[email protected] 127

D daily grind

- the everyday work routine
My father is tired of the daily grind of working and will retire soon.

dance to a different tune

- to change one's behavior or attitude
Our boss began dancing to a different tune when his head salesman decided to quit.

dance with death

- to do something that is very risky
The teenagers were dancing with death when they began to race their cars.

dare (someone) to do (something)

- to challenge someone to do something
The little boy dared his friend to throw a rock at the window.

dark horse

- a political candidate who is little known to the general public
The woman candidate was a dark horse but she won the election easily.



- to become clear or occur to someone
It finally dawned on me why my friend was angry.

day after day

- everyday
Day after day the woman goes to the school to meet her child.

day and night

- all of the time
We worked day and night to finish the project before the end of the month. [email protected] 129

day in and day out

- regularly, all of the time
My father goes to that restaurant for lunch day in and day out and he never gets tired
of it.

day-to-day

- daily, everyday
The president was not involved in the day-to-day running of the university.

daylight robbery



- a person or a thing in a hopeless situation
The man is a dead duck and he has no hope of recovering his former position.

dead end

- the end of a road, an impasse
The negotiations between the players and the owners have come to a dead end.

dead in one's/its tracks

- to be stopped exactly where someone or something is at the moment
The police stopped the robber dead in his tracks.

dead letter

- a piece of mail that cannot be delivered or returned to the sender
The letter with no return address went back to the post office as a dead letter.

dead loss

- a total loss
The money that I gave to my friend is a dead loss and none of it will be returned.

dead on one's feet

- to be exhausted
I was dead on my feet after working all day in my garden.
My friend had a deadpan expression when he told us the story.
[email protected] 132

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deaf and dumb

- to be unable to hear or speak
The man was deaf and dumb and could not communicate with the woman on the train.

deal in (something)

- to buy and sell something
The man has been dealing in antiques for many years.

deal with (someone)

- to act in a specific way toward someone, to do business with someone
The company is planning to deal with the late employee soon.


deep water

- serious trouble or difficulty
The boy will be in deep water if he does not tell us where he spent the money.

deliver the goods

- to do a good or successful job of something
He is the best manager that we have had. He knows how to deliver the goods.

desert a sinking ship

- to leave a situation or place when things become difficult or unpleasant
Many employees decided to desert a sinking ship when their company began to have
problems.

devil of a job

- a very difficult job
Everybody thought that unloading the truck was a devil of a job.

devil-may-care attitude

- an unworried attitude, an attitude where one does not care what happens
The man has a devil-may-care attitude to his job and nothing bothers him. [email protected] 134


die out

- to die or disappear slowly until gone
The campfire slowly died out and we went to bed. [email protected] 135

dig in

- to begin eating
"Let`s dig in and eat before the food gets cold!"

dig one's heels in

- to refuse to change one's course of action or opinions
Our boss dug his heels in and refused to give us time off.

dig one's own grave

- to be responsible for one's own problems
My sister dug her own grave when she fought with her boss. Now she is having many
problems at work.

dig some dirt up on (someone)

- to find out something bad about someone
The newspaper worked hard to dig some dirt up on the politician.

dig (someone or something) up

The boy's mother gave the boy a dirty look when he began to run in the kitchen.

dirty work

- unpleasant or uninteresting work
I refused to do the dirty work which my friend wanted me to do.

dish out (food)

- to serve food from a large bowl or plate
I began to dish out the food when the guests arrived.

dish out (criticism)

- to criticize someone roughly, to treat someone roughly
Our supervisor likes to dish out criticism to others but he does not like to hear
criticism about himself.

dispose of (something)

- to discard something, to destroy something, to get rid of something
We must dispose of our old sofa before we buy a new one. [email protected] 137

divide and conquer

- to split an opposing side into two groups so that you can win against them
The government was trying to divide and conquer the opposition parties.


