Idioms Meanings Sentences

1. To eat a humble pie To admit your error and After his candidate had lost the
apologize election, the boastful campaign
manager had to eat humble pie.
2. A pig in a poke An item you purchase The mail order bicycle that my
without having seen, a nephew brought turned out to be
disappointment a pig in a poke, and he is now
trying to get his money back.
3. A flash in a pan Promising at the start but The rookie hit many home runs in
then disappointing spring training, but once the
season began he proved to be a
flash in a pan.
4. To pour oil on troubled waters To make peace, calm When I tried to pour oil on
someone down troubled waters, both the husband
and his wife stopped their quarrel
and began to attack me.
5. The sword of Damocles Any eminent danger(a king Although the president of the
seated on his subject company seemed quite secure, he
underneath a sword which always complained that there was
was hanging by a hair, to a sword of Damocles hanging over
teach him the danger a king his head.
face
6. Pyrrhic victory A too costly victory(king In heavy fighting the troop
Pyrrhus defeated the managed to recapture the hill, but
romans, but his losses were it could only be considered a
extremely heavy) pyrrhic victory.
7. A wet blanket One who spoils your fun Everyone wanted the party to go
on, but Ronnie, the wet blanket,
decided to go home to bed.
8. To beard the lion in his den To visit and oppose a person Having decide to beard the lion, I
on his own ground stormed into the manager’s office
to ask for a rise.
9. Crocodile tears Insincere tears(crocodiles When the football player broke his
were said to cry while eating leg, his substitute wept crocodiles’
their prey) tears.
10. To carry the day To win the approval of The secretary’s motion that we we
majority adjourn for lunch carried the day,
and we headed for the restaurant
.
11. Skid row Disreputable part of town The presence of so many bars has
inhabited by derelicts and turned our neighborhood into skid
people “on the skid” row.
12. To go up in smoke To come to no practical The mayor’s plan to get the
result(kindling smokes but it gubernatorial nomination went up
will not light a fire) in smoke when he couldn’t end
the costly strike.
13. To throw down the gauntlet To challenge someone(when The principal of our rival school
the gauntlet was thrown threw down the gauntlet, and we
down, the challenger was had no choice but to accept the
required to pick it up) challenge.
14. Feeling no pain Drunk Although the part had just begun,
after his first drink he was feeling
no pain.
15. Hobson’s choice To have no choice at all Despite all the talk about
democracy in my family, my father
usually gives the rest of us
Hobson’s choice.
16. To rule the roost To be in charge, to be Although he is a lowly private in
master(a roost is a perch the army, at home he rules the
where domestic birds can roost
sleep)
17. Stock in trade The goods, tools and other A quick wit and a warm smile were
requisites of a profession the salesman’s stock in trade.
18. To take down a peg To take the conceit out of a The alumni thought they had a
braggart great basketball team, but our
varsity took them down a peg.
19. To pass a bug To evade responsibility(the He always gives me a straight
buck may be the piece of answer and never tries to pass a
buckshot passed from one buck.
poker to another to keep
track of whose turn it was to
deal)
20. To lionize a person To make a big fuss over When the famous poet Dylan
someone(the lion at the Thomas visited the united states,
tower of London were he was lionized wherever he
considered its main lectured.
attraction)
21. I’m from Missouri A skeptic, one who is not You might swallow his promises,
easily convinced but I’m from Missouri.
22. Red letter days Days of happiness, time for My red-letter day came when I
rejoicing(holidays are red was chosen as senior class
letter days on our calendars) president.
23. To let sleeping dogs lie To let well enough alone, to The lawyer wanted to open old
avoid stirring up old case, but his partner advised him
hostilities to let sleeping dogs lie.
24. Thumbs down Signal of rejection My father thumbs turned down on
our plan to hitchhike to Florida
during Easter.
25. Cause celebre A famous law case, It was a minor dispute, but the
controversy ambitious lawyer sought to turn it
into a cause celebre.
26. One swallow doesn’t make a Don’t jump to the “sure, the yankees won their
summer conclusion based on opening game, but one swallow
incomplete evidence does not make a summer”.
27. A bitter pill to swallow A humiliating defeat It was a bitter pill for famous
billiard player to be over-whelmed
by the 12-year old girl.
28. An ax to grind Having a selfish motive in I am always dubious about the
the background motives of a man who tells me
that he has no ax to grind.
