Idioms Flashcards
Through thick and thin
To support sb. Through good times and times
—
Maria has been there for me though thick and thin
Though a spanner in the works
To cause smth to not go as you had planned
—
[us analogue] monkey wrench
—
To be (as) thick as thieves
To be very friendly with each other, may look like you got a secret
—
Jacob and Greg are as thick as thieves
Fair-weather friends
A friend who is only there for you when things are going well.
To be joined at the hip
To spend a lot of time together
—
Chloe and charlotte have been joined at the hip recently.
—
“hip” joints leg and the body
To know someone inside out
To know someone very well
Shoulder to cry on
A persons who comforts you when you’re sad
—
Paulo has always been a shoulder to cry on for me. I alway go to thin when I’am feeling low.
To move in the same circles
To socialize with someone who has the same lifestyle, background and friends as you
—
Kate and I move in the same circles, so I know her quite well
To hit (it) off
To get on well immediately
—
Abdula and Clara really hit it off last night! They instantly got on with each other
To see eye to eye with someone
To agree with someone
—
I see eye to eye with Chris about almost everything.
To bury /‘beri/ the hatchet
To end an argument and be a friends again
—
Oscar and I agreed to bury the hatchet
—
Hatchet = small axe. Not is use in modern English.
To clear the air
To get rid of bad feeling between people, often with a discussion
—
Please come to my house later for a chat. We need to clear the air.
To let bygones (байгонс) be bygones
To forgive someone or forget about something bad someone did
—
I want to let bygones be bygones and be friends again.
—
Bygones — прошлое
—
Old fashion idiom, mostly used in books. The modern is ‘forgive and forget’
cup of tea
What is interested or is liked
—
An evening in the opera isn’t everyone’s cup of tea
To not take rubbish
To defend oneself when being teased or bullied by others
—
I’m not going to take any more of your rubbish
To go down the path
To choose particular direction in the life
—
After learning to play the guitar, he decided to go down the live music path.
To be behind someone in life
When another person seems to be at more advanced stage in their life despite being the same age or from the same background
—
Jack never really cared much about his studies, and now he is behind most of his friends in life.
To find my feet
To become able to act independently and with confidence
—
I only recently started working here, so I’m still finding my feet
To put a face on
To make up on
—
Carrie spent a few minutes putting her face on every morning
Drop-dead gorgeous
[ˈgɔːʤəs]
Absolutely and totally beautiful
—
She looked drop-dead gorgeous last night
Not a hair out of place
Someone who is dressed perfectly and looks very neat [niːt] аккуратный
—
She looked amazing on her wedding day. Not a hair out of place.
—
Negative tone: too concerned with their appearance.
Dressed [up] to the nines
Dressed in your best clothes or in formal clothes, often for a special occasion
—
Everyone was dressed up to the nines!
Dressed to kill
To wear really attractive clothes because you want to be noticed and admired, usually used to talk about woman
—
Ellie was dressed to kill last night
To be decked out
To be dressed in a very fancy way, often for a special occasion
—
Leo and I got all decked out for the party
Mutton dressed as lamb
An older woman dressed in a way that would better suit younger woman
—
Mutton — баран.
To look a sight / fright
To look very untidy or ridiculous in some way
—
It was blowing a gale and we looked a sight when we arrived at the pub.
To look like sth. the cat dragged in
To look untidy, dirty, disheveled [dɪˈʃevld]
—
Ben had been working on the farm and and he looked like something the cat dragged in
Skin and bone
So skinny that can see their bones
—
She was all skin and bone after her illness
Down-at-heel
To wear old clothes (because don’t have much money)
—
She looked very down-at-heel
—
Noel was a receptionist in a down-at-heel hotel.
Easy on the eye
Good looking
A face only a mother could love
Ugly (offensive)
Hard and fast
That cannot be changed
—
There are no hard and fast rules about this
Look out the place
A person wears sth. that strange, perhaps it is out of fashion, or not suitable for the occasion
—
He looked out of place at the weeding in a T-shirt.
To be off the market
To no longer be single or dating
—
Is your sister still looking for a date or is she off the market now?
To die for
To like something very much
—
The chocolate cake at Bertucho’s is to die for.
To go off without a hitch
To go as planned without any problems
—
Our recent marketing effort have gone off without a hitch! We have doubled our sales.
—
Hitch — заминка, помеха
To perk up
To become more lovely or active
—
Paula is napping right now to perk up for her football game later.
