pick

calling down

calling down also dressing down {n. phr.}, {informal}

A scolding; reprimand.

The judge gave the boy a calling down for speeding.

Categories:

Source: A Dictionary of American Idioms

'calling down' on video

Subscribe to: American Idioms

English Slang

✉

Get site updates @:

See as well

answer one's calling

[answer one's calling] {v. phr.} To fulfill one's destiny in terms of work or profession by doing what one has a talent for. * /Don answered his calling when he […] A Dictionary of American Idioms

name calling

[name calling] See: [CALL NAMES]. A Dictionary of American Idioms

dressing down

[dressing down] {n.}, {informal} A scolding. * /The sergeant gave the soldier a good dressing down because his shoes were not shined./ A Dictionary of American Idioms

pot call the kettle black

[pot call the kettle black] {informal} The person who is criticizing someone else is as guilty as the person he accuses; the charge is as true of the person who […] A Dictionary of American Idioms

Slang is

"very informal usage in vocabulary and idiom that is characteristically more metaphorical, playful, elliptical, vivid and ephemeral than ordinary language" (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) - learn ~600 slang expressions

An idiom is

an expression "whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements… or from the general grammatical rules of a language"

Recent updates:

Condorcet

"Enjoy your life without comparing it to that of others."

cheapskate

[cheapskate] {n.}, {informal} A selfish or stingy person; a person who will not spend much. - An insulting term. * /None of […]

pipe dream

[pipe dream] {n.}, {informal} An unrealizable, financially unsound, wishful way of thinking; an unrealistic plan. * /Joe […]

boil down

[boil down] {v.} 1. To boil away some of the water from; make less by boiling. * /She boiled down the maple sap to a thick […]

child's play

[child's play] {adj.} Easy; requiring no effort. * /Mary's work as a volunteer social worker is so agreeable to her that she […]

Mark Twain

(1835-1910) Martyrdom covers a multitude of sins.