[commission] See: IN COMMISSION or INTO COMMISSION, OUT OF COMMISSION.
[common] See: IN COMMON.
[common as an old shoe]{adj. phr.}, {informal} Not showing off; not vain; modest; friendly to all. •/Although Mr. Jones ran a large business, he was common as an old shoe./ •/The most famous people are sometimes as common as an old shoe./
[common ground]{n.} Shared beliefs, interests, or ways of understanding; ways in which people are alike. •/Bob and Frank don’t like each other because they have no common ground./ •/The only common ground between us is that we went to the same school./ Compare: IN COMMON.
[common touch]{n.} The ability to be a friend of the people; friendly manner with everyone. •/Voters like a candidate who has the common touch./
[company] See: KEEP COMPANY, PART COMPANY.
[company man]{n.}, {informal} A worker who always agrees with management rather than labor. — Usually used to express dislike or disapproval. •/Joe was a company man and refused to take a part in the strike./ Compare: YES-MAN.
[compare notes]{v. phr.}, {informal} To exchange thoughts or ideas about something; discuss together. •/Mother and Mrs. Barker like to compare notes about cooking./
[compliment] See: RETURN THE COMPLIMENT.
[conclusion] See: JUMP TO A CONCLUSION.
[condition] See: IN SHAPE or IN CONDITION, IN THE PINK or IN THE PINK OF CONDITION, ON CONDITION THAT, OUT OF SHAPE or OUT OF CONDITION.
[conference] See: PRESS CONFERENCE.
[congregate housing]{n.}, {informal} A form of housing for elderly persons in which dining facilities and services are shared in multiple dwelling units. •/Jerry put Grandma in a place where they have congregate housing./
[conk out]{v. phr.}, {slang}, {informal} To fall asleep suddenly with great fatigue or after having drunk too much. •/We conked out right after the guests had left./
[consent] See: SILENCE GIVES CONSENT.
[consequence] See: IN CONSEQUENCE, IN CONSEQUENCE OF.
[consideration] See: IN CONSIDERATION OF.
[consumer goods] or [consumer items] {n.} Food and manufactured things that people buy for their own use. •/In time of war, the supply of consumer goods is greatly reduced./
[content] See: TO ONE’S HEART’S CONTENT.
[contention] See: BONE OF CONTENTION.
[contrary] See: ON THE CONTRARY, TO THE CONTRARY.
[control room]{n.} A room containing the panels and switches used to control something (like a TV broadcast). •/While a television program is on the air, engineers are at their places in the control room./
[control tower]{n.} A tower with large windows and a good view of an airport so that the traffic of airplanes can be seen and controlled, usually by radio. •/We could see the lights at the control tower as our plane landed during the night./
[conversation] See: MAKE CONVERSATION.
[conversation piece]{n.} Something that interests people and makes them talk about it; something that looks unusual, comical, or strange. •/Uncle Fred has a glass monkey on top of his piano that he keeps for a conversation piece./
[conviction] See: HAVE THE COURAGE OF ONE’S CONVICTIONS.
[cook] See: SHORT-ORDER COOK, WHAT’S UP or WHAT’S COOKING.
[cook one’s goose]{v. phr.}, {slang} To ruin someone hopelessly; destroy one’s future expectations or good name. •/The bank treasurer cooked his own goose when he stole the bank’s funds./ •/She cooked John’s goose by reporting what she knew to the police./ •/The dishonest official knew his goose was cooked when the newspapers printed the story about him./
[cook up]{v.}, {informal} To plan and put together; make up; invent. •/The boys cooked up an excuse to explain their absence from school./
[cool] See: PLOW ONE’S COOL.
[cool as a cucumber]{adj. phr.}, {informal} Very calm and brave; not nervous, worried, or anxious; not excited; composed. •/Bill is a good football quarterback, always cool as a cucumber./
[cool customer]{n.} Someone who is calm and in total control of himself; someone showing little emotion. •/Jim never gets too excited about anything; he is a cool customer./
[cool down] or [cool off] {v.} To lose or cause to lose the heat of any deep feeling (as love, enthusiasm, or anger); make or become calm, cooled or indifferent; lose interest. •/A heated argument can be settled better if both sides cool down first./ •/John was deeply in love with Sally before he left for college, but he cooled off before he got back./ •/Their friendship cooled off when Jack gave up football./ •/The neighbor’s complaint about the noise cooled the argument down./
[cool one’s heels]{v. phr.}, {slang} To be kept waiting by another’s pride or rudeness; be forced to wait by someone in power or authority; wait. •/He cooled his heels for an hour in another room before the great man would see him./ •/I was left to cool my heels outside while the others went into the office./
[coon’s age] See: DOG’S AGE.
[coop] See: FLY THE COOP.
[coop up]{v. phr.} To hedge in; confine; enclose in a small place. •/How can poor Jane work in that small office, cooped up all day long?/
[cop a feel]{v. phr.}, {vulgar}, {avoidable} To attempt to arouse sexually by manual contact, usually by surprise. •/John talks big for a 16 year old, but all he’s ever done is cop a feel in a dark movie theater./ Compare: FEEL UP. Contrast: COP A PLEA.
