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id | category | idiom | description |
---|---|---|---|
3001 | Body and bodily functions | Skin and bones | If someone is skin and bones, they are very underweight and look bad. |
3002 | Body and bodily functions | Skin in the game | A person who has skin in the game has invested in the company they are running. |
3003 | Body and bodily functions | Skin someone alive | If someone skins you alive, they admonish and punish you hard. |
3004 | Body and bodily functions | Slap on the wrist | If someone gets a slap on the wrist, they get a very minor punishment when they could have been punished more severely. |
3005 | Body and bodily functions | Sleight of hand | Sleight of hand is the ability to use your hands in a clever way, like a magician performing tricks you cant see. |
3006 | Body and bodily functions | Slip of the tongue | If you say something accidentally, it is a slip of the tongue. |
3007 | Body and bodily functions | Slip through one's fingers | If something slips through one’s fingers it escapes or is lost through carelessness. |
3008 | Body and bodily functions | Smack in the face | If something is a smack in the face, it is a shock, usually one that impedes progress. |
3009 | Body and bodily functions | Smooth as a baby's bottom | If something is smooth as a babys bottom, it has a regular, flat surface. |
3010 | Body and bodily functions | Speak with a forked tongue | To say one thing and mean another, to lie, to be two-faced |
3011 | Body and bodily functions | Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak | If the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, someone lacks the willpower to change things they do because they derive too much pleasure from them. |
3012 | Body and bodily functions | Spit blood | If someone is spitting blood, they are absolutely furious. |
3013 | Body and bodily functions | Spit it out | People say this when someone has something to say but is too embarrassed, shy, etc, to say it. |
3014 | Body and bodily functions | Split hairs | If people split hairs, they concentrate on tiny and unimportant details to find fault with something. |
3015 | Body and bodily functions | Stand head and shoulders above | It means to stand apart from the rest (in a good way), or to be the best. For example, "With his amazing grasp on the subject, John stood head and shoulders above the rest". |
3016 | Body and bodily functions | Stars in your eyes | Someone who dreams of being famous has stars in their eyes. |
3017 | Body and bodily functions | Step on someone's toes | If you step on someones toes, you upset them, especially if you do something that they should be in charge of. |
3018 | Body and bodily functions | Stick in your craw | If someone or something really annoys you, it is said to stick in your craw. |
3019 | Body and bodily functions | Stick out like a sore thumb | If something sticks or stands out like a sore thumb, it is clearly and obviously different from the things that are around it. |
3020 | Body and bodily functions | Stick your neck out | If you stick you neck out, you take a risk because you believe in something. |
3021 | Body and bodily functions | Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me | To be resistant to criticism. |
3022 | Body and bodily functions | Sticky fingers | The tendency to keep (or steal) an object you touch.? Also, to steal something quickly without anyone noticing. (ex: You stole that guys wallet? You have some sticky fingers, my friend.) |
3023 | Body and bodily functions | Stiff upper lip | (UK) If you keep your emotions to yourself and dont let others know how you feel when something bad happens, you keep a stiff upper lip. |
3024 | Body and bodily functions | Stiff-necked | A stiff-necked person is rather formal and finds it hard to relax in company. |
3025 | Body and bodily functions | Stir the blood | If something stirs your blood, it arouses feelings or passions,. |
3026 | Body and bodily functions | Stone deaf | Someone who is stone deaf is completely deaf. |
3027 | Body and bodily functions | Straight face | If someone keeps a straight face, they remain serious and do not show emotion or amusement. |
3028 | Body and bodily functions | Straight from the shoulder | If someone talks straight from the shoulder, they talk honestly and plainly. |
3029 | Body and bodily functions | Strain every nerve | If you strain every nerve, you make a great effort to achieve something. |
3030 | Body and bodily functions | Stuffed to the gills | If someone is stuffed to the gills, they have eaten a lot and are very full. |
3031 | Body and bodily functions | Suck hind teat | A person who sucks hind teat is at a disadvantage or considered worse or less important that others. |
3032 | Body and bodily functions | Sweat blood | If you sweat blood, you make an extraordinary effort to achieve something. |
3033 | Body and bodily functions | Sweep off your feet | If you are swept off your feet, you lose control emotionally when you fall in love or are really impressed. |
