Idioms & Phrases

Idioms & Phrases	Meaning
Rank and File	Ordinary People
By fits and starts	In short periods, not regularly
Out of the wood	Free from difficulties and dangers
Under his thumb	Under his control
At one’s wits end	In a state where one does not know what to do
Between the devil and the deep sea	Between two dangers
Burn the midnight oil	Work or study hard
Call a spade a spade	Speak frankly and directly
Come off with flying colors	Be highly successful
Hit the nail on the head	Do or say the exact thing
An axe to grind	A personal interest in the matter
At daggers drawn	Bitterly hostile
To play ducks and drakes	To act foolishly or inconsistently
To take the bull the horns	To tackle a problem in a bold and direct fashion
Rain cats and dogs	Rain heavily
To move heaven and earth	To make a supreme effort
Bark up the wrong tree	Accuse or denounce the wrong person
Keep one at bay	Keep one at a distance
Make a clean breast of it	Confess – especially when a person has done a wrong thing
Have a card up one’s sleeve	Have a secret plan in reserve
Like a cat on hot bricks	Very nervous
Cat and dog life	Life full of quarrels
Cock and bull story	Made up story that one should not believe
Cry for the moon	Ask for the impossible
Be in a tight corner	In a very difficult situation
At arm’s length	To keep at a distance
Show a clean pair of heals	Run away
Keep one’s fingers crossed	The anxiety in which you hope that nothing will upset your plans
In the nick of time	Just at the last moment
Sitting on the fence	Hesitate between two decisions
The gift of the gab	Talent for speaking
Feather one’s own nest	Make money unfairly
Throw out of gear	Disturb the work
Take to one’s heels	Run away
Tooth and nail	With all one’s power
Die in harness	Die while in service
Leave no stone unturned	Use all available means
A man of straw	A man of no substance
Read between the lines	Understand the hidden meaning
In cold blood	Deliberately and without emotion
A thorn in the flesh	A constant source of annoyance
Smell a rat	Suspect something foul
Harp on the same string	Dwell on the same subject
Bury the hatchet	End the quarrel and make peace
Leave one in the lurch	Desert one in difficulties; leave one in a helpless condition
Like a fish out of water	In a strange situation
At one’s beck and call	Under his control
To make both ends meet	To live within one’s income
In hot water	In trouble
Nip in the bud	Destroy in the early stage
Stick to one’s guns	Remain faithful to the cause
To eat humble pie	To apologize humbly and to yield under humiliating circumstances
In high spirits	Very happy
Put the cart before the horse	Put or do things in the wrong order
On tenterhooks	In a state of suspense and anxiety
Wash one’s dirty linen	Discuss unpleasant in public-private matters before strangers
To bell the cat	To face the risk
A hard nut to crack	A difficult problem
Let the cat out of the bag	Reveal a secret
Kill two birds with one stone	To achieve two results with one effort
Take one to task	Rebuke
Gain ground	Become Popular
To blow one’s own	To praise one’s own trumpet achievement
A bosom friend	A very close friend
A brown study	Dreaming
Turn a deaf ear	Disregard / ignore what one says
A close shave	Narrow escape
Turn over a new leaf	Change for the better
Make up one’s mind	Decide
In the long run	Eventually; ultimately
Bring to light	Disclose
Pay off old scores	Take revenge
Hard and fast rules	Strict rules
At the eleventh hour	At the last moment
A close shave	Narrow escape
To cut a sorry figure	To make a poor show
With a high hand	Oppressively
Burn one’s fingers	Get into trouble interfering in other’s affairs
Laugh one’s head off	Laugh heartily
Chew the cud	Ponder over something
Play second fiddle	Take an unimportant part
Above board	Honest and open
Through thick and thin	Under all conditions
Put a spoke in one’s wheel	To upset one’s plans
At sixes and sevens	In a disordered/ disorganized manner, chaotic
Alpha and omega	The beginning and the end
At sea	Confused and lost
By leaps and bounds	Rapidly
To burn one’s boats	Go back on a decision
To beat about the bush	Talk irrelevantly
To burn candle at both ends	To waste lavishly
A bone of contention	A source of quarrel
Add fuel to the fire	To aggravate the situation
At a snail’s pace	Very slowly
A bolt from the blue	Something unexpected
To build castles in the air	Make imaginary schemes
Once in a blue moon	Something that happens very rarely
Beating around the bush	Avoiding the main topic
Cry over spilled milk	Complaining about a loss or failure from the past
Chip on your shoulder	When someone is upset about something that happened a while ago
Piece of cake	Something that is easy to understand or do
Golden handshake	A big sum of money given to a person when he/she leaves a company or retires
Spill the beans	To disclose a secret
Blessing in disguise	Something good and useful that did not initially seem that way
Mean business	Being Serious or Dedicated
Come hell or high water	Possible obstacles in your path
Apple of one’s eye	Being cherished
Bite off more than you can chew	Not able to complete a task due to lack of ability
The best of both worlds	The benefits of widely differing situations, enjoyed at the same time
Feeling a bit under the weather	Feeling slightly ill
Icing on the cake	Something that turns good into great
Cost an arm and a leg	Be very expensive
Jump the bandwagon	To join a popular activity or trend
Ball is in your court	When it is up to you to make the next decision or step
To be in the doldrums	To be in low spirits
To sit on the fence	To remain neutral
Break the ice	To initiate a social conversation or interaction
Hear it on grapevine	To hear rumors about something or someone
Can’t judge a book its cover	Cannot judge something primarily on appearance
It takes two to tango	Actions or communications need more than one person
Black and blue	Full of Bruises
Be on cloud nine	Be very happy
Last straw	The final problem in a series of problems
A bird’s eye view	A view from a very high place that allows you to see a very large area
A litmus Test	A method that helps to know if something is correct
At the drop of a hat	Willingness to do something instantly
Afraid of one’s own shadow	To become easily frightened
A house of cards	A poor plan
Fool’s paradise	False sense of happiness
Get a raw deal	To not be treated as well as other people
Give cold shoulder	To ignore
Hand to mouth	Live on only basic necessities
Make a face	To show dislike or disappointment through facial expressions
It’s Greek to me	Something that is not understandable
To pour oil on troubled waters	To make peace
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket	Do not put all your resources in one basket (in one place or thing)
To put in a nutshell	To say in a few words or to make something concise