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id | category | idiom | description |
---|---|---|---|
3401 | Death | Dead wrong | If someone is dead wrong, they are absolutely in error, absolutely incorrect or of incorrect opinion. |
3402 | Death | Death of a thousand cuts | If something is suffering the death of a thousand cuts, or death by a thousand cuts, lots of small bad things are happening, none of which are fatal in themselves, but which add up to a slow and painful demise. |
3403 | Death | Death warmed up | (UK) If someone looks like death warmed up, they look very ill indeed. (death warmed over is the American form) |
3404 | Death | Done to death | If a joke or story has been done to death, it has been told so often that it has stopped being funny. |
3405 | Death | Fall on your sword | If someone falls on their sword, they resign or accept the consequences of some wrongdoing. |
3406 | Death | Fate worse than death | Describing something as a fate worse than death is a fairly common way of implying that it is unpleasant. |
3407 | Death | Ghost of a chance | If something or someone hasnt got a ghost of a chance, they have no hope whatsoever of succeeding. |
3408 | Death | Ghostly presence | You can feel or otherwise sense a ghostly presence, but you cannot do it clearly only vaguely. |
3409 | Death | Give someone enough rope | If you give someone enough rope, you give them the chance to get themselves into trouble or expose themselves. (The full form is give someone enough rope and theyll hang themselves) |
3410 | Death | Give up the ghost | People give up the ghost when they die.? Machines stop working when they give up the ghost. |
3411 | Death | Grass widow | A grass widow is a woman whose husband is often away on work, leaving her on her own. |
3412 | Death | Graveyard shift | If you have to work very late at night, it is the graveyard shift. |
3413 | Death | It's your funeral | The other person has made a decision that you think is bad. However, it is their choice; it is their funeral. |
3414 | Death | Kiss of death | The kiss of death is an action that means failure or ruin for someone, a scheme, a plan, etc. |
3415 | Death | Knock 'em dead | Knock em dead is used as a way of wishing someone luck before they give a performance or have to appear before people, as in an interview, etc. (em = them) |
3416 | Death | Know where all the bodies are buried | Someone who by virtue of holding a position of trust with an organization for a long period of time has come to know many of the secrets that others in more powerful positions would rather be kept secret knows where the bodies are buried. An implication is that the person knowing these secrets will use that knowledge to secure something of value for him- or herself. |
3417 | Death | Life and limb | When people risk life and limb, they could be killed or suffer serious injuries. |
3418 | Death | Matter of life and death | If something is a matter of life and death, it is extremely important. |
3419 | Death | Meet your Maker | If someone has gone to meet their Maker, they have died. |
3420 | Death | Murder will out | This idiom means that bad deeds cant be kept secret forever. |
3421 | Death | Nail in the coffin | A nail in someone or somethings coffin is a problem or event that is a clear step towards an inevitable failure. |
3422 | Death | Never say die | When someone says "Never Say Die", it means that you shouldnt give up hope. |
3423 | Death | Over my dead body | If you say that something will happen over your dead body, you will not let it happen. |
3424 | 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. |
3425 | 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. |
3426 | 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. |
3427 | Death | Sticky end | (UK) If someone comes to a sticky end, they die in an unpleasant way. (Meet a sticky end is also used.) |
3428 | Death | Stone dead | This idiom is a way of emphasizing that there were absolutely no signs of life or movement. |
3429 | Death | Those who live by the sword die by the sword | This means that violent people will be treated violently themselves. |
3430 | Death | Watery grave | If someone has gone to a watery grave, they have drowned. |
3431 | 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.) |
3432 | Drinking and pubs | Bar fly | A bar fly is a person who spends a lot of time drinking in different bars and pubs. |
3433 | 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. |
3434 | 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. |
3435 | 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. |
3436 | Drinking and pubs | Drown your sorrows | If someone gets drunk or drinks a lot to try to stop feeling unhappy, they drown their sorrows. |
3437 | Drinking and pubs | Drunk as a lord | (UK) Someone who is very drunk is as drunk as a lord. |
3438 | 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. |
3439 | 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) |
3440 | Drinking and pubs | Small beer | If something is small beer, its unimportant. |
3441 | 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.) |
3442 | Drinking and pubs | Three sheets to the wind | If someone is three sheets to the wind, they are drunk. |
3443 | Drinking and pubs | Tired and emotional | (UK) This idiom is a euphemism used to mean drunk, especially when talking about politicians. |
