Idioms: Alive - skin sb a.

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Idiom(s) of the day: Skin someone alive

Variation(s):

My category (Russian-to-English translation): Переживание и страх (Frustration and fear). Контроль и влияние (Control and influence). Безопасность и риск (Safety and risk). Неприятности и проблемы (Trouble and difficulty)

Explanation(s):

Collins Cobuild Dictionary of Idioms, 2004 (CCDI):

If you say that someone is able to skin you alive, you mean that they are much stronger or more powerful than you and may exploit you or ruin you.

If someone threatens to skin you alive, they are threatening to punish you severely.

Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):

to torture or fleece callously or mercilessly

To scold angrily; to spank or beat; to defeat

Babylon (www.babylon.com):

remove one's skin while he is still alive; save; defeat

scold angrily, spank or beat

to punish or tell someone off severely

Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary v4.7:

to reprimand, scold; to subdue completely, esp. in a cruel or ruthless manner

Translation(s):

CCDI:

Обобрать кого-либо дочиста; ободрать как липку.

Спустить шкуру с кого-либо; живого места не оставить на ком-либо; сделать котлету из кого-либо

Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):

драть шкуру [три шкуры, семь шкур] с кого-л

Babylon (www.babylon.com):

Multitran (www.multitran.ru):

спустить шкуру, снять скальп; нанести сокрушительный удар, живьём сдирать кожу

Multilex (www.multilex.ru):

Examples:

CCDI:

They are fiercely competitive. If they can skin us alive in business, they will.

Anyone who reads your finance pages will see that shareholders in some major banks have been skinned alive.

Who let the bloody dog out? You catch that animal Ernie, or you’ll get skinned alive.

Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):

Mother will skin you alive when she sees your torn pants. Dad was ready to skin us alive when he found we had ruined his saw. We all did our best, but the visiting gymnastic team skinned us alive.

do that once more, and I'll skin you alive

Dad would skin me alive if I forgot it

Just medium evil. Nowhere near the calibre of evil suggested by Marcellus Wallace in The Gold Watch, Pulp Fiction, 1994, when he said to Zed and what remained of Maynard, I'm gonna get medieval on your ass. Torturing them, perhaps even skinning them alive, was not out of the question.

Babylon (www.babylon.com):

She told her son that if he was late for dinner she would skin him alive.

Dad would skin me alive if I forgot it.

My mother will skin me alive for being so late home.

Oxford English Dictionary (OED) v4.0:

Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary v4.7:

The home team was skinned alive this afternoon.

British National Corpus (BNC), Mark Davies (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/): [skin] * alive, total 5

I'm dreadfully late and Sister Margaret will skin me alive. I'm supposed to be helping her to bake bread.

I decided to leave the silver bracelet where it was; Fat Harry would skin you alive for taking a crumb of bread from his plate.

Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), Mark Davies (http:// www.americancorpus.org/): [skin] * alive, total 37

But there are too many other women in the world for me to worry about a psalm-singing bishop who's working for lawyers that're trying to skin me alive.

And if you tell one single soul we've been here, I'll skin you alive.

Beth was hell on wheels. She skinned me alive for what - ten years?

Work with a man, ride with him, polish off a few quarts of whiskey in his company while he's skinning you alive at the poker table and then try telling me you don't worry on his account when his future looks dicey.

Be honest, you know the answer. They would have skinned Clinton alive and thrown what was left of his carcass in Gitmo.

There were dirty clothes piled thigh-high in her living room, open suitcases by the piano, a stack of mail she couldn't seem to face and a manager ready to skin her alive if that would get her to do what she wanted.

My companion project: An Idiom a Day (www.twitter.com/AVDemid): Skinning somebody alive may involve cleaning them out and crushing them as well as removing their skin.

Idioms: Alive - eat sb a.

Check out my companion project: An Idiom a Day (www.twitter.com/AVDemid)

Idiom(s) of the day: Eat someone alive

Variation(s): eat somebody for breakfast

My category (Russian-to-English translation): Переживание и страх (Frustration and fear). Безопасность и риск (Safety and risk). Неприятности и проблемы (Trouble and difficulty). Смерть и болезнь (Death and illness)

Explanation(s):

Collins Cobuild Dictionary of Idioms, 2004 (CCDI):

If you say that someone or something will eat you alive, you mean that they seem to be a great threat to you, and may destroy you.

