Idiom dictionaries, as well as dictionaries in general, always rely on a defining vocabulary of terms (Longman's uses 2000) which are used only in their simplest senses, to minimize the number of such basic conceptual metaphors and polymorphic word uses, and make definitions easier for someone unfamiliar with the language to comprehend, such as children or students of English as a second language[?].
See also: defining vocabulary, wiktionary, stock phrase
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump