Idioms and Phrases

Idioms and Phrases

S. No Idioms & Meaning Example Sentence

Phrases

1 To make to tell the truth about something, After months of lying about the
clean especially something bad or illegal money, I decided to make a
breast of that you have done, so that you do not clean breast of it and tell the
have to feel guilty any more truth.

2 To keep To hold back an expression of anger She should have learned to

ones keep her temper when she was
temper a child.

3 To drive To emphasize an important point The teacher repeated the point

home about something (to someone) three times just to drive it
home

4 To have an To have a selfish reason for saying or The best reporting is done by
axe to doing something people who dont have an axe
grind to grind.

5 To end in If something ends in smoke it All the efforts of the warden to

smoke produces no concrete or positive bring him round ended in
result. smoke.

6 To be To be honest and legal The deal was completely above

above board
board

7 To pick To find mistakes in something The lawyer picked holes in the

holes someone has done or said, to show witnesss story.
that it is not good or not correct.

8 To leave To leave someone at a time when they I hope they can find someone
someone in need you to stay and help them to replace me at work. I dont
the lurch want to leave them in the lurch.

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Idioms and Phrases

9 To play To be in a less important position than Radio has been playing second
second someone or something else fiddle to television for decades
fiddle now.

10 A black an odd or disreputable member of a My father was the black sheep;

Sheep group, especially within a family. he ran away at 16 to become an
actor and his parents never
forgave him.

11 A man of A person or an idea that is weak and He was chosen to be the straw
straw easy to defeat. man as they had struck a deal
with the opponent to lose the
fight.

12 To smell a To suspect that something is wrong I dont think this was an

rat accident. I smell a rat.

13 To hit the To be right about something Praveen hit the nail on the
nail right head when he said most people
on the can use a computer without
head knowing how it works.

14 To set To oppose something Despite fierce competition from

ones face rival companies, theyve set
against their face against price cuts.

15 To cry wolf To cry or complain about something Pay no attention, shes just
when nothing really wrong/give false crying wolf again.
alarm

16 To put To get busy, to help out, to start Its time to put your hand to
ones hand working the plow
to plough

17 To catch a To deal with someone or something Now that she finally agreed to
tartar. that proves unexpectedly troublesome meet with you, you just might
or powerful find that youve caught a tartar.

18 Bored to to be very bored The speeches went on for an ho

death ur. I was bored to death.

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Idioms and Phrases

19 You've got this cannot be the truth Raj: Sandeep

to be is getting married. Did you hea
kidding r? Anu: You've got to be kiddin
g!

20 sick and to be angry and bored because someth I'm getting sick and tired of
tired ing unpleasant has been happening fo this song. They play it way too
r too long often at this club."

21 call it a day to quit work and go home; to say that I'm tired. Let's call it a day.
a day's work has been completed

22 Get on to annoy someone, especially by doing You're beginning to get on my

one's something again and again nerves."
nerves

23 Couch a lazy individual, addicted to Couch potatoes cantend to bec

potato television-watching ome very fat and unhealthy, yo
u know.

24 Read one's to guess what someone is thinking "I was going to suggest that.
mind You must have read my mind.

25 Feel blue to feel sad Whenever I feel blue, I like to

listen to upbeat music."

26 Fender a minor car accident I cant believe the damage is

bender going to cost me 800 bucks. It
was just afender bender."

27 Get foot in to have an opportunity I think I could get the job if I co

the door uld only get my foot in the doo
r.

28 Chicken a coward. "Everyone thinks I'm

a chicken because I didn't go
bungee jumping with them."

29 Give to make things difficult for someone Stop giving me a hard time.
somebody There was nothing I could do
a hard time about it."

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Idioms and Phrases

30 Make up to decide something, esp. what to do "I can't make up my mind. Can
one's mind you help me decide?"

31 Go Dutch to share the cost of something, especial I actually prefer going

ly a meal;[for each person in a pair or Dutch because I don't want to
a group] to pay for himself or herself feel indebt to anyone."

32 Throw in to quit; to give up. "I saw a fight last almost two
the towel hours before one guy threw in
the towel."

33 Rain or whatever the weather is;No matter "We're going camping this
Shine what the circumstances, weekend rain or shine."

34 Easier said said of a task that is easier to talk abou The doctor says I should stop s
than done t than to do. mokingbut that's easier said th
an done.

35 Jump to to guess the facts about a situation wit "Will you stop jumping to
conclusions hout having enough information conclusions. You should get all
the facts before you make any
decisions."