If someone such as an illness or a problem is eating you alive, it is causing you great pain or distress.

If you are eaten alive by insects, you are repeatedly bitten by them.

Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):

exploit someone's weakness and completely dominate them; (of insects) bite someone many times

to criticize or punish sb severely because you are extremely angry with them; to defeat sb completely in an argument, a competition, etc.; [usually passive] (of insects, etc.) to bite sb many times

to be very angry with someone or to defeat them completely

Babylon (www.babylon.com):

to defeat, conquer, or overwhelm completely

Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary v4.7:

Translation(s):

CCDI:

(Готов) живьем съесть кого-либо.

Мучить, терзать кого-либо; отравлять жизнь кому-либо; загонять в гроб кого-либо (о болезни, мучительных переживаниях, хлопотах и т.п.).

Заедать кого-либо (о насекомых).

Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):

Babylon (www.babylon.com):

Multitran (www.multitran.ru):

съедать кого-либо живьём, подвергать кого-либо нападкам и угрозам

Multilex (www.multilex.ru):

Examples:

CCDI:

If a president does not combine the short-run and long-run objectives, he’s going to be eaten alive by Wall Street.

He was certain Sid would be eaten alive by the hardened criminals at the jail.

The pain ate him alive; the world was nothing but fire and pain.

I know and she knows that the nursing home is the only solution. But it is eating me alive.

We’ve been sleeping on the floor; we have no water. It’s been easily 100, 125 degrees. We’ve been eaten alive by bugs.

‘Can we go out?’ ‘Outside?’ The mosquitoes will eat us alive.

Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):

He expects manufacturers to be eaten alive by lawyers in liability suits. We were eaten alive by mosquitoes.

The defence lawyers are going to eat you alive tomorrow. I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes.

He'll get eaten alive if he tries anything on with Barbara — Если он попробует законтачить с Барбарой, то она быстро приберет его к рукам

be eaten alive by lice in the trenches — кормить вшей в окопах

You can’t tell him that – he’ll eat you alive!

Babylon (www.babylon.com):

was eaten alive by the competition

Florida's slogan should be 'The only place you can be eaten alive by mosquitoes while you enjoy rain every day'.

Oxford English Dictionary (OED) v4.0:

Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary v4.7:

British National Corpus (BNC), Mark Davies (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/): [eat] * alive, total 12

It's a killing job. Little kids eat you alive, they want so much physically and emotionally.

From their orbital hive-turned-fortress, they would sally out against whoever was left and eat them alive.

A bitter old biddy, eating herself alive with bile, pretending to be crippled to tie her son to the old place, sucking all the life out of him.

Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), Mark Davies (http:// www.americancorpus.org/): [eat] * alive, total 155

Such is life as the Cowboys starting quarterback, a job that can lift you up or eat you alive.

I've never seen an opium den so run down and so full of insects. You pay in advance and then they eat you alive...

"What you want," Ginsberg said, off-the-bat, "is to get out of New York. Premiums will eat you alive. "

It's true a poorly chosen implementation will eat you alive, but there are significant productivity gains that you lose if you do nothing.

You've got a wanderlust that will eat you alive unless you indulge it.

"The cabouri flies will eat you alive," he continued, moving over to the crate and lashing it shut.

Revenge will eat you alive. Trust me. I know.

Traditionally, commodities trade in the futures and options markets, arcane arenas where timing is tricky and the costs can eat you alive.

I knew I was femme, opinionated, bossy, romantically masochistic, and that those girls were going to eat me alive.

Now I want you to try and think up something I can do to break this fearful monotony that is eating me alive.

Ennis says nothing he doesn't mean; he's incapable of guile, yet he erupts in tantrums-the anger of a man who can't be what he is and doesn't realize the quandary is eating him alive.

There are a lot of us who are just plain sick of trying to stop this gravy-sucking hog called the federal government and its liberal friends from eating us alive.

The media will eat us alive for politicizing the kid's death.

As negligible as a worm in the earth during the daylight hours, at night in her dreams the curse grew large and threatened to eat her alive.

