[clothes] See: BEST BIB AND TUCKER or SUNDAY-GO-TO-MEETING CLOTHES.

[clothing] See: WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING.

[cloud] See: EVERY CLOUD HAS A SILVER LINING, IN THE CLOUDS, ON CLOUD NINE,UNDER A CLOUD.

[clover] See: FOUR-LEAF CLOVER, IN CLOVER or IN THE CLOVER.

[club] See: CHRISTMAS CLUB.

[cluck and grunt]{n.}, {slang}, {avoid it in restaurants} Thefamiliar restaurant dish of ham and eggs; since ham is made of pork (and pigsgrunt) and eggs come from hens (which cluck.) •/"I am sorry I can’t fix youan elaborate meal, but I can give you a quick cluck and grunt."/

[clutch] See: RIDE THE BRAKE.

[coal] See: CARRY COALS TO NEWCASTLE, HAUL OVER THE COALS or RAKE OVER THECOALS, HEAP COALS OF FIRE ON ONE’S HEAD.

[coast is clear] No enemy or danger is in sight; there is no one to seeyou. •/When the teacher had disappeared around the corner, John said, "Comeon, the coast is clear."/ •/The men knew when the night watchman wouldpass. When he had gone, and the coast was clear, they robbed the safe./•/When Father stopped the car at the stop sign, Mother said, "The coast isclear on this side."/

[coat tail] See: ON ONE’S COAT TAILS.

[cock] See: GO OFF HALF-COCKED also GO OFF AT HALF COCK.

[cock-and-bull story]{n. phr.} An exaggerated or unbelievable story.•/"Stop feeding me such cock-and-bull stories," the detective said to thesuspect./

[cockeyed]{adj.} Drunk; intoxicated. •/Frank has been drinking allday and, when we met, he was so cockeyed he forgot his own address./

[cocksure]{adj.} Overconfident; very sure. •/Paul was cocksure thatit wasn 't going to snow, but it snowed so much that we had to dig our way outof the house./

[C.O.D.]{n. phr.} Abbreviation of "cash on delivery." •/If you wantto receive a piece of merchandise by mail and pay when you receive it, youplace a C.O.D. order./

[coffee break]{n.} A short recess or time out from work in which torest and drink coffee. •/The girls in the office take a coffee break in themiddle of the morning and the afternoon./

[coffee hour]{n.} A time for coffee or other refreshments after ameeting; a time to meet people and have refreshments. •/After the businessmeeting we had a coffee hour./ •/The Joneses had a coffee hour so theirvisitor could meet their neighbors./

[coffee table]{n.} A low table used in a living room. •/There wereseveral magazines on the coffee table./

[coffin nail]{n.}, {slang} A cigarette. •/"I stopped smoking,"Algernon said. "In fact, I haven’t had a coffin nail in well over a year."/

[cog] See: SLIP A COG or SLIP A GEAR.

[coin money] or [mint money] {v. phr.}, {informal} To make alot of money quickly; profit heavily; gain big profit. •/Fred coined moneywith many cigarette vending machines and juke boxes./

[cold] See: BLOOD RUNS COLD, BLOW HOT AND COLD, CATCH COLD or TAKE COLD, INCOLD BLOOD, OUT COLD, OUT IN THE COLD, PASS OUT(2), STONE-COLD, STOP COLD,THROW COLD WATER ON.

[cold cash] or [hard cash] {n.} Money that is paid at the time ofpurchase; real money; silver and bills. •/Mr. Jones bought a new car and paidcold cash for it./ * •/Some stores sell things only for cold cash./Compare: CASH ON THE BARRELHEAD.