3034 | Body and bodily functions | Sweet tooth | If you have a sweet tooth, you like eating food with sugar in it. |
3035 | Body and bodily functions | Take a nosedive | When things take a nosedive, they decline very quickly and head towards disaster. |
3036 | Body and bodily functions | Take by the scruff of the neck | If you take something by the scruff on the neck, you take complete control of it. |
3037 | Body and bodily functions | Take guts | If something takes guts, it requires courage in the face of danger or great risk. It takes guts for firemen to enter a burning building to save someone. |
3038 | Body and bodily functions | Take it on the chin | If you take something on the chin, something bad happens to you and you take it directly without fuss. |
3039 | Body and bodily functions | Take someone under your wing | If you take someone under your wing, you look after them while they are learning something. |
3040 | Body and bodily functions | Talk a glass eye to sleep | Someone who could talk a glass eye to sleep is very boring and repetitive. |
3041 | Body and bodily functions | Talk out of the back of your head | If someone is talking out of the back of their head, they are talking rubbish. |
3042 | Body and bodily functions | Taste blood | If someone has tasted blood, they have achieved something and are encouraged to think that victory is within their grasp. |
3043 | Body and bodily functions | Tear your hair out | If someone is tearing their hair out, they are extremely worried or agitated about something. |
3044 | Body and bodily functions | Tears before bedtime | (UK) This idiom is used when something seems certain to go wrong or cause trouble. |
3045 | Body and bodily functions | Teething problems | (UK) The problems that a project has when it is starting are the teething problems. |
3046 | Body and bodily functions | Thick-skinned | If a person is thick-skinned, they are not affected by criticism. |
3047 | Body and bodily functions | Thin-skinned | If somebody is thin-skinned, they are very sensitive to any sort of criticism. |
3048 | Body and bodily functions | Through gritted teeth | If you do something through gritted teeth, you accept or agree with it against your will and it is obvious to others how you really feel. |
3049 | Body and bodily functions | Throw someone a bone | If you throw someone a bone, you give them a small reward or some kind words to make them feel good even if theyve not really contributed much. |
3050 | Body and bodily functions | Thumb your nose at | If you thumb your nose at something, you reject it or scorn it. |
3051 | Body and bodily functions | Thumbs down & thumbs up | If something gets the thumbs up, it gets approval, while the thumbs down means disapproval. |
3052 | Body and bodily functions | Tongue in cheek | If something is tongue in cheek, it isnt serious or meant to be taken seriously. |
3053 | Body and bodily functions | Tongue-lashing | If you give someone a tongue-lashing, you scold them. |
3054 | Body and bodily functions | Tongue-tied | If someone is tongue-tied, they are speechless or cannot |
3055 | Body and bodily functions | Tread on someone's toes | If you tread on someones toes, you upset them, especially if you do something that they should be in charge of. |
3056 | Body and bodily functions | Tug at the heartstrings | f something tugs at the heartstrings, it makes you feel sad or sympathetic towards it. |
3057 | Body and bodily functions | Turn a blind eye | When people turn a blind eye, they deliberately ignore something, especially if people are doing something wrong. |
3058 | Body and bodily functions | Turn a deaf ear | If someone turns a deaf ear to you, they dont listen to you. |
3059 | Body and bodily functions | Turn something on its head | If you turn something on its head, you turn it upside down or reverse it. |
3060 | Body and bodily functions | Turn the other cheek | If you turn the other cheek, you are humble and do not retaliate or get outwardly angry when someone offends or hurts you, in fact, you give them the opportunity to re-offend instead and compound their unpleasantness. |
3061 | Body and bodily functions | Turn your nose up | If someone turns their nose up at something, they reject it or look odwn on it because they dont think it is good enough for them. |
3062 | Body and bodily functions | Twinkling of an eye | If something happens in the twinkling of an eye, it happens very quickly. |
3063 | Body and bodily functions | Twist someone's arm | If you twist someones arm, you put pressure on them to try to make them do what you want them to do. |
3064 | Body and bodily functions | Two left feet | A person with two left feet cant dance. |
3065 | Body and bodily functions | Under your nose | If something happens right in front of you, especially if it is surprising or audacious, it happens under your nose. |
3066 | Body and bodily functions | Under your skin | If someone gets under your skin, they really annoy you. |
3067 | Body and bodily functions | Under your thumb | Someone who is manipulated or controlled by another person is under his or her thumb. |
