forlorn	lonely and unhappy, uncared
to honk	to make a sound produced by a horn (car)
plaintive	sounding sad, sorrowful
to protrude	to stick out
whereupon	after which/ and then
to frustrate	to spoil, to prevent sb from completing sth
to have clout with sb	to have influence, power on sb
predicament	a difficult situation
to maul	to ravage, to wound, to maim, to touch sb in an unpleasant, violent way
to sack	to steal or destroy property in a captured place
to leave sb to his own devices	to let sb do what he wants
to be instrumental in sth	to be the means of bringing sth about
to emulate	to try to do one's best or as well as sb else
to beset	to surround
to meet sb halfway	to come to an agreement/compromise
to let your hair down	to relax and enjoy yourself
to make/lose money hand over fist	to acquire/lose a lot of money very quickly
to give sb a free hand	to allow sb to do as he wishes
off hand	(to know sth) without asking or looking it up
to have to hand it to sb	to admire sb and think he deserves praise
to keep out of harm's way	to keep out of danger
to fly off the handle	to lose your temper very suddenly
to do sth at the drop of a hat	to be willing to do sth/ to do sth very quickly
not to make head nor tail of sth	not to understand
to make headway	to make progress
to take heart from sth	to feel encouraged by or optimistic about sth
to make a hash of sth	to do sth very badly
to one's heart's content	as much/as often as one wants
to strike home	(of a situation) to be accepted as real though it is painful/ to achieve the intended effect
after hours	outside regular business hours