** accept presents gracefully, without asking embarrassing questions // don't examine a gift critically for defects

** don't try to determine how much a gift is worth

** don't complain if a gift is not perfect

~~ don't look a given horse in the mouth.

!! The age of a horse can be roughly determined by examining the condition of its teeth. Looking inside a horse's mouth therefore will tell you if someone is passing off an old nag for a young colt. So it is considered poor manners to inspect a gift horse's teeth. By extension, it means you shouldn't inquire too closely into the value or cost of any gift.

!! This saying dates from St. Jerome's biblical commentary (C. 420 A.D.) on St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians.

>> Getting last-year's computer as a gift is good enough; we shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

>> Billy received a model airplane for his birthday but complained that his friend's model was much better. His mother told him not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

** stay hard at work // held to a task

** to slave continuously

** concentrated or compelled effort

~~ keep one's nose to the grindstone

!! This expression alludes to a tool that must be sharpened by being held to a grindstone.

!! John Frith wrote in A Mirrour to Knowe Thyselfe (1539): "This Text holdeth their noses to hard to the grindstone, that it clean disfigureth their faces."

!! Erasmus wrote in A Merry Dialogue (1557): "I would have holden his nose to the grindstone."

>> In order to meet the company's financial goal, the chief financial officer has to keep his nose to the grindstone.

>> Ralph keeps his nose to the grindstone, working two jobs at a time, so that he is able to save enough money to start his own business.

** completely // totally // all of it // everything

** without reservation, question or doubt

~~ swallow something hook, line, and sinker

!! The expression alludes to a hungry fish that takes in bait so completely that it gulps down not only the fisherman's baited hook but the sinker and the whole fishing line between them.

!! The term was first recorded in 1865 in the United States when Davy Crockett was telling tales of hungry fish that could not stand up to hard scrutiny.

!! In the late 1980s, Len Deighton used it in the titles of a series of three espionage novels involving complicated deceit: "Spy Hook, Spy Line, and Spy Sinker."

>> The inexperienced MBA who heads up this operation was so gullible that he bought everything the salesman told him, hook, line, and sinker.

>> During elections, the mayor stated his big promises so eloquently that many voters fell for them, hook, line, and sinker.

** give up // acknowledge defeat

** surrender

~~ throw in the sponge

!! The rule of boxing says that if a fighter's corner man throws any object into the ring while the fight is in progress, it is a sign of surrender. The reason for stopping the fight could be when he determines that his fighter has taken enough punishment and has no chance of winning. So throwing in the towel or sponge used to wipe the fighter's face both mean "surrender."

!! The color of a white towel, suggesting a white flag of surrender, has helped the "towel" variation endure.

!! The expression began in the 1860s and probably could date back to 18th-century England. Alexander Maclaren wrote in Philippians (1909): "If ever you are tempted to say ... 'I am beaten and I throw up the sponge,' remember Paul's wise exhortation." Later "up" was changed to "in."

>> When the chief executive officer heard that the venture capitalists would not fund his startup anymore, he threw in the towel and quit.

>> With only two chips remaining at the poker game, Sam finally decided to throw in the towel.