[glance] See: AT FIRST GLANCE or AT FIRST SIGHT.
[glance off]{v. phr.} To ricochet. •/The bullet glanced off the wall and wounded an innocent bystander./
[glass] See: PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN GLASS HOUSES SHOULD NOT THROW STONES, SAFETY GLASS.
[glasses] See: LOOK AT THE WORLD THROUGH ROSE-COLORED GLASSES.
[glass jaw]{n.}, {slang} The inability of a boxer to get a hard punch on the jaw without being knocked out; a tendency to be knocked out easily. •/He would have been champion except for his glass jaw./
[globe-trotter]{n.} One who has travelled far and wide. •/Tim and Nancy are regular globe-trotters; there are few countries they haven’t been to./
[glory] See: IN ONE’S GLORY.
[gloss over]{v.} To try to make what is wrong or bad seem right or not important; try to make a thing look easy; pretend about; hide. •/Billy broke a window and Mother tried to gloss it over by saying it wouldn’t cost much to have it fixed, but Father spanked Billy anyway./ •/John glossed over his mistake by saying that everybody did the same thing./
[glove] See: FIT LIKE A GLOVE, HAND IN GLOVE or HAND AND GLOVE, HANDLE WITH GLOVES.
[glutton for punishment]{n. phr.} A greedy person; someone who wants too much of something, such as food or drink, which will make him sick. •/Fred eats so much red meat that he is a regular glutton for punishment./
[go] See: HERE GOES, HERE GOES NOTHING, BEST BIB AND TUCKER or SUNDAY-GO-TO-MEETING CLOTHES, COMINGS AND GOINGS, EASY COME EASY GO, GET GOING, GET-UP-AND-GO, HAVE A GO AT, HEART GOES OUT TO, KNOW WHETHER ONE IS COMING OR GOING, LET GO, MAKE A GO OF, NO DEAL or NO GO, ON THE GO, PAY AS ONE GOES, TOUCH AND GO.
[go about]{v.} 1. To be busy with; keep busy at or working on; start working on; do. •/Bobby is going about his homework very seriously tonight./ •/Just go about your business and don’t keep looking out of the window./ •/How will you go about building the bird house?/ Syn.: GO AT(2). 2a. To move from one place or person to another. •/Some people go about telling untrue stories./ 2b. To go together. — Usually used with "with". •/Mother doesn’t want me to go about with Jane and her friends any more./ Syn.: GO AROUND(1b).
[go about one’s business]{v. phr.} To mind one’s own affairs. •/Fred kept bothering me with his questions all day, so I finally told him to go about his business and leave me alone./
[go after]{v.} To try to get. •/"First find out what job you want and then go after it," said Jim’s father./
[go against the grain] See: AGAINST THE GRAIN(2).
[go ahead]{v.} To begin to do something; not wait. •/The teacher told the students not to write on the paper yet, but John went ahead and wrote his name./ •/"May I ask you a question?" "Go ahead."/ Compare: GO ON(1).
[go astray]{v. phr.} To become lost. •/The letter has obviously gone astray; otherwise it would have been delivered a long time ago./
[goal] See: FIELD GOAL.
[goal line]{n.} A line that marks the goal in a game (as football.) •/The fullback went over the goal line from five yards out./
[goal line stand]{n.} A strong defensive effort right in front of the goal line. •/A goal line stand by the home team held the visitors on the two-yard line./
[go all the way with] See: ALL THE WAY.