My companion project: An Idiom a Day (www.twitter.com/AVDemid): Hannibal Lecter’s advice: If tempted to eat a person alive, don’t let the temptation fester and eat you alive—you’ll be thrown in jail and eaten alive by bugs.

Idioms: alive and kicking

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Idiom(s) of the day: alive and kicking

Variation(s):

My category (Russian-to-English translation): Информация (Information)

Explanation(s):

Collins Cobuild Dictionary of Idioms, 2004 (CCDI):

If you say that something or someone is alive and kicking, you are emphasizing that they are still active or still exist, even though a lot of people might have expected them to have stopped or disappeared a long time ago.

Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):

prevalent and very active

very active, healthy or popular

(of a person) active and in good health

Very active; vigorous; full of energy.

Babylon (www.babylon.com):

alive and well, living and breathing, alive

Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary v4.7:

Translation(s):

CCDI:

Жив-здоров, цел и невредим; жив курилка!

Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):

живой и здоровый; живой, существующий

полон жизни

Babylon (www.babylon.com):

Multitran (www.multitran.ru):

живём кашу жуем

Multilex (www.multilex.ru):

Examples:

CCDI:

‘I was passing by some teenagers the other day. I heard one of them say “I thought he was dead.” I imagine a lot of people think that. But believe me I’m alive and kicking and still going strong.’

Romance is still alive and kicking for a couple who will be celebrating their 50^th wedding anniversary this week.

Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):

The old rascal is still very much alive and kicking. — Этот старый хрыч всё ещё жив-здоров.

The sport is still very much alive and kicking in this country. — Тем не менее, в нашей стране у этого вида спорта немало приверженцев.

Charles: "I suppose if I died you'd cry a bit. That would be nice of you and very proper. But I'm all alive and kicking. Don't you find me rather a nuisance?" (W. S. Maugham, ‘The Bread-Winner’, sc. 2) — Чарльз: "Если бы я умер, то вы, конечно, поплакали бы немножко. Это было бы так мило с вашей стороны и так уместно. Но я, как видите, в добром здравии. А что, я, кажется, очень надоел вам?" A man's got to keep himself all alive and kicking, or where would his business be? (J. B. Priestley, ‘The Doomsday Men’, ch. 2) — Человек должен быть здоров, бодр и полон сил, иначе кто будет заниматься его делами?

Is your uncle still alive and kicking? — Твой дядя все еще жив-здоров?

bigotry is still alive and kicking

Grandpa was taken to the hospital with pneumonia, but he was discharged yesterday and is alive and kicking.

still alive and kicking at 75 years

Babylon (www.babylon.com):

Oxford English Dictionary (OED) v4.0:

indubitably alive; very lively and active.

1840 New Monthly Mag. LVIII. 497 He is (as the Irishman says), ‘alive and kicking’. 1860 Grandmother's Money I. 124 So I started off to Stamford Street, just to shew that I was alive and kicking. 1930 R. Lehmann Note in Music 130 He seemed to imply with amusement how particularly alive they were. ‘Father, mother, two young brothers, and sister Clare, all alive and kicking.’ 1966 L. Southworth Felon in Disguise xi. 158 I'd feel happier if I knew Donaldson was alive and kicking.

Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary v4.7:

British National Corpus (BNC), Mark Davies (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/): alive and kicking, total 26

British visitors heading off the beaten track in the States will find the adventurous spirit of the frontiersmen alive and kicking.

Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), Mark Davies (http:// www.americancorpus.org/): alive and kicking, total 75

When I was alive and kicking, I wrote a string of books.

His nomination is alive and kicking.

One of them has a mean-looking wild boar head on it Calvin says is a giant pig living in a swamp that's been known to eat up a little girl alive and kicking.

If he would have let the audit committee work and honored the result, we would know today, but sadly he stopped it, which is why the suspicions are still alive and kicking.

What he underestimates, and what many discouraged friends of federalism have yet to discover, is a resilient strain in local politics that remains alive and kicking.

Thanks to the advent of new drugs, HIV is one of the rare, fatal infectious diseases that can now exist in people who are largely healthy, potentially creating thousands of Typhoid Marys to keep the virus alive and kicking in new victims.

