A
Idioms beginning with "A"
Part of speech, explanation, example sentences, pronunciation
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Contents of A:
[aside of] {prep.}, {dialect}
Beside; by the side of.
Mary sits aside of her sister on the bus.
[ask for] {v.}, {informal}
To make (something bad) likely to happen to you; bring (something bad) upon yourself.
Charles drives fast on worn-out tires; he is asking for trouble.
* /The workman lost his job, but he asked for it by coming to work […]
[ask for one's hand] {v. phr.}
To ask permission to marry someone.
"Sir," John said timidly to Mary's father, "I came to ask for your daughter's hand."
[ask for the moon] or [cry for the moon] {v. phr.}
To want something that you cannot reach or have; try for the impossible.
John asked his mother for a hundred dollars today. He's always asking for the moon.
Compare: [PROMISE THE MOON].
[asleep at the switch] {adj. phr.}
1. Asleep when it is one's duty to move a railroad switch for cars to go on the right track.
The new man was asleep at the switch and the two trains crashed.
2. {informal}
Failing to act promptly as expected, […]
[at --- stage of the game] {adv. phr.}
At (some) time during an activity; at (some) point.
At that stage of the game, our team was doing so poorly that we were ready to give up.
It's hard to know what will happen at this stage of the game.
* […]
[at a blow] or [at a stroke] or [at one stroke] {adv. phr.}
Immediately; suddenly; with one quick or forceful action.
The pirates captured the ship and captured a ton of gold at a blow.
* /A thousand men lost their jobs at a stroke when the […]