Key words with English idioms - Lession 2: Bad

KEY WORDS WITH ENGLISH IDIOMS – 02
BAD
bad blood unfriendliness or enmity between two people or families.
 - There's been bad blond between the two brothers ever since their father's death. He left more to one son than to the other.
bad language swear words or taboo words. 
 - No bad language in the classroom! If you must swear, save it until you 're outside!
a bad lot (informal) a person with bad personal qualities, someone who is dishonest etc. 
 - I'm so glad that ferry has stopped going about with Mike Parsons. I heard that he had been in prison forstealing. In my opinion, he 5 a bad lot.
bad news a person, often with criminal tendencies, who brings trouble to others. 
 - Take care, Lucy! ’That young man is bad news.
bad news travels fast (saying) bad news is spread more quickly than good news.
 - 'My sonflew to Cairo last week and I haven’t heard from him yet.' 
 ‘He'll be fine, because bad news travels fast.'
a bad patch a period of difficulty or unhappiness; problems.
 - All right, I admit that our marriage is going through a bad patch, but it isn’t the first time, and we're still together.
a bad workman always blames his tools (saying) an unskilled, inefficient person puts the blame for his mistakes on the materials, tools, machine etc. he is using. 
 - ‘This knife isn't sharp enough to carve the meat properly.' 
 - 'It’s not the knife that's the tproblem - a bad workman always blames his tools.'
be in someone’s bad books be out of favour with someone. 
 - If you don’t get the essay finished by tomorrow, you’ll be in your teacher’s bad books again.
come to a bad end become a criminal, have to go to prison, suffer disgrace. Said of someone who leads a wild life and perhaps has criminal tendencies. 
 - Harry was expelled from school for stealing and now he’s been sacked from his very first job. He’ll come to a bad end if he's not careful.
give someone / have a bad / hard time treat someone badly or unfairly, make someone sufifer/bc treated badly or unfairly, suffer. 
 - In my first job I had a very difficult boss who gave me a really bad time.
give something up as a bad job stop trying to do something because it seems very unlikely to succeed.
 - Jonathan started learning German three times, but he didn’t make much progress. So now he’s given it up as a bad job.
go from bad to worse deteriorate still further. 
 - Business is going from bad to worse - we may have to close down.
ill a bad way (informal) in a poor condition/state ofmental or physical health. 
 - ‘How's your father after his heart attack?' ~ 'In a bad way, actually, Making very little progress.'
(it’s/that’s) too bad it's a pity/unfortunate. 
 - It’s too bad that you can’t come to Peter's twenty-first birthday party. We'll miss you.
make the best of a bad job do the best one can in a difficult or unfortunate position, regard a problem optimistically. 
 - Andrew didn’t get a place at university, so he can’t study maths after all. He's decided to make the best of a bad job and go into banking.
not (so/too) bad (informal) relatively good, satisfactory. 
 - 'Hello, Sue.1 How was the exam?' ~ 'Oh, not loo bad, thanks.
GOOD
a good deal often, a lot. - He travelled in India a good deal when he was young.
a good few/many ( + plural noun) quite a lot, several. 
 - There were a good few people al the concert last night, more than we had expected.
a good way quite a long way. 
 - ‘How far is Phong Nha from here?’ 'Well, it’s a good way, actually. It’ll take you two hours.’
as good as almost certain(ly), for all practical purposes. 
 - Mike as good as knows that he has passed his exam. He saw his professor and he gave him a broad smile and a wink.
as good as gold said of a well-behaved child. 
- Mary is as good as gold most of the time.
as good as one’s word true to one’s promise, absolutely reliable. 
 - Steve is as good as his word. If he said he'd help you, then he will.
be (all) to the good be an additional advantage. 
 - ‘I’m considering taking a secretarial course after my degree.’ ~ ‘I think you're very wise. It would be all to the good.'
be for one’s own good be for one’s own advantage or benefit. 
 - We bring our son up ratherstrictly, I suppose, and he doesn’t always see that it's for his own good.
be good for (+ noun) have the necessary qualities, energy, ability etc. to provide something or to survive. 
 - ‘Is your old Honda till running?’ ~ ‘Oh, yes. It’s good for another ten thousand miles yet.’
be in good company be in the same situation as someone else /others. (Said to encourage, comfort or agree about something.) 
 -‘I failed my driving test yesterday.’ ~ ‘Oh well, you 're in good company - so did I last week.
be in someone’s good books be in favour with someone.
 - Joanna has been in her teacher's good books since she started taking school more seriously and working hard.
be on to a good tiling (informal) have found a pleasant, financially advantageous occupation. 
 - Mrs Bellamy pays Frank generously for the few jobs he does in her garden. Frank knows when he's on to a good thing.
do someone good hclp/be good for someone's health, state of mind, etc.
