VOCABULARY - IDIOMS

a little bird told me

Meaning: I got this information from a source I cannot reveal.; I don’t wish to divulge where I got the information

as gentle as a lamb

Meaning: Extremely kind, calm, or docile

as rare as hen's teeth

Meaning: If something is as rare as hen's teeth, it is very rare.

at the end of one's rope

Meaning: If you say someone is at the end of their rope you mean that they are in a situation in which they have no resources, strength, or patience left.

back the wrong horse

Meaning: If you back the wrong horse, you support someone or something that later cannot be successful.

be a chicken

Meaning: be a coward.

be a cold fish

Meaning: be a person who is distant and unfeeling

be like a fish out of water

Meaning: to feel uncomfortable in a situation

be the cat's whiskers

Meaning: The phrase to be the cat's whiskers is an old idiomatic expression. If you feel you are the cat's whiskers, you consider yourself to be the center of the universe.

beat a dead horse

Meaning: To persist or continue far beyond any purpose, interest or reason.

beef up

Meaning: To strengthen or make something more effective.

big fish in a small pond

Meaning: One who has achieved a high rank or is highly esteemed, but only in a small, relatively unimportant, or little known location or organization.

big frog in a small pond

Meaning: The phrase big frog in a small pond refers to a very important person in a place where there are less important people. This idiom alludes to a large frog that dominates other less challenging frogs.

bird's-eye view

Meaning: The phrase a bird's-eye view is an idiomatic expression. Literally, it refers to a view seen from high above.

call off the dogs

Meaning: If you call off the dogs, you stop criticizing or attacking someone.

cash cow

Meaning: A cash cow refers to someone or something that generates a steady return of profits; a moneymaker.

cat got your tongue

Meaning: Why aren't you speaking?

chicken out

Meaning: To refuse to do something because of fear.

chicken-hearted

Meaning: not brave.

cock-and-bull story

Meaning: The phrase a cock-and-bull story is an idiomatic expression that refers to a story or explanation which is obviously not true.

count one's chickens before they hatch

Meaning: To assume success too early, before it is certain.

cry wolf

Meaning: to ask for help when there is really no danger.

cuckoo in the nest

Meaning: A cuckoo in the nest is an unwelcome intruder in a place or situation which crowds out everything else.

curiosity killed the cat

Meaning: Curiosity killed the cat is a proverb used to warn someone not to be too curious about something and ask too many questions because this can get you into trouble.

dark horse

Meaning: The phrase dark horse is an idiomatic expression that refers to a usually little-known person who unexpectedly wins or succeeds, especially in a competition of some sort.

dead duck

Meaning: said about someone or something that is doomed to failure or death.

dog-eat-dog

Meaning: said about a world where people do anything to be successful.

dogs are barking

Meaning: If your dogs are barking, this means that your feet are hurting.

drink like a fish

Meaning: If you drink like a fish, you drink alcohol excessively.

eat like a horse

Meaning: The phrase the eat like a horse is an idiomatic expression that means to eat large amounts of food.

escape the rat race

Meaning: The phrase 'escape the rat race' is an idiomatic expression that means 'leave a job or way of life in which people compete endlessly and aggressively with each other to be successful'.

every dog has its day

Meaning: everyone has a time of success and satisfaction.

fall prey to

Meaning: Be victimized by; be harmed by; be vulnerable to

fight like cat and dog

Meaning: Continually arguing with each other

fish for compliments

Meaning: Try to manipulate people into praising you

fish story

Meaning: The phrase fish story refers to an exaggerated story.

frog in one's throat

Meaning: To have a frog in one's throat means to be unable to speak clearly because one's throat is dry or blocked.

grin like a Cheshire cat

Meaning: To smile very broadly. This is an allusion to a fictional cat popularised by Lewis Carroll's depiction of it in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and known for its distinctive mischievous grin.

grouse about someone or something

Meaning: To complain.

have a cow

Meaning: to be very worried, upset or angry about something

have bigger fish to fry

Meaning: Have more important things to do; If you say you have bigger fish to fry, you mean you have more important things to do.

