In Nouns^x, Idioms^x

Uh-huh. I found this idiom . This IS strange idiom to me, too. It 's worth pondering.

It's to help me find the number of hits for an idiom, or a use for nouns, verbs, etc... I know I have to click on "advanced search" but after that... that's my question!

#1 -- I think it's just a coincidence. They seem to come from different 'taps', both branching off early. For 'tap', the meanings in question are: 'To furnish with a spigot or tap. To pierce in order to draw off liquid: tap a maple tree. To draw (liquid) from a vessel or container: tap a new...

The BBI is my Favourite (capital F). It doesn't list all the prepositions but it is extremely useful for ESL speakers because it tells you how to combine nouns with adjectives and how verbs are used (it gives 19 valency categories of verbs). It also gives the most common word combinations, as...

Mr. P., Could you reconsider whether the "for" in "I was worth X-ing for" is a required element of the idiom? I've been reading this thread with interest, and it occurs to me that the "for" is an artifact of the verb choice for X, not part of the idiom itself. The "for" may go with the verb it...

Hi, CalifJim, Just wondering what you might think of Wilson Follett's take on missing "the" as presented in his "Modern American Usage." I am quoting two general statements that he made on pages 37 and 39, 1966 edition: "A due sense of the radical difference gives rise to the rule that any noun...

Hello MrP So I can only assume that either Dickens got his idiom slightly wrong, or ‘Child as he was’ had a simple complementary sense in his day. I feel your sense that children are not immune to hunger and misery is very modern one. Children of poor social classes in Dickens' times would be...

Thanks, Eagle, Paco, and MisterM for all your painstaking posts! Much to chew on. 1. It's odd that both your and K's dictionaries give this structure, which I seldom if ever hear. Maybe it's more common elsewhere. Sorry, all: I should have been clearer. I meant the ‘Child as he was…’...

Do you mean "(tigers) on the prowl?" (it can be anything on the prowl, the word tigers is not part of that expression). PROWL: To roam through stealthily, as in search of prey or plunder. IDIOM "on the prowl": Actively looking for something: salespeople on the prowl for better...

"We are the best of friends" = "We are extremely good friends." "the best of " is an idiom of limited use; it's related to personal relationships. "the best of friends", "the best of buddies", "the best of neighbors". There are other uses of "best" as a noun. Here's just one. He did his best...