aren't leaders.


caduceus
[kuh-DOO-see-us]
1. A figure of a staff with two snakes wound around it and two wings at the top.
2. An insignia bearing a caduceus and symbolizing a physician.
Example:
Adrienne knew she had found Dr. Moore's office when she saw the familiar caduceus on the door.
Etymology:
Beware of snakes - at least snakes entwining heraldic staffs - because they're not all caducei. The genuine "caduceus" takes its name from Latin, which in turn picked up the name as a modification of Greek "karykeion," from "karyx" or "keryx," meaning "herald." Such a two-snake staff was the symbol of messenger-gods Mercury and Hermes, and it is still used in the insignia of the U.S. Army medical corps. If you see just one snake and no wings, there may be a doctor in the house, but one who displays the staff of Aesculapius, the god of medicine, rather than a true caduceus.


caesura

• caesuras
• caesurae

[sih-ZHUR-uh; -ZUR-]
plural: caesuras or caesurae [sih-ZHUR-ee; -ZUR-ee]
1. A break or pause in a line of verse, a break in the flow of sound, usually occurring in the middle of a line, and indicated in scanning by a double vertical line; for example, "The proper study || of mankind is man" (Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man).
2. Any break, pause, or interruption.
3. A pause marking a rhythmic point of division in a melody.
Examples:
1) After an inconclusive day spent discussing the caesura of "Sonnet"'s opening line, Luke and his colleagues went for cocktails at Strabismus. (Martin Amis, "Heavy Water and Other Stories")
2) The crucial event of the Robedaux family occurs offscreen, in a narrative caesura between the film's two "acts." (Richard Corliss, "The Patter of Little Footes," Time, May 13, 1985)
3) Say her name today in the right circles and you'll notice a sudden intake of breath, a caesura of pure awe. (Michael Dirda, "In which our intrepid columnist visits the Modern Language Association convention and reflects on what he found there," Washington Post, January 28, 2001)
4) During the historical caesura between the total destruction of Aquileia and the seventh-century foundation of the city of Heraclea as the first political capital of the second Venice, the refugees lived on Grado and the other islands, just as Cassiodorus had seen them: humbly, simply, and by the toil of their hands. (Patricia Fortini Brown, "Venice and Antiquity")
5) Without so much as the caesura of a drawn breath I was first shouting in joy, then screaming in shock. (E.L. Doctorow, "World's Fair")
History:
The word "caesura," borrowed from Late Latin, is ultimately from Latin, from the past participle of "caedere" meaning "to cut", "caesura" ("a cutting off, a division, a stop"). Nearly as old as the 450-year-old poetry senses is the general meaning "a break or interruption."
Caesuras (or caesurae) are those slight pauses one makes as one reads verse. While it may seem that their most obvious role is to emphasize the metrical construction of the verse, more often we need these little stops (which may be, but are not necessarily, set off by punctuation) to introduce the cadence and phrasing of natural speech into the metrical scheme.


caitiff
[KAY-tif]
cowardly, despicable
Example:
The caitiff villain yet seemed... to have some sense of his being the object of public detestation, which made him impatient of being in public. (Sir Walter Scott, "The Heart of Midlothian")
Etymology:
The adjective's more common, but "caitiff" also occurs as a noun meaning "a base, cowardly, or despicable person" (as in Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure": "O thou caitiff! O thou varlet! O thou wicked Hannibal!"). Both the adjective and the noun came into English in the 14th century, and both evolved from the Anglo-French adjective "caitif", meaning "wretched, despicable". The French word in turn derived from the Latin "captivus", meaning "captive" - the shift from "captive" to "wretched" perhaps prompted by the perception of captives as wretched and worthy of scorn.


cajole
[kuh-JOAL, -JOHL]
1. To persuade with flattery, repeated appeals, soothing words, or gentle urging, especially in the face of reluctance.
Synonym: coax
Examples:
1) Peter's friends cajoled him into coming to the party even though he was not in the mood to go.
2) If Robert had been an ordinary ten-year-old he would have cajoled and whined, asked and asked and asked until I snapped at him to keep quiet. (Anna Quindlen, "Black and Blue")
3) One of Virgil's great accomplishments was his ability to charm, cajole, weasel people out of their bad moods, especially when their bads moods inconvenienced him. (Anthony Tommasini, "Virgil Thomson: Composer on the Aisle")
4) Whiz kept to himself and spent long hours every day studying financials and technical charts and reading impenetrable economic publications. Even the warden had tried to cajole him into sharing market tips. (Belfry Holdings, "The Brethren")
2. To deceive with soothing words or false promises.
History, related words:
It's likely that words "cajole" and "cage" are connected. Researchers have made an association between the prattle of a caged bird and the persistent wheedling of a person attempting to get something out of someone else. "Cajole" comes from an Early Modern French verb, "cajoler," which now means "coax" but at one time meant "to chatter like a bird in a cage, to sing"; hence, "to amuse with idle talk, to flatter; to chatter like a jay." Some etymologists theorize that "cajoler" is from "gaiole", "jaiole", an Old North French word meaning "(bird)cage". "Gaiole" derives from a Medieval Latin word, "caveola," which means "little cage" and is the diminutive of the Latin "cavea" ("an enclosure, a den for animals, a bird cage"), from "cavus" - "hollow". It is related to "cave", "cage" and "jail" (British "gaol").


calamity leave

• calamity
• leave

emergency leave to deal with family crises.
Example:
Calamity leave: This leave is meant for very special personal circumstances that require immediate action. Its duration varies from a few hours to a few days-as long as is necessary to do what needs to be done. Generally speaking the employer will grant such leave and is obliged to do so to an extent that is fair considering the nature of the problem. In those cases where the employee is entitled to ten-day leave the calamity leave will only last one day and will then be replaced by the ten-day leave. (The Netherlands' Caregiving Legislation)



call


call it a day

• call
• day

to stop work for the day; to bring a project to an end for the time being.
Example:
You've been working on that history report since before breakfast. Why don't you call it
a day?
Etymology:
The idea expressed in this idiom is that a certain amount of work is enough for one day. When you've done that amount, you should "call it a day", meaning to declare that you've done a full day's work and that you're stopping.

call one's bluff

• call your bluff
• call the bluff
• call
• bluff

To demand that someone prove a claim; to challenge someone to carry out a threat; to challenge someone to show that they are not being deceptive and can actually do what they say they can do.
Examples:
1) My girlfriend always said that she didn't want to get married so I called her bluff and asked her to marry me. She said yes.
2) They're bragging they can beat us badly. C'mon. Let's call their bluff.
Etymology:
This early 19th century American saying comes from card playing. In poker, a player makes bets according to what his hand is, compared to what he thinks others' are. When you bluff, you pretend you have a great hand of cards even when you don't, and raise the bet to fake out the other players. One makes an opponent show his or her cards to show that they are weaker than they are pretending them to be. If someone "calls your bluff", he or she challenges you by meeting or raising your bet ("to call" means to match a bet) to make you show the cards you really have.


call smb. on the carpet

• call on the carpet
• walk the carpet
• walk
• call
• carpet

to call a person before an authority for a scolding.
Example:
My piano teacher called me on the carpet today. He could tell I hadn't practiced all
week.
History:
There was an expression in Britain in the early 1800s, "to walk the carpet". That referred to a servant's being called into the parlor (which was always carpeted, unlike the servant's quarters) to be scolded by the master or mistress of the house. Later the saying was applied to an unlucky employee being called to the boss's office (also carpeted) to be bawled out. Today, if anyone in authority scolds you, you are being "called on the carpet" no matter how the floor is actually covered.

call the shots

• call the shot
• call the tune
• call one's shots
• call one's shot
• call
• shots
• shot

1. to make the decisions; to be in charge or control; to determine the policy or procedure; to give orders; exercise authority; run the show.
Example:
1) You may know all about glassblowing, but here in the gym, I call the shots.
2) Who is calling the shots in this house?
Synonym: call the tune
2. to announce exactly what one is going to do.
Example:
In some games played on the pool table, the shooter is required to call his shots,
e.g. "Eight ball in the side pocket".
History:
The origin of this expression is unclear, but it might refer to the officer in charge of soldiers in a battle. He gives the commands and calls the (gun) shots. The phrase also suggests the role of a coach of a basketball team who tells the players what plays to make and what (basketball) shots to take. On the other hand, "calling the shots" might come from the game of billiards or pool, wherein the player announces his shots in advance. Today we say that the person in charge of any kind of activity "calls the shots". According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "calling the shots" seems to be a surprisingly recent phrase, having first appeared in print in the late 1960s, although it was probably in use as oral slang for years or even decades before someone thought to use it in print. An earlier phrase, "to call one's shots", apparently was current by the 1930s.

callisthenics

• calisthenics
• calisthenic exercise
• callisthenic exercise
• exercise
• calisthenic
• callisthenic

Also: calisthenics (AmE)
Light exercise designed to promote general fitness; a set of physical exercises that are intended to make you thin and healthy; strengthening and beautifying exercises.
Example:
Aliya Yusupova has won her first silver medal in the all-round competitions in the callisthenics world cup round in Baku.
Synonyms:
calisthenic exercise, callisthenic exercise.
Etymology:
1839, formed on model of Fr. "callisthenie", from Gk. "kallos" ("beauty") + "sthenos" ("strength"). Originally, gymnastic exercises suitable for girls and meant to develop the figure; training calculated to develop the figure and promote graceful movement. The proper Gk., if there was such a word in Gk., would have been "kallistheneia".


callithump

• callithumpian

[KAL-uh-thump]
A noisy boisterous band or parade.
Example:
The town is trying to enlist one of Hollywood's most famous leading men to serve as grand marshal for this year's Memorial Day callithump.
History, related words:
"Callithump" and the related adjective "callithumpian" are Americanisms, but their roots stretch back to England. In the 19th century, the noun "callithumpian" was used in the U.S. of boisterous roisterers who had their own makeshift New Year's parade. Their band instruments consisted of crude noisemakers such as pots, tin horns and cowbells. The antecedent of "callithumpians" is an 18th-century British dialect term for another noisy group, the "Gallithumpians," who made a rumpus on election days in southern England. Today, the words "callithump" and "callithumpian" see occasional use, especially in the names of specific bands and parades. The callithumpian bands and parades of today are more organized than those of the past, but they retain an association with noise and boisterous fun.


callow
[KAL-oh]
Immature; lacking adult perception, experience, or judgment.
Examples:
1) Those who in later years did me harm I describe as I knew them then, and I beg any reader to remember that, although I was hardly callow, I was not yet wise in the ways of the world. (Iain Pears, "An Instance of the Fingerpost")
2) George Black Jr was grateful that during his protracted courtship of Betty, his future father-in-law 'bore my callow unsophistication with benign indulgence'. (Richard Siklos, "Shades of Black")
3) They watched in awe as Revere, at first a callow and unambitious youth, began to develop into a serious young man dedicated to books and devoted to his father. (Sherwin B. Nuland, "The Saint," New Republic, December 13, 1999)
Etymology:
"Callow" is from Old English "calu" - "featherless, bald."


calm before the storm

• calm
• storm

a period of peace before a disturbance or crisis; an unnatural or false calm
before a storm.
Example:
The meeting may be peaceful now, but this is only the calm before the storm.
Etymology:
There was an ancient Greek proverb that said "Fair weather brings on cloudy weather". Though that's not always true, people have noticed since the 1500s that there often was a period of stillness before a big storm. For over four centuries the meaning of this saying has been broadened to include any time of false peacefulness right before a violent outburst.


calumny

• calumnious
• slander

[KAL-uhm-nee]
1. False accusation of a crime or offense, intended to injure another's reputation.
2. Malicious misrepresentation.
Synonym: slander.
Examples:
1) They would see to it that every suspicious whisper and outright calumny would be repeated in print, breathing fire into the growing spirit of faction. (William Safire, "Scandalmonger")
2) They protest to him against the universal order, and then reward his kind words by calumny and accusations of... inhumanity and cruelty. (Paola Capriolo, "Floria Tosca")
3) Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. (Shakespeare, "Hamlet")
4) "The idea that computer games make children socially awkward adults is a preposterous calumny," sputtered Ted.
Etymology, more examples, related words:
"Calumny" made an appearance in these famous words from Shakespeare's "Hamlet": "If thou dost marry, I'll give thee this plague for thy dowry: be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery, go." "Calumny" had been in the English language for a while, though, before Hamlet uttered it; the term first entered English, from Middle French "calomnie," in the 15th century. "Calomnie" in turn came from the Latin word "calumnia" (meaning "false accusation," "false claim," or "trickery"), which itself came from Latin "calvi," meaning "to form intrigues, to deceive."
The adjective form is calumnious.

camarilla
[kam-uh-RIL-uh; -REE-yuh]
A group of secret and often scheming advisers, as of a king; a cabal or clique.
Examples:
1) Mr Kiselev likened Yeltsin's entourage to a "camarilla"... which would turn Russia "into a gigantic banana republic corrupted from top to bottom by a rotten clique of demagogues". (Marcus Warren, "Moguls at war over control of Kremlin," Daily Telegraph, July 23, 1999)
2) The arrest in October 1976 of Mao's radical camarilla, the so-called Gang of Four, led by his maniacal widow, Jiang Qing, was the second "liberation," delivering the Chinese from the most extreme forms of ideological conditioning. (Willem Van Kemenade, "China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Inc.")
Etymology:
"Camarilla" comes from Spanish, literally, "a small room," from Late Latin "camera" - "chamber" ("vault; arched roof" in Latin), from Greek "kamara" ("vault").


campanologist
[kam-puh-NAH-luh-jist]
One that practices or is skilled in the art of bell ringing.
Example:
The fast pace of modern life has taken its toll among practicing campanologists, and the art has lost some of its appeal.
History, related words:
The first bells were rung some 4,000 years ago during the Bronze Age, when those instruments were forged and riveted from metal plates. By the 17th century, bells were ringing around the world and in Britain campanology had become a "gentleman's recreation." But although the first campanologists' organization, The Society of College Youths, was founded in 1637, the words "campanology" and "campanologist" (from "campana," Late Latin for "bell") did not debut in English publications until around 1823 and 1857 respectively.


