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id | category | idiom | description |
---|---|---|---|
101 | Animals | Duck to water | If you take to something like a duck to water, you find when you start that you have a natural affinity for it. |
102 | Animals | Ducks in a row | (USA) If you have your ducks in a row, you are well-organized. |
103 | Animals | Eager beaver | A person who is extremely keen is an eager beaver. |
104 | Animals | Eagle eyes | Someone who has eagle eyes sees everything; no detail is too small. |
105 | Animals | Early bird catches the worm | The early bird catches the worm means that if you start something early, you stand a better chance of success. |
106 | Animals | Eat crow | (USA) If you eat crow, you have to admit that you were wrong about something. |
107 | Animals | Eat like a bird | If someone eats like a bird, they eat very little. |
108 | Animals | Eat like a horse | Someone who eats like a horse, eats a lot. |
109 | Animals | Eat like a pig | If some eats like a pig, they either eat too much or they have bad table manners. |
110 | Animals | Elephant in the room | An elephant in the room is a problem that everyone knows very well but no one talks about because it is taboo, embarrassing, etc. |
111 | Animals | Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while | This expression means that even if people are ineffective or misguided, sometimes they can still be correct just by being lucky. |
112 | Animals | Even the dogs in the street know | (Irish) This idiom is used frequently in Ireland, and means something is so obvious that even the dogs in the street know it. |
113 | Animals | Every ass likes to hear himself bray | This means that people like the sound of their own voice. |
114 | Animals | Every dog has its day | This idiom means that everyone gets their moment to shine. |
115 | Animals | Fat cat | A fat cat is a person who makes a lot of money and enjoys a privileged position in society. |
116 | Animals | Feather your own nest | If someone feathers their own nest, they use their position or job for personal gain. |
117 | Animals | Feathers fly | When people are fighting or arguing angrily, we can say that feathers are flying. |
118 | Animals | Fish or cut bait | (USA) This idiom is used when you want to tell someone that it is time to take action. |
119 | Animals | Fish out of water | If you are placed in a situation that is completely new to you and confuses you, you are like a fish out of water. |
120 | Animals | Fishy | If there is something fishy about someone or something, there is something suspicious; a feeling that there is something wrong, though it isnt clear what it is. |
121 | Animals | Fit as a butcher's dog | Someone whos very healthy, fit or physically attractive is as fit as a butchers dog. |
122 | Animals | Flat out like a lizard drinking | (AU) An Australian idiom meaning extremely busy, which is a word play which humorously mixes two meanings of the term flat out. |
123 | Animals | Flogging a dead horse | (UK) If someone is trying to convince people to do or feel something without any hope of succeeding, theyre flogging a dead horse. This is used when someone is trying to raise interest in an issue that no-one supports anymore; beating a dead horse will not make it do any more work. |
124 | Animals | Fly in the ointment | A fly in the ointment is something that spoils or prevents complete enjoyment of something. |
125 | Animals | Fly on the wall | If you are able to see and hear events as they happen, you are a fly on the wall. |
126 | Animals | Fly the coop | When children leave home to live away from their parents, they fly the coop. |
127 | Animals | For donkey's years | (UK) If people have done something, usually without much if any change, for an awfully long time, they can be said to have done it for donkeys years. |
128 | Animals | For the birds | If something is worthless or ridiculous, it is for the birds. |
129 | Animals | From the horse's mouth | If you hear something from the horses mouth, you hear it directly from the person concerned or responsible. |
130 | Animals | Full as a tick | If you are as full as a tick, you have eaten too much. |
131 | Animals | Get a sheepskin | Getting a sheepskin (or your sheepskin) means getting a degree or diploma. (Sheepskin refers to the parchment that a degree is printed on- parchment comes from sheepskin.) |
132 | Animals | Get the monkey off your back | If you get the monkey off your back, you pass on a problem to someone else. |
133 | Animals | Get your ducks in a row | If you get your ducks in a row, you organise yourself and your life. |
134 | Animals | Get your feathers in a bunch | If you get your feathers in a bunch, you get upset or angry about something. |
135 | Animals | Get your goat | If something gets your goat, it annoys you. |
136 | Animals | Give a dog a bad name | A person who is generally known to have been guilty of some offence will always be suspected to be the author of all similar types of offence. Once someone has gained a bad reputation, it is very difficult to lose it. |
