In the following questions four alternatives are given for the idiom/phrase italicised and underlined in the sentence. Choose the alternative which best expresses the meaning of idiom/phrase.
I requested him to put in a word for me.
Answer: D
It means recommend.
To put in a word for someone is to speak in their favour to a person who can help them.
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The dacoit murdered the man in cold blood.
Answer: C
It means ruthlessly.
In cold blood means without passion or provocation, from the old belief that anger heated the blood, so a killing done calmly is the worse for it.
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The secretary and the treasurer are hand in glove with each other.
Answer: A
It means associates in some action.
Hand in glove means in close and usually improper collaboration, the two fitting each other exactly. Note that the phrase implies complicity, not simple friendship.
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He never liked the idea of keeping his wife under his thumb, and so he let her do as she liked.
Answer: B
It means unduly under control.
To be under someone's thumb is to be wholly dominated by them.
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It is time professors came down from their ivory towers and studied the real needs of their students.
Answer: A
It means detachment and seclusion.
An ivory tower is a place of retreat from practical affairs. The phrase comes from Sainte-Beuve, who said Alfred de Vigny wrote in his ivory tower before noon.
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You have to be a cool customer and be patient if you want to get the best buys.
Answer: A
It means be calm and not excitable.
A cool customer is a person who stays unruffled, sometimes with a hint of impudence.
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There was no opposition to the new policy from the rank and file of the government.
Answer: B
It means the ordinary members.
The rank and file are the common soldiers as against the officers - ranks being the lines side by side and files the lines front to back.
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The clerk wiped the nose of his employer by submitting a false bill, and was dismissed.
Answer: B
It means cheated.
To wipe someone's nose is to cheat or defraud them - an old expression, now rare outside such tests.
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I have a bone to pick with you in this matter.
Answer: B
It means am angry.
To have a bone to pick with someone is to have a grievance to raise with them, from two dogs disputing a bone.
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The new Chief Minister stuck his neck out today and promised ten kilos of free wheat a month to every rural family.
Answer: B
It means took a risk.
To stick one's neck out is to expose oneself to danger or criticism, as a fowl stretches its neck towards the block.
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