crawl out of the woodwork
- crawl out of the woodwork
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to suddenly appear after a long time, especially for unpleasant reasons
After his lottery win, several old friends came crawling out of the woodwork.
Thesaurus: to appear slightly, suddenly or temporarily
synonym
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crawl out of the woodwork — see
↑woodwork
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come/crawl out of the ˈwoodwork idiom
(informal, disapproving) if you say that sb comes/crawls out of the woodwork, you mean that they have suddenly appeared in order to express an opinion or to take advantage of a situation
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When he won the lottery, all sorts of distant relatives came out of the woodwork.
Useful english dictionary.
2012.
Look at other dictionaries:
crawl out of the woodwork — come/crawl out of the woodwork to appear after being hidden or not active for a long time, especially in order to do something unpleasant. After you ve been in a relationship for a long while, all sorts of little secrets start to come out of the… … New idioms dictionary
come/crawl out of the woodwork — disapproving ◇ If people come/crawl out of the woodwork, they appear suddenly, usually because they see an opportunity to get something for themselves. As soon as she won the lottery, people started coming out of the woodwork, asking for money. • … Useful english dictionary
come out of the woodwork — come/crawl/out of the woodwork phrase to suddenly appear after a long time, especially for unpleasant reasons After his lottery win, several old friends came crawling out of the woodwork. Thesaurus: to appear slightly, suddenly or… … Useful english dictionary
come out of the woodwork — come/crawl out of the woodwork to appear after being hidden or not active for a long time, especially in order to do something unpleasant. After you ve been in a relationship for a long while, all sorts of little secrets start to come out of the… … New idioms dictionary
come out of the woodwork — When things come out of the woodwork, they appear unexpectedly. ( Crawl out of the woodwork is also used.) … The small dictionary of idiomes
woodwork — [wood′wʉrk΄] n. 1. work done in wood 2. things made of wood, esp. the interior moldings, doors, stairs, etc. of a house come out of the woodwork or crawl out of the woodwork Informal to come out of hiding or obscurity [candidates continued to… … English World dictionary
woodwork — noun (U) 1 BrE wood work.ing AmE the skill or activity of making wooden objects 2 the parts of a house or room that are made of wood: The woodwork needs painting. 3 crawl/come out of the woodwork if people you don t like crawl out of the woodwork … Longman dictionary of contemporary English
woodwork — UK [ˈwʊdˌwɜː(r)k] / US [ˈwʊdˌwɜrk] noun [uncountable] 1) a) the wooden parts of a house or room, for example the doors, the frames around windows etc freshly painted woodwork b) informal the frame of a goal, especially in football McLean s shot… … English dictionary
woodwork — wood|work [ wud,wɜrk ] noun uncount 1. ) the wooden parts of a house or room, for example the doors, the frames around windows, etc.: freshly painted woodwork a ) INFORMAL the frame of a goal, especially in soccer 2. ) the activity or skill of… … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
woodwork — wood|work [ˈwudwə:k US wə:rk] n [U] 1.) BrE woodwork|ing AmE [ˈwudwə:kıŋ US ə:r ] the skill or activity of making wooden objects →↑carpentry 2.) the parts of a house or room that are made of wood 3.) crawl/come out of the woodwork if someone… … Dictionary of contemporary English
