stand on one’s (own) feet — to act or behave independently [answers]

On ‘The Practice’, new evidence suggests that Bob’s client indeed commits the murder. Bob asks his colleague to take over the case, since he has been emotionally involved with the client. He says: “I cannot stand on my feet and do the closing.”

lay off — to stop doing or using something [thefreedict]

On ‘The Practice’, the lawyer, Bob, falls in love with his attractive-looking client. This client is accused of the murder charge but claims she kills out of self-defense. Bob goes ballistic for none of his colleagues believing that she is innocent. “Lay off,” one colleague tries to appease him, “We are on your side.”

dredge up — mention something unpleasant from the past [dict]

On ‘Monk’, a film company decided to shoot a film for the great detective Monk. To better act out his part, the “Monk” actor carefully observed the real Monk in life, mimicking his every movement and following his every thought. Eventually he developed an illusion that he himself was Monk, and started desperately looking for the killer who murdered Trudy, Monk’s long deceased wife. This, however, all reminded Monk of the painful memories when Trudy died years ago. Monk complained to his psychiatric doctor: “This guy dredged up all my feelings.”

not give a rat’s ass — don’t care at all [thefreedict]

On ‘Two and a half man’, Alan complained to Charlie that his life had been manipulated by Judith, his ex-wife, even after divorce. He was upset with himself being such a soft touch. Then Judith came to pick up Jake. Charlie spurred Alan to take this opportunity to change and stand up to Judith’s face. So when asked to bring Jake, Alan replied to Judith: “No. I won’t. If that makes you unhappy with me, I don’t give a rat’s ass.”

low hanging fruit — a task that is done easily [urban dict]

For a researcher, publishing papers is important. It matters on the paper quality, and the quantity as well. However, it is not always easy to strike a balance between the two. A good paper requires a lot of thoughts and takes a long time to write. On the other hand, working on an easy topic, one can produce a batch of papers in a short time, making their resumes look impressive. A professor advised us to avoid the later, and said: “Those people only pick the low hanging fruit“.

push a button — provoke [see push buttons]

On ‘Will and Grace’, during a quarrel, someone called Will “dumbass”. Jack immediately jumped to Will’s defence and shouted: “How dare you call my friend dumb. If you’re looking to push a button, call him chunky.”

out of sight, out of mind — you don’t think about it when you can no longer see it [GoEnglish]

On ‘Monk’, Monk came to like the life of being blind. He used to be deeply disturbed by dust, disorder, and filthy things, but now was no longer bothered by those. “Out of sight, out of mind,” he said with contentment.

be dealt a bad hand — receive bad cards in a card game; receive disadvantages in something [Idiom Connect]

On ‘Monk’, someone poured acid liquid onto Monk’s face before running away from the crime scene. Monk was blinded by this surprise attack. Not able to see anything for many days, he became very despondent and felt no hope. His assistant encouraged him: “You cannot give up just because you’d been dealt a bad hand.”

know someone in a biblical way — to have sexual intercourse [urbandict]

A guy in my group was amused by the story of “be intimate with“. He told me an equivalent phrase: know someone. “Adding ‘in a biblical way‘ makes the meaning more explicit,” he continued to explain, “This phrase is traced back to the biblical story that Adam had a baby with his wife Eve.”

From the King James version of the Bible: “And Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived and bare Cain and said I have gotten a man from the LORD.”

beer muscles — false bravado; Dutch courage; the powers one imagines one has after one has consumed 19 pints of beer [urbandict]

On ‘Two and a half man’, after drinking at a bar, Alan and Charlie took a taxi home. In the taxi, they kept complaining to the driver that their mother ruined their lives for being draconian in their childhood. “We have to stand up to her,” Alan exclaimed. Charlie was amused and mocked his brother: “Look who has got beer muscles all of the sudden.”

(and then Alan took a violent shit right in the cab, blowing the glass out of the windows and crippling every electronic device … continue)

rain check — A promise that an unaccepted offer will be renewed in the future [dict]

A guy declined an invitation to a dinner, because the time was not suitable. He said:” Sorry for that. How about a rain check.”

give/care a toss (often + about) — to not be worried about or interested in someone or something [thefreedict]

In our weekly meeting, someone described the change of thefts over time. “It used to be the case that thieves stole car radios,” he said, “but now nobody gives a toss.”

go overboard — To go to extremes, especially as a result of enthusiasm. [dict]

On ‘Lucky Louie’, Tim controls Louie’s diet, not letting him eat fatty foods. So Louie locks himself up in the toilet to eat a creamy cake. After Tim finds out this, she tells Louie that he can eat whatever he wants, but on one condition: he must eat in front of her. “Maybe if you don’t have to eat in secret any more,” she says to Louie, “you won’t go so overboard.”

back to square one — start from the beginning again [UseEnglish]

On ‘Monk’, Monk faces a stalemate in solving a crime. He says: “Now let’s go back to square one.” He then goes back to the crime scene and reexamines every detail.

out of commission — Not in working order, unable to function [dict]

I just finished a paper and sent sent it to someone for comments. He told me that he was recovering from a surgery, and “slightly out of commission“. I wish him the best and his recovery.