150 Common Idioms with Meanings ✔

Proverbs Idioms

An idiom is a phrase or expression that has a meaning that in most cases cannot be deduced directly from the individual words in that phrase or expression.

Idioms	Meaning
A piece of cake	It’s easy to do.
A shot in the dark	A wild guess
A stitch in time saves nine	It’s better to deal with problems immediately rather than wait by when they worsen and become much bigger.
Against the clock	Working in great hurry.
Allow the dust to settle	To allow a situation to become calm or normal again after a period of excitement or upheaval
An eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth	If a person does something wrong, then they should be punished with the same thing done to them.
Back against the wall	Be in a difficult situation from where escape is difficult
Back the wrong horse	To support a person or action that later turns out to be unsuccessful.
Barking up the wrong tree	To ask the wrong person or follow the wrong course
Be in a tight spot	To be in a difficult situation
Be off the mark	Incorrect or inaccurate.
Behind one’s back	To do it secretly without someone's knowledge (used in negative way).
Bend over backwards	To try please or accommodate someone to an unusual degree
Between the devil and the deep blue sea	Caught between two undesirable alternatives.
Bite off more than you can chew	To try to do something that is too difficult for you
Bitter pill to swallow	Something such as failure or rejection that is difficult to accept, but has to be accepted.
Blow hot and cold	Vacillate.
Blow your own trumpet	Tell people how good or successful you are (used in negative way).
Boil the ocean	To accomplish something too ambitious.
Break new ground	To do something that was not done before.
Burn the candle at both ends	To work excessively hard, say, by keeping two jobs or by leading a busy social life in the evening.
Burn the midnight oil	To work late in the night
Burn your boats/ bridges	To do something that makes it impossible to change your plans and go back to the earlier position or situation.
By the skin of your teeth	Extremely narrow margin
Call a spade a spade	To speak truth even if it’s unpleasant
Cast pearls before swine	Offering something valuable to someone who does not recognize its worth.
Change hands	Change ownership.
Change tune	To change the way you behave with others from good to bad.
Chicken and egg situation	It is impossible to decide which of the two came first and caused the other one.
Clear the decks	Remove all hurdles to get started on that work.
Close the door on someone	No longer deal with it.
Cool your heels	Wait for something, especially when it’s annoying.
Cry for the moon	Make a demand that can’t be fulfilled.
Cut corners	Save money or effort by finding cheaper or easier ways to do things.
Cut no ice	Fail to influence or make an effect
Draw first blood	Cause the first damage to an opponent in a conflict or contest.
Drive a hard bargain	Argue hard to get a favorable deal.
Eat humble pie	Be humiliated by admitting that you are wrong
Eat like a bird	To eat little food.
Eat like a horse	Eat a lot.
Eat your words	Retract your statement or words.
Egg on your face	Look stupid and face embarrassment because of something you’ve done.
Face the music	The receiving end of somebody’s criticism or reprimand.
Get someone off the hook	Help someone get out of trouble.
Go against the grain	Do not do it or accept it because it is against your beliefs or principle.
Go on record	Say it publically and officially.
Go through the roof	To increase beyond all expectations
Hand in glove	Work closely with someone often to accomplish something dishonest.
Handle with kid gloves	Treat with extreme tact and care.
Have a thick skin	To be less affected by criticisms and rebuffs
Have the last laugh	Succeed from a seemingly losing position.
Head and shoulders above	Greatly superior to
Head in the clouds	Not in touch with the ground realities.
Head over heels	Completely in love.
Hit the jackpot	Achieve big success, usually through luck.
Hit the nail on the head	Exactly right about something.
Hold your tongue	Don't speak.
In cold blood	To do something violent and cruel deliberately and in an unemotional way.
In full swing	Highest speed or level of activity.
In the same boat	In the same difficult situation.
In the same breath	Two very different or contradictory things.
Jump the gun	To do something too soon without proper thought
Keep an ear to the ground	Be well informed of current trends, opinions, and happenings.
Keep someone at arm’s length	Avoid from becoming friendly with them.
Kill the goose that lays the golden eggs	To destroy something that gives you lot of money to get immediate returns
