IDIOMS---2005/Sep/22

01. blow s/t out: extinguish
She was not able to blow the candles out, so I helped her.
02. become of: happen to
What has become of my pencil? I had it ten minutes ago,
but I can't find it now.
03. shut up: The students got into big trouble for telling
their teacher to shut up.
04. has got: has caught
Curtis has got a bad cold. He’s sneezing and coughing a lot.
05. has got to: must
She has got to go to Chicago today to sign the contract.
06. keep up: catch up, follow
I can't keep up with him because he walks too fast.
07. On the other hand: on the contrary
My sister takes after my father in appearance. On the other
hand, I take after my mother.
08. turned down: refuse, rejected
I've been turned down by the graduate school that I applied
to last month. I guess I will start looking for a job.
09. fifty-fifty: go dutch
Let's go fifty-fifty on the cost of a new rug for our apartment.
10. break something in: to use something carefully,
to get the thing to be fit.
It is best to break a new car in by driving it slowly for the first
few hundred miles.
11. lost cause: no use, hopeless
It seems that Charles will never listen to our advice. I suppose
it's a lost cause.
12. above all: Sheila does well in all her school subjects, but
above all in mathematics. Her math scores are always over 95%