music

arrange some music for something

to prepare or adapt music for particular instruments or for a particular musical key. Paul arranged the piece for piano. This piece was arranged for the guitar by Frank's brother.

See also: arrange, some

chin music

Fig. Inf. talk; conversation. Whenever those two get together, you can be sure there'll be plenty of chin music. Bill just loves to hear himself talk. He'll make chin music for hours at a time.

See also: chin

face the music

Fig. to receive punishment; to accept the unpleasant results of one's actions. Mary broke a dining-room window and had to face the music when her father got home. After failing a math test, Tom had to go home and face the music.

See also: face

make chin music

Fig. to talk or chatter. We sat around all evening making chin music. You were making chin music when you should have been listening.

See also: chin, make

music to someone's ears

Fig. a welcome sound to someone; news that someone is pleased to hear. A: Here's your paycheck for this month. B: Ah, that's music to my ears!

See also: ear

set something to music

to write a piece of music to accompany a set of words. The musician set my lyrics to music. The rock band set the poem to music.

See also: set

stop the music and stop the presses

Inf. Stop everything!; Hold it! (Presses refers to the printing presses used to print newspapers. This means that there is recent news of such magnitude that the presses must be stopped so a new edition can be printed immediately.) John (entering the room): Stop the music! There's a fire in the kitchen! Mary: Good grief! Let's get out of here! "Stop the presses!" shouted Jane. "I have an announcement."

See also: stop

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be music to somebody's ears

if something you hear is music to your ears, it makes you very happy The news of his resignation was music to my ears.

See face the music

See also: ear

elevator music  (American)

pleasant but boring recorded music that is played in public places You can't get away from elevator music in some shopping malls.

face the music

to accept criticism or punishment for something that you have done When the missing money was noticed, he chose to disappear rather than face the music.

See also: face

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face the music

to accept responsibility for something you have done Knight was returned to the US from Spain to face the music for his part in a robbery more than 20 years ago.

See also: face

music to somebody's ears

something pleasing to hear about The decision to restore the old building is music to my ears.

See also: ear