36 Out of the happening suddenly and unexpectedl He's pretty funny because he
Blue y will crack a funny joke out of
the blue."

37 On the Dot at exactly the right time. "I don't want to be waiting for
you, so you'd better be there at
three oclock on the dot."

38 In a tight to be in a difficult situation After taking up this subject I

corner really dont understand it and
feel like I put myself in a tight
corner.

39 A wild a situation where you waste time
goose looking for something that you are not
chase going to find, either because that thing
does not exist or because you have
been given wrong information about
After two hours spent
wandering in the snow, I
realized we were on a wild
goose chase.

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Idioms and Phrases

it.

40 Does not not able to be proved, not correct or A lot of the stuff I believed in
hold water true when I was 17 just doesnt hold
water today

41 On the cuff On credit Im sorry, Kamal. We cant put

anything more on the cuff.

42 Out and complete, absolute, thoroughgoing Hes an out and out liar
out

43 A white something that has cost a lot of money The piano table she bought
elephant but has no useful purpose turned out to be a white
elephant

44 Fair and Completely fairly, justly, within the She won the game fair and
square rules square.

45 No love if there is no love lost between two Theres no love lost between
lost people, they do not like each other those two, they could never
between work together

46 Played to damage something Stormy conditions played

havoc havoc with the fishing.

47 Green An extraordinary ability to make Houseplants provide much

Thumb plants grow well / an exceptional skill pleasure for the city dweller
for gardening or for growing pants with a green thumb.
successfully

48 broke to become very emotional I didn't know anyone who was

down killed, but I still broke down an
d cried when I heard about the
bombings.

49 throw dust to mislead; deceive: He threw dust in our eyes by p

into my retending to be a jeweler and th
eyes endisappeared with the diamo
nds.

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Idioms and Phrases

50 a man of a person or an idea that is weak and ea He was accused by

straw sy to defeat his opponents of being a man
of straw and lackingin decisive
ness.

51 off and on / Something that happens at different I've had toothache on and off
On and off times, in an intermittent way for a couple of months.

52 give and mutual concessions, shared benefits, a A willingness to give and take i
take nd cooperation; Lively exchange of s important for success in marri
ideas or conversation age.

53 bad hats someone who deliberately stirs up That man is bad hat
trouble

54 break the to attempt to become friends with som A nice smile does a lot to break
ice eone; to be the first one to do the ice.
something.

55 chickened "to manage to get out of something, us

out ually because of

fear or Sanjay
cowar chickened
dice. " outof the pl
an at the la
st minute.

56 make do use whatever you can find; substitute When our kids don't have toys,
they make do with pots and
pans.

57 donkey's a very long time I haven't seen her in donkey's y

years ears.

58 who wears "to display one's feelings openly and h she wears her heart on her slee
her heart abitually, rather than keep them privat ve,and because of
on her e." that it's easy to hurt her feeling
sleeve s.

59 talk "To consider something thoroughly in The panel talked over thepropo

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Idioms and Phrases

something conversation; discuss something:" sal.

over

60 wet behind young and inexperienced He may be wet behind theears,

the ears but he's well-
trained and totally competent.

61 kicked up a to become a nuisance; to misbehave an I kicked up such a row that the

row/fuss/st d disturb (someone) y told me to leave.
ink

62 send to send someone away; to dismiss som The maidproved to be so incom

packing eone, possibly rudely. petent that I had to send her pa
cking.

63 to eat to be someone's guest. The least you can do when you'

anybody's re eating someone's salt is to he
salt lp them out around the house.

64 come to to experience something unpleasant or In the end, he came to grief bec

grief damaging. ause he did not follow instructi
ons.

65 through through good times and bad times We've been together through th
thick and ick and thin, and we won't dese
thin rt each other now.

66 once in a very seldom; rarely Once in a blue moon I have a lit

blue moon tle wine with dinner.

67 bury the to make peace Let's stop arguing and bury th

hatchet e hatchet

68 a cut above better than other people or things Sachin Tendulkars batting
skills make him a cut above the
rest.

69 in the loop having knowledge of and involvement I am very interested to know

in something the outcome of the debate,
kindly keep me in the loop.

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Idioms and Phrases

70 cut and it is clear and easy to understand There is no cut and dried
dried ;it is final and will not be changed method for doing this.
method

71 blacked out to pass out; to become unconscious. Suddenly the man blacked out
during the parade and had to
be helped to a quiet place.

