In adverbials of the type как + adjective (КАК ОШПАРЕННЫЙ ‘as if one had been scalded’) and как + noun (КАК БАРАН ‘like a mule’), the adjective and noun, respectively, are always in the nominative case. Therefore such idioms are described as “nom only.” These idioms are co-referential with the subject (or, less commonly, the object), and their adjectival or nominal components must agree with the subject or object in gender (adjectives only) and number (both adjectives and nouns).
Quantifiers
Quantifiers may function as predicates and/or adverbials. Quantifiers that function predicatively are described as “quan-tit subj-compl” (quantitative subject-complement). Some predicative quantifiers can be used only with быть0 and are described as “quantit subj-compl with быть0.” Other predicative quantifiers can be used with a number of copular verbs and are described as “quantit subj-comp with copula.” For example, КОТ НАПЛАКАЛ ‘practically no. (at all)’ and ХОТЬ ЗАВАЛИСЬ ‘lots (a lot) of’ are described as “quantit subj-compl with copula.”
Quantifiers that function as adverbials—for example, КАК НА МАЛАНЬИНУ СВАДЬБУ ‘(cook) enough for an army’— are described as “adv (quantif).”
Interjections
The label “Interj” (interjection) describes idioms that express the speaker’s emotional attitude toward, or emotive evaluation of, the person, thing, situation, etc., in question. Interjections are syntactically independent structures that can express different, and sometimes even opposite, emotions depending on the context and the speaker’s intonation; for example, ЁЛКИ-ПАЛКИ can express annoyance, admiration, delight, surprise, and bewilderment, among others.
Formula Phrases
The label “formula phrase” describes situationally conditioned idioms used in communicative contexts. Such idioms are often referred to as “speech etiquette formulae” in Russian sources. They are used in greeting (СКОЛЬКО ЛЕТ, СКОЛЬКО ЗИМ! ‘it’s been ages!’), at parting (ВСЕГО ХОРОШЕГО (ДОБРОГО)! ‘all the best!’), when wishing someone something (СЧАСТЛИВОГО ПУТИ! ‘have a good trip!’), in making a request (БУДЬ ДОБР (БУДЬТЕ ДОБРЫ) ‘be so kind as to.’), in expressing gratitude (ПОКОРНО БЛАГОДАРЮ, sense 1, ‘I humbly thank you’), in responding to an expression of thanks (HE СТОИТ ‘don’t mention it’), and the like.
Sentential Idioms
Sentential idioms fall into three basic groups:
1) Idioms that need only a direct, indirect, or prepositional object to become a complete sentence. For example, in order to become a complete sentence, НОГИ НЕ ДЕРЖАТ кого ‘s.o.‘s legs won’t support him’ requires a direct object, and ВРЕМЯ РАБОТАЕТ на кого ‘time is on s.o.‘s side’ re-
quires a prepositional object. Such idioms are described as “VPsubj,” which means that they contain both the subject and the predicate (or part of the predicate).
2) Idioms that need быть0 or another copular verb (and often an object) to become a complete sentence. Such idioms are described as “VPsubj with быть0″ or “VPsubj with copula”; for example, ГАЙКА СЛАБА у кого ‘s.o. doesn’t have it in him (to do sth.)’ is described as “VPsubj with copula.”
3) Idioms that are complete sentences as they are listed. Such idioms are described as “sent.” This group includes numerous sayings, adages, and крылатые слова (“winged words”), as: БАБУШКА НАДВОЕ СКАЗАЛА ‘that remains to be seen’; РУКОПИСИ НЕ ГОРЯТ ‘manuscripts don’t burn’. Generally, such idioms can function in all or some of the following ways: as an independent sentence, as a clause in a compound sentence, or as the main or subordinate clause in a complex sentence. Exceptions are specified.
Sayings
All proverbs and sayings are described as “saying” since, for the purposes of this dictionary, the difference between a proverb and a saying is irrelevant.
Word order
When an idiom has a free order of elements, no reference to word order (WO) is made in the grammatical description. However, when an idiom has a fixed order of elements, it is described as “fixed WO,” as in КАЛАНЧА ПОЖАРНАЯ [.fixed WO] ‘beanpole’.
When the order of an idiom’s components can be changed only in rare cases, the idiom is described as “usu. this WO.”
When only one component of an idiom can change its position (and the rest cannot), this information is provided, as:
K-37 • ДОВОДИТЬ/ДОВЕСТИ ДО БЕЛОГО КАЛЕНИЯ... [.the verb may take the final position, otherwise fixed WO] to irritate s.o. past the limits of his endurance, make s.o. lose his self-control completely. Д-11 • ДОРОГО БЫ ДАЛ. [.fixed WO with бы movable] one would be willing to give up, sacrifice sth. of great value in order to get sth. he really wants or make some desired event happen.
In the second example the grammatical description shows that бы can be placed before ДОРОГО or after ДАЛ.
When the word order of a noun phrase can change only when the noun phrase is used in a specified syntactic function, this information is provided: for example, ВОЛЧИЙ АППЕТИТ [fixed WO except when used as VPsubj with copula] (as in Он ел с волчьим аппетитом ‘Не ate with a ravenous (voracious) appetite’, but Аппетит у него волчий ‘Не has a ravenous (voracious) appetite’).
Since “grammatical” idioms (conjunctions and prepositions) and hyphenated idioms always have fixed word order, the label “fixed WO” is not provided for them.
The labels “fixed WO” and “usu. this WO” apply to the idiom per se only and do not take into account placement of the copula, collocate(s), object(s), etc., whose typical placement is shown in patterns and citations.
It should be understood that even when a given idiom has fixed word order in standard literary and colloquial usage, this does not exclude its occasional use with a different word order in poetry, in utterances with shifted emphasis, or by an individ-
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ual speaker or author for stylistic purposes. Thus, the idioms ОТ ПОЛНОТЫ ДУШИ (СЕРДЦА) ‘from the fullness of one’s heart’ and НА ГОЛОДНЫЙ ЖЕЛУДОК ‘on an empty stomach’ are assigned the label “fixed WO” despite the existence of such well-known nineteenth-century citations as «Дай, обниму тебя от сердца полноты», “Let me embrace you now, from the fullness of my heart” (A.S. Griboedov) and «И кому же в ум пойдет на желудок петь голодный!», “And who would even think of singing on an empty stomach?” (I.A. Krylov).
Definitions and Usage Notes
The definition and, where applicable, usage note are placed directly after the grammatical brackets. When possible, the definition is presented in the same form as the defined Russian idiom, that is:
* as a noun phrase for a Russian noun phrase: ВЛАСТИТЕЛЬ ДУМ [NP.] ‘a person who has much influence on his contemporaries, an intellectual and spiritual leader’
* in the infinitive for a regular verb phrase presented in the infinitive: СЫГРАТЬ В ЯЩИК [VP.] ‘to die’
* as an adjective phrase for a Russian adjective phrase: ЦЕЛЫЙ И НЕВРЕДИМЫЙ (ЦЕЛ И НЕВРЕДИМ) [AdjP.] ‘unhurt, in fine condition’
* as an adverb for a Russian idiom functioning as an adverbiaclass="underline" НЕЖДАННО-НЕГАДАННО [AdvP.] ‘(to appear, arrive etc) suddenly, unexpectedly’
Idioms that function as sentences have sentential definitions; for example: БАБУШКА НАДВОЕ СКАЗАЛЛ. ‘it is yet unknown whether the event in question will happen or not (usu. the implication is that it will not happen)’.