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Culture Documents
Meaning
Achilles' heel
airy fairy
all ears
at loose ends
at death's door
Dying
at wits' end
axe to grind
babe in arms
back to the drawing board Being forced to start over at the beginning.
backseat driver
bad blood
bad egg
bag of hammers
bail out
ballpark figure
bare one's heart; bare one's To reveal one's innermost secrets, personal and
soul
private feelings
(His/their) bark is worse
than his/their bite
basket case
To be bisexual.
bed of roses
bedroom eyes
at a disadvantage
Old-fashioned
Big Brother
big picture
birds of a feather
birthday suit
To die
black sheep
boy toy
break a leg
Woefully underprepared
brown nose
bulge the (old) onion bag; To accomplish one's set mission or goal. In soccer,
put a bulge in the onion
to score a goal; refers to the bulging of the net
bag
when the ball hits it.
Pregnant
busman's holiday
busted flush
by hook or by crook
by word of mouth
by your leave
call it a day
This term derives from the practice of badgerbaiting, in which a badger is put into a pit and
made to fight dogs. To call the badger a bishop is
to imply that the badger's overwhelmed condition
somehow makes it virtuous, when it is, in fact, just
a badger. So, the term means committing the
fallacy of projecting virtue on to the oppressed or
disadvantaged
can of corn
Catch 22
catty
caught red-handed
(the) cavalry
nothing in common
champ at the bit
change horses in
midstream
change of heart
chase rainbows
cherry pick
child's play
Argumentative or moody
chop chop
chuck a wobbly
closed book
To be elated
cold feet
cold shoulder
come clean
cook up a storm
coon's age
couch potato
Cousin Michael
crash a party
cross to bear
cry wolf
da man
dark horse
darken somebody's
door(step)
dead ahead
dead heat
dead ringer
Identical e.g. "He's a dead ringer for his brother. Didn't you know they were identical twins?" See
also: spitting image.
dead run
dead-shot; dead-eye
To no longer be of consequence to X, to be
considered lost to X. e.g. "My father is dead to
me".
dead to rights
death of (or by) a thousand Many injuries, none fatal in themselves, which
cuts
ultimately add up to a slow and painful demise.
(having) deep pockets
devil's advocate
(the) devil is in the details When a task sounds simple in concept, but carrying
dirty look
dog-eat-dog
double-edged sword
Sad or regretful.
draw a blank
To lie, to exaggerate
drive someone up the wall Agitate someone to the point of great frustration.
drop a line
dry run
Dutch courage
Dutch uncle
eat crow
eleventh hour
even Stevens
every dog has his day "or" Every creature has its moment of power or
every dog has its day
influence, or its ability to be noticed. It is
sometimes used also to express karma, revenge or
A lot of people.
excused boots
Idiom
Meaning
fat cat
father figure
(a)few X short of a Y
fifty-fifty
(with a) fine-tooth(ed)
comb
A transient happening which results in no longterm effect. From a type of misfire of a flintlock
gun; OED cites its usage to 1810: "Flash in the
pan, an explosion of gunpowder without any
communication beyond the touch-hole."[3]
flat broke
Extremely busy
(to) flip-flop
flip-flopper
fly high
follow in someone's
footsteps (tracks)
for beans
fourth estate
Freudian slip
from scratch
FUBAR
full swing
go belly up
To go bankrupt
go to the mattresses
To go to war
go off half-cocked
Dead
green as grass
new job.
Idiom
Meaning
hang by a thread
have a cow
heads up
herding cats
Hobson's choice
home truths
hot potato
in a pickle
in clover
Drunk
in hot water
it's not over til the fat lady Roughly, do not make premature judgements or
sings, it ain't over til the fat give up on something too soon/easily. Taken from
lady sings
the opera, particularly Wagner.
jack of all trades; jack of
paddock
keep a stiff upper lip
kill the goose that lays the To do away with, in one form or another, a source
golden eggs
of benefit, intentionally or not.
knock up
Family.
Idiom
Meaning
lah-di-dah
lead someone on
lion's den
living in a cloud
living in Cloudcuckooland
loose cannon
A reckless individual
mad as a hatter
make love
(The) Man
May/December
Monday-morning
quarterback
month of Sundays
mother nature
much of a muchness
Idiom
Meaning
nailing jelly/jello/pudding
A futile endeavor; impossible task.
to a wall/tree
namby-pamby
nest egg
no-brainer
no holds barred
no names, no pack-drill
no shit, Sherlock
(there's) no smoke without If there is telltale evidence of some event, the event
a fire
is probably occurring.
not enough room to swing An extremely compact room. Sometimes used for
a cat; or you couldn't
the opposite meaning, "you could swing a cat in
swing a cat in here
here." (similar to 'can't fling a...'; see above)
Idiom
Meaning
old flame
on a hiding to nothing
on point
on the blink
on the fence
on the fritz
on the fly
Instantly; immediately.
on the Q.T.
on the rag
on the wagon
on the warpath
To be extremely angry
on a roll
on cloud nine
on the dot
on the nose
correct answer.
