Словарь американских идиом: 8000 единиц

[use up]{v. phr.} 1. To use until nothing is left; spend or consume completely. •/Don’t use up all the soap. Leave me some to wash with./ •/Jack used up his last dollar to see the movies./ Compare: GIVE OUT(5). 2. {informal} To tire completely; make very tired; exhaust; leave no strength or force in. — Usually used in the passive. •/After rowing the boat across the lake, Robert was used up./ Compare: GIVE OUT(4), WEAR OUT.

[utility room]{n.} A room in a house or building for machinery and other things important in the daily use of the building and the work of the people in it. •/There is a utility room upstairs where Mother does the laundry./ •/The oil burner is kept in the utility room in the basement./

V

[vain] See: IN VAIN, TAKE ONE’S NAME IN VAIN.

[valor] See: DISCRETION IS THE BETTER PART OF VALOR.

[value] See: FACE VALUE.

[vanish into thin air] See: DISAPPEAR INTO THIN AIR.

[vanishing cream]{n.} A cosmetic cream for the skin that is used chiefly before face powder. •/Mrs. Jones spread vanishing cream on her face before applying her face powder./

[vanity case]{n.} 1. A small case containing face powder, lipstick, and other things and usually carried in a woman’s handbag; a compact. •/She took out her vanity case and put lipstick on./ 2. A handbag or a small bag carried by a woman and holding various toilet articles. •/She had the porter carry her big bags and she herself carried her vanity case./

[variety show]{n.} A program that includes several different kinds of entertainment (as songs, dances, comic skits and little dramas). •/Jane’s father was the master of ceremonies of a variety show on TV./

[variety store]{n.} A store that sells many different kinds of things, especially items that are fairly small and in everyday use. •/I went into a variety store and bought some paint./ •/Five-and-ten cent stores are a kind of variety store./

[vein] See: FREEZE ONE’S BLOOD or FREEZE THE BLOOD IN ONE’S VEINS, FREEZE ONE’S VEINS.

[verbal diarrhea]{n. phr.} The inability to keep silent; over-talkativeness. •/Archibald is a nice guy but he’s got verbal diarrhea and he can’t shut up for a single minute./

[very] See: ALL VERY WELL.

[very well]{interj.}, {formal} Agreed; all right. — Used to show agreement or approval. •/Very well. You may go./ •/Very well, I will do as you say./ Compare: ALL RIGHT(2).

[vibrations] or [vibes]{n.} Psychic emanations radiating from an object, situation, or person. •/I don’t think this relationship will work out — this guy has given me bad vibes./

[vicious circle]{n. phr.} A kind of circular or chain reaction in which one negative thing leads to another. •/Some people take so many different kinds of medicine to cure an illness that they develop other illnesses from the medicine and are thus caught in a vicious circle./

[Vietnam syndrome]{n.}, {informal} An attitude in government circles that diplomacy may be more effective in solving local political problems in other countries than the use of military force, stemming from the failure of the U.S. military intervention in Vietnam. •/The pundits of Foggy Bottom display the Vietnam syndrome these days when it comes to Iran./

[view] See: IN VIEW, IN VIEW OF, TAKE A DIM VIEW OF.

[vine] See: DIE ON THE VINE or WITHER ON THE VINE, CLINGING VINE.

[virtue] See: BY VIRTUE OF, MAKE A VIRTUE OF NECESSITY.