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| id | category | idiom | description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 301 | Animals | Top dog | The most important or influential person is the top dog. |
| 302 | Animals | Turn turtle | If something turns turtle, it turns upside down. |
| 303 | Animals | Two heads are better than one | When two people work together more things get accomplished. |
| 304 | Animals | Ugly duckling | An ugly duckling is a child who shows little promise, but who develops later into a real talent or beauty. |
| 305 | Animals | Until the last dog is shot | (USA) It means until the very last possible moment or until every possibility is exausted: You boys always stay until the last dog is shotI will stay until the last dog is shot to complete this project by deadline (Expression my mom who was born in 1917 in Wisconson always used.) |
| 306 | Animals | Up with the lark | If you get up very early, youre up with the lark. |
| 307 | Animals | Wag the dog | To wag the dog means to purposely divert attention from what would otherwise be of greater importance, to something else of lesser significance. By doing so, the lesser-significant event is catapulted into the limelight, drowning proper attention to what was originally the more important issue.The expression comes from the saying that a dog is smarter than its tail, but if the tail were smarter, then the tail would wag the dog. The expression wag the dog was elaborately used as theme of the movie. Wag the Dog, a 1997 film starring Robert de Niro and Dustin Hoffman, produced and directed by Barry Levinson. |
| 308 | Animals | Water off a duck's back | If criticism or something similar is like water off a ducks back to somebody, they arent affected by it in the slightest. |
| 309 | Animals | Whale of a time | If you have a whale of a time, you really enjoy yourself. |
| 310 | Animals | What can you expect from a hog but a grunt? | (USA) This means that you cant expect people to behave in a way that is not in their character- a hog is a pig, so an unrefined person cant be expected to behave in a refined way. |
| 311 | Animals | What's good for the goose is good for the gander | This idiom means that the sexes should be treated the same way and not be subjected to different standards. |
| 312 | Animals | When pigs fly | Meaning you will not get something when you want it or someone doesnt want something for you. say you are selling an item and some one doesnt want it. they might say Ill buy it when pigs fly. it just means you will never get someone to say yes to you when you ask for something. |
| 313 | Animals | When the chickens come home to roost | When a person pays dearly for something bad he or she did in the past, the chickens come home to roost. |
| 314 | Animals | Which came first the chicken or the egg? | This idiomatic expression is used when it is not clear who or what caused something. |
| 315 | Animals | While the cat's away, the mouse will play | People whose behaviour is strictly controlled go over the top when the authority is not around, which is why most teenagers have parties when their parents have gone on holiday. The parents are the scary authority figures, but the cats away and the kids are the mice partying and enjoying their freedom. |
| 316 | Animals | White elephant | A white elephant is an expensive burden; something that costs far too much money to run, like the Millennium Dome in the UK. |
| 317 | Animals | Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free | This idiom is usually used to refer to men who dont want to get married, when they can get all the benefits of marriage without getting married. |
| 318 | Animals | Why keep a dog and bark yourself? | Theres no need to do something yourself when you have somebody to do it for you, usually trivial matters. |
| 319 | Animals | Wild goose chase | A wild goose chase is a waste of time- time spent trying to do something unsuccessfully. |
| 320 | Animals | Within a whisker | If you come within a whisker of doing something, you very nearly manage to do it but? dont succeed. |
| 321 | Animals | Wolf in sheep's clothing | A wolf in sheeps clothing is something dangerous that looks quite safe and innocent. |
| 322 | Animals | Work like a dog | If you work like a dog, you work very hard. |
| 323 | Animals | World is your oyster | When the world is your oyster, you are getting everything you want from life. |
| 324 | Animals | Worm information | If you worm information out of somebody, you persuade them to tell you something they wanted to keep from you. |
| 325 | Animals | Worm's eye view | A worms eye view of something is the view from below, either physically or socially. |
| 326 | Animals | You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar | This means that it is easier to persuade people if you use polite arguments and flattery than if you are confrontational. |
| 327 | Animals | You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink | This idiom means you can offer something to someone, like good advice, but you cannot make them take it. |
| 328 | Animals | You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear | If something isnt very good to start with, you cant do much to improve it. |
| 329 | Animals | You can't teach an old dog new tricks | It is difficult to make someone change the way they do something when they have been doing it the same way for a long time |
