English-language idioms

A list of idioms can be useful, since the meaning of an idiom cannot be deduced by knowing the meaning of its constituent words.

For example, someone might know perfectly well what a bucket is and also understand the meaning of the verb "to kick", completely; however, unless they had already encountered the meaning of the phrase or were able to tell from the context the phrase appears in, they would not know that to kick the bucket is one of the many colorful idioms in the English language meaning to die.

What is not an idiom

The phrase "enough money to choke a horse" would not be an idiom because the meaning of the phrase can be readily understood from knowing the meaning of the individual words that make it up. Note that idioms are not the same as aphorisms or proverbs, such as, "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" or sagacious recommendations like, "don't count your chickens before they hatch". The idiom differs from other figures of speech or linguistical elements, such as similes, metaphors, analogies, allegories, allusions, jargon, slang, euphemisms, colloquialisms, etc. There is no precise definition, but generally idioms need to be non-obvious and part of the common language (meaning that it is in most non-specialized dictionaries). Idioms are in general not nouns. For example "red light district", blowjob, humping (some secretary), Almighty Dollar... are not considered to be idioms. English has a tremendous stock of idioms. They can be a source of confusion and frustration to non-native users of the language. When speaking to people who have recently learned English, it might aid their ability to comprehend if one avoids idioms. However, most native English speakers have internalized a large repertoire of idioms which they use often and without thinking much about them so it can be very difficult to censor all idioms from one's speech. Other meanings for the word idiom include its use as a synonym for dialect. This article concerns itself only with the meaning of the term as defined above however.

A

Idiom	Meaning
A black look	Giving someone a look of malice; "a dirty look"
A coon's age	A long time. (Note: This idiom is no longer in popular usage as it is considered racist.)
A dirty look	A look of disapproval or malice.
A few X short of a Y	Not possessing all of one's mental faculties; i.e., crazy or stupid. These phrases take the form "A few X short of a Y" where X is a common component of Y. In these phrases, Y represents full mental capacity, and the lack of a few X implies a lack of full mental capacity. A few fries short of a Happy Meal A few sandwiches short of a picnic Two bricks short of a load A few syllables short of a Haiku A couple of cans short of a six-pack. A few pickles shy of a barrel
A hard nut to crack	A difficulty / trouble problem that is toilful to solve.
A little bit from column A, a little bit from column B	An answer to an either/or question implying that both answers are correct
A little something something	Going beyond one's expectations / achieving sexual intercourse
A tempest in a teapot (or: a storm in a teacup)	A fuss being made about an insignificant matter.
All mouth and no trousers	Said of someone who boasts in a macho way but cannot be trusted to achieve what he is clearly fond of talking about. Originating in the North of England. Compare variant "All fur coat and no knickers" said of posh people, implying that their airs and graces were a mask for moral laxity beneath the surface.
(to pay) Arm and a leg	An extremely high price.
At the end of the day, ...(x will happen.)	A fatalistic phrase suggesting that whatever criticisms or uncertainties arise, the most probable outcome is likely to be x, where x is what has usually happened in the past. Slightly more obscure than "all things considered" and often a tactical way of terminating a discussion or sustained criticism. Increasingly regarded as a cliché and often associated with sportsmen in press interviews.
Axe to grind	To have ulterior motives. (Note: it does not mean “have issues”, though such is a common misuse and misunderstanding. See AHD, MW, OED.)