[cop a plea]{v. phr.}, {slang}, {colloquial} To plead guilty during a trial in the hope of getting a lighter sentence as a result. •/The murderer of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., copped a plea of guilty, and got away with a life sentence instead of the death penalty./
[cop out]{v. phr.}, {slang}, {informal} To avoid committing oneself in a situation where doing so would result in difficulties. •/Nixon copped out on the American people with Watergate./
[cop-out]{n. phr.}, {slang}, {informal} An irresponsible excuse made to avoid something one has to do, a flimsy pretext. •/Cowe on, Jim, that’s a cheap cop-out, and I don’t believe a word of it!/
[copy cat] n. Someone who copies another person’s work or manner. — Usually used by children or when speaking to children. •/He called me a copy cat just because my new shoes look like his./
[corn ball]{n.}, {slang}, {informal} 1. A superficially sentimental movie or musical in which the word "love" is mentioned too often; a theatrical performance that is trivially sentimental. •/That movie last night was a corn hall./ 2. A person who behaves in a superficially sentimental manner or likes performances portraying such behavior. •/Suzie can’t stand Joe; she thinks he’s a corn ball./
[corn belt]{n.} 1. The Midwest; the agricultural section of the United States where much corn is grown. •/Kansas is one of the slates that lies within the corn belt./
[corner] See: AROUND THE CORNER, CUT CORNERS, FOUR CORNERS, OUT OF THE CORNER OF ONE’S EYE.
[cost a bomb] or [an arm and a leg] {v. phr.} To be extremely expensive. •/My new house has cost us an arm and a leg and we’re almost broke./
[cotton] See: ON TOP OF THE WORLD also SITTING ON HIGH COTTON.
[cotton picking], [cotton-pickin']{adj.}, {slang}, {colloquial} Worthless, crude, common, messy. •/Keep your cotton picking hands off my flowers!/ •/You’ve got to clean up your room, son, this is a cotton-pickin' mess!/
[couch case]{n.}, {slang}, {informal} A person judged emotionally so disturbed that people think he ought to see a psychiatrist (who, habitually, make their patients lie down on a couch). •/Joe’s divorce messed him up so badly that he became a couch case./
[couch doctor]{n.}, {slang}, {colloquial} A psychoanalyst who puts his patients on a couch following the practice established by Sigmund Freud. •/I didn’t know your husband was a couch doctor, I thought he was a gynecologist!/
[couch potato]{n.} A person who is addicted to watching television all day. •/Poor Ted has become such a couch potato that we can’t persuade him to do anything./
[cough up]{v.}, {slang} 1. To give (money) unwillingly; pay with an effort. •/Her husband coughed up the money for the party with a good deal of grumbling./ 2. To tell what was secret; make known. •/He coughed up the whole story for the police./
[couldn’t care less]{v. phr.}, {informal} To be indifferent; not care at all. •/The students couldn’t care less about the band; they talk all through the concert./ Also heard increasingly as "could care less" (nonstandard in this form.)
[counsel] See: KEEP ONE’S OWN COUNSEL.
[count] See: STAND UP AND BE COUNTED.
[countdown]{n.}. {Space English}, {informal} 1. A step-by-step process which leads to the launching of a rocket. •/Countdown starts at 23:00 hours tomorrow night and continues for 24 hours./ 2. Process of counting inversely during the acts leading to a launch; liftoff occurs at zero. 3. The time immediately preceding an important undertaking, borrowed from Space English. •/We’re leaving for Hawaii tomorrow afternoon; this is countdown time for us./
[counter] See: UNDER THE COUNTER.
[count heads] or [count noses] {v. phr.}, {informal} To count the number of people in a group. •/On the class picnic, we counted heads before we left and when we arrived to be sure that no one got lost./ •/The usher was told to look out into the audience and count noses./
[count off]{v.} 1. To count aloud from one end of a line of men to the other, each man counting in turn. •/The soldiers counted off from right to left./ 2. To place into a separate group or groups by counting. •/The coach counted off three boys to carry in the equipment./ •/Tom counted off enough newspapers for his route./
[count on]{v.} 1. To depend on; rely on; trust. •/The team was counting on Joe to win the race./ •/I’ll do it; you know you can count on me./ •/The company was counting on Brown’s making the right decision./ Syn.: BANK ON. 2. See: FIGURE ON(2).
[count one’s chickens before they’re hatched]{v. phr.}, {informal} To depend on getting a profit or gain before you have it; make plans that suppose something will happen; be too sure that something will happen. Usually used in negative sentences. •/When Jim said that he would be made captain of the team, John told him not to count his chickens before they were hatched./ •/Maybe some of your customers won’t pay, and then where will you be? Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched./
[count out]{v.} 1. To leave (someone) out of a plan; not expect (someone) to share in an activity; exclude. •/"Will this party cost anything? If it does, count me out, because I’m broke."/ •/When the coach was planning who would play in the big game he counted Paul out, because Paul had a hurt leg./ 2. To count out loud to ten to show that (a boxer who has been knocked down in a fight) is beaten or knocked out if he does not get up before ten is counted. •/The champion was counted. out in the third round./ 3a. To add up; count again to be sure of the amount. •/Mary counted out the number of pennies she had./ 3b. To count out loud, (especially the beats in a measure of music). •/The music teacher counted out the beats "one-two-three-four," so the class would sing in time./
[count to ten]{v. phr.}, {informal} To count from one to ten so you will have time to calm down or get control of yourself; put off action when angry or excited so as not to do anything wrong. •/Father always told us to count to ten before doing anything when we got angry./ Compare: KEEP ONE’S HEAD. Contrast: BLOW A FUSE, FLY OFF THE HANDLE.
