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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 801 | Buildings & construction | Have the floor | If someone has the floor, it is their turn to speak at a meeting. |
| 802 | Buildings & construction | Hit the ceiling | If someone hits the ceiling, they lose their temper and become very angry. |
| 803 | Buildings & construction | Hit the roof | If you lose your temper and get very angry, you hit the roof. |
| 804 | Buildings & construction | Hold the fort | If you hold the fort, you look after something or assume someones responsibilities while they are away. |
| 805 | Buildings & construction | Home and hearth | Home and hearth is an idiom evoking warmth and security. |
| 806 | Buildings & construction | Home sweet home | This is said when one is pleased to be back at ones own home. |
| 807 | Buildings & construction | House of cards | Something that is poorly thought out and can easily collapse or fail is a house of cards. |
| 808 | Buildings & construction | If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen | Originally a Harry S. Truman quote, this means that if you cant take the pressure, then you should remove yourself from the situation. |
| 809 | Buildings & construction | Ivory tower | People who live in ivory towers are detached from the world around them. |
| 810 | Buildings & construction | Light at the end of the tunnel | If you can see light at the end of the tunnel, then you can see some signs of hope in the future, though things are difficult at the moment. |
| 811 | Buildings & construction | Mend fences | When people mend fences, they try to improve or restore relations that have been damaged by disputes or arguments. |
| 812 | Buildings & construction | My way or the highway | This idiom is used to say that if people dont do what you say, they will have to leave or quit the project, etc. |
| 813 | Buildings & construction | Nothing to write home about | Something that is not special or good is nothing to write home about. |
| 814 | Buildings & construction | Off the wall | Something that is off the wall is unconventional. |
| 815 | Buildings & construction | On the factory floor | On the factory floor means the place where things are actually produced. |
| 816 | Buildings & construction | On the house | If you get something for free that would normally have to be bought, especially in a bar or restaurant, it is on the house. |
| 817 | Buildings & construction | Paper over the cracks | If you paper over the cracks, you try to make something look or work better but only deal with superficial issues, not the real underlying problems. |
| 818 | Buildings & construction | People who live in glass houses should not throw stones | People should not criticize other people for faults that they have themselves. |
| 819 | Buildings & construction | Proclaim it from the rooftops | If something is proclaimed from the rooftops, it is made as widely known and as public as possible. |
| 820 | Buildings & construction | Round the houses | If you go round the houses, you do something in an inefficient way when there is a quicker, more convenient way. |
| 821 | Buildings & construction | Rule the roost | If someone rules the roost they are the boss. Example:Theres no doubt who rules the roost in this house. |
| 822 | Buildings & construction | Safe as houses | Something that is as safe as houses is very secure or certain. |
| 823 | Buildings & construction | Shop floor | Shop floor refers to the part of an organisation where the work is actually performed rather than just managed. |
| 824 | Buildings & construction | Sit on the fence | If someone sits on the fence, they try not to support either side in a dispute. |
| 825 | Buildings & construction | Something nasty in the woodshed | Something nasty in the woodshed means that someone as a dark secret or an unpleasant experience in their past. |
| 826 | Buildings & construction | Straddle the fence | To straddle the fence is to be indecisive, often to the point where it becomes painful not to make a decision. |
| 827 | Buildings & construction | Take someone to the woodshed | If someone is taken to the woodshed, they are punished for something they have done. |
| 828 | Buildings & construction | Take the floor | Start talking or giving a speech to a group |
| 829 | Buildings & construction | Talking to a brick wall | If you talk to someone and they do not listen to you, it is like talking to a brick wall. |
| 830 | Buildings & construction | Through the ceiling | If prices go through the ceiling, they rise very quickly. |
| 831 | Buildings & construction | Through the floor | If prices go, or fall, through the floor, they fall very quickly. |
| 832 | Buildings & construction | To be as thick as two bricks | Someone who is as thick as two bricks is really stupid. |