72 hold your Wait! Hold your horses for a moment

horses while I make a phone call

73 curtain a scolding or rebuke given in private, The Principal called the

lecture esp by a wife to her husband latecomers to her room and
delivered a curtain lecture on
the subject of late hours

74 ended in to be destroyed or ruined; figuratively, The project to clean the River

smoke. to come to nothing. Ganga ended in smoke.

75 set about to make someone begin doing somethi He immediately set about
ng. organizing the apartment.

76 go through to do a lot of difficult things before yo Those intending to take up the

the hoops. u are allowed to have or do something military service must be
you want prepared to go through the
hoops.

77 playing To squander; waste. He is playing ducks and drakes

ducks and with the wealth of his father.
drakes

78 facts spoke What you do or what is eveident Facts spoke louder than
louder than is more significant than what you say. words at the Company meeting
words where the Director tried to
paint a rosy picture of the
Companys financial health.

79 had killed To destroy something that is profitable By initiating the flight with
the goose to you. Sakshi in Office, Kajal had
that lay the killed the goose that lay the

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Idioms and Phrases

golden egg. golden egg.

80 I let the Let something happen regardless of t I let the chips fall where they
chips fall he consequences and no matter what h may and do not worry too
where they appens much about what I want to do
may next.

81 a leopard something that you say which means t After trying hard to convince
cannot hat a person's character, especially if it Narendra to change his ways,
change its is bad, will not change, even if they pr Raman realised that a leopard
spots. etend it has I cannot change its spots.

82 not count to plan how to utilize good results of s Before starting work on our
our omething before those results have occ new project, our mentor told us
chickens urred. to not count our chickens
before they before they hatched.
hatched.

83 pick holes and pick something to pieces to critici We should not pick holes in
ze something severely; to point out the others reputation.
flaws or fallacies in an argument.

84 brought to Call to account, investigate; to punish The notorious thief was at last
book someone brought to book by the diligent
cop.

85 hard and if there are no hard and fast rules, ther There is no hard and fast rule
fast rule e are no clear rules which you must ob regarding this subject.
ey

86 to make to treat something as if it were unimpo He made light of his teachers

light rtant or humorous. advice.

87 to all in all the most important ways ; In To all intents and purposes he
intents and every practical sense, virtually. is a Goodman
purposes

88 took to to run away quickly When the police came, the

their heels thieves took to their heels.

89 In deep to be in a difficult situation which is h We're going to be in deep wate

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Idioms and Phrases

waters ard to deal with r if the bank refuses to authoriz

e a bigger loan.

90 Jaundiced Preconceived opinion not based on You must not evaluate

eye reason or experience. anything with a jaundiced eye.

91 cry up to scream or shout in pain, joy, anger, She cried a warning out to the
etc. others.

92 to beat the Continue to make futile attempts, fight The candidates for office were s
air to no purpose o much alikethat we thought o
ur vote amounted to beating th
e air

93 To lose to fall behind someone or something. Stocks lost ground today despit
ground e good economic news.

94 To make to have enough money to pay for your My wages were so low that I ha
both ends basic expenses d to take a second job just to m
meet akeends meet.

95 To fall back to depend on something after a loss or The family has no savings to fal
on failure l back on.

96 To make to make someone very angry It just makes my blood boil to t

ones blood hink of the amount of food that
boil gets wasted around here.

97 to keep to stay calm, especially in difficult or d You can easily overcome this
your head angerous situations situation, if you keep your
head.

98 in the same attuned to something; to relate to It is clear that the ideas of both
groove someone or something. reformers ran in the same
groove.

99 goose The literal tiny bumps you get all over When she told me that she
bumps your body when you are experiencing loved me, I got goose bumps."
intense emotions.

100 stay in To stay connected Call me more often man. We

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Idioms and Phrases

touch got to stay in touch."

101 have the Brave; courage "I don't have the guts to go
guts bungee jumping."

102 Im beat Very tired "I had a tough day today. I'm
totally beat."

103 It's about Finally; When you wait for something, "It's about time I got a chance
time the time on a clock is the biggest to play."
factor.

104 to keep an To watch after; to supervise; to take Don't worry about your
eye on care of luggage. I'll keep an eye on it."

105 know Have knowledge of every detail of Ask Mary to help you with
something something. your homework. She knows
inside out calculus inside out.

106 give To help someone Can you give me a hand setting

someone a up the dining table?"
hand

107 now and Once in a while My mother calls me every now

then and then to see if I'm doing
well."

