almost but not exactly what you had hoped for or wanted.

Vince never got that big win he wanted — it was always close but no cigar.

Etymology: from games of skill or chance in which the person who won would get a cigar as a prize

• the movers and shakers
• the moving spirit
• then again
• the name of the game
• then and there
• the nature of the beast
• the new kid on the block
• the next rung on the ladder
• the nightmare scenario
• the nitty-gritty
• the nouveau riche
• the nuts and bolts
• the odd man out
• the odd one out
• the Old Bill
• the old-boy network
• the old country
• the oldest profession
• the oldest profession in the world
• the oldest trick in the book
• the old guard
• the old school tie
• the only game in town
• the operative word
• the order of the day