Mainly
121on the stump — mainly American a politician who is on the stump is travelling to different places in order to make speeches and get support, especially before an election. On the stump in North Dakota, Anderson took time out to give this interview to our… …
122press the flesh — mainly American, humorous if politicians or famous people press the flesh, they shake hands with the public. Even after 12 hours on the campaign trail, he was still meeting his supporters and pressing the flesh …
123prime the pump — mainly American to do something in order to make something succeed, especially to spend money. European governments and banks are priming the pump world wide looking for alternative energy …
124Put a lid on it! — mainly American, informal something that you say in order to tell someone to stop talking. Put a lid on it, you two! You ve been shouting all afternoon …
125put the genie back in the bottle — mainly American let the genie out of the bottle to allow something bad to happen which cannot then be stopped. Now that these sorts of drugs are so widely available, it may be too late to put the genie back in the bottle …
126run and run — mainly British if a subject or an argument is going to run and run, people will continue to be interested in it for a long time. We ve had over 500 letters on the subject of human cloning. It looks like this one will run and run …
127run scared — mainly American to be worried that you are going to be defeated. There are rumours that the Democrats are running scared after recent opinion polls showed their rivals to be way out in front. (usually in continuous tenses) …
128skid row — mainly American, informal a poor area in a city where people who have no jobs and homes live in cheap rooms or sleep outdoors. She works as a social worker with alcoholics on skid row …
