Lesson 288--to conk out

She conked out while eating

Learning useful idioms is an important thing for all of my students.  Today we will look at the idiom to conk out.  It is special because it has a different meaning for people and machines.

The car conked out...obviously

for machines: to stop working

for people: to fall asleep

examples

The car seemed to be working well, but conked out while Peter was driving.

Mary hated her motorcycle because it conked out whenever it rained.

The city had to send a repair crew when all the traffic lights downtown conked out.

Jim was so tired that he conked out while watching TV.

Alana wanted to stay awake, but she conked out anyway.

Philip drank seven cups of coffee so he wouldn't conk out while working the night shift.

Lesson 251--two idioms using "hit".

Hit the Books

definition:  To study

examples

Terry had a big test, so he hit the books.

If you want to succeed in school, you should hit the books.

 

Hit the Hay

 

definition:  To sleep

examples

Maria had had a bad day, so she hit the hay early.

Thinking it was time to hit the hay, Jonathon said goodnight to everyone.

Doug always hits the hay around 10:30.

Lesson 169--I fell asleep

Last night before I had a chance to type out today's blog/lesson I fell asleep on the couch.  I hadn't been feeling well, so I wasn't really surprised.  It got me to thinking that I should probably give everyone some useful expressions for sleep and things related to sleep.  Sorry about being so late with today's post.

Adjectives

tired-a useful word that describes an average feeling.

worn out-this means you are quite tired, probably from doing some hard work.

exhausted-really, really tired.

drowsy-describing a sleepy feeling, you want to sleep, or are almost falling asleep.

examples

I slept for nine hours, but I was still tired.

After studying hard all day, I was completely worn out.

I was so exhausted that I wanted to sleep for a whole day.

Verbs

sleep/fall asleep

crash/crash out-a slang expression for sleep.

doze off-fall asleep without really planning to.

examples

I crashed at my friend's house because I was too drunk to go home.

I dozed off while I was watching darts.

Lesson 148--sleeping in vs oversleeping

sleep in versus oversleep

 

to sleep in means to purposefully sleep longer than normal.

examples

I always sleep in on Sunday.

Marsha had nothing to do on Saturday, so she slept in.

Greg works hard but loves sleeping in when he can.

 

to oversleep means to sleep later than you intended, and probably means that you probably missed something.

 

examples

Bob overslept and was late for work.

Oversleeping caused Jim to lose his job.

James set the alarm, but was so tired that he overslept.

Lesson 51--more sleep

 

Here are some useful sleep expressions.  Most of them are common, and they are pretty useful as you can use them, and you will probably hear them on television.

 

to nap/to take a nap:    a short sleep to rest and get more energy.

to nod off:                   to fall asleep while doing something else, like watching TV.

to doze:                       to sleep and wake and sleep again.

to snooze:                    to sleep.

to crash (out):              to sleep (slang expression).

to catch some zzz's:     to sleep (maybe this one is a little old).

to hit the hay:              to sleep (also a little old).