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| Pack heat | To carry a gun (Be sure you pack heat in case of an attack.) |
| Pack in like sardines | Very crowded (Low-cost airlines pack passengers in like sardines.) |
| Packed | 1. Crowded (Wow, the place is packed tonight!) 2. Personal efforts are in luggage (I'm packed and ready to go.) |
| Pain-in-the-ass | Obnoxious person [rude] (That jerk is a pain-in-the-ass.) |
| Pain-in-the-fanny | Obnoxious person (Sometimes he is a pain-in-the-fanny.) |
| Pan out | To be successful (Matthew's efforts never seem to pan out.) |
| Pantywaist | Weak and timid fellow (School bullies always seek out a pantywaist.) |
| Parade around | To exhibit (Valerie likes to parade around in a swimsuit.) |
| Pard | Partner [Cowboy term] (I always share with my pard.) |
| Park in | To stop inside (The church allows people to park in its lot.) |
| Park it | To sit down (Stop talking and park it!) |
| Party-poop | Boring person (Don't invite Anthony. He's just a party-poop.) |
| Pass | To avoid (John decided to pass the chance this time.) |
| Pass along | To share (Juanita can pass along the news to her classmates.) |
| Pass away | To die (I am sad to learn that Alisa's father passed away.) |
| Pass by | To go near (Slow down as you pass by the fire station.) |
| Pass on | 1. To share (We should pass on this important information.) 2. To abstain; avoid (I better pass on taking dessert tonight.) |
| Pass over | To cross (A new highway will pass over these railroad tracks.) |
| Pass over to the other side | To die and live again in the next phase of existence |
| Pass the buck | Not take responsibility (Pam passed the buck to Sally.) |
| Pass up; pass up on | To avoid (You really want to pass up such a great opportunity?) |
| Pass with flying colors | Very successful (Jennifer passed the test with flying colors.) |
| Passel | Large group (John likes to hunt with a passel of dogs.) |
| Paste (someone) | To hit (George pasted Sammy a good one on the mouth.) |
| Pasty/pasty-faced | To look sick (Martha is a bit pasty-faced this morning.) |
| Pat on the back | To congratulate (People gave him a pat on the back.) |
| Pay a call | To visit (Leonard wants to pay a call on us today.) |
| Pay a visit | To visit (Uncle Bob will pay us a visit in April.) |
| Pay dirt | Success (Johnny is still looking for pay dirt.) |
| Pay off | To reimburse (The winning horse paid off at 10 to 1.) |
| Pay through the nose | Exorbitant price (Most lawyers make clients pay through the nose.) |
| Payoff | A bribe (A corrupt cop took his payoff.) |
| Payola | A bribe (Congressman Bill expects payola for his vote.) |
| Peachy | Enjoyable; good (Carlos has a peachy idea.) |
| Pee-pee | Urinate; urine [Child's term] (Does Billy need to go pee-pee?) |
| Peel rubber | Start driving a vehicle very fast (Peel rubber or the cops will catch us!) |
| Peeping Tom | A voyeur (Police finally caught the peeping Tom.) |
| Peg | To evaluate (The teacher pegged me wrong.) |
| Pen, the | Prison (A judge sentenced the crook to six years in the pen.) |
| Penny pincher | Stingy person (Mrs. Corning is a penny pincher and always pays low wages.) |
| Phony | Counterfeit; insincere (Rudolfo is a phony. Don't trust him!) |
| Phony as a 3-dollar bill | Counterfeit; insincere |
| Phony-baloney | Fake (His driving license is phony-baloney.) |
| Phooey | Expression of mild disgust |
| Pick | To play a guitar or banjo (The lead guitarist sure can pick well.) |
| Pick on | 1. To torment (Bullies pick on little Davy at school.) 2. To choose (Rosa often picks on Steve to help her.) |
| Pick out | To select (Marilyn likes to pick out her own shoes.) |
| Pick (person's) brain | To inquire; gain information (We need to pick (Pauline's) brain for an answer.) |
| Pick up | 1. To collect (Joseph, pick up your clothes and clean this room.) 2. To date (I hope to pick up a new girl tonight.) |
| Pickle, a | A problem (Looks as though we are faced with a tough pickle.) |
| Pickled | Drunk (After drinking in the bar, Rodriguez came home pickled.) |
| Pickup | Pickup truck (Earl just bought a red pickup.) |
| Piece of cake | Easy to do (Playing football is a piece of cake for Big Bob.) |
| Pig | 1. Fat, ugly person [rude] (Don't let that pig near your children.) 2. Policeman [rude] (Look out for the pigs!) |
| Pig out | Eat too much (I'll probably pig out at the party.) |
| Pigskin | An American football (Our quarterback can throw the pigskin with 95% accuracy.) |
| Pile in/pile into | Get into; enter (The boys piled into Jack's pickup truck.) |