B

Idiom	Meaning
Babe in arms	A very young child, or a person who is very young to be holding a position.
Baby boomer	In the U.S., a baby boomer is someone born during 1945-1965, a period when the population was growing fast.
Back burner	If an issue is on the back burner, it is being given low priority.
Back the wrong horse	If you back the wrong horse, you give your support to the losing side in something.
Back to square one	If you are back to square one, you have to start from the beginning again. Variant: back to the drawing board.
Backseat driver	A backseat driver is an annoying person who is fond of giving advice to the person performing a task or doing something, especially when the advice is either wrong or unwelcome.
Bad egg	A person who cannot be trusted. Also bad hat.
Bad taste in your mouth	If something leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth, you feel there is something wrong or bad about it.
Baker's dozen	Thirteen of a particular item.
Ball and chain	An unhelpful burden that cannot be abandoned. Husband or wife (pejorative, or sometimes satirically affectionate).
Ballpark figure	A ballpark figure is a rough or approximate number (guesstimate) to give a general idea of something, like a rough estimate for a cost, etc.
Bar fly	A bar fly is a person who spends a lot of time drinking in different bars and pubs.
Basket case	A person who cannot be helped.
Bat out of Hell (like a)	Very quickly (also implies haphazardly, frenetically or in a panic).
To bear fruit	To come to profitable conclusion or to produce some worthwhile thing.
Beat a dead horse	To engage in pointless and repetitive discussion. Beating is more common in American idiom, while Flogging a dead horse is more common in Britain.
Beat around the bush	Procrastinate or hesitate, mainly when one does not want to say something (circumlocution).
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder	Meaning different people will find different things beautiful and that the differences of opinion don't matter greatly.
Beck and call	Someone who does everything for you, no matter when you ask, is at your beck and call.
Bedroom eyes	Someone with bedroom eyes has a sexy look in their eyes.
(something is) the Bee's Knees	(something is) excellent, superb; see also the Cat's Meow/Pajamas
Behind closed doors, behind hazel eyes	Away from the public eye.
Behind the times	Old-fashioned.
Being from Missouri	Skeptical; requiring proof. Derived from "I'm from Missouri; you have to show me." (The state's unofficial slogan: "Show me" appears on their license plates).
Bells and whistles	Attractive features that things like computer programs have, though often a bit unnecessary.
Between a rock and a hard place	In a very difficult jam, any forseeable resolution of which will not be pleasant. The most likely origin of this idiom is the episode of Homer's Odyssey in which Odysseus and his crew is caught between Scylla and Charybdis. Another common form of this idiom is "between the Devil and the deep blue sea".
Big apple	New York City (U.S.A.)
Bite the dust	To die
Black-hearted	Someone with evil intentions.
Black sheep	An ostracized or ill-fitting member of a family or group. ("Uncle Ned is the black sheep of the family.")
Bob's your uncle	Easy from here on out. Everything is settled and will end in success.
Boot out	To eject a person from a group or society against their wishes. Also: kick out.
(were you) Born in a barn/tent?	Said to someone who fails to close an external door behind them on entering a building, thus causing a discomforting draught. There are regional variations, in Lincolnshire for instance, one will hear "Do you come from Bardney?" a reference to a windswept fenland village in that English county. Also said, more generally, of people with crass manners or personal habits.
Bottom line	To come to a conclusion of a profit or loss.
Break a leg	Used as a substitute for "good luck" as many believe that it is bad luck to say good luck. Used especially to wish luck to stage performers before an opening.
Bring a knife to a gunfight	To arrive woefully underprepared.
Broken his/her duck	(British), "scored for the first time", or more generally to have avoided complete failure. In British sports slang a "duck's egg" refers to a score of "zero" or "nought". (Similarly "goose eggs" can also mean "00" in American slang.) In the British game of Cricket scoring naught is getting a "duck" and a batter's first run scored is, therefore, "breaking his duck". Generally intended hopefully, as a harbinger of more success to follow. "He's out of his rut and starting to make progress."
Bull in a china shop	A tactless person who upsets others or upsets plans; a very clumsy person.
Burning the candle at both ends	Someone trying to do too much at once, wearing themselves out.
Burning the midnight oil	Studying or working late into, or through, the night.
Bury the hatchet	Make peace with. To end hostilities.
Buy/Bought the farm	To die (in reference to wartime pilot crashes causing forced purchases of farmland).
Butterflies in one's stomach	A feeling of nervousness, usually queasiness in the abdomen.
Buying a pig in a poke	To purchase something without inspection, thereby creating an opportunity for fraud. Canonical: unethical farmer places a barn-yard cat in a burlap bag (poke) and sells it sight-unseen to another, claiming it contains a piglet. Related to "the cat's out of the bag", below.
(doing something) By the numbers	To do things precisely as instructed, or as perceived to be instructed.