have kittens

Meaning: to be very worried, upset or angry about something.

have other fish to fry

Meaning: to have other things to do; to have more important things to do.

help a lame dog over a stile

Meaning: said about someone who helps people who are in difficulty or trouble.

horse of a different color

Meaning: a different matter.

hungry as a bear

Meaning: If you are as hungry as a bear, it means you are really hungry.

in two shakes of a lamb's tail

Meaning: In a very short time.

keep the wolf from the door

Meaning: To have enough money to be able to ward off poverty or hunger.

lame duck

Meaning: Someone or something that is disabled, helpless, ineffective, or inefficient.

let sleeping dogs lie

Meaning: If you let sleeping dogs lie, you leave things as they are to avoid trouble.

let the cat out of the bag

Meaning: Reveal a secret, usually a secret you or others are trying to keep

like a moth to a flame

Meaning: Drawn to something or someone despite the dangers

like water off a duck's back

Meaning: Without any effect.

lion's share

Meaning: If someone gets the lion's share of something, they get the largest part of it.

look like mutton dressed as lamb

Meaning: Said about a woman who tries to look much younger.

make a monkey out of

Meaning: to cause a person, group, or action to appear foolish or inferior; to subject someone or something to ridicule.

make a pig of oneself

Meaning: said about someone who eats too much or too fast.

naked as a jaybird

Meaning: The phrase naked as a jaybird means completely naked.

neither fish nor fowl

Meaning: said of something not easily categorized or not fitting neatly into any established group.

no spring chicken

Meaning: said of a person who is no longer particularly young.

Not enough room to swing a cat

Meaning: A very small or cramped space.

not have a cat in hell's chance

Meaning: (also not have a snowball's chance in hell) not to be able to achieve something.

odd duck

Meaning: An unusual person, especially an individual with an idiosyncratic personality or peculiar behavioral characteristics.

play cat and mouse

Meaning: Trying to trick someone into making a mistake so you can defeat them.

put the cat among the pigeons

Meaning: Say or do something that causes trouble or controversy

rabbit hole

Meaning: A rabbit hole refers to a world that is particularly bazar, troubling and wonderfully surreal. It is a world that is typically difficult to remove oneself from.

rain cats and dogs

Meaning: Rain heavily; Rain very heavily

run with the hare and hunt with the hounds

Meaning: To support both sides of an argument.

sacred cow

Meaning: An indvidual or organization that one cannot criticize

scaredy cat

Meaning: someone who is easily frightened.

see a man about a dog

Meaning: used as an excuse for leaving without giving the real reason

shoot the bull

Meaning: The phrase shoot the bull means to chat and gossip.

sitting duck

Meaning: Something or someone easily attacked or criticized

snake in one's bosom

Meaning: The phrase a snake in one's bosom refers to a person whom one has treated well and taken care of but turned out to be traitorous, untrustworthy, or ungrateful.

snake in the grass

Meaning: The phrase snake in the grass refers to a treacherous or deceitful person.

snake oil salesman

Meaning: The phrase snake oil salesman refers to a person who who knowingly sells fraudulent goods or who is himself a fraud, quack, or charlatan.

spring chicken

Meaning: To be young; to be still a young and naive person.

stir up a hornets' nest

Meaning: If you stir up a hornets' nest, you make trouble.

take the bull by the horns

Meaning: to deal with a matter in a direct manner, especially to confront a difficulty rather than avoid it.

take to something like a duck to water

Meaning: to have a natural ability to do something.

the straw that broke the camel's back

Meaning: A small and seemingly insignificant addition to a burden that renders it too much to bear; the small thing which causes failure, or causes inability or unwillingness to endure any more of something

to sell wolf tickets

Meaning: to make empty threats or promises; to bluff

when pigs fly

Meaning: Never; something will never happen

wild-goose chase

Meaning: The phrase a wild-goose chase refers to a pursuit of something unattainable or non-existent