Phrases & Expressions

Following instructions or procedures exactly.

• He always flies by the numbers.
• The mission was completed by the numbers.

A quiet period before a time of great activity or trouble.

• This silence is the calm before the storm.
• Enjoy the peace; it's the calm before the storm.

To find someone doing something wrong or when they are not ready.

• The teacher tried to catch students out with a tricky question.
• He was caught out lying about his age.

To see something or someone briefly or by chance.

• I caught sight of him in the crowd.
• She caught sight of the cat near the gate.

To find someone or something by searching with effort.

• It took weeks to chase down the missing documents.
• The journalist chased down every lead.

To place blocks against a vehicle's wheels to stop it from moving, especially when parked or being worked on.

• Always chock the wheels before jacking up the car.
• Remember to chock the wheels when parking on a hill.

Away from areas of bad weather such as storms or heavy cloud.

• The flight path is clear of weather.
• We are clear of weather for the rest of the journey.

Used to tell a driver, pilot or boat to move forward.

• The marshaller signalled "come ahead" and the aircraft moved slowly forward.
• The controller told the pilot to come ahead.

A method to help you fall asleep.

• If you can't sleep, try counting sheep.
• Counting sheep didn't help me.

To move out of a place by crawling on hands and knees.

• Crawl out quickly if there is smoke.
• They had to crawl out of the building.