baby

the baby blues

a feeling of sadness that some women experience after they have given birth to a baby. According to this article, as many as 60% of women suffer from the baby blues.

See also: blues

a baby boomer (mainly American)

someone who was born between 1945 and 1965, a period in which a lot of babies were born. Clinton was the first baby boomer in the White House. The ads are supposed to appeal to the baby boomer generation.

be left holding the baby (British, American)

to suddenly have to deal with a difficult problem or responsibility because someone else has decided they do not want to deal with it. He abandoned the project after a year because he felt that it was going to fail and I was left holding the baby.

See also: holding, left

be like taking candy from a baby (American, informal, American, informal)

to be very easy. Beating them was the easiest thing in the world - it was like taking candy from a baby.

See also: candy, from, like, taking

cry like a baby

to cry a lot. When I heard that she was safe, I cried like a baby.

See also: cry, like

a cry-baby (informal)

someone, usually a child, who cries too easily and too often. Don't be such a cry-baby - I hardly touched you.

throw the baby out with the bath water

to get rid of the good parts as well as the bad parts of something when you are trying to improve it. I don't think we should throw the baby out with the bath water. There are some good features of the present system that I think we should retain.

See also: bath, throw, water

---

like taking candy from a baby

extremely easy. Selling my mother something I made is like taking candy from a baby — she can't say no.

See also: candy, from, like, taking

throw out the baby with the bath water

to lose the good parts when you get rid of the bad parts of something. You can't close the airport because one airline has problems — that's just throwing out the baby with the bath water.

See also: bath, throw, water