3068 | Body and bodily functions | Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown | This means that people with serious responsibilities have a heavy burden. |
3069 | Body and bodily functions | Up to the eyes | You you are up to your eyes in something, you are deeply involved or to have too much of something like work. (Up the neck, up to the eyeballs and up to the ears are also used.) |
3070 | Body and bodily functions | Up to the neck | If someones in something up to the neck, they are very involved in it, especially when its something wrong. |
3071 | Body and bodily functions | Up to your eyes | When youve got too much work to do, youre up to your eyes in it. |
3072 | Body and bodily functions | Up to your neck | If someone is very involved in something, they are up to their neck in it, especially if it is something bad or immoral. |
3073 | Body and bodily functions | Upper hand | If you have the upper hand, you have the advantage. |
3074 | Body and bodily functions | Vent your spleen | If someone vents their spleen, they release all their anger about something. |
3075 | Body and bodily functions | Volte-face | If you do a volte-face on something, you make a sudden and complete change in your stance or position over an issue. |
3076 | Body and bodily functions | Warm the cockles of your heart | If something warms the cockles of your heart, it makes you feel happy. |
3077 | Body and bodily functions | Warts and all | If you like someone warts and all, you like them with all their faults. |
3078 | Body and bodily functions | Wash your hands of something | If you wash your hands of something, you disassociate yourself and accept no responsibility for what will happen. |
3079 | Body and bodily functions | Waste of skin | If a person is referred to as a waste of skin, it means he is not worth very much. |
3080 | Body and bodily functions | Watch your back | If someone is after your job, or wants to harm you in any way, you need to "watch your back" to metaphorically see what is going on behind you |
3081 | Body and bodily functions | Weak at the knees | If people go weak at the knees, they have a powerful emotional reaction to something and feel that they might fall over. |
3082 | Body and bodily functions | Wear your heart on your sleeve | Someone who wears their heart on their sleeve shows their emotions and feelings publicly. |
3083 | Body and bodily functions | Weight off your shoulders | If something is a weight off your shoulders, you have relieved yourself of a burden, normally a something that has been troubling you or worrying you. |
3084 | Body and bodily functions | Wet behind the ears | Someone who is wet behind the ears is either very young or inexperienced. |
3085 | Body and bodily functions | Win by a nose | If somebody wins by a nose, they only just beat the others. |
3086 | Body and bodily functions | Wipe the smile of someone's face | If you wipe the smile of someones face, you do something to make someone feel less pleased with themselves. |
3087 | Body and bodily functions | Word of mouth | If something becomes known by word of mouth, it is because people are talking about it, not through publicity, etc. |
3088 | Body and bodily functions | Work your fingers to the bone | If you work your fingers to the bone, you work extremely hard on something. |
3089 | Body and bodily functions | Work your tail off | If you work your tail off, you work extremely hard. |
3090 | Body and bodily functions | World at your feet | If everything is going well and the future looks full of opportunity, you have the world at your feet. |
3091 | Body and bodily functions | Written all over your face | If someone has done something wrong or secret, but cannot hide it in their expression, it is written all over their face. |
3092 | Body and bodily functions | Wrong foot | If you start something on the wrong foot, you start badly. |
3093 | Body and bodily functions | You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours | This idiom means that if you do something for me, Ill return the favour. |
3094 | Body and bodily functions | You've got rocks in your head | (USA) Someone who has acted with a lack of intelligence has rocks in their head. |
3095 | Body and bodily functions | Young blood | Young people with new ideas and fresh approaches are young blood. |
3096 | Body and bodily functions | Your belly button is bigger than your stomach | If your belly button is bigger than your stomach, you take on more responsibilities than you can handle. |
3097 | Body and bodily functions | Zip your lip | If someone tells you to zip your lip, they want to to shut up or keep quiet about something. (Zip it is also used.) |
3098 | Buildings & construction | A bridge too far | A bridge too far is an act of overreaching- going too far and getting into trouble or failing. |
3099 | Buildings & construction | Back to the wall | If you have your back to the wall, you are in a difficult situation with very little room for manoeuvre. |
3100 | Buildings & construction | Behind closed doors | If something happens away from the public eye, it happens behind closed doors. |
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