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

Purple Heart • purple hearts
Purple Heart—(U.S.) a military decoration for those
wounded in action: Mason returned to Pasadena wearing a
Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.
purple hearts —(Drug users) heart-shaped stimulant tablets,
especially of amphetamine (also: pink hearts): They took more
interest in life and stopped taking purple hearts.
purple state • red state
purple state —(U.S.) a state which may vote Democratic or
Republican: New Hampshire has been called a purple state
for its mix of red (Republican) and blue (Democratic) voters
in 2000.
red state —(U.S.) a state voting Republican in a given elec-
tion, or tending to vote Republican in general: In John Ash -
croft’s home state of Missouri, Bush received 54 percent of
the vote, making it a red state.
push one’s fortune • push one’s luck
push one’s fortune —make an effort to win a good position
in the world: I am tired of this life. I want to push my fortune.
What is there here for me?
push one’s luck —(also: press one’s luck) try to make too much
of an advantage; expect continued good fortune: He could
have been satisfied with this victory. Instead, he chose to push
his luck to see just how far he could go.
push oneself • push oneself forward
push oneself— make an effort; force oneself to do smth.: I
will push myself to live my life to the fullest and improve this
world I live in.
push oneself forward —try to force people’s attention on one-
self (to make them notice one’s abilities, etc.): I do find it
painful to push myself forward to complete strangers, in per-
son, by phone or mail.
push someone’s buttons • push the panic button
push someone’s buttons —(also: press someone’s buttons) draw
a strong emotional reaction, especially anger, from a person:
He knew how to push my buttons better than anyone else but
I kept my cool.
push the panic button —(also: press the panic button) overreact
to a stressful situation: Everybody is concerned but I don’t
think anybody ought to push the panic button just yet.