campestral

• rural

[kam-PESS-trul]
Of or relating to fields or open country.
Synonym: rural.
Example:
The campestral scenery surrounding Reginald's new home inspired him to take up landscape painting.
Etymology, related words:
Scamper across an open field, then, while catching your breath, ponder this: "scamper" and "campestral" both ultimately derive from the Latin noun "campus," meaning "field" or "plain." Latin "campester" is the adjective that means "pertaining to a campus." In ancient Rome, a campus was a place for games, athletic practice, and military drills. "Scamper" probably started with a military association, as well (it is assumed to have evolved from the Latin verb "excampare," meaning "to decamp"). In English, "campestral" took on an exclusively rural aspect upon its introduction in the 18th century, while "campus," you might say, became strictly academic.


camphor gum

• camphor gum resin
• camphor
• gum resin
• gum
• resin

Camphor, type of fragrant resin used in medicine and in the production of perfumes.
Example:
Scargo is an all-natural blend of soothing and moisturizing oils combined with stimulating camphor gum.
(For more information see: camphor gum resin)



camphor gum resin

• camphor gum
• resin
• camphor
• gum resin
• gum
• Terebinth gum resin
• Terebinth
• frankincense

Myrrh.
Example:
Christians usually call myrrh "camphor gum resin".
Etymology, related words:
The word "myrrh" derives from the Greek "myrrha", which in turn derives from the Hebrew "murr" ("bitter"). It denotes the gummy, red-brown sap of the Commiphora myrrha tree, indigenous to Somalia and Ethopia, which is used in perfume and incense. Terebinth gum resin is also called frankincense.


can't hold a candle

• cannot hold a candle
• can't hold a candle to
• cannot hold a candle to
• hold a candle
• hold a candle to
• hold
• candle

When one thing is much better than another, people say that the lesser thing "can't hold a candle" to the better thing. It is similar to saying that something "doesn't measure up" to something else. Example: Mom, this frozen pizza is good, but it can't hold a candle to your homemade pizza!

canard
[kuh-NAHRD]
1. An unfounded, false, or fabricated report or story.
2. A horizontal control and stabilizing surface mounted forward of the main wing of an aircraft.
3. An aircraft whose horizontal stabilizer is mounted forward of the main wing.
Examples:
1) This is just a canard that is assumed to be true because it has been repeated so often. (Bruce Bartlett, "Lower Taxes Higher Revenue?," National Review, March 13, 2003)
2) Loath as I am to resurrect the old canard accusing writers or critics who dislike a popular work of art of being jealous, in Byatt's case, it might be true. (Charles Taylor, "quoted in Rowling books 'for people with stunted imaginations," The Guardian, July 11, 2003)
3) Several students say they still believe the canard that no Americans died in Bali - in fact, six did. (Phil Zabriskie, "Did You Hear...?" Time Asia, February 1, 2003)
4) Whether this was true (which seems improbable) or was one of Lawrence's numerous canards (which seems very possible), it appears that Father did intend to strike camp at some time. (Douglas Botting, "Gerald Durrell: The Authorized Biography")
Etymology:
In French "canard" means "duck" or "false news; hoax". The latter sense of the word probably comes from the phrase "vendre un canard ? moiti?" - "to half-sell a duck", which is to say, not to sell it at all, hence "to take in, to make a fool of."


canker
[KANG-ker]
1. To become infested with erosive or spreading sores.
2. To corrupt the spirit of.
3. To become corrupted.
Example:
It was evident that their hearts were cankered with discontent. (Samuel Johnson, "Rasselas")
Etymology:
"Canker" is commonly known as the name for a type of spreading sore that eats into the tissue - a use that obviously furnished the verb with both its medical and figurative senses. The word ultimately traces back to Latin "cancer," which could refer to a crab or a malignant tumor. The Greeks had a similar word, "karkinos," and according to the Ancient Greek physician Galen the tumor got its name from the way the swollen veins surrounding the affected part resembled a crab's limbs. "Cancer" was adopted into Old English, becoming "canker" in Middle English and eventually shifting in meaning to become a general term for ulcerations. "Cancer" itself was reintroduced to English later, first as a zodiacal word and then as a medical term.


cannibalize
[KAN-uh-buh-lyze]
1. To take parts from a machine for use in building or repairing another machine.
2. To take sales away from an existing product by selling or being sold as a similar but new product usually from the same manufacturer.
3. To practice cannibalism.
Example:
The band's concert CD did not cannibalize sales of the full-length album as some people expected.
History:
During World War II, military personnel often used salvageable parts from disabled vehicles and aircraft to repair other vehicles and aircraft. This sacrifice of one thing for the sake of another of its kind must have reminded some folks of cannibalism by humans and animals, because the process came to be known as "cannibalizing." The armed forces of this time were also known to cannibalize - that is, to take away personnel from - units to build up other units. It didn't take long for this military slang to become civilianized; and since its demobilization, the term has become a popular item served up in business writing and at company meetings to describe the practice of taking sales away from other businesses or even one's own products.


canorous
[kuh-NOR-uhs; KAN-or-uhs]
Richly melodious; pleasant sounding; musical.
Examples:
1) I felt a deep contentment listening to the meadowlark's complex melody as he sat on his bragging post calling for a mate, and the soft canorous whistle of the bobwhite as he whistled his name with intermittent lulls. (Donna R. La Plante, "Remember When: The prairie after a spring rain," Kansas City Star, March 16, 2003)
2) But birds that are canorous and whose notes we most commend, are of little throats, and short necks, as Nightingales, Finches, Linnets, Canary birds and Larks. (Sir Thomas Browne, "Pseudodoxia Epidemica")
Etymology:
"Canorous" comes from the Latin "canor" ("melody"), from "canere" ("to sing"). It is related to "chant", from French "chanter" ("to sing"), ultimately from Latin "canere".


cant
[KANT]
1. The idioms and peculiarities of speech in any sect, class, or occupation; jargon.
2. The use of pious words without sincerity.
3. Empty, solemn speech, implying what is not felt; insincere talk; hypocrisy.
4. A whining manner of speaking, especially of beggars.
Examples:
1) Don Juan delighted London gossipmongers with plentiful allusions to the scandal surrounding the poet's divorce from his young wife of one year and his subsequent flight from English "hypocrisy and cant." (Banite Eisler, "Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame")
2) Underneath all the grime there was as much sentimental piety and conformist cant. (Andrew Sarris, "You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet")
3) ...the English major from a working-class family who now and then asks a forthright question that cuts through the literary cant. (Theodore Solotaroff, "Memoirs for Memorial Day," New York Times, May 29, 1977)
Etymology:
"Cant" ultimately derives from Latin "cantus" ("singing, chanting").


cap-a-pie

• cap
• pie

[cap-uh-PEE]
From head to foot; at all points.
Examples:
1) Yet it is increasingly hard to ignore other scientific predictions sashaying into the press dressed cap-a-pie in silver lining. (Andrew Marr, "Skegness: not so much bracing as basking?", Daily Telegraph, January 14, 2004)
2) The dress code was smart but informal and Cherie Blair cut an appropriately dark but bohemian figure dressed cap-a-pie in floor-length black leather. (Cassandra Jardine, "Court of King Tony takes centre stage", Daily Telegraph, September 8, 2001)
3) They are of one shade cap-a-pie, black as midnight and fleet of wing. (M.D. Harmon, "Sorry, but it's true: Birds of a feather do flock together", Portland Press Herald, January 5, 2004)
4) In another age, there would have been beheadings, clanging prison doors in the dark Tower; there would have been a second royal court with an army preparing to do battle, prancing steeds and knights armored cap-a-pie. (Arnold Beichman, "Spellbinding farewell . . . and fantasy", Washington Times, September 10, 1997)
Etymology:
"Cap-a-pie" is from Middle French "(de) cap a p?" ("from head to foot"), from Latin "ped" ("foot") + "caput" ("head").


capacious

• ample
• commodious
• roomy
• spacious
• voluminous

[kuh-PAY-shuhs]
Able to contain much; roomy; spacious.
Synonyms:
ample, commodious, roomy, spacious, voluminous.
Examples:
1) Litter was picked up non stop during the week (mostly by that nice governor with the capacious pockets). (Faysal Mikdadi, "'Why shouldn't it be like this all the time?'" The Guardian, September 2, 2002)
2) Out of those capacious receptacles he brought forth a small bottle of Scotch whiskey, a lemon, and some lump sugar. (Ellen M. Calder, "Personal Recollections of Walt Whitman," The Atlantic, June 1907)
3) Is it worth pointing out that the boot seems remarkably capacious for a little car? (Giles Smith, "Er, what's the sixth gear for?" The Guardian, January 8, 2002)
Etymology:
"Capacious" is derived from Latin "capax, capac-" ("able to hold or contain").


caparison
[kuh-PAIR-uh-sun]
Noun
1. An ornamental covering for a horse; decorative trappings and harness.
2. Rich clothing; adornment.
Verb
3. To decorate with trappings.
Example:
For her role as the queen, the costume department fitted Rita with the kind of caparisons suitable only for royalty.
History, more examples:
"Caparison" first embellished English in the 1500s, when it was borrowed from the Middle French "caparacon." Early caparisons were likely used to display the heraldic colors of a horseman, and in some cases may also have functioned as protective covering for the horse. In British India, elephants, not horses, were decked out with caparisons - and to this day both animals can still be seen in such attire during parades and circuses. It did not take long for "caparison" to come to refer to the ornate clothing worn by a man or woman. "Caparison" also serves English as a verb, a use first recorded in Shakespeare when Richard III commanded, "Come, bustle, bustle; caparison my horse."


capitulate
[kuh-PICH-uh-layt]
To surrender under agreed conditions.
Examples:
1) Just before peace talks on Kosovo are due to resume, the United States and its allies are sending contradictory signals to Belgrade, making it less likely that President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia will capitulate on American terms. (Steven Erlanger, "West's Bosnia Move May Hurt Kosovo Bid," New York Times, March 7, 1999)
2) I am ashamed to think how easily we capitulate to badges and names. (Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance")
Etymology, related words:
"Capitulate" comes from Medieval Latin "capitulare" ("to draw up in chapters, hence to arrange conditions"), from Latin "capitula" ("chapters"). "Chapter" itself is related.


capricious

• unpredictable
• caprice
• whimsical
• changeable

[kuh-PRISH-us, -PREE-shus]
Governed or characterized by sudden, impulsive, and seemingly unmotivated ideas or actions; apt to change suddenly.
Synonym: unpredictable; whimsical; changeable.
Examples:
1) Given his capricious nature, Irving is more likely to go wherever the road takes him than follow any scripted plan.
2) Molly was a capricious woman. Her moods were unpredictable, her anger petty and vicious. (Rand Roberts and James Olson, "John Wayne: American")
3) The Countess was a capricious minx, by turns seductive and aloof. (Saul David, "Prince of Pleasure: The Prince of Wales and the Making of the Regency")
4) Mathematics is logical; people are erratic, capricious, and barely comprehensible. (Bruce Schneier, "Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World")
Etymology, related words:
"Capricious" comes, via French, from Italian "capriccio" ("a shivering, a shudder"), finally (influenced by Italian "capra" = "goat") "a whim," from "capo" = "head" (from Latin "caput") + "riccio" ("hedgehog", from Latin "ericius").
The noun "caprice," which first appeared in English in the mid-17th century, is a synonym of "whim." Evidence shows that the adjective "capricious" debuted about sixty years before "caprice"; however, it's likely that both words derived from the same roots. Someone who shuddered in fear, therefore, was said to have a "hedgehog head" - meaning that his or her hair stood on end like the spines of a hedgehog. Though no longer associated with fear, "capricious" now describes someone who acts through impulse instead of reason, perhaps as a fearful person might.


captious
[KAP-shuhs, KAP-shuss]
1. Marked by a disposition to find fault or raise objections, by an often ill-natured inclination to stress faults and raise objections.
2. Calculated to entrap or confuse, as in an argument.
Examples:
1) The most common among those are captious individuals who can find nothing wrong with their own actions but everything wrong with the actions of everybody else. ("In-Closet Hypocrites," Atlanta Inquirer, August 15, 1998)
2) Mr Bowman had, I think, been keeping Christmas Eve, and was a little inclined to be captious: at least, he was not on foot very early, and to judge from what I could hear, neither men nor maids could do anything to please him. (M. R. James, "The Haunted Dolls' House and Other Stories")
3) Most authors would prefer readers such as Roiphe over captious academic critics. (Steven Moore, "Old Flames," Washington Post, November 26, 2000)
4) With the imperturbablest bland clearness, he, for five hours long, keeps answering the incessant volley of fiery captious questions. (Thomas Carlyle, "The French Revolution")
Etymology, related words, explanation:
"Captious", as a relative of "capture" and "captivate", is derived from Latin "captiosus" ("sophistical, captious, insidious"). "Captious" actually comes from "captio," a Latin offspring of "capere," which literally means "a taking" but which was also used to mean "a deception" or "a sophistic argument." Arguments labeled "captious" are likely to capture you in a figurative sense; they often entrap through subtly deceptive reasoning or trifling points. A captious individual is one who you might also dub "hypercritical," the sort of carping, censorious critic only too ready to point out minor faults or raise objections on trivial grounds.