[email protected] 138

do a snow job on (someone)

- to deceive or confuse someone
The salesman tried to do a snow job on me but I did not believe him.

do an about-face

- to suddenly reverse one's opinion
We had to do an about-face on our decision to permit drinking coffee in the library.

do away with (something)

- to stop something, to get rid of something
The company decided to do away with their policy of working one weekend a month.

do credit to (someone)

- to add to someone's reputation
The woman's graduation thesis did credit to her hard work and patience.

do in (someone)

- to make someone tired, to exhaust someone
I was done in by the time that I finished the marathon.

do in (something)


do or die

- to make a great effort
It was do or die for the man when he started his new job.

do (someone) good

- to be good or beneficial for someone
It will do me good to go on a holiday.

do (someone) out of (something)

- to cheat someone out of something
The man was worried that the company would do him out of the large bonus that he
was expecting. [email protected] 140

do (someone's) bidding

- to do what someone else wants
The principal was able to get the head teacher to do his bidding with the other
teachers.

do something rash

- to take drastic action (usually without thinking)
My friend is extremely angry and she may do something rash.


- to benefit from (something)
I have been working hard all day so now I could do with a cold drink.

do without (something)

- to manage without something
We will have to do without sugar if there is none.

do wonders

- to produce excellent results
If you begin to do some exercise it will do wonders for your health.

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dog and pony show

- a display or demonstration of something
The politicians put on a dog and pony show to make everyone forget about the
scandal.

dog-eat-dog

- to be ready or willing to fight and hurt others to get what you want
It is a dog-eat-dog world in the advertising and public relations business.

dog in the manger


- to be cooked just right
The steaks were done to a T and everybody was very happy with them.

done with (something)

- to be finished using something
I was done with the computer so I let my sister use it.

doomed to failure

- to be certain to fail
The policy of the school was doomed to failure because nobody would support it. [email protected] 143

a dose of one's own medicine

- the same kind of treatment that one gives to other people
The man got a dose of his own medicine when his boss began to treat him the same
way that he treated others.

double back

- to turn back from where you are going or where you have been
We decided to double back from the arena and return home for a few minutes.

double-check (something)

- to check again to be sure that something is correct

believe something.

down Idioms down and dirty

- unfair/nasty/sneaky
The team decided to get down and dirty in order to try and win the tournament.

down and out

- to have no money
My friend has been down and out before but usually he can find a job.

down at the heels

- to be shabby, to be poorly dressed
The man looked down at the heels after he was fired from his job.

down for the count

- to be finished for now
The boxer was down for the count but everybody expected him to get up and fight
again.

down in the dumps

- to be unhappy
The girl has been down in the dumps since her boyfriend moved away.


- straight ahead, in the future
There will be many changes in our company down the line.

down the tubes

- to be ruined/wasted
All of our plans went down the tubes after my friend refused to join us. [email protected] 146

down to earth

- to be sensible and practical
My mother is very down to earth.

down to the last detail

- considering all of the details
We fixed up everything on the boat, right down to the last detail.

down to the wire

- to be nearing a deadline, to be running out of time
We went down to the wire but we were able to finish the job on time.

down with (an illness)

- to be ill, to be sick at home


draw Idioms draw a blank

- to get no response to something, to get a negative result
The manager drew a blank when he went to the head office to get information about
the merger.

draw a line betwen two things

- to separate two things
We must draw a line between using the internet for work and using it for personal use.

draw blood

- to make a wound that bleeds, to anger someone
The politician was very careful not to draw blood during the debate.

draw fire

- to receive criticism for something
The government began to draw fire when they announced changes in the health care
system. [email protected] 148

draw fire


- to set a limit for something
We have to draw the line somewhere to limit the costs of the party. [email protected] 149

draw to a close

- to end
The tournament was drawing to a close and everybody was going back to their homes.

draw up (something)

- to put something in writing
They were able to draw up the contract while we were waiting.

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dredge (something) up

- to uncover something unpleasant and remind people about it
The newspaper is always trying to dredge bad things up about the government.

dress (someone) down

- to scold someone
The supervisor took the clerk into her office to dress her down.


drive (someone) up a wall

- to irritate or annoy someone greatly
My neighbor's constant complaining is driving me up a wall.

drive (something) home

- to make something clearly understood
The high price of gasoline drove home to us the necessity of driving less.

the driving force behind (someone or something)

- the motivating force behind someone or something
The potato farmers were the driving force behind the efforts to get people to eat more
potatoes. [email protected] 151

drop Idioms drop a bombshell