Vocabulary

Idioms

Unit 31 : Foot Idioms

Foot or feet?
 To think on your feet=to have good ideas and make decisions quickly in a difficult
situation
 You have to think on your feet in this job.
 To put your feet up=to sit down and relax, especially with your feet raised off the ground
 To drag your feet/heels=to do something very slowly because you do not really want to
do it
 To stand on your own (two) feet=to behave in an independent way, especially by not
asking for financial help from anyone
 Not put a foot wrong=to do nothing wrong and not make any mistake
 To put your foot down=to refuse very firmly to do or accept something
 Things can’t carry on like this; you’ll have to put your foot down.
 To be dead on your feet=exhausted
 To wait on you hand and foot=to dote on someone(=to love someone very much, often so
much that you do not notice their faults) and do everything that they want
 On your feet=standing
 To foot the bill

Rushed off our feet

 Have/get cold feet=to suddenly feel nervous about doing something that you have
planned or agreed to do
 Sally got cold feet at the last moment and called of the wedding.
 Have/get itchy feet=to want to travel to different places
 To land/fall on your feet=to be lucky and get into a good situation after being in a
difficult one
 Simon always manages to land on his feet.
 Be rushed/run off your feet=to have (got) your hands full
 To set foot on/in=to go to a place, especially when there is something special or unusual
about you doing this
 It was the first time she had set foot in the dessert.
 To find your feet=to start to feel confident and able to deal with something
 For the first few months I had trouble finding my feet.
 To put your foot in it=to accidentally say something that is embarrassing or that upsets or
annoys someone
 Have/keep your feet on the ground=to keep a sensible and practical attitude to life

Revision
 Get off on the right/wrong foot
Vocabulary
Idioms

Unit 32 : Hand Idioms

Definitions
 To change hands=if something changes hands, it gets a new owner
 The house has changed hands several times in the last few years.
 Out of hand=if you refuse something out of hand, your refuse it completely without
thinking about or discussing it
 To live from hand to mouth=on a shoestring
 Have (got) a (big) hand in something=to be involved with something or have influence on
something
 Have (got) your hands full
 To get out of hand
 To get your hands on=to manage to obtain something
 To have time on your hands=to have nothing to do

Give you a hand

 To give/lend (someone) a hand=to help someone
 To turn your hand to something=to start doing something new, especially something that
involves skill
 The former model has now turned her hand to acting.
 To fall into the wrong hands
 To keep your hand in
 You have to hand in to someone=used for saying that you admire someone for something
that they have done
 To take the law into your own hands=to do something illegal and often violent in order to
punish someone because you know the law will not punish that person/to punish someone
in your own way without involving the police or the courts, often by doing something
illegal yourself
 Could count something on (the fingers of) one hand=if you could count something on (the
fingers of) one hand, it does not happen very often or exists in very small numbers
 The right hand doesn’t know what the left one is doing=one part of an organization or
group does not know what the others are doing
Vocabulary
Idioms

Unit 33 : Head Idioms

Literal meaning
 To examine
 Block=a solid piece of wood, stone, ice etc with straight sides
 To bury
 To roll
 Tail
 To screw=to put something into its position by turning it like a screw
 Make sure you screw the lid on firmly to keep the contents fresh.

Not off the top of my head

 To put your head/neck on the block=to take a risk by doing or saying something that might
damage your reputation, make people criticize you etc
 To go right over your head=to be too difficult for someone to understand
 Head and shoulders above the rest/others=much better than all the others
 To do something standing on your head
 Cannot make head nor/or tail of something
 Off the top of your head=from the knowledge you have in your memory
 Two heads are better than one=it’s way better to have two people trying to find a solution
 Have your head in the clouds

Put our heads together

 To put our heads together
 To keep our heads above water
 To bury our heads in the sand
 To go to your head
 To laugh/shout/scream your head off=to laugh/shout/scream very loudly
 Heads will roll=used for saying that people will be severely punished for something,
often by losing their jobs
 Need your head examined=to seem to be crazy or to be doing stupid things
 Have got your head screwed on (the right way)=to be practical, wise and sensible
Vocabulary
Idioms

Unit 34 : Heart Idioms

My heart sank
 Someone’s heart sinks=to feel disappointed or lose hope
 To lose heart=to stop believing that you can succed
 Have (got) your heart set on something=to want something very much, so that you would
be very disappointed if you do not get it
 To have the heart to do something
 To break your heart
 To take heart=to have one’s confidence, courage, or happiness bolstered (by something)

Close to my heart
 In your heart of hearts=in your most secret and true thoughts
 Close/dear/near to someone’s heart
 A change of heart
 A man/woman after your own heart=someone who has the same opinions as you on a
particular subject
 Have best interests at heart=to make decisions based on someone’s best interests
 I know she was only doing what would benefit her, but she said she had my best
interest at heart.
 Someone’s heart is in the right place=used for saying that someone tries to be kind and do
good things even though it does not always seem like this
 Have a heart of gold=to be a very kind person
 Your heart isn’t in it=if your heart isn’t in it, you do not feel interested or enthusiastic
about something
 By heart=parrot fashion
 Heart-to-heart=a serious conversation between two people, usually close friends, in which
they talk honestly about their feelings
Vocabulary
Idioms

