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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2010 19:42:41 GMT
This has been done before on other sites, but it is always fun to try again and see how many 'animal' verbs we can find.
I'll give three for a start --
to worm your way out to fly away to badger somebody
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2010 21:09:31 GMT
to be a snake in the grass
the cat who got the cream
in the dog house
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2010 21:13:33 GMT
Snake, cat and dog are not verbs in those usages! Get a grip, girl! You do know what a verb is, don't you?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2010 21:15:34 GMT
okay I give up. Serves me right for trying to look clever! I think I'll just go back to the music thread.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2010 21:17:53 GMT
More examples:
to squirrel something away to rat on somebody
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2010 21:24:11 GMT
to be dog tired (is that any good)
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 19, 2010 21:27:29 GMT
Oh ~~ I remember playing this game before. I love it!
to ferret out a hidden something
to dog someone's footsteps
to birdie in golf (play a hole in one stroke under par)
to bitch and moan
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2010 21:28:31 GMT
Nope, still not a verb!
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Post by cristina on Apr 19, 2010 21:29:58 GMT
to crane your neck to ape another's behavior to horse around
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Post by cristina on Apr 19, 2010 21:32:14 GMT
to weasel your way out to monkey around
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Post by spindrift on Apr 19, 2010 21:56:36 GMT
to ram a car
to pussyfootaround
to cod someone (that's an Irish expression meaning to play a joke)....
to seal with a kiss
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2010 22:30:52 GMT
to fish for information
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2010 23:15:18 GMT
to swallow one's pride
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Post by lagatta on Apr 19, 2010 23:19:22 GMT
to wolf down food, of course! And in a related gluttonous sense, to pig out.
Note that these are "phrasal verbs", combining a simple verb with a preposition. Common in Germanic languages, though English-speakers never put them sooooooo far apart as German-speakers do.
To crow about your success!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2010 23:38:10 GMT
To bat one's brains out To cock a gun at someone To hawk a newspaper
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Post by lagatta on Apr 19, 2010 23:45:56 GMT
to horse around / horse about to pony up (I think that one is mostly AE, and comes from racetrack lingo) to parrot the party line (UK election special)
To worm your way into this discussion!
After "parrot" we must recall all the tourists who look at K2s pictorials because they want to ape the latest Paris fashions.
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 20, 2010 1:32:14 GMT
to lionize a celebrity
to cow someone with a fierce look
to cat around
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Post by lagatta on Apr 20, 2010 2:20:10 GMT
To badger someone with endless questions or demands (oops, see kerouac already did that one). To weasel out of a job, or a responsibility or duty (are we allowed to bring His Holiness up here, with respect to those choirboys?) Does to "cat around" mean to be promiscuous? I confess I've never heard that one.
Some are obviously utterly different meanings of the same word - to bear great hardship has little to do with the big furry beast that hibernates. Perhaps to bat one's eyelashes is related to flying mammals though.
Birders bird birds. You can chicken out of scary prospects. And of course you can ... er ... goose someone. Many of us have been hounded by a credit agency, or by a jilted suitor.
Joan swanned into the room, the Marilyn of the ad agency typing pool...
Although one can certainly eat like a cochon or porc in French, (to) "cochonner" means to do shoddy work, not to eat like a pig. Yesterday at a board meeting, we were discussing a painter we hired (not my doing, I said, as I weaselled out of the responsibility!) One of the co-op flats had been rented to a woman who went utterly flaming mad - I wasn't there so I don't understand why the board let matters slide as they did. She just threw her trash on the kitchen floor and let it fester. The whole thing had to be fumigated, the walls cleaned and repainted. But the painter a cochonné le travail. He botched the work, he did it like shit.
I suspect a relative was seeing that her rent was paid, so nobody looked into what was going on...
A famous Spanish one is Llama...
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Post by fumobici on Apr 20, 2010 2:24:33 GMT
To crow about. To duck underneath. To quail in fear. To ferret out. To crab at. To wolf down. To fawn over. To leech off. To carp about. Please forgive any repeats. I checked, but quickly
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Post by lagatta on Apr 20, 2010 2:33:59 GMT
Oh, I think a number of us have repeats. I know I repeated one of cristina's. Hell, here it is 22:32 and I'm tired, but also addicted to this stuff.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2010 5:14:33 GMT
to hound somebody
to bug somebody
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2010 10:47:14 GMT
It is against the law in most places to jaywalk.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2010 12:02:24 GMT
to chicken out
please bear with me
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Post by onlymark on Apr 20, 2010 12:15:19 GMT
To bullshit.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2010 13:35:06 GMT
to steer clear
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2010 14:38:04 GMT
to skunk someone in a card game
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Post by joanne28 on Apr 20, 2010 16:14:31 GMT
to fox someone
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2010 17:24:58 GMT
to outfox someone
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Post by spaceneedle on Apr 20, 2010 18:28:48 GMT
I think this thread has jumped the shark
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2010 19:50:14 GMT
To crawfish on a deal!
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