Arakin 4 kurs new 001 176. indd

to drop a hint
: 
I dropped him hints on the impropriety of his conduct.
to give a person a gentle (broad) hint
: 
Martin gave Joe a gentle 
hint but it was lost upon him.
hint
vi 
to suggest, to mention casually: 
The woman hinted at her 
urgent need of money. He hinted at my impudence. He hinted that I 
ought to work harder.
Syn
. suggest, imply
7. 
rattle
vt/i 
1) (cause to) make short, sharp sounds quickly, one 
after the other: 
The windows were rattling in the strong wind. The hail 
rattled on the roof.

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14
to rattle off
(
colloq.
) to talk, to say or repeat smth quickly; to repeat 
(words) quickly and too easily from memory; to perform (an action) 
with ease and speed: 
What is the point of teaching the children to rattle 
off the names of the kings and queens of England if they know nothing 
about history?
to rattle away / on
to talk rapidly and at some length and unin-
terestingly: 
At every meeting of the women’s club Mrs. White rattles on 
for hours.
2) to annoy, cause to feel angry: 
My persistent questioning of his 
story rattled him, and he refused to answer my queries. She was rattled 
by the hypothetical eyes spying upon her.
rattled
a
annoyed: 
In the end he got rattled, or: We got him rattled.
8. 
reduce
vt/i
1) to take (smth) smaller or less; bringing smth (such 
as a price, size, or amount) down to a lower level or smaller size. 
Your 
speed must be reduced to the city speed limit as soon as you cross the 
border. Taxes should be reduced to an amount that people can afford to 
pay. The book will have to be reduced to 200 pages. The whole town was 
reduced to ashes in the bombing. 
2) to bring or get to a certain condition: 
The new teacher was quickly able to reduce the noisy class to silence. 
Hunger had reduced the poor dog to skin and bone. His opponent’s 
clever speech reduced the speaker’s argument to nonsense.