salt

back to the salt mines

Cliché time to return to work, school, or something else that might be unpleasant. (The phrase implies that the speaker is a slave who works in the salt mines.) It's one o'clock and lunch break is over. Back to the salt mines. School starts in the fall, so then it's back to the salt mines again.

See also: back, mine

eat someone's salt

Rur. to be someone's guest. The least you can do when you're eating someone's salt is to help them out around the house. That good-for-nothing Jim was flirting with Bill's wife at the same time he was eating Bill's salt.

See also: eat

go (right) through someone and go through someone like a dose of the salts

Fig. [for something] to be excreted very soon after being eaten; [for something] to go immediately through the alimentary canal of a person. (Use with discretion.) No, thanks. This stuff just goes right through me. The coffee went through me like a dose of salts.

See also: through

go back to the salt mines

Fig. to return to one's work. (Jocular; fig. on the image of menial labor working in salt mines.) It's late. I have to go back to the salt mines. What time do you have to go back to the salt mines Monday morning?

See also: back, mine

go through

to be approved; to succeed in getting through the approval process. I sent the board of directors a proposal. I hope it goes through. We all hope that the new law goes through.

See also: through

go through someone or something

[for something sharp] to penetrate someone or something. The sword went through the knight cleanly and quickly. The nail went through all three boards.

See also: through

go through someone 

1. Lit. to travel through someone's body; to go (right) through someone. That medicine went right through me.

2. Fig. to work through someone; to use someone as an intermediary. I can't give you the permission you seek. You will have to go through our main office. I have to go through the treasurer for all expenditures.

See also: through

go through something 

1. to search through something. She went through his pants pockets, looking for his wallet. He spent quite a while going through his desk, looking for the papers.

2. to use up all of something rapidly. We have gone through all the aspirin again! How can you go throughyour allowance so fast?

3. [for something] to pass through an opening. The piano wouldn't go through the door. Do you think that such a big truck can go through the tunnel under the river?

4. to pass through various stages or processes. The pickles went through a number of processes before they were packed. Johnny is going through a phase where he wants everything his way.

5. to work through something, such as an explanation or story. I went through my story again, carefully and in great detail. I would like to go through it again, so I can be sure to understand it.

6. to experience or endure something. You can't believe what I've gone through. Mary has gone through a lot lately.

7. to rehearse something; to practice something for performance. They went through the second act a number of times. We need to go through the whole play a few more times.

See also: through

have something hung up and salted

Rur. to know everything about something. (Often used ironically, as in the second example.) The historian sure had Louisiana history hung up and salted. Jim's sixteen years old, and he thinks he has the opposite sex hung up and salted.

See also: and, have, hung, up

rub salt in a wound

Fig. to deliberately make someone's unhappiness, shame, or misfortune worse. Don't rub salt in the wound by telling me how enjoyable the party was. Bill is feeling miserable about losing his job and Bob is rubbing salt into the wound by saying how good his replacement is.

See also: rub, wound

salt something away 

1. Lit. to store and preserve a foodstuff by salting it. The farmer's wife salted a lot of fish and hams away for the winter. She salted away a lot of food.

2. Fig. to store something; to place something in reserve. I need to salt some money away for my retirement. I will salt away some money for emergencies.

See also: away

salt something down

to place salt on something, such as icy roads. I won't go out until midmorning, after they have salted the roads down. I hope they salt down the roads soon.

salt something with something 

1. Lit. to put a variety of salt or a salt substitute onto some food. Oscar salts his food with a salt substitute. Did you salt your meat with salt or something else?

2. Fig. to put something into something as a lure. (Refers to putting a bit of gold dust into a mine in order to deceive someone into buying the mine.) The land agent salted the bank of the stream with a little gold dust hoping for a land rush to start. Someone salted the mine to fool the prospectors.

salt of the earth

Fig. the most worthy of people; a very good or worthy person. (A biblical reference, Matthew 5:13.) Mrs. Jones is the salt of the earth. She is the first to help anyone in trouble. Frank's mother is the salt of the earth. She has five children of her own and yet fosters three others.

See also: earth

take something with a pinch of salt and take something with a grain of slt

Fig. to listen to a story or an explanation with considerable doubt. You must take anything she says with a grain of salt. She doesn't always tell the truth. They took my explanation with a pinch of salt. I was sure they didn't believe me.

See also: pinch, take

worth one's salt

Fig. worth (in productivity) what it costs to keep or support one. We decided that you are worth your salt, and you can stay on as office clerk. You're not worth your salt. Pack up!

See also: worth

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any [judge/lawyer/teacher etc.] worth their salt

any judge, lawyer, teacher etc. who is good at their job Any lawyer worth his salt should be aware of the latest changes in taxation. No judge worth her salt would attempt to influence the jury.

See also: any, worth

be the salt of the earth

if someone is the salt of the earth, they are a very good and honest person His mother's the salt of the earth. She'd give you her last penny.

See also: earth

go through somebody/something like a dose of salts  (old-fashioned)

if something you eat goes through your body like a dose of salts, it goes through you very quickly Those beans went through me like a dose of salts.

See give a dose of own medicine

See also: dose, like, through

rub salt in/into the wound

to make a difficult situation even worse for someone Losing was bad enough, having to watch them receiving the trophy just rubbed salt into the wound.

See also: rub, wound

take something with a pinch of salt  (British & Australian) also take something with a grain of salt (American & Australian)

if you take what someone says with a pinch of salt, you do not completely believe it You have to take everything she says with a pinch of salt. She has a tendency to exaggerate. It's interesting to read the reports in the newspapers, but I tend to take them with a grain of salt.

See rub salt in the wound

See also: pinch, take

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go through

to be officially accepted or approved We're hoping that the proposal for the new mall won't go through.

See also: through

rub salt into somebody's wounds

to make someone feel even worse about something rub it in It's too bad Charlie couldn't come, but let's not tell him they let us in for free - there's no point rubbing salt into his wounds.

See also: rub, wound

salt away something also salt something away

to save something, esp. money, for use at a later time It's not easy paying a mortgage, raising a young child, and salting away enough money for your retirement.

See also: away

take something with a grain of salt

to consider something to be not completely true or right I've read the article, which I take with a grain of salt.

Related vocabulary: hard to swallow

Etymology: based on the idea that food tastes better and is easier to swallow if you add a little salt

See also: grain, take

the salt of the earth

the best people Farmers were described as the best, the salt of the earth, particularly when their products were needed to feed the army.

Etymology: based on the high value salt had in the past, and used in the Bible

See also: earth

worth your/its salt

someone or something that deserves respect Virtually any wine shop worth its salt carries at least a few wines from New Zealand. Any judge worth his salt would immediately report an attempt to influence the jury.

See also: worth