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id | category | idiom | description |
---|---|---|---|
1101 | Death | Pen is mightier than the sword | The idiom the pen is mightier than the sword means that words and communication are more powerful than wars and fighting. |
1102 | Death | Sick to death | If you are sick to death of something, you have been exposed to so much of it that you cannot take any more. |
1103 | Death | Skeleton in the closet | If someone has a skeleton in the closet, they have a dark, shameful secret in their past that they want to remain secret. |
1104 | Death | Sticky end | (UK) If someone comes to a sticky end, they die in an unpleasant way. (Meet a sticky end is also used.) |
1105 | Death | Stone dead | This idiom is a way of emphasizing that there were absolutely no signs of life or movement. |
1106 | Death | Those who live by the sword die by the sword | This means that violent people will be treated violently themselves. |
1107 | Death | Watery grave | If someone has gone to a watery grave, they have drowned. |
1108 | Death | Whistling past the graveyard | (USA) If someone is whistling past the graveyard, they are trying to remain cheerful in difficult circumstances. (Whistling past the cemetery is also used.) |
1109 | Drinking and pubs | Bar fly | A bar fly is a person who spends a lot of time drinking in different bars and pubs. |
1110 | Drinking and pubs | Beer and skittles | (UK) People say that life is not all beer and skittles, meaning that it is not about self-indulgence and pleasure. |
1111 | Drinking and pubs | Champagne taste on a beer budget | Someone who lives above their means and likes things they cannot afford has champagne taste on a beer budget. |
1112 | Drinking and pubs | Decorate the mahogany | (USA) When someone buys a round a pub or bar, they decorate the mahogany; putting cash on the bar. |
1113 | Drinking and pubs | Drown your sorrows | If someone gets drunk or drinks a lot to try to stop feeling unhappy, they drown their sorrows. |
1114 | Drinking and pubs | Drunk as a lord | (UK) Someone who is very drunk is as drunk as a lord. |
1115 | Drinking and pubs | One over the eight | (UK) Someone who has had one over the eight is very drunk indeed. It refers to the standard eight pints that most people drink and feel is enough. |
1116 | Drinking and pubs | Quart into a pint pot | (UK) If you try to put or get a quart into a pint pot, you try to put too much in a small space. (1 quart = 2 pints) |
1117 | Drinking and pubs | Small beer | If something is small beer, its unimportant. |
1118 | Drinking and pubs | Three sheets in the wind | (UK) Someone who is three sheets in the wind is very drunk. (Three sheets to the wind is also used.? Seven sheets is an alternative number used.) |
1119 | Drinking and pubs | Three sheets to the wind | If someone is three sheets to the wind, they are drunk. |
1120 | Drinking and pubs | Tired and emotional | (UK) This idiom is a euphemism used to mean drunk, especially when talking about politicians. |
1121 | Drinking and pubs | Turn water into wine | If someone turns water into wine, they transform something bad into something excellent. |
1122 | Drinking and pubs | Well-oiled | If someone is well-oiled, they have drunk a lot. |
1123 | Drinking and pubs | Wet your whistle | If you are thirsty and have an alcoholic drink, you wet your whistle. "Whet your whistle" is also used. |
1124 | Drugs | Cigarette paper | If you cannot get or put a cigarette paper between people, they are so closely bonded that nothing will separate them or their positions on issues. |
1125 | Drugs | Close but no cigar | (USA) If you are close but no cigar, you are close to success or the truth, but have not got there. |
1126 | Drugs | Dry as snuff | If something is as dry as snuff, it is very dry indeed. |
1127 | Drugs | High as a kite | If someones as high as a kite, it means they have had too much to drink or are under the influence of drugs. |
1128 | Drugs | Pipe dream | A pipe dream is an unrealistic, impractical idea or scheme. |
1129 | Drugs | Put that in your pipe and smoke it | This is used as an unsympathetic way of telling someone to accept what you have just said. |
1130 | Drugs | Smoke like a chimney | Someone who smokes very heavily smokes like a chimney. |
1131 | Drugs | Smoke the peace pipe | If people smoke the peace pipe, they stop arguing and fighting. |
1132 | Drugs | Weasel words | If somebody uses vaque and unspecific terms to try to avoid being clear about their position or opinion, they are using weasel words. |
1133 | Food | A slice off a cut loaf is never missed | Used colloquially to describe having sexual intercourse with someone who is not a virgin, especially when they are in a relationship. The analogy refers to a loaf of bread; it is not readily apparent, once the end has been removed, exactly how many slices have been taken.(You never miss a slice from a cut loaf is also used.) |
1134 | Food | About as useful as a chocolate teapot | Someone or something that is of no practical use is about as useful as a chocolate teapot. |
1135 | Food | Above the salt | This means that something or someone has a high position. |
1136 | Food | Alike as two peas | If people or things are as alike as two peas, they are identical. |
1137 | Food | All the tea in China | If someone wont do something for all the tea in China, they wont do it no matter how much money they are offered. |
1138 | Food | All your eggs in one basket | If you put all your eggs in one basket, you risk everything at once, instead of trying to spread the risk. (This is often used as a negative imperative- Dont put all your eggs in one basket. Have your eggs in one basket is also used.) |
1139 | Food | Apple of your eye | Something or, more often, someone that is very special to you is the apple of your eye. |
1140 | Food | Apple pie order | Everything is in perfect order and tidy if it is in apple pie order. |
1141 | Food | Apples and oranges | Apples and oranges used when people compare or describe two totally different things. (Apples to oranges is also used.) |
1142 | Food | Apples for apples | An apples for apples comparison is a comparison between related or similar things. (Apples to apples is also used.) |
1143 | Food | As cool as a cucumber | If someone is as cool as a cucumber, they dont get worried by anything. |
1144 | Food | As much use as a chocolate fire-guard | A fire-guard is used in front of a fireplace for safety. A chocolate fire-guard is of no use. An alternative to As much use as a chocolate teapot. |
1145 | Food | As much use as a chocolate teapot | Something that is as much use as a chocolate teapot is not useful at all. |
1146 | Food | Back to the salt mine | If someone says they have to go back to the salt mine, they have to return to work. |
1147 | Food | Bad Apple | A person who is bad and makes other bad is a bad apple. |
1148 | Food | Bad egg | A person who cannot be trusted is a bad egg. Good egg is the opposite. |
1149 | Food | Banana republic | Banana republic is a term used for small countries that are dependent on a single crop or resource and governed badly by a corrupt elite. |
1150 | Food | Banana skin | (UK) A banana skin is something that is an embarrassment or causes problems. |
1151 | Food | Bear fruit | If something bears fruit, it produces positive results. |
1152 | Food | Best thing since sliced bread | If something is the best thing since sliced bread, it is excellent. (The greatest thing since sliced bread is also used.) |
1153 | Food | Big Apple | (USA) The Big Apple is New York. |
1154 | Food | Big cheese | The big cheese is the boss. |
1155 | Food | Boardinghouse reach | Boardinghouse reach is the ability to reach a long distance across a table to get food. Weve used it in our family for as long as I can remember, when you reach across someones plate, "Pardon my boardinghouse reach". |
1156 | Food | Bread and butter | Bread and butter issues are ones that affect people directly and in a very important way. |
1157 | Food | Breadwinner | Used to describe the person that earns the most money. For example - Shes the breadwinner in the family. |
1158 | Food | Bring home the bacon | A person who brings home the bacon earns the money that a family live on. |
1159 | Food | Bun in the oven | If a woman has a bun in the oven, she is pregnant. |
1160 | Food | Butter wouldn't melt in their mouth | If someone looks as if butter wouldnt melt in their mouth, they look very innocent. |
1161 | Food | Cake's not worth the candle | If someone says that the cakes not worth the candle, they mean that the result will not be worth the effort put in to achieve it. |
1162 | Food | Can't do it for toffee | If you cant so something for toffee, you are incapable of doing something properly or to any sort of standard. |
1163 | Food | Carrot and stick | If someone offers a carrot and stick, they offer an incentive to do something combined with the threat of punishment. |
1164 | Food | Chalk and cheese | Things, or people, that are like chalk and cheese are very different and have nothing in common. |
1165 | Food | Cheap as chips | (UK) If something is very inexpensive, it is as cheap as chips. |
1166 | Food | Cherry pick | If people cherry pick, they choose things that support their position, while ignoring things that contradict it. |
1167 | Food | Chew the cud | If you chew the cud, you think carefully about something. |
1168 | Food | Chew the fat | If you chew the fat with someone, you talk at leisure with them. |
1169 | Food | Cook the books | If people cook the books, they keep false accounts to make money illegally or avoid paying tax. |
1170 | Food | Cooking with gas | (USA) If youre cooking with gas, youre working very efficiently. |
1171 | Food | Couch potato | A couch potato is an extremely idle or lazy person who chooses to spend most of their leisure time horizontal in front of the TV and eats a diet that is mainly junk food. |
1172 | Food | Crack a nut with a sledgehammer | If you use a sledgehammer to crack a nut, you apply too much force to achieve a result. (Jackhammer is also used.) |
1173 | Food | Cream of the crop | The cream of the crop is the best there is. |
1174 | Food | Cream rises to the top | A good person or idea cannot go unnoticed for long, just as cream poured in coffee or tea eventually rises to the top. |
1175 | Food | Crème de la crème | The cr?me de la cr?me is the very best of something. |
1176 | Food | Curate's egg | (UK) If something is a bit of a curates egg, it is only good in parts. |
1177 | Food | Curry favour | If people try to curry favour, they try to get people to support them. (Curry favor is the American spelling.) |
1178 | Food | Cut the mustard | If somebody or something doesnt cut the mustard, they fail or it fails to reach the required standard. |
1179 | Food | Different kettle of fish | If something is a different kettle of fish, it is very different from the other things referenced. |
1180 | Food | Dine on ashes | I someone is dining on ashes he or she is excessively focusing attention on failures or regrets for past actions.? |
1181 | Food | Don't cry over spilt milk | When something bad happens and nothing can be done to help it people say, Dont cry over spilt milk. |
1182 | Food | Dropped like a hot cake | If something is dropped like a hot cake, it is rejected or disposed of very quickly. |
1183 | Food | Duck soup | (USA) If something is duck soup, it is very easy. |
1184 | Food | Easy as beans | Something that is so easy that anyone can do it is easy as beans. |
1185 | Food | Easy as pie | If something is easy as pie, it is very easy indeed. |
1186 | Food | Easy peasy | (UK) If something is easy peasy, it is very easy indeed. (Easy peasy, lemon squeezy is also used.) |
1187 | Food | Eat humble pie | If someone apologises and shows a lot of contrition for something they have done, they eat humble pie. |
1188 | Food | Eat someone alive | If you eat someone alive, you defeat or beat them comprehensively. |
1189 | Food | Egg on your face | If someone has egg on their face, they are made to look foolish or embarrassed. |
1190 | Food | Eye candy | When a person is very attractive, they can be described as eye candy - sweet to look at! |
1191 | Food | Fall off the turnip truck | (USA) If someone has just fallen off the turnip truck, they are uninformed, naive and gullible. (Often used in the negative) |
1192 | Food | Fine words butter no parsnips | This idiom means that its easy to talk, but talk is not action. |
1193 | Food | Finger in the pie | If you have a finger in the pie, you have an interest in something. |
1194 | Food | Fish in troubled waters | Someone who fishes in troubled waters tries to takes advantage of a shaky or unstable situation. The extremists were fishing in troubled waters during the political uncertainty in the country. |
1195 | Food | Flat as a pancake | It is so flat that it is like a pancake- there is no head on that beer it is as flat as a pancake. |
1196 | Food | Food for thought | If something is food for thought, it is worth thinking about or considering seriously. |
1197 | Food | Forbidden fruit | Something enjoyable that is illegal or immoral is forbidden fruit. |
1198 | Food | From soup to nuts | If you do something from soup to nuts, you do it from the beginning right to the very end. |
1199 | Food | Full of beans | If someones full of beans, they are very energetic. |
1200 | Food | Glutton for punishment | If a person is described as a glutton for punishment, the happily accept jobs and tasks that most people would try to get out of. A glutton is a person who eats a lot. |
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