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| C-note | $100 (I had to pay a C-note to tow my car.) |
| Cabbie | Cab driver (Millie called a cabbie for a ride to the airport.) |
| Call a bluff | To disbelieve (George called his bluff.) |
| Call a spade a spade | To be direct (Susan calls a spade a spade.) |
| Call down | To reprimand (The teacher called him down.) |
| Call down to | To speak with (Sam called down to Joe.) |
| Call for | To request (The chairman called for silence before a vote is taken.) |
| Call-girl | A prostitute |
| Call into play | To select/use (The general called his tanks into play.) |
| Call it a day | To finish (I think we should call it a day.) |
| Call it quits | To finish (Let's call it quits for today.) |
| Call names | To ridicule (The boys called Sam names.) |
| Call off | To cancel (Anna decided to call off her wedding.) |
| Call off all bets | To terminate (Jack called off all bets due to Jill's bad disposition.) |
| Call on | To select (The teacher called on Bob.) |
| Call on the carpet | To be chastised (Joe was called on the carpet.) |
| Call the signals | Determine what action to pursue (Coach always calls the signals.) |
| Call up | To speak with (Betty called up her best friend.) |
| Calm down | To reduce anger (Please tell Jose to calm down.) |
| Can, the | Toilet (I have to use the can.) |
| Can it | Stop talking (Can it! I'm tired of listening to you.) |
| Can of worms | Trouble (Let's not open up that old can of worms again!) |
| Cancel out | To terminate (The company illegally cancelled out a contract with me.) |
| Canned | 1. To be fired from a job (The boss canned him.) 2. Artificial (I hate canned laughter.) |
| Can't hack it | Cannot endure (Relieve Mike from the football game. He just can't hack it.) |
| Can't see squat | Cannot see anything (We can't see squat in this thick fog.) |
| Can't stand | To dislike (I can't stand a complainer.) |
| Can't teach an old dog new tricks | Expression that means someone is unteachable. |
| Can't win them all | Expression that means someone cannot always win. |
| Cap | To shoot (The criminal capped his victim in the knee.) |
| Card, a | A funny person (Henry is such a card.) |
| Card up the sleeve | A trick (He has another card up his sleeve.) |
| Cards on the table | To be honest (It's time to put your cards on the table.) |
| Carney | Carnival worker (A Carney usually has a bad reputation for trickery.) |
| Carry coal to Newcastle | Redundant; useless (That's like carrying coal to Newcastle.) |
| Carry on | 1. To continue (The major told his men to carry on.) 2. To act silly (Billy is carrying on again.) |
| Carry the ball | Take responsibility (Can you carry the ball for us on this project?) |
| Carry too far | To act in excess (Don't carry the joke too far.) |
| Carry water | To be a sycophant (That radio host carries water for a political party.) |
| Carry weight | To impress (Joan's words didn't carry any weight with me.) |
| Case the joint | Inspect a place (Criminals cased the joint before breaking in to steal items.) |
| Cash in chips | 1. To die (The old man just cashed in his chips.) 2. To exchange gambling chips for money (I'll cash in my chips now.) |
| Cart before the horse | Place in improper order (She often puts the cart before the horse.) |
| Cast about for | To seek (I had to cast about for a new idea.) |
| Cast down | To be sad (John looks really cast down.) |
| Cast light upon | To enlighten/show (Your speech cast light upon the city's main problem.) |
| Castle in the air | Impossible dream (He just dreams of castles in the air.) |
| Cat got tongue | To be silent (What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?) |
| Cat out of the bag, let the | To reveal the truth |
| Cat jumps, see which way the | To wait before making a decision (I think we better see which way the cat jumps before taking a stand.) |
| Catch | 1. A trick (There must be a catch in the contest.) 2. A good person (Bill thinks Joan is quite a catch.) |
| Catch breath | To pause (You better catch your breath before continuing.) |
| Catch drift | Comprehend intention (I hope the membership will catch my drift.) |
| Catch flat-footed | Surprise completely (Police caught the thief flat-footed.) |
| Catch hell | To be in trouble (Bob caught hell from home.) |
| Catch in the act | To catch blatantly (Mom caught us in the act, so we had to stop.) |
| Catch on | To understand (I think she'll catch on to that.) |
| Catch on the flipside | To meet on a return trip (Donny wants to catch us on the flipside.) |
