American Idioms 2, A Flashcards
A bolt from the blue
A sudden and unexpected event or piece of news (typically annoying)
A cinch
An extremely easy task
A few sandwiches short of a picnic
Abnormally stupid, not really sane
A heavy cross to bear
An unpleasant or painful situation or person that you have to accept and deal with
“He lost all his crop to heavy rain. It was a heavy cross to bear for him”.
A home bird
Somebody who prefers to spend his social and free time at home
A life of its own
An independent existence
A little bird told me
I don’t wish to divulge where I got the information
A million and one
Very many
A scaredy-cat
Someone who is excessively scared or afraid
A second bite the cherry
A second chance to do something
A sitting duck
A person or object in a vulnerable position that is easy to attack or injure
A snowball’s chance in hell
Little to no likelihood of occurrence or success.
A watched pot never boils
If you wait for something to happen it takes longer
A wet blanket
A person who spoils other people’s fun
“If you are going to come to my party, you can’t be such a wet blanket”
A whole raft of
A large collection of something
Above the salt
Of high standing or honor
Above water
Not in extreme difficulty. Especially said of finances
Accident of birth
Luck in something due to family good fortune
Accident waiting to happen
A dangerous way of setting up or organizing something
According to hoyle
Properly, in accordance with established procedures
Ace up one’s sleeve
A surprise advantage of which others are not aware
Acid test
A crucial event that determines the worth of something
After one’s own heart
Similar in a pleasing way
After the fact
Too late; after something is completed or finalized
Ahead of the curve
Offering ideas not yet in general circulation; highly creative.
Ahead of the game
Making faster progress than anticipated; ahead of schedule.
Alive and kicking
In good health despite health problems
All along
For the entire time something has been happening
All And sundry
Everyone(separately) Each one
All bets are off
What seemed certain is now unclear
All eyes and ears
Attentive
All fur coat and no knickers
Superficially attractive, physically or otherwise
All good things must come to an end
Everything that is deemed nice, end
All hands on deck
Everyone must help
All hat and no cattle
Pretentious, full of bluster
All hell breaks loose
The situation becomes chaotic
All hell will let loose
A situation suddenly becomes noisy and violent, usually with a lot of people arguing or fighting
All in good time
Eventually; at a more favorable time in the future. This phrase encourages one to be patient
All in one piece
Safely
A bit much
More than is reasonable; a bit too much
A cut above
Slightly better than
All told
With everything taken into consideration
All up
Finished
Answer back
Respond impertinently; to talk back
Ants in your pants
Restlessness
Any minute now
Very soon
Any port in a storm
If you’re in trouble, you’ll turn to anything that improves the situation
As bald as a coot
Totally bald.
As calm as a toad in the sun
To be very calm in a situation that can be unnerving
As mad as a hatter
Someone being completely crazy
As nice as nine pence
A place that is very well organized
Ask out
Invite someone to go out, especially on a date
At daggers drawn
Almost ready to fight
At odds
To disagree about something
“They are at odds about the fundraiser that I hold on Saturday”.