carapace
[KAIR-uh-pace]
1. The thick shell that covers the back of the turtle, the crab, and other animals.
2. Something likened to a shell that serves to protect or isolate from external influence. . . . a gauge for measuring the length of a lobster's carapace from the thorax to the eye socket. (Richard Adams Carey, "Against the Tide")
3. Hannah Jelkes,... who wears an air of cool reserve like a carapace. (Howard Taubman, "Theatre: 'Night of the Iguana' Opens," New York Times, December 29, 1961)
4. Desperate to win his father's attention and respect, Kennedy became a hard man for a long while, covering over his sensitivity and capacity for empathy with a carapace of arrogance. (Evan Thomas, "Robert Kennedy: His Life")
5. Eisenman, who is Meier's second cousin, was so neurotically insecure about his abilities that he sought to hide them within the dense carapace of arcane theory. (Martin Filler, "The Spirit of '76," New Republic, July 9, 2001)
6. Almost all the vivid, eyewitness accounts we have... date from a quarter of a century later, when Degas, celebrated and successful, had developed a crusty, cantankerous carapace, from which he emerged occasionally to deliver his famously caustic and enigmatic mots. (Christopher E. G. Benfey, "Degas in New Orleans")
Etymology:
"Carapace" comes from French, from Spanish "carapacho".


carbon neutral

• carbon
• neutral
• carbonneutral
• carbon neutrality
• neutrality
• carbon footprint
• footprint
• carbon audit
• audit
• carbon offset
• offset

Emitting no net carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Also: carbonneutral
carbon neutrality (n.)
Examples:
1) Burning wood for fuel also generates carbon dioxide emissions, but as long as new trees are planted to replace those used as fuel, the level of emissions doesn't change as the new trees are soaking up carbon to offset the emissions from the wood fuel. So wood fuel is 'carbon neutral.' ("Better management of forests across Europe would tie up much more carbon", Irish Independent, March 9, 2004)
2) Guy Dauncey, an environmentalist, book author and lecturer who lives in British Columbia, decided to go low-carb last year. It wasn't about laying off the potatoes: Mr. Dauncey decided to do something about the carbon dioxide his lifestyle was pumping into the atmosphere. The invisible gas, emitted by burning gasoline and other fuels, is blamed for rising global temperatures. That worries Mr. Dauncey. So after calculating how much CO2 he had emitted by driving his car, heating his home and flying on business trips during a year, he wrote a check for $280 to help install solar panels in Africa and Bhutan. Mr. Dauncey calculates the CO2 saved by switching people from kerosene to solar power will make up exactly for the 28 tons he estimates as his own emissions. "I have become carbon-neutral," he says. (Antonio Regalado, "New Lifestyle Option for the Eco-Minded: `Carbon-Neutral'", The Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2004)
Some more terms and history:
A plant is said to be "carbon neutral" if the carbon dioxide (CO2) that it absorbs while alive is the same as the CO2 it emits when burned as a fuel. For people and organizations, becoming carbon neutral is usually achieved by implementing renewable energy projects - such as planting trees, which absorb CO2 - that offset the amount of carbon dioxide emissions. How does one find out one's total carbon output, that is, one's "carbon footprint" (2000)? By performing a "carbon audit" (1997) that tallies up the amount of CO2 emitted by driving one's car, running one's appliances, and other activities. You then get to "carbon neutrality" (1997) by planting trees, investing in solar energy, and implementing other "carbon offsets" (1991).


carceral
[KAHR-suh-rul]
Of, relating to, or suggesting a jail or prison.
Example:
When James first glimpsed his new campus, he thought there was something rather carceral about the school's tall wrought-iron fence.
Etymology, more examples, related words:
Describing a painting of John Howard visiting a prison in 1787, writer Robert Hughes reminds us that Howard was "the pioneer of English carceral reform" ("Time Magazine", November 11, 1985). Huges might have said "prison reform," but what about Vladimir Nabokov, when, in his inimitable prose, he describes a prison scene in "Invitation to a Beheading": "The door opened, whining, rattling and groaning in keeping with all the rules of carceral counterpoint." Here we find "carceral" not only practical but practically poetical. An adjective borrowed directly from Late Latin, "carceral" appeared shortly after "incarcerate" ("to imprison"), which first showed up in English around the mid-1500s; they're both ultimately from "carcer," Latin for "prison."


carom
1. A rebound following a collision; a glancing off.
2. A shot in billiards in which the cue ball successively strikes two other balls on the table.
3. To strike and rebound; to glance.
4. To make a carom.
5. To make (an object) bounce off something; to cause to carom.
Examples:
1) The cart smashed into the steep hillside in explosive caroms and bounces, sending billows of dust and rock into the air. (Ev Ehrlich, "Grant Speaks")
2) Three blocks away, in the Rue des Jardiniers, four Moroccan children were kicking a filthy soccer ball up and down the street. It caromed off the parked cars, rolled into the gutter, was kicked again, leaving dirty blotches where it had smacked against the vehicles' fenders. (Philip Shelby, "Gatekeeper")
3) The anger caroms around in our psyches like jagged stones. (Randall Robinson, "Defending the Spirit")
Etymology:
"Carom" derives from obsolete "carambole", from Spanish "carambola" ("a stroke at billiards").


carouse
[kuh-ROWZ] ("OW" as in "cow")
verb:
1. To drink liquor freely or excessively.
2. To drink heavily, consume large quantities of alcohol; to act in a crazy drunken manner.
3. To take part in a drunken revel; engage in dissolute behavior.
noun:
4. Revelry in drinking; a merry drinking party; drinking match; a carousal. 5. A drinking bout.
6. (Obs.) A large draught of liquor.
Examples:
1) When Dan got his first job after college, he soon learned that he couldn't carouse all weekend and be alert for work on Monday morning.
2) They were out carousing last night. 3) There was a full carouse of sack.
4) Drink carouses to the next day's fate.
5) He had been aboard, carousing to his mates.
Etymology:
Sixteenth-century English revelers toasting each other's health sometimes drank a brimming mug of spirits straight to the bottom - drinking "all-out," they called it. German tipplers did the same and used the German expression for "all out" - "gar aus." The French adopted the German term as "carous," using the adverb in their expression "boire (to drink) carous," and that phrase, with its idiomatic sense of "to empty the cup," led to "carrousse," a French noun meaning "a large draft of liquor." And that's where English speakers picked up "carouse" in the mid-1500s, first as a noun (which later took on the sense of a general "drinking bout"), and then as a verb meaning "to drink freely."


carpe diem

• carpe
• diem

[KAR-peh-DEE-em]
The enjoyment of the pleasures of the moment without concern for the future.
Example:
In the spirit of carpe diem we jumped at the chance to travel to Paris, even though it was a stretch for our budget.
History:
This Latin phrase literally means "Pluck the day!", but it is most often translated as "Seize the day!". Horace, the Roman poet, coined the phrase to convey the philosophy that one should enjoy life while one can. The so-called "carpe diem poetry" of 16th-century and 17th-century England expresses this idea in verse; in a well-known example, Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress", the poet urges his lover to submit to his embraces before her beauty fades and they both die.


carry coals to Newcastle

• carry coal to Newcastle
• carry
• coal
• coals
• Newcastle

to do something unnecessary; to bring something to a place where it is already
plentiful
Example:
Taking flowers to the florist's daughter is like carrying coals to Newcastle.
Etymology:
There are many coal mines in the English city of Newcastle. Coal is shipped out from this port to other places. Newcastle definitely doesn't need extra coal, so if you carry coals there, you are doing something totally unnecessary. Today the meaning of this expression includes similar situations like taking snowballs to people living near the North Pole or giving a glass of water to a drowning man.

carry the ball

• carry
• ball

to be in charge or be responsible; to make sure that a job gets done right
Example:
As for organizing the ski trip, Angel will carry the ball.
Etymology:
This idiom comes from the world of sports, especially football. In many ball games, the most important person is the one who has the ball at the moment. This phrase expanded to include other areas of life, such as school, business, or government. The person holding the ball is the one responsible for the task.

cash merger

• cash
• merger

A merger in which shareholders in the company to be absorbed receive cash for their shares rather than shares in the absorbing company (a tender offer to be followed by a cash merger); a merger transaction in which certain shareholders or interests in a corporation are required to accept cash for their shares.

cast pearls before swine

• cast pearls
• swine
• cast
• pearl
• pearls
• cast perls to hogs
• cast perls to hog
• hogs
• hog
• cast perls to pigs
• pigs
• pig

To waste something good or valuable on someone who won't appreciate or understand it.
Example:
Serving gourmet food to John is like casting pearls before swine. He likes fast food and jelly sandwiches.
History:
This expression comes from the Bible (Matthew 7:6) and was later used by famous writers such as William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens. Giving pearls to swine, or pigs, would be foolish. The pig wants mud and food, not precious jewels. In a similar way, wasting something good on someone who won't be thankful for it is like "casting pearls before swine."
Synonyms:
cast perls to hogs, cast perls to pigs

cast the first stone

• cast
• the first stone
• first stone
• first
• stone

To be the firs to attack, blame, or criticize someone; to lead accusers against a wrongdoer.
Example:
Don't criticize. You've done it yourself, so you shouldn't cast the first stone.
History:
The saying comes from the Bible. The apostle John writes that when people wanted to stone to death a woman accused of something immoral, Jesus said, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." In other words, you shouldn't criticize how others behave unless you're perfect yourself.

castigate
[KAS-tuh-gayt]
1. To punish severely.
2. To chastise verbally; to rebuke; to criticize severely.
Synonyms: punish, chastise, rebuke, reprove, reprimand.
Examples:
1) It was not good enough to castigate him for his sins. (Frank Deford, "Knight is too easy a target," Sports Illustrated, May 25, 2000)
2) Out in the world they marvelled that they were found acceptable to others, after years of being castigated as unsatisfactory, disappointing. (Anita Brookner, "Falling Slowly")
3) Though castigated by the Catholic Church, illegitimacy was scarcely an unusual feature of Austrian country life. (Ian Kershaw, "Hitler: 1889-1936: Hubris")
4) For my lack of missionary zeal, I have been castigated by a few militant atheists, who are irritated by my disinclination to try persuading people to abandon their faith that God exists (while some religious people regard me as a militant atheist intent on promoting worship of unspecified "secular idols"). (Wendy Kaminer, "Sleeping With Extra-Terrestrials")
Etymology:
"Castigate" comes from Latin "castigare" ("to purify, to correct, to punish"), from "castus" ("pure").


cat around

• cat
• around

To live an aimless, immoral life.
(See tomcat and alley cat)

cat burglar

• cat
• burglar

A nimble, silent, sneaky thief.
Refers to the way cats are able to sneak up and steal their prey.

cat in gloves catches no mice

• A cat in gloves catches no mice
• A cat in gloves
• catch
• mice
• cat in gloves
• cat
• glove

This expression means that sometimes you can't accomplish a goal by being careful and polite.
An idiom attributed to Ben Franklin in "Poor Richard's Almanac".

cat lap

• catlap
• cat
• lap

Usually weak tea or milk; something fit only for cats to drink.

cat o' nine tails

• cat of nine tails
• cat o'nine tails
• cat
• tail
• nine

A whip.
Etymology: In olden days, people were flogged by a nasty device made up of three separate knottings of three stands attached to the whip's handle. While the strands may have been made from the hide of cats, the multiple of 9 had already been associated with cats; presumably if a person being flogged survived, they were as lucky as a cat with 9 lives.

cat's cradle

• cat
• cradle

A string game played by children.

cat's eye

• cat
• eye

Precious or semi-precious gems that have a changing luster; also road markers which reflect car lights (invented by Englishman Percy Shaw).
Refers to the coloring similar to a cat's and to the reflecting of light in a cat's eyes.

cat's foot

• cat
• foot

To live under the cat's foot is to allow someone to control you.
Etymology: The phrase was coined in reference to the "toying" behavior of a cat with a mouse or other "toy."

cat's melody

• cat
• melody

Making harsh noises or cries.
Etymology: Probably came from Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night: "What a caterwauling do you keep here!"
(See: caterwauling.)

cat's meow

• cat's pajamas
• cat's whiskers
• cat
• meow

Something considered to be outstanding.
Etymology: Coined by American cartoonist Thomas a. Dorgan (1877-1929) whose work appears in many American newspapers.
Synonyms: cat's pajamas, cat's whiskers

cat's pajamas

• cat
• pajamas

Something considered to be outstanding.
Etymology: Coined by American cartoonist Thomas a. Dorgan (1877-1929) whose work appears in many American newspapers.

cat's paw

• cat
• paw
• cat's-paw

[KATS-PAW]
1. Light air that ruffles the surface of the water in irregular patches during a calm.
2. A hitch knot formed with two eyes for attaching a line to a hook.
3. One used by another as a tool; dupe.
Example:
Andy was the one who was caught playing the prank, but he was just a cat's-paw for Lenny, who dared him to do it.
Etymology:
To be labeled a "cat's paw" means someone has taken advantage of you and you weren't smart enough to catch on. The "dupe" sense of "cat's-paw" comes from an old folk tale in which a clever monkey tricks a cat into reaching into a fireplace to pull out some roasting chestnuts. The cat succeeds in removing the chestnuts but also burns his paw in the process. And when the unsuspecting feline turns around, he discovers that the monkey has cracked and eaten all the nuts! So, being made a cat's-paw may not only be embarrassing - it can leave you with singed fingers (or paws, as the case may be).



cat's whiskers

• cat
• whiskers

Something considered to be outstanding.
Etymology: Coined by American cartoonist Thomas a. Dorgan (1877-1929) whose work appears in many American newspapers.

cat-eyed

• cat eye
• cat eyes
• cat
• eyed
• eye

Able to see in the dark.
Coined in recognition of a cat's ability to see in very low-light conditions.