| Pill roller | Medical doctor [rude] |
| Pin, to | Give girl a fraternity pin as a token of going steady |
| Pin down | To hold in position; cannot move (The enemy pinned our troops down near a river.) |
| Pinch | To steal [British term] (Todd pinched a coat from a store on Main Street.) |
| Pine for | To miss someone; sentimental (Melissa pines for her boyfriend.) |
| Pinhead | Stupid person [rude] (You can tell Sam that I think he's a pinhead!) |
| Pins and needles, on | To be excited (Jane is on pins and needles because Ralph is dating her.) |
| Pipe down | Reduce noise; do not talk (You kids better pipe down now!) |
| Pipedream | Unrealistic hope (Penelope's plan to be in the olympics is just a pipedream.) |
| Pip-squeak | Small, weak person (Big Bob considers Jack to be a pip-squeak.) |
| Pistol, a | Odd and interesting person (Nikki acted like a pistol at the party.) |
| Pitch in | To help (John, can you pitch in over here?) |
| Pits, the | Undesirable location or event (This party is the pits! I don't want to be here.) |
| Plain clothes | Out of uniform (Looks like he is a plain clothes, undercover cop.) |
| Plain Jane | Ugly girl (It's too bad that Melissa is a plain Jane.) |
| Plan on | To intend; anticipate (The general plans on an easy attack.) |
| Plan to | To intend; anticipate (Mustafa plans to return home next week.) |
| Plane | Airplane (Many planes fly into an international airport.) |
| Plastered | Drunk (Danny had too much booze and is plastered again.) |
| Play at | To pretend (Many politicians play at being honest.) |
| Play cards right | Make the correct move (Play your cards right and you'll be promoted.) |
| Play cat and mouse | To tease (Ariel likes to play cat and mouse with the boys.) |
| Play chicken | Drivers (usually teenagers) race head-on in an attempt to scare an opponent into veering before impact |
| Play hard to get | Act uninterested in someone (Olivia is just playing hard to get with Arturo.) |
| Play hooky | Avoid going to school by pretending to be sick (Mom won't let Tim play hooky.) |
| Play house | Pretend to be married (It's dangerous for teenagers to play house.) |
| Play in the street | Go away and don't bother (me)! |
| Play in traffic | Go away and don't bother (me)! |
| Play on the freeway | Go away and don't bother (me)! |
| Play patty-cake | To flirt (Looks as though our friends are playing patty-cake.) |
| Play possum | Pretend to be dead (She played possum while crooks searched the house.) |
| Play the heavy | Pretend to be a thug (Murphy played the heavy to scare Mary's brat boy.) |
| Play with | To use (Sheila likes to play with dolls.) |
| Played out | Very tired (Debra is so played out that she slept early.) |
| Plenty of time | Sufficient time (The team has plenty of time to complete the work.) |
| Plug | To shoot; hit (Ron plugged the school bully on his nose.) |
| Plug in | Insert into an electrical outlet (Plug it in the nearest outlet.) |
| Plugged into | To have information (Saul usually is plugged into the latest news.) |
| Plumb | 1. The best (Joan was able to get a plumb job with the company.) 2. Completely [Cowboy term] (I'm plumb tuckered out.) |
| Plunk down | To deposit; put down (He plunked down a thousand dollars on the desk.) |
| Podunk town | Small, country town [Derogatory term] (This podunk town doesn't have much.) |
| Point out | To indicate (Molly pointed out the problem to company managers.) |
| Poke nose in/into | To intrude (We should not poke our nose into his business.) |
| Polecat | Untrustworthy man [Cowboy term] (Even dudes are wary of that polecat.) |
| Polish off | 1. To finish; take the last portion (Jim polished off the cake.) 2. To kill (The mob boss plans to polish off his opposition.) |
| Poo-poo | Excrement [Child's term] (It's time for Sally to go poo-poo.) |
| Pooch | Dog, a (Dad agreed to bring a pooch home.) |
| Poop | 1. Excrement (I think Billy has poop in his diaper.) 2. Information (What's the latest poop from the general?) |
| Pooped; pooped out | Tired (Joe is pooped from working too many hours.) |
| Pop; pops | Father [also refers to any older man] (Hey pops, you better get out of here.) |
| Pop cork | To be angry (Try to correct the problem before Dad pops a cork.) |
| Pop quizz | Unexpected test (The math teacher gave a pop quizz to her class.) |
| Pop the question | Marriage proposal (Jeff popped the question and she agreed immediately.) |
| Pop up | To emerge (Allen decided to leave before a problem pops up.) |
| Pork out | To eat much (We're ready to pork out at the picnic.) |
