Miscellaneous Vocabulary (L) MCQs

My husband or my wife.

Literal meaning (it means exactly what it says)

Fail, due to being unable to choose between two alternatives.

The most important person.

Nickname for New Orleans, USA, referring to the easy-going, laid back attitude to life that jazz musicians and local residents indulge in there.

An important person.

To the limit of one's efforts - to the last extremity.

Pitch black.

Interactions that occur between black people, notably crime that is perpetrated by one black person against another.

An oath, alluding to mayhem and bloodshed.

Tiresome, stubborn and obstructive.

Something that spoils the view or ruins a previously comfortable situation.

Used to describe the means of obtaining a successful result.

A sexually explicit romantic novel; usually in a historical setting and always with a plot involving the seduction of the heroine.

Surfing (a.k.a.

A prediction, usually expressed as a warning following someone's bad behaviour, that you may suffer future misfortune.

I am distressed; sad; grieved.

A colloquial greeting.

A misheard lyric.

Please forgive my swearing.

A procedure whereby criminal suspects are sent for interrogation from one country to a second country, where less strict laws governing interrogation apply.

The 'offer' being 'do as I say or I'll kill you'.

Carry on with what you are doing - it will give me an excuse to behave badly.

To state a fact in a way that allows no doubt.

Let us try again one more time.

A performer or act, usually a singer or band, who has just one popular success.

A final drink taken just before leaving on a journey.

A time when criticism or other negative actions may be expected, with no mercy shown.

Given the sack, i.e. asked to leave your job (see 'get the sack').

Saved from great danger.

Pretty damn quick.

Items of quality offered to those who aren't cultured enough to appreciate them.

An adage to encourage us to think long-term and look after future generations.

The power children have, by repeated nagging, of influencing their parents to buy advertised or fashionable items.

Dwindle away to nothing.

Attend to one's own faults, in preference to pointing out the faults of others.

A share in an activity, or in its profits.

Having a narrow chest with a protruding breastbone - alluding to the appearance of pigeons.

'Pig's ear' is Cockney rhyming slang for beer.

Very hot, usually referring to food.

An easy, uncomplicated course.

Feet.

Description of the practice of using speech that conforms to liberal or radical opinion by avoiding language which might cause offence to or disadvantage social minorities.

Close enough to go directly to a target.

A race, usually a horse-race, in a direct line across countryside.

Lies.

Port out, starboard home.

Take one's chance as to what meal one is served when accepting another's hospitality.

To commend an opinion to those who already accept it.

Now chiefly used to mean absurd; ridiculous.

Induce someone to join the military.

Make every possible effort.

To move home.

Improve your situation by your own efforts.

A request to be quiet.

Deliberately causing mayhem.

Die.

Embark on a journey or task with purpose and gusto.

Hurt your feelings or upset your plans.

Time in which individual attention is given to an otherwise neglected child or partner.

Something given in return for an item of equivalent value - like tit for tat.

Talk.

A common rabble - the hoi polloi.

A reference to the sometimes violent natural world, in which predatory animals unsentimentally cover their teeth and claws with the blood of their prey as they kill and devour them.

In earlier times a church festival or saint's day; more recently, any special day.

A thing which has neither rhyme nor reason makes no sense, from either a poetic or logical standpoint.

Verse from a nursery rhyme.

Bring something to an end.

Separating something from usual judgement and guaranteeing its protection, especially the funds of a project.

An event that is disreputable or strange.

To 'run amok', which is sometimes spelled 'run amuck', is to behave in a wild or unruly manner.

Escape from injury; avoid harm, especially to one's body.

Without incurring payment: or escaping without punishment.

Be firm and resolute.

The full version of the acronym SWALK.

An elderly person; one who is past the age of retirement.

To be ignored or ostracised.

Separate the good from the bad.

All of it; the whole thing.

A lengthy, improbable and ultimately pointless story, often told in an attempt at humour.

One's legs, used as a means of transport.

A hopeful attempt.

To abscond, or depart quickly.

To make short work of - to give little consideration to.

Sleep very soundly.

Sleep well.

Sloane Rangers, or latterly just Sloanes or Sloanies are upper class and fashion-conscious but conventional young people, living in the more expensive parts of West London.

