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

clothes man • old-clothes man
clothes man —a dealer in cast-off or second-hand clothes: I
bought from the clothes-man a suit of the most gentlemanly
garments he possessed.
Note: 
The expression does not correlate in meaning with the
phrase man of the cloth— a priest: It’s nice to see a man of the
cloth actually using and believing in science. Cf.: clothier — a
retail seller of cloth: My father was a clothier. He sold cloth to
the tailors or to men who would then go to a tailor.
old-clothes man — = clothes man: This mantle he had just
purchased of the old-clothes man … to protect himself from
the cold of the March.
clown around • make a clown of oneself
clown around —do silly things in order to make people
laugh: The boys were clowning around when the teacher came
in.
make a clown of oneself —do smth. silly which makes one
appear foolish: This meeting led Rothermere to make a clown
of himself and also of his newspaper.
cock-eye Bob • cockeye pilot
cock-eye Bob—(Austral. sl.) a cyclone which occurs on the
coast of Western Australia during the summer: Almost daily
the sky blackened as cock-eye Bobs shrieked upon them, to
lash them in sheets of rain.
cockeye pilot— a brightly colored fish (Eupomacentrus leu-
costictus) found in Florida and the West Indies: The “cockeye
pilot,” or jaqueta … green with black bands, swarms in the
West Indies.
coffee break • coffee hour
coffee break —a short time out from work in which to rest
and drink coffee: Take a coffee break: Coffee is a must for
most college students studying into the night.
coffee hour —a time to socialize and have refreshments: A
weekly coffee hour provides a chance for international students
to socialize with American students, staff and faculty.