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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3601 | Food | Sell like hot cakes | If a product is selling very well, it is selling like hot cakes. |
| 3602 | Food | Sell like hotcakes | If something is selling like hotcakes, it is very popular and selling very well. |
| 3603 | Food | Sell your birthright for a mess of pottage | If a person sells their birthright for a mess of pottage, they accept some trivial financial or other gain, but lose something much more important. Sell your soul for a mess of pottage is an alternative form. |
| 3604 | Food | Separate the wheat from the chaff | When you separate the wheat from the chaff, you select what is useful or valuable and reject what is useless or worthless. |
| 3605 | Food | Settled on your lees | This is an old biblical idiom but still used. It refers to the lees (dregs, sediments) of wine or other liquids that settle in the bottom of the containing vessel if it is not disturbed. Hence, the idiom refers to someone or something that is at ease, not disturbed, or worried. Sometimes this also has reference to a false assurance. |
| 3606 | Food | Sharp cookie | Someone who isnt easily deceived or fooled is a sharp cookie. |
| 3607 | Food | She'll be apples | (AU) A very popular old Australian saying meaning everything will be all right, often used when there is some doubt. |
| 3608 | Food | Sing for your supper | If you have to sing for your supper, you have to work to get the pay or reward you need or want. |
| 3609 | Food | Slower than molasses going uphill in January | (USA) To move extremely slowly. Molasses drips slowly anyway but add January cold and gravity, dripping uphill would be an impossibility, thereby making the molasses move very slowly indeed! |
| 3610 | Food | Small potatoes | Someone or something that is unimportant is small potatoes. |
| 3611 | Food | Sour grapes | When someone says something critical or negative because they are jealous, it is a case of sour grapes. |
| 3612 | Food | Sow your wild oats | If a young man sows his wild oats, he has a period of his life when he does a lot of exciting things and has a lot of sexual relationships. for e.g. Hed spent his twenties sowing his wild oats but felt that it was time to settle down. |
| 3613 | Food | Spice of life | The spice of life is something that makes it feel worth living. |
| 3614 | Food | Spill the beans | If you spill the beans, you reveal a secret or confess to something. |
| 3615 | Food | Square meal | A square meal is a substantial or filling meal. |
| 3616 | Food | Squeeze blood out of a turnip | (USA) When people say that you cant squeeze blood out of a turnip, it means that you cannot get something from a person, especially money, that they dont have. |
| 3617 | Food | Stew in your own juices | If you leave someone to stew in their own juices, you leave them to worry about the consequences of what they have done wrong or badly. |
| 3618 | Food | Sure as eggs is eggs | These means absolutely certain, and we do say is even though it is grammatically wrong. |
| 3619 | Food | Sweet as a gumdrop | This means that something or someone is very nice or pretty. |
| 3620 | Food | Take the biscuit | (UK) If something takes the biscuit, it is the absolute limit. |
| 3621 | Food | Take the cake | If something takes the cake, it is the best and takes the honours. |
| 3622 | Food | Tall drink of water | Someone who is very tall and slender is a tall drink of water. (A tall glass of water is also used.) |
| 3623 | Food | Teach your grandmother to suck eggs | When people say dont teach your grandmother to suck eggs, they mean that people shouldnt try to teach someone who has experience or is an expert in that area. |
| 3624 | Food | That is the way the cookie crumbles | "Thats the way the cookie crumbles" means that things dont always turn out the way we want. |
| 3625 | Food | The apple does not fall far from the tree | Offspring grow up to be like their parents. |
| 3626 | Food | There's no such thing as a free lunch | This idiom means that you dont get things for free, so if something appears to be free, theres a catch and youll have to pay in some way. |
| 3627 | Food | Thick as mince | (UK) If someone is as thick as mince, they are very stupid indeed. |
| 3628 | Food | Too many cooks spoil the broth | This means that where there are too many people trying to do something, they make a mess of it. |
| 3629 | Food | Tough cookie | A tough cookie is a person who will do everything necessary to achieve what they want. |
| 3630 | Food | Tough nut to crack | If something is a tough nut to crack, it is difficult to find the answer or solution. When used about a person, it means that it is difficult to get them to do or allow what you want. Hard nut to crack is an alternative. |
| 3631 | Food | Two peas in a pod | If things or people are like two peas in a pod, they look very similar or are always together. |
| 3632 | Food | Upper crust | The upper crust are the upper classes and the establishment. |
| 3633 | Food | Upset the apple cart | If you upset the apple cart, you cause trouble and upset people. |
| 3634 | Food | Wake up and smell the coffee | When someone doesnt realise what is really happening or is not paying enough attention to events around them, you can tell them to wake up and smell the coffee. |