| Catch red-handed | To catch blatantly(Watch out or you'll be caught red-handed.) |
| Catch sight of | To observe (We caught sight of the enemy on a mountain peak.) |
| Catch some shuteye | To sleep (Melvin needs to catch some shuteye.) |
| Catch the eye | To attract (Sally caught Bill's eye.) |
| Catch up with | To meet (We'll catch up with you at exit 35 on highway 7.) |
| Catch you later | To meet (someone) again (I hope to catch Melissa later.) |
| Catty | To gossip (Mrs. Hatch is a catty female.) |
| Caught up in | To be included; involved (George was caught up in a good cause.) |
| Cave in | To capitulate (He finally caved in and did what we wanted.) |
| Chain gang | Criminals chained together and performing work under supervision |
| Chain smoker | Someone who smokes constantly |
| Chalk it up to | Attribute to (Bob's success can be chalked up to his strong work ethic.) |
| Chalk up | To score; gain (Sam is expected to chalk up 20 points per basketball game.) |
| Change hands | To change ownership (The Ford truck changed hands.) |
| Change of pace | To alter usual actions (Mother needs a change of pace from daily routine.) |
| Change tune | To stop an inappropriate action (You better change your tune, son.) |
| Chap | Fellow; man [British term] (I need a few chaps who can work hard today.) |
| Chatterbox | Someone who speaks too much (Patricia is a big chatterbox.) |
| Cheapskate | Stingy person (That cheapskate won't ever pay a decent wage.) |
| Cheat on | To be unfaithful (Bill cheated on his wife again.) |
| Check | 1. A bill for service (How much is the check?) 2. To inspect; notice (I want to check with my friends before going there.) 3. To make a mark (Did anyone remember to put a check on the form?) |
| Check in | To register; to communicate (He had to check in with the office.) |
| Check out | 1. To pay a bill before leaving (What time must we check out?) 2. To inspect; notice (I think we better check it out.) 3. To die (Danny was critically ill and finally checked out.) |
| Check up on | To monitor (The doctor checked up on his patient.) |
| Cheesy | Substandard (That new home has cheesy construction.) |
| Chew on a set of knuckles | Hit in the face (Bob let the punk chew on a set of knuckles.) |
| Chew out | To chastise (Dad really chewed out his wayward son.) |
| Chew the fat | To chat (Let's just chew the fat a few minutes.) |
| Chew the rag | To discuss (Friends met and chewed the rag about their old days.) |
| Chick | Girl (This school has plenty of good-looking chicks.) |
| Chick flick | Movie made for females (Roy can't stand watching chick flicks.) |
| Chicken | Coward (Pam is disappointed to know her boyfriend is a chicken.) |
| Chicken-feed | Of little value (The pay was just chicken-feed.) |
| Chill out | To relax (You're welcome to chill out with us.) |
| Chime in | To speak (Monica chimed in with a great idea.) |
| Chip in | To donate (Everyone chipped in to help the poor people.) |
| Chip off the old block | Similar to another (Sammy is a chip off the old block--just like his dad.) |
| Chip on the shoulder | To be angry; hold a grudge (Bill walks around with a chip on the shoulder.) |
| Chips | British term for french fries (Charles bought some fish and chips.) |
| Chips are down | Trouble (When the chips are down, Joe disappears.) |
| Chisel in on | To intrude (Stop chiseling in on us!) |
| Chiseler | A cheat (That man is a big chiseler.) |
| Chock full | Filled (The president's speech was chock full of lies and misinformation.) |
| Chow | Food [Cowboy talk] (I don't consider rattlesnake salad proper chow.) |
| Chow down | To eat [Cowboy talk] (Come and get the food. It's time to chow down.) |
| Chowderhead | Foolish person (I hope Bob doesn't act like a chowderhead at my party.) |
| Chuckwagon | Food wagon [Cowboy talk] (You can get grub at the chuckwagon.) |
| Chum | Male friend (Nathan plans to meet a few chums for lunch.) |
| Chump | Gullible male (The crooked store owner enjoys tricking a chump.) |
| Cinch, a | Easily accomplished (It's a cinch for Bob to complete the work early.) |
| Clam up | Not speak (His lawyer told Ben to clam up.) |
| Clap, the | Venereal disease (He caught the clap by fooling around.) |
| Clean as a whistle | No problems (Your background is clean as a whistle.) |
| Clean bill of health | No problems (Our project received a clean bill of health from management.) |
| Clean break | 1. To break without complications (The accident caused a clean break.) 2. To disassociate; to escape (Bob and Jane made a clean break.) |