A scruffy or dirty person; one who washes rarely.

Betrayed or cheated.

A rogue or scamp.

A spelling contest.

To use a public lavatory.

Entirely new - fresh or unused.

Stop and give me your valuables.

A loyal and reliable friend.

Using the understanding gained by major thinkers who have gone before in order to make intellectual progress.

Someone 'steals your thunder' when they use your ideas or inventions to their own advantage.

A narrow-minded or unprogressive person; one who lacks initiative.

A difficult situation.

Cruel and unfeeling.

A decoy bird, or a police informer, or criminal's look-out or decoy.

Be enthusiastic to free oneself from the restrictions that bar one's progress.

An acceptance of the unpredictable fortunes of existence, often spoken with an air of weary resignation.

A type of cuisine that combines both meat and seafood (especially lobster and steak), or restaurants that serve such cuisine.

Surfing (a.k.a.

Take control of a situation.

Carry off the honours.

Tease or make fun of.

Ronald Reagan; referring to his ability to get into politically 'dirty' areas but emerge with his reputation and popularity unscathed and with no 'mud' sticking.

The catchphrase on the banner shown at the end of Looney Tunes cartoons.

Originally meaning the central aperture of the eye.

Close interrogation.

A literal view of the subject of remarriage.

The people habitually suspected or arrested in response to a crime.

Literal meaning (it means exactly what it says)

The weather is cold.

Through all forms of obstacle that are put in one's way.

The span of a life.

This slogan was used by US President Clinton to publicize his plans for mandatory life sentences for those convicted of a third violent offence.

Make or take up a challenge, or demonstrate one's willingness to join an enterprise.

No one is so powerful that they can stop the march of time.

Attacking imaginary enemies.

Inoperative; broken.

Something that is 'toe-curlingly embarrassing' is discomforting enough as to make one squirm and curl one's toes in response.

Snobbish; supercilious; stuck-up.

In an ironic manner, not meant to be taken seriously.

At once.

Someone who can be relied on to provide support and comfort.

The ultimatum given by children who call on houses to solicit gifts at Halloween.

To knowingly refuse to acknowledge something which you know to be real.

Reverse the positions of adversaries.

All of the time - twenty four hours/day and seven days/week.

With most phrases it is the origin rather than the meaning that is in doubt.

Up the stairs.

Euphemism for pregnant.

Relax in a slothful and mindless manner.

The reverse of the previous statement, with the main items transposed.

A self-perpetuating process which returns to its starting point with no improvement from when it was begun.

'We have become a grandmother' was UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's statement to the press in 1989, on the birth of her first grandchild, Mark Thatcher's son Michael.

A threat of violence.

Be in charge.

I am plainly saying no, and I mean just that.

A computer screen display which appears onscreen as it will be seen when printed on paper.

A rhetorical question, suggesting that what is being spoken of is without fault.

Suit.

Send away or abandon.

Pertaining to the US white middle classes.

Severe traffic congestion, where backed-up traffic blocks movement on intersecting roads and progress is completely halted.

Lose momentum and stop.

Grinning broadly.

A glance made with partially lowered eyelids.

Calm, peaceful days.

Pinch (steal).

A disparaging name for the form of Christian religious observance which is informal, musical and spontaneous.

Unprovoked attacks on individuals made in order to record the event, and especially the victim's shock and surprise, on video phones.

A sign, warning of bad things to come.

Have a look.

Have a dispute to take up with someone or, to have an ulterior motive; to have private ends to serve.

Have a vague intimation of; have a slight knowledge of.

An indication that a piece of information was obtained via an informal contact.

To one's (or your) heart's content means to one's complete inner satisfaction - until one's heart is content.

A mild exclamation of surprise.

Literal meaning (it means exactly what it says)

Agitated.

In a carefree, stylish manner.

Stop and give me your valuables.

A loyal and reliable friend.

Using the understanding gained by major thinkers who have gone before in order to make intellectual progress.

Someone 'steals your thunder' when they use your ideas or inventions to their own advantage.

A narrow-minded or unprogressive person; one who lacks initiative.

A difficult situation.