catachresis

• malapropism

[kat-uh-KREE-sis]
1. Use of the wrong word for the context.
2. Use of a forced and especially paradoxical figure of speech.
Example:
The paper printed a correction for the previous day's catachresis: dubbing a local artist-philanthropist a "socialist" when they meant "socialite."
Etymology, synonym:
"Catachresis" is a word favored by grammarians. It can be employed as a fancy label of disparagement for whatever uses the grammarian finds unacceptable. Thus could Henry Fowler, in the 1920s, call "mutual" in "our mutual friend" a catachresis. (Fowler preferred "common," but "mutual" does have an established sense which is correct in that context.) More often, "catachresis" is used for an unintentional misuse and is very close in meaning to "malapropism," which usually refers to an unintentionally humorous misuse of a word. "Catachresis" has been used to describe (or decry) misuses of words since at least 1550. The word comes to us by way of Latin from the Greek noun "katachresis," which means "misuse."


catbird seat

• cat-bird seat
• sit in the cat-bird seat
• sit in the catbird seat
• the catbird seat
• the cat-bird seat
• in the catbird seat
• in the cat-bird seat
• catbird
• cat-bird
• seat
• sit

(informal) position of power: a position or situation that gives somebody power and an edge over others, especially competitors or opponents; a position of great prominence or advantage; a position of ease Examples:
1) His appointment as acting dean put him in the catbird seat.
2) Nate and Brett want to buy a house but are waiting to see if the real estate market will change soon and put buyers back in the catbird seat. Etymology:
Origin uncertain; perhaps from the perception of catbirds as clever and masterful or from the fact that they sit on high perches. The catbird, a type of thrush, is a relative of the mockingbird found in the Southern U.S. and named for its distinctive "mewing" call. Like most birds, catbirds prefer to stay out of reach of potential predators, and thus a "catbird seat" is likely to be a safe, lofty perch above the fray. The phrase almost certainly arose in the South in the 19th century, although its first recorded use in print didn't come until 1942.
"In the catbird seat" first caught the public's eye in a James Thurber short story called "The Catbird Seat" (1942). In the story, a meek accountant is driven to contemplate murdering a fellow employee who won't stop babbling trite catch phrases, including "in the catbird seat". It seems that the babbler is a (then-Brooklyn) Dodgers fan who has picked up the phrase from the sportscaster Walter Lanier "Red" Barber. "Sitting in the catbird seat" means sitting pretty, like a batter with three balls and no strikes on him. All the early examples are indeed associated with baseball, like this from the "Middletown Times Herald" in 1945: "On the other hand, should Munger beat Big Tex Hughson and the Red Sox, Dyer would be sitting in the catbird seat." In real life, Barber pleaded guilty to popularizing "in the catbird seat", and explained that he, in turn, had picked it up from a man who trounced him in a poker game years before. "Inasmuch as I had paid for the phrase," said Barber, "I began to use it. I popularized it, and Mr. Thurber took it." And, of course, immortalized it.


catcall

• catcalls

Booing bad acting.
Etymology: The expression goes back to the theatre of Shakespear's time, when men criticized the acting by making noises that sounded like a fence full of cats.

catch as catch can

• catch
• can

1. This phrase describes a situation in which someone must make do with whatever is available at the moment, or get what he can.
Example:
"We don't have as many instruments as we do students," said the music teacher, "so bring in your kazoos, your harmonicas, even empty coffee cans. It's pretty much catch as catch can, but we'll still sound great."
2. free wrestling (a type of wrestling)

catch forty winks

• catch some z's
• get some winks
• catch some winks
• get forty winks
• catch
• forty
• wink

To have a quick sleep.
Example:
"I'm too tired to do my homework," Liselle said to Henry. "I'm going to catch forty winks. Can you wake me up in fifteen minutes?"
Synonym: catch some z's

catch lightning in a bottle

• like trying to catch lightning in a bottle
• like trying to keep lightning in a bottle
• trying to catch lightning in a bottle
• trying to keep lightning in a bottle
• try to catch lightning in a bottle
• try to keep lightning in a bottle
• keep lightning in a bottle
• keep
• trying
• catch
• lightning in a bottle
• catch lightning
• bottle
• lightning

Something extremely difficult, perhaps bordering on the impossible.
Examples:
1) The art of character animation is to try to catch lightning in a bottle.... one volt at a time."
2) No one has ever been able to catch lightning in a bottle, but he thought he could fill a few bottles and make a fortune selling them at craft shows and outside sporting events.
Synonym: keep lightning in a bottle
History, more examples:
It's a phrase that's well known to many Americans. There's also Martin Scorsese's recent film of that title, featuring a benefit concert performance by 50 blues artists - presumably you saw the CD of the soundtrack that's been issued. The full expression is "like trying to catch lightning in a bottle", sometimes "to keep lightning in a bottle". It can express the idea that a person has succeeded in trapping the essence of some elusive creative process, which is presumably where the film title came from. The phrase appears in sports reporting to describe a team that wins against difficult odds. This instance is from the "Washington Post" of 8 November 2004: "'That's how hard it is to win on the road,' Cardinals first-year coach Dennis Green said. 'You hope to have good fortune smile on you and catch lightning in a bottle, and today that happened for us.'" This sporting connection is appropriate because the source appears to be baseball. A report in the "Nevada State Journal" for 8 October 1941 said: "The Yanks were the dominant team throughout, outhitting, outfielding, outpitching and outmaneuvering the Dodgers. Brooklyn was not outgamed but the Dodgers, to use Lippy Leo Durocher's favorite expression, went out to try to catch lightning in a bottle." Aha. Leo Durocher, as his nickname suggests, was a famously mouthy player who became a celebrated coach (another version is a manager) for the Dodgers. He's credited with the saying "nice guys finish last" and it may well be that he invented this expression too. Either that, or - as with Yogi Berra - other people's gems were attributed to him because he was known to have an inventive way with words.
Lippy Leo Durocher may have taken his simile from Ben Franklin's famous experiment of flying a kite in a thunderstorm in order to charge a Leyden jar, an early form of capacitor. As children in North America often try to catch lightning bugs (fireflies) in a bottle, usually with little success, this may be the origin. Both are certainly possible, though lightning bugs are easy to catch and so are unlikely to be the source of the phrase "(catch) lightning in a bottle", in its sense of achieving something very difficult.


catch more flies with honey than with vinegar

• catch
• fly
• flies
• honey
• vinegar

More can be accomplished by being pleasant than by being disagreeable.
Example:
Ask her nicely. Remember, you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
History:
As early as the 1600s people were using different versions of this expressions in many European languages. If you've ever had a fly buzzing around your house, you know that
it is attracted to sweet things like honey. It doesn't like sour things like vinegar. In the same way, you're more likely to get what you want from people ("catch more flies") by
being sweet and agreeable (like honey), rather than bitter and sharp (like vinegar).

catch on

• catch
• figure out
• figure
• get

To understand something new.
Examples:
1) Samanta is a good student. She catches on quickly. 2) Until someone catches on, they will keep cheating their customers forever.
Synonyms: figure out, get


catch smb. red-handed

• catch red-handed
• catch
• red-handed
• red-hand

To catch someone in the act of doing something wrong.
Example:
Ashley's brother was caught red-handed at the scene of the crime.
History:
At first this expression referred to someone caught in the middle of a murder with blood on his or her hands ("red-handed"). Later the saying grew to mean any kind of wrongdoing, not just a criminal action. If you were nabbed sneaking one of your grandmother's freshly baked brownies, for instance, your fingers might be covered with
chocolate, but you'd still be caught red-handed.

catch some z's

• get some winks
• catch some winks
• get forty winks
• catch forty winks
• catch
• nap
• z's

(Is pronounced "catch some zeds" or "catch some zees".)
To get some sleep; to nap.
Examples:
1) I think I'll stay home tonight and catch some z's. 2) I really needed to catch some z's after staying up late at the disco.
Etymology: In cartoons, characters who are sleeping are depicted with "Z's" over their heads. When pronounced, the letter 'Z' sounds like the sound of snoring.
Synonyms:
get some winks, catch some winks, get forty winks, catch forty winks.

catch you later

• catch smb. later
• catch later
• catch
• later

Good-bye, I'll see or speak to you at another time.
Example:
I've got to get right home to baby-sit my sister. I'll catch you later.
History:
The verb "catch" has many meanings, including to capture, to trap, and to grasp
or take hold of forcibly. In this late 20th century African-American expression, "catch"
means to see or hear from you at a later time.


catchpole
[KATCH-poal]
A sheriff's deputy; especially, one who makes arrests for failure to pay a debt.
Example:
David knew that it must be the catchpole knocking at his door, so he quickly threw on his shoes and coat and snuck out the back.
History:
Imagine chasing a chicken around the barnyard. Catching it would be no mean feat. And chasing down someone who owes you money is pretty challenging too. It's no surprise then that these two taxing tasks come together in "catchpole," which derives from a word that literally means "chicken chaser" - Anglo-French "cachepole." Before it referred to the debt police, "catchpole" was used more generally for any tax collector. That's the sense demonstrated in a 12th-century homily about the apostle Matthew: "Matheus thet wes cachepol thene he iwende to god-spellere" ("Matthew who was a catchpole until he turned into a writer of the Gospel").


categorical
[kat-uh-GOR-ih-kul]
1. Absolute, unqualified.
Example:
Her denial was so categorical that we all believed she was speaking the truth.
2. Of, relating to, or constituting a category; involving, according with, or considered with respect to specific categories.
Etymology:
The ancestor of "categorical" and "category" has been important in logic and philosophy since the days of Aristotle. Both English words derive from Greek "kategoria," which Aristotle used to name the 10 fundamental classes (also called "predications" or "assertions") of terms, things, or ideas into which he felt human knowledge could be organized. Ironically, although those categories and things categorical are supposed to be absolute and fundamental, philosophers have long argued about the number and type of categories that exist and their role in understanding the world. High-level philosophical disputes aside, the word "categorical" continues to refer to an absolute assertion, one that involves no conditions or hypotheses (for example, the statement "all humans are mortal").


caterwaul
[KAT-uhr-wawl]
1. To make a harsh cry.
2. To have a noisy argument; to protest or complain noisily.
3. A shrill, discordant sound.
Examples:
1) John met Angela head-to-head and there was a lot of bellowing and caterwauling. (Matthew Parris, "Prescott grapples with his feminine side," Times (London), December 14, 2000)
2) In the early days, when people were still shocked by the novelty of cursing, screaming, caterwauling emotional incontinents attacking each other on stage, he [Jerry Springer] used to produce [2]high-falutin' justifications for the show. (Paul Hoggart, "Paul Hoggart's television choice," Times (London), December 9, 2000)
3) The forest silence is impermeable, entirely undisturbed by the soft bell notes of hidden birds, the tick of descending leaves and twigs or soft thump of falling fruit, or even the far caterwaul of monkeys. (Peter Matthiessen, "African Silences")
4) Just before sunrise, barred owls hooted, screamed and caterwauled in the distance. (Chris Young, "The State Journal-Register" [Springfield, IL], April 9, 2005)
Etymology:
"Caterwaul" is from Middle English "caterwawen" ("to cry as a cat"), either from Medieval Dutch "kater" ("tomcat") + Dutch "wauwelen" ("to tattle") or for "catawail", from "cat-wail" ("to wail like a cat").
An angry (or amorous) cat can make a lot of noise. As long ago as the mid-1300s, English speakers were using "caterwaul" for the act of voicing feline passions. The "cater" part is, of course, connected to the cat, but scholars disagree about whether it traces to the Middle Dutch "cater," meaning "tomcat," or if it is really just "cat" with an "-er" added. The "waul" is not from Dutch for sure; probably, it has imitative origin. It represents the feline howl itself. English's first "caterwaul" was a verb focused on feline vocalizations, but by the 1600s it was also being used for noisy people or things. By the 1700s it had become a noun naming any sound as loud and grating as a tomcat's yowl.


caterwauling
Making harsh noises or cries.
Etymology: Probably came from Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night: What a caterwauling do you keep here!

catgut
What tennis rackets and violin strings are made of.
Etymology: The word came about when the German word "kitgut" was translated into other languages. Kitgut was a small fiddle. The folk tale "Cat and the fiddle" probably has something to do with the translation as well.

catkin

• catkins

Fluffy flower bracts of willow and birch trees.
Etymology: The catkins look like small cats' tails.
(Other plants refer to cats also: pussy willow and cat tails.)

catnap

• cat nap
• cat
• nap

Sleeping for a short period of time.
Etymology: Reference to the ability of a cat to sleep frequently and lightly.

catty remarks

• catty remark
• catty
• remarks
• remark

Comments made by a woman, usually about another woman.
Etymology: The phrase came about when a man named Heywood, in the middle 1500's wrote, "A woman hath nine lives like a cat." Soon, a woman who gossiped about other women was said to be making "catty" remarks about them.

catwalk

• cat walk
• cat
• walk

A narrow walkway.
Etymology: Termed as such because of a cat's ability to balance in very narrow places.

causerie
[koh-zuh-REE]
1. An informal conversation.
Synonym: chat
Example:
After the table was cleared and coffee was served, the dinner guests rose and continued their causerie in the other room.
2. A short informal essay.
History:
"Causerie" first appeared in English in the early 19th century, and it can be traced back to the French "causer" ("to chat") and ultimately to the Latin "causa" ("cause, reason"). The word was originally used to refer to a friendly or informal conversation. Then, in 1849, the author and critic Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve began publishing a weekly column devoted to literary topics in the French newspaper "Le Constitutionnel". These critical essays were called "Causeries du lundi" ("Monday chats") and were later collected into a series of books of the same name. After that, the word "causerie" acquired a second sense in English, referring to a brief, informal article or essay.


cavalcade
[kav-uhl-KAYD; KAV-uhl-kayd]
1. A procession of riders or horse-drawn carriages.
2. Any procession.
3. A sequence; a series.
Examples:
1) Behind him he sensed the progress of the cavalcade as one by one the carriages wheeled off the Dublin road. (Stella Tillyard, "Citizen Lord: The Life of Edward Fitzgerald, Irish Revolutionary")
2) Last week, Seoul pleaded for immediate financial assistance from the United States and Japan, following a cavalcade of bad economic news. (Steven Butler and Jack Egan, "No magic won for Korea," U.S. News, December 22, 1997)
Etymology:
"Cavalcade" derives from Old Italian "cavalcata", from "cavalcare" ("to go on horseback"), from Late Latin "caballicare", from Latin "caballus" ("horse").


