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

wear away • wear off
wear away —
1
. be reduced through constant pressure, fric-
tion, etc.: With the passing of the years, the finer detail of the
carvings has almost worn away. 2. (of a person) become pro-
gressively weaker: After the operation, she just seemed to wear
away until she died. 3. (of time) pass slowly: As the afternoon
wore away, I found it more and more difficult to stay awake.
wear off —
1
. = wear away 
1
: Don’t polish those badges: the
gilt will wear off in time if you do. 2. (of a feeling or effect)
disappear gradually; no longer affect one: The drink inside
them had worn off, leaving only a sour feeling in the stom-
ach.
weather house • weather station
weather house —a model house that indicates changes in
humidity by the appearance of two human figures coming out
to foretell good and bad weather: Heisenberg compared this
to the little man and woman in a weather house, an old folk
art device.
weather station —a station for recording and reporting mete-
orological observations: The progress of European meteorol-
ogy is due to the introduction of micrometeorology, or
detailed observations from an ever-increasing number of
weather stations.
weigh someone down • weigh someone up
weigh someone down —(also: weight someone down) 
1
. press
on a person with a heavy weight: Get this bundle off my back;
it’s really weighing me down. 2. make smb. very sad; depress
a person: When an American girl does that, you can guess
there’s something “mighty hefty” weighing her down.
weigh someone up —(coll.) form an opinion about a person:
“I knew too much about her,” she said. “I had weighed her
up.”
welcome home • welcome to our house
welcome home —celebration or expressions of greeting at
smb.’s homecoming: Nearly bursting with pride these ladies
gave the servicemen a welcome home that they deserved.
welcome to our house —a name for the plant Cypress Spurge
(Euphorbia Cyparissias): Another species found in the Smokey
Mountains is often called Graveyard weed and Welcome-to-
our-house.