a swing and a miss - sincere but unsuccessful attempt - холостой замах битой:

Boy, that joke was a swing and a miss—not one person in the room laughed.

Ooh, a swing and a miss, huh, buddy? Well, there's plenty of other girls to hit on here—maybe one of them will give you their number.

Good luck to you—my last attempt to get a raise out of the boss was a swing and miss.

Petty cash - an accessible store of money kept by an organization for expenditure on small items.

Take the money for stamps out of petty cash.

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To rescind your apology - отозвать свои извинения

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fall on (one's) sword - to accept the responsibility or blame for a problem or mistake. Likened to the former practice of a soldier using his sword to take his own life for such a misdeed - бросаться на меч/упасть на свой меч

The CEO fell on his sword when widespread corruption in the company was exposed.

So, because I lost the contract, I am supposed to fall on my sword or something?

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Crowd pleaser - a person or thing with great popular appeal - что-то, пользующееся популярностью публики

Once again, the group has produced an album which is bound to be a crowd-pleaser.

#vocab