C

Idiom	Meaning
Call it a day	Decide to finish or end something - like a day's work
Call the badger a bishop	This term derives from the practice of badger-baiting, 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.
Came for the x, stayed for the y	Being present for a specific cause and receiving a greater benefit
(open up a) Can of worms	To create a situation that is hard to deal with, especially one that comes about unexpectedly and intractably. To "open a can of worms" is to get involved with something that is discomforting, hard to resolve, or not easily escaped (closing a container of worms, used as bait by fishermen, generally involves some tricky handling of the wriggling occupants)
Can't _____ oneself out of a wet paper bag / Can't_____ to save one's life	Woefully unable to perform the task in hand
Can't see the forest (or wood) for the trees	Losing sight of the big picture by getting mired down in details
Can't see your nose in front of your face	Being oblivious to something in plain view
Cat amongst the pigeons	Putting a cat amongst the pigeons involves some, usually premeditated, disruption. Such an act might simply be verbal, cutting across an apparent consensus, but will certainly disturb the equilibrium.
Cat got your tongue?	Asked of someone rendered speechless to emphasize their inability to speak
Cat in the pan	Betrayer,renegade,turnabout & turncoat;the same as "flopper".
Catch 22	From the eponymous book by Joseph Heller: a problem with a method of resolution that negates the conditions for resolution. In the book, for example, a soldier is considered insane and unfit for combat if he willingly continues to fly missions, but asking to be relieved from duty on the basis of insanity shows that he is mentally competent and must continue to serve.
(something is) the Cat's Meow/Pajamas	(Something is) excellent, superb.
Change horses in midstream	Make new plans or choose a new leader in the middle of an important activity. Connotes an unwise, or at best risky, activity
Chip off the old block	A person that is highly similar to a direct ancestor or predecessor.
Close the barn door after the horse gets out	Refers to not taking action until after a problem has already occurred, usually when it's too late and should have been done sooner. "Closing the stable door after the horse has bolted" is the common British variant
(To) come out of the closet	When a person publicly reveals a secret about them selves. Often used in reference to homosexuality.
Cousin Michael	A disparaging designation of the Germans as slow, heavy, unpolished and ungainly (Michel, in Old German, meaning "gross")
Curiosity killed the cat	As cats are naturally curious, sometimes at their own peril, the expression implies excessive curiosity can be dangerous to a person, especially if it leads someone to meddle in things that are not their business.
Cut off your nose to spite your face	To take rash or single-minded action that hurts your own cause in the end. Similar to "throwing the baby out with the bathwater"

D

Idiom	Meaning
Dark horse	A surprise candidate, or competitor; someone who hides their talents or interests. From the metaphor: "He rode in as if on a dark horse in the night" or "No one saw him coming."
Dead and buried	A settled issue. Something no longer needing consideration.
Dead as a doornail	Useless, very distinctly dead. A doornail is the strikeplate for most door knockers. To hold it in place, after it was driven through the door, the pointed end was bent over and buried in the door, to prevent movement. This nail was unrecoverable, so was considered dead to future reclamation, which was apparently common before modern time.
Dead to rights	Caught in the act ("The police had the burglars dead to rights when they arrived."), or at the mercy of someone ("The cavalry had the fleeing soldiers dead to rights.")
Deader than Julius Caesar	Given the evidence of Julius Caesar's very definite demise in 44 B.C., this idiom expresses a person or concept irrevocably deceased.
Devil's advocate	To argue a point of view that is not necessarily one's own, but for the sake of fairness. To play "the devil's advocate" in a debate is to ensure that some attempt was made to hear a side that might otherwise have gone unrepresented.
Dime [for] a dozen	Very common and easy to get; very cheap; not special.
Dog and pony show	A presentation which aims to persuade, generally a marketing presentation, especially one with lots of splashy glitz and little or no real informational content.
Dog in the manger	Someone who denies others the use of a resource, even though they cannot possibly use the resource themselves. From Aesop's fable of the same name, The Dog in the Manger, about a dog preventing cows from eating the straw in a manger.
Dog's bollocks	Excellent.
Dotting the I's and Crossing the T's	Paying much attention to detail.
Driving me up the wall	Agitating me to the point of great frustration.
Dropped the ball	Made a mistake; did not succeed in a task.

E

Idiom	Meaning
Eating out Ms. Hyams	To be in an utterly undesirable situation. Similar to the phrase, Fucked six ways to (or from) Sunday.
Egg on	To provoke or encourage, sometimes in a sarcastic or derisive manner.
Egg on one's face	To be embarrassed
Elephant in the room	The problem or situation immediately obvious to all but spoken of by none. Usually the topic in question is emotionally charged and so felt by most involved to be best ignored.

F

Idiom	Meaning
Fall on (one's) sword	To take responsibility or blame for a negative outcome, especially if one's own idea To sacrifice oneself Likely adapted from the Japanese samurai suicide ritual of seppuku
Feel[ing] blue	Feeling sad, down, or depressed
(with a) Fine toothed comb	To examine or look over something very carefully
On fire	To excel in performance. For example, "Joe's on fire today!"
First-come, first-served	Indicates a policy of serving clients or customers in the order they arrived without other preferences.
Fish or cut bait (A variation is "Shit or get off the pot.")	A pragmatic expression which demands that an indecisive person either does a specific thing immediately, or steps aside and lets another person attempt it. [1]
(On a) fishing expedition	Trying to find some evidence of something, often through improper methods and without a defined target. Sometimes used in court
Five finger discount	To take without paying, to steal, also known as shoplifting
Flash in the pan	A transient happening which results in no long-term effect. From a type of misfire of a flintlock gun.
Fucked six ways to (or from) Sunday	To be utterly ruined, in every possible manner, by every imaginable method.
Full fathom five	(From Shakespeare, The Tempest) Lost deep in the sea

G

Idiom	Meaning
(bird in a) Gilded cage	In a pleasant situation, but trapped. For example, celebrities fear they are "prisoners in gilded cages", because despite their wealth and fame, every action they make is under intense scrutiny
Give up the ghost	To die, expire, or otherwise come to an end. To end all things.
Go with the flow	to conform or go along with whatever happens
Going off half-cocked	to do something, typically violent or disruptive, prematurely. From a term for premature firing of a flintlock.
Take it with a grain of salt	to approach a claim with appropriate skepticism
Graveyard dead	Certainly dead. Emphatically dead.
Gravy Train	An easy or comfortable endeavor.
The Great Unwashed	Derogatory term for the working class.

H

Idiom	Meaning
Have a dog in the fight/race	To have a stake in, or be exposed to the risks associated with, the outcome of some problem or dispute. Conversely, "I don't have a dog in that fight" is frequently used as a way to beg off and opt out of being expected to assist.
Have one's cake and eat it too	To attempt to get all the positive aspects of something while avoiding any negative but usually occurring aspects
Hear (straight) from the horse's mouth	To hear or get information through a direct source.
Herding cats	Trying to elicit coordinated action from a group not inclined to do so. Doing something that is very difficult
Hit the hay	To go to bed; also, can be said 'hit the sack.'
Hit the roof	Became very angry
Hobson's choice	A choice that is no real choice; a situation from which there is no escape; a problem in which any course of action is likely to result in undesirable consequences. Derives from the practice of Thomas Hobson, a Cambridge innkeeper, of allowing patrons to choose the horse nearest the door, or no horse at all. Similar to a "no-win situation" and Catch 22.
Hot potato	You can neither swallow a hot potato (since it is too hot), nor take it out of your mouth (since you are at table with others). Likely, there can be an issue that you can neither agree nor disagree to, since neither are beneficial for you and this issue is called "hot potato for you". A hot potato can be a subject or a problem difficult to introduce/discuss because the issue will hurt/disgrace not only your opponent but yourself as well. This term is often employed for sensible political issues difficult to have a stance for/against or ones that neither the ruling party nor the opposing party dares to touch.

