Miscellaneous Vocabulary (A) MCQs

Don't offer advice to someone who has more experience than oneself.

A feeling of pessimism and despondency, often with regard to business or political prospects.

An act of treachery, perpetrated on a previous partner in a deceit.

Wasted and unrecoverable.

To fail to recall a memory or fail in some speculative effort.

Dressed flamboyantly or smartly.

A fight.

An affectionate term for wife.

A paid day's work in which the employee is allowed to stay at home for rest and relaxation.

Act submissively and apologetically, especially in admitting an error.

A display of confidence in a particular outcome.

Conveying an untrue version of events by leaving out the important facts.

The talking is over - there's no more to be said.

The English dictum that a man's home is his refuge.

Supposedly the last words of Julius Caesar.

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.

A scapegoat; one who takes on the responsibilities or workload of others.

A euphemism for 'to acquire illegally'.

Commit suicide or offer your resignation.

Someone who slavishly follows fashion trends.

Be inconstant and unreliable.

Soundly asleep.

Someone sympathetic toward a certain point of view without being a fully paid-up member of the club.

Literal meaning (it means exactly what it says)

A day of excitement or a circumstance of opportunity.

Excellent - especially of food.

Clumsy, unable to hold things steadily in one's hands.

Of the highest quality.

The floozie (or floosie or floozy) in the jacuzzi is the nickname of the bronze statue, properly called Anna Livia, previously in O'Connell Street, Dublin, Ireland.

Ships' goods which are lost at sea.

Alludes to the position of being able to freely observe a situation without being oneself noticed.

For Christ's sake.

Indefinitely.

There is an appropriate time for everything.

Jew.

Alluding to the alleged inherent weakness of character of women.

A colloquial expression, used to denote icy weather.

One's children.

A stuffy or foolishly old-fashioned person.

Complete, the whole thing.

A derogatory term for a black person, especially one with fuzzy hair.

An exclamation - a euphemistic shortening of God's hooks (the nails on the cross).

The process is in active existence.

Don't concern yourself with something that's already in the past; accept it and move on to more productive pursuits.

Become irritated or annoyed.

The reply of Jesus when tempted by the Devil.

To apply unnecessary ornament - to over embellish.

Drunk; by drinking gin or other alcoholic drink.

Ginger beer = queer, i.e. homosexual.

To go wrong, to become overly excited or deranged.

Go very fast; in a vigorous manner.

Speak or act prematurely.

An expression of disdain, along the same lines as 'get lost', 'go and play in the traffic', etc.

Become ruined.

Prepare for a battle or adopt a warlike stance.

Well-behaved and obedient.

Dependable men, of rank and honour.

An expression of pleasure on seeing rid of some annoyance - usually an individual.

The abandonment of elderly relatives by their carers.

To tackle a difficult problem boldly.

Inform on someone to the police.

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.

Having a passionate nature, or being inclined to quick temper.

Freshly printed.

In close pursuit of someone/something, or immediately after some event.

A nonsense phrase with no real meaning as such, although it also sometimes used as a jovial greeting.

Literal meaning - it is especially painful to raise an ungrateful child.

In secret; in a clandestine manner.

I see you are ready and anxious to depart.

"I will kill you and am prepared to be hanged as a consequence", or "I will swing a punch at you".

Display your feelings openly, for all to see.

To have 'another think coming' is to be greatly mistaken.

Eager; ready to participate.

(Stumped means stuck) unable to proceed, often regarding being confounded by some intellectual puzzle.

To be in disgrace or out of favour.

Laughing uproariously.

Virtually secured - as good as in one's possession.

In perfect condition, especially of health.

In debt.

In an instant.

With the inside on the outside.

A jokey alternative version of 'Is the Pope Catholic?'.

A complete and sudden surprise.

Dancing.

Some pleasant event in the future, which is never likely to materialize.

Built in a makeshift and insubstantial manner.

Inextricably linked - inseparable.

A tiny amount.

To reach the point in a TV series that denotes it is irretrievably past its best by introducing some ridiculous or otherwise unbelievable plot device or characterisation in order to boost ratings.

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.

The choice that was given to the victims of highwaymen and other robbers.

You are unpopular.

A series of short straight lines, set at angles to one another and connected to form a continuous line, often forming a regular pattern, but not necessarily so.

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

Talk.

A common rabble - the hoi polloi.

To be undecided.

A technique often used in literature of the absurd, in which characters cope with events and situations which are simultaneously comical, brutal and horrifying.

A general term or condensed expression, of which asyndeton and zeugma are types.

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.

An exclamation of surprise.

High quality, especially of cooking.

A large, possibly exorbitant, amount of money.

Affectionate term for a friend.

To display one's opinions and beliefs.

Childish and weakly sentimental.

Literal meaning (it means exactly what it says)

Literal meaning, but usually used for comic effect.

The slogan of the John Lewis Partnership from the 1920s.

A refusal to accept a proposition - equivalent to 'nothing doing'.

Without restrictions or rules.

Human beings do not thrive when isolated from others.

'No points' - the lowest possible score awarded to performers in the Eurovision Song Contest.

This is the rebuke levelled at the disciples of Christ, when seeming to doubt his divinity.

God's body.

Okay.

An old man, especially one who is eccentric, curmudgeonly or grotesque.

Old-fashioned; hackneyed.

To be in luck; in a prosperous happy state.

On the quiet.

'On the wagon' - abstaining from alcohol.

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.