pants off, the

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This phrase is used to intensify the meaning of verbs such as bore or charm or kid or scare or talk. For example, That speech bored the pants off us, or It was a real tornado and scared the pants off me. Playwright Eugene O'Neill used it in Ah, Wilderness! (1933): “I tell you, you scared the pants off him,” and Evelyn Waugh, in A Handful of Dust (1934), had a variation, “She bores my pants off.” [Colloquial; early 1900s] Also see bore to death; beat the pants off.

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“Was” is used for the indicative past tense of “to be,” and “were” is only used for the subjunctive past tense.

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A far-off volley rumbled over the plain, and a few birds stirred uneasily among the trees.
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I drew back from the rim of Writing-On-the-Stone, that set of whispered phrases echoing in my ears.
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pants off, the

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Example sentences from the Web for pants off, the