When you do something after waiting a long time to do it (perhaps because you are too busy, or too lazy) you get around to it – you find the time to do it. Examples of use: 1. We want to redecorate our house, but we never get around to it. 2. I'm always too [...]
If someone answers back (or answers someone back), they reply rudely to someone they should be polite and respectful to. Examples of use: 1. Don't answer your mother back! 2. (Mother to a child) Don't answer me back when I'm talking to you! 3. The children are always polite and never answer their teacher back. [...]
1. If a liquid that is being heated rises and spills over the side of the saucepan, it boils over. Examples of use: a) Look out! The milk is boiling over! b) Q. Why is the stove so dirty? A. Because Elizabeth let the soup boil over. 2. When someone's feelings of anger or [...]
To talk over something (or talk something over), is to discuss a problem or situation with someone. Examples of use: 1. I have been offered a job in Japan. I need to talk it over with my husband and children. 2. Richard: I don't know what to do about my mother. She is old, and [...]
To be snowed under is to be overwhelmed: to have too much work to do. Informal English. Examples of use: 1. She is totally snowed under at work. 2. We're snowed under at work because two members of staff are on holiday. 3. John started his new business last month and he is snowed under [...]
1. To bite back is to retaliate: to do or say something unpleasant to someone because they have done or said something unpleasant to you. Examples of use: a) Her relatives were always criticizing her so one day she bit back and told them what she thought of them. b) They are always arguing. He [...]
To put off somebody (or put somebody off) is to make them not like someone or something, or not want to do something Examples of use: 1. She liked his personality, but was put off by his fashion sense. 2. We were all put off by her arrogance. To put off something (or put [...]
