Figurative Expressions

verb to collapse or fall over suddenly, especially as a result of exhaustion or illness

• The sailor keeled over from exhaustion after hours of rowing.
• I thought I was going to keel over from laughter during the comedy show.
• If I eat any more of this spicy food, I'm going to keel over!
• The news of his sudden death made her feel like she was going to keel over.

noun a word used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things

verb a word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence

adverb a word or phrase that modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb

pronoun a word that can function by itself as a noun phrase and that refers either to the participants in the discourse (e.g., I, you) or to someone or something mentioned elsewhere in the discourse (e.g., she, it, this)

preposition a word governing, and usually preceding, a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element in the clause

conjunction a word used to connect clauses or sentences or to coordinate words in the same clause

interjection an exclamation, especially as a part of speech

article a word that is used with a noun to specify grammatical definiteness of the noun

• The company's sudden decision to cut the legs out from under its employees left many without a stable source of income.
• I can't believe they kicked the legs out from under us like that, without any warning.
• She really cut my legs out from under me when she spread that rumor about me.
• The unexpected betrayal by his closest friend felt like having the legs kicked out from under him.