to give someone a
21give someone hell — give (someone) hell informal 1. to speak to someone in a very angry way, because they have done something which has annoyed or upset you. Did your Dad give you hell about the dent in the car? 2. to make someone suffer. The children have been… …
22give someone the nod — give (someone) the nod British & Australian, informal to give someone permission to do something. We re just waiting for the council to give us the nod then we ll start building …
23give someone a wide berth — give (someone/something) a wide berth to avoid someone or something. I try to give the city centre a wide berth on a Saturday. If she s in a bad mood I tend to give her a wide berth …
24give someone the benefit of the doubt — give (someone/something) the benefit of the doubt to decide you will believe someone or something. People tell me I shouldn t trust him, but I m willing to give Simon the benefit of the doubt and wait and see what he actually offers. The American …
25give someone the nod — ► give someone/thing the nod 1) select or approve someone or something. 2) give someone a signal. Main Entry: ↑nod …
26give someone/thing the nod — ► give someone/thing the nod 1) select or approve someone or something. 2) give someone a signal. Main Entry: ↑nod …
27give someone a steer — phrase to give someone advice or information that helps them to do something Thesaurus: to give advicesynonym Main entry: steer …
28give someone enough rope (to hang themselves) — phrase to allow someone to do something in the way that they want to when you know that they will probably fail Thesaurus: to give someone an opportunity to do somethingsynonym Main entry: rope …
29give someone head — very informal phrase to use your mouth and tongue on someone’s sex organs in order to give them pleasure Thesaurus: to have sexsynonym sexual activityhyponym Main entry: head * * * vulgar slang …
30give someone pause (for thought) — phrase to make someone think carefully about something a report that should give pause to supporters of the death penalty Thesaurus: to have an effect on someone s emotions or attitudessynonym Main entry: pause …