CSS Solved Past Papers of Idiom's of English Paper 1976 to 1980
CSS Solved Past Papers of Idiom's of English Paper 1976 to 1980
CSS Solved Past Fiver Year Papers,
CSS Five Year Past Papers Solved,
CSS Solved English Past Papers.
CSS Solved Five Year English Papers.
__________________________
1976
b) Use the following words, expressions and idioms in your
own sentences so as to bring out their meaning:
1- Trudge along
2- Point-blank
Close enough to go directly to a target
3- In the doldrums Depressed, dull and listless
Dean's in the doldrums for most of every winter. This
expression alludes to the maritime doldrums, a belt of
calms and light winds north of the equator in which sailing
ships were often becalmed. [Early 1800s]
4- Dole out / on the dole
receiving payment from the government, as relief
They couldn't afford any luxuries while living on the dole.
5- At cross purposes
When people are at cross purposes, they misunderstand
each other or have different or opposing objectives
With aims or goals that conflict or interfere with one another
I'm afraid the two departments are working at cross
purposes.
This idiom, first recorded in 1688, may have begun as a
17th-century parlor game called “cross-purposes,” in which
a series of subjects (or questions) were divided from their
explanations (or answers) and distributed around the room.
Players then created absurdities by combining a subject
taken from one person with an explanation taken from
another.
6- Check by jowl
in close intimacy, side by side
:a row of houses cheek by jowl
7- Succinctly
Characterized by clear, precise expression in few words;
concise and terse
a succinct reply; a succinct style.
8- Hilarious detract from
9- Plain sailing
Easy going; straightforward, unobstructed progress The first
few months were difficult, but I think it's plain sailing from
here on.
Alluding to navigating waters free of hazards, such as rocks
or other obstructions, this term was transferred to other
activities in the early 1800s.
__________________________
1977
b) Use any five of the following expressions in your own
sentences to illustrate their meaning:
1- To bear the brunt of
Put up with the worst of some bad circumstance
It was the secretary who had to bear the brunt of the
doctor's anger.
This idiom uses brunt in the sense of "the main force of an
enemy's attack", which was sustained by the front lines of
the defenders. [Second half of 1700s]
2- To call a spade a spade
A person who calls a spade a spade is one speaks frankly
and makes little or no attempt to conceal their opinions or to
spare the feelings of their audience.
3- To fight shy of
Avoid meeting or confronting someone
I have had to fight shy of invitations that would exhaust
time and spirits"(Washington Irving, Life and Letters,
1821).
This usage may allude to a military reluctance to meet or
engage with the enemy. [Late 1700s]
4- To cry over the spilt milk This idiom means that getting
upset after something has gone wrong is pointless; it can't
be changed so it should be accepted.
5- To burn the candle at both ends
Someone who burns the candle at both ends lives life at a
hectic pace, doing things which are likely to affect their
health badly.
Exhaust one's energies or resources by leading a hectic life.
Joseph's been burning the candle at both ends for weeks,
working two jobs during the week and a third on weekends.
This metaphor originated in France and was translated into
English in Randle Cotgrave's Dictionary (1611), where it
referred to dissipating one's wealth. It soon acquired its
present broader meaning.
6- To rob peter to pay Paul
If you rob Peter to pay Paul, you try to solve one problem,
but create another in doing so, often through short-term
planning
7- To take the bull by the horns
Taking a bull by its horns would be the most direct but also
the most dangerous way to try to compete with such an
animal.
When we use the phrase in everyday talk, we mean that the
person we are talking about tackles their problems directly
and is not worried about any risks involved.8- Playing to the
gallery
If someone plays to the gallery, they say or do things that
will make them popular at the expense of more important
issues
9- Holding out the olive branch
If you hold out or offer an olive branch, you make a gesture
to indicate that you want peace.
10- To make out
Discern or see, especially with difficulty
I can hardly make out the number on the door. [Mid-1700s]
Manage, get along
How did you make out with the accountant? This usage was
first recorded in 1820.
Understand I can't make out what she is trying to say.
[Mid-1600s]
Establish or prove
He made out that he was innocent. [Colloquial; mid-1600s]
Amply or suggest. This usage often occurs with an infinitive
Are you making me out to be a liar? [Colloquial; mid-1600s]
Write out, draw up; fill in a written form
He made out the invoices, or Jane started making out job
applications. This usage was first recorded in 1465
__________________________
1978
b) Use the following expressions and idioms in your own
sentences so as to bring out their meaning:
1- The acid test
An acid test is something that proves whether something is
good, effective, etc, or no
2- A bad hat
Someone who deliberately stirs up trouble
3- In a blue funk
In a state of panic or terror
Just because the bride's mother is late, you needn't get in a
blue funk.
