a written description

As an important element of the initial application process for
the role of External Adviser every candidate must complete a pen portrait.  Google

Clearly there are 16 possible types, and most profiling systems offer a pen-portrait
of each one.  Google

I take about an hour to read your palm in detail, and I
can send you a pen portrait if you wish by email or post.  Google

a novel, film, play that repdoduces the activities, life-styles and manners of a previous era

 More than a period piece --; it dates from 1924 --; it may throw light on the view of marriage that led to Humanae Vitae .  BNCI

While it may not fall within the same category as Dances with Wolves as an illustration of a time and people grossly misrepresented, it is a period piece of some strength and charm which just falls short of the epithet epic.  BNCI

'To recreate a period piece in Delhi was a heroic task. Google

extremely easy

It's a piece of cake until you get to the top. google

But with easy-Radio in control it's a piece of cake. Google

At the end of each successful occasion you will be able to stand tall and say,
"it was a piece of cake" (no pun intended) (well it was intended really). Google

sb who has learned a lot from a failure, misjudgement or mishap

He hath experienced many catapult shots and arrested
landings and hence is a sadder and wiser man than thou. Google

This graduate student came back
to our institution a sadder and wiser man. Google

Now he had a bump on his
head which made him a sadder and wiser man. Google

sb who is always trying to seem more clever than everybody else in a way that is annoying

Never respond with a smart-aleck remark in return. Google

At every opportunity, simply show you're not affected, and never stoop to being a smart aleck yourself. Google

Lisa Remer Carla's music shows that being a smart aleck isn't necessarily a bad thing.  Google

a subject of interest, worthy of discussion

World dialect explosion becomes a talking point.  Google

Talking Point reserves the right to terminate access to a Talking Point discussion
group to any participant who does not abide by these terms and conditions. Google

If you
would like to suggest a talking point of the day, email the editor.  Google

a series of consecutive thoughts

He was confused. lose my train of thought, forget my order of thoughts
or words. Google

That was my train of thought as I hurried to the old station
one Sunday afternoon to get some rail brochures.  Google

The train of thought webring
is a webring designed for websites that encourage thought and introspection. Google

sb who has and uses an extensive vocabulary

Have you ever been called a walking dictionary because
your vocabulary is so expansive?  google

He was a good student of history and geography and was called ‘a
walking dictionary" because of the words that he could define. Google

 David
is a walking dictionary of Folk music. Google

sb who spoils other people´s enjoyment of something by refusing to join in an activity

We were all having a good time until Harold walked in and started acting like a wet blanket. Google

Hating to resemble a wet blanket he held his peace.  BNCI

But I haven't done anything --; except be an absolute misery,'; she added honestly as she realised for perhaps the first time what a wet blanket she had been.  BNCI

The morose Mitchells wins the wet blanket award.  BNCI

a word is enough for the wise

A word for the wise--do some family planning early. Google

A word for the wise – only manage the depth that adds
value, not the ultimate depth because you can. google

A word for the wise is quite sufficient. google

ocenění za snahu

I may still not be a color " expert " but I should definitely get an A for effort. (INTERNET-EN)

I give the Wachowskis an A for effort. (INTERNET-EN)

He gives Bush an A for effort but only a C- for execution. (Google)

a mistake in one´s assessment of a situation, in soem aspect of a course of action that one has undertaken

But, if an error of judgement or a bad decision has been made, the vital thing is to recognise that, admit it and take immediate action to break the chain of events while a safe course of action is still possible.  BNCI

Where there is a slight risk in the event of a swing, a pilot may be said to have made a simple error of judgement or taken an unnecessary risk.  BNCI

He made an error of judgement, albeit one which is understandable, when he pumped additional liquidity into the system following the stock market crash of October 1987.  BNCI

be sb who, or sth which, appears contrary to what is normally accepted, believed

Hooliganism has been the exception to the rule that the media are only interested in victories, records, and the private life of the stars.  BNCI

But, as things stand, cases of a person feeling cold when conditions are such as would ordinarily make him feel warm are the exception to the rule.  BNCI

There is no reason why management should be an exception to the rule: bad frequently breeds worse.  BNCI

sth learned or taught by the use and study of actual objects

After a week, Agassiz's object lesson in respect for examining nature had made its impact.  BNCI

This turned out to be an object lesson in how to lay waste to an Indian Restaurant.  BNCI

Here successive interpretations of that classic case, the traditional Chinese ancestor cult, provide an object lesson.  BNCI

former pupil of a school or college, esp. a public school

The new headmaster of Emanuel in 1954 had himself taught at Harrow, where the strains of `;Forty Years On'; stirred his memory and his loyalties, and was an old boy of Emanuel: nothing would be deliberately done to loosen the ties with the past.  BNCI

There, a well-established elementary school was rapidly turned into a small secondary modern school under the same head (an old boy of Banbury County School, of course) and with three forms of entry for pupils at the age of eleven.  BNCI

Monty was an Old Boy of the local grammar school.  BNCI