blackball
"Черный мяч", "черная метка", заносить в чёрный список.
He was blackballed from resuming professional football career.
Ему не дали продолжить карьеру профессионального футболиста.
blind alley
A narrow street that has only one entrance and no exit.
Тупик; улочка без выхода.
The blind alley ended in a brick wall.
A way of acting that leads to no good results.
Действия, которые не приводят к результату; тупик.
John did not take the job because it was a blind alley.
Tom thought of a way to do the algebra problem, but he found it was a blind alley.
Alex found himself up a blind alley when he was investigating the murder.
Алекс попал в тупик, когда расследовал убийство.
bottom drop out
bottom fall out
To fall below an earlier lowest price.
The bottom dropped out of the price of peaches.
To lose all cheerful qualities; become very unhappy, cheerless, or unpleasant.
The bottom dropped out of the day for John when he saw his report card.
The bottom fell out for us when the same ended with our team on the two yard line and six points behind.
break one's balls
To do something with maximum effort; to do something very difficult or taxing.
I've been breaking my balls to buy you this new color TV set and you aren't the least bit appreciative!
break someone's fall
Смягчать падение, удар.
When the little boy fell out of the window, the bushes broke his fall.
Когда маленький мальчик выпали из окна, кусты смягчили удар.
by all means
by all manner of means
Certainly, without fail. Using any possible way or method.
He felt that he should by all means warn Jones.
If the Johnsons invite us for dinner, then by all means we have to return the invitation. Of course, we don’t have to invite their children, too.
In order to ensure its survival, the ailing company has to obtain an infusion of cash by all means.
by all odds
Without question; certainly.
He was by all odds the strongest candidate.
By all odds we should win the game, because the other team is so weak.
call a halt
To give a command to stop.
The scouts were tired during the hike, and the scoutmaster called a halt.
When the children's play, got too noisy, their mother called a halt.