wise up (to someone or something)in.
to (finally) begin to understand someone
or something; to realize and accept the
facts about someone or something. (Also
as a command.) Sally finally wised up
to Pete. Come on, Sally! Wise up!
wish bookn. a large, mail order catalog.
The new wish book just came in the mail.
Where’s the wish book? I have to order
something.
wish listn. a list of things one wishes to
have. (See also want list.) I put a new
car at the top of my wish list. I have a
CD player on my wish list.
wishy-washy[“wISi”waSi] mod. indecisive;
insipid; weak. Don’t be such a wishy-
washy wimp. She is so wishy-washy!
with a bangmod. in a flamboyant or ex-
citing manner. (Especially with go out,
quit, finish.) The party started off with
a bang. The old year went out with a
bang.
with bells onmod. ready to go; eager.
She was here on time with bells on. I
promise to be there at five in the morning
with bells on.
with flying colorsmod. flamboyantly;
boldly. Heidi won first place with f ly-
ing colors. Paul came home with f lying
colors after the match.
within an ace of (doing) somethingmod.
very close to doing something. I came
within an ace of getting stoned. We w e re
within an ace of beating the all-time
record.
within spitting distancemod. close by.
The house you’re looking for is within spit-
ting distance, but it’s hard to find.
with itmod. up-to-date; contemporary.
Martin is not exactly with it. Come on,
chum. Get with it.
with (one’s) eyes (wide) openmod. to-
tally aware of what is going on. I went
into this with my eyes open. We a ll
started with eyes open but didn’t realize
what could happen to us.
without a hitchmod. with no problem(s).
Everything went off without a hitch.
We hoped the job would go off without a
hitch.woefits and woofits[“wofIts and “wufIts]
n. a hangover. The poor guy is suffer-
ing from the woefits. That’s a bad case
of the woofits.wolfn. a bold and aggressive male. (See
also fine wolf.) He sees himself as a
lady-killer. The chicks see him as an old-
fashioned wolf. And this wolf comes up
to me and starts holding my hand.wolf something downtv. to gobble some-
thing up; to bolt down food or drink.
Enjoy your food. Don’t just wolf it down.
TBut I enjoy wolfing down food more
than anything.wombat[“wambAt] n. a strange person; a
geek. (Collegiate.) Why does everybody
think Martin is such a wombat? Who’s
the wombat in the 1957 Chevy?wompGo to whump.wonk[wONk] 1. n. an earnest student. (Col-
legiate.) Who’s the wonk who keeps get-
ting the straight A’s? Yes, you could call
Martin a wonk. In fact, he’s the classic
wonk. 2. n. a bureaucrat; a flunky. The
State Department policy wonks were up all
night putting together the report. Our
office was knee-deep in wonks before the
reorganization.wonky [“wONki] mod. studious. (Colle-
giate.) Martin is certainly the wonky
type. You ought to get a little wonky
yourself.wood butchern. a carpenter. See if you
can get a wood butcher to fix this broken
panel. The wood butcher tracked saw-
dust up the stairs.wood-pussyn. a skunk. Do I smell the
faint perfume of a wood-pussy? The dog
had a nasty run-in with a wood-pussy.thewoods are full of somethingphr.
there are lots and lots of something.
The woods are full of cheap, compatible
computer clones. The woods are full of
nice-looking guys who’ll mug you when it’s
too late.woods are full of something