| Clean clock | To defeat (someone) (Marty cleaned the bully's clock.) |
| Clean house | To be rid of trouble (People decided to clean house and vote out bad representatives.) |
| Clean slate | To start anew; no prior history (You've got a clean slate with me.) |
| Clean sweep | Complete action/victory (The army made a clean sweep.) |
| Clean up | 1. To clean (Mom constantly cleans up their mess.) 2. To win (Dave cleaned up tonight at the poker game.) |
| Clear the air | To resolve (It's time we cleared the air about this matter.) |
| Clear the cobwebs out | To wake up (I'll be ready once I clear the cobwebs out.) |
| Clear the head/mind | Think clearly; eliminate (I want you to clear the mind of negative thoughts.) |
| Climb all over | 1. To berate (The boss will climb all over your butt.) 2. Active sexual experience (Belinda climbed all over her boyfriend.) |
| Clink, the | Jail (Police locked a few drunks in the clink overnight.) |
| Clip-joint | Sleazy place in town where a person can expect to be cheated |
| Clip wings | To restrict actions (Kate decided to clip her boyfriend's wings.) |
| Clock watcher | Worker who does the bare minimum (Mary-Joyce is a clock watcher; she's just lazy.) |
| Close call | Nearly have an accident (That was a close call!) |
| Close in on | To surround; get close (We're beginning to close in on our target.) |
| Close quarters | Tight space; close together (It's close quarters when relatives come to visit.) |
| Close shave | Nearly have an accident (We just had a close shave!) |
| Closed-shop | Business that only allows workers from a labor union |
| Closeout sale | Going out of business (Sadly, it's time for our closeout sale.) |
| Cloud over the head | To be troubled; worried (You shouldn't walk around with a cloud over the head.) |
| Clown, a | An obnoxious person (John is just another clown.) |
| Clue (you) in on | To instruct; inform (I better clue Sammy in on the rules here.) |
| Clueless | Ignorant (That girl is totally clueless.) |
| C'mon | Come on; Follow me (C'mon, let's get out of this place.} |
| Coast along | To be relaxed (Sammy decided to coast along and not worry any more.) |
| Coast is clear | Safe (Be sure the coast is clear before we continue.) |
| Cock-and-bull story | Nonsense (Tony didn't believe Joe's cock-and-bull story.) |
| Cockamamie | Nonsense (Mom is tired of hearing Johnny's cockamamie excuses.) |
| Cockeyed | Strange; odd (I think your idea is cockeyed but I like it.) |
| Cocksure | Confident (Peter is always cocksure of his abilities.) |
| Cocky | Confident; arrogant (I think Rodrigo is a little too cocky.) |
| Coin a phrase, to | To state; affirm (To coin a phrase, I think we better get out of here.) |
| Cold blood, in | Without remorse (That man will kill in cold blood.) |
| Cold feet | To be afraid (Joe is getting cold feet about following your plan.) |
| Cold fish | Unemotional (Olivia's date acted like cold fish.) |
| Cold shoulder | Unfriendly disdain (Janet gave Oliver the cold shoulder.) |
| Collar | 1. To catch; stop (Betty collared her boyfriend in a music store.) 2. An arrest [Police term] (Officers Grant and Jones made the collar.) |
| Come about | 1. To happen (Everything you predicted has come about.) 2. Turn around (The captain ordered his ship to come about.) |
| Come across | 1. To appear (Oliver comes across as an honest man.) 2. To do as promised (Don't worry, Mack will come across with the money.) 3. To discover (Christopher Columbus came across America by accident.) |
| Come clean | To be truthful (It's time that Fred came clean about his involvement in this.) |
| Come down off your high horse | Stop being arrogant |
| Come easy | To learn or do without difficulty (Learning a new language comes easy for Martha.) |
| Come for | To seek (Police are coming for the bank robbers.) |
| Come for the action | To seek fun or gambling (They came for the action in Las Vegas.) |
| Come of age | To become an adult (Young Bobby just came of age today.) |
| Come off | To happen (Our school party came off without any problems.) |
| Come off it | Stop being critical. (Come off it! We can do the job.) |
| Come on | Follow me [also said as c'mon] |
| Come-on | A flirtatious act (Betty often gives boys that come-on look.) |
| Come out in the open | To be honest; forthright (Jeff came out in the open about his work experience.) |
| Come out of the woodwork | To be open; not hide (Informants are coming out of the woodwork now that reporters have exposed the truth.) |
| Come to | To become; applicable (It might come to me quitting the job.) |