cavalier
[kav-uh-LEER]
1. Debonair.
2. Marked by or given to offhand and often disdainful dismissal of important matters.
Example:
"I'm tired of the cavalier way you brush off my concerns," Mom said, "so I'm taking away the car keys until you start listening to me."
History, more meanings:
According to a dictionary prepared by Thomas Blount in 1656, a cavalier was "a knight or gentleman, serving on horseback, a man of arms". That meaning is true to the history of the noun, which traces back to the Late Latin "caballarius," meaning "horseman." By around 1600, it had also come to denote "a roistering swaggering fellow." In the 1640s, English Puritans applied it disdainfully to their adversaries, the swashbuckling royalist followers of Charles I, who sported longish hair and swords. Although some thought those cavaliers "several sorts of Malignant Men, . . . ready to commit all manner of Outrage and Violence", others saw them as quite suave - which may explain why "cavalier" can be either complimentary or a bit insulting.

caveat
[KAY-vee-at; KAV-ee-; KAH-vee-aht] 1. (Law) A notice given by an interested party to some officer not to do a certain act until the opposition has a hearing. 2. A warning or caution; also, a cautionary qualification or explanation to prevent misunderstanding.
Examples:
1) Two young Harvard M.B.A.'s worked up some highly optimistic projections - with the caveat that these were speculative and should of course be tested. (Roy Blount Jr., "Able Were They Ere They Saw Cable", New York Times, March 9, 1986)
2) One caveat: If you plan to travel by car in Europe, expect a serious erosion of your buying power. Gasoline costs twice as much in France as in the U.S. (and triple the U.S. price in the U.K.). (Lynn Woods, "Euro Trashed", Kiplinger's, November 2000)
3) At Disney, Eisner says, adding an important caveat, "Failing is good, as long as it doesn't become a habit." (Warren Bennis and Patricia Ward Biederman, "Organizing Genius")
Etymology:
"Caveat" comes from the Latin "caveat" ("let him beware"), from "cavere" ("to beware").


cavil
[KAV-uhl]
intransitive verb:
To raise trivial or frivolous objections; to find fault without good reason.
transitive verb:
To raise trivial and frivolous objections (to...)
Examples:
1) It may seem petty to cavil at minor flaws given the film's unquestionable excellence as a whole, but the ending did seem to lack credibility.
2) Insiders with their own strong views, after all, tend to cavil about competing ideas and stories they consider less than comprehensive. (Laurence I. Barrett, "Dog-Bites-Dog," Time, October 30, 1989)
3) It may seem churlish, amid the selection of so much glory, to cavil at a single omission, but I do think a great opportunity has been missed. (Tom Rosenthal, "Rome sweet Rome," New Statesman, February 5, 2001)
4) He was determined not to be diverted from his main pursuit by cavils or trifles. (William Safire, "Scandalmonger")
Etymology:
"Cavil" derives from the Latin verb "cavillari", meaning "to jest, to jeer, to quibble" or "to raise silly objections", which in turn derives from the Latin noun "cavilla", meaning "raillery, scoffing". It has been used in English to denote petty quibbling since at least 1542, when Nicholas Udall used it in his translation of Erasmus' "Apophthegms": "For when the Sophistes fell to cauillyng ... and triflyng, lytle by lytle, their estimacion decayed."


cavort
[kuh-VORT]
1. To bound or prance about.
2. To have lively or boisterous fun; to behave in a high-spirited, festive manner.
Examples:
1) . . . Enkidu, who was seduced by gradual steps to embrace the refinements of civilization, only to regret on his deathbed what he had left behind: a free life cavorting with gazelles. (Yi-Fu Tuan, "Escapism")
2) But why struggle with a term paper on the elements of foreshadowing in Bleak House when I could be cavorting on the beach. (Dani Shapiro, "Slow Motion")
3) By 1900, Leo-Chico would have been thirteen years old, and just past his bar mitzvah, or old enough to know better than to cavort with street idlers and gamblers. (Simon Louvish, "Monkey Business")
4) The men spent the next few weeks there drinking beer, eating hibachi-grilled fish, and cavorting with the young ladies. (Robert Whiting, "Tokyo Underworld")
Etymology:
"Cavort" is perhaps an alteration of "curvet" - "a light leap by a horse" (with the back arched or curved), from Italian "corvetta" - "a little curve," from Middle French "courbette", from "courber" - "to curve," from Latin "curvare" - "to bend, to curve," from "curvus" - "curved, bent."


celerity
[suh-LAIR-uh-tee]
Rapidity of motion or action; quickness; swiftness.
Examples:
1) Though not in the best of physical form, he was capable of moving with celerity. (Malachy McCourt, "A Monk Swimming: A Memoir")
2) Furthermore, as is well known, computer technology grows obsolete with amazing celerity. (Alan S. Blinder and Richard E. Quandt, "The Computer and the Economy," The Atlantic, December 1997)
3) The lightning celerity of his thought processes took you on a kind of helter-skelter ride of surreal non-sequiturs, sudden accesses of emotion and ribald asides, made all the more bizarre for being uttered in those honeyed tones by the impeccably elegant gent before you. ("A life full of frolics," The Guardian, May 19, 2001)
4) Sarah's employees appreciate the celerity with which she responds to queries and deals with problems.
Etymology, more examples:
In the novel "Of Human Bondage", W. Somerset Maugham tells of an undertaker's shop window that displays the words "Economy, Celerity, Propriety" in "silver lettering on a black cloth . . . with two model coffins." But "celerity" isn't dead in English, where it has proven its vitality since the Middle Ages. Middle English speakers borrowed "celerite" from Anglo-French (and speedily changed it to "celerity"). The word is ultimately from Latin "celeritas", from "celer," which means "swift." Another "celer" word in English is "accelerate."


cerebrate

• cerebrum
• unconscious cerebration
• unconscious
• cerebration
• cerebral

[SAIR-uh-brayt]
To use the mind.
Synonym: think.
Example:
Jane is apt to cerebrate at length before making even minor decisions.
History, related words:
When you think of the human brain, you probably think of the cerebrum, the large, fissured upper portion of the brain that is recognized as the neural control center for thought and sensory perception. In 1853, Dr. William Carpenter thought of the cerebrum when he coined "unconscious cerebration," a term describing the mental process by which people seem to do the right thing or come up with the right answer without conscious effort. People thought enough of Carpenter's coinage to use it as the basis of "cerebrate," though the verb refers to active thinking rather than subconscious processing. "Cerebrate," "cerebrum," and the related adjective "cerebral" all derive from the Latin word for "brain," which is "cerebrum."


cerebration

• cerebrate

[ser-uh-BRAY-shuhn] The act or product of thinking; the use of the power of reason; mental activity; thought.
Examples:
1) Generally, to the 2 1/2-year-old apple of her parents' eye, who bravely negotiates her ABC's, the recitation must seem, if anything other than pure nonsense, more like a physical task - like rafting a river or running a steeplechase - than cerebration. (Daniel Menaker, "Lletters for Yyoungsters", New York Times, November 9, 1986)
2) Celebration of cerebration is not what the public wants. Indeed, the opposite is probably true. We are suspicious of excessive smartness. (David R. Slavitt, "You Can Go Holmes Again", New York Times, October 17, 1993)
Etymology, related words:
"Cerebration" is ultimately derived from Latin "cerebrum" ("brain"). The related verb "cerebrate" means "to use the power of reason; to think."



chagrin

• vexation
• mortification

[shuh-GRIN]
1. (Noun) Acute vexation, annoyance, or embarrassment, arising from disappointment or failure.
2. (Transitive verb) To unsettle or vex by disappointment or humiliation; to mortify.
Synonyms: vexation, mortification.
Examples:
1) He ran away to the recruiting office at Ottumwa, a river port where Union soldiers were transported east - how he got to the town, a good half-day journey by wagon, isn't clear - and to his chagrin, he found his father waiting there. (Allen Barra, "Inventing Wyatt Earp: His Life and Many Legends")
2) He noted with chagrin how little hair clung to his head. (John Marks, "The Wall")
3) Rich Moroni was earning $20,000 a year as a cook and was chagrined to discover that he couldn't keep up with the style of life and spending of his preferred reference group - the lawyers and executives who shared his passion for squash and belonged to the same health club. (Peter T. Kilborn, "Splurge," New York Times, June 21, 1998)
4) Chagrined to find that her current boyfriend has become best pals with her ex-boyfriend Hank, she goes to her ex with the problem. (Stephen J. Dubner, "Boston Rockers," New York Times, July 26, 1998)
Etymology:
"Chagrin" is from the French, from "chagrin" ("sad").


challah

• challa
• hallah

[HAH-luh] /the initial "H" is also frequently pronounced as a velar fricative/
Egg-rich yeast-leavened bread that is usually braided or twisted before baking and is traditionally eaten by Jews on the Sabbath and holidays.
Example:
Upon returning home for the winter break, Ari was delighted to smell freshly baked challah.
History:
When English speakers first borrowed "challah" from Yiddish, they couldn't quite settle on a single spelling, so the word showed up in several forms; "challah," "challa," "calloth," "challot," "hallah," "halloth," and "hallot" were all common enough to merit inclusion in Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. But only the variants "challah," "challa," and "hallah" continue to show up regularly enough to have found a place in smaller abridged dictionaries.


champ at the bit

• champ
• bit
• at the bit

to be impatient to start; be ready and enthusiastic to do something
Example:
Steve couldn't wait to go into sixth grade. On the first day of school, he was champing
at the bit at 6:00 a.m.
History:
This saying, which has been used for at least 200 years, comes from horse racing. An eager racehorse champs, or bites, on the bit in its mouth at the start of a race. That
shows that it is impatient with any delay and wants to be off and running. Today the
meaning has been broadened to include not only horses at the starting gate but also anyone eager to start doing something.


champion
1. A champ, first-place winner.
2. A supporter, one who fights for smth.
3. To defend, stand up for, fight for; advocate, promote.
4. The first, in fist place; excellent.
Example:
Champion Trees are the gold medallists of our fields and forests.
5. (South Yorkshire dialect, Lancashire slang) (One who feels) good, well.
Example:
How are you? - Am champion!
Etymology:
Champion - c.1225, from O.Fr. "champion", from L.L. "campio" (acc. "campionem") - "gladiator, combatant in the field", from L. "campus" - "field (of combat)". Had been borrowed earlier by O.E. as "cempa". The verb "to fight for, defend, protect" is from 1820.
Champ - 1868, Amer.Eng. abbreviation of "champion".


chary
[CHAIR-ee] 1. Wary; cautious. 2. Not giving or expending freely; sparing.
Examples:
1) What do you suppose the Founding Fathers, so chary of overweening government power, would make of a prosecutor with virtually unlimited reach and a staff the size of a small town? ("U.S. trampling rights at home and abroad", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 17, 1998)
2) Investors should be chary, however, for the returns are far from sizzling. ("The Stampede Into Variable Annuities", Fortune, October 13, 1986)
3) Bankers, consulted as to whether or not they believed that the full force of the decline had spent its fury, were chary of predictions. ("Leaders See Fear Waning", New York Times, October 30, 1929)
4) When I visited Sissinghurst with my growing family she was always welcoming, eager for our news but chary of her own. (Nigel Nicolson, "Long Life")
Etymology:
"Chary" comes from Old English "cearig" ("careful, sorrowful"), from "cearu" ("grief, sorrow, care").


chatoyant

• cat's-eye
• cat's
• cat
• eye

[shuh-TOY-unt]
Having a changeable luster or color with an undulating narrow band of white light.
Example:
The chest was opened to reveal a veritable treasure of glittering gold jewelry and chatoyant gems.
History, related words:
The complex structure of a cat's eye not only enables it to see at night but also gives it the appearance of glowing in the dark. Not surprisingly, jewels that sport a healthy luster are often compared with the feline ocular organ, so much that the term "cat's-eye" is used to refer to those gems (such as chalcedony) that give off iridescence from within. If you've brushed up on your French lately, you might notice that the French word for "cat" ("chat") provides the first four letters of "chatoyant," a word used by jewelers to describe such lustrous gems. "Chatoyant" derives from the present participle of "chatoyer," a French verb that literally means "to shine like a cat's eyes."


chautauqua
[shuh-TAW-kwuh]
Any of various traveling shows and local assemblies that flourished in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, that provided popular education combined with entertainment in the form of lectures, concerts, and plays, and that were modeled after activities at the Chautauqua Institution of western New York.
Example:
As a boy, Grandpa attended a lecture given by famed humorist Will Rogers during a summer chautauqua.
Etymology:
The chautauqua has been aptly described as "a cross between a folk-life festival and a community college." The original Chautauqua was started just after the Civil War at Chautauqua Lake in New York state as an assembly for training church workers. Before long the program was broadened to include lectures on a wide variety of subjects, as well as entertainment. The event proved so successful that it spawned other chautauquas throughout the United States, each offering a mix of education, entertainment, and on occasion, even religion. The chautauquas are now largely a colorful fragment of American history, but the original institution at Chautauqua continues to offer an annual program of performances and lectures.


chav

• chavs
• neds
• ned
• scallies
• scallie
• Kev
• Kevs
• janners
• janner
• smicks
• smick
• spides
• spide
• moakes
• moake
• steeks
• steek
• bazzas
• bazza
• scuffheads
• scuffhead
• stigs
• stig
• stangers
• stanger
• yarcos
• yarco
• kappa slappers
• kappa slapper
• kappa
• slapper
• slappers
• chavi
• charver
• charvers
• chavis
• pikey
• pikeys
• teddy boy
• teddy

