50 Phrases With Meanings in English

50 Phrases With Meanings in English

Barking up the wrong tree: Looking in the wrong place.

Be glad to see the back of: Be happy when a person leaves.

Against The Clock: Rushed and short on time.

Don’t judge a book by its cover: Don’t judge something primarily by its appearance.

Thanks to: Due to

Ball is in your court: It is up to you to make the next decision or step

Blind date: A date where the two people have never met before

Get along with: To have a good relationship with someone

Kick The Bucket: Die

Oddball: a weirdo or a strange person

Knee Jerk Reaction: A quick and automatic response

Hang in there: Don’t give up

Pull yourself together: Calm down

So far so good: Things are going well so far

Down-To-Earth: sensible and realistic

Curiosity killed the cat: Being too curious can get you into trouble

9 Elvis has left the building:The show has come to an end It’s all over

2 Last straw: The final problem in a series of problems

Joined at the hip: to be exceptionally close to someone

Elbow grease: hard physical efford

Forty winks: a short nap

30 Common English idioms and their meanings
Idioms about Colors in English

Red tape

Official or bureaucratic tasks

To be yellow

To be cowardly

To see red

To be very angry

Black out

Faint

Black and blue

Describe something that is badly bruised

Golden opportunity

The perfect chance

Have the blues

Be sad or depressed

Black sheep

A person who is a disgrace to a family or group

All ears

Fully listening

Keep an eye on

Take care of, watch in order to protect

Joined at the hip

To be exceptionally close to someone

Pat on the back

Recognition or a thank-you

See eye to eye

Agree

On the nose

Precisely, at an exact time

A sight for sore eyes

Someone that you’re pleased to see

Cost an arm and a leg

Be very expensive

 

Two heads are better than one

My son, don’t forget; Two heads are better than one

Learn the ropes

It didn’t take her new assistant long to learn the ropes.

Doing your homework

You can’t play game any more until you do your homework!

Under one’s belt

She has almost a year as minister under her belt.

Pick his brain

You should pick Mary’s brain sometime; she knows all about math.

Be common knowledge

It’s common knowledge that she is a beautiful girl.

As far as anyone knows

As far as anyone knows, this is the last of the great herds of buffalo.

Knowledge is power

In this situation, knowledge is power.

 

Bookworm

Someone who reads a lot

Brainstorm something

To think of new ideas

Skip class

To not go to school when you should

Teacher’s pet

The teacher’s favourite student

As easy as ABC

Very easy

Cover a lot of ground

Complete a lot of material in a class

Eager beaver

Someone who works hard and is very enthusiastic

Copycat

Someone who copies the work of another person

Dropout

To stop attending school

Pass with flying colors

To experience particular trouble or difficulty

 

Have a heart	Be merciful
Have you heart set on something	To want something very much
Eat your heart out	We say this when we make someone jealous
In a heartbeat	Very quickly withous any hesitation
A heart of stone	No feelings
Lose one’s heart to	Fall in love
Cross my heart	Tell the truth
Heart and soul	Completely; entirely
Wears heart on his sleeve	Always lets feeling be known
Broken heart	To lose love
Know by heart	Memorize

 

Souped up

Made more powerful or stylish

Sell like hot cakes

Bought by many people

Big cheese 

Very important person (VIP)

Cream of the crop

The best

Butter someone up

Be extra nice to someone

One smart cookie

A very intelligent person

Egg someone on

Urge someone to do something

Hard nut to crack

Difficult to understand, often a person

Cool as a cucumber

Very relaxed

Apple of one’s eye

A person that is adored by someone

 

As fit as a fiddle	To be heathy and phsically fit
At death’s door	Very near death
As pale as a ghost	Extremely pale
Bitter pill to swallow	An unpleasant fact that one must accept
Get a charley horse	To develop a cramp in the arm or the leg
Have one foot in the grave	To be near death
Run in the family	To be a common family characteristic
Under the weather	Not feeling well
Sick and tired of	Extremely annoyed by something that occurs repeatedly
Go under the knife	Undergo surgery

 

Helicopter Parenting

Over attentive child-raising

Bob’s Your Uncle

The rest is easy; you’re almost finished

My Old Man, My Old Lady

My spouse

Pop the Question

Propose marriage

Up the Duff

Pregnant

Like Taking Candy from a Baby

Very easy

Accident Of Birth

Luck in something due to family good fortune

One big happy family

A group of people who live or work together or in close proximity

Family man

A man devoted to taking care of his wife and children

Spitting Image

Have a strong resemblance, often familiar

 

On another planet

not paying attention, acting strangely

Bells and whistles

extra features and trimmings

To blow a fuse

to lose your temper

Cutting edge

advanced and innovative

A shoulder to cry on

someone who listens to your problems

By Hook or by Crook

By some possibly dishonest means

To push someone’s buttons

to provoke someone

Cog in the machine

said about one part of a large system or organization

Get your wires crossed

being confused or not understanding someone

At boiling point

reached one’s limit in patience or temper

Blow a fuse

become very angry/lose one’s temper

Not rocket science

easy to do or understand

a piece of cake

A task that can be accomplished very easily.

up and running

properly functioning

 

like two peas in a pod
very similar

to be as thick as thieves
to be very close or friendly

to bury the hatchet
to end a conflict

to clear the air
to defuse the tension

a shoulder to cry on
someone who listens to your problems

strike up a friendship
to become friends

to see eye to eye with someone
to agree with someone

Friends in high places
has friends who have important or influential positions

to know someone inside out
to know someone very well

to build bridges
to promote friendly relations between people or groups