[go along]{v.} 1. To move along; continue. •/Uncle Bill made up the story as he went along./ Compare: GO ON(1). 2. To go together or as company; go for fun. — Often used with "with". /Mary went along with us to Jane’s house./ •/John just went along for the ride to the ball game. He didn’t want to play./ •/When one filling station cuts gasoline prices, the others usually go along./ 3. To agree; cooperate. — Often used with "with". •/"Jane is a nice girl." "I’ll go along with that," said Bill./ •/Just because the other boys do something bad, you don’t have to go along with it./
[go ape]{v. phr.}, {slang} To become highly excited or behave in a crazy way. •/Amy went ape over the hotel and beautiful beaches./ •/The electric door opener malfunctioned and caused the garage door to go ape./
[go around]{v.} 1a. To go from one place or person to another. •/Mr. Smith is going around looking for work./ •/Don’t go around telling lies like that./ •/Chicken pox is going around the neighborhood./ •/A rumor is going around school that we will get the afternoon off./ 1b. To go together; keep company. — Usually used with "with". •/Bill goes around with boys older than he is because he is big for his age./ Syn.: GO ABOUT(2b). 2. To be enough to give to everyone; be enough for all. •/There are not enough desks to go around in the classroom./
[go around in circles] See: IN A CIRCLE.
[goat] See: GET ONE’S GOAT.
[go at]{v.} 1. To start to fight with; attack. •/The dog and the cat are going at each other again./ 2. To make a beginning on; approach; tackle. •/How are you going to go at the job of fixing the roof?/ Compare: START IN. Syn.: GO ABOUT(1).
[go at it hammer and tongs]{v. phr.}, {informal} 1. To attack or fight with great strength or energy; have a bad argument. •/Bill slapped George’s face and now they’re going at it hammer and tongs in back of the house./ •/Helen and Mary have been arguing all day, and now they are going at it hammer and tongs again./ 2. To start or do something with much strength, energy, or enthusiasm. •/The farmer had to chop down a tree and he went at it hammer and tongs./ •/Charles had a lot of homework to do and he went at it hammer and tongs till bedtime./ Compare: IN EARNEST, WITH MIGHT AND MAIN.
[go AWOL] See: ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE.
[go back on]{v. phr.} 1. To turn against; not be faithful or loyal to. •/Many of the man’s friends went back on him when he was sent to prison./ •/The boy’s father told him not to go back on his promise./ Compare: BACK DOWN, TURN ONE’S BACK. 2. To fail to do necessary work; not work. •/Grandfather’s eyes are going back on him./ Compare: BREAK DOWN(4), GIVE OUT.
[go back on one’s word]{v. phr.} To renege; break a promise. •/Patrick went back on his word when he refused to marry Karen in spite of his earlier promise./
[go] or [be on the rocks] See: ON THE ROCKS.
[go] or [be on the wagon] See: ON THE WAGON. Contrast: FALL OFF THE WAGON.
[go bail for]{v. phr.} To advance the necessary money as security in order to release an accused person until trial. •/The arrested driver had no trouble finding someone to go bail for him./
[go begging]{v. phr.} To be not needed or wanted. •/Many old homes in the city go begging./ •/Most of the apples on the market went begging./
[go broke]{v. phr.}, {slang} To lose all one’s money; especially by taking a chance; owe more than you can pay. •/The inventor went broke because nobody would buy his machine./ •/Dan had a quarter but he went broke matching pennies with Fred./
[go-between]{n.} An intermediary. •/They expect Mr. Smith to act as a go-between in the dispute between management and labor./
[go bust]{v. phr.}, {slang} To become bankrupt. •/Our company lost a lot of money and went bust./ Compare: BELLY UP.
[go-by] See: GIVE THE GO-BY.
[go by]{v.} 1. To go or move past; pass. •/Bob had to go by the post office on his way to school, so he mailed the letter./ 2. To follow; copy; obey. •/Mother goes by a pattern when she makes a dress./ •/You will find Main Street without trouble if you go by Father’s directions./ •/If you ride a bicycle, you must go by the rules of the road./ 3. To be known by; be called. •/Many actors do not go by their real names./ •/Fred goes by the nickname of Chubby./ 4. To pass; be over; end. •/Time goes by quickly on vacation./ •/The horse and buggy days have gone by./ •/The flowers have all gone by. What will I do for a bouquet?/ 5. To stop for a short visit; go to someone’s house for a short while. •/"Have you seen Bill lately?" "Yes, I went by his house last week."/ Compare: STOP BY.
