?What Are Idioms

?What Are Idioms

An idiom is a phrase whose meaning isn’t obvious from looking at the individual words.

Because they’re used so often in everyday English, if you don’t know them, it’s almost impossible to understand the context.

Hit

Hit the roof

to get really angry :

Ex) Dad is going to hit the roof when he finds out I scratched his car.

Hit the sack

Go to bed

Ex) I’ve got a busy day tomorrow, so I think I’ll hit the sack.

Hit the road

To leave a place or begin a journey.

Ex) I’d love to stay longer but I must be hitting the road.

Hit the gas

To move quickly, to accelerate in a vehicle.

Ex) We’ll need to hit the gas if we want to make it to the movie on time.

Bad

Bad blood

tension and disdain between two or more people due to past disagreement or transgressions

Ex) Last year’s brutal playoff series created some bad blood between these two teams.

Bad mouth

Criticze someone behind their back

Ex) No one wants to hire an individual who bad mouths a prior employer.

Sleep

Asleep at the switch

Not to be alert on opportunity

Ex) The security guard fell asleep at the switch and a robber broke in.

Let sleeping dogs lie

To leave a situation alone so as to avoid worsening it

Ex) Oh, don’t mention that fight they had months ago – let sleeping dogs lie!

Fast

Hard and fast

Strictly or rigidly adhered to, not to be changed

Ex) A hard and fast rule to maintain silence in the library.

Play fast and loose

To treat something or someone without enough care

Ex) Like many movie-makers, he plays fast and loose with the facts to tell his own version of the story.

Pull a fast one

To deceive or trick someone

Ex) You paid too much, I think he pulled a fast one on you.

Arm/Leg

Be up in arms

To be very angry

Ex)They’re up in arms over the new management structure.

Shot in the arm

An encouraging stimulus

Ex) The movie was a real shot in the arm for our crew

Cost an arm and a leg

Be extremely expensive

Ex)The new phone had cost him an arm and a leg.

Fish

Fish or cut bait

Either commit to doing something productive or step aside and stop wasting time

Ex) Are you going to go back to medical school or not? It’s time to fish or cut bait.

Fish for a compliment

Make an attempt to make someone say something nice to you or about you.

Ex) When the student said that he was still not confident of the subject after a score of 95 on 100 in the test, the teacher knew that he was only fishing for a compliment.

Fish in troubled waters 

to try to win an advantage from a difficult situation or from someone else’s problems

Ex) No one really thought about the money lenders who were making cash hand over fist during the recession, fishing in the troubled waters many homeowners and small businesses found themselves in.

Birds

Bird of passage

A person who remains unfixed to a certain location, relocating from one place to another

Ex) The economy has forced me to become a bird of passage, moving around the state to wherever I can find work.