137 | Animals | Glory hound | A glory hound is a person seeking popularity, fame and glory. |
138 | Animals | Go tell it to birds | This is used when someone says something that is not credible or is a lie. |
139 | Animals | Go the whole hog | If you go the whole hog, you do something completely or to its limits. |
140 | Animals | Gone fishing | If someone has gone fishing, they are not very aware of what is happening around them. |
141 | Animals | Gone to the dogs | If something has gone to the dogs, it has gone badly wrong and lost all the good things it had. |
142 | Animals | Grab the bull by its horns | If you grab (take) the bull by its horns, you deal head-on and directly with a problem. |
143 | Animals | Grease monkey | A grease monkey is an idiomatic term for a mechanic. |
144 | Animals | Grin like a Cheshire cat | If someone has a very wide smile, they have a grin like a Cheshire cat. |
145 | Animals | Guinea-pig | If you are a guinea-pig, you take part in an experiment of some sort and are used in the testing. |
146 | Animals | Hair of the dog | If someone has a hair of the dog, they have an alcoholic drink as a way of getting rid of a hangover, the unpleasant effects of having drunk too much alcohol the night before. It is commonly used as a way of excusing having a drink early on in the day. |
147 | Animals | Hangdog expression | A hangdog expression is one where the persons showing their emotions very clearly, maybe a little too clearly for your liking. Its that mixture of misery and self-pity that is similar to a dog when its trying to get something it wants but darent take without permission. |
148 | Animals | Hanged for a sheep as a lamb | This is an expression meaning that if you are going to get into trouble for doing something, then you ought to stop worrying and should try to get everything you can before you get caught. |
149 | Animals | Hay is for horses | This idiom is used as a way of telling children not to say the word hey as in hey you or hey there. |
150 | Animals | Healthy as a horse | If youre as healthy as a horse, youre very healthy. |
151 | Animals | Herding cats | If you have to try to co-ordinate a very difficult situation, where people want to do very different things, you are herding cats. |
152 | Animals | High on the hog | To live in great comfort with lots of money. |
153 | Animals | Hive of worker bees | A hive of worker bees is a group of people working actively and cooperatively. Example: The classroom was a hive of worker bees. |
154 | Animals | Hold your horses | If someone tells you to hold your horses, you are doing something too fast and they would like you to slow down. |
155 | Animals | Hornets' nest | A hornets nest is a violent situation or one with a lot of dispute. (If you create the problem, you stir up a hornets nest.) |
156 | Animals | Horse of a different color | (USA) If something is a horse of a different color, its a different matter or separate issue altogether. |
157 | Animals | Horse trading | Horse trading is an idiom used to describe negotiations, especially where these are difficult and involve a lot of compromise. |
158 | Animals | Hungry as a bear | If you are hungry as a bear, it means that you are really hungry. |
159 | Animals | I'll be a monkey's uncle | Ill be a monkeys uncle is used as an expression of surprise. |
160 | Animals | If wishes were horses, beggars would ride | This means that wishing for something or wanting it is not the same as getting or having it. |
161 | Animals | If you fly with the crows, you get shot with the crows | If you wish to be associated with a particular high risk and/or high profile situation and benefit from the rewards of that association, you have to accept the consequences if things go wrong - you cannot dissociate yourself. |
162 | Animals | If you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas | This means that if you become involved with bad company, there will be negative consequences. |
163 | Animals | In a dog's age | I you havent done something in a dogs age, you havent done it for a very long time. |
164 | Animals | In donkey's years | I havent seen her in donkeys years. - This means for a very long time. |
165 | Animals | In the catbird seat | (USA) If someone is in the catbird seat, they are in an advantageous or superior position. |
166 | Animals | In the doghouse | If someone is in the doghouse, they are in disgrace and very unpopular at the moment. |
167 | Animals | It's not the size of the dog in fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog | Usually refering to a small dog attacking a larger animal, this means that fierceness is not necessarily a matter of physical size, but rather mental/psychological attitude. |
168 | Animals | Juggle frogs | If you are juggling frogs, you are trying to do something very difficult. |
