Vocabulary

to ease up; to relax attention

to be outdone (by); to be in inferior (to); to compare unfavorably (with); to be behind

completely illiterate

completely illiterate

to have something (likely) come to mind; to be reminded of something; to understand a point

cannot live even a minute without someone or something; meaning the world to one

to make oneself popular without any regard to others; to take all the credit to oneself; to turn out well (of a child)

useless; worthless; silly; trivial

Happy New Year

slender and smartly shaped (of a woman)

what one has a mind to do; what one feels like (doing); being so minded; (with) that in mind

to feel like it; to get to think that way; to become so minded

right on the heels of yesterday; only yesterday

inseparable (esp. bond, relationship); inextricable; joined at the hip; integral; essential; cannot be broken (cut, separated)

to sit on the edge of one's seat; to be in breathless suspense

cannot do a thing; feeling handcuffed; being at the end of one's tether; being at one's wit's end

to give birth

losing one's means of livelihood

losing one's means of livelihood

young lover of an older woman; boy toy

to have a pulse; to be alive

unavoidable; inevitable

unavoidable; inevitable; cannot be helped; of necessity

to choke up; to be speechless

before anything else; first of all

Axis of Evil (Iran, Iraq and North Korea)

high time; about time

to show one's true colors (colours); to expose one's faults; to give oneself away

to tuck one's tail between one's legs; to admit defeat; to turn tail (and run)

to cut off the head of a sleeping person; to assassinate someone while they sleep

to have grown tense (of a situation); to have become critical (and to be on the verge of a major upheaval)

at any rate; in any case; at the very least; if nothing else

even if nothing else; more than anything else

no one at all; no one, who he or she may be

what can you say?; what (more) can I say?; what more is there to say?; what's left to say?

good scholars are seldom rich

to have to wait (for the realization of something hoped for); to be forced to postpone

even though one has fallen on hard times; however down on one's luck one may be

if times were better; if one had been born at an earlier, more opportune time; if times had not changed; if I had my due

to neglect; to ignore; to slight; to be indifferent to