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Phrases related to: a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down

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a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go downAn otherwise unpleasant situation can be pleasant when a pleasant aspect is deliberately introduced.1999, Eli Yassif, The Hebrew Folktale: History, Genre, Meaning, Indiana University Press, ISBN 0253335833, page 372,One is known as the "sweetening parable," that is to say a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Thus, when the aim is to preach to the people, to guide them along the "bitter," arduous path of upholding burdensome precepts and prohibitions, a tale can lighten the load, make the "medicine" easier "to swallow."2001, Maureen Reagan, First Father, First Daughter: A Memoir, Little, Brown, ISBN 0316736368, page 319,It put some fun into the tedious business of preparing for a presidential debate. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, right?2004, John Hoover, How to Work for an Idiot: Survive & Thrive... Without Killing Your Boss, Career Press, ISBN 1564147045, page 11,If a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, a barrel of laughs can wash down the big pills you might need to swallow.Rate it:

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sugar glider or sugar bearA small gliding marsupial often kept as a pet. Looks like a rodent. Known for being carried in owners’ pockets and other concealed places.Rate it:

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every little helpsEven the smallest things are helpful when towards a goal.Rate it:

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god helps those who help themselvesFortune comes to those who make a genuine effort to accomplish things.Rate it:

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heaven helps those who help themselvesA maxim encouraging people to get involved in their own problems.Rate it:

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laughter is the best medicineIt is healthy to laugh.Rate it:

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socialized medicineA politically charged term used to contrast such systems with free market alternatives and emphasize the perceived link to socialism.Rate it:

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Dose of One's Own MedicineThe same or a similar unpleasantness revert back to someone that has been giving othersRate it:

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medicine bladderA large weighted ball used in boxing to strenghten the arms.Rate it:

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medicine mansharmanRate it:

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socialized medicineAn umbrella term for any system of government-run health care.Rate it:

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taste of one's own medicineHarsh treatment inflicted on one who previously inflicted similar or equivalent treatment on others.Rate it:

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sugar and spiceExcerpt from a common nursery rhyme "What are little girls made of?"Rate it:

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pretty please with sugar on topExaggerated form of please or pretty please.Rate it:

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sugar coatedAlternative spelling of sugarcoated. (altered to seem better than it really is, made more attractive.)Rate it:

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sugar daddyReference to an older or elderly male adult seen in the company of a female much younger. The judgement of bystanders is; the female is mainly interested in the financial benefits to her lifestyle in this pairing:Rate it:

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sugar offTo reduce maple sap by boiling to make maple syrup, maple sugar or maple toffee.Rate it:

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sugar pillUsed other than as an idiom: see sugar, pill.Rate it:

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sugar pillA placebo medication.Rate it:

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sugar substituteA replacement for sugar.Rate it:

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argue downTo win an argument, verbal conflict or debate.Rate it:

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blow downTo knock over with an air current, most often wind.Rate it:

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buttoned-downAlternative form of button-down.Rate it:

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chow downTo eat, especially to eat vigorously.Rate it:

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cry downto cry until it is tired.Rate it:

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cut down to sizeDiminish the prestige or exaggerated importance of someone or something to reduce (them) to a suitable stature; To humble or humiliateRate it:

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dampen downto reduce the intensity ofRate it:

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down the drainWasted, squandered; irretrievable.Rate it:

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Down the HatchTo drink something quicklyRate it:

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down to a fine artHaving or showing exceptional proficiency.Rate it:

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down to the wireAt the very end of a process or project, especially one with a fast-approaching deadline.Rate it:

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down with his apple-cartKnock or throw him down.Rate it:

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hands downWithout much effort; easily.Rate it:

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hold downTo restrain; to check.Rate it:

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Look Down Your Nose at SomeoneTo look down upon people, to treat people inferior or lowRate it:

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on the down-lowIn secret.Rate it:

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pin downTo attach or secure with pins.Rate it:

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pipe downTo be quiet; to refrain from being noisy.Rate it:

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play downTo make or attempt to make something seem less important, likely, or obvious.Rate it:

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power downTo switch off.Rate it:

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put down forTo record that someone has offered to help, or contribute something.Rate it:

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put down rootsTo do things which show that one wishes to stay put.Rate it:

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shut downTo close, terminate, or end.Rate it:

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sit downTo cause to be seated or in a sitting posture; to furnish a seat to.Rate it:

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strip downTo remove all of one's clothing.Rate it:

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when the chips are downA difficult situation in which you are forced to decide what is important to you.Rate it:

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boil downAs an allusion to the cooking technique of reducing liquids by heat, one boils down a problem, argument, etc. to its most central elements.Rate it:

(4.71 / 7 votes)
come down to earthTo be brought back to reality; to lose one's dreams.Rate it:

(4.67 / 3 votes)
hail downto appear inexplicablyRate it:

(4.67 / 3 votes)
take downTo remove something from a wall or similar vertical surface to which it is fixed.Rate it:

(4.67 / 6 votes)

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