| 3635 | Food | Walk on eggshells | If you have to walk on eggshells when with someone, you have to be very careful because they get angry or offended very easily.(Walk on eggs is also used.)? |
| 3636 | Food | What does that have to do with the price of tea in China? | This idiom is often used when someone says something irrelevant to the topic being discussed. |
| 3637 | Food | What's cooking? | When you ask whats cooking it means you want to know whats happening. |
| 3638 | Food | White-bread | If something is white-bread, it is very ordinary, safe and boring. |
| 3639 | Food | Worth your salt | Someone who is worth their salt deserves respect. |
| 3640 | Food | Wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding | If something isnt powerful: This bus wouldnt pull the skin off a rice pudding. |
| 3641 | Food | You are what you eat | This is used to emphasise the importance of a good diet as a key to good health. |
| 3642 | Food | You can't have cake and the topping, too | (USA) This idiom means that you cant have everything the way you want it, especially if your desires are contradictory. |
| 3643 | Food | You can't have your cake and eat it | This idiom means that you cant have things both ways. For example, you cant have very low taxes and a high standard of state care. |
| 3644 | Food | You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs | This idiom means that in order to achieve something or make progress, there are often losers in the process. |
| 3645 | Food | You're toast | If someone tells you that you are toast, you are in a lot of trouble. |
| 3646 | Furniture and household fittings | A lot on my plate | If you have got a lot on your plate, you are very busy and have |
| 3647 | Furniture and household fittings | A watched pot never boils | Some things work out in their own time, so being impatient and constantly checking will just make things seem longer. |
| 3648 | Furniture and household fittings | Armchair critic | An armchair critic is someone who offers advice but never shows that they could actually do any better. |
| 3649 | Furniture and household fittings | Bring the curtain down | If you bring the curtain down on something, you bring it to a end. |
| 3650 | Furniture and household fittings | Bring to the table | If you bring something to the table, you make a contribution or an offer in a discussion or negotiation.. |
| 3651 | Furniture and household fittings | Brush under the carpet | If you brush something under the carpet, you are making an attempt to ignore it, or hide it from others. |
| 3652 | Furniture and household fittings | Call on the carpet | If you are called on the carpet, you are summoned for a reprimand by superiors or others in power. |
| 3653 | Furniture and household fittings | Caught with your hand in the cookie jar | (USA) If someone is caught with his or her hand in the cookie jar, he or she is caught doing something wrong. |
| 3654 | Furniture and household fittings | Clean sheet | When someone has a clean sheet, they have got no criminal record or problems affecting their reputation. In football and other sports, a goalkeeper has a clean sheet when let no goals in. |
| 3655 | Furniture and household fittings | Come out of the woodwork | When things come out of the woodwork, they appear unexpectedly.? (Crawl out of the woodwork is also used.) |
| 3656 | Furniture and household fittings | Cupboard love | (UK) To show love to gain something from someone |
| 3657 | Furniture and household fittings | Cut a rug | To cut a rug is to dance. |
| 3658 | Furniture and household fittings | Doormat | A person who doesnt stand up for themselves and gets treated badly is a doormat. |
| 3659 | Furniture and household fittings | Down the drain | If something goes down the drain, especially money or work, it is wasted or produces no results. |
| 3660 | Furniture and household fittings | Empty vessels make the most noise | The thoughtless often speak the most. |
| 3661 | Furniture and household fittings | Everything but the kitchen sink | If people include everything but the kitchen sink, they include every possibility, regardless of whether they are useful. |
| 3662 | Furniture and household fittings | Flash in the pan | If something is a flash in the pan, it is very noticeable but doesnt last long, like most singers, who are very successful for a while, then forgotten. |
| 3663 | Furniture and household fittings | Fresh from the oven | If something is fresh from the oven, it is very new. |
| 3664 | Furniture and household fittings | Get out of bed on the wrong side | If you get out of bed on the wrong side, you wake up and start the day in a bad mood for no real reason. |
| 3665 | Furniture and household fittings | Go to the mat | (USA) If people go |
| 3666 | Furniture and household fittings | Hand that rocks the cradle | Women have a great power and influence because they have the greatest influence over the development of children- the hand that rocks the cradle. (The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world is the full form.) |
| 3667 | Furniture and household fittings | In his cups | If someone is in their cups, they are drunk. |
| 3668 | Furniture and household fittings | Kitchen-sink | (UK) Kitchen-sink drama deals with ordinary peoples lives. |
| 3669 | Furniture and household fittings | Lie like a rug | If someone lies like a rug, they lie to the point where it becomes obvious that theyre lying. |
