Read Webster's New World American Idioms Handbook Online
Authors: Gail Brenner
CONTENTS
Chapter 1: An Introduction to Idioms
Part II: Idioms for Everyday Activities and Occasions
Chapter 2: Family Matters: Family, Home, and Life Stages
Chapter 3: Caring for the Body: Eating, Sleeping, and Grooming
Chapter 4: Health Matters: Good Health, Illness, and Addiction
Physical Health and Well-Being
Chapter 5: Nose to the Grindstone: School and Work
Chapter 6: Peanuts and Dough: Money
Chapter 7: Taking It Easy: Entertainment, Leisure, and Travel
Chapter 8: Love Makes the World Go ’Round: Romance
Chapter 9: Common American Phrases and Slang Expressions
Polite Expressions and Niceties
Responses That Mean Okay or I Don’t Care
Part III: Idioms for Expressing Emotion, Character, Success, and Failure
Idioms That Express Generosity
Idioms That Express Selfishness
Idioms That Express Compassion
Idioms That Express Cold-Heartedness
Idioms That Express Dishonesty and Deception
Idioms That Express Independence and Self-Sufficiency
Idioms That Express Dependency
Idioms That Express Sociability
Idioms That Express Shyness and Introversion
Chapter 12: Success, Failure, and Luck
Idioms with Head, Neck and Shoulders
Idioms with Face, Eyes, Ears, Nose, and Mouth
Idioms with Back, Stomach, and Gut
Idioms with Arms, Hands, and Fingers
Idioms with Legs, Feet, and Toes
Chapter 16: Negative Word Idioms
Chapter 17: Question Word Idioms
Chapter 18: Using Phrasal Verbs
What Is a Phrasal Verb . . . and What Isn’t
The Big Role of Little Prepositions
Transitive and Intransitive Phrasal Verbs
Using Active and Passive Voice with Phrasal Verbs
Chapter 19: Two-Word Phrasal Verbs
Phrasal Verbs with Up and Down
Common Phrasal Verbs Using With
Common Phrasal Verbs Using Without
Common Phrasal Verbs with Away
Phrasal Verbs with Under and Over
Chapter 20: Three-Word Phrasal Verbs
What Is a Three-Word Phrasal Verb and What Isn’t?
Three-Word Verbs Ending with Of
Three-Word Verbs Ending with On
Three-Word Verbs Ending with To
Three-Word Verbs Ending with With
Appendix I: Expressions with Do, Fix, Have, Make, and Take
Housework Idioms with Do and Make
Money Idioms with Have and Make
Appointment Idioms with Have and Make
Conversation Idioms with Have and Make
Food Idioms with Fix, Make, and Take
Time Off Idioms with Have and Take
Illness Idioms with Have and Take
Appendix II: Differences between American Idioms and British Idioms
Idioms with Different Prepositions
Idioms with Very Different Wording
Webster’s New World™ American Idioms Handbook
Copyright © 2003 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
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ISBN: 978-0-7645-2477-6
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
“No man [or woman] is an island. . . .” And this was well proven during the monumental adventure of writing
Webster’s New World American Idioms Handbook.
The support, encouragement, and exceeding competence of family, friends, colleagues, and editors gave me the impetus and much-needed assistance to write this book.
First, I must thank Acquisitions Editor Roxane Cerda for inviting me to the task, and for her mastery in getting the project rolling. She handled all of the initial details and follow-up with her usual skill, ease, and aplomb. It was a great pleasure working with you again, Roxane. (And thanks for that terrific list of idioms!)
Secondly, I thank the heavens for sending Project Editor Ben Nussbaum. His expertise and cool-headed management of this project made all the difference. I’m very grateful for his commonsense advice and keen take on what makes for clear reading. His skill, dedication, and easy-going manner greatly contributed to the successful and timely completion of this book. Ben, as editors go, “you rock!”
Copy Editor Mark Enochs did an expert job, along with Ben, editing this formidable manuscript, and clarifying many a vague and awkward line. Thanks, Mark. And thanks also to Jan Zunkel, Bethany André, and Blair Pottenger, who participated in editing portions of the manuscript. Also thanks to the entire production crew who put it all together.
Warm thanks to my colleagues who assisted me in so many ways. First and foremost, I’m very grateful to Lori Colman for her invaluable commitment of time and energy researching idioms, writing innumerable definitions and sample sentences, and offering suggestions. I couldn’t have done it without you . . . and that’s a fact! To Patricia Sullivan, Lynn Clausen, and Joyce Flager, who reviewed portions of the manuscript, I greatly appreciated your expert feedback and your help clarifying technical points and locating errors. Many thanks to Peggy Miles, “grammarian extraordinaire,” to editor Wallace Baine for movie slang, and to Sarah Phelan, my “British idioms consultant,” who helped set me straight on a host of Britishisms.
I gratefully thank my Generation X “language consultants” Forrest, Josh, Sid, Skye, Larson, and Betsy. And I’m equally grateful to Dottie Yingling, the coolest 90 year old around, for enlightening me on slang from The Greatest Generation. My fabulous friends gave their unflagging support, inspiration, and encouragement, as well as idiom book loans, slang suggestions, “The Story of English,” and late-night chats. Much gratitude and thanks to Deborah Abbott and Rebecca Tavish, to Chuck Ernst (my computer hero) and Joanne Tanner, to Sharon Webber, Adrienne Zihlman, and finally to Joyce Flager and Jan Fitzgerald for putting their foot down on Christmas Day and making me turn off the computer.
And lastly, on the home front, I’m very thankful for the enduring support and encouragement of my son Joshua Harris, who helped sustain my spirit, made me laugh, and saw that I took a break now and again. And who, along with pal Sid, brought me lively idioms “from the street,” and from the kitchen, innumerable steaming cups of tea. Awesome, you guys. Thanks!