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

bad quarter of an hour • good quarter of an hour
bad quarter of an hour —a brief but disagreeable and un-
nerving period: He had a very bad quarter of an hour. I never
knew a man have such hard luck at cards.
good quarter of an hour —not less than a quarter of an hour:
He spoke for a good quarter of an hour, walking me through
the history of mankind.
bad time • bad times
bad time —
1
. wrong or unsuitable time: This would be a
very bad time to pull our exhaustion on our readers. 2. time
when life is difficult: Julia went through a pretty bad time
after the accident — seeing psychiatrists and what have you.
bad times —a period of poverty or economic depression: En-
gland will not long endure the rulers which these bad times
have assigned her.
bag of wind • windbag
bag of wind —(coll.) a talkative, usually pompous person
who has little to say: She’s nothing but a big bag of wind.
windbag —
1
. a bag of air as of a bagpipe: The anatomical
structure of the sonorous organs of these Cicadae did not ex-
actly resemble the wind-bag. 2. = bag of wind: He is at best a
noisy, pompous wind-bag and braggart. 3. a kind of fish which
inflate their bodies when stimulated by fear, etc.: When it
[blowfish] is hooked it inflates itself to many times its normal
size. Among its aliases are balloon-fish, puff ball and wind-
bag.
ball is in someone’s court, the • have the ball at
one’s feet
ball is in someone’s court, the— is used to say that another
person must make the next move: Addison tells him that the
ball is in his court. All he has to do is sign the divorce papers
and she will too.
have the ball at one’s feet—be in a strategically advantageous
position: The working class militants have the ball at their
feet, as never before.