[fat is in the fire] Something has happened that will cause trouble or make a bad situation worse. * /He found out you took it? Well, the fat's in the fire now./

[fat of the land] <n. phr.> The best and richest food, clothes, everything. * /When I'm rich I'll retire and live off the fat of the land./

[fault] See: AT FAULT, FIND FAULT, TO A FAULT.

[faultfinding] <n.> Recrimination; nagging; criticism. * /All of this constant faultfinding will only to lead to trouble between you and your wife./

[favor] See: CURRY FAVOR, IN FAVOR OF.

[favorite son] <n.> A man supported by his home state for President. * /At a national convention, states often vote for their favorite sons first; then they change and vote for another man./

[fear] See: FOR FEAR.

[fear and trembling] or [fear and trepidation] <n. phr.> Great fear. * /He came in fear and trembling to tell his father he had a bad report card./

[feast one's eyes on] <v. phr.> To look at and enjoy very much. * /He feasted his eyes on the beautiful painting./

[feast or a famine] <n. phr.> Plenty or very little; big success or bad failure. * /In this business it's either a feast or a famine./ * /He is very careless with his money, it is always a feast or a famine with him./

[feather] See: BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER, TAR AND FEATHER, FINE FEATHERS DO NOT MAKE FINE BIRDS, FUSS AND FEATHERS, MAKE THE FEATHERS FLY, RUFFLE FEATHERS.

[feather in one's cap] <n. phr.> Something to be proud of; an honor. * /It was a feather in his cap to win first prize./ (From the medieval practice of placing a feather in the helmet of one who won honors in battle.)

[feather one's nest] <v. phr.>, <informal> 1. To use for yourself money and power, especially from a public office or job in which you are trusted to help other people. * /The rich man told his lawyer to use his money after he died to build a hospital for poor people, but the lawyer feathered his own nest with the money instead./ * /The man feathered his nest in politics by getting money from contractors who built roads./ Syn.: LINE ONE'S POCKETS. 2. To make your home pleasant and comfortable; furnish and decorate your house. * /Furniture stores welcome young couples who want to feather their nests./

[fed up] (<informal>) also (<slang>) [fed to the gills] or [fed to the teeth] <adj. phr.> Having had too much of something; at the end of your patience; disgusted; bored; tired. * /People get fed up with anyone who brags all the time./ * /I've had enough of his complaints. I'm fed up./ * /He was fed to the teeth with television and sold his set to a cousin./ * /John quit football because he was fed to the gills with practice./ Compare: SICK AND TIRED.

[feed] See: BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS ONE, CHICKEN FEED, OFF FEED or OFF ONE'S FEED, SPOON FEED.

[feel] See: GET THE FEEL OF and HARD FEELING.

[feel a draft] <v. phr.>, <slang> To have the sensation that one is not welcome in a place; that one has gotten a cold reception. * /Let's go, Suzie, I feel a draft./

[feel for someone] <v. phr.>, <informal> To be able to sympathize with someone's problems. * /I can really feel for you, John, for losing your job./

[feel free to do] <v. phr.> To take the liberty to engage in an activity. * /Please feel free to take off your jackets; this is an informal party./

[feel in one's bones] or [know in one's bones] <v. phr.> To have an idea or feeling but not know why. * /I feel in my hones that tomorrow will be a sunny day./ * /I know in my bones that God will protect us./

[feel like] <v.>, <informal> To want to do or have. * /I don't feel like running today./ * /I just don't feel like pancakes this morning./

[feel like a million] or [feel like a million dollars] <v. phr.>, <informal> To be in the best of health and spirits. * /I feel like a million this morning./ * /He had a headache yesterday but feels like a million dollars today./ Compare: LOOK LIKE A MILLION.

[feel like a new man] <v. phr.> To feel healthy, vigorous, and well again after a major physical illness or emotional upheaval. * /Ted felt like a new man after his successful heart bypass operation./

[feel like two cents] See: TWO CENTS.

[feel low] <v. phr.> To be depressed; be in low spirits. * /I don't know what's the matter with Mary, but she says she has been feeling very low all afternoon./

[feel no pain] <v. phr.>, <slang> To be drunk. * /After a few drinks, the man felt no pain and began to act foolishly./

[feel one's oats] <v. phr.>, <slang> 1. To feel frisky or playful; be eager and excited. * /The horses were feeling their oats./ * /When they first got to camp, the boys were feeling their oats./ 2. To act in a proud or important way. * /The new gardener was feeling his oats and started to boss the other men./

[feel one's way] <v. phr.> To proceed cautiously by trial and error; probe. * /I won't ask her to marry me directly; I will feel my way first./

[feel] or [look small] <v. phr.> To have the impression that one is insignificant, foolish, or humiliated. * /"I feel small next to Hemingway," the young student of creative writing said./

[feel out] <v.> To talk or act carefully with someone and find what he thinks or can do. * /The pupils felt out the principal about a party after the game./ * /John felt out his father about letting him have the car that evening./ * /At first the boxers felt each other out./ Compare: SOUND OUT.