| 3670 | Furniture and household fittings | Light bulb moment | A light bulb moment is when you have a sudden realisation about something, like the light bulbs used to indicate an idea in cartoons. |
| 3671 | Furniture and household fittings | Memory like a sieve | If somebody cant retain things for long in his or her memory and quickly forgets, he or she has a memory like a sieve. A sieve has lots of tiny holes in it to let liquids out while keeping the solids inside. |
| 3672 | Furniture and household fittings | Never darken my door again | This is a way of telling someone never to visit you again. |
| 3673 | Furniture and household fittings | Off the shelf | If a product is off the shelf, it can be used straightaway without any setting-up. |
| 3674 | Furniture and household fittings | On the carpet | When you are called to the bosses office (since supposedly, they are the only ones who have carpet) and its definitely not for a good reason, i.e., you are in trouble, something has not gone according to plan and either maybe you are responsible and/or have some explaining to do. |
| 3675 | Furniture and household fittings | On the table | If a plan or proposal is on the table, it is being discussed. |
| 3676 | Furniture and household fittings | Out of the frying pan, into the fire | If you get out of one problem, but find yourself in a worse situation, you are out of the frying pan, into the fire. |
| 3677 | Furniture and household fittings | Over the counter | Medicines and drugs that can be sold without a doctors prescription are sold over the counter. |
| 3678 | Furniture and household fittings | Pull the plug | If the plug is pulled on something like a project, it is terminated prematurely, often by stopping funding. |
| 3679 | Furniture and household fittings | Red carpet | If you give someone the red-carpet treatment, you give them a special welcome to show that you think they are important. You can roll out the red carpet, too. |
| 3680 | Furniture and household fittings | Split the blanket | If people split the blanket, it means they get a divorce or end their relationship. |
| 3681 | Furniture and household fittings | Swinging door | This idiom refers to something or someone that can go in two conflicting or opposite directions. |
| 3682 | Furniture and household fittings | Tables are turned | When the tables are turned, the situation has changed giving the advantage to the party who had previously been at a disadvantage. |
| 3683 | Furniture and household fittings | Take the chair | If you take the chair, your become the chairman or chairwoman of a committee, etc. |
| 3684 | Furniture and household fittings | Talk the legs off an iron pot | (AU) Somebody who is excessively talkative or is especially convincing is said to talk the legs off an iron pot. (Talk the legs off an iron chair is also used) |
| 3685 | Furniture and household fittings | Tidy desk, tidy mind | A cluttered or disorganised environment will affect your clarity of thought. Organised surroundings and affairs will allow for clearer thought organisation. |
| 3686 | Furniture and household fittings | Under lock and key | If something is under lock and key, it is stored very securely. |
| 3687 | Furniture and household fittings | Under the table | Bribes or illegal payments are often described as money under the table. |
| 3688 | Furniture and household fittings | Wet blanket | A wet blanket is someone who tries to spoil other peoples fun. |
| 3689 | Furniture and household fittings | Window to the soul | Eyes are sometimes referred to as the window to the soul. |
| 3690 | Furniture and household fittings | You've made your bed- you'll have to lie in it | This means that someone will have to live with the consequences of their own actions. |
| 3691 | Gambling | Ace in the hole | An ace in the hole is something other people are not aware of that can be used to your advantage when the time is right. |
| 3692 | Gambling | Ace up your sleeve | If you have an ace up your sleeve, you have something that will give you an advantage that other people dont know about. |
| 3693 | Gambling | All bets are off | (USA) If all bets are off, then agreements that have been made no longer apply. |
| 3694 | Gambling | Card up your sleeve | If you have a card up your sleeve, you have a surprise plan or idea that you are keeping back until the time is right. |
| 3695 | Gambling | Go for broke | If someone goes for broke, they risk everything they have for a potentially greater gain. |
| 3696 | Gambling | Hedge your bets | If you hedge your bets, you dont risk everything on one opportunity, but try more than one thing. |
| 3697 | Gambling | In the cards | If something is in the cards, it is bound to occur, it is going to happen, or it is inevitable. |
| 3698 | Gambling | Let the chips fall where they may | This means that we shouldnt try to control events, because destiny controls them. |
| 3699 | Gambling | Luck of the draw | To have the Luck of the draw is to win something in a competition where the winner is chosen purely by chance. |
| 3700 | Gambling | Make bets in a burning house | (USA) If people are making bets in a burning house, they are engaged in futile activity while serious problems around them are getting worse. |
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