Be all and end all
the central and all-important part:
his work was the be-all and end-all of his existence.
noun (informal)
the ultimate aim or justification: to provide help for others is the be-all and end-all of this group
(often jocular) a person or thing considered to be beyond improvement
noun
the mouth, esp regarded as a speech organ the meaning shifted from ”horn, trumpet” in phrases like ”blow one’s own bazoo” and ”the silvery tinkle of his bazoo,” attested in the mid-1800s: if you would close that big bazoo
related terms
shoot off one’s mouth
[1900s+; apparently fr dutch bazuin, ”trumpet”]
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- Be all ears
the organ of hearing and equilibrium in vertebrates, in humans consisting of an external ear that gathers sound vibrations, a middle ear in which the vibrations resonate against the tympanic membrane, and a fluid-filled internal ear that maintains balance and that conducts the tympanic vibrations to the auditory nerve, which transmits them as impulses to […]
- Be along
through, on, beside, over, or parallel to the length or direction of; from one end to the other of: to walk along a highway; to run a border along a shelf. during; in the course of: somewhere along the way i lost my hat. in conformity or accordance with: i plan to revise the article […]
- Beam-ends
nautical. the ends of the transverse deck beams of a vessel. on her beam-ends, nautical. heeled so far on one side that the deck is practically vertical: the schooner was blown over on her beam-ends. on one’s / the beam-ends, slang. in desperate straits, especially financial straits. also, on the beam’s ends. historical examples if […]
- Be at square one
be at square one related terms go back to square one verb phrase to be forced to return to one’s starting point, usually after a waste of effort; make a new beginning related terms back to square one, square one [1960+; probably fr the first or starting square of a board game; an elaborate suggestion […]
- Beaver cloth
beaver1 (def 8).