Unexpectedly
out of luck
out of (from) nowhere, out Unexpected. Similar to "out of (from) left field",
of the blue
but without the 'strange/random' connotation.
(to be) out of one's gourd
out of order
out of place
out of sorts
Feeling poorly
out of touch
out of tune
out of work
Idiom
Meaning
passing fancy
penny-pinching
piece of cake
piping hot
Very hot
pissing contest
point of no return
To accuse.
To die.
To propose marriage.
preach to the choir, preach To declare something with which those present
to the converted
already agree.
(to) pull strings
puppy love
pushing up daisies
(to) put the cart before the To start a task without adequate preparation or
horse
forethought. Alternately, to jump to conclusions.
Say something which is quickly regretted, usually
(to) put one's foot in one's
offensive to someone else. Connotes speaking in
mouth
ignorance or without appropriate forethought.
(to) put one's money where
Back up one's opinions with practical action.
one's mouth is
quarter of
quarter past
queer as a clockwork
orange
quick as a flash
Extremely fast.
quick-and-dirty
quote unquote
1. Emphasizes a word or phrase for irony, as
used almost exclusively in spoken language
Raining heavily
read my lips
red herring
red-light district
red tape
solution
approaches.
To dance vigorously.
(to) shit it in
sick as a parrot
sitting ducks
small potatoes
Insignificant problems.
small world
SNAFU
soft sawder
Cajoling or flattery.
son of a gun
soup to nuts
From beginning to end; etymologically, from
the first course of a meal (soup) to the last
sour grapes
To reveal a secret.
spitting image
stalking horse
sticky wicket
stiff-necked
storm in a teacup
sugar daddy
sure-fire
swan song
sweet dreams
sword of Damocles
take a flyer
take a hike
To go away.
take a powder
take it easy
Don't hurry, proceed at a comfortable place,
relax; also used as a farewell statement in
take it or leave it
tempest in a teapot
the jig is up
To be quite rare.
third rail
Alternately, the five-thousand foot view, tenthousand foot view, fifty-thousand foot
view, etc. Used to mean "speaking in
general terms", but often used as a handwaving generalization when the user isn't
able to discuss specifics. The landscape
view out of the window of a commercial
aircraft at cruising altitude.
To challenge
to turn turtle
To capsize
tongue in cheek
touch base
touched water
A boat has been launched on a body of water.
To dance nimbly.
turnip truck
in various constructions refers to extreme
twenty-four seven
ugly duckling
Feeling ill
under wraps
university of life
up for grabs
up to eleven
up to one's neck
up the duff
Pregnant
up the ante
vale of tears
A symbolic "valley of tears"; meaning the
vertically challenged
A short person.
virgin territory
waka-jumping
walk on eggshells
recognize.]].
whistle Dixie
century.
Another explanation is that the term is a
sarcastic reference to American football,
where ten yards is the length of a first
down. With running nine yards being no
real achievement, to say that someone ran
'the whole nine yards' would be to say that
they almost achieved something. Like
many words with ambiguous etymology,
this phrase may have more than one
derivation.[1]
wild-goose chase
window dressing
word up
I understand, I agree, I concur, I approve, I
know. This expression is actually a trope
(specifically a synecdoche) (not an idiom),
because the term "word" is used
colloquially to refer to "speech", and "up"
is used figuratively to emphasize one's
sympathetic feelings toward the speech.
However, despite this, the phrase is often
referred to as an idiom. This phrase shows
one's complete acknowledgement (in some
fashion) of another's words or statements.
Sometimes shortened to merely "word".
Alternative meanings: "Hello.";
wrestling blancmange
Persians[6]
(the) X factor
XYZ
to be yella;to be yellow
you know
(what/where/who/when)
young at heart
yours truly
zero in on
To misstep or err.
cake, call, can, candle, cap, car, card, care, careful, careless, carry, case, cat, catch, central,
century, certain, chair, chance, change, chase, cheap, cheese, chicken, child, children, chocolate,
choice, choose, circle, city, class, clever, clean, clear, climb, clock, cloth, clothes, cloud, cloudy,
close, coffee, coat, coin, cold, collect, colour, comb, come, comfortable, common, compare,
complete, computer, condition, continue, control, cook, cool, copper, corn, corner, correct, cost,
contain, count, country, course, cover, crash, cross, cry, cup, cupboard, cut.