[feel out of place] <v. phr.> To experience the sensation of not belonging in a certain place or company. * /Dave felt out of place among all those chess players as he knows nothing about chess./

[feel the pinch] <v. phr.> To be short of money; experience monetary difficulties. * /If we are going to have a recession, everybody will feel the pinch./

[feel up] <v. phr.>, <vulgar>, <avoidable> To arouse sexually by manual contact. * /You mean to tell me that you've been going out for six months and he hasn't ever tried to feel you up?/ Contrast: COP A FEEL.

[feel up to something] <v. phr.>, <informal> To feel adequately knowledgeable, strong, or equipped to handle a given task. * /Do you feel up to jogging a mile a day with me?/ Contrast: BE UP TO SOMETHING.

[feet] See: FOOT.

[feet of clay] <n. phr.> A hidden fault or weakness in a person which is discovered or shown. * /The famous general showed he had feet of clay when he began to drink liquor./ * /The banker seemed to be honest, but he had feet of clay and was arrested for stealing./

[feet on the ground] <n. phr.> An understanding of what can be done; sensible ideas. Used with a possessive. * /John has his feet on the ground; he knows he cannot learn everything at once./ * /Ted dreams of sudden riches, but Henry keeps his feet on the ground and expects to work for his money./ * /Mrs. Smith was a dreamer, but her husband was a man with his feet on the ground./ Contrast: IN THE CLOUDS.

[fell] See: AT ONE FELL SWOOP.

[fellow] See: HAIL-FELLOW-WELL-MET, REGULAR GUY or REGULAR FELLOW.

[fellow traveller] <n.> A sympathizer with a political movement who does not officially belong to the political party in question. * /Many Germans after World War II were innocently accused of being fellow travellers of Nazism./ * /During the McCarthy era, many Americans were accused of being Communist fellow travellers./

[fence] See: GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE, MEND ONE'S FENCES, ON THE FENCE.

[fence in] or [hedge in] or [hem in] <v.> To keep (someone) from doing what he or she would like to do. Usually used in the passive. * /Mary felt fenced in because her father would not let her drive a car or have dates with boys./ * /John didn't like his job because he had to do the same kind of work all the time. He felt that he was hemmed in./

[fence-sitter] <n.> A person unable to pick between two sides; a person who does not want to choose. * /Daddy says he is a fence-sitter because he doesn't know which man he wants for President./

[fence-sitting] <n.> or <adj.> Choosing neither side. * /You have been fence-sitting for too long. It is time you made up your mind./ Contrast: MAKE UP ONE'S MIND, TAKE SIDES.

[fence with] or [spar with] <v.> To talk with (someone) as if you were fighting like a swordsman or boxer; to give skillful answers or arguments against (someone). * /The governor was an expert at fencing with reporters at press conferences./

[ferret out] <literary> or [smell out] or [sniff out] <v.> To hunt or drive from hiding; to bring out into the open; search for and find. * /John ferreted out the answer to the question in the library./ * /Jane smelled out the boys' secret hiding place in the woods./

[few] See: MAN OF FEW WORDS, NOT A FEW, QUITE A FEW.

[few and far between] <adj. phr.> Not many; few and scattered; not often met or found; rare. - Used in the predicate. * /People who will work as hard as Thomas A. Edison are few and far between./ * /Places where you can get water are few and far between in the desert./ * /Really exciting games are few and far between./

[fickle finger of fate] See: ACT OF GOD.

[fiddle] See: PLAY SECOND FIDDLE.

[fiddle around] See: FOOL AROUND(3).

[fiddler] See: PAY THE PIPER or PAY THE FIDDLER.

[fiddle with] <v. phr.> To carelessly play with something. * /If Jimmy continues to fiddle with our computer, he is liable to ruin it./

[field] See: CENTER FIELD, LEFT FIELD, OUT IN LEFT FIELD, PLAY THE FIELD, RIGHT FIELD.

[field goal] <n.> 1. A score in football made by kicking the ball over the bar between the goal posts. * /The Giants were not able to make a touchdown but they kicked two field goals./ Compare: EXTRA POINT. 2. A score in basketball made by a successful shot through the basket not made on a free throw. * /A field goal counts two points./ Compare: FOUL SHOT, FREE THROW.

[fifth] See: TAKE THE FIFTH.

