A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

symbol for something • symbol of something
symbol for something —a sign or letter used in place of an
item in writing: CS is an Army chemical symbol for an agent
that causes burning and watering of the eyes.
symbol of something —an object used to represent smth. not
by exact resemblance, but because it is very typical of the lat-
ter: Picasso painted a red circle as a symbol of the Revolution.
T
table a motion (UK) • table a motion (U.S.)
table a motion (UK)—place a proposal on the agenda: At
last night’s meeting the Board of Trustees voted to table a
motion to approve our contract extension.
table a motion (U.S.)—remove a proposal from considera-
tion; suspend debate until another time: When we had only
five minutes left before we had to adjourn, Matt moved to
table the motion.
take a bath • take an early bath
take a bath —(coll.) have large financial losses on an invest-
ment, etc.: The broker warned me that I might take a bath if
I bought this stuff.
take an early bath —
1
. (be forced to) stop doing smth. before
one had a chance to finish: He was all set to take an early bath
from his marriage to have an affair with Suzannah Dwyer. 2.
(of a sportsman) be ordered to leave the field before the end of
play for breaking the rules: Paulo Wanchope was the other
player to take an early bath, also for serious foul play.
take a beating • take some beating
take a beating —
1
. (of one’s pride, reputation, etc.) suffer
badly: My confidence and courage took a beating when I got
calls threatening dire consequences. 2. (Sport) be defeated:
This was the second time the Dutch team took a beating from
Spain at this championship. 3. lose a lot of money: Not sur-
prisingly, the company took a beating in the market, with its
stock price tumbling nearly 25 percent.