108 keeping Hoping for good luck "I hope it works. Let's cross
my fingers our fingers."
crossed

109 out of this Amazing That's the coolest thing I've

world ever seen. It's really out of this
world."

110 pain in the A source of trouble or annoyance; I have a meeting at 7:00 in the
ass used to indicate that something morning. It's a pain in the
bothers you very much. "Ass" can be ass waking up that early."
seen as profanity, so another way of
saying this would be "Pain in the butt"
or "Pain in the neck."

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Idioms and Phrases

111 piece of Describes something that is easy to do. Learning to type is a piece of
cake cake. It just takes persistence."

112 sooner or Eventually She'll realize that she's doing

later something wrong sooner or
later."

113 pull Making someone believe something I didn't know you believed me.
someone's that is not true. I was just pulling your leg."
leg

114 put oneself To think from another point of view. "If you put yourself in my
in one's place, you would understand
place why I did that."

115 I can eat a To express the desire to eat a lot of I'm so hungry that I can eat a
horse food. horse."

116 read To understand the underlying Sam isn't very good at reading
between meaning of something that is not between the lines. You have to
the lines completely clear. tell him exactly what you
want."

117 rings a bell To remember something It rings a bell, but I'm not one
hundred percent sure."

118 sleep on it To take time to think about something. I'm going to need to sleep on it.
I don't want to rush my
answer right now."

119 play it by To decide to do something as the Should we plan something for

ear situation develops; choosing to deal this Saturday or should
with a situation as more events we play it by ear?"
unfold.

120 speak of When someone appears just as you are Vikram did great on her
the devil talking about that person. presentation. Speak of the
devil... Hi Vikram."

121 grab a bite To get something to eat If you didn't have lunch yet,
let's grab a bite to eat."

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Idioms and Phrases

122 take it easy To relax; to stop working so hard; to Take it easy man. You're
calm down putting too much pressure on
yourself

123 Go with to not go against the common way of Why do you do everything
the flow doing things differently? You should just go
with the flow."

124 Twenty- Constantly; always available; every If a business doesn't

four seven minute of the day and night provide twenty-four
seven customer support, they
will not succeed.

125 Under the Feeling sick; not well I'm going to stay home because
weather I'm feeling under the
weather today.

126 Don't To tell someone not to worry You can't do anything about it,
sweat it so don't sweat it.

127 you can Completely agreeing with a statement That was an absolutely deliciou
say that s lunch. You can say that aga
again in!

128 broke to have no money I can't pay my bills. I'm broke.

129 beats me To not know; to not understand It beats me how they finished
before us.

130 I don't buy Disagree; to not be convinced She said she was sorry but I
it don't buy it.

131 keep your To act normal I know you're upset but you
cool have to keep your cool

132 sort of A little; kind of Dinner was sort of expensive.

133 good for Expressing that you are happy for a Good for you, you finally
you person passed your test

134 shotgun To claim the front seat in a car. Why does he always get to

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Idioms and Phrases

ride shotgun?

135 now you're Used to agree with someone A cold drink sounds great, now
talking you're talking!

136 over my Disallow absolutely You want a tattoo? Over my

dead body dead body.

137 cat got Used when someone has nothing to You're being awfully quiet, cat
your say got your tongue?
tongue

138 give it to used when you want to hear the truth Just give it to me straight, I can
me straight take the news.

139 it's written Used to tell someone that their face I know you did it, it's written
all over expression is giving a message all over your face.
your face

140 go for it To encourage someone to do Don't let anyone stand in the

something that they have planned way of your dreams. Go for it!

141 good for Negative statement to indicate That girl is a good for
nothing someone has no value; useless nothing troublemaker.

142 get a life A negative way of telling someone to Would you stop bothering me
stop bothering you; to tell someone to and get a life!
stop being a loser

143 my two To give or share your opinion I don't agree with what's
cents happening. That's just my two
cents.

144 take a hike To tell someone to go away in a He asked for my phone

negative way number and I told him to take
a hike.

145 nature calls This is used when you have to go to I have to go to the restroom.
the bathroom. Nature calls.

146 no sweat Telling someone it is "no problem" No sweat. It's not that big of a

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Idioms and Phrases

deal

147 pie in the Pleasant to imagine but impossible to His dreams of becoming a
sky attain famous singer are just a pie in
the sky.

148 no strings Without any conditions We are giving away free t-

attached shirts, no strings attached.

149 back to the Going back to work after a break Ok everyone break time is
grind over, get back to the grind.

150 just my Expression used when something bad Just my luck, my boss asked
luck happens to you me to work late tonight.

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