| 833 | Buildings & construction | Up the wall | If someone goes up the wall, they get very angry. |
| 834 | Buildings & construction | Water over the dam | (USA) If something has happened and cannot be changed, it is water over the dam. |
| 835 | Buildings & construction | Water under the bridge | If something belongs to the past and isnt important or troubling any more, it is water under the bridge. |
| 836 | Buildings & construction | Were you born in a barn? | If someone asks you this, it means that you forgot to close the door when you came in. |
| 837 | Buildings & construction | Wipe the floor with | (UK) If you wipe the floor with someone, you destroy the arguments or defeat them easily. |
| 838 | Buildings & construction | Writing on the wall | If the writings on the wall for something, it is doomed to fail. |
| 839 | Character & appearance | As cold as ice | This idiom can be used to describe a person who does not show any emotion. |
| 840 | Character & appearance | As mad as a hatter | This simile means that someone is crazy or behaves very strangely. In the past many people who made hats went insane because they had a lot of contact with mercury. |
| 841 | Character & appearance | Average Joe | An average Joe is an ordinary person without anything exceptional about them. |
| 842 | Character & appearance | Bald as a coot | A person who is completely bald is as bald as a coot. |
| 843 | Character & appearance | Barefaced liar | A barefaced liar is one who displays no shame about lying even if they are exposed. |
| 844 | Character & appearance | Bark is worse than their bite | Someone whos bark is worse than their bite may well get angry and shout, but doesnt take action. |
| 845 | Character & appearance | Barrel of laughs | If someones a barrel of laughs, they are always joking and you find them funny. |
| 846 | Character & appearance | Bold as brass | Someone who is as bold as brass is very confident and not worried about how other people will respond or about being caught. |
| 847 | Character & appearance | Class act | Someone whos a class act is exceptional in what they do. |
| 848 | Character & appearance | Cry-baby | A cry-baby is a person who gets emotional and cries too easily. |
| 849 | Character & appearance | Daft as a brush | (UK) Someone who is daft as a brush is rather stupid. |
| 850 | Character & appearance | Dumb as a rock | If you are dumb as a rock, you have no common sense and are stupid. |
| 851 | Character & appearance | Fit of pique | If someone reacts badly because their pride is hurt, this is a fit of pique. |
| 852 | Character & appearance | Hail-fellow-well-met | Someone whose behavior is hearty, friendly and congenial. |
| 853 | Character & appearance | Hard as nails | A person who is as hard as nails is either physically tough or has little or no respect for other peoples feelings. |
| 854 | Character & appearance | High-handed | If someone is high-handed, they behave arrogantly and pompously. |
| 855 | Character & appearance | I may be daft, but I'm not stupid | I might do or say silly things occasionally, but in this instance I know what I am doing (Usually used when someone questions your application of common-sense). |
| 856 | Character & appearance | In rude health | (UK) If someones in rude health, they are very healthy and look it. |
| 857 | Character & appearance | Johnny-come-lately | A Johnny-come-lately is someone who has recently joined something or arrived somewhere, especially when they want to make changes that are not welcome. |
| 858 | Character & appearance | Just off the boat | If someone is just off the boat, they are naive and inexperienced. |
| 859 | Character & appearance | Keep up with the Joneses | People who try to keep up with the Joneses are competitive about material possessions and always try to have the latest and best things. |
| 860 | Character & appearance | Laughing stock | If someone becomes a laughing stock they do something so stupid or wrong that no one can take them seriously and people scorn and laugh at them. |
| 861 | Character & appearance | Moral fibre | Moral fibre is the inner strength to do what you believe to be right in difficult situations Example: He lacked the moral fibre to be leader (In American English the correct spelling is fiber.) |
| 862 | Character & appearance | Off your chump | (UK) If someone is off their chump, they are crazy or irrational. |
| 863 | Character & appearance | Out of your mind | If someone is out of the mind, they are so emotional about something that they are no longer rational. |
| 864 | Character & appearance | Plain Jane | A plain Jane is a woman who isnt particularly attractive. |
| 865 | Character & appearance | Pleased as punch | When someone is pleased as punch, they are very satisfied about something |
| 866 | Character & appearance | Rest on your laurels | If someone rests on their laurels, they rely on their past achievements, rather than trying to achieve things now. |