Everybody and his brother is determined to keep his memory alive and kicking forever.

There are scoundrels who lie brazenly and flatter the powers that be (and sometimes the power is in the hands of the masses) shamelessly in order to obtain important posts and dachas on the Black Sea. But Russian literature is alive and kicking, and not only in the samizdat. Except that Russian literature is written between the lines. Even the lines themselves are written in code. And the need to write in code sometimes makes for an extra-special brilliance. And those who are not endowed with sharp eyes and ears neither hear nor see. In Russia, I said, even children's fairytales are full of dynamite. (Bone to the Bone by Nathan Shaham)

My companion project: An Idiom a Day (www.twitter.com/AVDemid):

As minutes away are ticking

And through my mind I’m flicking

Of past mementoes picking,

In living memory sticking,

They’re kept alive and kicking.

Idioms: smart alec(k)

Check out my companion project: An Idiom a Day (www.twitter.com/AVDemid)

Idiom(s) of the day: smart alec(k)

Variation(s): smart-alecky; smart-aleckry, smart-aleckism

My category (Russian-to-English translation): Положительная или отрицательная оценка (Positive or negative evaluation)

Explanation(s):

Collins Cobuild Dictionary of Idioms, 2004 (CCDI):

If you describe someone as a smart alec or a smart aleck, you dislike the fact that they think they are very clever and they always have an answer for everything.

The form ‘aleck’ is the usual spelling in American English. People sometimes spell ‘alec’ and ‘aleck’ with capital initials, as names.

Alec or Aleck is a shortened form of the name Alexander.

You can use smart alec or smart aleck before a noun (also smart-alecky).

Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):

someone who always says clever things or always has the right answer, in a way that is annoying

a person considered irritating because they always have a clever answer to a question; having or showing an irritating, know-all attitude

an irritatingly oversmart person

Babylon (www.babylon.com):

a person who thinks they are very clever and likes to show people this in an annoying way

(A person) displaying ostentatious or smug cleverness.

behaviour characteristic of a smart alec

someone who tries to appear clever or who answers questions in a clever way that annoys other people

an obnoxiously conceited and self-assertive person with pretensions to smartness or cleverness

someone who says clever or funny but rude things that annoy other people because they show a lack of respect

Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary v4.7:

1. an obnoxiously conceited person. 2. a wise guy.

[1860-65, Amer.; generic use of Aleck, nickname for Alexander]

Translation(s):

CCDI:

Самоуверенный всезнайка, умник; нахальный малый.

Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):

умник; всезнайка; выскочка; нахал; наглец

наглый; развязный, самоуверенный

Babylon (www.babylon.com):

больно умный

Multitran (www.multitran.ru):

хлюст

Multilex (www.multilex.ru):

самоуверенный человек; хлыщ

самоуверенный всезнайка; наглец, нахал; хлыщ

Examples:

CCDI:

They’ve got some smart alec of a lawyer from London to oppose the bail, and by God they are not going to get away with it.

You’ll end up no more than a smart alec and you’re well down that road already.

I hate smart-aleck kids who talk like dictionaries.

Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):

a smart-alec answer

...a fortyish smart-alec TV reporter...

It gripes my balls the way that smart aleck walks around the place like he owns it — Меня бесит, как этот хам разгуливает по дому, будто это его собственность

‘They're just a lot of smart Alecs.’ ‘Flash Harrys,’ suggested Peter. (Suppl) — - Ишь какие щеголи! - Скажи лучше - драные петухи.

Multilex (www.multilex.ru):

I'm gonna give this smart aleck a piece of my mind — Я хочу сказать этому нахалу пару теплых слов

The smart aleck is trying to be funny again — Этот умник снова решил поострить

Some smart aleck has used my toothbrush — Какой-то наглец чистил зубы моей зубной щеткой

The smart alecks that know all the answers get under my skin — Самоуверенные молодые люди, у которых на все есть готовый ответ, действуют мне на нервы

A smart aleck like you ought to have no trouble at all getting his face mashed in — Коли будешь выступать, то запросто получить в морду

Don't be such a smart aleck — Не думай, что ты такой умный

Babylon (www.babylon.com):

Oxford English Dictionary (OED) v4.0:

smart alec colloq. (orig. U.S.).

