1st Months Idioms Flashcards
A pig in a poke
An item you purchased without having seen; a disappointment
To eat humble pie
To admit your error and apologize
A flash in a pan
Promising at the start but then disappointing
To pour oil on troubled waters
To make peace, to calm someone down
The Sword of Damocles
Any imminent danger
(A king seated one of his subject underneath a sword that was hanging by a hair, in order to teach him the dangers a king faces)
Pyrrhic victory
A too costly victory
King Pyrrhus defeated the Romans but his losses were extremely heavy
A wet blanket
One who spoils the fun
To beard the lion in his den
To visit and oppose a person on his own grounds
Crocodile tears
Insincere tears (crocodiles we’re said to cry while eating their prey)
To carry the day
To win the approval of the majority
Skid Row
Disreputable part of town, inhibited by derelicts and people “on the skid”
To go up in smoke
To come to no practical result (kindling smokes but it will not light a fire)
To throw down the gauntlet
To challenge someone (when the gauntlet, or medieval glove, was thrown down, the challenged one was required to pick it up)
Feeling no pain
Drunk
Hobson’s choice
To have no choice at all. (Mr. Hobson owned a livery stable but he did not allow the customers to pick their own horses)