To hit the sack / hay
Sack — мешок: hay — сено
—
To go to sleep
—
I couldn’t wait to hit the sack after my 12 hours travel day
[fall] Head over heels
Completely in love with your significant other
—
I don’t know what she saw in him, but she was head over heels.
A match made in heaven
A couple that is perfect for each other, so perfect in fact that a higher power must have brought them together
Other/better half
An affectionate way to refer to your partner
To tie the knot
To get married
The rest is history
Used when telling a story to say you do not need to tell end of it (because everyone knows it already)
—
And so I agreed to meet him, and the rest is history.
To play it cool
To deal with situation in a calm way and not show what you are really feeling
—
I decided to play it cool and act like I had actually forgotten all about it.
To chuck it down
To rain heavily
—
When I went outside, it was chucking it down out there
Each to their own
Everyone has right to have their own ideas or choices in life
—
I’am not personally a fan of model trains, but each to their own
To beat around the bush
To talk about something for a long time without coming to the main point
—
Stop beating around the bush and tell me what you want
To take trip/stroll/walk down memory lane
Erica saw her best friend from primary school yesterday; I’m sure they had a nice stroll down memory lane
To be wet behind the ears
We thought we knew what we were doing, but we were behind the ears
Babe in the woods
I felt like a and in the woods when I started secondary school but I quickly got over it.
A blast from the past
Is it spice girls? What a blast from the past!
To take something for granted
To be so used to something that you do not recognize it’s true value or not show that you are granted
When we were young, we just took it for granted
To make do
To use or accept something that is not really good enough
We were in hurry so we had to make do a quick snack
manage with the limited or inadequate means available.
“Dad would have to make do with an old car”
To take notice of
Pay attention to
When she fell over, no one took a notice of it
On a shoestring
Using very little money
My parents were quite poor, so we had to live on shoestring budget
To have the better things in life
Be in a financial position to afford things that someone with lower income might not be able to
Now that your dad has got a promotion, we might be able to have the better things in life
To work to a budget
Be careful about how much money you spend as money is limited
When I was in uni, I had to work too a really rough budget
To get the cane
To get hit with a ruler
Cane — палка, трость, прут
To be beaten with a stick as punishment for doing something wrong
To go off the rails
To start behaving in a way that is strange or unacceptable, for example drinking or taking drugs
She went completely off the rails after her sister died
Nooks and crannies
Hidden parts of a room where things get lost, eg the corners and small holes or openings
The Castle was fascinating; there were endless nooks and crannies to discover
Up for something
To be considered for something
The dogs which are up for adoption are on the web site
to be like a bull in a china shop
to be very careless in a delicate situation
can be used in direct or figurative context
‘china’ here isn’t a country (otherwise it should starts with capital C), china is a fragile dinnerware
Watch Matthew around your car, he’s like a bull in a china shop
Pipe dream
A dream that isn’t practical or unattainable
This isn’t some pipe dream; we re going build the biggest clothing brand on the planet
To push the boat out
To spent a lot of money
You guys really pushed the boat out on this weeding
by all accounts
according to what people say
By all accounts, Rome is spectacular in the autumn.
In full swing
Used to describe an event or activity when it reaches a very lively or productive level
We arrived at 9 send the peaty was at the full swing.
Across the board
All-encompassing and inclusive of every one involved
The government to increase the minimum wage across the board
The second wind
To have renewed energy and continue doing something we had been a bit tired of doing
I was not enjoying the hike, but after stopping at the stream, I got a second wind
To get the ball rolling
To make something start to happen
What should we do for New Year’ Even? We need to get the ball rolling.
To knock oneself out
To become exhausted from making an excessive [ɪkˈsesɪv] (чрезмерный) effort at somethibg
Jeff is so busy looking after us all, I’m worried he’ll knock himself out.
No sweat [swet]
No problem
We’ll find a new flat by May, no sweat
To be on the ball
To be very attentive and quick thinking
She is only six, but she is really on the ball.
The ball is in your court
To let someone know they can make the next move
I emailed Chris and now the ball is in his court.
To win hands down
To win extremely easily
The reds were miles better and won the game hands down
To make a fuss [meɪk ɑ fʌs]
To complain, to be difficult (can’t be used only to a person, not a thing)
I do wish you would stop making a fuss and continue with your work.
To make a fuss of
to fuss over
To give someone a lot of care and attention
We’ve stayed in quite a few hotels recently where the staff made too much fuss of us.
My dog loves to be made a fussed over.
