Ache For and Force To Be Reckoned With

Today's phrasal verb is ache for.  It means,
Want something or someone a lot.


My partner's been away for two weeks- I am aching for her.
I'm aching for a good night's rest

Today's idiom is force to be reckoned with, which means
Someone or something that is important and powerful and must not be ignored.  

Walter is a force to be reckoned with. Be prepared to deal with him. 
The growing discontent with the political system is a powerful force to be reckoned with.

Just to be generous I'll provide you the meaning of the word "reckon" and will explain some of its finer points for you.  Reckon means

To count or compute: reckon the cost.

 To consider as being; regard as.

 Informal To think or assume.

I reckon that we'll have to leave early.

Do you reckon you'll be able to go to the grocery store after work?

We'll have to leave early, I reckon.

They reckoned that they would reach their destination by noon.

Losses were reckoned to be over a million dollars.

An important use of this word is as a noun, reckoning. 

The act or an instance of reckoning: as a : account, bill b : computation c : calculation of a ship's position (called dead reckoning. Dead in this instance means "exact").

A settling of accounts, ex., "day of reckoning" (an idiom that means "final judgment", as in a soul's judgment at death).

A summing up

.

I was more than $10 off in my reckoning.

When the day of reckoning comes, we will have to face some unpleasant truths.

Our football team hardly comes into the reckoning. (The team is no longer competitive and not eligible for post-season playoffs).

Because of his injury, he is out of the reckoning. (not considered as an actuality or option).

The team is still in the reckoning.(a possible place in the post-season).

This word, reckon, as mentioned in the dictionary definition, is regarded as informal speech and is sometimes regarded as dialect.  That is, it's often used by rural speakers to mean "compute". (Because it is used by rural speakers more than urban ones it is listed as dialect in some dictionaries). Also, it is more commonly used to mean the same thing as "consider" in the countryside.  You'll often here this word in the movies whenever you see a story set in the past that has characters that are country folk.  American westerns are a good example of this.  Cowboys in the movies say it all the time. However, this is not mean that reckon is not a useful word that is still alive and in common, daily usage.  It is.  Try using it today.

Wolf Down, Voracious and Cheap Shot

Today's phrasal verb is Wolf Down.  It is somewhat idiomatic also.  It means:

To consume (food) quickly and without regard for table manners.

He wolfed down a ham sandwich.

He wolfed down a huge breakfast of 6 eggs, 4 pieces of toast and a dozen strips of bacon, then he finished a whole melon.  All while drinking a quart of orange juice, and he did in just a few minutes!

to wolf down (third-person singular simple present wolfs down, present participle wolfing down, simple past and past participle wolfed down)

This entry is in conjunction with a previous post for the expression, inhale (see Jan. 23rd's entry), which brings us to our next word, voracious, which means:
Wanting or devouring great quantities of food.  
Having a great appetite for anything

My nephew is voracious.  I'm sure he could win an eating contest!

Every time I see him, he has a book open. He's a a voracious reader. 

Today's idiom is cheap shot, which means
An unnecessarily aggressive and unfair remark directed at a defenseless person
An illegal and unsportsmanlike act of unnecessary violence in contact sports.

In front of everyone in the office, he said that Steve's suit looked cheap.  It may be true, but it was a cheap shot. 

The player was running down the field when suddenly he was given a cheap shot by an opponent from behind. The referee's never saw it!

Just after the bell rang to end the boxing round, one fighter cheap shot the other as he was walking away toward his corner.

Use up and Rhetoric

Today's phrasal verb is to use up, which means

To consume or finish all of something.

We used up all the dish washing soap.

He used up his frequent flyer miles to take a free trip.

This phrase is often followed by the word "all".

The word for the day is Rhetoric, which means

1. persuasive speech or writing: speech or writing that communicates its point persuasively

2. pretentious words: complex or elaborate language that only succeeds in sounding pretentious

3.* empty talk: fine-sounding but insincere or empty language

4. skill with language: the ability to use language effectively, especially to persuade or influence people

5. study of writing or speaking effectively: the study of methods employed to write or speak effectively and persuasively

[14th century. Via Old French rethorique< Greek rhētorikē (tekhnē) "(art) of public speaking" < rhētor "speaker"]

He studied rhetoric in college.

