kid

be like a kid in a candy store (American & Australian)

to be very happy and excited about the things around you, and often to react to them in a way which is silly and not controlled. You should have seen him when they arrived. He was like a kid in a candy store.

See also: candy, like, store

handle/treat someone with kid gloves

to be very polite or kind to someone who is important or easily upset because you do not want to make them angry or upset. Linda can be a very difficult woman - you've really got to handle her with kid gloves.

See also: glove, handle, treat

a latchkey child/kid (mainly American)

a child who is often in the house alone because both parents are at work. My dad came home at seven in the evening and my mom only an hour earlier so I was a latchkey kid.

See also: child

the new kid on the block (American & Australian, informal)

someone who is new in a place or organization and has many things to learn about it. Realizing I was the new kid on the block in this job, I was determined to prove myself.

See also: block, new

a whizz-kid

a young person who is very clever and successful. They've taken on some financial whizz-kid who's going to sort all their problems out.

---

handle someone with kid gloves

treat someone with kid gloves

See also: glove, handle

kid around

to joke with someone. At the end of the show, the dancers kidded around with the audience and tried to get them to dance.

See also: around

the new kid on the block

a recent arrival. The Internet is still the new kid on the block in communications technologies.

See also: block, new

no kidding

really or honestly. No kidding, there must have been at least twenty thousand people at the festival.

treat someone with kid gloves

to deal with someone very gently or carefully. While he treated writers with kid gloves, he was unpleasant to everyone else.

Etymology: based on the literal meaning of kid gloves (= gloves made of very soft, smooth leather)

See also: glove, treat

you have got to be kidding

I am very surprised and cannot believe you are serious. You want me to drive into the city in this rain? You've got to be kidding.

See also: got