29. Sour grapes To disparage* something Marica said that she didn’t want
which you cannot have(from to be on the principal’s honor roll
Aesop’s fable about fox who anyway, but we knew that it was
called the grapes sour just sour grapes on her part.
because he could not reach
them)
30. To swap horses in midstream To vote against a candidate The mayor asked for our support,
running for re-election, to pointing out how foolish it would
change your mind be to swap horses in midstream.
31. To cool one’s heels To be kept waiting The shrewd mayor made the
angry delegates cool their heels in
his outer office.
32. A red herring Something which diverts We felt that the introduction of his
attention from the main war records was a red herring to
issue(a red herring drawn keep us from inquiring into his
across a fox’s path destroys graft.
the scent)
33. To spill the beans To give away a secret Although he was naturally
reticent, when the felon was
intimidated by the member of the
rival gang, he spilled the beans.
34. To keep a stiff upper lip To be courageous in the face It was admirable to see how the
of trouble British managed to keep a stiff
upper lip in spite of the German
bombing.
35. To have cold feet To hesitate because of fear My cousin was all set to join the
or uncertainty paratroops, but at the last
moment he got cold feet.
36. To look a gift horse in the To be critical of a present Although I didn’t have much use
mouth given to you(from the for uncle Roy’s present, I took it
practice of judging a horses with a big smile since I have been
age by his teeth) taught never to look a gift horse in
the mouth.
37. To pay the piper To bear the The cruel leader was doing well at
consequences(from the the present time, but knew that
story of piper of Hamelin) one day
38. On the carpet Being scolded Because of her repeated lateness,
Bettys boss called her on the
carpet
39. To show one’s hand To reveal your attention When someone joined in bidding
for the antique, the dealer was
forced to show her hand
40. To tilt at windmills To fight imaginary The vice president told
enemies(from Don Quixote) committee, “we are really on your
side”, and if fight us you will tilting
at windmills .
41. To feather one’s nest Grow rich by taking While working at the tax collector,
advantages of circumstances he adroitly feathered his own nest.
42. Fear weather friends Unreliable, they fail you in The general was chagrined to
time of distress learn that so many of his supposed
supporter were actually fear
weather friends
43. To sow one’s wild oats To lead a wild, gay life During his teen year, the
millionaire avidly sowed his wild
oats.
44. windfall Unexcepted financial gain When the bankrupt company
struck oil, the surprised in vestor
received a windfall of $w20,000
45. To wear your heart on your To make your feeling People who wear their hearts o
sleeves evident their sleeves frequently suffer
emotional upsets.
46. To wash dirty linen in public To openly discuss private “let’s talk about it privately”, his
affairs uncle said, “rather than wash our
dirty linen in public.
47. To save face To avoid disgrace Instead of firing the corrupt
executive, they allowed him to
retire in order that he might save
face.
48. Indian summer Warm autumn weather Parts of the country were in snow,
but the East was enjoying an
Indian summer.
49. To take the bull by horns To face the problem directly The minister decided to take the
after several days bull by horns, and so he sent for
the vandals.
50. The lions share The major portion Because the salesman was
essential to the business, he
demanded the lions share of the
profits.
51. Out of the frying pan To go from a difficult I thought I had escaped, but
situation to worse one actually I went out of the frying
pan into the fire.
52. To keep the pot boiling To see that the interest dickens kept the pot boiling by
doesn’t die down ending each chapter on a note of
an uncertainly and suspense.
53. To bury the hatchet To make peace After not speaking with each other
for a year, they decided to bury
the hatchet.
54. Philadelphia lawyers A lawyer of outstanding His case is so hopeless that it
ability would take a Philadelphia lawyer
to set him free.
55. To gild the lily To praise extravagantly There was no need for the
announcer to gild the lily because
we could see how beautiful the
model was.
56. To steals one thunder To weaken a person’s I had planned to be the first to
position by stating his resign from the club, but my
argument before he does cousin stole my thunder.
57. woolgathering Absentmindedness or day When the young genius should
dreaming have been doing his homework,
he was frequently engaged in
woolgathering.
58. To whitewash To conceal defect, to give a Although a committee was
falsely virtuous appearance appointed to investigate the
to something corruption, many citizens felt that
their report would be a whitewash
of the culprits.
59. To break the ice To start by overcoming The auto salesman had a poor
initial difficulties week, but he finally broke the ice
by selling a fully-equipped
Cadillac.
60. The grapevine A secret means of spreading The grapevine has it that Ernie will
information be elected president of school’s
student council.
