CSS Solved Past Papers of Idiom's of English Paper 1991 to 1995,

CSS Solved Past Papers of Idiom's of English Paper 1991 to 1995,
CSS Solved Past Fiver Year Papers,
CSS Five Year Past Papers Solved,
CSS Solved English Past Papers.
CSS Solved Five Year English Papers.

__________________________
1991
6. Make sentences for any five of the following to illustrate
their meaning: 10
i) Damocles' sword
Impending disaster
The likelihood of lay-offs has been a sword of Damocles
over the department for months.
This expression alludes to the legend of Damocles, a servile
courtier to King Dionysius I of Syracuse. The king, weary of
Damocles' obsequious flattery, invited him to a banquet and
seated him under a sword hung by a single hair, so as to
point out to him the precariousness of his position.
The idiom was first recorded in 1747. The same story gave
rise to the expression hang by a thread.
ii) Every inch
Completely, wholly
He was every inch a leader. I had to argue this case every
inch of the way.
iii) Spade a spade
Speak frankly and bluntly, be explicit
You can always trust Mary to call a spade a spade.
This term comes from a Greek saying, call a bowl a bowl,
that was mistranslated into Latin by Erasmus and came into
English in the 1500s.
iv) On the sky
v) Palm off
Pass off by deception, substitute with intent to deceive
The salesman tried to palm off a zircon as a diamond. The
producer tried to palm her off as a star from the
Metropolitan Opera.
This expression alludes to concealing something in the
palm of one's hand. It replaced the earlier palm on in the
early 1800s.
vi) Lip service
When people pay lip service to something, they express their
respect, but they don't act on their words, so the respect is
hollow and empty.
vii) A turn coat
One who goes to work / fight / play for the opposing side,
traitor
viii) A wild goose chase
A futile search or pursuit
I think she sent us on a wild goose chase looking for their
beach house.
This idiom originally referred to a form of 16th-century
horse racing requiring riders to follow a leader in a
particular formation (presumably resembling a flock of
geese in flight). Its figurative use dates from about 1600.
__________________________
1992
4. Frame sentences to illustrate the meaning of any five of
the following:
i) Between the devil and the deep sea
If you are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea,
you are in a dilemma; a difficult choice
ii) A wild goose chase
A worthless hunt or chase; a futile pursuit
iii) Over head and ears
iv) Time and tide
One must not procrastinate or delay
Let's get on with the voting; time and tide won't wait, you
know.
This proverbial phrase, alluding to the fact that human
events or concerns cannot stop the passage of time or the
movement of the tides, first appeared about 1395 in
Chaucer's Prologue to the Clerk's Tale.
The alliterative beginning, time and tide, was repeated in
various contexts over the years but today survives only in
the proverb, which is often shortened (as above).
v) To live from hand to mouth
With only the bare essentials, existing precariously
After she lost her job she was living from hand to mouth.
This expression alludes to eating immediately whatever is at
hand. [c. 1500]
vi) To beat about the bush
If someone doesn't say clearly what they mean and try to
make it hard to understand, they are beating about (around)
the bush.
vii) To fish in troubled waters
Try to take advantage of a confused situation
He often buys up stock in companies declaring bankruptcy;
fishing in troubled waters generally pays off.
This term, first recorded in 1568, expresses the even older
notion that fish bite more readily when seas are rough.
viii) A bird's eye-view
If you have a bird's eye view of something, you can see it
perfectly clearly.
__________________________
1993
Use any five of the following in your sentences to bring out
their exact meanings: 10
a) Play truant
To stay away from school without permission
b) Play down
Make little of, minimize the importance of
A skillful salesman plays down the drawbacks of the
product and emphasizes its good features. [First half of
1900s]
Play down to
Lower one's standards to meet the demands of someone
Some stand-up comics deliberately play down to the vulgar
taste of their audiences. [Late 1800s]
c) Turn turtle
Capsize, turn upside down
When they collided, the car turned turtle.
This expression alludes to the helplessness of a turtle
turned on its back, where its shell can no longer protect it.
[First half of 1800s]
d) Turn the corner
Pass a milestone or critical point, begin to recover.
Experts say the economy has turned the corner and is in
the midst of an upturn. The doctor believes he's turned the
corner and is on the mend.
This expression alludes to passing around the corner in a
race, particularly the last corner. [First half of 1800s]
e) A fair weather friend
A fair-weather friend is the type who is always there when
times are good but forgets about you when things get
difficult or problems crop up.
f) Under a cloud
If someone is suspected of having done something wrong,
they are under a cloud.
g) Burn one’s boats / burn one's boats
Commit oneself to an irreversible course.
Denouncing one's boss in a written resignation means one
has burned one's bridges.
Turning down one job before you have another amounts to
burning your boats.
Both versions of this idiom allude to ancient military tactics,
when troops would cross a body of water and then burn the
bridge or boats they had used both to prevent retreat and
to foil a pursuing enemy. [Late 1800s
h) Horse-trading
Negotiation marked by hard bargaining and shrewd
exchange
The restaurant owner is famous for his horse trading; he's
just exchanged a month of free dinners for a month of free
television commercials.
This expression alludes to the notorious shrewdness of
horse traders, who literally bought and sold horses. [c.
1820]
__________________________
1994
Frame sentences to illustrate the meaning of any five of the
following: 15
(i) Between Scylla and Charybidis
In a position where avoidance of one danger exposes one to
another danger.
(ii) Hobson’s choice
An apparently free choice that actually offers no alternative
My dad said if I wanted the car I could have it tonight or not
at all—that's Hobson's choice.
This expression alludes to Thomas Hobson of Cambridge,
England, who rented horses and allowed each customer to
take only the horse nearest the stable door. [Mid-1600s]
(iii) Sting in the tail
(iv) With open arms Enthusiastically, warmly
They received their new daughter-in-law with open arms.
This term alludes to an embrace. [Mid-1600s]
(v) Wash one's hand of (To)
Refuse to accept responsibility for; abandon or renounce
I've done all I can for him, and now I'm washing my hands
of him.
This expression alludes to Pontius Pilate's washing his
hands before having Jesus put to death, saying "I am
innocent of the blood of this just person" (Matthew 27:24).
(vi) Count one's chickens (To)
Make plans based on events that may or may not happen
You might not win the prize and you've already spent the
money? Don't count your chickens before they hatch! I
know you have big plans for your consulting business, but
don't count your chickens.
This expression comes from Aesop's fable about a milkmaid
carrying a full pail on her head. She daydreams about
buying chickens with the milk's proceeds and becoming so
rich from selling eggs that she will toss her head at suitors;
she then tosses her head and spills the milk.
Widely translated from the original Greek, the story was the
source of a proverb and was used figuratively by the 16th
century. Today it is still so well known that it often appears
shortened and usually in negative cautionary form (don't
count your chickens).
(vii) Burn midnight oil (To)
Stay up late working or studying
The semester is almost over and we're all burning the
midnight oil before exams.
This expression alludes to the oil in oil lamps. [Early 1600s]