What is the meaning of "stowaway" and "kind of capacity" in the following sentences? "A terrorist could infiltrate a member of the crew. A terrorist could come on board a vessel in a stowaway kind of...
What is the meaning of "backing their car up to the front door" in the following sentence? They kept from backing their car up to the front door and making off with a few pieces of furniture.
What is the meaning of "I'll be damned" in the following sentence? When he visited a tiny island off the coast of France, Phil commented, "I've studied French for twenty years, but I'll be damned if I...
What is the meaning of "towel off" in the following sentences? Walking to the sink, he splashed cold water on his face and tried to wake up. Harsh fluorescent lights glared off the...
What is the meaning of "end run" in the following sentences? President Clinton's eight-year struggle to slow down logging and some recreation in the national forests has been repeatedly thwarted...
What is the meaning of "ram it through" in the following sentence? We're talking about a proposal that impacts 40-50 million acres and they're trying to ram it through in nine months when a...
What is the literal and figurative meaning of "talk circles around " in the following sentences? The mob boss had been indicted many times, but he had never been convicted because his high-priced...
What is the meaning of 'dragged his mind back in time' in the following sentences? Looking up at the stone towers of Saint-Sulpice, Silas fought that familiar undertow... that force that often dragged...
I know the idiom "beat someone to the punch" means to manage to do or say something before someone else does it(example : 'He wanted to ask Mary to dance, but Ron beat him to the punch.). But Why does...
What is the meaning of 'waifish' in the following sentence? Unlike the waifish, cookie-cutter blondes that adorned Harvard dorm room walls, this woman was healthy with an unembellished beauty and...
What is the meaning of 'register' in the following sentences? For an instant, his eyes refocused, lingering on the reflection of his awkward face.dark and oblong, dominated by a flat, crooked nose...
What's the meaning of "appreciate seeing proof" in the following sentences? He turned and gazed tiredly into the full-length mirror across the room. The man staring back at him was a stranger.tousled...
What's the meaning of the phrase "past is prologue" in the following sentences? California's prisoner backup is building, with seventeen thousand inmates due for parole consideration. If past is...
What' the meaning of "exemplary conduct credits" in the following sentences? In 1983, when Bruce Young was 18, he kidnapped a baby. The infant was recovered uninjured. Young got seven to life. He'll...
What's the meaning of 'public credit' and 'have credit for' in the following sentences? Hamilton sought a strong central government acting in the interests of commerce and industry. He brought to...