Kill two birds with one stone	To achieve two goals with a single effort.
Leave no stone unturned	To do everything you can to achieve your goal
Left out in the cold	Being ignored.
Light at the end of tunnel	Signs of improvement in a situation that has been bad for a long time.
Like a fish out of water	Feel awkward because you haven’t experienced that situation before.
Live on borrowed time	Continue to exist longer than expected.
Look for needle in a haystack	Looking for something small in a pile of other things or a vast area
Make no bones about something	To say clearly what you feel or think about it.
Make one’s blood boil	To make someone extremely angry
Miss the boat/bus	To miss an opportunity
Move heaven and earth	Make supreme effort
No smoke without fire	A suspicion or rumor is not for nothing. It usually has some basis.
No strings attached	Free of conditions.
Not the only fish in the sea	Not the only suitable thing or person one can find.
Not your cup of tea	Not the kind of person or thing you like.
On cloud nine	Very happy.
On thin ice	In precarious or delicate situation.
Once in a blue moo	Happens rarely.
Over my dead body	You dislike it and will do everything you can to prevent it.
Pay someone back in his /her own coin	Treat someone in the same way he/ she treated you.
Pay through the nose	Pay too much for something.
Play your cards right	To behave or work in a way that gives you an advantage or improves your odds of success.
Point finger at	Someone should be blamed
Pour cold water on	Criticize it to the extent that people lose enthusiasm to pursue it.
Pour out one’s heart	Reveal your thoughts or inner feelings.
Put the cat among the pigeons	Say or do something that makes lot of people angry or uncomfortable.
Raining cats and dogs	Raining heavily.
Read between the lines	To understand someone’s real feelings or intentions from what they say or write.
Rub salt into someone’s wounds	To make a bad thing worse
Run around in circles	To be active without achieving any worthwhile result.
Save your skin	Save yourself from an unpleasant or dangerous situation without thinking of what happens to others.
Scrape the barrel	Using something you do not want to but you’ve no option.
See the light of day	It finally happens for the first time.
Sell like hot cakes	Sell very fast.
Separate the wheat from the chaff	To separate valuable from worthless.
Set in stone	It’s very difficult to change.
Set the record straight	Quash misinformation about something by telling the truth.
Show someone the door	To ask someone to leave
Small cog in a large wheel	Someone or something that has a small role in a large setup or organization.
Spill the beans	To reveal a secret information unintentionally
Spill the tea	Share gossip
Stab someone in the back	Harm someone who trusts you.
Start with a clean slate	Make a fresh beginning forgetting what happened, usually bad, in the past
Steal the show	Get lot of attention or credit in an event or show.
Stir up a hornets’ nest	Provoke trouble
Strike while the iron is hot	To act quickly when the opportunity comes by
Swallow your pride	Do something even though it hurts your self-respect.
Take a back seat	Choose not to be in a position of responsibility or power.
Take away your breath	To astonish.
Take the word out of somebody’s mouth	To say exactly what the other person was about to say
Test waters	Try to find how people will receive your idea or action before actually launching it or telling people.
The luck of the devil	Extremely lucky.
The other side of the coin	The other point of view
The pot calling the kettle black	Accusing someone of faults that you yourself have
Through thick and thin	To do it whether circumstances are good or not.
Throw a spanner in the work	To disrupt or cause problems in an activity or project.
To come to a head	It reaches to the point of a crisis.
Turn the clock back	To return to the earlier period.
Twist someone’s arm	Make someone do something by pressurizing them
Under a cloud	Under suspicion or in trouble.
Under someone’s nose	Do it openly, although unnoticed.
Up in arms	Angry about something
Walk a tightrope	To do something that allows little room for error.
Wash dirty linen in public	Discuss private matters in public.
Wear two hats	To function in more than one capacity.
Wear your heart on your sleeve	Express your sentiments openly.
White elephant	Costs a lot (on maintenance etc.) to keep, but does little useful.
Wild-goose chase	A search that turns out to be time-wasting and unsuccessful because the thing being searched doesn’t exist or you were given wrong information about its location.