close call: a situation involving a narrow escape from danger (also: close
shave)
o Bob, that car nearly hit us! What a close call.
o We had a close call when a small fire in our kitchen almost spread to
the rest of the house.
to get on one's nerves: to annoy or disturb (also: to bug)
o Laura loves to talk to anyone. Sometimes her chatter really gets on my
nerves.
o Jack asked his neighbor to turn down the stereo because it was bugging
him and he couldn't concentrate.
to put down: to suppress, to quell (S); to criticize unfairly (S)
o The police arrived just in time to put down the disturbance before it got
very serious.
o Fred tries his best at playing tennis. You shouldn't put him down like
that.
to go for: to be sold at a certain price; to seek or strive for
o This dress probably goes for about $50, don't you think?
o Peter was going for first place in the swim meet, but he wasn't able to
do better than third place.
to go in for: to have as an interest, such as a sport or hobby (also: to go for,
to be into, to get into)
o Hal goes in for tennis while his wife goes for painting and sculpture.
o What sports are you into? I don't have any time to get into sports.
to stay up: to remain awake, not to go to bed
o I want to stay up tonight and watch a late movie on TV.
o He stays up every night until after one o'clock, preparing his homework.
to stay in: to remain at home, not to go out
An idiom with the opposite meaning is to stay out.
o On a rainy day, I like to stay in and read.
o Young people are able to stay out late at night and get very little sleep.
to take over: to assume control or responsibility for (S); to do or perform
again (S)
The meaning of the second definition is almost the same as do over in Lesson
- also for the second definition, a noun or pronoun must divide the idiom.
o That large investment company specializes in taking over smaller
businesses that are in financial trouble.
o Most students didn't do well on the important test, so the instructor let
them take it over.
o Little Mickey didn't have much chance to hit the baseball during
practice, so the coach let him take his turn over.
to show up: to appear, to arrive; to be found or located (also for the second
definition: to turn up)
o It really gets on my nerves that Ursula shows up late for every meeting.