Also aleck, alick, hyphenated, and with capital initial(s).

[f. smart a. + Alec, dim. of personal name Alexander.]

A would-be clever person; a ‘know-all’; occas., a man who is ostentatiously smart in dress or manner. Also attrib. or as adj.

1865 Carson (Nevada) Appeal 17 Oct. 2/3 Halloa, old smart Aleck—how is the complimentary vote for Ashley? 1873 J. H. Beadle Undevel. West vii. 140, I had the pleasure of seeing at least a score of ‘smart Alecks’ relieved of their surplus cash. 1887 F. Francis Saddle & Mocassin 312 You may talk about‥your Smart Alicks, and your Joe-dandies and daisies. 1902 [see run v. 64 h]. 1904 W. N. Harben Georgians ix. 92 Thar was a smart Alec of a feller from Little Dogtrot over in the mountains. 1934 C. Stead Seven Poor Men of Sydney vi. 184 Rawson, from the Trades Hall, ready, assured, blatant, a political opportunist, whom Joseph called a ‘real smart alec’. 1934 H. G. Wells Exper. Autobiog. I. v. 276 Nowhere was there protection from those Smart Alecs, the primary poison of the whole process, who piled up the rents. 1941 B. Schulberg What makes Sammy Run? xii. 221 He's a smart-aleck. I can see already he thinks he knows more than I do. 1942 C. Barrett On Wallaby x. 202 One smart Alick came to‥offer his services in return for a large tin of pineapple slices. 1956 C. V. Wedgwood Lit. & Historian 9 The imitators of Lytton Strachey managed by their smart-aleck antics to obscure for a long decade what was really valuable in the new approach to biography. 1964 L. Nkosi Rhythm of Violence ii. ii. 33 I'm bored with their smart-aleck talk! 1976 T. Stoppard Dirty Linen 40 Smart alec-paragraphs about innocent tripe-and-onions with tittian voluptuaries? 1979 L. Meynell Hooky & Villainous Chauffeur vii. 99 Smart alec, aren't you? Smart and smug like all you intellectual lot.

Hence smart-alec(k)ism, smart-aleckry; an instance of this; smart-aleckry, behaviour characteristic of a smart alec, ostentatious or smug cleverness; smart-alecky a., characteristic of a smart alec, ostentatiously or smugly clever.

1905 Dialect Notes III. ii. 157 Smart Elecky, impertinent, impudent. ‘He's too Smart Elecky for me.’ 1926 G. J. Nathan House of Satan 6 Ripples of smart-aleckry. 1929 J. B. Priestley Good Companions iii. v. 579, I wouldn't have minded so much if he hadn't been so Smart Alecky about it. 1934 Sun (Baltimore) 28 Aug. 8/7 The futility of those modern writers who mistake smart aleckism for sophistication and vulgarity for art. 1938 Scrutiny VI. iv. 400 His [sc. Fauré's] supreme disregard of public opinion is difficult to parallel in an age in which composers seek consolation for their lack of popular appreciation in the formation of cliques and the cultivation of a pert smart-alecism. 1958 Spectator 5 Sept. 306/2 Brouhaha remains a hodgepodge of smartaleckry aimed‥at the intellectual teddy-boy set. 1962 Listener 21 June 1091/3 A sophisticated bit of smart-aleckism like the ‘nine-minute opera’ Introductions and Goodbyes. 1965 New Statesman 30 Apr. 690/1 The last thing the Hansons go in for is the shrug of the shoulders or the smart-alecism—unless it's at the expense of psychoanalysing critics who‥suggest that Tchaikovsky was‥rather odd. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 10 July 8/3 She now writes regularly for New York magazine, though her cautious, measured manner of speaking doesn't seem to fit that magazine's usually brash, smart-alecky tone. 1981 Times Lit. Suppl. 6 Mar. 247/5 The various lists in the book have an air of Christmas competition-setting smart-aleckry.

Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary v4.7:

British National Corpus (BNC), Mark Davies (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/): smart alec, total 7; smart aleck, total 0

A suited smart alec, riding shotgun on rugby union's suddenly careering shamateur bandwagon, this week told a group of British international players that they should soon be able to charge £1,500 for a solitary interview.