So-called peasant underclass.
History, etymology, synonyms:
The press in Britain has recently been having fun mocking a group called "non-educated delinquents" and "the burgeoning peasant underclass". The subjects of these derogatory descriptions are said to be set apart by ignorance, fecklessness, mindless violence and bad taste. Thus, critics point to their style of dress: a love of flashy gold jewellery; the wearing of white trainers; clothes in fashionable brands with very prominent logos; and baseball caps, frequently in Burberry check, a favourite style. The women, the Daily Mail wrote, "pull their shoddily dyed hair back in that ultra-tight bun known as a 'council-house facelift', wear skirts too short for their mottled blue thighs, and expose too much of their distressingly flabby midriffs". Much of the attention is due to the experience of a Web site<http://www.chavscum.co.uk>. There is the wide variety of local names given to the type. Scots call them "neds" (an acronym of "non-educated delinquents", as folk etymology suppose; but it is probably from a nickname for "Edward", linked to yobbish youths through a previous generation of young louts, the teddy boys, "teddy" being an abbreviated form of "Edwardian"). Liverpudlians prefer "scallies" (a term of long-standing for a boisterous, disruptive or irresponsible young man); "Kev" is common around London (presumably from Kevin, popularised through the portrayal on his television show by the comedian Harry Enfield of an idiotic teenager with that name). Other terms are "janners" (from Plymouth), "smicks", "spides", "moakes" and "steeks" (all from Belfast), plus "bazzas", "scuffheads", "stigs", "stangers", "yarcos", and "kappa slappers" (girls who wear Kappa brand tracksuits, "slapper" being British slang for a promiscuous or vulgar woman). The term that has become especially widely known is borrowed for the name of the Web site, "chav". Maybe, it derived from the name of the town of Chatham in Kent. But it seems that the word is from a much older underclass, the gypsies, many of whom have lived in that area for generations. "Chav" is almost certainly from the Romany word for a child, "chavi", recorded from the middle of the nineteenth century. It was being used as a term of address to an adult man a little later in the century, but it hasn't often been recorded in print since and its derivative "chav" is quite new to most people. Other terms for the class also have Romany connections; another is "charver", Romany for prostitute. Yet another is the deeply insulting "pikey", presumably from the Kentish dialect term for gypsy that was borrowed from "turnpike", so a person who travels the roads. And so, a term that has been in active but low-level use for the last 150 years suddenly bursting out into wider popular use in a new sense through circumstances we don't fully understand.

cheek by jowl

• cheek
• jowl

very close together, side by side
Example:
I thought that Omar and Mike had a fight, but I saw them today in the gym, cheek by jowl.
History:
William Shakespeare used a similar expression, "cheek by cheek," in his famous romantic comedy "A Midsummer Night's Dream", written about 1595. "Cheek by jowl" was a
variation invented two centuries later. "Jowl" is anther word for the jaw or cheek. So if two people are together with one person's cheek right by another's jowl, they're pretty
close indeed.

cheerful earful

• cheerful
• earful

A good piece of news; good news.
Example:
Cheerful Earful Records has released a vinyl colored limited edition of "Swinging at the Go Go Club."

chess boxing

• chess
• boxing
• kung-fu

It's a contest in which the participants alternate six rounds in the ring with five on the chess board.
Example:
On Thursday, 4 December, the Amsterdam Forum shifted its attention to the new sport of chess boxing.
History:
Is this some perverse joke? No, it's meant seriously, even though it is led by a Dutch performance artist named Iepe the Joker, who is for the moment the world champion. Iepe's next match is in Tokyo on 17 April. As to where the idea comes from, wasn't there an old kung-fu movie called "Mystery of Chess Boxing"? The brainchild of a Dutch conceptual artist, chess boxing combines the physical punishment of pugilism with the mental exertion of chess, in quick succession.


chetniks

• chetnik

royalist Yugoslav (mostly Serbian) resistance forces during World War II.
Etymology:
The name is derived from the Serbian word ceta (Serbian Cetnici, ???????) which means "company" (of about 100 men).
History:
Chetniks originally formed as a result of the Serbian struggle against Turks. In Herzegovina, they were fighting Turks, in northern Macedonia against Turks and Albanians who sided with them. They also fought against the Turks in the First Balkan War, while in WWI they fought against Austria-Hungary.
After the surrender of the Yugoslav royal army in April 1941, Serb soldiers throughout Yugoslavia organized in the Ravna Gora district of western Serbia under Colonel Dragoljub (Draza) Mihailovic. Mihailovic directed his units to arm themselves and await his orders for the final push. He avoided actions which he judged were of low strategic importance. The reason behind his resolve was the fact that he had been a World War I officer. Serbia itself had lost one quarter of its population in that conflict and the Germans had by 1941 introduced punitive measures against guerrilla activity, 100 Serb civilians were to be executed for every killed soldier of the Wehrmacht and 50 for each wounded. Mihailovic was being assured by the Allies that an invasion of the Balkans was in the plans and it seems to have been in the works up to 1943, the year of the Conference of Yalta, after which Stalin and Churchill decided to split their influence in Yugoslavia in half. That very same year, the Allies abandonned the Chetniks in favour of the Partisans.
By the end of the war, the Chetniks were still important in numbers. Some retreated north to surrender to Anglo-American forces; Mihailovic and his few remaining followers tried to fight their way back to the Ravna Gora, but he was captured by Tito's Partisans. In March 1946 Mihailovic was brought to Belgrade, where he was tried and executed on charges of treason. The last remaining Chetnik, was captured in the Herzegovina-Montenegro border area in 1957.
The Chetniks were also known for rescuing some 500 U.S. airmen who crashed over Yugoslavia in 1944-45.


chew one's cud

• chew your cud
• chew
• cud
• chew over

to think deeply to oneself; to turn a matter over and over in one's mind
Example:
Don't bother your father right now. He's in the den chewing his cud over problems at work.
History, synonym:
In the mid-1500s a lot of people owned cows, sheep, and goats. These are animals that chew their cuds (food that is spit up from the stomach to the mouth and chewed
again). It's a long process. A person lost in deep thought - pondering, reflecting,
speculating - made a clever 16th century writer think of an animal chewing its cud, and
this saying was born. Sometimes it's shortened just to "chew over" a matter.

chew smb. out

• chew out
• chew

To scold severely or roughly; to bawl someone out.
Example:
When Laurie's parents saw her report card, they really chewed her out.
History:
Did you ever watch someone's mouth and lips moving furiously when they were harshly scolding you? Perhaps it reminded a writer years ago of fast chewing, and that's how this expression was born.

chew the fat

• chew the rag
• rag
• shoot the breeze
• shoot
• breeze
• chew
• fat

To have a friendly, informal talk; to chat (in a relaxed way).
Examples: 1) My friend and I sat up half the night just chewing the fat.
2) Only dropped in to chew the rag for a while.
History, synonyms:
In the late 1800s this expression was popular in the British army, and then it came to the United States. One possible origin might be that military and naval people
were given tough meat to eat and they had to chew the fat of the meat as they talked. The action of chewing is like the action of speaking (see "chew smb. out"). At any rate, if you're just hanging out, talking with your friends in an easy, relaxed way, you're "chewing the fat" (or "rag"). A similar expression is to "shoot the breeze".


chew up the scenery

• chew up
• scenery
• chew
• chewing up the scenery
• chewing up
• chewing

To overreact; to exaggerate your emotions.
Example:
Josh was chewing up the scenery in the principal's office, crying and screaming that he
didn't do it.
Etymology:
This idiom comes from show business. Some actors carry on wildly, and in exaggerated, overemotional ways. A critic once wrote that this kind of uncontrolled theatrical behavior was like chewing up the scenery, and the criticism soon became a popular phrase. Today people can "chew up the scenery" wherever they show too much emotion to achieve a special effect.

chicanery

• clinquant
• trickery
• trick

[shih-KAY-nuh-ree]
1. Deception by artful subterfuge or sophistry.
Synonym: trickery.
2. A subterfuge; a piece of sharp practice (as at law).
Synonym: trick.
Examples:
1) The mayor's spokeswoman quickly denied the charges of nepotism, financial indiscretions, and political chicanery.
2) Wordsworth's paternal grandfather, Richard, had first come to Westmorland from South Yorkshire in 1700, to recoup his fortunes with the then baron Lonsdale, having been done out of his fortune by his own guardian's chicanery. (Kenneth R. Johnston, "The Hidden Wordsworth")
3) True, Gramm-Rudman's deficit targets were often met only by chicanery - by anticipating revenues and moving expenses off-budget. (David Frum, "Righter Than Newt," The Atlantic, March 1995)
4) What is more, it can be deliberately adulterated by the farmer with sand, tree sap or ash, although a trained opium buyer can spot these tricks and few farmers dare resort to such chicanery. (Martin Booth, "Opium: A History")
History, more examples, related words:
"Chicanery" comes from French "chicaner" ("to quibble, to use tricks"), perhaps from Middle Low German "schicken" ("to arrange"), with the sense "to arrange to one's own advantage."
"We have hardly any words that do so fully expresse the French clinquant, naivete ... chicaneries." So lamented English writer John Evelyn in a letter to Sir Peter Wyche in 1665. Evelyn and Wyche were members of a group called the "Royal Society", which had formed a committee emulating the French Academy for the purpose of "improving the English language." We can surmise that, in Evelyn's estimation, the addition of "chicanery" to English from French was an improvement. What he apparently didn't realize was that English speakers had adopted the word from the French "chicanerie" before he wished for it; the term appears in English manuscripts dating from 1609. Similarly, "clinquant" ("glittering with gold or tinsel") dates from 1591. "Naivete," on the other hand, waited until 1673 to appear.


chicken feed

• chickenfeed

Rarely: chickenfeed.
1. A very small or insignificant amount of money.
Example:
Mr. Baer loves his job at the museum, even though they pay only chicken feed.
2. Food for chickens; dry mash for poultry.
Synonym: scratch.
3. A small enterprise.
4. Misleading information that is given to throw someone off the track.
5. Amphetamine used in the form of a crystalline hydrochloride; used as a stimulant to the nervous system and as an appetite suppressant Synonyms:
methamphetamine, methamphetamine hydrochloride, Methedrine, meth, deoxyephedrine, chalk, crank, glass, ice, shabu, trash.
History:
This American barnyard saying came from the pioneer days. The grain for the chickens to eat had to be inexpensive. At one point in the country's history, chicken feed came to mean small coins.



chill out

• chill
• calm
• calm down
• take a chill pill
• take
• chill pill
• pill
• cool off
• simmer
• simmer down
• settle down
• settle
• cool it
• cool
• relax

Also: chill-out
1. To become quiet or calm, especially before or after a state of agitation; pause to gain control of your emotions.
Example:
When Chris threw down the paddle after he lost the Ping-Pong game, the counselor told him to chill out.
Synonyms:
To calm, calm down, cool off, simmer down, settle down, cool it, relax
2. A time or place where people chill-out, often whilst on drugs or in a hot sweaty club. Etymology:
When a person starts to get angry, we often use expressions like "steamed up" and "hot under the collar" to describe his or her emotions. If being heated up suggests being overly excited, then it's easy to see how the opposite means calm. "Chill out" is a recent
African-American idiom, and so are other similar expressions like "take a chill pill" and
"cool it".


chillaxing

• chillax
• wack
• bunk
• twurk

(American slang, hip-hop slang) Chilling and relaxing at the same time.
Etymology, example and explanation:
It's a blend of "chilling" and "relaxing" ("chilling" being from Black English "to chill out", meaning to take things easy, to stay cool). The word has been known online since 1994.
A rare example in print appeared in a reader's review in the issue of "Newsday" for 8 December 2004: "The album as a whole ... actually sounds like a parody of a hip-hop record, and is, in fact, too played out for servin', too wack for chillaxing, and much too bunk to twurk to." This sounds like somebody piling on the rap slang for supercharged ironic purposes and needs a translation for people who aren't into this type of speech at all. Well, "wack" is "crazy or weird", "bunk" is "unpleasant", "to twurk" means "to dance" (an earlier example is in the title of the Ying Yang Twins' track "Whistle While You Twurk", which was a hit in the spring of 2000). So the writer was saying, roughly, that the album was too old- fashioned to be worth listening to, too weird to relax to, and too nasty to dance to.

chimera
[ky-MIR-uh]
Also: Chimera
1. (Capitalized) A fire-breathing she-monster represented as having a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail.
2. Any imaginary monster made up of grotesquely incongruous parts.
3. An illusion or mental fabrication; a grotesque product of the imagination.
4. An individual, organ, or part consisting of tissues of diverse genetic constitution, produced as a result of organ transplant, grafting, or genetic engineering.
Examples:
1) Asa Whitney, with no previous experience and having nothing but his faith and self-assurance to tell him he was not pursuing a chimera, began to outline how he would get a railroad across the vast, uninhabited middle of the American continent to the Pacific shores, where the lure of Asia beckoned, within reach. (David Haward Bain, "Empire Express")
2) She seems to spend most of the book sobbing, throwing up and generally marinating in a stew of self-absorption while searching fruitlessly for that chimera, her true self, inexpertly aided by astrologers and new-age therapists. ("Cutting through fantasies to crazy life," USA Today, December 2, 1999)
3) These "chimeras" can be created because of our power - derived from the recombinant DNA technology developed in the early 1970s - to move DNA from one species to another. (Bryan Appleyard, "Brave New Worlds")
Etymology:
"Chimera" comes from Latin "chimaera", from Greek "chimaira" - "she-goat, chimera."


chip off the old block

• chip off
• old block
• chip
• old
• block

A child who resembles a parent in behavior, looks, or abilities.
Example:
I never realized how much Felix looks like his father. He's a real chip off the old block.
History:
This is an old expression. It's been popular for hundreds of years, and it may go back as far as the ancient Greeks. A "block" can be of wood or stone. If you chipped off a little piece of it, the chip would resemble the big block - for instance, in color and texture. In the same way, a child ("chip") might act or look like the parent ("the old block").