The mayor's promise to fight drugs was just rhetoric, since there was no money in the city budget for a drug program. 

The media almost never discuss what the sweeping dismantling of public services inherent in the rhetoric of the anti-government movement would mean in practice. 

*This word is mostly used in a negative sense, as explained in definition 3 above.  I would add that it can sometimes be a synonym for propaganda.

The Chinese government's talk of  the improvement of political conditions for free speech is simply rhetoric.

Pay through the nose and Inhale (slang)

Today's idiom is pay through the nose

To pay through the nose is to pay an extremely high price for something.

You're going to pay through the nose if  you take a taxi to the airport in Japan.

I paid through the nose to buy this guitar.  It's a rare, old one. 

There are a couple of possible origins for this odd expression. They go as follows. As early as the 17th century "rhino" was slang for money; "Rhinos" is Greek for "nose". Noses bleed and someone who pays over the odds can also be said to bleed.
The other explanation goes back to the days of the Danish invasion of Britain. 9th century Danes were particularly strict with their tax laws, especially where "foreigners" were concerned. They levied a particular tax against the Irish called the "Nose Tax"; failure to pay was met by harsh punishment - the debtor had his nose slit open. The expression only seems to have come into English at the end of the 17th century so the first one is most
likely the correct origin.

Today's slang is inhale.  It means

To eat something quickly

I inhaled the chocolate my girlfriend gave me for Valentine's Day!

The children inhaled the cookies.

Ease off and Go through the motions

Today’s phrasal verb is ease off.  It has two meanings:

To reduce pressure 

She eased off of the accelerator to let the car slow down.

To decrease in size, extent, or range

The amount of homework eased off towards the end of the semester

Ease off of the ice cream and candy or you’ll get fatter.

Senate sponsors have eased off a bill aimed at cracking down on online piracy after an outcry from Internet engineers who say the proposal would effectively censor the Web. 

Often this phrasal is used to express a reduction in desire, as in the third and fourth examples.  

The idiom for the day is go through the motions, which means

To make a feeble effort to do something; to do something insincerely or in cursory fashion. 

Jane isn't doing her best. She's just going through the motions.

Bill was supposed to be raking the yard, but he was just going through the motions.

The team had a very losing record and just went through the motions during the last game of the  season.

Die Down and Eschew

Today's phrasal verb is die down, which means:
To decrease or become quiet

Although it was on the front page for several days, interest in the matter eventually died down.

As the evening became late, the campfire died down.

I hope this noise from our neighbors dies down soon.

Today's word is eschew, which  means:
To abstain from or avoid doing or using something, usually as a matter of principle or habit

People who live in big cities often eschew others on the street

Jews and Muslims eschew pork and other things that their religions consider "unclean"

The eschewal of responsibility is a symptom of immaturity. (noun form).

There was a bumper sticker in America that was popular not too long ago:

Eschew Obsfucation.

This is meant to be humorous in a very dry manner.  Essentially it means, avoid being unclear and people who are unclear.

Big on and Rubbing it in

Today's material consists of two idioms: to big on something and rubbing it in.

The first idiom, big on, means 

Believing that something is good or important  

He's very big on jazz.  

She's not big on cooking.

This idiom probably has its origin in the phrase "to be a big fan ".

The second idiom, rubbing it in, means 

To emphasize one's strengths or another's weaknesses in a manner that degrades another. 

I know you're a better painter than I am, but you don't have to rub it in. 

With his team ahead in the ninth inning by five runs, the baseball manager decided to rub it in some more by having one of his slowest runners steal second.

 

Today's study material: Take into Account and Kickstart

Today's phrasal is take someone or something into account and take into account someone or something. It means:
To remember to consider someone or something when you are making a decision or a judgement.

I hope you'll take Bill and Bob into account when you plan the party.

I'll try to take into account all the things that are important in a situation like this.

I hope they'll take her age into account when they're judging her work. (often + that )

They took into account that he'd never been in trouble before.

Her book takes no account of (= does not consider) recent research carried out in America.

A variation of this is:
Take something into account and take something into consideration, which is similar in meaning but precisely means:
To consider something to be an important factor in some decision.

We will take your long years of service into account when we make our final decision.

You can be certain that we will take it into consideration.

