escalator

escalator 

a set of moving stairs that take people to different levels in a building 

treadmill

treadmill   

1 [ a piece of exercise equipment that has a large belt around a set of wheels, that you can walk or run on while staying in the same place 

2 [ work or a way of life that seems very boring because you  

 always have to do the same things
the treadmill of working

3 [ a mill worked in the past by prisoners treading on steps fixed to a very

in the office 

 large wheel

       

parachutist

      parachutist 

 someone who jumps from a plane with a parachute 

 

on the pill

on the pill 

 ====== 

start taking it regularly 

 

 be a pill

 if someone, especially a child, is a pill, they are annoying
 

Luke can be a real pill sometimes

cost a lot

high used about prices, rents, or charges
fancy used about restaurants, cars, or clothes that look expensive
posh used about hotels, restaurants, or cars that look expensive and are used by rich or high-class people
 

cost a lot also cost a bomb informal to be very expensive
 

be out of somebody's price range to be more than 

 someone can afford to pay
 

be a rip-off informal to be much too expensive, so that you feel you have been cheated
 

exorbitant exorbitant prices are much too high

posh

posh  

a posh restaurant, hotel, car etc is expensive and looks as if it is used or owned by rich people
 

a posh private school 

aristocracy

aristocracy 

the people in the highest social class, who traditionally have a lot of land, money, and  

power  

the landed aristocracy =who own a lot of land 

Sugar Cubes

Sugar Cubes
 

draining board

draining board  

colander

colander  

a metal or plastic bowl with a lot of small holes in the bottom and sides, used to separate  

 liquid from food 

a heart of stone

a heart of stone 

 ===============

 very cruel character

 Sometimes I think he's got a heart of stone

 

heart of gold 

======= 

very kind character 

 

with a heavy heart 

============ 

great sadness 

heart-to-heart

heart-to-heart  

a conversation in which two people say honestly and sincerely what they really feel about something 

Why don't you have a heart-to-heart with him and sort out your problems 

heart

somebody's heart beats  

somebody's heart pounds/thuds/thumps =it beats very strongly  

somebody's heart races =it beats very fast

a weak heart =an unhealthy heart  

 heart trouble/problems  

a heart condition =something wrong with your heart  

 somebody's heart rate (=the number of times their heart beats per minute)

dripping with gold

dripping with gold =wearing a lot of gold 

She came to the party dripping with gold  

need

Verb patterns 

 You can say that you need to do something 

 I need to clean (NOT I need clean) the house 

If someone else is going to do something for you, you can say that you need something done or need something doing  

 I need my car fixed urgently  

You need your head examining

 When you are talking about the object that is going to have something done to it,  

you can say that it needs something doing or needs something to be done  

My hair needs cutting

 That box needs to be moved =NOT needs moved

Negatives You can say that you don't need to do something or needn't do something  

 I don't need to leave ==NOT don't need leave 

You needn't apologize ==NOT needn't to apologize 

 need not means that it is not necessary to do something.  Do not use it to mean must not =are not allowed to 

You needn't take any money 

 You mustn't take any sharp objects on the plane 

needn't have means that it was not necessary for   

 someone to do something that they in fact did  

Do not use it to mean didn't need to or didn't have to = something was not necessary 

 We needn't have ordered so much food 

I didn't need OR didn't have to tell him who I was - he already knew

Noun patterns The most common noun patterns are a need for something and a need to do something  her need for friendship

a need to preserve the environment 

Say there is a need, not 'it is a need'. Say a need for, not 'a need of' 

There is a desperate need for cash 

You can also use the expression be in need of something  

We are in need of funds =NOT We have a need of funds

ready, steady, go

ready, steady, go ====get ready, get set, go 

used to tell people to start a race 

life buoy

life buoy  

a large ring made out of material that floats, which you throw to someone who has fallen in the water, to prevent them from drowning 

dead end

dead end 

1 a street with no way out at one end 

2 a situation from which no more progress is possible 

dead-end job==a job with low wages and no chance of progress

handstand

handstand 

a movement in which you put your hands on the ground and your legs in the air 

A man doing a handstand in the town centre is likely to arouse interest 

glimmer

glimmer 

a small sign of something such as hope or understanding
glimmer of 
a glimmer of hope for the future 

glimmer= gleam 

a light that is not very bright 

the first glimmer of dawn