| 867 | Character & appearance | Sharp as a tack | (USA) If someone is as sharp as a tack, they are very clever indeed. |
| 868 | Character & appearance | There's no fool like an old fool | When an older person behaves foolishly, it seems worse than when a younger person does the same, especially in relationships, as an older person should kknow better. |
| 869 | Character & appearance | To have the courage of your convictions | If you have the courage of your convictions, you are brave enough to do what you feel is right, despite any pressure for you to do something different. |
| 870 | Character & appearance | Two-faced | Someone who is two-faced will say one thing to your face and another when youre not there. |
| 871 | Character & appearance | Yes-man | Someone who always agrees with people in authority is a yes-man. |
| 872 | Children and babies | Babe in arms | A babe in arms is a very young child, or a person who is very young to be holding a position. |
| 873 | Children and babies | Babe in the woods | A babe in the woods is a naive, defenceless, young person. |
| 874 | Children and babies | Baby boomer | (USA) A baby boomer is someone born in the years after the end of the Second World War, a period when the population was growing very fast. |
| 875 | Children and babies | Blue-eyed boy | Someones blue-eyed boy is their favourite person. |
| 876 | Children and babies | Child's play | If something is childs play, it is very easy and simple. |
| 877 | Children and babies | Get out of your pram | (UK) If someone gets out of their pram, they respond aggressively to an argument or problem that doesnt involve them. |
| 878 | Children and babies | Hold the baby | (UK) If someone is responsible for something, they are holding the baby. |
| 879 | Children and babies | In embryo | If something is in embryo, it exists but has not developed. |
| 880 | Children and babies | It takes a village to raise a child | It takes many people to teach a child all that he or she should know. |
| 881 | Children and babies | Jobs for the boys | Where people give jobs, contracts, etc, to their friends and associates, these are jobs for the boys. |
| 882 | Children and babies | Like a kid in a candy store | If someone is like a kid in a candy store, they are very excited about something. |
| 883 | Children and babies | Mummy's boy | A man who is still very dependent on his mother is a mummys boy. |
| 884 | Children and babies | New kid on the block | A new kid on the block is a person who has recently joined a company, organisation, team, etc, and does not know how things work yet. |
| 885 | Children and babies | Out of the mouths of babes | People say this when children unexpectedly say something very intelligent or wise. |
| 886 | Children and babies | Rob the cradle | To rob the cradle is to marry or have a relationship with someone much younger. |
| 887 | Children and babies | Sleep like a baby | If you sleep very well, you sleep like a baby. |
| 888 | Children and babies | Spare the rod and spoil the child | This means that if you dont discipline children, they will become spoilt. |
| 889 | Children and babies | Spit the dummy | Reference to an infant spitting out their dummy (or pacifier) in order to cry. To spit the dummy is to give up. |
| 890 | Children and babies | Tar baby | A tar baby is a problem that gets worse when people try to sort it out. |
| 891 | Children and babies | Throw the baby out with the bath water | If you get rid of useful things when discarding inessential things, you throw the baby out with the bath water. |
| 892 | Children and babies | With child | (UK) If a womans with child, shes pregnant. |
| 893 | Clothes | All dressed up and nowhere to go | Youre prepared for something that isnt going to happen. |
| 894 | Clothes | All hat, no cattle | (USA) When someone talks big, but cannot back it up, they are all hat, no cattle.(Big hat, no cattle is also used.) |
| 895 | Clothes | All mouth and trousers | (UK) Someone whos all mouth and trousers talks or boasts a lot but doesnt deliver. All mouth and no trousers is also used, though this is a corruption of the original. |
| 896 | Clothes | All talk and no trousers | (UK) Someone who is all talk and no trousers, talks about doing big, important things, but doesnt take any action. |
| 897 | Clothes | Apron strings | A man who is tied to a womans apron strings is excessively dependent on her, especially when it is his mothers apron strings. |
| 898 | Clothes | At the drop of a hat | If you would do something at the drop of a hat, youd do it immediately. |
| 899 | Clothes | Belt and braces | (UK) Someone who wears belt and braces is very cautious and takes no risks. |
| 900 | Clothes | Belt and suspenders | (USA) Someone who wears belt and suspenders is very cautious and takes no risks. |
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