| Pork up | To become fat (Suzie porked up during the past six months.) |
| Pot | Marijuana (Many students tried pot in college.) |
| Pot, the | 1. Toilet (Steve has been on the pot a long time.) 2. A pool of money, usually in a card game or gambling |
| Pound sand | Engage in a futile effort (An angry Tom told his critics to pound sand.) |
| Pound the pavement | Conduct a search on foot (Police realize it's time to pound the pavement for the thief.) |
| Pretty | Somewhat (The movie was pretty good.) |
| Prick | Obnoxious person [rude] (I can't stand that prick!) |
| Publicity hound | Person who seeks fame (Delia is becoming a shameless publicity hound.) |
| Pug nose | Small nose (Nancy has a cute pug nose.) |
| Pull | 1. Influence (Senator Joyce has a lot of pull.) 2. A swallow of alcohol (Bums took turns pulling at a bottle of booze.) |
| Pull a boner | Make a mistake (You sure pulled a boner in class.) |
| Pull a code | Cardiac arrest (An ambulance rushed Bob to the hospital after he pulled a code.) |
| Pull a gag | Make a joke (Arthur decided to pull a gag on Marcy.) |
| Pull (her) leg | To joke (Sam is just pulling your leg.) |
| Pull (his) nose | To irritate/taunt (Betty likes to pull your nose.) |
| Pull in the nose | A disappointment (That was a pull in the nose.) |
| Pull out/out of | To depart (Our soldiers pulled out of the city.) |
| Pull out on | To abandon (We had to pull out on them.) |
| Pull out the stops | Totally (Pull out all the stops so we can win.) |
| Pull rank | To use superior authority over others (I don't like it when he pulls rank on us.) |
| Pull the plug | To terminate (A doctor pulled the plug on that comatose patient.) |
| Pull up | 1. Go higher (The pilot had to pull up or hit a cloud-covered mountain.) 2. To bring (Pull up a chair and join us at the table.) |
| Pull up short | Insufficient; not close enough (His car pulled up short in the parking lot.) |
| Pump, the | Heart (Phil is mellow in the pump.) |
| Punch cows | To oversee cows (Most cowboy movies have a scene of punching cows.) |
| Punching bag, a | Someone whom others often hit (Little Joe is a punching bag for school bullies.) |
| Purr like a kitten | To be happy (New jewelry causes Jane to purr like a kitten.) |
| Push around | To be intimidated (I won't let anyone push me around.) |
| Push (something) | Encourage to accept or buy (The restaurant is pushing salads this month.) |
| Put a damper on | To inhibit (No food or drink put a damper on the fun.) |
| Put a finger in the dike | Attempt to resolve trouble before it turns into a calamity |
| Put away | To save (Dad recommended that we put away some money.) |
| Put away for keeps | To incarcerate (The jury's verdict was to put the criminal away for keeps.) |
| Put behind | To ignore; forget (It's best to put our problems behind us.) |
| Put best foot forward | To exhibit best behavior (Let's put our best foot forward tonight.) |
| Put in a fix | 1. To arrange an illegal action (Gamblers put in the fix.) 2. Be in an uncomfortable situation (Your decision puts me in a bad fix.) |
| Put in for | To volunteer (I put in for the new training.) |
| Put in his place | 1. To chastise (The teacher put Roger in his place.) 2. To position (General Stark put his force in place to repel an attack.) |
| Put nose in | To give an opinion (Julia loves to put her nose in our business.) |
| Put on | To wear (Victoria put on a heavy coat.) |
| Put on a front | Pretense (The new family puts on a front of being wealthy.) |
| Put on airs | Pretend to be important (Harvey and Beth are known for putting on airs.) |
| Put on the dog | Use best items to make a good impression (Sharon put on the dog when her in-laws visited.) |
| Put-on | Fake (Hiroko is just giving you another put-on friendship.) |
| Put the brake on | To slow or stop something (Tess, you should put the brake on seeing him so often.) |
| Put the finger on | To testify against (Mario put the finger on his former boss.) |
| Put the kettle on | To serve food to other people (Can you put the kettle on for a neighbor?) |
| Put the kibosh on | To stop (Can anyone put the kibosh on Sammy's acting up?) |
| Put the skids on | To stop (Dad quickly put the skids on that bad idea.) |
| Put the soup on | To serve food to other people (Mom decided it was time to put the soup on.) |
| Put two cents in | To give an opinion (Do you always have to put your two cents in?) |
| Put up or shut up | Take action or do not speak idly (Tim told Robert to put up or shut up.) |
| Put up with | To tolerate (Mother puts up with a lot of our noise.) |
