[blow up in one’s face]{v. phr.}, {informal} To fail completely and with unexpected force. •/The thief’s plan to rob the bank blew up in his face when a policeman stopped him./

[blue] See: BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA, BOLT FROM THE BLUE, ONCE IN A BLUE MOON, OUT OF THE BLUE or OUT OF A CLEAR BLUE SKY.

[blue around the gills] See: GREEN AROUND THE GILLS.

[blue collar worker]{n. phr.} A manual laborer who is probably a labor union member. •/Because Jack’s father is a blue collar worker, Jack was so anxious to become an intellectual./ Contrast: WHITE COLLAR WORKER.

[blue in the face]{adj. phr.}, {informal} Very angry or upset; excited and very emotional. •/Tom argued with Bill until he was blue in the face./ •/Mary scolded Jane until she was blue in the face, but Jane kept on using Mary’s paints./

[blue Monday]{n.} A Monday when you have to work after a happy weekend. •/It was blue Monday and John nodded sleepily over his books./ •/Housewives sometimes wish they could sleep through blue Monday./

[blue-pencil]{v.} To edit. •/The editor blue-penciled John’s manuscript./

[bluff] See: CALL ONE’S BLUFF.

[blurt out]{v. phr.} To suddenly say something even if one was not planning to do so, or if it was not expected of them. •/"My brother Bob is in jail," Tony blurted out, before anybody could stop him./

[blush] See: AT FIRST BLUSH.

[board] See: ACROSS THE BOARD, COLLEGE BOARDS, GO BY THE BOARD or PASS BY THE BOARD, ON BOARD, SANDWICH BOARD.

[boat] See: BURN ONE’S BRIDGES also BURN ONE’S BOATS, IN THE SAME BOAT, MISS THE BOAT, ROCK THE BOAT.

[bobby-soxer]{n.} A teen-aged girl. (1940s idiom) •/My two daughters, age 13 and 14, are typical bobby-soxers./

[bob up] See: POP UP(1).

[body] See: KEEP BODY AND SOUL TOGETHER.

[body blow]{n.}, {informal} A great disappointment; a bitter failure. •/When he failed to get on the team it came as a body blow to him./

[body English]{n.}, {informal} The wishful attempt to make a ball move in the right direction after it has been hit or let go, by twisting the body in the desired direction. •/He tried to help the putt fall by using body English./

[bog down]{v. phr.} To be immobilized in mud, snow, etc.; slow down. •/Our research got bogged down for a lack of appropriate funding./ •/Don’t get bogged down in too much detail when you write an action story./

[bog down, to get bogged down]{v. phr.}, {mostly intransitive or passive} 1. To stop progressing; to slow to a halt. •/Work on the new building bogged down, because the contractor didn’t deliver the needed concrete blocks./ 2. To become entangled with a variety of obstacles making your efforts unproductive or unsatisfying. •/The novelist wrote tittle last summer because she got bogged down in housework./

[boggle the mind]{v. phr.}, {informal} To stop the rational thinking process by virtue of being too fantastic or incredible. •/It boggles the mind that John should have been inside a flying saucer!/

[boil] See: MAKE ONE’S BLOOD BOIL or MAKE THE BLOOD BOIL.

[boil down]{v.} 1. To boil away some of the water from; make less by boiling. •/She boiled down the maple sap to a thick syrup./ •/The fruit juice boiled down until it was almost not good for jelly./ 2. To reduce the length of; cut down; shorten. •/The reporter boiled the story down to half the original length./ 3. To reduce itself to; come down to; be briefly or basically. •/The whole discussion boils down to the question of whether the government should fix prices./

[boil over]{v. phr.} 1. To rise due to boiling and overflow down the sides of a pan or a pot. •/"Watch out!" Jane cried. "The milk is boiling over on the stove!"/ 2. To become enraged to the point of being unable to contain oneself. •/John took a lot of abuse from his boss, but after 25 minutes he suddenly boiled over and told him what he thought of him./

[boiling point]{n.} 1. The temperature at which a liquid boils. •/The boiling point of water is 272° Fahrenheit./ 2. The time when you become very angry. •/He has a low boiling point./ •/After being teased for a long time, John reached the boiling point./ •/When John made the same mistake for the fourth time, his teacher reached the boiling point.__/ Compare: BLOW UP(1b), MAKE ONE’S BLOOD BOIL.

[bolt from the blue]{n. phr.} Something sudden and unexpected; an event that you did not see coming; a great and usually unpleasant surprise; shock. •/We had been sure she was in Chicago, so her sudden appearance was a bolt from the blue./ •/His decision to resign was a bolt from the blue./ Compare: OUT OF THE BLUE.

[bombshell] See: EXPLODE A BOMBSHELL.

[bond] See: SAVINGS BOND.

[bone] See: BRED IN THE BONE, FEEL IN ONE’S BONES or KNOW IN ONE’S BONES, FUNNY BONE, MAKE NO BONES, SKIN AND BONES, T-BONE STEAK, WORK ONE’S FINGERS TO THE BONE.

[bonehead]{n.}, {slang} An unusually dense or stupid person. •/John is such a bonehead — small wonder he flunks all of his courses./

[bone of contention]{n. phr.} Something to fight over; a reason for quarrels; the subject of a fight. •/The boundary line between the farms was a bone of contention between the two farmers./ •/The use of the car was a bone of contention between Joe and his wife./

[bone to pick] or [crow to pick] {n. phr.}, {informal} A reason for dispute; something to complain of or argue about. — Often used jokingly. •/"I have a bone to pick with you," he said./ •/There was always a crow to pick about which one would shave first in the morning./ Compare: BONE OF CONTENTION.

[bone up]{v.}, {informal} To fill with information; try to learn a lot about something in a short time; study quickly. •/Carl was boning up for an examination./ •/Jim had to make a class report the next day on juvenile delinquency, and he was in the library boning up on how the courts handle it./

[bonnet] See: BEE IN ONE’S BONNET.

[book] See: CLOSED BOOK, CLOSE THE BOOKS, HIT THE BOOKS, KEEP BOOKS, NOSE IN A BOOK, ONE FOR THE BOOKS, READ ONE LIKE A BOOK, TALKING BOOK, THROW THE BOOK AT.

[boom] See: LOWER THE BOOM.

[boot] See: DIE IN ONE’S BOOTS, IN ONE’S SHOES also IN ONE’S BOOTS, LICK ONE’S BOOTS, SHAKE IN ONE’S SHOES or SHAKE IN ONE’S BOOTS, TO BOOT, TOO BIG FOR ONE’S BREECHES or TOO BIG FOR ONE’S BOOTS, YOU BET or YOU BET YOUR BOOTS.

[boot hill]{n.} A cemetery in the old Wild West where cowboys and cops and robbers used to be buried with their boots on. Hence, jokingly, any cemetery. •/Good old Joe, the cowboy, is resting comfortably in the nearby boot hill./

[boot out] See: KICK OUT.

[boot strap] See: PULL ONESELF UP BY THE BOOTSTRAPS.

[border on]{v. phr.} To be adjacent to; come close to; adjoin. •/Our village borders on the Mississippi River./ •/John’s actions border on irresponsibility./

[bore to death] See: TO DEATH.

[bore to tears]{v. phr.} To fill with tired dislike; tire by dullness or the same old thing bore. •/The party was dull and Roger showed plainly that he was bored to tears./ •/Mary loved cooking, but sewing bores her to tears./

[born] See: NATURAL-BORN, TO THE MANNER BORN.