Pairs #24

Pure and simple. Plain and unadorned.

Run and gun. 1. (basketball) To move the ball quickly and shoot often. 2. (idiomatic) To do something hastily and with great energy.

Boom and zoom. A fighter aircraft maneuver used when the attacker has a significant altitude advantage over the defender.

Tick and toy. (obsolete) To waste time; to dally or idle.

Arms and legs. The upper and lower limbs of certain mammals.

Signs and wonders. (religion) Especially in Pentecostalism and some charismatic movements, the belief that experiences thought to be miraculous are normative.

Fortnum & Mason. An upmarket London department store.

Chip and gather. (rugby) A maneuver in which a player gains ground by kicking the ball high and forward, runs forward, and catches the ball as it drops back down.

Ball and stick. 1. (education) A style of handwriting in which the letters are not joined and feature straight lines and circular arcs; block letters. 2. (chemistry) The representation of chemical substances in a three-dimensional way using ball-and-stick models.

Blood and ashes. (rare) Expression of frustration.

Forgive and forget. (idiomatic) To absolve somebody completely for a past wrongdoing; to pardon with neither resentment nor a view to retribution.

Time and material. (idiomatic, business) A form of contractual compensation involving payment for materials used and at agreed rates for those involved in performing the services.

Top and tail. 1. To add to the beginning and end of (something), such as the salutation and valediction added to a letter. 2. To remove the top and bottom of (an item), for example when preparing carrots for cooking. 3. (colloquial) To bathe (a small child) in a minimal way by wiping its face and bottom.

Hire and fire. To exercise the authority to add or dismiss staff.

Bow and arrow. A weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string and a projectile consisting of a shaft, a point and a tail with stabilizing fins.

Arts and letters. The fine arts and literature, considered together.

Cap and trade. A market-based approach to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in emissions, participating companies being assigned an emissions quota that can be traded with others if not used.

Care and feeding. Maintenance and sustenance (of something, organic or otherwise).

Bright and early. (idiomatic, originally US) (Very) early in the morning.

Hither and thither. To one place after another; in different directions.

Pump and dump. (finance) A form of financial fraud where the fraudster buys stocks cheaply, generates excitement about those stocks to create a temporary price increase, then sells the stocks before the price goes back down.

Wild and woolly. 1. Uncouth in appearance or behaviour. 2. (of theories, plans, etc) Not fully thought out.

Skin and bones. Emaciated or very thin, as from lack of nutrition.

Be-all and end-all. (idiomatic) Something considered to be of the utmost importance; something essential or ultimate.