Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug Chronicles: Cloaks & Daggers

to study so his father stopped his allowance; that clipped his wings./ [cloak-and-dagger]{adj.} Of or about spies and secret agents. /It was a cloak-and-dagger story about some spies who tried to steal atomic secrets./ /The book was written by a retired colonel who used to take part in cloak-and-dagger plots./ (From the wearing of cloaks and daggers by people in old adventure stories.) Compare: BLOOD AND THUNDER. [clock] See: AGAINST TIME or AGAINST THE CLOCK, AROUND THE CLOCK or THE CLOCK AROUND, PUT BACK THE CLOCK or TURN BACK THE CLOCK, GO LIKE CLOCKWORK or GO OFF LIKE CLOCKWORK, TURN THE CLOCK BACK. [clock watcher]{n. phr.}, {informal} A worker who always quits at once when it is time; a man who is in a hurry to leave his job. /When Ted got his first job, his father told him to work hard and not be a clock watcher./ [close at hand]{adj. phr.} Handy; close by; within ones range. /My calendar isnt close at hand, so I cant tell you whether we can come next week or not./ /I always keep my pencils and erasers close ...»