too clever by half

too clever by half
разг.; ирон.
(too clever (good, etc.) by half)
слишком уж умён (хорош и. т. д.)

Know his paper - best of the weeklies; but too clever by half. (J. Galsworthy, ‘The Silver Spoon’, part II, ch. IV) — Знаю его еженедельник - один из лучших. Но слишком умничает.

Billy: "Don't worry, old man - you look gorgeous." Reg (turning): "Oh, it's you, is it?" Billy: "All ready for the ball and chain?" Reg: "You're too bloody cheerful by half." (N. Coward, ‘This Happy Breed’, act II, sc. 1) — Билли: "Не беспокойся, старина. У тебя отличный вид." Рег (обернувшись) : "А, это ты?" Билли: "Готовишься надеть цепи брака?" Рег: "что-то ты не в меру развеселился, черт подери!"

As a rule even when we were on opposite sides, he thought me sensible about people. This time he was dismissing me as too clever by half. (C. P. Snow, ‘The Affair’, ch. 27) — Как правило, даже если мы с Брауном оказывались в разных лагерях, он всегда отдавал должное моему умению верно судить о людях. Но на этот раз он не стал слушать, что я говорю, решив, что я слишком уж забрался в дебри.

‘That young woman's too cocky by half,’ Japp complained. (A. Christie, ‘Murder in the Mews’, ch. IV) — - Какая развязная молодая особа, - пожаловался Джепп.


Большой англо-русский фразеологический словарь. - М.: «Русский язык-Медиа».. 2006.

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Смотреть что такое "too clever by half" в других словарях:

  • too clever by half — informal annoyingly proud of one s cleverness, and liable to overreach oneself. → clever …   English new terms dictionary

  • be too clever by half — British to be too confident of your own intelligence in a way that annoys other people. At school he had a reputation for arrogance. Too clever by half was how one former teacher described him …   New idioms dictionary

  • too eager by half — too clever/eager/cocky/etc by half british spoken phrase used for showing that you do not approve of someone because they are clever enthusiastic confident etc in a way that annoys you People regularly accuse him of being too clever by half.… …   Useful english dictionary

  • too cocky by half — too clever/eager/cocky/etc by half british spoken phrase used for showing that you do not approve of someone because they are clever enthusiastic confident etc in a way that annoys you People regularly accuse him of being too clever by half.… …   Useful english dictionary

  • too clever by half — British informal, showing disapproval very confident about your intelligence and skills in a way that annoys people …   English dictionary

  • too clever by half — …   Useful english dictionary

  • too...by half — too…by half chiefly Brit informal used to say that someone or something has too much of a particular quality usually in a way that is annoying an arrogant politician who is too clever by half • • • Main Entry: ↑half …   Useful english dictionary

  • half */*/*/ — UK [hɑːf] / US [hæf] adjective, adverb, noun, number, predeterminer, pronoun Word forms half : singular half plural halves UK [hɑːvz] / US [hævz] Summary: Half can be used in the following ways: as a predeterminer (followed by a word such as a ,… …   English dictionary

  • half — [[t]hɑ͟ːvz, AM hæ̱vz[/t]] ♦ halves 1) FRACTION Half of an amount or object is one of two equal parts that together make up the whole number, amount, or object. They need an extra two and a half thousand pounds to complete the project... More than …   English dictionary

  • clever — adj. 1 (esp. BrE) having intelligence; having skill or ability VERBS ▪ be, seem, sound ADVERB ▪ extremely, fairly, very, etc …   Collocations dictionary

  • clever — [[t]kle̱və(r)[/t]] ♦♦♦ cleverer, cleverest 1) ADJ GRADED Someone who is clever is intelligent and able to understand things easily or plan things well. He s a very clever man... My sister was always a lot cleverer than I was... Her mother was… …   English dictionary


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