reason to bite my head off!/
[bite one’s lips]{v. phr.} To force oneself to remain silent and notto reveal one’s feelings. •/I had to bite my lips when I heard my boss givethe wrong orders./
[bite the dust]{v. phr.}, {informal} 1. To be killed in battle.•/Captain Jones discharged his gun and another guerrilla bit the dust./ 2.To fall in defeat; go down before enemies; be overthrown; lose. •/Our teambit the dust today./
[bite the hand that feeds one]{v. phr.} To turn against or hurt ahelper or supporter; repay kindness with wrong. •/He bit the hand that fedhim when he complained against his employer./
[bitter] See: TO THE BITTER END.
[bitter pill]{n.} Something hard to accept; disappointment. •/Jackwas not invited to the party and it was a bitter pill for him./
[black] See: BLACK AND WHITE, IN THE BLACK, LOOK BLACK, POT CALLS THEKETTLE BLACK.
[black and blue]{adj.} Badly bruised. •/Poor Jim was black and blueafter he fell off the apple tree./
[black and white]{n. phr.} 1. Print or writing; words on paper, notspoken; exact written or printed form. •/He insisted on having the agreementdown in black and white./ •/Mrs. Jones would not believe the news, so Mr.Jones showed her the article in the newspaper and said, "There it is in blackand white."/ 2. The different shades of black and white of a simple picture,rather than other colors. •/He showed us snapshots in black and white./
[black-and-white]{adj.} Divided into only two sides that are eitherright or wrong or good or bad, with nothing in between; thinking or judgingeverything as either good or bad. •/Everything is black-and-white to Bill; ifyou’re not his friend, you are his enemy./ •/The old man’s religion showshis black-and-white thinking; everything is either completely good orcompletely bad./
[black day]{n.} A day of great unhappiness; a disaster. •/It was ablack day when our business venture collapsed./
[black eye]{n.} 1. A dark area around one’s eye due to a hard blowduring a fight, such as boxing. •/Mike Tyson sported a black eye after thebig fight./ 2. Discredit. •/Bob’s illegal actions will give a black eye tothe popular movement he started./
[blackout]{n.} 1. The darkening of a city curing an air raid bypulling down all curtains and putting out all street lights. •/The city ofLondon went through numerous blackouts during World War II./ 2. A cessationof news by the mass media. •/There was a total news blackout about thekidnapping of the prime minister./
[black out]{v.} 1. To darken by putting out or dimming lights, •/Insome plays the stage is blacked out for a short time and the actors speak indarkness./ •/In wartime, cities are blacked out to protect against bombingfrom planes./ 2. To prevent or silence information or communication; refuseto give out truthful news. •/In wartime, governments often black out all newsor give out false news./ •/Dictators usually black out all criticism of thegovernment./ •/Some big games are blacked out on television to people wholive nearby./ 3. {informal} To lose consciousness; faint. •/It had beena hard and tiring day, and she suddenly blacked out./
[black sheep]{n.} A person in a family or a community consideredunsatisfactory or disgraceful. •/My brother Ted is a high school dropout whojoined a circus; he is the black sheep in our family./
[blame] See: TO BLAME.
[blank check]{n.} 1. A bank check written to a person who can thenwrite in how much money he wants. •/John’s father sent him a blank check topay his school bills./ 2. {informal} Permission to another person to doanything he decides to do. •/The teacher gave the pupils a blank check toplan the picnic./
[blanket] See: WET BLANKET.
[blast off]{v.} 1. To begin a rocket flight. •/The astronaut willblast off into orbit at six o’clock./ 2. Also [blast away]{informal}To scold or protest violently. •/The coach blasted off at the team for poorplaying./
[blaze a trail]{v. phr.} 1. To cut marks in trees in order to guideother people along a path or trail, especially through a wilderness. •/DanielBoone blazed a trail for other hunters to follow in Kentucky./ 2. To lead theway; make a discovery; start something new. •/Henry Ford blazed a trail inmanufacturing automobiles./ •/The building of rockets blazed a trail toouter space./ See: TRAILBLAZER.
[bleep out] See: BLIP OUT.
[bless one’s heart]{v. phr.} To thank someone; consider one the causeof something good that has happened. •/Aunt Jane, bless her heart, left mehalf a million dollars!/
[blessing] See: MIXED BLESSING.
[blind] See: FLY BLIND.
