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

have a laugh at someone • have the laugh of
 someone
have a laugh at someone —find smb. amusing; ridicule a per-
son: You let them in to have a laugh at them or you let them
in because you want to listen to what they’re saying.
have the laugh of someone —turn the laugh against smb.:
“Why, he always used to laugh at you as the dunce of the fam-
ily!” “I know, and now I shall have the laugh of him, shan’t
I?”
have a lead in something • have a lead of
 something
have a lead in something— be in the first place with regard
to smth.: Russia had a lead in space and submarine technol-
ogy.
have a lead of something— be ahead of other contestants in
terms of time, space, etc.: Hobbs has a lead of just 35 votes
on Independent candidate Gleeson.
have a leg to stand on • have legs
have a leg to stand on —(of arguments, claims, etc.) be sup-
ported by facts or sound reasons (usually negat.): He said that
the government did not have a leg to stand on in regard to
that bill.
have legs —(of a book, film, etc.) have lasting popularity; be
– 163 –
have a leg to stand on

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long remembered: This latest scandal has legs — you’ll prob-
ably still be reading about it in a year’s time.
have a long arm • make a long arm
have a long arm —have a far-reaching power: The Sheriff
may have only had control of his county, but with his con-
nections, he had a long arm.
make a long arm —(coll.) reach out one’s arm after smth.: I
got up and made a long arm for the telephone.
have a mind of one’s own • know one’s own mind
have a mind of one’s own —have an independent opinion:
The real offence, as she ultimately perceived, was her having
a mind of her own at all. Her mind was to be his — attached
to his own like a small garden-plot…
know one’s own mind —know what one prefers or wants:
Babette seemed to be one of those poor creatures that always
hang on the words of someone else, not knowing her own
mind, being fearful of failure.