Common English Phrases and Meanings

Definitions and Meanings

• Take one's toll on someone: To cause a negative effect or suffering over time; suggests a gradual accumulation of consequences.
• Being exposed to the elements: Living or being outdoors without protection from natural elements like wind, rain, snow, or heat; can lead to physical discomfort or danger.
• Turn a blind eye to: To ignore or overlook something intentionally, often something that should be addressed or addressed; implies willful neglect.
• Ride roughshod over: To disregard or steamroll over the feelings, rights, or concerns of others; often reflects dominance or insensitivity.
• Be obligated to: To have a duty or responsibility to do something, often due to legal, social, or moral reasons.

Situational Contexts

• Thrust out onto the streets: To be forcibly removed from a home or shelter, leaving one homeless and vulnerable; often used in contexts of eviction or sudden loss of housing.
• Live in the squalor: To exist in extremely dirty and poor conditions; often associated with poverty, neglect, or lack of basic necessities.
• Plunge someone into the pits of despair: To cause someone to fall into a state of deep sadness or hopelessness; suggests a rapid and severe decline in emotional well-being.

Specific Actions and Behaviors

• Scrounge a cigarette: To seek or try to obtain a cigarette from others, often in a casual or informal way; may imply financial constraints or something being borrowed.
• Kerb crawling: The act of driving slowly along a street to engage with sex workers; often associated with soliciting prostitution and may be subject to legal scrutiny.
• Chequered history: A past that has both positive and negative events or experiences; implies a mix of successes and failures or controversies.
• Loitering with intent: To hang around a public place with a specific purpose, often linked to illegal activity, such as intending to commit a crime; generally carries a legal connotation.