It’s difficult to believe that he was expelled from nursery school at the age of three for being a "smart alec".

The Barbarians were knocking round Britain for 1,000 years or so, beating up each other and generally being barbaric. Their hash was settled by the advent of the Romans who are credited with being cultural, organised and generally smart Alec.

Merton here really plays up his loutish commoner pose: the gloomy tabloid man, violently opposed to Hislop's irritating broadsheet smart alec.

Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), Mark Davies (http:// www.americancorpus.org/): smart alec, total 7; smart aleck, total 49

Jack considers what the smart aleck said.

If there's such a thing as a congenital smart aleck, Rachel Mosteller is it.

Then the little smart aleck nearly chokes on the smoke.

What if, instead of a ruler to rap knuckles, your worst nightmare of a teacher had a pistol in her pocket? The occasional incorrigible smart aleck might have ended up in the big principal's office in the sky.

I was the bright schoolgirl, Daddy's little girl also something of a smart aleck, like Daddy himself.

Five years old and already a smart aleck.

And I was being a smart aleck and said,' Who are you going after? "

In her retirement Jane's mother has become a smart aleck.

I could be as big a smart aleck as anyone, but I'd rather make light of things.

He was about to be a smart aleck, but I stopped him dead in his tracks.

Cutting a sideways, smart aleck smile in his cheek. Weaze pulls a gun and shoots Bones.

If I ever got to be a little too much of a smart aleck, my mom and dad would probably just knock me right over and say,' You better shape up, girl.'

The Jesus invented by the Jesus Seminar is a Palestinian smart aleck who sounds like a cynical and sarcastic intellectual.

By 1971 they were starring in the Sonny Cher Comedy Hour, the CBS variety show that brought a jokey, mass-market, safe feminism to TV as Sonny played emasculated buffoon to Cher's smart aleck.

The high point is a clever twist to some of the TV ads, in which smart- alec experts get shown up by excited Pontiac drivers.

My companion project: An Idiom a Day (www.twitter.com/AVDemid) : Smart alec(k): That would be me, I’m afraid--and not only because I’m called Alexander.

Poetry: To My Wife on Her 34th Birthday

To My Wife on Her 34th Birthday

Perfect size at perfect age.

Pretty eyes that do engage.

Perfect weight and perfect waist.

Model mate, pure and chaste.

Perfect hair, perfect skin.

Nonchalant air, a Cheshire grin.

Yet life is not in harmony:

A perfect wife--imperfect me.

Idioms: in the aisles

Check out my companion project: An Idiom a Day (www.twitter.com/AVDemid)

Idiom(s) of the day: roll in the aisles

Variation(s): rock/reel/laugh in the aisles; have/knock/lay/send sb (rolling/reeling) in the aisles

My category (Russian-to-English translation): Счастье (Happiness)

Explanation(s):

Collins Cobuild Dictionary of Idioms, 2004 (CCDI):

If you say that people in an audience or group are rolling in the aisles, you mean that they are laughing so much at something that they find it hard to stop.

Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):

Babylon (www.babylon.com):

an audience that is laughing or rolling in the aisles is laughing a lot

Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary v4.7:

(of an audience) convulsed with laughter.

Translation(s):

CCDI:

Смеяться, хохотать до упаду; хвататься за бока, животики (от смеха, со смеха).

Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):

привести зрителей в восторг, вызвать бурю восторга; произвести фурор, иметь большой успех у кого-л; насмешить, развеселить кого-л

Babylon (www.babylon.com):

Multitran (www.multitran.ru):

заставить публику кататься со смеху; насмешить публику до слез (have the public rolling in the aisles)

нечто, сказанное со сцены, что заставляет публику "умирать" от смеха (in the aisles)

покорить аудиторию талантом (knock (lay) them in the aisles)

производить на людей приятное впечатление

аплодирующий и веселящийся (rolling in the aisles)

Multilex (www.multilex.ru):

Examples:

CCDI:

It’s all good knockout stuff that has them rolling in the aisles.

On the evidence so far, it’s unlikely that the story-lines will have us reeling in the aisles.

Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):

We looked forward to a school play which would really lay them in the aisles. (‘Times’) — Мы с нетерпением ждали такой пьесы для школьников, которая действительно привела бы их в восторг.