Kickstart
This is a recent word, at least in its metaphorical sense, which is the second defintion, and would have to be considered slang. However, it's original meaning is:

1. to start (a motorcycle engine) by means of a pedal that is kicked downwards
2. Informal to make (something) active, functional, or productive again
n. an action or event resulting in the reactivation of something
n. kick-starter

My girlfriend helped me to kickstart this blog. It had been inactive for months before she suggested that I continue working on it.

The last example is actually a true statement about this blog.  Ha! 

Back Away

Today’s phrasal is to back away, which means to

Retreat or go backwards. It can sometimes mean to shun or avoid, as in the last example I provide.

The crowd backed away when the man pulled a knife. 

House Republicans are backing away from their pledge to cut $100 billion from the federal budget.

American journalists have backed away from Wikileaks founder, Nicholas Assange.

You will often here this phrasal in movies:
Put the gun down and back away from the girl

By the way, here is the definition of Shun:

to keep away from (a place, person, object, etc.), from motives of dislike, caution, etc.; take pains to avoid. 

Account for and a lengthy examination of the word Account

Today's verbal phrase is account for.  It means to explain or, in some cases, to cause.

They had to account for all the money that had gone missing. I had to account for why I was late to work. The humidity accounts for our discomfort. His reckless driving accounted for the accident.

However, the word "account" is worth taking a closer look at.  Here is a long list of definitions for the word, many perhaps of which my readers might be familiar with, but many probably not. Here are its uses as a noun.

1) an oral or written description of particular events or situations; narrative: an account of the meetings;  

 an account of the trip was put in words and photographs by the journalist

2) an explanatory statement of conduct, as to a superior.

He had to make an account to his professor regarding his questionable thesis

3) a statement of reasons, causes, etc., explaining some event.

 The official account of the September 11 attacks is hard for me to believe

4) reason; basis:  

On account of your unwillingness to compromise on your percentage of  my company's profits, I'm refusing your offer as an investor.

5) importance; worth; value; consequence:  

Your reasons for forgetting to do what I asked are of no account.

6) estimation; judgment: 

In his account it was an excellent piece of work.

7) an amount of money deposited with a bank, as in a checking or savings account:  

My account is now with Third National.

8) Also called can accommodation or service extended by a business to a customer or client permitting the charging of goods or services, the returning for credit of unsatisfactory merchandise, etc.:  

Do you have an account at this store? My account with the restaurant is past due. I just opened an account with Face Book. com

9) a statement of financial transactions.

 Here is the account for my travel expenses

10) Bookkeeping .

a) a formal record of the debits and credits relating to the person, business, etc., named at the head of the ledger account.b) a balance of a specified period's receipts and expenditures.

11) Commerce .

a) a business relation in which credit is used. b) any customer or client, esp. one carried on a regular credit basis. c) also called advertising account. the business assigned to an advertising agency by a client:  

The toothpaste account was awarded to a new agency last year.

Here are as a verb (used with an object)

12) to regard; consider as: 

I account myself well paid.

13) to assign or impute (usually fol. by to ):  

the many virtues accounted to him.

—Idioms

14) Call to account: a) to hold accountable; blame; reprimand,b) ask for an explanation of.:  

Call them to account for having endangered their lives.

15) Give a good/bad account of, to do something or conduct oneself in a good (bad, etc.) manner:  

She gave a good account of herself at her piano recital.

16) Hold to account, to hold responsible; hold accountable or culpable:  

If any of the silver is missing, I'm going to hold you to account.

17) On account, as an installment or a partial payment:  

I can't pay the balance, but here's $10 on account.

18) on account of, (This usage is an important one):a) by reason of; because of. b) for the sake of:  

She did it on account of me. It was account of me that we were late

19) On all accounts, in any case; under any circumstances. Also, at all accounts.

On all accounts see that movie

20) On no account, under no circumstances; absolutely not: 

On no account should you purchase that painting without having it appraised.

21) take account of: a) to make allowance for; consider b) to notice or observe. Also, take into account. :  

One must take account of the difficult circumstances. Taking account of the high overhead, the price is not excessive.

22) Turn to account, to derive profit or use from; turn to advantage:  

She has turned her misfortunes to account.

Try to use the rarer usages of this word, you'll sound very intelligent!  I'm going to follow my advice here.