dislikes or rejects something very strongly.


exist in great numbers.

acceptance level:

that which is acceptable, which the person desires or the degree of a person’s willingness to accept something.


give (someone) an acknowledgment. See also acknowledgment.



Backfire 8:

a made-up name for a car.

battle cruiser:



a made-up name.


in surveying, the subject, phrase or concept that is real to the majority of persons in a group and which can be used to get a response and gain agreement. The term comes from the early 1900s expression “press the button” which means, in a figurative sense, “to perform an action that automatically brings about the required state of affairs.”

caves in:



a woman employed to clean a house or office.


Central Intelligence Agency, a major United States Government agency that gathers information (intelligence) about foreign governments and certain nongovernmental groups, including those that engage in terrorism or organized crime. It also attempts to secretly influence events in other countries.

circus exaggeration:



a large oval, roofless building in Rome which has a central open space surrounded by tiers of seats. It was built in the first century a.d., and was used by the ancient Romans for public entertainment, such as gladiator combat and contests between men and beasts.

communication line:

the route along which a communication travels from one person to another.


the state or condition of being courtly, showing great delicacy and refinement in behavior.


concealed, hidden or disguised; not openly practiced or shown.


fitting or proper behavior, what is in accordance with good breeding; the avoidance of anything offensive in manner.


John Dillinger (1902–1934), an infamous American bank robber, murderer and two-time prison escapee who was declared “public enemy number one” in 1933 for his role in numerous bank robberies and murders, including that of a police officer, performed by himself and members of a gang he organized.


ability or power of controlling something.


draw out, cause or produce something as a reaction or response.


the formal rules for polite behavior in society or in a particular group.


producing no effect or result; useless.

halfway home:

partway to the intended goal or accomplishment one has set out to achieve.

heroes in blue:

a reference to the police, alluding to the blue uniforms many police forces wear.




communication or exchanges between people or groups, especially conversation or social activity.

International Bank:



abbreviation for Komitet Gosudarstvennoj Bezopasnosti (Russian for “Committee for State Security”), the former Soviet Union’s secret police, espionage and security agency. Its responsibilities included covert intelligence operations, the protection of Soviet political leaders and border patrol (to keep intruders out and citizens in).


a servant of low rank.

lay open to:

expose to or leave without adequate protection from danger or harm.


the action of publishing false and malicious statements about someone.

like to have:

was on the verge of or came close to (doing something); nearly; almost.

Mickey Mouse:

characteristic of or resembling the mouse-like character created in animated cartoons by Walt Disney (1901–1966), sometimes with the idea of being childish or of having relatively little value or importance.



peril, at your:

accepting the responsibility or risks of whatever consequences may result, especially from one’s actions in disregarding or disobeying someone or something, a phrase used especially in warnings or commands.


refinement, especially of style, that is the mark of expertise or experience.


believes or assumes beforehand or in advance; expects.


a special right granted to a particular group that frees them from having to comply with certain rules or restrictions. Press privilege is the legal right of reporters and editors to refuse to name in a court of law the identities of their sources of information.


the corresponding relationship between two or more things; proportional relation. A ratio is sometimes expressed as a number or amount in relationship to another number or amount. For example, if a person spends ten hours inside and one hour outside, the ratio is 10:1 or ten to one.


a statement that contradicts another statement and proves it to be false or in error.


1. the process of improving something and making it more effective by removing what is considered imperfect while inserting better elements. 2. elegance of feeling, taste, manners, language, etc.


a set of fixed actions and sometimes words performed regularly, especially as part of a religious ceremony or social custom.


a noisy quarrel, dispute or disturbance.

salted with:

scattered or interspersed with something.


bitterly severe.



Scotch to the core:

extremely careful not to spend money wastefully. Scotch, as used here, means thrifty and economical, in reference to qualities that are sometimes attributed to Scottish people. To the core (the central, innermost part of something) means completely; as much as possible.


any of the equal, usually small, parts into which a company’s stock is divided. Stock means ownership in a corporation or company, which entitles the buyer to share in the ownership of the company and usually results in money paid to shareholders, voting rights, etc.


a false and intentionally harmful statement that damages somebody’s reputation.



stock in trade:



a wooden frame in which, in former times, an offender was secured by the hands and feet or head and hands, and left in public to be ridiculed or abused.


to put (facts, statistics, etc.) in a table or columns; arrange systematically.




beyond what is expressed; hidden; underlying. An ulterior motive is a hidden, underlying motive, usually a selfish or dishonorable one.

whole cloth:


wits and tongue around, wrap (one’s):

learn what something is and learn how to pronounce it. Wrap one’s wits around something means to grasp something using one’s mental faculties or intellectual powers; wrap one’s tongue around something means to speak or pronounce something correctly.