PRINCIPLES, DIMENSIONS, AND ATTRIBUTES OF THIS DICTIONARY
Idiomaticity
For the purposes of this dictionary, an idiom is interpreted as a nonfree combination of two or more words that acts as a semantic whole. In most cases, the meaning of an idiom cannot be predicted from the meanings of its components. An idiom is reproduced in speech as a ready-made unit, and it functions as a part of speech or an independent sentence. This dictionary includes idioms per se as well as other phrases whose idio-maticity varies in degree and type.
Characteristics of Idioms
Idioms possess the following characteristic properties, which occur in various combinations:
1) Many idioms have a defective paradigm. The defectiveness of a paradigm may involve:
a) case – for example, САМАЯ МАЛОСТЬ ‘a tiny bit’ is used only in the accusative case in one of its senses (самую малость)
b) number – for example, ВЫСОКИЕ МАТЕРИИ ‘lofty topics (matters)’ is used only in the plural; ДУРНОЙ ГЛАЗ ‘the evil eye’ is used only in the singular
c) person – for example, БОЮСЬ СКАЗАТЬ ‘I’m not sure’ is used only in the first-person singular; НЕДОРОГО ВОЗЬМЁТ ‘one won’t (wouldn’t) think twice about doing sth.’ is not used in the first person
d) tense/aspect – for example, В МУТНОЙ ВОДЕ РЫБУ ЛОВИТЬ ‘fish in troubled waters’ is used only in the imperfective; МАЛО НЕ ПОКАЖЕТСЯ ‘it will be worse than anyone can imagine’, only in the perfective; В ЧЁМ ДУША ДЕРЖИТСЯ ‘s.o.‘s body and soul are scarcely held together’, only in the present; ПОШЛА ПИСАТЬ ГУБЕРНИЯ ‘there they go’, only in the perfective past
e) finite versus nonfinite forms – for example, HE ПРОПАДЁТ (as in За мной не пропадёт ‘I will pay you (him) back’) has no corresponding nonfinite forms (that is, no infinitive, participle, or verbal adverb)
2) Many idioms lack some syntactic functions of the type of phrase to which they belong. For example, some noun phrases are used only predicatively: HE ИГОЛКА ‘not exactly invisible’. Others are used only or mainly as a subject or object (that is, not predicatively): ЦЕЛЫЙ КОРОБ новостей ‘a whole lot (of news)’.
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3) Some idioms are metaphorical extensions of nonidiomatic word combinations. For example, ПОДНИМАТЬ/ПОДНЯТЬ РУКУ has the literal meaning ‘to raise one’s hand/ arm’, as well as two idiomatic meanings:
1. ~ на кого to (try to) harm s.o. physically
2. ~ на кого-что to criticize openly and express strong disapproval of some person, idea, policy, school of thought etc
Another such example is ГОЛОВА БОЛИТ. While it literally means ‘s.o. has a headache’, it has the idiomatic meaning ‘s.o. gives himself a headache over sth.’
4) Some idioms contain a unique lexical component not found elsewhere in the language. For example, ВО ВСЕОРУЖИИ ‘fully armed’, ДО СКОНЧАНИЯ ВЕКА ‘till the end of time’, БЕЗ УМОЛКУ ‘nonstop’.
5) Some components of idioms preserve archaic grammatical forms. For example, ТЕМНА ВОДА ВО ОБЛАЦЕХ ‘it is all shrouded in darkness’ has the old form of the locative plural of облако – во облацех; СКРЕПЯ СЕРДЦЕ ‘reluctantly’ has the old form of the short active participle of the verb скрепить – скрепя (the corresponding modern form is the perfective verbal adverb скрепив).