| Come what may | No matter what happens (I'm going with you, come what may.) |
| Comes out | Revealed (Your agency will look bad when the truth comes out in newspapers.) |
| Come to a head | Climax; end result (The company's cash troubles are coming to a head.) |
| Coming-out party | Party to celebrate turning 16 years old |
| Compare notes | To discuss (My group wants to compare notes with your company.) |
| Con | To swindle (Bart planed to con you out of money.) |
| Con artist | A swindler (Police recently caught an old con artist.) |
| Con game | A swindle (Those crooks are skillful in running a con game.) |
| Con job | A swindle (We were caught up in a con job.) |
| Conk on | To be hit (Bill received a conk on the head.) |
| Conk out | 1. Sleep (I'm so tired I'm going to conk out now.) 2. To be unconscious (A thief conked out the night watchman.) |
| Conniption fit | Unbridled action (Don't have a conniption fit if I decide to do this.) |
| Cook the books | To falsify records (Organized crime stooges cooked the books.) |
| Cook up | To organize; invent (Tom will cook up an excuse for why we're late.) |
| Cook up a storm | To cause trouble (Sue may cook up a storm about this new policy.) |
| Cooked | In trouble (I must finish the project on time or I'm cooked.) |
| Cool | Good; interesting; nice (I think your new dress is cool.) |
| Cool down | Become calm; less angry (It's good thing that Bob cooled down.) |
| Cool (his) heels | To wait (Melissa made George cool his heels outside before opening the door.) |
| Cool it! | Expression to stop dubious activity or obnoxious actions. |
| Cool off | Become calm; less angry (Jill needs time to cool off.) |
| Cool one | 1. Calm person (Andrew usually is the cool one in our group.) 2. Cold beer (Oscar poured himself a cool one.) |
| Cool spot | Interesting location (Allen knows all of the cool spots around town.) |
| Cool (your) jets | Be patient (Jessica hasn't learned to cool her jets.) |
| Cooped up | To be trapped inside (I don't like being cooped up at home.) |
| Cop; copper | Policeman (Cops arrested a gang of criminals.) |
| Cop a plea | To confess (Some criminals cop a plea to get a reduced sentence.) |
| Cop-out | An excuse (I'm fed up with your usual cop-outs.) |
| Cop out on | To abandon (I'm afraid Sammy will cop out on us.) |
| Copycat | One who copies another person's actions (Mary is a copycat who has no original ideas.) |
| Corner the market | To have a monopoly (Pam thought she cornered the market on beauty.) |
| Corny | Silly (Stella has a corny idea about how to lose weight quickly.) |
| Cough up | To surrender something (I can't cough up more money until next week.) |
| Count chickens before they hatch | To be overly optimistic (Don't count your chickens before they hatch.) |
| Count in | To include (someone) (I can count Bill in on the deal.) |
| Count on | Depend on; trust (We can count on Jim's help.) |
| Count out | Not included; not participate (Count Mark out because he disagrees with the act.) |
| Cover | Artificial profession (An intelligence agent is told to live his cover.) |
| Cover charge or fee | Price of entrance (Patrons paid a cover charge before entering the club.) |
| Cover for | To act for another (At the store, Amy covered for her sick friend.) |
| Cover up | To hide (It's cold. You may use my coat to cover up.) |
| Cover-up | Hide the truth (Governments routinely engage in cover-ups) |
| Cow, a | A dumpy woman (I don't want to speak with that old cow.) |
| Cowpoke | A cowboy [Cowboy talk] (I know a few cowpokes at Ben's ranch.) |
| Coyote | 1. Dishonest man [Cowboy talk] (Cowboys chased the coyote who stole Pete's horse.) 2. Person who takes illegal aliens across the border from Mexico into the USA |
| Crab | 1. Cantankerous person (I was surprised to learn that Donna is a crab.) 2. To complain (Bethany likes to crab about bad food and her bum boyfriend.) |
| Crabby | Cantankerous; irritable (You shouldn't act so crabby with me.) |
| Crack a joke | To tell a joke (I didn't think she would ever crack a joke.) |
| Crack a safe | To rob a safe (A thief broke into my friend's home and cracked a safe.) |
| Crack the books | To study (Jim cracked the books to prepare for a big test.) |
| Crack the case | To solve a mystery (Police detectives finally cracked the Hoffman case.) |
| Crack up | 1. Cause to laugh (Joe's humor often cracks me up.) 2. To have an accident (Motorcyclists should avoid cracking up on a highway.) |
| Crack wind | To fart (Johnny cracked wind after eating cooked cabbage.) |