I

Idiom	Meaning
In a bad way	British idiom describing a person as being injured or in some kind of predicament.
In for a penny, in for a pound	Said by someone realising that risks of failure are increasing, but still prepared to press onwards, maintaining their earlier efforts. Similar to the expression "no turning back"
In the limelight	Possessing large amounts of attention
In (out of) the loop	Kept informed (not informed), given feedback.
In the same boat	Two or more parties in the same situation, especially a situation where what affects one party affects the other. Making a hole in the boat out of spite would drown the one and the other equally.
In the twinkle of an eye / in a flash	To happen very quickly
In this day and age	The present, indicating vast differences between modern and old times
Iron out the difficulty	Acceptance of goods, within the meaning of the foregoing instruction
Irreparable loss	Someone who is dead whom you knew when they were alive

J

Idiom	Meaning
Juggling picked onions (or frogs)	Carrying out a hazardous or difficult task. Both onions and frogs are slippery and so likely to be hard to juggle with ease.
jack-legged	Done in a shoddy fashion by a non-professional for a few dollars; a jackleg is someone who has limited knowledge and limited skills but enough to do a patch job i.e. jack-leg mechanic; jack-leg electrician}
jerry built	As above.

K

Idiom	Meaning
Keep a stiff upper lip	To exercise self-restraint in the expression of emotion, especially fear or grief
Kick the bucket	To die. Derived from the slaughter of pigs, the wooden block a pig was hung from during slaughter was referred to as a buque. Thus in the process of killing the pig, it would inevitably kick it.
Killing kittens	Engaging in the act of masturbation
Killing two birds with one stone	Completing two tasks with one process or action
Knock on wood (Knocking on wood)	Knock on something made of wood to keep from having bad luck

L

Idiom	Meaning
Last but not least	Things are not necessarily in order of importance
Last straw	A problem or obstacle that may be trivial in itself, but causes cataclysmic failure because it pushes the total array of problems or obstacles to an intolerable level. Also referred to as the Straw that broke the camel's back, after the original proverb: a straw by itself has an insignificant weight, but enough of them together can be a crushing weight.
Let me bounce this off you	To present a scenario or idea for the purpose of receiving feedback or critique
Let the cat out of the bag	Reveal a big secret, often unintentionally.
(the) Lights are on, but no one's home	Said of a person that is lacking intellect and/or sanity, even if they may appear at first to possess full mental faculties. Like "two bricks short of a load", there are endless variations, based around the metaphor of a machine or a system that is not operating as it should ("His elevator doesn't stop at all floors.")
Like a moth to the flame	Somebody or something that continually does the same thing over and over again, or goes the same place over and over again, regardless of consequence
Like herding cats (like pushing molasses up a hill)	Means someone is attempting something that is hopeless, or near impossible.
Loan shark	A predatory lender, usually one that charges inordinately high interest

M

Idiom	Meaning
Make hay	To take advantage of a favorable opportunity. To work diligently toward a goal. Sometimes this idiom appears as "to make hay while the sun shines"
Mind one's Ps and Qs	Be very careful to behave correctly. From typesetting, where the characters are mirrored from regular script, and the lowercase p's and q's are easily interchanged.
(there is) More than one way to kill (or skin) a cat	Something can be achieved in several different ways

N

Idiom	Meaning
Nod off	To fall asleep gradually, perhaps reflecting the boredom of a lecture or presentation
Nailing jelly to the wall.	A futile endeavor
Non-rigged see jacklegged	Done in a shoddy fashion. Usually referring to a repair or assembly
Not over until the fat lady sings	This phrase means to bring an event, such as a presentation or speech, to a conclusion. Often a song from an opera or a classical orchestral arrangement will end on a note high in the musical range, resolving to the root chord and bringing the song to an exciting end.
Not playing with a full deck	Someone who is eccentric, mad or wildly unconventional, bordering on crazy. See Two bricks short of a load on this page.
Not the X-est Y in Z	Having comparatively diminished capacities. Similar to "A few X short of a Y", but describing quality rather than quantity and often used for mock-humility. Not the sharpest pencil in the cup/tool in the shed/knife in the drawer. Not the brightest crayon in the box. Not the brightest cookie in the box.
Nut to crack	A difficult or sticky problem

O

Idiom	Meaning
On the same page	Two or more parties understand a situation the same way and are operating accordingly
Only the tip of the iceberg	A situation which is more complex than it first seems
Off (or below) the radar	Beyond popular consciousness, less obvious or less mainstream
Off one's rocker	Crazy
Off the wall	Strange, odd, or unusual
Off the X	Fairly recent slang expression, in which X is replaced by various nouns to make an expression with the general meaning of "great" or "wonderful". (e.g. Off the chains, Off the wall, etc.)
On a roll	Success
On the ball	To be prepared, especially in regard to anticipated future requests or instructions.
On the nose	Exactly correct or correctly
Out of sorts	Feeling poorly.
Out of touch	To be unaware of current trends, news, or fashions, especially because of actual physical distance from others.
Over the hill	To be past one's prime, old, a senior citizen. A person has reached his/her peak of physical or employment capabilities and is starting the downhill slide
Over the moon	To be very happy

P

Idiom	Meaning
Pay through the nose (for something)	pay too much or a lot of money for something
Penny wise, pound foolish	Cautious with small amounts of money, but wasteful with large amounts of money. This expression is usually used when discussing short-sighted parsimony (example: "The manager's decision to save money by cutting the maintenance budget was penny wise, pound foolish.")
Pissing against the wind	Continuing with an ineffective action, usually against the natural flow of things, which action will have no impact on the outcome. An exercise in futility.
Pot calling the kettle black	Where person A accuses person B of something that person A is guilty of. The idiom is usually used to imply or accuse someone of hypocrisy
Pouring cats and dogs	Raining very heavily.
Pulling strings	A reference to those really in power limiting the discretion of those who appear to make decisions, an analogy to those who operate stringed puppets
Pulling one's leg	Being facetious, or kidding around. Playfully lying.
Pushing up daisies	To be dead. (example: He's pushing up daisies.) This comes from the Western cultural practice of burying the deceased in a cemetery or "memorial park" often with flowers or grass growing at the grave site.
Putting the cart before the horse	Jumping to conclusions
Putting your foot in your mouth	Saying something you regret, usually offensive to someone else.

R

Idiom	Meaning
Rain cats and dogs	Rain heavily
(read/in) between the lines	Inferring additional information or nuances not explicitly stated, perhaps revealing a hidden agenda or true motive. The lines here refers to lines of printed text.
read (someone's) lips	used to emphasize insistency, often indicate a sligtly hostile bearing. e.g. “read my lips: No!”
Red Herring	A false clue or issue intended to lead one astray or an fallacious argument (Ignoratio elenchi)
Red tape	Bureaucratic paperwork, usually in large amounts and being difficult to finish yet seemingly pointless in nature
Reinvent the wheel	Duplicate a basic method or concept (usually in lieu of pursuing a more original, presumably more worthwhile, goal)
Right under your nose	Something so obvious that it is easily overlooked
Rob Peter to pay Paul	Solving a problem in a way that leads to a new problem; a quick solution with an obvious drawback (Peter and Paul being the disciples of Jesus).
Rock the boat	Disturbing the social group. Breaking with tradition or going against custom or an apparent consensus, possibly with entirely benign motives - but perhaps out of selfishness
Rooted to the spot	One that has not moved out of the place where the person has been for a long time. Both in physical, and in mental situations. Can also be said to 'put down roots'.

