over-use the names of celebrated or influential persons in order to impress others wth one's knowledge of them

Just because the guy can drop names we have all heard of and used to know Bruce McLaren doesn't give him the right to bore us every week.  BNCI

Interesting high-profile autobiographies that drop names like confetti: in Well, I Forget The Rest (Hutchinson, £17.99), Quentin Crewe, thrice-married, confesses: `;It has never taken me longer than a week-end to fall in love, usually less.';  BNCI

fail to obtain, learn or find sth one is searching for

 However, even if you draw a blank, it is always worth checking to see whether or not you can influence the external event that starts the sequence. BNCI

 Not only did I draw a blank about the pictures, but political events were moving so fast that the book I had begun to write had ceased, after the completion of the amount of text Faber's required, to be the one that needed to he written.  BNCI

temporarily wholly engaged in thinking, either because one is thinking carefully about sth or considering a problem

I became vividly aware of this disturbing phenomenon while I was sitting deep in thought on Hammersmith Bridge this afternoon.  BNCI

 My father could be seen standing by those four stone steps, deep in thought. BNCI

I saw in my mind Boullée in his room in Paris, deep in thought, his eyes on the horizon --; not your horizon or mine but a far more distant one. BNCI

an organized course or plan for sth to be learnt much more quckly than is usual

If you've enjoyed this crash course on semiotics, or if you're not exactly sure what you've been listening to, try the website run by Daniel Chandler. WebC

This article is meant to be a crash course in Slackware security. WebC

It is a crash course in how to be poor - lessons long assimilated by the well-off, who have learned how to feel dissatisfaction with plenty, the inadequacy of excess.  WebC

occur to one without being deliberately reasoned out or striven for

It was really extremely hazardous, and as we stood there peering vainly into the blanket of fog it did cross my mind that we were all quite crazy.  BNCI

I would be a liar if I said the thought of being shot at didn't cross my mind. BNCI

I think of so many things, so many sad and bitter thoughts cross my mind.  BNCI

natural good sense and intelligent understanding

It nearly always came over in a bad light, as a bunch of cocooned scientists trying to hoodwink the common sense of ordinary folk. BNCI

We can only hope that common sense will prevail more quickly than it did in the previous instance. BNCI

It is a matter of carefully considering components used in each project, and using a little common sense. BNCI

interfere with, obscure one's judgement

It's not like any of these issues prevent me from breathing or cloud my brain for weeks on end. WebC

TID since it helped my painbetter and didn't seem to cloud my brain for as bad, besides that
it gave me involuntary muscle jerks 24/7 and gave me a sleepdisorder that II still battle to this day. WebC

I must away before your unpatriotic ideas cloud my brain for !"  WebC  

what everybody knows or is aware of

An inquiry into that case showed that the head's activities had probably been common knowledge among the staff for years. BNCI

By this afternoon, the events of last night, or Dennis's lurid version of them, would be common knowledge on the racing gossip circuit. BNCI

It was common knowledge that Blackburn were in for me, and there were also rumours about Arsenal. BNCI

invent a new expression, word

It is an odd sidelight, to coin a phrase, on road accidents. BNCI

But Michael Foot was a formidable orator and on occasions he could coin a phrase which captured the mood perfectly. BNCI

Such players as Clive Allen and Tony Cottee are shockingly under-valued these days because they cannot be relied upon to step up their work-rate, to coin a phrase. BNCI

a handsomely produced and illustrated book that is easy to admire, suitable for casual study or entertainment

Not a children's book at all, but a modern illustrated coffee-table book with careful, delicate photographs. BNCI

The price of a large coffee-table book is in a number of cases twenty times higher than it was two years ago.  BNCI

£103 Glossy and evocative album format, coffee-table book.  BNCI

children should be quiet and respectful in the presence of their elders

Sure, while I was growing up my parents believed that "children should be seen but not heard."   WebC

He said the old adage that children should be seen but not heard does not hold anymore. WebC

An even older, lingering, idea is that children should be seen but not heard." WebC

sb who is clever, smart, in a superficial or insolent way, always ready to correct others

He also attacked Brian Walsh, the chairman, whom he called `;a clever dick';, a somewhat foolhardy reference to a Queen's Counsel.  BNCI

 I made a bit of a speech and all that and er like a clever dick I went without me glasses .  BNCI

Other than the aforementioned hilarious moment at the end, which were really nothing more than a series of clever dick jokes, there's nothing here to recommend.  WebC

restore one's mental faculties

I always found the night duties a great strain, and often had to walk up and down outside to clear my head with some fresh air.  BNCI

The walk will clear my head. BNCI

It had very little warmth but the chilly air was helping to clear my head.  BNCI

talk rapidly about nothing very important

Dani can help me with the actualpreperation and I will chatter like a magpie so you know why somethingis being done. WebC

I used to chatter like a magpie about emancipation, and wasted half my wealth on tender feelings, but now--you must excuse me!  WebC

When we take care of him, he will chatter like a magpie; he will jump likea kid, and he will eat everything. WebC

a fundamental or basic error, sin, likely to be accompanied by other errors

Combined with overestimation of potential customer interest, this appears to have been  a cardinal error.  WebC

Munich had been a cardinal error in French and British policy. WebC

The Americans also made what I consider a cardinal error in their assessment of the effects of daylight bombing operations on Germany. WebC