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

handcuff 
(golden handcuffs)
handle 
(fly off the handle; get a handle
on something; go off the handle)
hang 
(be left hanging; fit to be hung;
leave someone hanging; let it all
hang out; let it go hang)
happen 
(accidents can happen; acci-
dents will happen)
hard 
(be hard up for something; drink
hard; play hard to get; work hard)
hardball 
(play hardball)
hare 
(mad as a march hare; run with
the hare and hunt with the hounds)
haste 
(in haste; in one’s haste)
hat 
(all hat and no cattle; black hat;
brass hat; hang one’s hat; hang up
one’s hat; have something under
one’s hat; keep something under
one’s hat; pick something out of a
hat; pull something out of a hat; red
hat; tin hat; wear two hats; white
hat)
have 
(be had; be had up; let’s be hav-
Key Word Index
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384 –

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ing you; one will have it; one won’t
have it; thanks for having me)
hawk 
(between hawk and buzzard)
hay
(between hay and grass; make hay
of something; make hay while the
sun shines)
hazard 
(at hazard; on the hazard)
head 
(be in over one’s head; be over
someone’s head; be soft in the head;
be weak in the head; bed head; beef
head; bring something to a head;
come into someone’s head; come to a
head; dead head; death’s head; do
something standing on one’s head;
eat one’s head off; eat someone’s
head off; from head to foot; get it
into one’s head; get it through one’s
head; get one’s head around some-
thing; get one’s head together; give
someone a head; give someone a
head start; give someone his head; go
head to head; go over someone’s
head; go to someone’s head; hang
over someone’s head; have a good
head; have a hard head; have a head;
have a head for something; have a
head on one’s shoulders; have a
strong head; have a swelled head;
have a thick head; have one’s head
screwed on backwards; head to head;
hide one’s head; hide one’s head in
the sand; hold one’s head down; hold
one’s head up; hold something over
someone’s head; in one’s head; keep
one’s head; keep one’s head above
water; keep one’s head down; keep
one’s head up; keep something in
one’s head; king charles’s head;
knock heads together; knock some-
one on the head; knock someone’s
head off; long head; lose one’s head;
negro head; nigger head; off one’s
head; off the top of one’s head; out
of one’s head; out of one’s own head;
put heads together; put one’s head
down; run head to head; short head;
shouting head; sleepy head; stand on
one’s head doing something; swell-
head; take it into one’s head; talking
head; thick-head; turn heads; turn
someone’s head; turn something on
its head; water-head; wind in the
head; windmills in the head; wrong
in the head)
heart 
(at the heart of something; eat
one’s heart out; eat your heart out;
give heart to someone; give one’s
heart to someone; have a heart; have
no heart for something; in the heart
of something; know by heart; know
in one’s heart; lose heart; lose one’s
heart; not have the heart; one’s heart
is cold; purple heart; purple hearts;
put one’s heart into something; set
one’s heart on something; take heart
at something; take something to
heart; warm someone’s heart)
heat 
(at a heat; dead heat; deadly heat;
have a heat on; in a dead heat; in
heat; in the heat of the moment; put
the heat on someone; take the heat
for something; take the heat off
something; turn the heat on some-
one)