[cold comfort]{n.} Something that makes a person in trouble feel verylittle better or even worse. •/When Tim lost the race, it was cold comfort tohim to hear that he could try again in two weeks./ •/Mary spent hervacation sick in bed and Jane’s letter about her trip was cold comfort./

[cold feet]{n. phr.}, {informal} A loss of courage or nerve; afailure or loss of confidence in yourself. •/Ralph was going to ask Mary todance with him but he got cold feet and didn’t./

[cold fish]{n.}, {informal} A queer person; a person who isunfriendly or does not mix with others. •/No one knows the new doctor, he isa cold fish./ •/Nobody invites Eric to parties because he is a coldfish./

[cold-shoulder]{v.}, {informal} To act towards a person; withdislike or scorn; be unfriendly to. •/Fred cold-shouldered his old friendwhen they passed on the street./ •/It is impolite and unkind tocold-shoulder people./ Compare: BRUSH OFF(2), HIGH-HAT, LOOK DOWN ONE’S NOSEAT.

[cold shoulder]{n.}, {informal} Unfriendly treatment of a person,a showing of dislike for a person or of looking down on a person. — Used inthe cliches "give the cold shoulder" or "turn a cold shoulder to" or "get thecold shoulder". •/When Bob asked Mary for a date she gave him the coldshoulder./ •/The membership committee turned a cold shoulder to Jim’srequest to join the club./

[cold snap]{n.} A short time of quick change from warm weather tocold. •/The cold snap killed everything in the garden./

[cold turkey]{adv.}, {slang}, {informal} 1. Abruptly andwithout medical aid to withdraw from the use of an addictive drug or from aserious drinking problem. •/Joe is a very brave guy; he kicked the habit coldturkey./ 2. {n.} An instance of withdrawal from drugs, alcohol, orcigarette smoking. •/Joe did a cold turkey./

[cold war]{n.} A struggle that is carried on by other means and not byactual fighting; a war without shooting or bombing. •/After World War II, acold war began between Russia and the United States./

[collar] See: HOT UNDER THE COLLAR, ROMAN COLLAR, SAILOR COLLAR.

[collective farm]{n.} A large government-run farm made by combiningmany small farms. •/The Russian farmers used to live on collective farms./

[collector’s item]{n.} Something rare or valuable enough to collect orsave. •/Jimmy’s mother found an old wooden doll in the attic that turned outto be a collector’s item./

[College Boards]{n.} A set of examinations given to test a student’sreadiness and ability for college. •/John got a high score on his CollegeBoards./ •/College Boards test both what a student has learned and hisability to learn./

[color] See: CHANGE COLOR, GIVE COLOR TO or LEND COLOR TO, HAUL DOWN ONE’SCOLORS, HORSE OF A DIFFERENT COLOR, NAIL ONE’S COLORS TO THE MAST, OFF-COLOR orOFF-COLORED, SAIL UNDER FALSE COLORS, SEE THE COLOR OF ONE’S MONEY, SHOW ONE’SCOLORS, WITH FLYING COLORS.

[color guard]{n.} A military guard of honor for the flag of a country;also: a guard of honor to carry and protect a flag or banner (as of a club).•/There were four Marines in the color guard in the parade./ •/Bob waspicked to be a color guard and to carry the banner of the drum corps at thefootball game./

[color scheme]{n.} A plan for colors used together as decoration.•/The color scheme for the dance was blue and silver./ •/Mary decided ona pink and white color scheme for her room./

[comb] See: FINE-TOOTH COMB.

[come] See: CHICKENS COME HOME TO ROOST, CROSS A BRIDGE BEFORE ONE COMES TOIT, EASY COME — EASY GO, FIRST COME — FIRST SERVED, GET WHAT’S COMING TO ONE,HAVE IT COMING, HOW COME also HOW’S COME, IF WORST COMES TO WORST,JOHNNY-COME-LATELY, KNOW ENOUGH TO COME IN OUT OF THE RAIN, KNOW IF ONE ISCOMING OR GOING, LOOK AS IF ONE HAS COME OUT OF A BANDBOX, SHIP COME IN.

[come about]{v.} To take place; happen, occur. •/Sometimes it ishard to tell how a quarrel comes about./ •/When John woke up he was in thehospital, but he didn’t know how that had come about./