Table Of ContentA Dictionary of
Confusable Phrases
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A Dictionary of
Confusable Phrases
More Than 10,000
Idioms and Collocations
YURI DOLGOPOLOV
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Dolgopolov, Yuri.
A dictionary of confusable phrases : more
than 10,000 idioms and collocations /
Yuri Dolgopolov.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-5855-4
softcover : 50# alkaline paper
1. English language—Idioms—Dictionaries.
2. English language—Usage—Dictionaries. I. Title.
PE1464.D66 2010 423'.13—dc22 2010026211
British Library cataloguing data are available
© 2010 Yuri Dolgopolov. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Cover design by Mark Durr
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
Contents
Preface
1
Introduction
FALSE “FRIENDS” AND
“ENEMIES” IN ENGLISH PHRASEOLOGY
3
ARRANGEMENT OF THE ENTRIES
6
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED
8
DICTIONARY
9
Bibliography
341
Phrase Index
343
Key Word Index
376
–v–
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Preface
To really know English one has to master, cases when phraseological units form a semantic
along with grammar and words, a reasonably mismatch with consonant compound words.
large vocabulary of recurrent collocations, id- This contrastive format enables the language
ioms, and metaphorical expressions that reflect learner to see all potentially confusable units to-
the environment, history, and culture of the na- gether and so avoid confusing the phrase.
tive speakers and form an essential part of their Most dictionary entries are made up of
common language, adding color, dimension and phrases that are in active current use so infor-
vibrancy to the way they speak and write. Fa- mation about the difference in their meanings
miliarity with idioms and colloquial metaphors and usage is especially essential. Some entries
and ability to use them appropriately in context may contain phrases pertaining to professional
are distinguishing markers of a native-like com- jargon, slang, expressions that are dated or char-
mand of English. acteristic of one the principal regional varieties
Learning a language is challenging enough of English. These, though less relevant in terms
while learning set expressions (a language- of their confusion, demonstrate interesting cases
within-a-language) becomes really frustrating at of coincidence in imagery through time and
times, not the least owing to the existence in En- space while their contribution to the dictionary
glish of a very vast number of what we call allows it to be also used as a regular explanatory
phraseological “false friends and enemies”—id- dictionary providing definitions to individual
iomatic and non-idiomatic expressions that, de- idioms, clichés and set expressions.
spite their outward similarity or contrast, have There are numerous dictionaries of usage
unrelated meanings. Their confusion triggered covering the difference in the meaning, spelling
by false analogy may result in misunderstanding and pronunciation of lexical“false friends”—ho-
and miscommunication so knowing or not mographs, homophones and semantically unre-
knowing the difference between phraseological lated words characterized by outward similarity.
“false friends” can mean the difference between This comprehensive dictionary, however, repre-
understanding or not understanding English. senting as it does an important cross-section of
This dictionary has been specifically de- the language, is unique in that it is the first at-
signed to “diffuse” potentially confusable expres- tempt ever to provide a complete lexicographic
sions. The dictionary pairs more than 10,000 id- inventory of phraseological pseudo-synonyms
ioms and collocations characterized by similarity and -antonyms, both idiomatic and non-idio-
or contrast in their wording or metaphorical idea matic.
that do not show corresponding similarity or Intended primarily for ESL students at dif-
contrast in their meanings. Also included are ferent levels of proficiency, the dictionary can
–1–
Preface –2–
also be used by authors of textbooks and other heighten their awareness of phraseological sim-
educational materials who may screen the dic- ilarities and differences. It can be recommended
tionary data for potentially confusable expres- for use in school and college libraries supporting
sions incorporated in their products so as to cau- ESL programs as well as to adults learning En-
tion students against this kind of pitfall and glish as a second language.
Introduction
FALSE “FRIENDS” AND “ENEMIES”
IN ENGLISH PHRASEOLOGY
Even a cursory examination of English Alongside such phraseological “false friends”
phraseology reveals the existence of numerous there exist less numerous cases of “false enemies”
idiomatic expressions and recurrent word com- or pseudo-antonyms whose form may induce
binations characterized by similarity of wording the learner to believe that they are opposite in
or imagery without corresponding similarity in meaning which in reality they are not,* cf.: ab-
their meaning or usage. Phraseological units of sence of mind / presence of mind andcome on the
this kind usually form pairs and sometimes carpet / step off the carpet.
larger groups of expressions not normally inter- Whereas errors caused by interlingual
changeable in their respective contexts or only phraseological interference are predetermined
interchangeable in some of their meanings so er- by the student’s first language and mostly occur
rors can arise whenever one expression is suffi- when learners pattern phrases in the target lan-
ciently close to another to be semantically iden- guage after the models of their own language,
tified with it, cf.: bring one’s mind to something / errors caused by intralingualphraseological in-
bring something to mind orat the top of the tree / terference are generally due to erroneous iden-
up a tree. While positive intralingual transfer tification within the framework of the target lan-
may help in the case of perceived linguistic sim- guage of semantically unrelated phraseological
ilarities, cf.: make hay while the sun shines / strike units with conceptually related components. Er-
while the iron is hot, negative intralingual transfer rors of this kind do not depend on the learners’
will lead to problems owing to semantic or first language and are common to all EFL/ESL
gram matical differences between units. The students. They may adversely affect comprehen-
probability of their confusion is conditioned by sion and usage, so learners are in urgent need
the extent of similarity while their respective lin- for practical resource that will systematically ad-
guistic currency determines which unit in the dress this problem and “defuse” potentially con-
group is likely to be mistaken for another more fusable multi-word units. Nonetheless, prior to
familiar and seemingly identical expression. the present publication there was no dictionary
*The phenomenon of “false friends” is commonly associated with words of different languages relating as formal equivalents for the reason
of their material similarity while their meanings are quite different. A similar phenomenon can be observed at the phraseological level
when set expressions of one language have formal, semantically dissimilar equivalents in another language (for instance, the following
English expressions have their exact formal counterparts in Russian with altogether different meanings:dirty money, high words, service
flat, special school, art film, wind in the head,etc.).
–3–
