VOCABULARY - IDIOMS

Idioms about numbers

Idioms about numbers

  • 101

    Meaning: In the American educational system 101 indicates an introductory course, often with no prerequisites. The meaning has been extended to include any introduction to the basics of anything.

  • a number cruncher

    Meaning: a number cruncher refers to someone whose job is to work with numbers and mathematics. It may also refer to a computer that is able to solve complicated problems of mathematics.

  • at sixes and sevens

    Meaning: In a state of confusion or disorder

  • be on cloud nine

    Meaning: feel extreme happiness or elation

  • by the numbers

    Meaning: If you do something by the numbers, you are doing it in a strict, mechanical way, without using your imagination or creativity.

  • count to ten

    Meaning: If someone asks you to count to ten, they are advising you to take a moment to calm down. The phrase is often used when someone is angry.

  • do a number on

    Meaning: The phrase to do a number on is an idiomatic expression that means to treat harshly, to hurt or to damage

  • dressed up to the nines

    Meaning: when someone is dressed up to the nines, they are wearing fashionable or formal clothes for a special occasion.

  • feel like a million

    Meaning: To feel like a million means to feel well and healthy, both physically and mentally.

  • fifth column

    Meaning: refers to a group within a country at war who are sympathetic to or collaborate with its enemies.

  • give me five

    Meaning: If you say give me five, you want someone to slap your open hand as a greeting or to show joy.

  • keep count of something

    Meaning: If you keep count of something, you remember or record a number as it changes over a period of time.

  • lose count of

    Meaning: If you lose count of something, you fail to remember how many of it there is because the number is so high.

  • nine times out of ten

    Meaning: Almost always

  • nine to five

    Meaning: said about a job with normal daytime hours, a job that begins at nine o'clock in the morning and finishes at five.

  • on all fours

    Meaning: On all fours mean on one's hands and knees.

  • once bitten, twice shy

    Meaning: You're more cautious when you've been hurt before

  • one go

    Meaning: If you do something at/in one go, you do it in one attempt.

  • one of a kind

    Meaning: Unique; unlike anything else

  • one-off

    Meaning: Occurring once; one-time.

  • public enemy number one

    Meaning: The idiom public enemy number one refers someone or something that people hate.

  • Pull the other one

    Meaning: used to tell someone that you don't believe what they have just said.

  • quick one

    Meaning: to have a drink before going somewhere.

  • safety in numbers

    Meaning: safety in numbers is the hypothesis that, by being part of a large physical group or mass, an individual is proportionally less likely to be the victim of a mishap, accident, attack, or other bad event.

  • take forty winks

    Meaning: The idiom take forty winks means to take a nap for a short period of time.

  • take the fifth

    Meaning: Refuse to answer because answering might incriminate or cause problems for you

  • talk nineteen to the dozen

    Meaning: to speak very quickly.

  • that makes two of us

    Meaning: express agreement with a statement or situation that someone else has mentioned

  • the third degree

    Meaning: Give someone or get the third degree designates a close interrogation.

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