English idioms

Your day job, even if it's at night, is your regular job - the one you normally do and the one that pays the bills. So why would you g...

In these troubled times it could be easy to get depressed and expect the worst. When you take an exam, do you expect to fail? When the pho...

When I woke up today and my wife told me the Britain had voted to leave the EU, I was gobsmacked. In other words, I was speechless, lost f...

It sounds like a crazy and dangerous thing to do and in some ways it is. It means to depend on your nerve and instinct in a situation and to...

To let the cat out of the bag is to accidentally reveal a secret. "Are you going to Sarah's party?" "What party?...

I'm sure you know that the famous ship, the Titanic, sank. What would you have done if you were on it after it struck an iceberg an...

This is arguably the best known of all English idioms. Raining cats and dogs. If you look carefully, you'll see them on the cover of t...

I've been burning the midnight oil to get all my work done. Midnight gives us the clue and you might guess that this idiom means to ...

She's been thinking about moving to France for years and now she's finally decided to take the plunge. To take the plunge is to co...

Your work has been very poor standard recently. You need to pull your socks up. Why are they falling down? Not excactly - this idiom mea...

'How's the website coming on? I've been waiting two weeks already.' 'Give me a break - Rome wasn't built in a day....

They're just like peas in a pod. Does that mean that they are lke small, green vegetables? No, it means thay have very similar quali...

Which ball is that and what is the court? This idiom comes from tennis, which is played on a court. When the ball is in your court, or r...

Do you burn the candle at both ends? If so, you're likely to get overtired. That's because it means to get up early and stay up la...

I've just been told that FIFA President Sepp Blatter plans to unresign - that really takes the biscuit! Takes the biscuit is used to d...

We can use the term crack up in these ways  - you crack me up or she/he totally cracked up. It can refer to losing your nerve or composure...

Here's a pretty strange idiom from the world of British advertising. It does (exactly) what it says on the tin is a phrase used to say...

But which one is that? In fact, it's not literally about feet but presenting yourself. When you go for the job interview, make sure yo...

This explanation features in 101 Idioms - Volume 5, due out at the end of March 2015. Before you can say Jack Robinson or sometimes, faste...

More of a proverb than an idiom but let's go with it anyway. It's rather harsh advice saying that you created a situation, now you...