169 | Animals | Jump the shark | Said of a salient point in a television show or other activity at which the popularity thereof begins to wane: The Flintstones jumped the shark when a man from outer space came to visit them. The expression derives from an episode of the television sitcom Happy Days in which Fonzie, clad in leather jacket and on water skis, jumps over a shark. That episode was widely seen as the beginning of the end for the formerly popular series. |
170 | Animals | Kangaroo court | When people take the law into their own hands and form courts that are not legal, these are known as kangaroo court. |
171 | Animals | Keep the wolf at bay | If you keep the wolf at bay, you make enough money to avoid going hungry or falling heavily into debt. |
172 | Animals | Keep the wolf from the door | If you keep the wolf from the door, you have enough money for food and the basic essentials. |
173 | Animals | Kettle of fish | A pretty or fine kettle of fish is a difficult problem or situation. |
174 | Animals | Kill the fatted calf | If you kill the fatted calf, you have a celebration, usually to welcome someone whos been away a long time. |
175 | Animals | Kill the goose that lays the golden egg | If you kill the goose that lays the golden egg, you ruin something that is very profitable. |
176 | Animals | Kill two birds with one stone | When you kill two birds with one stone, you resolve two difficulties or matters with a single action. |
177 | Animals | Know a hawk from a handsaw | If someone knows a hawk from a handsaw, they are able to distinguish things and assess them. |
178 | Animals | Lame duck | If something or someone is a lame duck, they are in trouble. |
179 | Animals | Lap dog | A lap dog is a person who is eager to please another at the expense of his or her own needs in order to maintain a position of privilege or favor. |
180 | Animals | Leopard can't change its spots | This idiom means that people cannot change basic aspects of their character, especially negative ones. ("A leopard doesnt change its spots" is also used.) |
181 | Animals | Let sleeping dogs lie | If someone is told to let sleeping dogs lie, it means that they shouldnt disturb a situation as it would result in trouble or complications. |
182 | Animals | Like a bat out of hell | This expression means extremely quickly. |
183 | Animals | Like a beached whale | Once a whale is on a beach, it cannot get back into the easily, so if you are completely stuck somewhere and cant get away, you are stranded like a beached whale. |
184 | Animals | Like a bear with a sore head | (UK) If someones like a bear with a sore head, they complain a lot and are unhappy about something. |
185 | Animals | Like a bull at a gate | If you tackle a job very quickly, without any real thought about what you are doing, you are going at it like a bull at a gate. |
186 | Animals | Like a cat on hot bricks | If someone is like a cat on hot bricks, they are very nervous or excited. |
187 | Animals | Like a cat that got the cream | If someone looks very pleased with themselves and happy, they look like a cat that got the cream. |
188 | Animals | Like a duck to water | If someone has a natural talent for something and enjoys it, they take to it like a duck to water. |
189 | Animals | Like a fish needs a bicycle | If someone needs something like a Fish Needs a Bicycle, they do not need it at all, originally a feminist slogan: A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle. |
190 | Animals | Like a fish out of water | If someone feels like a fish out of water, they are very uncomfortable in the situation they are in. |
191 | Animals | Like a hawk | If you watch something or someone like a hawk, you observe very closely and carefully. |
192 | Animals | Like a headless chicken | If someone rushes about like a headless chicken, they move very fast all over the place, usually without thinking. |
193 | Animals | Like a moth to a flame | Something that is like a moth to a flame is attracted to something that is deadly or dangerous. |
194 | Animals | Like a rat deserting a sinking ship | If people leave a company because they know that its about to have serious problems, or turn their back on a person about to be in a similar situation, they are said to be like rats deserting a sinking ship. |
195 | Animals | Like lambs to the slaughter | If somebody does something unpleasant without any resistance, they go like lambs to the slaughter. |
196 | Animals | Lion's share | The lions share of something is the biggest or best part. |
197 | Animals | Live high off the hog | If you are living high off the hog, you are living lavishly. |
198 | Animals | Loan shark | A loan shark lends money at very high rates of interest. |
199 | Animals | Lock horns | When people lock horns, they argue or fight about something. |
200 | Animals | Lock the stable door after the horse has bolted | If someone takes action too late, they do this; there is no reason to lock an empty stable. |
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