[blind alley]{n.} 1. A narrow street that has only one entrance and noexit. •/The blind alley ended in a brick wall./ 2. A way of acting thatleads to no good results. •/John did not take the job because it was a blindalley./ •/Tom thought of a way to do the algebra problem, but he found itwas a blind alley./
[blind as a bat/beetle/mole/owl]{adj. phr.} Anyone who is blind or hasdifficulty in seeing; a person with very thick glasses. •/Without my glassesI am blind as a bat./
[blind date]{n.} An engagement or date arranged by friends for peoplewho have not previously known one another. •/A blind date can be a hugesuccess, or a big disappointment./
[blind leading the blind] One or more people who do not know or understandsomething trying to explain it to others who do not know or understand.•/Jimmy is trying to show Bill how to skate. The blind are leading theblind./
[blind spot]{n.} 1. A place on the road that a driver cannot see inthe rearview mirror. •/I couldn’t see that truck behind me, Officer, becauseit was in my blind spot./ 2. A matter or topic a person refuses to discuss oraccept. •/My uncle Ted has a real blind spot about religion./
[blink] See: ON THE BLINK.
[blip out] or [bleep out]{v. phr.}, {informal} To deleteelectronically a word on television or on radio either because it mentions thename of an established firm in a commercial or because it is a censored wordnot allowed for television audiences, resulting in a sound resembling the word"bleep." •/What was the old product they compared Spic-n-Span to? — I don’tknow; they’ve bleeped it out./
[blitz] See: SAFETY BLITZ.
[block] See: CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK, KNOCK ONE’S BLOCK OFF, ON THE BLOCK.
[blockhead]{n.}, {informal} An unusually dense, or stupid personwhose head is therefore exaggeratedly compared to a solid block of wood.•/Joe is such a blockhead that he flunked every course as a freshman./
[blood] See: DRAW BLOOD, FLESH AND BLOOD, IN COLD BLOOD, IN ONE’S BLOOD orINTO ONE’S BLOOD, MAKE ONE’S BLOOD BOIL or MAKE THE BLOOD BOIL, NEW BLOOD, OUTOF ONE’S BLOOD, RUN IN THE BLOOD or RUN IN THE FAMILY, SPORTING BLOOD, SWEATBLOOD, WARM ONE’S BLOOD.
[blood and thunder]{n. phr.} The violence and bloodshed of storiesthat present fast action rather than understanding of character. •/Crimemovies and westerns usually have lots of blood and thunder./ — Often usedlike an adjective. •/John likes to watch blood-and-thunder stories ontelevision./
[blood freezes] See: BLOOD RUNS COLD.
[blood is thicker than water] Persons of the same family are closer to oneanother than to others; relatives are favored or chosen over outsiders. •/Mr.Jones hires his relatives to work in his store. Blood is thicker than water./
[blood runs cold] also [blood freezes] or [blood turns to ice] Youare chilled or shivering from great fright or horror; you are terrified orhorrified. — Usually used with a possessive. •/The horror movie made thechildren’s blood run cold./ •/Mary’s blood froze when she had to walkthrough the cemetery at night./ •/Oscar’s blood turned to ice when he sawthe shadow pass by outside the window./ Compare: HAIR STAND ON END, THECREEPS.
[blood turns to ice] See: BLOOD RUNS COLD.
[bloody] See: SCREAM BLOODY MURDER.
[blot out]{v. phr.} 1. To obstruct; cover; obscure. •/The high-risebuilding in front of our apartment house blots out the view of the ocean./ 2.To wipe out of one’s memory. •/Jane can’t remember the details when she wasattacked in the streets; she blotted it out of her memory./
[blow] See: AT A BLOW, BODY BLOW, COME TO BLOWS, IT’S AN ILL WIND THATBLOWS NOBODY GOOD, WAY THE WIND BLOWS or HOW THE WIND BLOWS.
[blow a fuse] or [blow a gasket] or [blow one’s top] or [blowone’s stack]{v. phr.}, {slang} To become extremely angry; expressrage in hot words. •/When Mr. McCarthy’s son got married against his wishes,he blew a fuse./ •/When the umpire called Joe out at first, Joe blew histop and was sent to the showers./ Syn.: BLOW UP(1b), FLIP ONE’S LID, LOSEONE’S TEMPER. Compare: BLOW OFF STEAM(2).
[blow great guns] See: GREAT GUNS.
[blow hot and cold]{v. phr.} To change your ways or likes often; befickle or changeable. •/Tom blows hot and cold about coming out for thebaseball team; he cannot decide./ •/Mary blew hot and cold about going to