labor under
To be the victim of; suffer from.
Ken is obviously laboring under the delusion that Jennifer will marry him out of love.
let grass grow under one's feet
To be idle; be lazy; waste time. Used in negative, conditional, and interrogative sentences.
The new boy joined the football team, made the honor roll, and found a girlfriend during the first month of school. He certainly did not let any grass grow under his feet.
Grandpa spends so much time sitting and thinking that Grandma accuses him of letting the grass grow under his feet.
on pain of
under pain of
At the risk of; under penalty of.
The workers went on strike on pain of losing their jobs.
The rebels had to swear under pain of death never to confess where their comrades were hiding.
pull the rug out from under
To withdraw support unexpectedly from; to spoil the plans of.
Bill thought he would be elected, but his friends pulled the rug out from under him and voted for Vin.
We were planning a vacation, but the baby's illness pulled the rug out from under us.
sail under false colors
To sail a ship, often pirate, under the flag of another country.
The pirate ship flew the American flag until it got near, then raised the black flag.
To pretend to be what you are not; masquerade.
The garage hired Jones as a mechanic, but fired him when they found he was sailing under false colors.
They found out that Smith was an escaped convict who had been sailing under false colors as a lawyer.
snow under
To cover over with snow.
The doghouse was snowed under during the blizzard.
To give so much of something that it cannot be taken care of; to weigh down by so much of something that you cannot do anything about it. Usually used in the passive.
Загрузить чем-нибудь, обычно работой, настолько, что это становится невыполнимым. Обычно используется в пассивном залоге.
The factory received so many orders that it was snowed under with work.
The disabled girl was snowed under with Christmas letters.
The busy season snowed us all under with too much work.
В разгар рабочего сезона мы все были завалены работой.
steal one's thunder
To do or say something, intentionally or not, that another person has planned to say or do.
Fred intended to nominate Bill for president, but John got up first and stole Fred's thunder.
Mary was going to sing "Oh! Susanna," but Ellen did it first and Mary said Ellen had stolen her thunder.
Smith heard that Jones was going to offer a new law which people wanted, so he himself proposed the law first, stealing Jones' thunder.
sweep under the rug
To hide or dismiss casually (something one is ashamed of or does not know what to do about).
In many places, drug abuse by school children is swept under the rug.