медведь
medvéd’
bear (animal)

Example sentences:

Если встретишь медведя, притворись мёртвым.
If you should meet a bear, pretend to be dead.

В России снег идет не все время, и медведи там по улицам тоже не бегают.
It doesn’t snow the whole time through in Russia and there are also no bears running in the streets.

Не дели шкуру неубитого медведя.
Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched.(Lit. Don’t divide the pelt of the bear not yet killed.)

утка
útka
1. duck
2. bedpan
3. false information

Example sentences:

Она́ прожо́рлива, как у́тка!
She’s as gluttonous as a pig (lit., duck)!

лучше

lúchshe

superior, better

Example sentence:

Одна голова - хорошо, а две - лучше.

Two heads are better than one. (One mind is good, but two are better.)

[brat’ s potolka]

To take something from the ceiling.

To allege something without sufficient factual grounds; to say something without thinking, at random.

Cf. To make something up; to talk through one’s hat.

[brat’ pod krylyshko]

To take someone under one’s little wing.

To give someone every care and attention; to put someone under one’s protection.

Cf. To take someone under one’s wing.

[brat’ za s’ertse/dushu]

To take someone by the heart/soul.

To excite, to move or touch deeply; to cause anxiety.

Cf. To pull at someone’s heartstrings; to touch someone’s heart.

[boyattsa sobstvennoi t’eni]

To be afraid of one’s own shadow.

To be unreasonably nervous due to groundless and trivial fears.

Cf. To be afraid of one’s own shadow.

[bol’noy vopros]

A sore question.

An urgent problem that is difficult to solve.

Cf. A sore point.

[bol’noye m’esto]

A sore spot.

A matter that easily upsets one or about which one is sensitive; something that causes anxiety.

Cf. A sore/tender spot; a touchy subject.

[bluzhdat’ v pot’ornkakh]

To grope in the dark.

To be without knowledge in some particular matter; to understand something vaguely; to act blindly.

Cf. To be in the dark about something.

[bittsa kak ryba ob l’od]

To beat against the ice like a fish.

To struggle desperately.

Cf. To pull the devil by the tail.

[bit’ kl’uchom]

To well up, to bubble.

To be in full operation; to proceed in a lively manner.

Cf. To boil over; to be in full swing.

[bit’ v odnu tochku]

To keep striking the same spot.

To concentrate one’s efforts on one thing in seeking to attain a specific goal.

[b’elaya vorona]

A white crow.

Someone unusual, extraordinary; not like others; an outsider.

Cf. Rara avis.

БЕЗ СУЧКА БЕЗ ЗАДОРИНКИ

[b’es suchka b’ez zadorinki]

Without a snag, without any unevenness or roughness.

Without any obstruction, difficulty or complication; smoothly.

Cf. Without a hitch; like clockwork.