Daily Idioms & Phrases From The Hindu: 21-08-2017


1: Eked out

Meaning: to make (a supply) last, to add to (something insufficient), esp with effort
Example: GM Harika eked out a draw against GM Stupak Kirill from Belarus

Many workers can only eke out their redundancy money for about 10 weeks.

2: Signed off

Meaning: To announce the end of a communication; conclude.
Example: Vishwanathan Anand signed off with a loss, that resulted in Sergey Karjakin’s lone victory, and finished tied eighth with Garry Kasparov

3: Bring up the rear 

Meaning: to move along behind everyone else; to be at the end of the line.
Example: Having brought up the rear in the 10 player event, Anand and Kasparov will be keen to gain ground when the action shifts to 18 round blitz.

4: Gain ground

Meaning: to become more successful, popular, or accepted
Example: Having brought up the rear in the 10 player event, Anand and kasporav will be keen to gain ground when the action shifts to 18 round blitz.

5: Put up a brave front

Meaning: to act confidently in a difficult situation
Example: When the National Anthem played, Rashmi Rathore put up a brave front. she’d just received the mixed doubles skeet gold medal with Mairaj Ahmed Khan in the Asian shotgun shooting championship at Astana, Kazakhstan.

6: Pent-up

Meaning: unable to be expressed or released, closely confined or held back.
Example: Ceremony over, she deserted the podium, heading for the closest corner. Pent-up grief gave way to a torrent of tears.

7: Tie up (the) loose ends

Meaning: to deal with the last few things that have to be done before you can finish something
Example: We’ve just got a few loose ends to tie up and then the report will be ready.

8: Shore up

Meaning: to support or help
Example: NPA resolution would necessitate a higher recapitalization of these banks “ MR.PATEL said “the government and the RBI are in dialogue to prepare a set of measures to enable state-run banks to shore up the requisite capital in a time-bound

9: Run out

Meaning:be used up.
Example: Just a year after Rio hosted the Olympics, its crime rate has spiralled out of control, and its top politicians have landed in jail cells for corruption

10: Spilled over

Meaning: reach a point at which it can no longer be controlled or contained, to spread to other areas
Example: Rio’s poor have been bearing the brunt of gang wars for decades. But in the year since the 2016 Games, robberies, murders, kidnappings and gun battles have spilled over onto the streets.

11: Cut down

Meaning: reduce, do less of something bad
Example: The troops may stay over till 2018 if their guns fail to cut down the surging violence

12: Playing out

Meaning: happen, take place, develop in a particular way
Example: As the world is hooked on the Game of Thrones season seven, Pakistan continues to experience its own power games, which have been playing out, in one way or the other, since the early 1950s.

13: To take off

Meaning: To embark on rapid activity, development, or growth, to begin
Example: the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) is set to take off soon, with the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) asking Centrally funded higher education institutions to send their project proposals to be financed by the agency

14. Close on the heels

Meaning: happening soon after another event, following close behind someone or something
Example: Her remarks came hard on the heels of a statement by the President.
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