Amy Gilet - Idioms Flashcards
to break the news
to make something known
Samantha and Michael are getting married, but they haven’t yet broken the news to their parents.
You’d better break the news to your father carefully. After all, you don’t want him to have a heart attack!
to cost an arm and a leg
to be very expensive
A college education in America costs an arm and a leg.
All of the furniture at Honest Abe’s costs an arm and a leg!
top dollar
the highest end of a price range; a lot of money
Nicole paid top dollar for a shirt at Banana Republic.
Wait until those jeans go on sale. Why pay top dollar ?
to give one the creeps
to create a feeling of disgust or horror
Ted’s friend Matt has seven earrings in each ear and an “I love Mom” tattoo on his arm, He really gives Nicole the creeps
dead end job
a job that won’t lead to anything else
Diane realized that working as a cashier was a dead-end job.
Jim worked many dead-end jobs before finally deciding to start his own business.
(let’s) face it
accept a difficult reality
Let’s face it, if you don’t have a college degree, it can be difficult to find a high-paying job.
(to) go back to the drawing board
to start a task over because the last try failed; to start again from the beginning
Frank’s new business failed, so he had to go back to the drawing board.
The president didn’t agree with our new ideas for the company, so we had to go back to the drawing board.
(to) go belly-up
to go bankrupt
Many people lost their jobs when Enron went belly-up.
My company lost 3 million last year. We might go belly-up.
(to) give someone the ax
to fire someone
Mary used to talk to her friends on the phone all day at work, until one day her boss finally gave her the ax.
Poor Paul! He was given the ax two days before Christmas.
(to) lose one’s temper
to become very angry
Bob always loses his temper when his kids start talking on the telephone during dinner.
When Ted handed in his essay two weeks late, his teacher really lost her temper.
(to) make up one’s mind
to reach a decision; to decide
Stephanie couldn’t make up her mind whether to attend Harvard or Stanford, finally she chose Stanford.
Do you want an omelette or fried eggs ? You’ll need to make up your mind quickly because the waitress is coming.
no point in
no reason to; it’s not worth (doing something)
There’s no point in worrying about things you can’t change/
There’s no point in going on a picnic if it’s going to rain.
(to) put up with
to endure without complaint
For many years, Barbara put up with her husband’s annoying behavior. Finally, she decided to leave him.
I don’t know how Len puts up with his mean boss every day.
real flop or flop
a failure
The Broadway play closed after just 4 days - it was a real flop.
The company was in trouble after its new product flopped.
(to) save the day
to prevent a disaster or misfortune
The Christmas tree was on fire, but Ted threw water on it and saved the day.
We forgot to buy champagne for our New Year’s party, but Sonia brought some and really saved the day!