| Cracker | Man from Southern USA [rude] (Georgia is full of crackers.) |
| Cracking up | To go crazy (If Jerry is cracking up, he needs immediate help.) |
| Crackup | An accident (There's a big crackup on freeway 15 at exit 37.) |
| Cram in/into | To force inside (I can't cram anything more in my head.) |
| Cram it down | To force (I'm going to cram it down your throat!) |
| Crammed full | Completely full (Beth's mind is crammed full of good ideas.) |
| Cramp (my) style | To restrict actions (Jenny said tight clothes cramped (her) style.) |
| Crap | Excrement; garbage; nonsense; trash [rude] (I think that's just crap.) |
| Crappy | No good (He drives a crappy car.) |
| Crash (a party) | To come uninvited (Our gang will crash John's wedding this Saturday.) |
| Crash, to | To sleep (Roger asked to crash at my home last night.) |
| Crawdad | Crayfish [Southern dialect] (Crawdads are popular to eat in Louisiana.) |
| Cream of the crop | The best (Mom instructed us to buy only the cream of the crop.) |
| Cream puff | Coward; weak person (Only a cream puff will never fight in self defense.) |
| Creep | Sleazy person (Ruth refuses to go out with that creep.) |
| Cricket | Correct; proper [British term] (What Nathaniel does at work is not cricket.) |
| Crime ring | Criminal organization (The mob boss runs this city's crime ring.) |
| Croak | 1. To die (The old drunk croaked after downing bad moonshine.) 2. To kill (Matt determined to croak his enemy.) |
| Croaker | Medical doctor [rude] |
| Crock, a | Ridiculous (Betty's claim to be engaged is a crock.) |
| Crock of bull | Nonsense (Your so-called work experience is a crock of bull.) |
| Crocodile tears | False sympathy (Kathy is good at crying crocodile tears.) |
| Crook | A thief; dishonest person (That lawyer is a crook.) |
| Crop up | To arise; happen (We don't want any problems to crop up suddenly.) |
| Cross | To resist; antagonize (Whoever crosses Big Jim will regret it.) |
| Cross (my) mind | To consider (It crossed my mind that you already saw the movie.) |
| Cross off | To discount; eliminate (We can cross Neil off the list of attendees.) |
| Cross path | To meet by accident (It appears strange that we cross paths like this.) |
| Crud | Garbage; nonsense; trash (You better not try selling that crud to me.) |
| Crumbbum | Untrustworthy person (That lawyer is a crook.) |
| Crummy | Bad (I think it's a crummy movie and the actors stink.) |
| Crusty | Cantankerous (There's no need to be a crusty old coot.) |
| Cry heart out | To despair (Julia cried her heart out after Matt left for war.) |
| Cry over spilled milk | Worry about past action (It's useless to cry over spilled milk.) |
| Cry wolf | To be an alarmist (Don't worry, Bobby is just crying wolf.) |
| Crybaby | Complainer (Rick is an overweight crybaby. Don't waste time on him.) |
| Cuckoo | Crazy; odd (Billy is acting cuckoo.) |
| Cup of tea | Skill or familiar activity (Cleaning a house well is not Martha's cup of tea.) |
| Curtains for | The end; death (It will be curtains for whoever tries to stop me!) |
| Cut | Stop the action [Movie term] (Cut! That's a wrap.) |
| Cut a figure | To look attractive (Nancy cut quite a figure at the dance.) |
| Cut and dried | Definite (The answer I gave you is cut and dried.) |
| Cut class | To avoid school (Bruce decided to cut classes today.) |
| Cut corners | To take an easy way (Bad companies cut corners to save money.) |
| Cut down | To kill; defeat (Accurate fire cut down many attacking troops.) |
| Cut down to size | To defeat (Alice cut James down to size by revealing his bad actions.) |
| Cut in | 1. To intrude (Mike cut in while Betty danced with Robert.) 2. To include (Cut me in on your business deal.) |
| Cut loose | To release (Mariana had to cut loose from her old boyfriend.) |
| Cut mustard | Believable; truthful (Her report doesn't cut mustard.) |
| Cut of (his) jib | The appearance (I recognized him by the cut of his jib.) |
| Cut one | To fart (Look out for the stink. Joe just cut one.) |
| Cut out for | To be appropriate (He's not cut out for this kind of work.) |
| Cut out to | To change the view (The director cut out to scene 26 in the movie script.) |
| Cut to the chase | Get to the main idea (Stop arguing and just cut to the chase.) |
| Cut to the quick | To flabbergast; surprise (Our knowledge cut Matthew to the quick.) |
| Cutie | Pretty girl (Alisa is a real cutie.) |
| Cutout | A front company or person (Intelligence agencies often use cutouts.) |
| Cutup | Person who jokes and acts inappropriately (Joe is the class cutup.) |
