perfectly + adj
e.g. perfectly safe
Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.
1.the last people you would expect to do something
2.hold with
=approve of
They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense.
1.beefy
strong and often fat
2.with hardly any (something)
3.with hardly any something
He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache.
1.twice the usual amount of (something)
2.come in useful
Mrs Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours.
good-for-nothing
Mrs Dursley pretended she didn’t have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.
shudder
/ˈʃʌdə $ -ər/
to shake for a short time because you are afraid or cold, or because you think something is very unpleasant
shudder to think
(spoken) used to say that you do not want to think about something because it is too unpleasant
The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbours would say if the Potters arrived in the street.
have never even done something
The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him.
mix with
to meet, talk, and spend time with other people, especially people you do not know very well
They didn’t want Dudley mixing with a child like that.
dull
/dʌl/
(1)boring; (2)color is not bright; (3)weather is not bright and with lots of clouds
When Mr and Mrs Dursley woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday our story starts,
gossip
/ˈɡɒsəp, ˈɡɒsɪp $ ˈɡɑː-/
wrestle
/ˈresəl/
to fight someone by holding them and pulling or pushing them.
Mrs Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.