Idioms explained
1. a peeping Tom
a man who secretly watches people (often women getting undressed)
through windows:
Jane reported the peeping Tom to the local police when she saw him at
her bedroom window.
2. earn an honest an penny
to earn money in a honest way:
Teaching may be hard work but at least I earn an honest penny.
2. Common expressions
1.not to have the ghost of a chance
(idiom/cliché) to have no possibility of success; used in fairly
informal contexts:
Bert doesn’t have the ghost of a chance of getting that job with his
qualifications.
Lisa hasn’t studied hard and doesn’t have the ghost of a chance of
passing the exam.
2. by fair means or foul
(cliché) in any possible way, whether this is honest and just or not;
used to indicate someone’s determination to do something:
George intends to get that job, by fair means or foul.
Joan has every intention of getting a place in the team, by fair means
or foul.
“Foul” as an adjective now usually means dirty, disgusting or very
unpleasant but in this context its meaning is similar to that of the
noun, an action which is against the rules of a game or sport:
The player was sent off the field for committing a foul.
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