 - Why don’t you take a short holiday? It would do you good.
do someone a good turn do someone a favour in order to help him.
 - I like Henry. Just after the flood he did me a really good turn and I've never forgotten it.
for good forever, permanently. - Rosalind's gone to Canada forgood. She’s not coining back.
give (someone) as good as one gets retaliate, light back, act towards someone in the same way as he acted towards you.
 - Sheila said a woman in the accounts department is always rude to her, but knowing Sheila, I'm sure she gives her as good as she gets.
give someone a good 'talking-to / telling-off' criticize someone vigorously. 
 - A customer complained about one of the waiters, so the manageress came andgave him a good talking-to.
good for nothing (a person) having no good qualities; lazy, unreliable, worthless etc. Note also: a good for nothing.
 - I ve never liked Charles. He's a good for nothing.
good God! a strong expression of surprise (often unpleasant), shock or amazement. 
 - Good God! Văn Linh's dead.
good gracious/hcavens/Lord! an expression ofsurprise. 
 - Good heavens! It's John. He's two days early.
good grief! an expression of dismay or displeasure. 
 - Goodgrief. You’ll never pass any exams if you can’t do better work than this.
good riddance! (informal) said to show relief when one gets rid of an unpleasant person or something unwanted, or when one completes a tiresome job of work, etc. 
 - Thank goodness that’s finished — and good riddance! I've never had such a tricky report to write.
have a good time enjoy oneself. - I wasn’t looking forward to the staff outing, but we all had a really good time.
have had a good innings have lived a long time; have enjoyed something
pleasant for a long period, e.g. influence, success, fame. 
 - If Paul isn’t reelected Chairman, he can’t complain. After twelve years he's had a good innings.
hold good continue to be true or valid (e.g. a promise, an offer). 
 - If your invitation still holds good, I'd like to visit you this summer with my family.
in good time early, with plenty of time to spare. 
 - We got to the theatre in good time, so we were able to have a drink before the play began.
it’s a good job (that...) it is lucky, it is a good thing that... 
 - It's a good job that the flight was an hour late or we would have missed it.
it’s no/not much good doing something there is no use/value in doing something. 
 - It’s no good phoning Peter. He's in Japan.
make good do well; be successful in getting a good job, securing one's future etc. 
 - Martin is a very ambitions young man. He’s determined to make good, and I 'in sure he will.
make good time (usually in a vehicle) progress with a journey faster than expected. 
 - It was pretty quiet on the motorway, so we made good time and arrived an hour early.
throw good money after bad lose more money in an attempt to compensate for a loss. 
 - Douglas lost money on some foreign investments, so I suggested a good investment scheme in this country. But he said that he wasn’t prepared to throw good money after bad.
while the going’s good as long as the situation is favourable. Said when the speaker expects the situation to be unfavourable in the future.
 - I haven’t got a lot of work to do at the moment, so I’in taking a few days' holiday while the going's good.
PAIRS OF ADJECTIVES
cut and dried settled, decided, final (arrangements, plans, opinions etc.).
 - Our holiday arrangements are all CUI and dried. We'regoing to Cretefor the last two weeks in August.
fair and square (informal) (a) in a fair way. 
 - Let's settle the bill for the damage fair andsquare. We were both atfault, so we'll both pay half. 
(b) exactly, directly. - He raised his fist and hit him fair and square on the chin.
free and easy casual, relaxed; unconcerned about social convention. 
 - I hope it won’t be ‘formal dress’ for dinner in the hotel - I like to be free and easy when I’m on holiday.
hale and hearty physically strong anil lit. 
 - Grandfather was hale and hearty right up to his death at ninety-three.
home and dry sure ofsuccess, no longer in danger of failure, losing etc.
 - If the team makes the next round, we'll be home and dry for the semi-finals.
meek and mild quiet, not self-assertive or bold. 
 - Patty should have defended herself and told Lucy what she thinks of her, but she's too meek and mild.
rough and ready only approximate; not exact. 
 - I can't tell you how to use prepositions correctly, but I can give you a few rough and ready rules.
safe and sound unharmed. - After his three months’ trip on foot through Africa, our son is glad to be back home safe and sound.
short and sweet brisk, without unnecessary detail (speech, letter, explanation, etc.). 
 - Remember, no one wants to hear a long speech, so just keep it short and sweet.
sick and tired (informal) thoroughly bored or annoyed with someone / something. 
 - I hope Andrew doesn't start telling us about his adventure in Butan again - I'm sick and tired of hearing about it.
slow but sure slow but good. He doesn't rush things. 
 - He's a slow but sure worker and the end product is always worth waiting for.
spick and span clean and tidy, in very good order. 
 - How do you manage to keep your house so spick and span with three children!
 ... to be continued