the meaning of the underlined phrases

[kjc0123]

What is the meaning of the underlined/colored phrases?

 

1. AT 9 A.M., the phone woke him. It was Harry Rex. "Wake your ass up, boy," he growled.

 

2. Ray swung to the edge of his bed and tried to open his eyes. "Wonderful," he grunted.

3. Harry Rex had been up for hours, no doubt refueled with another feast of pancakes, biscuits, and ausage.

4. "Well, get your ass in gear, it's after nine there."

 
5. "He's tanked, couldn't tell if it was booze or drugs, probably both. Whatever he's on, there's plenty of it. He was so mellow I thought he was falling asleep, then he'd fire up and cuss me." 

 
6. "He said the Judge always favored you and that's why he made you the executor of his estate, that you've always gotten more out of the old man, that it's my job to watch you and protect his interests in the estate because you'll try to screw him out of the money, and so on." 
"That didn't take long, did it? We've hardly got him in the ground." 

7. "Keep your guard up. He's on a binge and he might call you with the same crap." 

 
8. "I've heard it before, Harry Rex. His problems are not his fault. Somebody's always out to get him. Typical addict." 

9. The image of a cleaning service turned loose at Maple Run bothered him for a while. 

10. You find three million bucks tucked away and you get motivated to pry under every board. He'd even clawed his way through spiderwebs in the basement. 

[jno]

phew, that's a lot. Okay:

Wake your ass up = wake up. Ass just means bottom, behind, the bit of your body you sit on - it's slightly vulgar, you wouldn't say it in front of children for instance; but in slangy speech it's often put into sentences like this one, where it doesn't add anything to the meaning. It probably refers to the whole body. It's mostly American; British people say 'arse', which is pronounced slightly differently.

Swung to the edge of the bed: it sounds as if he sat up in bed, then turned (= swung) his body round so that his legs hung over the edge.

Had been up for hours - had woken up and got out of bed hours ago.

Get your ass in gear: you get a car in gear before driving it off. So this means get ready to do something; again, ass doesn't really mean anything in the sentence though again it might imply 'your whole body'.

fire up seems to mean come back to life (as he looked as if he was falling asleep). Cuss is a slightly slangy American way of saying curse.

Got him in the ground = buried him.

Keep your guard up: a boxing term - you keep one hand up to protect yourself, perhaps while preparing to punch with the other one. A binge implies doing a lot of things all in a hurry, perhaps the same thing over and over again (a drinking binge means drinking a lot in a short time). Perhaps he's been calling a lot of people?

Out to get him: means someone is trying to do him harm. Used in this sentence, it suggests someone is always trying to avoid blame for his own actions and claiming that someone else is doing things to get him into trouble.

Turned loose this is what you might do to a wild animal you'd captured - set it free, though it might cause trouble.

Pry under every board: search under all the flooorboards - the strips of wood that make up the floor in a house; this is meant to be where people often hide things.

Hope that helps!

[Octavius]

wake your ass up - as in get your backside (bottom, bum etc) out of bed

swung to the edge of the bed - as in lift up your legs and swing them over to the edge of the bed to get up

had been up for hours - as in he had been awake and out of bed for a long time

keep your guard up - take caution/be aware

got him in the ground - as in buried, or trapped/caught

fire up and cuss me - as in re-awaken from slumber or dozing and start shouting the odds or swearing (cuss)

get your ass in gear - as in move it, get moving faster, step up the pace, get out of neutral (out of gear & standing still) 

on a binge - as in over-endulging, perhaps binge-drinking or binge-eating

out to get him - as in to go after him, chase him ,set your sights on capturing etc etc

turned loose - as in set free

pry under every board - in the olden days people used to hide money under floorbaords, so to pry under the boards would mean to lift the floorboards and look to see if there was any cash.

Sorry, they seem to have typed out of order and I can't cut and paste any more.  Hope it is all clear.

[Octavius]

it took me blinking ages to type all that jno !!

[jno]

ditto, Octavius, I'll let you go first tomorrow

[Peter Pedant]

Ass is a vulgar word and should not be heard on the kips of someone as cultured you kay jay

The Americans - and it is very obvious that you are reading an American pulp novel this week rather than Dickens - use ass and pronounce it with a short 'a', as in bat or cat

The Brits of whom I am one usually spell is arse and voice a long 'a' as in hard or father

If you had lazy lay about teenage children, who only spoke in grunts, you might say in exasperation,

get your arse into the kitchen and start washing up!

or get your arse into the garden and mow the lawns - you're doing me 'ed in.

(You are doing my head in)

Enjoy