| 330 | Animals | You could have knocked me down with a feather | This idiom is used to mean that the person was very shocked or surprised. |
| 331 | Animals | You do not get a dog and bark yourself | (UK) If there is someone in a lower position who can or should do a task, then you shouldnt do it. |
| 332 | Body and bodily functions | A fresh pair of eyes | A person who is brought in to examine something carefully is a fresh pair of eyes. |
| 333 | Body and bodily functions | A still tongue keeps a wise head | Wise people dont talk much. |
| 334 | Body and bodily functions | About face | If someone changes their mind completely, this is an about face. It can be used when companies, governments, etc, change their position on an issue. |
| 335 | Body and bodily functions | Absence makes the heart grow fonder | This idiom means that when people are apart, their love grows stronger. |
| 336 | Body and bodily functions | After your own heart | A person after your own heart thinks the same way as you. |
| 337 | Body and bodily functions | All ears | If someone says theyre all ears, they are very interested in hearing about something. |
| 338 | Body and bodily functions | All eyes on me | If all eyes are on someone, then everyone is paying attention to them. |
| 339 | Body and bodily functions | All fingers and thumbs | If youre all fingers and thumbs, you are too excited or clumsy to do something properly that requires manual dexterity. All thumbs is an alternative form of the idiom. |
| 340 | Body and bodily functions | All heart | Someone who is all heart is very kind and generous. |
| 341 | Body and bodily functions | All in your head | If something is all in your head, you have imagined it and it is not real. |
| 342 | Body and bodily functions | All skin and bone | If a person is very underweight, they are all skin and bone, or bones. |
| 343 | Body and bodily functions | Arm and a leg | If something costs an arm and a leg, it is very expensive. |
| 344 | Body and bodily functions | Armed to the teeth | If people are armed to the teeth, they have lots of weapons. |
| 345 | Body and bodily functions | At arm's length | If something is at arms length, it is a safe distance waway from you. |
| 346 | Body and bodily functions | At each other's throats | If people are at each others throats, they are fighting, arguing or competing ruthlessly. |
| 347 | Body and bodily functions | At the top of my lungs | If you shout at the top of your lungs, you shout as loudly as you possibly can. |
| 348 | Body and bodily functions | At the top of your lungs | If you shout at the top of your lungs, you shout as loudly as you possibly can. |
| 349 | Body and bodily functions | At the top of your voice | If you talk, shout or sing at the top of your voice, you do it as loudly as you can. |
| 350 | Body and bodily functions | Back foot | (UK) If you are on your back foot, you are at a disadvantage and forced to be defensive of your position. |
| 351 | Body and bodily functions | Bad blood | If people feel hate because of things that happened in the past, there is bad blood between them. |
| 352 | Body and bodily functions | Bad hair day | If youre having a bad hair day, things are not going the way you would like or had planned. |
| 353 | Body and bodily functions | Bad mouth | (UK) When you are bad mouthing,you are saying negative things about someone or something.(Bad-mouth and badmouth are also used.) |
| 354 | Body and bodily functions | Bad taste in your mouth | If something leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth, you feel there is something wrong or bad about it. |
| 355 | Body and bodily functions | Bag of bones | If someone is a bag of bones, they are very underweight. |
| 356 | Body and bodily functions | Bag of nerves | If someone is a bag of nerves, they are very worried or nervous. |
| 357 | Body and bodily functions | Bare your heart | If you bare your heart to someone, you tell them your personal and private feelings. (Bare your soul is an alternative form of the idiom.) |
| 358 | Body and bodily functions | Bat an eyelid | If someone doesnt bat an eyelid, they dont react or show any emotion when surprised, shocked, etc. |
| 359 | Body and bodily functions | Bated breath | If someone says theyre waiting with bated breath, theyre very excited and find it difficult to be patient.(Baited breath is a common mistake.) |
| 360 | Body and bodily functions | Be all ears | If you are all ears, you are very eager to hear what someone has to say. |
| 361 | Body and bodily functions | Beat your brains out | If you beat your brains out, you think hard about something but cannot solve, understand or remember it. |
| 362 | Body and bodily functions | Beauty is in the eye of the beholder | Beauty is in the eye of the beholder means that different people will find different things beautiful and that the differences of opinion dont matter greatly. |
| 363 | Body and bodily functions | Beauty is only skin deep | This idiom means that appearances can be deceptive and something that seems or looks good may turn out to be bad. |
| 364 | Body and bodily functions | Bedroom eyes | Someone with bedroom eyes has a sexy look in their eyes. |
| 365 | Body and bodily functions | Behind someone's back | If you do something behind someones back, you do it without telling them. |
| 366 | Body and bodily functions | Belly up | If things go belly up, they go badly wrong. |
| 367 | Body and bodily functions | Better than a kick in the teeth | If something is better than a kick in the teeth, it isnt very good, but it is better than nothing. |
| 368 | Body and bodily functions | Better than a stick in the eye | If something is better than a stick in the eye, it isnt very good, but it is better than nothing. |
| 369 | Body and bodily functions | Big nose | If someone has a big nose, it means they are excessively interested in everyone elses business. |
| 370 | Body and bodily functions | Bit between your teeth | If you take or have the bit between your teeth, you take or have control of a situation. (Bit = piece of metal in a horses mouth) |
| 371 | Body and bodily functions | Bite someone's head off | If you bite someones head off, you criticise them angrily. |
| 372 | Body and bodily functions | Bite your lip | If you have to bite your lip, you have to make a conscious effort not to react or to keep quiet about something that displeases you. |
| 373 | Body and bodily functions | Bite your tongue | If you bite your tongue, you refrain from speaking because it is socially or otherwise better not to. |
| 374 | Body and bodily functions | Bleeding edge | Similar to cutting edge, this implies a technology or process that is at the forefront or beyond current practices. However, because it is unproven, it is often dangerous to use (hence the bleeding). |
| 375 | Body and bodily functions | Bleeding heart | A bleeding heart is a person who is excessively sympathetic towards other people. |
| 376 | Body and bodily functions | Bless your pointy little head | This expression is used as to patronise someone, especially when they dont realise that theyre not very clever.(Bless your pointes little head is also used.) |
| 377 | Body and bodily functions | Blind acceptance | If people accept thing blindly, they accept them without questioning them at all. |
| 378 | Body and bodily functions | Blind leading the blind | When the blind are leading the blind, the people in charge of something dont know anything more than the people they are in charge of, when they should have greater knowledge. |
| 379 | Body and bodily functions | Blink of an eye | If something happens in the blink of an eye, it happens so fast it is almost impossible to notice it. |
| 380 | Body and bodily functions | Blood and thunder | An emotional speech or performance is full of blood and thunder. |
| 381 | Body and bodily functions | Blood from a turnip | It is impossible to get something from someone if they dont have it, just as you cannot get blood from a turnip. |
| 382 | Body and bodily functions | Blood is thicker than water | This idiom means that family relationships are stronger than others. |
| 383 | Body and bodily functions | Blood is worth bottling | (AU) If an Australian says to you "Your blood is worth bottling", he/she is complimenting or praising you for doing something or being someone very special. |
| 384 | Body and bodily functions | Blood out of a stone | If something is like getting blood out of a stone, it is very difficult indeed. |
| 385 | Body and bodily functions | Blood, sweat and tears | If something will take blood, sweat and tears, it will be very difficult and will require a lot of effort and sacrifice. |
| 386 | Body and bodily functions | Blow your mind | Something that will blow your mind is something extraordinary that will amaze you beyond explanation. |
| 387 | Body and bodily functions | Blue blood | Someone with blue blood is royalty. |
| 388 | Body and bodily functions | Bone of contention | If there is an issue that always causes tension and arguments, it is a bone of contention. |
| 389 | Body and bodily functions | Bone to pick | If you have a bone to pick with someone, you are annoyed about something they have done and want to tell them how you feel. |
| 390 | Body and bodily functions | Born with a silver spoon in your mouth | If you are born with a silver spoon in your mouth, you are born into a rich family. |
| 391 | Body and bodily functions | Brain surgery | If something is not brain surgery, it isnt very complicated or difficult to understand or master. |
| 392 | Body and bodily functions | Brass neck | (UK) Someone who has the brass neck to do something has no sense of shame about what they do. |
| 393 | Body and bodily functions | Break a leg | This idiom is a way of wishing someone good luck. |
| 394 | Body and bodily functions | Break your heart | If someone upsets you greatly, they break your heart, especially if they end a relationship. |
| 395 | Body and bodily functions | Breathe down your neck | If someone follows you or examines what youre doing very closely, they are breathing down your neck. |
| 396 | Body and bodily functions | Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed | If someones bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, they are full of energy and enthusiasm. |
| 397 | Body and bodily functions | Bring someone to heel | If you bring someone to heel, you make them obey you.(Call someone to heel is also used.)? |
| 398 | Body and bodily functions | Brown nose | When someone tries to make themselves popular with somebody, usually in a position of authority, especially by flattering them, they are brown nosing. |
| 399 | Body and bodily functions | Bums on seats | The people who have paid to watch a performance are bums on seats. |
| 400 | Body and bodily functions | Bundle of nerves | Someone who is a bundle of nerves is very worried or nervous. |
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