chip on one's shoulder

• chip on your shoulder
• chip on his shoulder
• chip
• shoulder

to be quarrelsome, aggressive, or rude; to be ready to fight; to be in a fighting mood, looking for a fight
Example:
Avoid Calvin today. He has a real chip on his shoulder.
History:
In the early 1800s American boys played the following game: one boy put a chip of wood or stone on his shoulder and dared another boy to knock it off. If he did, the two boys would fight. Today, if a person is edgy or looking for an argument, we say that he has a "chip on his shoulder," in reference to that old game.

chips are down

• chips
• chip
• down
• when the chips are down
• the chips are down

The situation is urgent and has to be dealt with now; the right decision must be made immediately.
Examples:
1) Girls, the chips are down. If we don't win this game, we're out of the playoffs.
2) When the chips are down, we play better. We need to be challenged.
History:
This saying appeared in the United States in the 19th century and comes from gambling, probably poker. Chips are small plastic disks used like money for betting. If all your chips are on the table, you are open and honest. People can see everything you have. A gambler puts his chips in front of him to show that he is willing to risk a certain amount of money on a bet. When his pile of chips is down (that is, his money is low), his situation is bad, maybe even desperate. Today the expression "chips are down" refers to any critical situation in life, such as in sports, business, or politics, and not just card playing.


chirography

• chiromancy
• enchiridion
• chirograph

1. handwriting, penmanship Example:
As she leafed through her father's old book, Sheila noted that its margins were filled with annotations made in his distinct chirography.
2. calligraphy
Etymology:
Some might argue that handwriting is a dying art in this age of electronic communication. Nevertheless, we have a fancy word for it. The root "graph" means "writing" and appears in many common English words such as "autograph" and "graphite". The lesser-known root "chir", or "chiro-", comes from a Greek word meaning "hand" and occurs in words such as "chiromancy" (the art of palm reading) and "enchiridion" (a handbook or manual), as well as "chiropractic". "Chirography" first appeared in English in the 17th century and probably derived from "chirograph", a now rare word referring to a legal document or indenture. "Chirography" should not be confused with "choreography", which refers to the composition and arrangement of dances.


chivy

• chivvy

[CHIV-ee]
1. To tease or annoy with persistent petty attacks.
2. To move or obtain by small maneuvers.
Example:
As she told Brendan about her bad day, Megan chivied the last olive out of the jar and plopped it into her dry martini.
History:
"Chivy," which is also spelled "chivvy," became established in our language in the early 20th century and at first meant "to harass or chase." Early usage examples are of people chivying a chicken around to catch it and of a person chivying around food that is frying. The word itself is from the British noun of the same spelling meaning "chase" or "hunt." The noun is believed to be derived from "Chevy Chase" - a term for "chase" or "confusion" that is taken from the name of a ballad describing the 1388 battle of Otterburn between the Scottish and English. (A "chase" in this context is an unenclosed tract of land in England that is used as a game preserve.)


chocoholic
Someone who loves chocolate so much that he or she has become addicted to it.
Example: I think Peter is a chocoholic. I just saw him eat four Hershey bars in less than ten minutes!
Etymology: The "-oholic" suffix has become popular in American English, and is used to describe various addictions. It is derived from the word "alcoholic," which describes someone who is addicted to alcohol.

choler
[KOLL-ur; KOLE-ur]
Irritation of the passions; anger; wrath.
Examples:
1) And at last he seems to have found his proper subject: one that genuinely engages his intellect, truly arouses his characteristic choler and fills him with zest. ("Black Humor': Could Be Funnier", New York Times, January 12, 1998)
2) I found my choler rising. (Samuel Richardson, "A Collection of the Moral and Instructive Sentiments... in the Histories of Pamela, Clarissa, and Sir Charles Grandison")
Etymology:
"Choler" is from Latin "cholera", a bilious disease, from Greek "kholera", from "khole" ("bile").


choleric
[KOL-uh-rik; kuh-LAIR-ik] 1. Easily irritated; inclined to anger; bad-tempered. 2. Angry; indicating or expressing anger; excited by anger.
Examples:
1) At his trial, Ferrars argued that he had always been of such choleric disposition that, at times when his blood was up, he knew not right from wrong. (Theodore Dalrymple, "Rages of the Age: On 'road rage,' 'air rage,' 'rink rage' . . .", National Review, February 11, 2002)
2) But the records of his service show that Jacobsz was also choleric, quick-tempered, and sensitive to any slight; that he sometimes drank to excess. (Mike Dash, "Batavia's Graveyard")
3) The expression in his face - pinched, vengeful, and mean - could assign to a choleric temperament or a display of tactical emotion on the part of a clever bully. (Lewis H. Lapham, "Notebook", Harper's Magazine, February 2001)
4) A portrait of Dalrymple in middle age shows him to be of corpulent figure with petulant lips, beefy face, and choleric eyes that glare accusingly at the viewer. (Alan Gurney, "Below the Convergence")
Etymology:
"Choleric" is the adjective form of "choler" ("yellow bile"), from Latin "cholera" ("a bilious disease"), from Greek "kholera", from "khole" ("bile"). "Choler" was supposed by medieval physicians to be the source of irritability.


chop shop

• chop
• shop

In the US, when your car gets stolen, one of two things gets done with it within an hour or two. Either it is quickly loaded onto a ship to be sent to markets overseas, or it is taken to a chop shop, where in a matter of minutes, it is taken apart (chopped up) for subsequent sale as spares, because there is a huge market for these, and the ones from the original manufacturers are ridiculously expensive. Let's say, if a new car costs $10,000, then if you bought it piece by piece as spare parts from the manufacturer and assembled it yourself, it would cost $100,000 or something like that. There are legal markets in parts from old cars (ones that have been in accidents, for example), and then there are the less scrupulous garages that will charge you the cost of a genuine new spare part but actually install something they got from a chop shop.

chortle
[CHOR-tl]
1. To utter, or express with, a snorting, exultant laugh or chuckle.
2. A snorting, exultant laugh or chuckle.
Examples:
1) Benjamin himself chortled now, an odd laugh to which I grew accustomed in years to come. (Jay Parini, "Benjamin's Crossing")
2) Even Isaksson's stern wife, who rarely cracked a smile, chortled with glee, and Old Mothstead slapped his thighs and flapped his apron and danced around the couple, who moved in ever larger rings amongst the kegs. (Kerstin Ekman, "Witches' Rings", translated by Linda Schenck)
3) A nation that was used to chortling over Charlie Chaplin or rejoicing with the high-stepping Ziegfeld girls found itself drawn to this more refined, decidedly European entertainment. (Larry Tye, "The Father of Spin")
Etymology:
"Chortle" is a combination of "chuckle" and "snort". It was coined by Lewis Carroll (Charles L. Dodgson), in "Through the Looking-Glass", published in 1872.


chouse
[CHOWSS] ("OW" as in "cow")
To cheat, trick.
Example:
In Dickens's "A Tale of Two Cities", Mr. Cruncher says, "If I ain't, what with piety and one blowed thing and another, been choused this last week into as bad luck as ever a poor devil of a honest tradesman met with!"
History, more examples and meanings:
"You shall chouse him of Horses, Cloaths, and Mony," wrote John Dryden in his 1662 play "Wild Gallant". Dryden was one of the first English writers to use "chouse," but he wasn't the last. That term, which may derive from a Turkish word meaning "doorkeeper" or "messenger," has a rich literary past, appearing in works by Samuel Pepys, Henry Fielding, Sir Walter Scott, and Charles Dickens, among others, but its use dropped off in the 20th century. In fact, English speakers of today may be more familiar with another "chouse," a verb used in the American West to mean "to drive or herd roughly." In spite of their identical spellings, though, the two "chouse" homographs are not related (and the origin of the latter is a source of some speculation).


chronotype

• circadian type
• chronobiology
• morning person
• early bird
• evening person
• night owl
• lark
• night
• owl
• evening
• early
• bird
• morning
• person
• circadian
• type

The set of circadian factors that determine whether someone is a morning person or an evening person.
Examples:
1) The idea that society will one day split into Morlocks who shun the light and Eloi who like to bask in it, popularised by H G Wells in The Time Machine, may not be so far off the mark. At a discussion of the social implications of our 24/7 society, held at the Science Museum's Dana Centre tomorrow, Prof Till Roenneberg of Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, will describe how he has discovered that people have a "chronotype" which influences their health and profession. (Roger Highfield, "Researchers shed some light on owls and larks of the workplace", The Daily Telegraph, March 29, 2004)
2) Humans have been defined in terms of three major circadian types or chronotypes, using measures such as the Horne-Ostberg Morningness-Eveningness Scale, a subjective instrument which has been correlated with body temperature and other physiological factors. The three types are "morning," "evening" and "indifferent" or "mid-range". The first two categories each represent approximately 15% to 20% of the human population and the "indifferent" or "mid-range" category applies to the majority (60% to 70%) of humans. A morning-type individual, or "lark", is defined as one whose circadian rhythms are skewed about two hours (or more) earlier than the norm for the human population as a whole. That is, larks naturally awaken between 4:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. and are ready for sleep by 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. To a lark, midnight is perceived as the middle of the night. Conversely, an evening-type individual, or "owl", is defined as one whose circadian rhythms are skewed about two hours (or more) later than the norm for the population. That is, owls naturally awaken between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. and do not find themselves feeling sleepy until the midnight-to-2:00 a.m. time frame. ("Chronotype Test", Round-the-Clock Systems, 1999)
3) "Evening people" drink more alcohol and coffee and smoke more than "morning people," Spanish researchers found. A sample of 537 subjects aged 21 to 30 completed questionnaires on personality, preference for time of day and consumption habits. They were classified according to "chronotype" (morning, evening or neither). ("'Evening people' drink, smoke more", Journal of the Addiction Research Foundation, August, 1994)
History, synonym, related words:
This term - also known as the "circadian type" (1985) - is an aspect of "chronobiology" (1969), the study of temporal or cyclical phenomena in the natural world. According to circadian rhythm researchers, we each have degrees of "morningness" (1986) and "eveningness" (1986) in our biological clocks. A person who skews heavily towards the former is called a "morning person", an "early bird", or a "lark"; someone who tends more towards the latter is called an "evening person", a "night owl", or just an "owl".


chuffed

• chuff
• puff
• huff
• puffed
• huffed
• pleased
• please
• delighted
• delight
• ill-tempered
• ill-temper

1. (British slang) proud, self-satisfied; very pleased, very happy.
Example:
I'm well chuffed to have won.
Synonyms: pleased, delighted
Etymology:
19c: from dialect "chuff" - "plump or swollen with pride".
2. Annoyed, disgruntled.
Synonym: ill-tempered
3. Blow hard and loudly.
Example:
He chuffed as he made his way up the mountain.
Synonyms: puff(ed), huff(ed)
4. (Said of a steam train) To progress with regular puffing noises.
Etymology:
Early 20c: imitating the sound.




chuffed to mintballs

• chuffed to NAAFI cakes
• chuffed to NAAFI breaks
• chuffed to little meatballs
• cakes
• cake
• breaks
• break
• meatballs
• meatball
• NAAFI
• Chuffed
• Chuff
• mintballs
• mintball
• chuffed to buggery
• buggery

Very pleased, absolutely delighted.
Example:
She said she was "chuffed to mintballs" after hearing the news.
History, related expressions:
The British judo player Kate Howey used this expression in response to the announcement that she was to have the honour of leading the British team and of carrying the flag at the Olympics opening ceremony. "Chuffed" by itself usually means "pleased", though it can confusingly also mean "annoyed, disgruntled". The conflicting senses come about because "chuff" has had a number of meanings in various English dialects, among them "ill-tempered" and "pleased, elated", presumably because the various senses come from distinct sources. But why the mintballs? Nobody knows, but the expression is certainly a cleaned-up version of several rather rude 1950s British army expressions.
There are two more precursors to this expression that were known to the 1950s British military: "chuffed to NAAFI cakes" and "chuffed to NAAFI breaks". (NAAFI = "Navy, Army, and Air Force Institutes", an organisation that runs canteens and shops for British service personnel.) A rather later version, that was mentioned by Chris Church, was "chuffed to little meatballs", which may be a transitional form that explains the odd "mintballs", otherwise not a term in common use anywhere, which may have come from it by a folk etymology.
Synonym:
chuffed to buggery


chug-a-lug

• chug
• lug

The sound of young men swallowing large quantities of beer at great speed. A verb for binge drinking.

chugger
1. A laboring engine (or anything resembling it) that makes a dull explosive sound, usually short and repeated.
Example:
"The Chugger" is a newsletter to provide Br. 13 members with reports of past events, calendar of coming events, letters, ads, club information, and tips for the restoration and preservation of vintage farm, mining, construction, and related machinery. ("The Chugger", <http://vintagetractors.com/chugger.html>)
2. A type of plug that rests on the surface of the water and makes a popping sound when retrieved.
Synonym: popper
Example:
Hot summer months provide excellent fly fishing with poppers in shallow water.
3. A person who stops you on the street to persuade you to make a regular donation to a charity by direct debit.
Example:
Bloody hell, I had to pretend to be on my mobile phone for about ten minutes walking down the High Street to avoid all the chuggers!
History:
The term is a blend of "charity" and "mugger". It seems to have begun to appear in the press only in 2003. This method of the collection is attractive because the law currently only requires those collecting money in cash to seek a licence. Their numbers have grown so high that the government has announced this week that it is to regulate their activities in a new charities law. So, the term has now become common.



