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20 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
to eat humble pie
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to admit your error and apologize
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a pig in a poke
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an item you purchase without having seen; a dissapointment
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a flash in the pan
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promising at the start but then dissapointing
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to pour oil on troubled waters
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to make peace, to calm someone down
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the sword of Democles
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any imminent danger (a king seated one of his subjects underneath a sword that was hanging by a hair, in order to teach him the dangers a king faces)
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Pyrrhic victory
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a too costly victory (King Pyrrhus defeated the Romans but his losses were extremely heavy)
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a wet blanket
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one who spoils the fun
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to beard the lion in his den
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to visit and oppose a person on his own grounds
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crocodile tears
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insincere tears (crocodiles were said to cry while eating their prey)
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to carry the day
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to win the approval of the majority
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Skid Row
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disreputable part of town, inhabited by derelicts and people "on the skid"
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to go up in smoke
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to come to no practical result (kindling smokes but it will not light a fire)
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to throw down the gauntlet
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to challenge someone (when the gauntlet, or medieval glove, was thrown down, the challenger was required to pick it up)
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feeling no pain
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drunk
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Hobson's choice
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to have no choice at all (Mr. Hobson owned a livery stable but he did not allow the customers to pick their horses)
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to rule the roost
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to be in charge, to be master (a roost is a perch where domestic birds can sleep)
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stock in trade
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the goods, tools, and other requisites of a profession
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to take down a peg
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to take the conceit out of a braggart (ship's colors used to be raised or lowered by pegs- the higher the colors, the greater the honor)
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to pass the buck
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to evade responsibility (the "buck" is a piece of buckshot passed form one poker player to another to keep track of whose turn it was to deal)
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to lionize a person
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to make a big fuss over someone (the lions at the Tower of London were considered its main attraction)
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