[fifth column] <n. phr.> A group or organization within a country that works to bring about the country's downfall, usually through acts of espionage and sabotage. * /The Communist party in the United States was considered by Senator McCarthy to be the Soviet Union's fifth column./

[flfty-flfty(1)] <adv.>, <informal> Equally; evenly. * /The two boys divided the marbles they won fifty-fifty./ * /When Dick and Sam bought an old car, they divided the cost fifty-fifty./

[fifty-fifty(2)] <adj.>, <informal> 1. Divided or shared equally. * /It will be a fifty-fifty arrangement; half the money for me and half for you./ 2. Half for and half against; half good and half bad. * /There is only a fifty-fifty chance that we will win the game./ Compare: HALF AND HALF.

[fight against time] See: RACING TO STAND STILL.

[fight fire with fire] <v. phr.>, <slightly formal>, <of Biblical origin> To fight back in the same way one was attacked; make a defense similar to the attack. * /The candidate was determined to fight fire with fire in the debate./

[fight it out] See: SLUG IT OUT.

[fighting chance] <n. phr.> A chance that necessitates struggle and courage; a slim chance. * /The doctor told the family that Jack had a fighting chance to recover./ * /Our business lost a lot of money, but we have a fighting chance to stage a comeback./

[fight off] <v. phr.> 1. To struggle against someone so as to free oneself; push an attacker back. * /Suzy fought off her two attackers in Central Park with a couple of karate chops./ 2. To strive to overcome something negative. * /After twelve hours at the computer terminal, Jane had to fight off her overwhelming desire to go to sleep./

[fight shy of] <v. phr.> To avoid; escape from. * /Jack always fights shy of anything that even remotely resembles serious work./

[fight tooth and nail] See: TOOTH AND NAIL.

[figure in] <v.> 1. <informal> To add to a total; remember to put down in figures. * /We figured in the travel expenses but forgot the cost of meals./ 2. To have a part in; be partly responsible for. * /Joe figured in all our touchdowns./ * /Mary's good grades figured in her choice as class president./

[figure on] <v.> 1. To expect and think about while making plans. * /We did not figure on having so many people at the picnic./ * /He figured on going to town the next day./ Syn.: PLAN ON. 2. To depend on; be; sure about. * /You can figure on him to be on time./ Syn.: COUNT ON.

[figure out] <v.> 1. To find an answer by thinking about (some problem or difficulty); solve. * /Tom couldn't figure out the last problem on the arithmetic test./ * /Sam couldn't figure out how to print a program until the teacher showed him how./ * /Mary couldn't figure out why her cake tasted so funny until she found salt mixed in the sugar bag./ Compare: FIND OUT(1). 2. To learn how to explain; understand. * /Laurence is an odd boy; I can't figure him out./ Compare: MAKE OUT(2).

[figure up] <v. phr.> To calculate; add up. * /If you can figure up how many phone calls I've made from your home, I will pay you right away./

[fill in] <v.> 1. To write words needed in blanks; put in; fill. * /You should fill in all the blanks on an application for a job./ 2. <informal> To tell what you should know. * /The new boy didn't know the rules so Bob filled him in./ * /The teacher filled in Mary about class work done while she was sick./ 3. To take another's place; substitute. * /The teacher was sick and Miss Jones filled in for her./

[fill (in) the gap] <v. phr.> To supply a missing piece of information; provide a clue during the course of solving a mystery. * /Sherlock Holmes said, "These fingerprints are bound to fill the gap in our investigation."/

[fill one's shoes] <v. phr.> To take the place of another and do as well; to substitute satisfactorily for. * /When Jack got hurt, the coach had nobody to fill his shoes./ * /Joe hopes to fill his father's shoes./ See: IN ONE'S SHOES.

[fill out] <v.> 1. To put in what is missing; complete; finish; <especially>, to complete (a printed application blank or other form) by writing the missing facts in the blank spaces; to write down facts which are asked for in (a report or application.) * /After Tom passed his driving test he filled out an application for his driver's license./ * /The policeman filled out a report of the accident./ 2. To become heavier and fatter; gain weight. * /When Bill was nineteen he began to fill out./ * /The girl was pale and thin after her sickness, but in a few months she filled out./

[fill the bases] See: LOAD THE BASES.

[fill the bill] <v. phr.>, <informal> To be just what is needed; be good enough for something; be just right. * /The boss was worried about hiring a deaf boy, but after he tried Tom out for a few weeks, he said that Tom filled the bill./ * /I thought I would need a special tool, but this wrench fills the bill./

[fill up] or [fill it up] or [fill her up] <v. phr.> To fill entirely. (Said by the driver of a car to a gas station attendant). * /When the attendant asked Andrew how much gas he wanted in the tank, Andrew replied, "Fill her up."/

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