This term originated in the mid-1700s as in a funk, the
adjective blue, meaning "affected with fear or anxiety",
being added a century later.
In a state of dejection, sad
Anne has been in a blue funk since her dog died.
This usage employs blue in the sense of "sad"—a meaning
that first emerged in the late 1300s.
4- Set one's cap Down at heel
Also, on someone's heels. Immediately behind, in close
pursuit.
Literal use
Jean's dog was always at her heels.
Figurative use
Although his company dominated the technology, he always
felt that his competitors were on his heels.
This idiom appeared in the 14th-century romance Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight.
The expression is sometimes intensified as hard on
someone's heels or hot on someone's heels
5- To die in harness
Expire while working, keep working to the end
He'll never retire—he'll die with his boots on. She knows
she'll never get promoted, but she wants to die in harness.
Both phrases probably allude to soldiers who died on active
duty. Until the early 1600s the noun boot denoted a piece
of armor for the legs, which may have given rise to this
usage.
Shakespeare used harness in the sense of armor when he
wrote: "At least we'll die with harness on our back"
(Macbeth 5:5).
6- Dead as doornail / dead as a dodo or herring
Totally or assuredly dead; also finished
The cop announced that the body in the dumpster was dead
as a doornail. The radicalism she professed in her
adolescence is now dead as a dodo. The Equal Rights
Amendment appears to be dead as a herring.
The first, oldest, and most common of these similes, all of
which can be applied literally to persons or, more often
today, to issues, involves doornail, dating from about 1350.
Its meaning is disputed but most likely it referred to the
costly metal nails hammered into the outer doors of the
wealthy (most people used the much cheaper wooden
pegs), which were clinched on the inside of the door and
therefore were "dead", that is, could not be used again.
Dead as a herring dates from the 16th century and no
doubt alludes to the bad smell this dead fish gives off,
making its death quite obvious.
Dead as a dodo, referring to the extinct bird, dates from the
early 1900s.
7- To raise coin
8- To strike one's colours
9. To carry the day
Win, prevail
At auctions the wealthiest bidders usually carry the day.
[Late 1600s]
__________________________
1979
b) Use any five of the following expressions and idioms in
your own sentences so as to bring out their meanings:
1- Taken down at peg
If someone is taken down a peg (or taken down a peg or
two), they lose status in the eyes of others because of
something they have done wrong or badly.
2- To monkey with
3- In hot water
in trouble
4- Petticoat Government
5- To pull oneself together
Regain one's composure or self-control
After that frightening episode, it took her a while to pull
herself together. [Second half of 1800s]
6- To rise from the ranks / come up through the ranks
Work one's way to the top
He's risen through the ranks, starting as a copy boy and
ending up as senior editor.
Originally this term was used for an officer who had worked
his way up from the rank of private, a rare feat. It was being
applied to non-military advances by the mid-1800s
7- To rub shoulders
If you rub shoulders with people, you meet and spend time
with them, especially when they are powerful or famous.
__________________________
1980
b) Bring out the meaning of any five of the following in
appropriate sentences:
1- Pocket the affront
2- Thin end of the wedge
The thin end of the wedge is something small and seemingly
unimportant that will lead to something much bigger and
more serious.
3- Flash in the pan
If something is a flash in the pan, it is very noticeable but
doesn't last long, like most singers, who are very successful
for a while, then forgotten
4- To keep at
Persevere or persist at doing something.
If you keep at your Math, you'll soon master it.
It is also put as keep at it
He kept at it all day and finally finished the report. [Early
1800s]
Keep at someone
Nag, harass, or annoy someone
You have to keep at Carl if you want him to do the work. He
keeps at Millie all the time.
5- At one's beck and call
Ready to comply with any wish or command
6- Go against the grain
A person who does things in an unconventional manner,
especially if their methods are not generally approved of, is
said to go against the grain. Such an individual can be called
a maverick.
7- Bring grist to the mill
Something that you can use to your advantage is grist for
the mill.
('Grist to the mill' is also used.
8- Upset the apple cart
Spoil carefully laid plans
Now don't upset the apple cart by revealing where we're
going.
This expression started out as upset the cart, used since
Roman times to mean "spoil everything". The precise idiom
dates from the late 1700s.
9- Hoist on one's own petard
If you are hoist with your own petard, you get into trouble or
caught in a trap that you had set for someone else.
10- Live on the fat of the land
The best or richest of anything
The tiny upper class lived off the fat of the land while many
of the poor were starving.
This expression alludes to fat in the sense of "the best or
richest part".
The Bible has it as eat the fat of the land (Genesis 45:18).
