put oneself in another's place
put oneself in another's shoes
To understand another person's feeling imaginatively; try to know his feelings and reasons with understanding; enter into his trouble.
It seemed like a dreadful thing for Bob to do, but I tried to put myself in his place.
If you will put yourself in the customer's shoes you may realize why the thing isn't selling.
put that in your pipe and smoke it
To understand something told you; accept something as fact or reality; not try to change it. Usually used as a command, normally only in speech, and often considered rude.
People don't vote against Santa Claus, and you might as well put that in your pipe and smoke it.
I am not going to do that and you can put that in your pipe and smoke it.
put words into one's mouth
To say without proof that another person has certain feelings or opinions; claim a stand or an idea is another's without asking; speak for another without right.
When he said "John here is in favor of the idea." I told him not to put words in my mouth.
quaking in one's boots
Быть чем-то сильно напуганным; испугаться.
When he saw the crocodiles in the water, he started quaking in his boots.
Когда он увидел крокодилов в воде, то перепугался.
quite the thing
The socially proper thing to do.
In polite society it is quite the thing to send a written thank you note to one's host or hostess after a dinner party.
race against time
To be in a great hurry to finish a given project by a specified deadline.
The workers were racing against time to finish the campus modernization project.
race to stand still
racing to stand still
fight against time
To be so far behind in one's work that one must exert an effort similar to that needed to win a race in order simply not to fall even further behind.
"Could you review this book for us, Professor Brown?" the editor asked. "Unfortunately, no," the professor answered. "I'm so behind in my work that I am racing to stand still."
rack and ruin
Complete decay; condition of decline.
The entire house had been so neglected that it had gone to rack and ruin.