3444 | Drinking and pubs | Turn water into wine | If someone turns water into wine, they transform something bad into something excellent. |
3445 | Drinking and pubs | Well-oiled | If someone is well-oiled, they have drunk a lot. |
3446 | 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. |
3447 | 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. |
3448 | 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. |
3449 | Drugs | Dry as snuff | If something is as dry as snuff, it is very dry indeed. |
3450 | 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. |
3451 | Drugs | Pipe dream | A pipe dream is an unrealistic, impractical idea or scheme. |
3452 | 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. |
3453 | Drugs | Smoke like a chimney | Someone who smokes very heavily smokes like a chimney. |
3454 | Drugs | Smoke the peace pipe | If people smoke the peace pipe, they stop arguing and fighting. |
3455 | 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. |
3456 | 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.) |
3457 | 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. |
3458 | Food | Above the salt | This |
3459 | Food | Alike as two peas | If people or things are as alike as two peas, they are identical. |
3460 | 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. |
3461 | 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.) |
3462 | Food | Apple of your eye | Something or, more often, someone that is very special to you is the apple of your eye. |
3463 | Food | Apple pie order | Everything is in perfect order and tidy if it is in apple pie order. |
3464 | Food | Apples and oranges | Apples and oranges used when people compare or describe two totally different things. (Apples to oranges is also used.) |
3465 | Food | Apples for apples | An apples for apples comparison is a comparison between related or similar things. (Apples to apples is also used.) |
3466 | Food | As cool as a cucumber | If someone is as cool as a cucumber, they dont get worried by anything. |
3467 | 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. |
3468 | Food | As much use as a chocolate teapot | Something that is as much use as a chocolate teapot is not useful at all. |
3469 | Food | Back to the salt mine | If someone says they have to go back to the salt mine, they have to return to work. |
3470 | Food | Bad Apple | A person who is bad and makes other bad is a bad apple. |
3471 | Food | Bad egg | A person who cannot be trusted is a bad egg. Good egg is the opposite. |
3472 | 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. |
3473 | Food | Banana skin | (UK) A banana skin is something that is an embarrassment or causes problems. |
3474 | Food | Bear fruit | If something bears fruit, it produces positive results. |
3475 | 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.) |
3476 | Food | Big Apple | (USA) The Big Apple is New York. |
3477 | Food | Big cheese | The big cheese is the boss. |
3478 | 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". |
3479 | Food | Bread and butter | Bread and butter issues are ones that affect people directly and in a very important way. |
3480 | Food | Breadwinner | Used to describe the person that earns the most money. For example - Shes the breadwinner in the family. |
3481 | Food | Bring home the bacon | A person who brings home the bacon earns the money that a family live on. |
3482 | Food | Bun in the oven | If a woman has a bun in the oven, she is pregnant. |
3483 | Food | Butter wouldn't melt in their mouth | If someone looks as if butter wouldnt melt in their mouth, they look very innocent. |
3484 | 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. |
3485 | 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. |
3486 | Food | Carrot and stick | If someone offers a carrot and stick, they offer an incentive to do something combined with the threat of punishment. |
3487 | Food | Chalk and cheese | Things, or people, that are like chalk and cheese are very different and have nothing in common. |
3488 | Food | Cheap as chips | (UK) If something is very inexpensive, it is as cheap as chips. |
3489 | Food | Cherry pick | If people cherry pick, they choose things that support their position, while ignoring things that contradict it. |
3490 | Food | Chew the cud | If you chew the cud, you think carefully about something. |
3491 | Food | Chew the fat | If you chew the fat with someone, you talk at leisure with them. |
3492 | Food | Cook the books | If people cook the books, they keep false accounts to make money illegally or avoid paying tax. |
3493 | Food | Cooking with gas | (USA) If youre cooking with gas, youre working very efficiently. |
3494 | 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. |
3495 | 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.) |
3496 | Food | Cream of the crop | The cream of the crop is the best there is. |
3497 | 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. |
3498 | Food | Crème de la crème | The cr?me de la cr?me is the very best of something. |
3499 | Food | Curate's egg | (UK) If something is a bit of a curates egg, it is only good in parts. |
3500 | Food | Curry favour | If people try to curry favour, they try to get people to support them. (Curry favor is the American spelling.) |
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