Idioms ➕Slang📢 Flashcards
Not a jot or little
—Idioms
not a jot or tittle, not a bit; not at all: The world situation matters not a jot or tittle to him.
When it rains it pours
It never rains but it pours
When one bad thing happens all the bad stuffs coming too
drop the bucket on🎀🎀🎀
Australian Slang. to implicate, incriminate, or expose.
To eat humble pie
If you eat humble pie, you speak or behave in a way which tells people that you admit you were wrong about something. Anson was forced to eat humble pie and publicly apologize to her.
Better to be safe than sorry
Old expression
Even you may not need to do sth it may be a good idea to do it to prevent a future problem
All or nothing
It not an all or nothing idea
Sth that should be done completely or not at all
Don’t throw a baby out in the bath water
Keep the good things
And just get rid of the bad things
the more, the merrier
. The more people who join in the fun, the better it will be.Used in welcoming more people to join others in some pleasant activity. Come with us on the boat ride; the more the merrier.
it’s not all it’s cracked up to be
Even so, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be the drawbacks of many generations living together is that it may restrain your privacy.
informal Favorably described or presented; praised. Usually used in the expression “not what it’s cracked up to be”. The independent writer’s life isn’t always everything it’s cracked up to be. In bad weather, a sailing cruise isn’t what it’s cracked up to be
get on sb’s nerves
get on sb’s nerves
to annoy someone a lot:
We really got on each other’s nerves when we were living together.
Please stop making that noise! It really gets on my nerves.
thrilled to bits/pieces
(=very thrilled)
very excited, happy, and pleased
to have (one’s) back against the wall
to not have any other options; to be left
with only one thing that one can do; to be desperate
* She didn’t want to steal the money, but she had her back against the wall and
didn’t know how else to get enough money to buy food for her family.
to draw the line at (something)
to say that something is the last thing that one
will do; to identify the most extreme thing that is acceptable, showing that one will
not do anything worse than that
* I’ll drive less, eat at home, and stop buying clothes to save money, but I draw
the line at looking for things I need in other people’s garbage!
second thoughts
reconsideration; the feeling that one should change one’s
mind about something; the feeling that one should not do something as planned
* They wanted to go to Hawaii for vacation, but then they found out how much
money it would cost and they started to have second thoughts.
invasion of privacy
a violation of one’s right to keep personal information
secret; something that does not respect one’s privacy
* Rufat thought it was an invasion of privacy when his mother went into his room
when he wasn’t there
, “will I
never…”
This expression, “will I
never…” plus the verb or the result, is used when you don’t believe something will
happen even though you want it to happen. So you want to get home, but
because of all the difficulties it doesn’t look like you’re going to get home. So you
may say, “Will I never get home?” Or if you have, say, a neighbor whose
children like to cry and scream in the street – this is just an example, I’m not
talking about my neighbor and his child – you may say, “Will that child never shut
up?” – will that child never be quiet. The answer, of course, is no!
to spoil (one’s) fun
to make something less fun for someone; to make
something less enjoyable
* Wendy wanted to spend her birthday on the beach, but cold weather spoiled
her fu
at (someone’s) request –
doing something because someone asked one to do
it
* At your request, I am sending you a copy of the McMannon report.
to run the risk of (something)
to do something knowing that there is a
possibility that something bad will happen as a result
* If we pay for things with our credit card, we run the risk of spending more
money than we actually have.
jack of all trades and master of none
a person who is able to do many things
a little bit, but who is not specialized or very good at a single thing
* Hans is a jack of all trades and master of none. He can use most computer
programs for the simplest projects, but he can’t do anything more complicated.
from the standpoint of (someone)
from someone’s viewpoint; from
someone’s perspective; considering the way that someone will think about a
particular situation
* Craig thought that getting a new car was a great idea, but from the standpoint
of his parents, it seemed like a very expensive purchase that he didn’t really have
enough money for.
to fall by the wayside –
to stop being important or to stop being used because
there are too many other, more important things
* Once their baby was born, cleaning the house and cooking nice dinners fell by
the wayside because they were too busy taking care of their daughter.
to stand out in the crowd
to be different from other people and to be noticed
* Riola has bright pink hair that always makes her stand out in the crowd.
to go far
to succeed; to do well in life
* With a good education, a good job, and help from friends and family, you’re
sure to go far.
“Keep this in mind and you’ll go far,”
half of the picture
not the whole idea; only a partial understanding of
something; incomplete information about something
* Some people think that expensive gasoline is bad because they can’t drive as
much as they want to, but that’s only half of the picture, since less driving means
less air pollution, which is a good thing.
in time for
before something else happens; before something is due
* You came home from work just in time for dinner.
(one’s) kind of people
people that one feels comfortable with because one
shares beliefs, opinions and a way of living with them
* She knew she wanted to marry James as soon as she met his family, because
they were her kind of people.
to tell (something) from (something)
to distinguish or differentiate something
from something else; to see or understand the differences between two things; to
know that two things are not the same
* How can you tell a boy bird from a girl bird?
green thumb
the ability to make things grow well; the ability to work well with
plants
* Randy has a green thumb, so his garden always looks fantastic.
to round up (something or someone)
to find, gather, and bring something or
someone
* We need to round up volunteers to pick up garbage on the beach this weekend
to pull a fast one
to trick someone; to make someone do something that he or
she normally wouldn’t want to do; to make someone believe something that isn’t
true
* I went to the outdoor market to buy a new watch, but the seller pulled a fast one
and gave me an empty box instead.
To “pull a fast one on someone”
means to trick someone, to make someone do something that he normally
wouldn’t want to do, or to make someone believe something that isn’t true.
That’s to “pull a fast one.”
remotely
a little bit; slightly; barely
* The teenager cleaned his room, but it still smells remotely of old pizza and dirty
socks.
to be cited
to be told officially that one has done something against the law; to
be told officially that one has broken a rule
* Hank was cited for driving too quickly on the freeway.
safety standard
a rule that one must follow to make a place or activity safe
* One of the restaurant’s safety standards is that all employees must wash their
hands before touching food.
back in the day
back in the day a long time ago, when you were much younger
at the end of the day
at the end of the day spoken used to give your final opinion after considering all the possibilities:
At the end of the day, it’s his decision.
it never rains but it pours
spoken used to say that as soon as one thing goes wrong, a lot of other things go wrong as well
bucket down
Raining in buckets
phrasal verb British English informal
to rain very hard SYN pour:
It’s been bucketing down all day.
in buckets informal if rain comes down in buckets, it is raining very hard
get out of bed on the wrong side
British English
get up on the wrong side of the bed
American English
to feel slightly angry or annoyed for no particular reason
