look alive—
1. (coll.) act or respond quickly:
- Challenge your staff to become excited about the services they provide. Challenge them to look alive!
2. (of images) appear life-like:
- I want my paintings to look alive—so you feel you can step right into it and get lost.
look half dead—(also: look more dead than alive) said of smb. in a very poor physical condition (owing to illness, exhaustion, etc.):
- People sleeping on the floor, looking half dead and miserable, are an all too familiar sight in transportation terminals.