[go by the board] also [pass by the board] {v. phr.} To go away or disappear forever, be forgotten or not used. •/Tom had several chances to go to college, but he let them go by the board./ •/Grandfather said he was too old to go to the beach. "Those days have passed by the board," he said./ Compare: DOWN THE DRAIN.
[go by the name of]{v. phr.} To be called. •/Adolf Schicklegruber went by the name of Adolf Hitler./
[go chase oneself]{v. phr.}, {slang} Go away and stop being a nuisance. •/John’s father was busy and told him to go chase himself./ •/The owner of the store told the boys in front to go chase themselves./ Compare: BEAT IT, GO JUMP IN THE LAKE.
[God] See: IN THE LAP OP THE GODS also ON THE KNEES OP THE GODS, MY GOD or MY GOODNESS, WOULD THAT or WOULD GOD.
[God forbid]{interj.} May God prevent (something from happening); I hope that will not happen or is not true. •/Someone told the worried mother that her son might have drowned. She said, "God forbid!"/ •/God forbid that the dam break and flood the valley!/ Compare: PERISH THE THOUGHT.
[Godfrey] See: GREAT GODFREY.
[God knows] or [goodness knows] or [heaven knows] {informal} 1. Maybe God knows but I don’t know and no one else knows. — Often used with "only". •/Do you know where Susan is? God only knows!/ 2. Surely; certainly. •/Goodness knows, the poor man needs the money./ •/Heaven only knows, I have tried hard enough./
[Godmother] See: FAIRY GODMOTHER.
[go down]{v. phr.} 1. To deteriorate in quality. •/This hotel, which used to be one of the best, has gone down during the past few years./ 2. To become lower in price. •/It is said that the price of milk is expected to go down soon./ 3. To sink. •/The Titanic went down with a lot of people aboard./
[go down in history] or [go down in the records] {v. phr.} To be remembered or recorded for always. •/The lives of great men go down in history./ •/Babe Ruth went down in history as a home run hitter./ •/The boy’s straight A’s for four years of college went down in the records./ •/The President said that the day the war ended would go down in history./
[go down the drain]{v. phr.} To be lost or wasted forever. •/If he doesn’t pass the bar examination tomorrow, his best efforts to become a lawyer will go down the drain./
[God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb]{literary} A person who is already helpless will not have more trouble; you will not have more trouble than you can bear. •/After Mr. Smith lost his job, the Smith’s house caught fire, but the fire was put out before much harm was done. Mr. Smith said, "God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb."/ Contrast: IT NEVER RAINS BUT IT POURS.
[go Dutch]{v. phr.}, {informal} To go out for fun together but have each person pay for himself. •/High school students often go Dutch to basketball games./ •/Sometimes boys and girls go Dutch on dates./ •/The girl knew her boyfriend had little money, so she offered to go Dutch./ Compare: DUTCH TREAT.
[go easy] See: TAKE IT EASY(1).
[go fly a kite]{v. phr.}, {slang} To go away; leave. Usually used as a command, to show that you do not accept someone’s ideas. •/Harry was tired of John’s advice and told him to go fly a kite./ •/After Mary stood around telling Sue what was wrong with her dress. Sue told her to go fly a kite./ Compare: DROP DEAD, GO JUMP IN THE LAKE.
[go for]{v. phr.}, {informal} 1. To try to get; aim for; try for. •/Our team is going for the championship in the game tonight./ •/The dog went for Bob’s leg./ 2. To favor; support; like. •/Little Susie really goes for ice cream./ •/Bob goes for Jane in a big way./ 3. To attack; begin to fight or argue with. •/The Indian jumped out of the *hush and went for Daniel./ •/Molly went for James about being late as soon as he got home./
