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

smile at someone • smile on someone
smile at someone —(also: smile to someone) look at a person
with a smile on one’s face (expressing pleasure or amusement):
The waiter brought her a drink. “Just what the doctor or -
dered,” she said, smiling at him.
smile on someone —
1
. (of fate, luck, etc.) be favorable to a
person: Good fortune indeed had smiled on the child as she
could easily have been placed on one of the other three chain
gangs. 2. = smile at someone: The doctor smiled on the child,
and, chucking him under the chin, told him he must hate
nobody…
smile at something • smile something
smile at something —
1
. experience amusement with regard
to smth. and show it by a smile: Nicholas could not refrain
from smiling at the abruptness of the question. 2. experience
the feeling of amusement or derision with regard to smth.
without showing it: I secretly smiled at this last prophecy as
a “bad shot.”
smile something —express one’s feelings by a smile: He smiled
his delight and then he and his father walked off, hand in
hand.
smoked bacon • smoky bacon
smoked bacon —bacon treated by smoking : This Smoke
House specializes in smoked meat and cheese items including
smoked sausage, turkey, smoked bacon…
smoky bacon —(in recipes, etc.) used with reference to a par-
ticular tasty flavor of the bacon: In this dinner recipe, chicken
fillets are cooked with smoky bacon and lima beans.
snake juice • snake oil
snake juice —(Austral. sl.) any strong alcoholic drink: We
were warmly greeted by the owner who immediately poured
us a shot of snake juice.
snake oil —
1
. a worthless product fraudulently peddled as a
cure, etc. (from the 
1
9th-century American practice of selling
cure-all elixirs): There are people out there selling good weight
loss products, but there are also scoundrels selling nothing but
snake oil. 2. speech or writing intended to deceive: Why are
these three Senators hustling this snake oil rather than the
only proven and workable reform?