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

down to earth • down to the ground
down to earth —pragmatic; realistic: The committee will in-
clude some down-to-earth people who know something about
what goes on.
down to the ground —(coll.) 
1
. thoroughly; completely: He
looks as if he could be trusted down to the ground. 2. said of
smth. that is very typical of a person: He made some rude re-
marks, but then that’s Bill down to the ground.
down-turn • turn-down
down-turn —a decline, especially in economic or business
activity: The economy has already demonstrated that it can
suffer a mild downturn in manufacturing.
turn-down —
1
. the turned-down part of smth.: I showed
him the turn-down, only the turn-down, of your note. 2. said
of the action of rejecting: I look back on that period of sour
welcome and curt turn-down with feelings I cannot express.
3. (U.S.) smb. who is rejected, especially as unfit for military
service: We’ve gotten a lot of turndowns, yeah; but we’ve got-
ten guys who’re willing, too. 4. = down-turn: How far Amer-
icans could continue running up debts during an economic
turndown was not clear.
drag one’s feet • drag one’s foot
drag one’s feet—(also: drag one’s heels) delay doing smth. or
doing it very slowly: It’s quite clear that the Government have
been dragging their feet over this bill.
drag one’s foot—let one’s foot touch the ground and be pulled
along as one moves: George limped back toward the cabin,
dragging his foot along the ground.
Note: 
The expression does not correlate in meaning with the
nominal compound foot-dragging— deliberate slowness or delay:
Parliamentarians again expressed concern over foot-dragging
on legislative changes.
See also: pull foot / pull someone’s leg.