61. In a bee line Taking the straightest(that’s When the couple left, the
the way a bee files back to babysitter made a bee line for the
the hives after he has refrigerator.
gathered food)
62. The world, the flesh, and the Temptation that cause man By entering the monastery, he
devil to sin sought to avoid the world, the
flesh, and the devil.
63. To make brick without straw To attempt to do something My uncle’s business schemes
without required material(in always fail become he tries to
the bible we read that make brick without straw.
Egyptians commanded the
Israelites to do so)
64. To have the upper hand To gain control I had hi at my mercy but now he
has the upper hand.
65. To draw in one’s horns To check your anger, to The performer drew in his horns
restrain yourself when he saw that his critic was an
eight year old boy.
66. To put the cart before the horse To reverse the proper order, My assistant was so eager to get
do things backwards the job done that he often put the
cart before the horse.
67. To turn the tables To turn the situation to your The wrestler thought that he could
own advantage pin me in the mat, but I quickly th
turned the tables on him.
68. A ship of the old block A son who like his When we saw the alcoholics, son
father(from the same block enter the liquor store we assumed
of wood) that he was a ship off the old
block.
69. Under the wire Just in time Hank hesitated about the term
paper for two months and finally
submitted it just under the wire.
70. To be at large Not confined or in jail Since the dangerous criminal was
at large, all the towns people
began to buy dogs for protection.
71. To go against the grain To irritate My uncle is in favor of some
protest, but certain demonstration
goes against his grain.
72. To wink at To pretend not to see There was plethora of evidence to
show that the border guards
would wink at illegal shipments if
they were paid in advance.
73. To play possum To try to fool someone, to Sensing that his life was in
make believe one to asleep jeopardy, the hunter played
or dead possum until the voracious lion
disappeared .
74. Its an ill wind that blows Someone usually benefits When the star quarterback broke
nobody good from another person’s his leg, the coach gave the rookie
misfortune his big chance and the youngster
made good; the coach mumbled,
“its an ill wind”
75. To know the ropes To be fully acquainted with The president of the senior class
the procedure knew the ropes and quickly taught
me my duties.
76. Behind the eight ball In trouble Susan found herself behind the
eight ball in chemistry when she
failed to do the term project.
77. Left holding the bag To be left to suffer the The profligate businessman left his
blame distraught partner holding the
bag.
78. A lick and a promise To do something in hasty The meticulous housewife was in
and superficial manner so much of a hurry that she could
 only give the apartment a lick and
a promise.
79. Tongue in cheek insincerely Speaking with his tongue in his
cheek, the parsimonious employer
promised to double everyone’s
wages.
80. To take the wind out of one’s To someone’s advantage Although Edna was bristling with
sails anger when she stormed in. I took
the wind out of her sails by voicing
my own displeasure at the way
she had been treated.
81. Two strings to one bow Two means of achieving The salesman had two strings to
ones aim his bow If a phone call had didn’t
get result, he would appear in
person.
82. On tenter hooks In a state of anxiety The indicted clerk was kept on
tenter hooks by the district
attorney.
83. The fat in the fire The mischief is done We implored him to desist but he
said that the fat was already in the
fire .
84. Like Caesar’s wife Above suspicion Mrs. Drake would have to be like
Caesar’s wife is so that no tinge.
Of sandal would embarrass her
husband, our new mayor.
85. Barmecide feast Pretended generosity, a The committee always boast
feast no food (an Arabian about its luncheon, but to my way
prince of the Barmecide of thinking it’s a real Barmecide
family invited a beggar to a feast.
feast but set before him a
series of empty dishes)
86. In apple-pie order In neat order The house was in dreadful
Good condition condition when Mrs. Maslow
arrived, but when she left it was in
apple=pie order
87. Apple=polishing Trying to gain favor by gifts If the way to advancement in this
or flattery company is through
apple=polishing, I quite!
88. The Draconian code A very severe set of rules The head councilor ran our camp
(Draco, an Athenian according to his own Draconian
lawmaker of the 7th cent. code.
B.G. prescribed the death
penalty for almost every
violation)
89. The distaff side-women (distaff was a staff used in The men had brandy on the porch,
spinning) while the distaff side gathered in
the kitchen.
90. To get one’s back up To become angry Every time his mother mentioned
getting a haircut, the young
guitarist got his back up.-
91. To bring home the becon To earn a living to succeed
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