What is the meaning of ‘to badger someone’?
(V. Sashikanth, Mysore)
It means to pester someone. When you ‘badger someone into doing something’, you keep annoying or...
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What is the meaning and origin of ‘lay someone out in lavender’?
(N. Akilesh, Trichy)
The expression, mostly used in informal contexts, means to criticise someone severely...
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What is the meaning and origin of ‘scapegoat’?
(Rafi Mohammad, Tirupur)
Whenever a politician in our country does something wrong, instead of apologising, he immediately f...
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What is the difference between ‘take heart’ and ‘take to heart’? (Prakash Deevi, Hyderabad)The two expressions have very different meanings. When someone tells you something and you t...
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How is the word ‘divorcée’ pronounced?
(K. Jayanth, Hyderabad)
The ‘I’ in the first syllable is like the ‘I’ in ‘hit’, ‘pit’ and ‘sit’, while the second syllable rhymes wi...
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What is the difference between ‘phlegmatic’ and ‘mercurial’?
(P. Divyashree, Bangalore)
Both words are used to refer to the temperament of a person. A ‘phlegmatic’ individ...
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What is the difference between ‘protégé’ and ‘prodigy’?
(S. Narender, Secunderabad)
First, let’s deal with the pronunciation of the two words. The ‘o’ in in both words sou...
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What is the meaning of ‘kith’?
(N. Srinivasan, Chennai)
‘Kith’ is not used on its own nowadays; it only survives in the expression ‘kith and kin’. It comes from the...
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What is the meaning and origin of ‘sit on one’s hands’?
(J.V. Ramesh, Mysore)
How much work would you be able to complete if you sat on your hands all morning? Chances are...
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What is the meaning and origin of ‘leave someone high and dry’?
(Nirmala Mishra, Dehradun)
This idiom, mostly used in informal contexts, means to leave someone stranded. W...
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