slightly


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age before beauty

A humorous way to tell someone to go ahead of one, meant as a playful insult. Chuck held the door open for Tim, motioned for him to go ahead, and said, "Age before beauty." A: "Who gets to go first?" B: "You? Age before beauty?" B: "Ha ha, very funny." After you, my dear sister. Age before beauty
See also: age, beauty, before

rattled

1. Shocked, bewildered, flustered, or unnerved. The whole incident left me feeling pretty rattled. I know that Tom was rattled for a while after the accident.
2. slang Intoxicated from alcohol. She looked a little rattled when she was leaving, but she wasn't falling over herself or anything. I'll come out with you for a pint or two, but I don't want to get too rattled.
See also: rattle
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

age before beauty

a jocular and slightly rude way of encouraging someone to go ahead of oneself; a comical, teasing, and slightly grudging way of indicating that someone else should or can go first. "No, no. Please, you take the next available seat," smiled Tom. "Age before beauty, you know."
See also: age, beauty, before

slightly rattled

 
1. Inf. upset; confused. Tom was slightly rattled by the policeman at the door. I'm slightly rattled. I'll get over it.
2. Inf. tipsy; intoxicated. He's only slightly rattled. He'll recover by morning. she can be really drunk and still seem only slightly rattled.
See also: rattle, slightly
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

rattled

1. mod. confused; bewildered. He tends to get a little rattled at minor things.
2. mod. tipsy; alcohol intoxicated. After an hour of drinking, Bill was more than a little rattled.
See also: rattle

slightly rattled

1. mod. upset; confused. (see also rattled.) Tom was slightly rattled by the trouble at the door.
2. mod. tipsy; alcohol intoxicated. She can be stone blind and still seem only slightly rattled.
See also: rattle, slightly
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

age before beauty

Defer to the older person. This phrase is traditionally used when inviting another individual to pass through a doorway before one. Eric Partridge described it as a mock courtesy uttered by a young woman to an older man. Currently it is used only ironically or sarcastically. According to an old story, it was said rather snidely by Clare Boothe Luce when ushering Dorothy Parker through a doorway, and Parker replied, “Pearls before swine.” A related cliché is after you, Alphonse—no, after you, Gaston, repeated a number of times (in Britain, after you, Claude—no, after you, Cecil). The American version is based on a comic strip by Frederick Burr Opper, Alphonse and Gaston, which was popular in the early 1900s, and pokes fun at exaggerated politeness.
See also: age, beauty, before
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer
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References in classic literature ?
They knew each other so slightly that the beginning of intimacy, which Katharine seemed to initiate by talking about herself, had something solemn in it, and they were silent, as if to decide whether to proceed or not.
When Katharine remained silent Mary was slightly embarrassed.
But she submitted so far as to stand perfectly still, her eyes upon the opposite wall, and her lips very nearly closed, though the desire to laugh stirred them slightly.
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But as yet they will hardly have a distinct name, and from being only slightly valued, their history will be disregarded.
As soon, however, as gardeners picked out individual plants with slightly larger, earlier, or better fruit, and raised seedlings from them, and again picked out the best seedlings and bred from them, then, there appeared (aided by some crossing with distinct species) those many admirable varieties of the strawberry which have been raised during the last thirty or forty years.
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"I thought only we women were permitted that!" Indeed, she could not help noticing that there was really a strong feminine suggestion in the shifting color and slightly conscious eyelids of the young fellow.
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Looking at Dona Rita, her head leaning on her hand, with her dark lashes lowered on the slightly flushed cheek, I felt no longer alone in my youth.
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Mr Verloc wriggled his shoulders slightly at this ominous symptom, and moving away from the table, stood with his back to the fireplace, his head on one side, and gnawing perplexedly at the tips of his fingers.
She remained thus mysteriously still and suddenly collected till Mr Verloc was heard with an accent of marital authority, and moving slightly to make room for her to sit on the edge of the sofa.
Her right hand skimmed slightly the end of the table, and when she had passed on towards the sofa the carving knife had vanished without the slightest sound from the side of the dish.
Mr Verloc, the Secret Agent, turning slightly on his side with the force of the blow, expired without stirring a limb, in the muttered sound of the word "Don't" by way of protest.
A round hat disclosed in the middle of the floor by the moving of the table rocked slightly on its crown in the wind of her flight.
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The continuation of the weakness of the El Nino phenomenon is being given as the main reason for the prediction that the 2019 hurricane season which begins in June to be slightly below normal activity.
CARIBBEAN-WEATHER-Region urged to brace for 'slightly below normal activity' 2019 hurricane season
At the level of major groups, the prices of raw materials slightly decreased by 0.03%, while rental of equipment increased by 0.50%.
Prices stable in construction cost index in Palestine
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