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

curse at someone • curse someone
curse at someone —swear at a person; cast angry words at
smb.: I don’t curse at other drivers in my infinite need to get
anywhere as quickly as possible.
curse someone —
1
. damn a person for doing smth.: She would
scream his name over and over, alternately pleading for help
and cursing him for not providing it. 2. invoke evil upon a
person: The baker and his wife have been cursed by the witch
who lives next door — they are never able to have children!
curtain raiser • raise the curtain
curtain raiser —
1
. a short play performed before a main play:
On the first night performance of “The Alcade,” she played
in a curtain- raiser “Bertram.” 2. said of any preliminary event
or activity: This match was a curtain-raiser to the Wills Open
Tournament.
raise the curtain—(also: lift the curtain) make smth. known;
expose smth.: Freedom of information helps raise the curtain
on government. You have a right to know what government
organizations are doing.
cut above someone, a • head and shoulders above
someone
cut above someone, a —(coll.) rather superior to smb.: Kitts’
residents consider themselves a cut above the rest of the
Caribbean. Cf.: a cut below someone — rather inferior to a person:
Kind and affectionate he ever was, but he couldn’t but own …
that I was a cut below him.
head and shoulders above someone —considerably much su-
perior to a person: I’ll have my own physician. He’s head and
shoulders above you in skill.
Note: 
Neither expression is equivalent in meaning to the phrase
above someone
—
1
. superior to smb. in rank or position: He will
certainly have an executive above him to whom he reports. 2.
too difficult for a person to understand or deal with successfully:
Most of the language was above me, and so I could only get
a general impression of his argument.