6) The role of the negative particle HE in idioms is often unpredictable.
a) Some affirmative idioms cannot be used with negation at alclass="underline" БАБУШКА НАДВОЕ СКАЗАЛА ‘that remains to be seen’; КАМЕНЬ С ДУШИ СВАЛИЛСЯ ‘a load was taken off s.o.‘s mind’.
b) In other idioms, used only with HE, the negative particle loses its meaning of negation: КОМАР НОСА НЕ ПОДТОЧИТ ‘(it’s) done to а T’.
c) Idioms that can be used with and without negation comprise a rather heterogeneous group:
i) The use of negation may produce the antonym of the affirmative idiom: ПО ВКУСУ/НЕ ПО ВКУСУ ‘(not) to s.o.‘s taste (liking)’
ii) The idiom with negation may have a different number of senses than the corresponding affirmative idiom. For example, Л-15 В ЛАДУ has only one sense, ‘(to be) friendly with s.o., have a good rapport with s.o.’, whereas Л-16 НЕ В ЛАДУ has three senses:
1. ~ с кем... one is in disagreement with s.o., has a strained relationship with s.o.
2. ~ с чем. one cannot understand or master sth., cannot learn how to use, apply etc sth.
3. rare ~ с чем... sth. is in discord with some other thing
iii) The idiom may have the same meaning regardless of whether it is used with or without negation: (HE) ПРИШЕЙ КОБЫЛЕ ХВОСТ ‘excess baggage’
7) Idioms differing only in verbal aspect may have different meanings as well as a different number of meanings. For example, Д-341 ВАЛЯТЬ ДУРАКА (the imperfective) has four meanings:
1. to pretend not to understand, know about (sth.), feign stupidity (in order to fool s.o.)
2. to act in such a way as to amuse (and occasionally annoy) others with one’s tricks, anecdotes etc; behave mischievously, in a silly manner
3. to act irresponsibly, unintelligently, unseriously, make a stupid blunder
4. to be idle, spend time lazily
In contrast, СВАЛЯТЬ ДУРАКА (the perfective) has only one meaning, ‘to make a blunder’. It is included at sense 3 of ВАЛЯТЬ ДУРАКА.
Types of Idioms
The overwhelming majority of entries included in the dictionary are idioms per se, or “traditional” idioms. This group includes idioms that function as a part of speech (ТЕЛЯЧЬИ НЕЖНОСТИ ‘sloppy sentimentality’ – noun phrase; ИЗ РЯДА ВОН ВЫХОДЯЩИЙ ‘extraordinary’ – adjective phrase; БЕЖАТЬ ВПЕРЕДИ ПАРОВОЗА ‘jump the gun’ – verb phrase; ВКРИВЬ И ВКОСЬ ‘every which way’ – adverb phrase); and idioms that function as a sentence (БАБУШКА НАДВОЕ СКАЗАЛА ‘that remains to be seen’; ТАК НЕ ПОЙДЁТ ‘that won’t do’). The other types of fixed expressions included in the dictionary are:
1) Phrases serving as intensifiers, restrictive markers, etc., for the words with which they collocate. This group includes:
a) pure intensifiers – for example, ДО ПОЛУСМЕРТИ ‘intensely, to a very high degree’
b) negative intensifiers – for example, нужен КАК РЫБКЕ ЗОНТИК ‘(be as much use to s.o.) as an umbrella to a duck’
c) frozen similes – for example, красный КАК РАК ‘(as) red as a beet’; скользкий КАК УГОРЬ ‘(as) slippery as an eel’
d) phrases that consist of a word and its intensifier – for example, ВОЛЧИЙ АППЕТИТ ‘a ravenous (voracious) appetite’
2) Interjections used to express various emotions and reactions. For example, НУ И НУ! ‘well, I’ll be (damned)!’; НИ ФИГА СЕБЕ! ‘if that don’t beat all!’
3) Formula phrases, that is, fixed phrases used in common communication situations (in greeting and in parting, when apologizing or responding to an apology, when thanking s.o., etc.). For example, ВСЕГО ХОРОШЕГО ‘all the best!’; HE СТОИТ ‘don’t mention it’.
4) Grammatical, or function, idioms: