1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47
| id | category | idiom | description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1801 | Plants & Flowers | Little strokes fell great oaks | Meaning: even though something may seem impossible, if you break it up into small parts and take one step at a time, you will succeed. |
| 1802 | Plants & Flowers | Make hay | If you make hay, or may hay while the sun shines, you take advantage of an opportunity as soon as it arises and do not waste time. |
| 1803 | Plants & Flowers | Mighty oaks from little acorns grow | Big or great things start very small. |
| 1804 | Plants & Flowers | Muck or nettles | Muck or nettles means all or nothing. |
| 1805 | Plants & Flowers | Needle in a haystack | If trying to find something is like looking for a needle in a haystack, it means that it is very difficult, if not impossible to find among everything around it. |
| 1806 | Plants & Flowers | Never a rose without the prick | This means that good things always have something bad as well; like the thorns on the stem of a rose. |
| 1807 | Plants & Flowers | Nip it in the bud | If you nip something in the bud, you deal with a problem when it is still small, before it can grow into something serious. |
| 1808 | Plants & Flowers | No bed of roses | If something isnt a bed of roses, it is difficult. |
| 1809 | Plants & Flowers | Old chestnut | An old chestnut is something that has been repeated so many times that it has lost its impact. |
| 1810 | Plants & Flowers | Olive branch | If you hold out or offer an olive branch, you make a gesture to indicate that you want peace. |
| 1811 | Plants & Flowers | Oops a daisy | An expression used to indicate surprise. |
| 1812 | Plants & Flowers | Out of the woods | If you are out of the woods, you have emerged safely from a dangerous situation, though the idiom is often used in the negative. |
| 1813 | Plants & Flowers | Primrose path | The primrose path is an easy and pleasurable lifestyle, but one that ends in unpleasantness and problems. |
| 1814 | Plants & Flowers | Pushing up the daisies | If someone is said to be pushing up the daisies, they are dead. |
| 1815 | Plants & Flowers | Put someone out to pasture | If someone is put out to pasture, they are forced to resign or give up some responsibilities. |
| 1816 | Plants & Flowers | Rough end of the stick | To get the rough end of the stick is to be treated unfairly or to come off worse than the other party in a transaction, situation or relationship. |
| 1817 | Plants & Flowers | Run around the bush | (USA) If you run around the bush, it means that youre taking a long time to get to the point. |
| 1818 | Plants & Flowers | Seed money | Seed money is money that is used to start a small business. |
| 1819 | Plants & Flowers | Short end of the stick | If someone gets the short end of the stick, they are unfairly treated or dont get what they deserve. |
| 1820 | Plants & Flowers | Shrinking violet | A shrinking violet is a shy person who doesnt express their views and opinions. |
| 1821 | Plants & Flowers | Sow the seeds | When people sow the seeds, they start something that will have a much greater impact in the future. |
| 1822 | Plants & Flowers | Take a straw poll | If you take a straw poll, you sound a number of people out to see their opinions on an issue or topic. |
| 1823 | Plants & Flowers | The grass is always greener | This idiom means that what other people have or do looks preferable to our life. The complete phrase is The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. |
| 1824 | Plants & Flowers | The short straw | If you take the short straw, you lose a selection process, which means that you have to do something unpleasant. |
| 1825 | Plants & Flowers | Thorn in your side | A thorn in your side is someone or something that causes trouble or makes life difficult for you. |
| 1826 | Plants & Flowers | Touch wood | This idiom is used to wish for good luck. (Knock on wood is also used.) |
| 1827 | Plants & Flowers | Turf war | If people or organisations are fighting for control of something, it is a turf war. |
| 1828 | Plants & Flowers | Turn a new leaf | If someone turns a new leaf, they change their behaviour and stop doing wrong or bad things. |
| 1829 | Plants & Flowers | Turn up one's toes to the daisies | If someone has turned up their toes to the daisies, it means that the person died. |
| 1830 | Plants & Flowers | Ugly as a stick | (USA) If someone is as ugly as a stick, they are very ugly indeed. |
| 1831 | Plants & Flowers | Up a gum tree | (AU) If youre up a gum tree, youre in trouble or a big mess. |
| 1832 | Plants & Flowers | Wallflower | (UK) A woman politician given an unimportant government position so that the government can pretend it takes women seriously is a wallflower. |
| 1833 | Plants & Flowers | Watch grass grow | If something is like watching grass grow, it is really boring. |
| 1834 | Plants & Flowers | Wither on the vine | If something withers on the vine, it fails to get the intended result, doesnt come to fruition. |
| 1835 | Plants & Flowers | Wood for the trees | (UK) If someone cant see the wood for the trees, they get so caught up in small details that they fail to understand the bigger picture. |
| 1836 | Police & Crime | A steal | If something is a steal, it costs much less than it is really worth. |
| 1837 | Police & Crime | Bandit territory | An area or an industry, profession, etc, where rules and laws are ignored or flouted is bandit territory. |
| 1838 | Police & Crime | Beat the rap | If you beat the rap, you escape conviction and punishment for a crime or something you have done wrong. |
| 1839 | Police & Crime | Behind bars | When someone is behind bars, they are in prison. |
| 1840 | Police & Crime | Cat burglar | A cat burglar is a skillful thief who breaks into places without disturbing people or setting off alarms. |
| 1841 | Police & Crime | Do a runner | (UK) If people leave a restaurant without paying, they do a runner. |
| 1842 | Police & Crime | Get away with murder | If you get away with murder, you do something bad and dont get caught or punished.(Get away with blue murder is also used.) |
| 1843 | Police & Crime | Highway robbery | Something that is ridiculously expensive, especially when you have no choice but to pay, is a highway robbery. |
| 1844 | Police & Crime | Honor among thieves | If someone says there is honor among thieves, this means that even corrupt or bad people sometimes have a sense of honor or integrity, or justice, even if it is skewed.? (Honour among thieves is the British English version.) |
| 1845 | Police & Crime | In the clink | (UK) If someone is in the clink, they are in prison. |
| 1846 | Police & Crime | In the dock | If someone is in the dock, they are on trial in court. |
| 1847 | Police & Crime | Make out like a bandit | (USA) If someone is extremely successful in a venture, they make out like a bandit. |
| 1848 | Police & Crime | New sheriff in town | This is used when a new authority figure takes charge. |
| 1849 | Police & Crime | On the case | If someone is on the case, they are dealing with a problem. |
| 1850 | Police & Crime | On the lam | If someone is on the lam, they are hiding from the police or authorities, especially to avoid arrest or prison. |
| 1851 | Police & Crime | On the run | If someone is on the run, they are avoiding arrest and hiding from the police. |
| 1852 | Police & Crime | Poacher turned gamekeeper | Someone who gets a legitimate job which is the opposite of their previous one. E.G a computer hacker who then helps to catch other hackers or an ex-bank robber who then advises banks on security. |
| 1853 | Police & Crime | Serve time | When someone is serving time, they are in prison. |
| 1854 | Police & Crime | Set a thief to catch a thief | The best person to catch a criminal is another criminal as they understand how criminals work. |
| 1855 | Police & Crime | Steal a march | This expression indicates the stealthiness of a person over another to gain advantage of the situation. For instance, if two persons are offered some jobs which are vacant, they resolve to go together next day at an agreed time, but one of them, without telling the other, goes earlier than the other and secures the better of the two jobs, he is said to steal a march on the other person. |
| 1856 | Police & Crime | Stool pigeon | (USA) A stool pigeon is a police informer. |
| 1857 | Police & Crime | Take no prisoners | If people take no prisoners, they do things in a very aggressive way, without considering any harm they might do to achieve their objectives. |
| 1858 | Police & Crime | Thick as thieves | If people are thick as thieves, they are very close friends who have no secrets from each other. |
| 1859 | Politics | Body politic | A group of people organised under a single government or authority (national or regional) is a body politic. |
| 1860 | Politics | Carpetbagger | A carpetbagger is an opportunist without any scruples or ethics, or a politican who wants to represent a place they have no connection with. |
| 1861 | Politics | Casting vote | The casting vote is a vote given to a chairman or president that is used when there is a deadlock. |
| 1862 | Politics | Dog-whistle politics | (AU) When political parties have policies that will appeal to racists while not being overtly racist, they are indulging in dog-whistle politics. |
| 1863 | Politics | Economical with the truth | (UK) If someone, especially a politician, is economical with the truth, they leave out information in order to create a false picture of a situation, without actually lying. |
| 1864 | Politics | Fifth columnist | (UK) A fifth columnist is a member of a subversive organisation who tries to help an enemy invade. |
| 1865 | Politics | Fourth estate | This is an idiomatic way of describing the media, especially the newspapers. |
| 1866 | Politics | Get on your soapbox | If someone on their soapbox, they hold forth (talk a lot) about a subject they feel strongly about. |
| 1867 | Politics | Gunboat diplomacy | If a nation conducts its diplomatic relations by threatening military action to get what it wants, it is using gunboat diplomacy. |
| 1868 | Politics | Megaphone diplomacy | If negotiations between countries or parties are held through press releases and announcements, this is megaphone diplomacy, aiming to force the other party into adopting a desired position. |
| 1869 | Politics | On the stump | When politicians are campaigning for support and votes, they are on the stump. |
| 1870 | Politics | Politically correct | Things or people that are politically correct use language that will not cause offence. |
| 1871 | Politics | Pork barrel | Pork barrel politics involves investing money in an area to get political support rather than using the money for the common good. |
| 1872 | Politics | Toe the line | If someone toes the line, they follow and respect the rules and regulations. |
| 1873 | Politics | Wedge politics | (USA) In wedge politics, one party uses an issue that they hope will divide members of a different party to create conflict and weaken it. |
| 1874 | Politics | You can't fight City Hall | This phrase is used when one is so cynical that one doesnt think one can change their Representatives. The phrase must have started with frustration towards a local body of government. |
| 1875 | Profession or work | Agony aunt | An agony aunt is a newspaper columnist who gives advice to people having problems, especially personal ones. |
| 1876 | Profession or work | All in a day's work | If something is all in a days work, it is nothing special. |
| 1877 | Profession or work | Bad workers always blame their tools | "A bad worker always blames their tools" - If somebody does a job badly or loses in a game and claims that they were let down by their equipment, you can use this to imply that this was not the case. |
| 1878 | Profession or work | Baker's dozen | A Bakers dozen is 13 rather than 12. |
| 1879 | Profession or work | Bean counter | A bean counter is an accountant. |
| 1880 | Profession or work | Beggars can't be choosers | This idiom means that people who are in great need must accept any help that is offered, even if it is not a complete solution to their problems. |
| 1881 | Profession or work | Busman's holiday | A busmans holiday is when you spend your free time doing the same sort of work as you do in your job. |
| 1882 | Profession or work | Don't give up the day job | This idiom is used a way of telling something that they do something badly. |
| 1883 | Profession or work | Game plan | A game plan is a strategy. |
| 1884 | Profession or work | Gardening leave | (UK) If someone is paid for a period when they are not working, either after they have given in their notice or when they are being investigated, they are on gardening leave. |
| 1885 | Profession or work | Give away the store | (USA) If someone gives away the store, they say or do something that makes their position in negotiations, debates, etc, much weaker. |
| 1886 | Profession or work | Glass ceiling | The glass ceiling is the discrimination that prevents women and minorities from getting promoted to the highest levels of companies and organisations. |
| 1887 | Profession or work | Good offices | Good offices is help and support, especially in mediating in a dispute. |
| 1888 | Profession or work | Have your work cut out | If you have your work cut out, you are very busy indeed. |
| 1889 | Profession or work | Movers and shakers | Dynamic, important people who can get things done quickly and are influential are the movers and shakers. |
| 1890 | Profession or work | New brush sweeps clean | A new brush sweeps clean means that someone with a new perspective can make great changes. However, the full version is a new brush sweeps clean, but an old brush knows the corners, which warns that experience is also a valuable thing. Sometimes broom is used instead of brush. |
| 1891 | Profession or work | Noddy work | (UK) Unimportant or very simple tasks are noddy work. |
| 1892 | Profession or work | Not worth a tinker's dam | This means that something is worthless and dates back to when someone would travel around the countryside repairing things such as a kitchen pot with a hole in it. He was called a tinker. His dam was used to stop the flow of soldering material being used to close the hole. Of course his trade is pass?, thus his dam is worth nothing. |
| 1893 | Profession or work | Number cruncher | A number cruncher is an accountant or someone who is very good at dealing with numbers and calculations. |
| 1894 | Profession or work | On the line | If somebodys job is on the line, they stand a very good chance of losing it. |
| 1895 | Profession or work | Pointy-heads | Pointy-heads are supposed intellectuals or experts, but who dont really know that much. |
| 1896 | Profession or work | Pull rank | A person of higher position or in authority pulls rank, he or she exercises his/her authority, generally ending any discussion and ignoring other peoples views. |
| 1897 | Profession or work | Real trouper | A real trouper is someone who will fight for what they believe in and doesnt give up easily. (People often use Real trooper as the two words sound the same.) |
| 1898 | Profession or work | Speak to the organ grinder not the monkey | Talk to the boss not the subordinate |
| 1899 | Profession or work | Swear like a sailor | Someone who is foul-mouthed and uses bad language all the time, swears like a sailor. |
| 1900 | Profession or work | Swear like a trooper | Someone who is foul-mouthed and uses bad language all the time, swears like a trooper. |
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47