sheet (redirected from as white as a sheet)

*white as a sheet and *white as a ghost; *white as snow; *white as the driven snow

[of someone] extremely pale, as if frightened. (*Also: as ~.) Marilyn turned as white as a sheet when the policeman told her that her son had been in a car wreck. Did something scare you? You're white as a sheet! Jane made up the bed with her best linen sheets, which are always as white as snow. We have a new kitten whose fur is white as the driven snow.

See also: white

both sheets in the wind

intoxicated. (A ship's sheets are the ropes or lines that control the sails. See also three sheets in the wind.) She's both sheets in the wind at the moment. She's not just both sheets in the wind—they're all in the wind.

See also: both, wind

four sheets in the wind and four sheets (to the wind)

intoxicated. (See comments at three sheets in the wind.) She's not just tipsy. She's four sheets! After only three beers, Gary was four sheets to the wind.

See also: four, wind

three sheets in the wind and three sheets (to the wind); two sheets to the wind

Inf. intoxicated and unsteady. (Sheets are the ropes used to manage a ship's sails. It is assumed that if these ropes were blowing in the wind, the ship would be out of control.) He had gotten three sheets to the wind and didn't pay attention to my warning. By midnight, he was three sheets.

See also: three, wind

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a clean sheet 

1. (mainly British) if you are given a clean sheet, you can start something again, and all the problems caused by you or other people in the past will be forgotten I want us to forget all the arguing of the past, and start the New Year with a clean sheet.

2. (British) if a football team or a goalkeeper (= the player who stands in the goal) has a clean sheet, they do not allow the other team to score any goals United kept a clean sheet in an away match for the first time this season.

See also: clean

a rap sheet  (American informal)

information kept by the police about someone's criminal activities The gunman's rap sheet had a long list of weapons and narcotics offenses.

See also: rap

a scandal sheet  (American & Australian informal)

a newspaper or magazine that contains many articles about shocking or surprising events It's just a scandal sheet - full of murders, beatings, suicides and little else.

be as white as a sheet

to be very pale, usually because you are frightened or ill She was trembling all over and as white as a sheet.

See also: white

be three sheets to the wind  (old-fashioned)

to be drunk Bobby was already three sheets to the wind when we arrived.

See also: three, wind