Unit 35 : Horse Idioms

Literal meanings
 Cart
 Hooves
 Rein=a long narrow piece of leather fastened to a horse’s head that the rider uses to control the
horse
 Bit=a piece of metal put in a horse’s mouth so that a rider can control it
 Hurdle=an upright frame that a person or horse must jump over during a race -> hurdling,
hurdler
 Saddle

On the hoof
 Put the cart before the horse=to do one thing before another thing that you should have
done first
 On the hoof=if you make a decision on the hoof, you do so without thinking about it
carefully first
 To get/take the bit between your teeth=to do what you have decided to do in a forceful
and energetic way
 She wasn’t interested at first, but she loved it once she got the bit between her teeth.
 Straight from the horse’s mouth=directly from someone who knows
 To keep a tight grip/rein/hold on something=to control something in a very strict way
 Saddle someone with something=to give someone something that is difficult to deal with
 Horses for courses=used to say that is important to choose suitable people for particular
activities because everyone has different skills
 To put it through its paces=to give something a thorough testing or examination so as to
evaluate its worth, ability, or functionality

A one-horse race
 One-horse race=a competition in which one person or horse seems certain to win
 Wild horses couldn’t/wouldn’t drag someone somewhere///wild horses couldn’t/wouldn’t
make someone do something=used for emphasizing that someone is determined not to do
Something
 To beat/flog a dead horse=to waste time on something that you know is not going to
happen
 Dark horse=someone who wins a race, competition, election etc that no one expected
them to win
 To get on your high horse=to behave as if you know more or are better than anyone else
 To back/pick the right/wrong horse=to support someone or something that succeeds/fails

Hold your horses!

 To horse around=to play in a very lively or rough way
 I could eat a horse
 Hold your horses=used for telling someone to wait before doing something
Vocabulary
Idioms
 To take over/up the reins=to take control of something, especially an organization or a
country
 To fell at the first/final hurdle=to fail at the beginning or near the end of something that
you are trying to do
 To hand the rains over
Vocabulary
Idioms

Unit 36 : House and Home Idioms

Literal and non-literal meanings
 Get on like a house on fire
 Nothing/not anything to write home about=not very good
 The acting was very good but the music was nothing to write home about.
 As safe as houses=extremely safe
 To bring the house down=to make a group of people or an audience react in a very
enthusiastic way, especially by laughing
 Bring something home (to someone)=to make someone understand something much
clearly than they did before, especially something unpleasant
 In-house=done, working, or happening inside a company or organization
 To eat someone out of house and home=to eat too much of someone’s food when you are
a guest in their house
 To get/put your own house in order=to solve your own problems

House or home?
 Make yourself at home
 To hit/strike home=if something that you say hits or strikes home, people understand it
and accept it
 Home truths=unpleasant facts or opinions about you that someone tells
 Home and dry=having achieved victory or success, or certain to achieve it

Home from home

 Home from home=a place where you feel as relaxed as you do in your own home
 (un)till the cows come home
 The lights are on but there’s no one at home=an expression used for saying that someone
is stupid or is not listening
 On the home straight=the last part of something that is being done
Vocabulary
Idioms

Unit 37 : Life and Death Idioms

Literal meanings
 Lease=a legal contract in which you agree to pay to use someone’s else’s building, land,
or equipment for a specific period of time
 Fate=the things that happen to someone, especially unpleasant things
 Misery=the state of being extremely unhappy or uncomfortable
 To warm up
 Dice

Bored to death
 Sick and tired of something///sick to death of something///sick to the back teeth of
something=very unhappy about something
 To frighten the life out of someone///to frighten someone to death
 A new lease of life
 Not for the life of me=used for emphasizing that you cannot remember or understand
something at all
 I cannot for the life of me see why he married her.
 A fate worse than death=something very bad that could happen to you
 The life and soul (of the party)=someone who is very lively at social events
 Dice with death=to risk being killed by doing something very dangerous
 Bored to death/tears=bored stiff/rigid/silly
 Look/feel like death warmed up=to look or feel very ill
 Not be able to do something to save your life=to be very bad at doing something

The kiss of death

 The kiss of death=something that causes something else to fail or to be unsuccessful
 To make someone’s life a misery
 You’ll catch your death (of cold)=used for warning someone that if they go outside when
it is cold or wet they will become ill
 Get a life=used for telling someone that they are boring
 Be at death’s door
 Larger-than-life=someone who is larger-than-life has a very strong or lively personality that
impresses people very much
Vocabulary
Idioms

Unit 38 : Metal Idioms

Gold
 50 years of marriage => golden wedding
 A golden handshake