S

Idiom	Meaning
Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander	If something is good for one person, it follows that it is good for everybody
Sawbones	A physician, especially a surgeon.
Selling like hotcakes	Selling very rapidly
Set the Thames on fire	Perform an astonishing feat. This phrase is almost invariably used in the negative: "He'll never set the Thames on fire." Latin and German have similar idioms regarding the Tiber and the Rhine, respectively
To travel by Shank's Pony	To walk
Single Finger Salute	To give some one the "middle finger".
Six feet under	Dead and buried (from a traditional depth for human graves)
Six of one, half a dozen of another / Six and two threes	Two things that are essentially the same and so there is no real choice to be made
Six ways to (or from) Sunday	In every possible manner; by every imaginable method
To have skeletons in the closet	To have secrets from one's past that one would like to remain secret
Soup to nuts	From beginning to end; etymologically, from the first course of a meal (soup) to the last course (nuts)
Sour grapes	To decide that the attainment of something you have been thwarted from getting is not worth it after all and probably inferior in quality anyway. (Aesop's Fables: The Fox and the Grapes)
To spin a yarn	To tell a story, especially one with distorted truths or exaggerations
Speak of the devil	Said aloud when someone who was being discussed in conversation enters the area of those conversing; from the belief that uttering the name of a demon could serve to summon it
Spill the beans	To reveal a secret
Spirit of the law	To interpret something as it is meant, not as explicitly stated
Squaring the circle	Trying to do something which is impossible
Stalking horse	A political candidate unlikely to succeed against an incumbent, standing to generate an election and to reveal disquiet with the incumbent's recent performance — possibly inducing other competitors for that post to declare their interest
Start with a clean slate/sheet (of paper)	To start over or to contemplate solving a problem without preconceptions
Stand in good stead	To be extremely useful in the future
Steal someone's thunder	Taking the credit for something positive occasioned largely by someone else or simply to upstage someone. (From a stage thunder device by John Dennis.)
Stem the tide	To stop or control the growth or increase of something, usually unpleasant
Stick (or stuck)in the mud	An old fashioned idea or concept, or someone who moves or adapts slowly. Also used to describe a person who does not want to participate in activities suggested by one or more people
Straw that broke the camel's back	From a proverb about loading up a camel beyond its capacity to move. This is a reference to any process by which cataclysmic failure (a broken back) is achieved by a seemingly inconsequential addition (a single straw). This also gives rise to the phrase "the last straw"
Swan song	A final appearance; a theatrical or dramatic farewell (from a legendary belief that a mute swan would sing its own dirge as it died)
Swim with the fishes	To die, especially to be murdered and have your body disposed of, often in a body of water. (See also "sleep with the fishes"). It's presumed to be a bit of Mafia jargon
Swim with the sharks	Taking a huge risk
Sword of Damocles	The Sword of Damocles is a frequently used symbolic allusion to this myth, referring to the insecurity felt by those with great power due to the possibility of that power being taken away suddenly, or, more generally, any feeling of impending doom

