IDIOMS Flashcards
Pull the strings
Secretly control someone’s actions
Movers and shakers
Powerful and influential people
At someone’s beck and call
Always ready to work for someone
Friends in high places
Powerful and influential friends
Put in a good word
Recommend someone
Twist (my) arm
Force/pressure someone into doing something
Twist (my) arm
Force/pressure someone into doing something
Get the upper hand
Have an advantage
Throw (his) weight around
Use position to get what you want
Lay down the law
Set the rules and expectations
Call the shots
Be in charge
Carry a lot of weight
Be serious and important
Pass the buck
To blame someone or make them responsible for a problem that you should deal with
If you like
My words are up for debate
Keep the ball rolling
To maintain the progress of some activity
Have (someone’s) back
To support someone
Handle it the best
Deal with a difficult situation
When i want your opinion, i’ll give it to you
When i want your opinion, i’ll ask for it
Being in bits
Being extremely saf
Bored out of my mind
Bored to death
Have (somebody) in stitches
Make somebody laugh uncontrollably
Crawl into/out of bed
To get into or out of bed slowly because you are very tired
Burst into tears
To suddenly start to cry
At short notice
Without warning
For better or worse
If you do something for better of (for) worse, you accept the bad results of the actions as well as the good ones
Survive on (my) wits
Using your instinct or intelligence to survive
Go for a dip
Quick swim
Feeling peckish
Feeling slightly hungry
Factor in
Add into consideration
In a jam
In trouble
Spanner in the work
Prevent something from happening smoothly in the way that it was planned, by causing a problem or difficulty
Catch someone on the hop
To do something when someone is not ready for it
Being off the rails
Being against the usual/being crazy
Being up the creek
Being in a difficult situation
On the blink
Broken/when a machine is not working correctly
In the blink of an eye
Extremely quickly
At a discount
Below the nominal price/cheaper
At first sight
From an initial impression
By heart
From memory
In advance
Before a particular time, or before doing a particular thing
At a loss
Uncertain about what to think, say or do
At last
Finally, after much delay
By no means
Not at all, certainly not
At a pinch
If absolutely necessary; it will do…
At most
No more than…
By sight
By appearance
At a profit
Gaining financially
Out of the blue
Out of nowhere
At random
In arbitrary way (a caso)
In a hurry
In a rushed manner
In vain
Without success or results
Out of work
Jobless
Hold the fort
Take responsibility for a situation while another person is temporarily absent
Twist someone around your little finger
To be able to persuade someone to do anything you want, because they like you so much
Have someone eating out of the palm of your hand
To make someone do or think what you want
Take a tough line
To be very severe
Wear the trousers
Be the dominant partner in a relationship
Pull a few strings
To use your influence over important people to get something
Launch into oblivion
Launch into nothingness
To pull someone’s leg
Try to persuade someone to believe something that is not true, as a joke