D
dance, dangerous, dark, daughter, day, dead, decide, decrease, deep, deer, depend, desk, destroy,
develop, die, different, difficult, dinner, direction, dirty, discover, dish, do, dog, door, double,
down, draw, dream, dress, drink, drive, drop, dry, duck, dust, duty.
E
each, ear, early, earn, earth, east, easy, eat, education, effect, egg, eight, either, electric, elephant,
else, empty, end, enemy, enjoy, enough, enter, equal, entrance, escape, even, evening, event,
ever, every, everyone, exact, everybody, examination, example, except, excited, exercise, expect,
expensive, explain, extremely, eye.
F
face, fact, fail, fall, false, family, famous, far, farm, father, fast, fat, fault, fear, feed, feel, female,
fever, few, fight, fill, film, find, fine, finger, finish, fire, first, fit, five, fix, flag, flat, float, floor,
flour, flower, fly, fold, food, fool, foot, football, for, force, foreign, forest, forget, forgive, fork,
form, fox, four, free, freedom, freeze, fresh, friend, friendly, from, front, fruit, full, fun, funny,
furniture, further, future.
G
game, garden, gate, general, gentleman, get, gift, give, glad, glass, go, goat, god, gold, good,
goodbye, grandfather, grandmother, grass, grave, great, green, grey, ground, group, grow, gun.
H
hair, half, hall, hammer, hand, happen, happy, hard, hat, hate, have, he, head, healthy, hear,
heavy, hello, help, heart, heaven, height, help, hen, her, here, hers, hide, high, hill, him, his, hit,
hobby, hold, hole, holiday, home, hope, horse, hospital, hot, hotel, house, how, hundred, hungry,
hour, hurry, husband, hurt.
I
I, ice, idea, if, important, in, increase, inside, into, introduce, invent, iron, invite, is, island, it, its.
J
radio, rain, rainy, raise, reach, read, ready, real, really, receive, record, red, remember, remind,
remove, rent, repair, repeat, reply, report, rest, restaurant, result, return, rice, rich, ride, right,
ring, rise, road, rob, rock, room, round, rubber, rude, rule, ruler, run, rush.
S
sad, safe, sail, salt, same, sand, save, say, school, science, scissors, search, seat, second, see,
seem, sell, send, sentence, serve, seven, several, sex, shade, shadow, shake, shape, share, sharp,
she, sheep, sheet, shelf, shine, ship, shirt, shoe, shoot, shop, short, should, shoulder, shout, show,
sick, side, signal, silence, silly, silver, similar, simple, single, since, sing, sink, sister, sit, six,
size, skill, skin, skirt, sky, sleep, slip, slow, smoke, small, smell, smile, smoke, snow, so, soap,
sock, soft, some, someone, something, sometimes, son, soon, sorry, sound, soup, south, space,
speak, special, speed, spell, spend, spoon, sport, spread, spring, square, stamp, stand, star, start,
station, stay, steal, steam, step, still, stomach, stone, stop, store, storm, story, strange, street,
strong, structure, student, study, stupid, subject, substance, successful, such, sudden, sugar,
suitable, summer, sun, sunny, support, sure, surprise, sweet, swim, sword.
T
table, take, talk, tall, taste, taxi, tea, teach, team, tear, telephone, television, tell, ten, tennis,
terrible, test, than, that, the, their, then, there, therefore, these, thick, thin, thing, think, third, this,
though, threat, three, tidy, tie, title, to, today, toe, together, tomorrow, tonight, too, tool, tooth,
top, total, touch, town, train, tram, travel, tree, trouble, true, trust, twice, try, turn, type.
U
uncle, under, understand, unit, until, up, use, useful, usual, usually.
V
vegetable, very, village, voice, visit.
W
wait, wake, walk, want, warm, wash, waste, watch, water, way, we, weak, wear, weather,
wedding, week, weight, welcome, well, west, wet, what, wheel, when, where, which, while,
white, who, why, wide, wife, wild, will, win, wind, window, wine, winter, wire, wise, wish, with,
without, woman, wonder, word, work, world, worry, worst, write, wrong
Y
year, yes, yesterday, yet, you, young, your.
Z
zero, zoo.
See also