slowly (but steadily); gradually; bit-by-bit; slowly soaking in; slowly permeating; oozing out
ticktock; chinking (e.g. of a hammer against rock); knocking; dry and hard; (frozen) stiff; hidebound
to cling to; to depend on; to embrace; to hug
barely; narrowly; only just; with difficulty
to hold one's breath; to bate one's breath
just safe (e.g. just avoiding being late, failing an exam, etc.); only just OK; barely acceptable
mere consolation; temporary peace of mind
incomprehensible; nonsensical; puzzling; mysterious; meaningless
resentment; indignation; anger
to encourage (someone); to cheer (someone) up; to give someone a charge; to empower
to telephone; to make a phone call
concise; brief; succinct; compact (style)
invasion; raid; attack; visitation (of a calamity)
alarm clock; waking up; keeping oneself awake; type of candy given to a child after it wakes up from a nap
maximum preference; maximum priority; priority handling
to be based on; to take into account; to build upon; to have one's feet firmly planted on; to plant oneself on
to reach a situation about which nothing can be done
marathon; long-distance race
chess problem; composed shogi problem
sorry; excuse me; thank you
nothing but; none other than
this and that; one thing or another
every man knows his own business best; one should go to specialists for the best results; (lit.) for rice cakes, (go to) the rice cake shop
postponement; deferment; extension (of time)
king (of the senior player)
(sudden) change; reversal; turn-around; coming from behind (baseball)
to live up to expectations; to meet expectations
easy victory; walkover; easy peasy; child's play; cakewalk
to put to use; to make good use of; to exploit
(how) many times; (how) often
person concerned; people involved (in an event); those concerned; staff
using anything one can lay one's hands on; haphazardly; on the rebound; at random; indiscriminately
on the occasion of; at the time of
old book; rare book; classic; secondhand book; used book
antiques; old works of art