Idioms and Phrases part 2

idioms

Most Common Idioms and Their Meaning

Have to come across commonly used idioms in English while watching TV shows or movies? As idioms do not always make literal sense, students should be familiar with their meanings and how to use them. This may appear to be a lot of work, but idioms are fun!

So, here’s a list of the top 100 common idioms with their meanings and sentence examples:

List of Idiom	Meaning
Beat around the bush	To avoid talking about what’s important
Get your act together	Get organized and do things effectively
Hit the sack	Go to sleep
Your guess is as good as mine	I do not know
Good things come to those who wait	To have patience
Back against the wall	Stuck in a difficult circumstance with no escape
Up in arms	Being grumpy or angry about something
Scrape the barrel	Making the most of the worst situations or things
Burn your boats/bridges	Doing something that makes it impossible to go back to the original state.
Break fresh/new ground	Doing something that has never been done before
Sell like hot cakes	Quick sellout
Run around in circles	Putting efforts into something that is not a worthwhile result
On cloud nine	Being very happy
Left out in the cold	Being ignored
Blow hot and cold	Alternate inconsistently between moods and actions
Cut corners	Doing something in an easier and least expensive manner
Boil the ocean	Taking up an almost impossible or overly ambitious project
Keep an ear to the ground	Staying informed about everything
Eat like a horse	Eating too excessively
A snowball effect	The aspect of momentum in every event and how they build upon each other
Knit One’s Brows	Someone who pulls their eyebrows together when frustrated
Pie in the Sky	An unrealistic or impossible goal

Idioms are used as figurative language, i.e. the use of words imaginatively and unusually. If you want to know some interesting idioms and phrases in English, check out the list given below:

1. In for a penny, in for a po

Meaning: That someone is intentionally investing his time or money for a particular project or task.
Example: When Athlead was booming, Jim was in for a penny and in for a pound, that’s how dedicated he was. 

2. A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush

Meaning: An opportunity in hand, currently, is better than a prospect in the future, because time never repeats itself.
Example: The detective apprehended 3 criminals and saw another one running but didn’t chase him, because she knew a bird in one hand was better than two in the bush.

3. Chip off the old block

Meaning: A person is similar in behaviour or actions to his parents.
Example: When grandmother saw her grandson collecting coins like her son used to do, she knew he was a Chip off the old block.

4. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

Meaning: Treat people the same way you want to be treated.
Example: I felt Peter was a little cold today towards that homeless man, he should do unto others as he would have them do unto him, because who knows about time.

5. Don’t cry over spilt milk

Meaning: Don’t cry over what has happened as it can not be fixed.
Example: Walter failed his examination but his dad came and said just one thing, “Son, Don’t cry over spilt milk.”

6. Every cloud has a silver lining

Meaning: Bad things one day eventually lead to good things.
Example: See, yesterday you were so morose as your phone was stolen but look at you today, you got a promotion. Is it rightly said that every cloud has a silver lining?

7. Beside yourself with joy

Meaning: To be extremely happy.
Example: I can see that you are beside yourself with joy on being selected for the job, congratulations. 

8. Fair and square

Meaning: Being direct or fair.
Example: To tell you fair and square, I did everything that I was meant to do, but I still feel unfulfilled. 

9. Having an Ace up the sleeve

Meaning: Have an advantage that is currently being withheld for future purposes. 
Example: Brian kept quiet at the board meeting, who knew he had an Ace hidden up his sleeve the whole time?

10. A black sheep

Meaning: Being a disgrace to the family.
Example: They don’t talk about Olive anymore, turns out he was the Black sheep for the family, and he married someone else while he was still married to his fiancé