Take an old tune, come up with some snappy new lyrics... We'd lay 'em in the aisles from coast to coast. (E. O'Connor, ‘The Last Hurrah’, part III, ch. XII) — Возьмем модные душещипательные стишки и будем петь их на старый мотив... Увидишь, какой это будет иметь фурор от побережья до побережья.

I made the speech of a lifetime. I had them tearing up the seats and rolling in the aisles. (P. G. Wodehouse, ‘Quick Service’, ch. XII) — Такую речь произносят только раз в жизни. Мои слушатели пришли в восторг и повскакали с мест.

‘Whacko!,’ she said critically looking at herself in the mirror. ‘That ought to lay 'em in the aisles.’ Though she said "them", she thought "him". (D. Cusack. ‘Picnic Races’, ch. 13) — - Шикарно! - воскликнула Иден, придирчиво рассматривая себя в зеркало. - Увидев меня, они попадают в обморок. Иден сказала "они", но думала она лишь об одном человеке.

‘Leave everything to me,’ he said. ‘I'll lay 'em in the aisles.’ (E. O'Connor, ‘The Last Hurrah’, part I, ch. V) — - О гостях позабочусь я, - сказал Кьюк. - Уж я их развеселю.

The way he tells these jokes will knock them in the aisles — Все буквально стонут от того, как он рассказывает свои анекдоты

I was splendid as a public speaker and laid them in the aisles — Как оратор я был просто великолепен, и слушатели были от меня просто в восторге

He had them rolling in the aisles — Публика от его выступления покатывалась со смеху

That should lay them in the aisles — Это должно произвести настоящий фурор

That performer usually has them rolling in the aisles — Публика всегда восторженно принимает этого актера

The audience was rolling in the aisles — Зрители покатывались со смеху

Babylon (www.babylon.com):

Oxford English Dictionary (OED) v4.0:

b.5.b Colloq. phr. to have, lay, send (people) (rolling) in the aisles: to make (an audience) laugh uncontrollably; to be a great theatrical success. Also transf.

1940 Wodehouse Quick Service xii. 136, I made the speech of a lifetime. I had them tearing up the seats and rolling in the aisles. 1943 D. W. Brogan Eng. People vii. 202 This trick had the population, white and coloured, rolling in the aisles. 1954 N. Coward Future Indef. i. 17 This, to use a theatrical phrase, had them in the aisles! In fact, two of my inquisitors laughed until they cried. 1959 Sunday Express 11 Oct. 6/5 A book that sends my English friends rolling in the aisles. 1959 Times 14 Dec. 13/4 We looked forward to a school play which would really lay them in the aisles.

Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary v4.7:

British National Corpus (BNC), Mark Davies (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/): in the aisles, total 28

It's going to knock them in the aisles.

A teller of tall tales has been brought in to help would-be vicars keep the congregation rolling in the aisles.

But her vast collection of hoary old Jewish jokes, most of them pinched from the Dead Sea Scrolls, are greeted with paroxysms of guffaws and rolling in the aisles.

Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), Mark Davies (http:// www.americancorpus.org/): in the aisles, total 136

The ironic remark, he wrote, "rolled them in the aisles."

His grand finale was, and this supposedly laid them in the aisles, an impersonation of Mock Duck firing his guns blindly until he would roll over, ass over teakettle.

At the end of Pete's speeches, when he had them laid out in the aisles, he would suddenly switch gears and turn to a poem entitled Rules for the Game of Life.

Riley thought of them holding their stomachs and merrily convulsing in the aisles.

He fetched and carried around the mayor's house in the daytime, and rolled audiences in the aisles at night.

My companion project: An Idiom a Day (www.twitter.com/AVDemid):

Always use your wiles

To rock ’em, shock ‘em,

Send ‘em reeling in the aisles.

Use a lot of styles

To move, unlock ‘em

Have ‘em laughing in the aisles

Want their faces lit with smiles?

Do your best to mock ‘em,

Sock it to them in the aisles.

Let the folks forget their piles

And convulse with laughter

When they read your files.

Have ‘em rolling in the aisles

Once your jokes knock’ em

Lay ‘em out in the aisles.