a casting vote
- an extra vote given by a chairperson to decide an issue when the votes on each side are equal.
Who do you give your casting vote to?
iconoclast
- a person who attacks or criticizes cherished beliefs or institutions
notorious as an iconoclast, that music critic isn’t afraid to go after sacred cows
To eat one’s words
- retract what one has said, especially in a humiliating way.
They will eat their words when I win
dog in the manager
-a person who selfishly withholds from others something useless to himself
Stop being such a dog in the manager and let your sister ride your bike if you’re not using it.
a close shave
-situation in which you come very close to a dangerous situation
I had a close shave this morning - some idiot almost knocked me off my bike.
A Freudian slip
- a mistake in speaking or writing which shows what you really think or feel about somebody/something
He said the wrong woman’s name during his wedding ceremony, a Freudian slip that sent the bride-to-be into tears.
A gordian knot
-an extremely difficult or involved problem
This issue is a Gordian knot of legal troubles
A sugar daddy
- a wealthy man who spends freely on a younger person
Don’t you know, her new sugar daddy bought it for her
a wet blanket
- a person who spoils other people’s fun by failing to join in with or by disapproving of their activities.
Don’t be a wet blanket and let your friends party.
wool gathering
- indulgence in idle daydreaming
my woolgathering was interrupted by a question from the teacher
under the harrow
- undergoing distress, sorrow, or torment.
Populations has been under the harrow for months due to the spikes in inflation.
cold comfort
- poor or inadequate consolation.
Another drop in the inflation rate was cold comfort for the 2.74 million jobless
on the thin ice
- in a precarious or risky situation.
You may pass the course, but you’re on thin ice right now
walk with god
- to live in obedience to his commands
Each of the righteous ones will walk with God.
a queer fish
- a person whose behavior seems strange or unusual.
They have invariably chosen the queer fish in preference to the more or less recognizable member of the human race.
unearthly hour
- A time of day that is unreasonably early or late.
She was up at an/some unearthly hour.
the milk of human kindness
- care and compassion for others.
She’s certainly not overflowing with the milk of human kindness, is she?
to pay through the nose
- pay much more than a fair price.
They paid through the nose for one-to-one intensive tuition
to lose face
- be humiliated or come to be less highly respected.
The military code of conduct required that he strike back or lose face.
out and out
- complete or in every way; used to emphasize an unpleasant quality of a person or thing
That’s an out-and-out lie!
