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

baby blue-eyes • blue-eyed babies
baby blue-eyes —a delicate California herb (Nemophila men-
ziesii) having blue flowers with dark spots: Baby Blue Eyes.
This beautiful porcelain blue flower is as delicate as its name.
blue-eyed babies —the plants Houstonia patens and Houstonia
caerulea: The names for the starry Houstonia are so charming
one scarcely knows which to choose. Blue-eyed Babies, Quaker
Ladies, Angel Eyes…
Note: 
The expression does not correlate in meaning with the
phrase blue-eyed boys—people singled out for special favors by
smb. in authority: During this difficult period, farmers were
“blue-eyed boys.”
baby-minder • babysitter
baby-minder —a woman who takes small children into her
own home and looks after them while their parents are at
work: The art of conversation cannot be acquired when eating
a solitary television supper with the baby-minder.
babysitter —a woman who goes to smb. else’s home to look
after small children while their parents are at work: Can’t you
find a babysitter and come over for dinner.
back bench, the • back seat
back bench, the —
1
. (UK Parliament) members who do not
– 27 –
back bench, the

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hold office: Those who sit on the back benches are members
of the governing party who are not ministers. These members
are known collectively as the back bench. 2. (U.S. Congress)
new members of Congress considered as a group: Reform often
comes from the back bench in Congress. Junior members have
the least to lose and the shortest (and usually cleanest) records.
back seat—(in the phrase “take a back seat”) a subordinate or
less important position: Serious writing took hold of my life
when I was in my teens, but with a long work schedule it took
a back seat.