to milk sb out of sth	to extract money dishonestly
to rock the boat	to do sth that upsets the balance of sth
to swim against the tide	not to accept sb's behaviour or opinion
to lionize sb	to treat sb as a celebrity
a load of old cobbles	nonsense, rubbish
felicitous	well-chosen (of words)
to fly off the handle	to lose one's temper
to be on the blink	to show signs of breaking down
to hold the fort	to take over sb's duties when he's away
to go west (of hopes)	to fail, to deteriorate
to come unstruck	to fail
spend-thrift	sb who squanders money easily
conversant with	having knowledge of, familiar with
to cuddle	to hold sb lovingly in one's arms
to commence	to start
to heave	to lift sth heavy
to thwart	to prevent, to frustrate
to get one's dander up	to annoy, to irritate
thick-skinned	insensitive
to come out of one's shell	to stop being shy, to socialise
to give the slip	to escape
to pull a few strings	to use one's contacts
to hit the sack	to fall asleep
to cut sb to the quick	to deeply hurt sb's feelings
golden handshake	money/gift given to sb who retires
to get one's foot in the door	to have a first introduction to a profession
to be in a quandary	to be confused, undecided
blithe	happy, carefree
to keep sb at bay	not to allow sb to come closer
to put sb in the picture	to cause sb to be full informed
to play second fiddle	to be less important than sb else
to wait in the wings	to be ready to do sth and to wait
punter	sb who is easily deceived
unabashed	not worried about possible criticism
overbearing	bossy, domineering
to hide skeletons	to have some secrets
wrangle	a noisy argument
to stall	to delay, to avoid giving a definite answer
just the job	the exact thing needed
to facilitate	to make sth easier
by all accounts	all people say so
to relinquish	to renounce, to give up, to abandon
to vacillate	to sway, to keep changing your opinion
to defuse	to reduce the tension
demise	death/ complete failure
to crack down on	to try to control sth undesirable
fraught with	full of
to gloss over	to treat sth briefly
secluded	far away from commotion