Every Saturday I’ll give you a couple of idioms to learn. An idiom is a saying or phrase whose meaning cannot be taken from the literal meanings of the words.
cut back: to use fewer or less of something, especially with regards to spending.
Example:
To survive the rough economy, the company had to cut back its workforce by a hundred employees.
hard sell: to use an aggressive sales pitch.
Example:
Even though I said I wasn’t interested, the telemarketer kept on with his hard sell.