51.Cut it out!: stop doing something (that's annoying).

"You kids are making too much noise. Cut it out!"

52.Don't count your chickens until (before) they hatch (they've hatched).: Don't assume

that something will happen until it has happened.

A: I'm sure that I'm going to win a lot of money in Las Vegas."

B: "Don't count your chickens until they hatch!"

53.dicey: uncertain; taking too much of a chance.

A: A friend of mine says I can make a lot of moneyif I buy stock

in the XYZ company. Should I do it?

B: I wouldn't if I were you. The chances for success are too dicey."

54.ditch class: skip class/play hookey.

"You shouldn't have ditched class yesterday. We had an unannounced test."

55.do a bang-up job: do a very good job; do very well at something.

"Have you seen Frank's home page? He did a bang-up job with it."

56.down in the dumps: depressed; "blue."

A: "Is something wrong?"

B: "Not really, but I feel kind of down in the dumps."

57.drop someone a line: write to someone.

"I haven't written to my parents for a long time. I'd better drop them a line

today or tomorrow."

58.drag on-e's feet: delay; take longer than necessary to do something.

"Joe should have finished his project a week ago. Why is he dragging his feet?"

59.an eager beaver: a person who is always willing to volunteer or do extra work.

"Jan is certainly an eager beaver. Any time there's work to be done,

she's the first to say she'll help."

60.Easy does it!: Be very careful! / Don't do anything too fast or too hard!

A: "I'm going to move the table just a little further from the window."

B: "Easy does it! If you move too fast, you might knock over the plant!"

61.an egghead: a very intelligent person.

"Jake didn't make very good grades in school, but his sister was a real egghead."

62.elbow grease: hard work; effort.

"Yes, the car is pretty dirty, but it'll look nice again with a little elbow grease."

63.every other _____ : alternately; omitting the second on-e in each group of two.

"In your essays, please write on every other line. That will make the

essays much easier to read."

64.far-fetched: difficult to accept; difficult to believe.

"That story's pretty far-fetched. Nobody's going to believe it."

65.feel blue: feel sad and depressed.

"I'm feeling blue because I haven't had any mail except bills for a long, long time."

66.fire someone: dismiss someone from a job because of poor performance.

"If you continue to be late for work, the company will fire you."

67.feel puny: feel unwell, ill.

"Ted was feeling puny yesterday, so he decided not to go to work."

68.fender-bender: automobile accident.

"Traffic was really slow on the freeway this morning

because of a fender-bender in on-e of the westbound lanes."

69.for ages: for a very long time.

"Where's Marie? I haven't seen her for ages."

70.get going: leave.

"Look at the time! I'd better get going!"