T

Idiom	Meaning
Take a flyer	To take a chance or risk
Take it with a pinch of salt	To be skeptical and cautious about whether what someone has told you is true, or is the complete story
Taken to the cleaners	Defrauded, robbed, cheated, conned
Tall tale	A (sometimes boastful) unrealistic story, often told in a humorous way
The cat's out of the bag	To let the cat out of the bag A secret or hidden thing has been discovered. Related to "buying a pig in a poke", above
The glass is half full / half empty	To see the positive / negative side of a situation.
The more things change, the more they stay the same	Despite the appearance of change, there is little fundamental difference between the past and the present
The jig is up	Whatever you're doing, it's not working, so please stop.
The Powers That Be	Generic term for people who are in charge of something. Often used either derisively or when the actual people are not known. Usually capitalized
((The) tail that) wag(s) the dog	To note or have an out of proportion impact or influence. "He is addicted to Wikipedia, it's the tail that wags the dog." To note reversal of a typical or expected causality chain, usually in exclamation. "That bird frightened the cat! Doesn't that just wag the dog!"
This is not your father's ____	Despite similarities, there is a fundamental difference between the past and the present subject
Three sheets to the wind	Drunk. Usually heavily inebriated.
Throw down the gauntlet	To challenge
To be catty	To be antagonistic, usually applied to women
To pocket	To attempt to steal by slipping something unnoticed into a concealed place (pocket, purse, jacket, etc.)
To the letter	To interpret and follow instructions or rules in as literal a manner as possible, doing nothing that one is not explicitly instructed or told to do, often deliberately ignoring the implicit meaning of those instructions or rules.
To turn turtle	To capsize
Touch base	To briefly communicate with someone in order to allow each to assure each party that a situation or project is proceeding as all desire.
Toot your own horn/blow your own trumpet	To brag about oneself, often downplaying the contributions of others
Toe the line	To follow rules and regulations faithfully. To be careful to never commit any transgressions. To conform, particularly to conform to onerous or odious demands through loyalty
Treading water	Making no progress
Two (or ten) a penny	Very common, cheap, not special
Two bricks short of a load	Not possessing all of one's mental faculties; i.e., crazy or stupid. AKA "two bricks shy of a load". The general form "N Xs short of a Y", where N is a small number and X is an item in a set Y, provides endless recognizable variations. Examples: "two chairs short of a set" (Gilmore Girls, "Emily in Wonderland"); "One Can Short of a 6 Pack" (Da Yoopers album); "two deuces shy of a deck" (playing cards) (see "Not playing with a full deck")

U

Idiom	Meaning
Under the weather	Feeling ill.
Up a/shit creek without a paddle	In an untenable position. Having no recourse or satisfactory course of action.
up to one's neck	neck-deep: deeply involved; "neck-deep in work"; "up to their necks in debt"

W

Idiom	Meaning
Wake up on the wrong side of the bed	Be very grumpy. Usually used in response to discovering someone is very grumpy. "Whoa! Looks like you woke up on the wrong side of the bed today!"
Water under the bridge	Something that has happened in the past and is no longer worth agonizing over. A dismissal of prior offenses or transgressions. Generally said after emotional conflicts.
What is coming down the pike/pipe	Events or happenings expected to come to pass in the near future
What goes around, comes around	Karma-if you do something good (bad), good (bad) things will happen to you
When the gloves are off	After the polite negotiations have failed, when false posturing is no longer plausible. Similar to "when the chips are down" or "when push comes to shove"
Where there's smoke, there's fire	If there is telltale evidence of some event, the event is probably occuring
Whistle past the graveyard	To attempt to stay cheerful in a dire situation. To ignore an obvious hazard. To enter a situation with little or no understanding of the possible consequences. To proceed despite ignorance while hoping for a good outcome.
Whistle in the dark	To speak of something despite having little knowledge of it.
Whole nine yards, The	The entire amount, everything. Frequently "Going the whole nine yards" to indicate completion to surfeit, sparing nothing, or employing procedures reserved for only the most important events. The etymology is ambiguous, with explanations ranging from the 9 yard machine gun belts used in some WWII military aircraft to an older use of 9 yards in the textile industry for ceremonious saris, normal saris comprising only 6 yards, dating back to English introduction to Indian tailoring in the 18th century. Like many words with ambiguous etymology, this phrase may have more than one derivation.[2]
Wing it	To invent a way to deal with a situation you are not prepared for
Wouldn't piss up their ass if their guts were on fire	To hold a person beneath contempt.
Wrestling blancmange	Attempting to grapple with an amorphous (hard to grasp) or almost insoluble issue.
Wrong end of the stick	Misunderstanding. Getting the worst part of a deal or decision. The handle is on one end,you're beaten with the other.

See also

• Idiom
• Idiom dictionary
• Wiktionary Idioms category

External links

• List of idioms
• Wayne Magnuson: English Idioms
• What Does That Mean? A wiki based lexicon of English idioms.