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

lean on something • lean towards something
lean on something —depend on smth.; rely on smth. for sup-
port : Christianity may lean on the civil and ecclesiastical
power.
lean towards something —have a tendency to act in a partic-
ular way; tend to some quality or condition: Do some oriental
philosophies lean towards fatalism?
leap in the dark • shot in the dark
leap in the dark —a hazardous action of which one cannot
foresee the consequences: Who’d marry if he was afraid he’d
regret it later? What is life, old boy, but a leap in the dark?
shot in the dark —a wild guess or try made at random: The
suggested solution was just a shot in the dark, but it turned
out to be correct.
leave alone • leave well alone
leave alone —(also: let alone) not to mention; not counting:
We shall never get six of us in the car, leave alone bags and boxes.
leave well alone —(also: leave well enough alone) make no
change to smth. that is satisfactory (in case one makes things
worse): It’s a great deal of trouble and unnecessary expense.
Why can’t you leave well alone?
leave it to someone • leave someone to it
leave it to someone —let another person deal with a matter:
The professionals all take a greater share of responsibility if a
project is to be a success instead of leaving it to the “jack of
all trades”— the project engineer.
leave someone to it—leave a person alone to proceed with
smth. without interfering with his work: He is professional
enough to know what needs doing so I just left him to it.
leave someone a clear field • leave someone the
field
leave someone a clear field —give a person a free hand; abstain
from interference: And I’ve never written yet — that is, never
lay-by
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sent a letter away. I’ve been very good to them in leaving them
a clear field.
leave someone the field —
1
. (of an army) retreat after having
been defeated by the enemy in battle: Shortly before midnight,
the French retreated in disarray, leaving the field to the
English. 2. yield to an opponent in an argument, etc.; relin-
quish smth. to a person: Within Spain itself only pro–Nation-
alist accounts of the 
1
930s could be published, leaving the field
of serious scholarship to foreigners.