[actor] See: BAD ACTOR.
[act out] 1. To show an idea, story, or happening by your looks, talk, and movements. * /He tried to act out a story that he had read./ 2. To put into action. * /All his life he tried to act out his beliefs./
[act up] , 1. To behave badly; act rudely or impolitely. * /The dog acted up as the postman came to the door./ 2. To work or run poorly (as a after all machine); skip; miss. * /Thе car acted up because the spark plugs were dirty./
[add fuel to the flame] To make a bad matter worse by adding to its cause; spread trouble, increase anger or other strong feelings by talk or action. * /By criticizing his son's girl, the father added fuel to the flame of his son's love./ * /Bob was angry with Ted and Ted added fuel to the flame by laughing at him./
[add insult to injury] 1. To hurt someone's feelings after doing him harm. * /He added insult to injury when he called the man a rat after he had already beaten him up./ 2. To make bad trouble worse. * /We started on a picnic, and first it rained, then to add insult to injury, the car broke down./
[addition] See: IN ADDITION.
[address] See: PUBLIC-ADDRESS SYSTEM.
[add the finishing touches] To complete; finish. * /Mary's first novel promised to be excellent; however, her editor suggested that she should add some finishing touches before accepting it./
[add up] 1. To come to the correct amount. * /The numbers wouldn't add up./ 2. To make sense; be understandable. * /His story didn't add up./
[add up to] 1. To make a total of; amount to. * /The bill added up to $12.95./ 2. To mean; result in. * /The rain, the mosquitoes, and the heat added up to a spoiled vacation./
[ad lib] To improvise; interpolate during speech. * /When the actress forgot her lines during the second act, she had to ad lib in order to keep the show going./
[advance] See: IN ADVANCE or IN ADVANCE OF.
[advantage] See: TAKE ADVANTAGE OF, TO ADVANTAGE.
[a few] or A small number (of people or things); some. * /The dry weather killed most of Mother's flowers, but a few are left./ * /In the store, Mary saw many pretty rings and bracelets, and she wanted to buy a few of them./ * /After the party, we thought that no one would help clean up, but a few couples did./ * /Alice wanted to read a few pages more before she stopped./ - Usually "a few" is different in meaning from "few", which emphasizes the negative; "a few" means "some", but "few" means "not many". * /We thought no one would come to lunch, but a few came./ * /We thought many people would come to lunch, but few came./ But sometimes "a few" is used with "only", and then it is negative. * /We thought many people would come to lunch, but only a few came./ - Sometimes used like an adverb. * /Three students have no seats; we need a few more chairs./ * /If we can set up chairs faster than people come and sit in them, we will soon be a few ahead./ - Sometimes used with "very" for emphasis. * /Uncle Ralph gave away almost all of his sea shells, but he still had a very few left./ Compare: A LITTLE. Contrast: A LOT, QUITE A FEW.