ciao
(Ital.) bye

circular road

• beltway
• the beltway
• belt way
• loop
• roundabout
• orbital
• the loop
• circular
• road
• round-about

a road built to go around the center of a city.
Example: The inner orbital North Circular Road, cutting through the south of Enfield, gives fast dual carriageway access to the north, east and west of London.
Synonyms: (the) loop, beltway, roundabout, orbital

circumambient
[sur-kuhm-AM-bee-uhnt]
Surrounding; being on all sides; encompassing.
Examples:
1) The self owes its form and perhaps its very existence to the circumambient social order. (Rom Harre, "Personal Being: A Theory for Individual Psychology")
2) Facing reality, then, implies accepting one's essential powerlessness, yielding or adjusting to circumambient forces, taking solace in some local pattern or order that one has created and to which one has become habituated. (Yi-Fu Tuan, "Escapism")
3) It's a voice that does something physical to me, that jumps out of the circumambient air and seizes hold of me like a thing that lives off the blood of other things. (T.C. Boyle, "A Friend of the Earth")
4) Romantic love... rarefies lust into an angelic standoff, a fruitless longing without which our energizing circumambient dreamland of song, film and fiction would be bereft of its main topic. (John Updike, "The Deadly Sins/Lust," New York Times, June 20, 1993)
Etymology:
"Circumambient" is from Latin "circum" ("around, round about, on all sides") + "ambire" ("to go around, to surround"), from "amb-" ("on both sides, around") + "-ire" ("to go").


circumlocution

• Circumlocution office
• office

[sir-kuhm-loh-KYOO-shuhn]
The use of many words to express an idea that might be expressed by few; indirect or roundabout language.
Examples:
1) Dickens gave us the classic picture of official heartlessness: the government Circumlocution Office, burial ground of hope in "Little Dorrit." ("'Balance of Hardships,'" New York Times, September 28, 1999)
2) In a delightful circumlocution, the Fed chairman said that "investors are probably revisiting expectations of domestic earnings growth". ("US exuberance is proven 'irrational,'" Irish Times, October 31, 1997)
3) Courtesies and circumlocutions are out of place, where the morals, health, lives of thousands are at stake. (Charles Kingsley, "Letters")
4) Prefer the single word to the circumlocution. (H.W. Fowler, "The King's English")
Etymology, more examples:
"Circumlocution" comes from Latin "circumlocutio, circumlocution-", from "circum" ("around") + "loquor, loqui" ("to speak"). "Circumlocution office" is a term of ridicule for a governmental office where business is delayed by passing through the hands of different officials. It comes from Dickens' "Little Dorrit": "Whatever was required to be done, the Circumlocution Office was beforehand with all the public departments in the art of perceiving - How not to do it".


circumscribe
[SER-kum-skrybe]
1. To constrict the range or activity of definitely and clearly.
2. To define or mark off carefully.
3. To draw a line around.
4. To surround by or as if by a boundary.
Example:
Horses grazed in a paddock circumscribed by a lovely white picket fence.
History, related words:
"Circumscribe" has a lot of relatives in English. Its Latin predecessor "circumscribere" (which roughly translates as "to draw a circle around") derives from "circum-," meaning "circle," and "scribere," meaning "to write or draw." Among the many descendents of "circum-" are "circuit," "circumcise," "circumference," "circumnavigate," "circumspect," "circumstance," and "circumvent." "Scribere" gave us such words as "scribe" and "scribble," as well as "ascribe," "describe," and "transcribe," among others. "Circumscribe" first appeared in print in the 14th century; it was originally spelled "circumscrive," but the "circumscribe" spelling had also appeared by the end of the century.


citizen journalism

• citizen journalist
• citizen
• journalism
• participatory journalism
• public journalism
• participatory
• public
• journalist
• citizen reporter
• citizen
• reporter

The gathering and reporting of news by ordinary people rather than professional reporters.
Citizen journalist - a specialist in citizen journalism.
Examples:
1) & His dispatches have already given all of us a close-up view of the devastation and the ongoing efforts of Americans to help Americans who have been suffering from the aftermath of the hurricane &This is a good example of the citizen journalism concept that we Internet journalists are toying with these days.' (MaineToday.com <http://www.mainetoday.com/editorblog/003000.html>, 20th September 2005) 2) With the tsunami on Boxing Day we saw the power of the citizen journalist in providing instantaneous footage of events when no camera crews or photojournalists were present ... (The Guardian, 11th July 2005) 3) Armed with a digital camera and blog software, anyone has the tools to become a reporter. Now it's not just the professionals who collect and disseminate information about what's going on in the world. The growing trend in citizen journalism, journalism by ordinary people on the street, is adding a new dimension to the way local, national and international news is presented. History, synonyms: Citizen journalism, also sometimes described as participatory or public journalism, is the act of private citizens playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting and discussing news and information. Citizen journalism empowers any person, including those often excluded or misrepresented by conventional journalism, to get involved in activities that were previously confined to the domain of professional reporters. Proponents of citizen journalism argue that it reconnects news reports with the real concerns of readers and viewers, focussing on the things that people care most about and that most affect their lives. Among the most powerful examples of citizen journalists in action were the accounts of the Asian tsunami <http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com> flood disaster on 26th December 2004. Well before professional camera crews and photo journalists were present, ordinary people on the scene with video cameras and camera phones were able to provide instantaneous footage of events. Now largely viewed as the tipping point for citizen journalism, the tsunami disaster inspired thousands of eye-witnesses to tell the world what they saw through the use of web-based media. In reports of the London bombings <New-Words/050905-seven-seven.htm> of July 2005, citizen journalists were again the focus, when, within an hour of the blasts, members of the public were providing the world with images they had captured by hastily grabbing mobile phones from their bags or pockets. Digital technology - the Web, blogs, wikis <New-Words/051003-wiki.htm>, digital cameras and camera phones - provides the platform for citizen journalists to operate, giving people at the scene of a newsworthy event the opportunity to share their experiences with a worldwide audience. Conventional news organisations are increasingly seeing the need to embrace the role of citizen journalism. In the UK, the BBC has led the field in using images provided by non-professionals, sometimes also described as citizen reporters. Websites like scoopt.com <http://www.scoopt.com/> are now attempting to bridge the gap between citizen journalists and mainstream media outlets, enabling the person with the camera phone to sell their shots to the press.


clab
(SMS) crying like a baby


clam up

• clam
• close up
• dummy up
• shut up
• belt up
• button up
• be quiet
• keep mum
• button your lip
• button one's lip
• zip your lips
• zip one's lips
• shut your lips
• shut one's lips

to refuse to talk; to become silent
Example:
When the boss asked who had left the copy machine on all night, Caitlin clammed up.
Synonyms:
close up, dummy up , shut up, belt up, button up, be quiet, keep mum, button your lip, button one's lip, zip your lips, zip one's lips, shut your lips, shut one's lips Antonym: open up
History:
An imaginative writer once thought that a person's lips were like the two halves of a clamshell. When it wants to, a clam can shut its shell tightly. That's what gave that writer the idea to write "clam up" to mean "to shut your lips, and keep information to yourself."


claque
[KLAK]
1. A group hired to applaud at a performance.
2. A group of sycophants, a group of fawning admirers.
Examples:
1) The most popular girl in school was routinely accompanied by a claque of hangers-on.
2) He cultivated the "Georgetown set" of leading journalists and columnists and had them cheering for him as if he had hired a claque. (Theodore Draper, "Little Heinz And Big Henry," New York Times, September 6, 1992)
3) Behind the hacks was the claque. They cheered and whooped in a vague way, like a group of restrained English persons at a Texas rodeo: "Whee! Whoooo! Polite cough!" (Simon Hoggart, "Yee hah, chaps! It's the manifesto," The Guardian, May 11, 2001)
4) Charles Bukowski suffers from too good a press - a small but loudly enthusiastic claque. (Kenneth Rexroth, "There's Poetry in a Ragged Hitch-Hiker," New York Times, July 5, 1964)
Etymology:
The word "claque" might call to mind the sound of a clap, and that's no accident. "Claque" is a French borrowing that descends from the verb "claquer," meaning "to clap," and the noun "claque," meaning "a clap", ultimately of imitative origin. Those French words in turn originated in imitation of the sound associated with them. English speakers borrowed "claque" in the 19th century. At that time, the practice of infiltrating audiences with hired members was very common to French theater culture. Claque members received money and free tickets to laugh, cry, shout - and of course clap - in just the right spots, hopefully influencing the rest of the audience to do the same.


clarion

• declare

[KLAIR-ee-un]
Brilliantly clear; loud and clear.
Example:
Frances issued a clarion call to action, convincingly describing the flaws in the proposed legislation and detailing actions people could take to stop it.
History, related wors:
In the Middle Ages, "clarion" was a noun, the name for a trumpet that could play a melody in clear, shrill tones. The noun has since been used for the sound of a trumpet or a similar sound. By the early 1800s, English speakers had also started using the word as an adjective for things that ring as clear as the call of a well-played trumpet. Not surprisingly, "clarion" ultimately derives (via the Medieval Latin "clario-") from "clarus," which is the Latin word for "clear." In addition, "clarus" gave English speakers "clarify," "clarity," "declare" ("to make clearly known; to proclaim, to make a statement"), and "clear" itself.


clean bill of health

• clean
• bill of health
• clean bill
• bill
• health

Declaration of satisfactory, healthy condition, or proven innocence; people use this phrase to express that something is in perfect shape.
Examples:
1) Betsy worked for an hour on her math homework. She went over every problem and did her best to make sure every answer was correct. When she was finished, she showed it to her mother, who said, "You've certainly improved in math, Betsy. You did all of these equations perfectly! This homework gets a clean bill of health."
2) The gas station that inspected Dad's old car gave it a clean bill of health.
History:
In the 19th century people were often fearful that there might be diseases on ships that would dock in their cities. So health authorities had to inspect each ship before it could come near the wharf. If a ship was found to be free of disease, an official document called a "bill of health" was handed to the captain. Then the ship could dock. Today the expression refers to more than just medical health. If you've been accused of a crime, and then, after an investigation, were found not guilty, you're said to have been given "a clean bill of health".

clear the decks

• clear
• deck
• decks

1. To get ready for action (especially by removing physical and mental obstacles); to get all of the minor details out of the way in order to focus on a major project.
Example:
Before we can build our model for the science fair, we have to clear the decks of other homework.
2. (Naval) To remove or tie down loose objects on the deck of a ship.
History:
This is one of the many idioms that began at sea. In the times of wooden sailing ships, before the 1700s, crews got ready for a battle at sea by fastening down all loose objects on the cluttered deck that might get in the way or cause injuries. By the 18th century the expression had a broader meaning: deal with and get rid of all small matters that might stand in the way of getting a big job done.

clemency
[KLEM-uhn-see] 1. Disposition to forgive and spare, as offenders; mercy. 2. An act or instance of mercy or leniency. 3. Mildness, especially of weather.
Examples:
1) He put in a strong plea for clemency, begging the king to spare the alchemist's life. (Janet Gleeson, The Arcanum: The Extraordinary True Story)
2) The commission... hinted that many of those on death row in Illinois deserved clemency. (Jodi Wilgoren, "Can use of the penalty be cut back? Illinois study fuels debate", International Herald Tribune, April 17, 2002)
Etymology:
"Clemency" comes from Latin "clementia", from "clemens" ("mild, merciful").


clerisy
The well educated class; the intelligentsia.
Examples:
1) Brinkley's book ["Washington Goes to War"] is history rescued from the sterility of the academic clerisy and made accessible to the general reader. (George F. Will, "St. Petersburg Times", April 14, 1988)
2) The clerisy of a nation, that is, its learned men, whether poets, or philosophers, or scholars. (Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Table-Talk)
3) Our academic clerisy, I'm sure, could point out factual inadequacies, along with examples of cultural bias. (Robert D. Kaplan, "And Now for the News," The Atlantic, March 1997)
4) Our clerisy contains journalists and pundits and think-tank experts and political historians. (Michael Lind, "Defrocking the Artist," New York Times, March 14, 1999)
Etymology:
English philosopher-poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772- 1834) believed that if humanity was to flourish, it was necessary to create a secular organization of learned individuals, "whether poets, or philosophers, or scholars" to "diffuse through the whole community ... that quantity and quality of knowledge which was indispensable". Coleridge named this hypothetical group the "clerisy", a term he adapted from "Klerisei", a German word for "clergy" (in preference, it seems, to the Russian term "intelligentsia" which we borrowed later, in the early 1900s). It comes from Medieval Latin "clericia", from Late Latin "clericus" ("priest"), from Late Greek "klerikos" ("belonging to the clergy") from Greek "kleros" ("inheritance, lot"), in allusion to Deuteronomy 18:2 ("Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the Lord is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them"). Coleridge may have equated "clerisy" with an old sense of "clergy" meaning "learning" or "knowledge", which by his time was used only in the proverb "an ounce of mother wit is worth a pound of clergy".


click and mortar

• click
• mortar

A business that combines traditional retail sales and on-line marketing.
Example: Barnes and Noble is a major click and mortar book seller.
Etymology: Synthesis of traditional business buildings (made of brick and mortar) with on-line shopping (which rely on mouse clicking).


climacteric
1. a major turning point or critical stage
Example:
Dante realized that he was at a climacteric in his life and would soon have to leave the ivory tower to fend for himself in the real world.
2 a) menopause; b) a period in the life of a male corresponding to female menopause and usually occurring with less well-defined physiological and psychological changes
3. the marked and sudden rise in the respiratory rate of fruit just prior to full ripening
Etymology:
"Climacteric" comes from the Greek word "klimakter," meaning "critical point" or, literally, "rung of a ladder". English speakers have long used "climacteric" for those inevitable big moments encountered on the metaphorical ladder of life. The major climacterics in a person's life were once thought to happen in years denoted by multiples of 7 or 9 or only in the odd multiples of 7 (7, 21, 35, etc.). The grand (or great) climacteric was held to occur in the 63rd (7 x 9) or the 81st (9 x 9) year of life. Today, "climacteric" can refer to a physical event, male or female menopause, occurring between the ages of 45 and 55, but the general "turning point" sense is not usually tied to a specific age.