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

crazy as a loon • crazy like a fox
crazy as a loon —(coll.) very silly; insane: If you think you
can get away with that, you’re as crazy as a loon.
crazy like a fox —(coll.) very sly, cunning, or shrewd: Don’t
let him fool you. He’s crazy like a fox.
credit someone for something • credit someone
with something
credit someone for something —
1
. appreciate a person for some
good quality: Even if you don’t agree with the member’s opin-
ion, you must credit him for his loyalty. 2. pay tribute to a
person responsible for an achievement: Thompson credited
him [Sullivan] for developing an essentially new theory in psy-
chiatry.
credit someone with something —
1
. regard a person as having
some usually good quality: Both parties credited him with
too much idealism and too little plain horse-sense. 2. ascribe
an achievement to a person: Families credited Dean with sav-
ing their family farms and livestock from illegal pollution.
cross a check • cross-check
cross a check —draw lines across a check so that it can only
be paid into a bank account: I didn’t cross the check as I un-
derstand that nowadays a check can only be cashed by the
person who is written on the check.
cross-check —test if a calculation, process, etc. is accurate by
doing it a different way: We also cross-checked the results
gained with these measures by using secondary sources of in-
formation.
cross over Jordan • cross the Rubicon
cross over Jordan —(also: cross over to the other side) die; pass
away: Following a stroke which left her comatose, she crossed
over Jordan on February 3, 
1
972, and is buried at Laurel Land
Cemetery.
cross the Rubicon —take an irrevocable step; make a fateful
and final decision: Now is the time for Koizumi to cross the
Rubicon and take decisive action to implement the radical
structural reforms.