Family Idioms

(Be the) Spitting Image

• Meaning: Have a strong resemblance, often familial
• Example: Look at Madeleine. She’s the spitting image of her mother.
(Born) Out of Wedlock
• Meaning: Illegitimate, born to unmarried parents
• Example: I was born out of wedlock and raised by a single mother.
•
Accident Of Birth
• Meaning: Luck in something due to family good fortune
• Example: Yes, he became company vice-president when he was only 23, but that’s
an accident of birth – his father is one of the major stockholders.
And His Mother
• Meaning: An intensi er for an inclusive noun or phrase such
as everyone, everybody
• Example: Everybody and his mother is going to be at the reworks. Let’s watch
the on television.
Big Brother
• Meaning: Government, viewed as an intrusive force in the lives of citizens;
government spying
• Example: Big Brother seems to grow more and more powerful as data about
individuals is accumulated on social networks.
Blue Blood (adj.: blue-blooded)
• Meaning: Person of aristocratic background
• Example: The blue bloods generally keep to themselves, but a charity dance is a
good place to see them dress up.
Bob’s Your Uncle
• Meaning: The rest is easy; you’re almost nished
• Example: Just enter the update code, register the new software, and Bob’s your
uncle.
Father Figure
• Meaning: A mentor, a person who o ers guidance
• Example: After I joined the company, Frank was a father gure to me. He gave me
lots of valuable advice.
Flesh and Blood
• Meaning: Blood relatives, close relatives
• Example: When all is said and done, few people understand you like your own
esh and blood, even if you don’t get along with them.
Helicopter Parenting
• Meaning: Overattentive child-raising
• Example: The trend these days is toward helicopter parenting. When I was young
children had much more independence, and I think it helped them.
Kith and Kin
• Meaning: Family (collectively)
fl
fi
ff
fi
fi
fi
 • Example: When you go on a trip, it’s important to buy souvenirs for your kith and
kin back home.
Like Father, Like Son
• Meaning: Sons inherit their fathers’ traits and preferences, often even without
realizing it.
• Example: John was a great sherman, and there’s his son Matt out on the water.
Like father, like son.
Like Taking Candy from a Baby
• Meaning: Very easy
• Example: Just watch. Getting her to go out with me will be like taking candy from
a baby.
My Old Man, My Old Lady
• Meaning: My spouse
• Example: I’d love to go to the mall with you, but I told my old man I’d go to the
football game.
Pop the Question
• Meaning: Propose marriage
• Example: I bought a ring, and I’m ready to pop the question to Patricia.
Run in the Family
• Meaning: Be inherited (as a trait) by multiple members of a family
• Example: I’m not surprised Maria has started playing in a band. Musical talent runs
in her family.
Small Fry
• Meaning: People or organizations with little in uence; children
• Example: We’re still small fry compared to the major companies in the eld.
Spare The Rod And Spoil The Child
• Meaning: It is necessary to physically punish children in order to raise them right.
• Example: Marlena is to permissive with her children. Spare the rod and spoil the
child, I say.
This Is Not Your Father’s ____
• Meaning: This item has been much updated from its earlier versions.
• Example: You may not have liked this bat in the past. But this is not your father’s
Louisville Slugger.
Throw the Baby Out with the Bath Water
• Meaning: Eliminate something good while discarding the bad parts of something
• Example: Yes, the sales presentation has problems, but I don’t think we should
start fresh with a new one. We don’t need to throw the baby out with the
bathwater.
Up the Du
• Meaning: Pregnant
• Example: They hadn’t planned to get married, but Janice found out she was up
the du .
f
ff
fi
fl
fi
 Idioms about Baby and Children
• (Having a) Bun in the Oven: Pregnant
• Babe In Arms: A baby being carried
• Babe In The Woods: An innocent, naive person
• Baby Boomer: A person born in the years following World War II, when there was
a temporary marked increase in the birth rate
• Born on The Wrong Side of the Blanket: Born to parents who were not married
• Boys will be Boys: A phrase of resignation used when boys get into trouble or are
stereotypically reckless or rowdy
• Child’s Play: A very easy task
• Chip o the Old Block: Someone who resembles a direct ancestor, usually the
father
• Like a Kid in a Candy Store: To be so excited about one’s surroundings that one
acts in a childlike or silly way
• Sleep Like a Baby: To experience a very deep and restful sleep; to sleep soundly
• Throw the Baby Out with the Bath Water: To discard something valuable or
important while disposing of something worthless
• Wet Behind the Ears: Inexperienced, immature, new to something

Idioms about Mothers

• A face only a mother could love: A very ugly face
• A mama’s boy: A boy or man who allows his mother to have too much in uence
on him.
• A mother hen: A person who looks out for the welfare of others, especially to an
overprotective degree
• A tiger mother: A strict and demanding mother
• At one’s mother’s knee: If you learned to do something when you were a young
child.
• Be tied to (one’s) mother’s apron strings: An adult make deeply attached and
needing his mother. Dating from the era when mothers wore aprons
• Everyone and his mother: Used to express a large number or a majority of
people.
• Expectant mother: A pregnant woman.
• Experience is the mother of wisdom: This idiom is used to mean that people
learn from what happens to them.
• He that would the daughter win, must with the mother rst begin: This is a
proverb which means that if you intend to marry a woman, rst try to win her
mother on your side.
• Like mother, like daughter: Daughters tend to do what their mothers did before
them.
• Mother house: The principle house in a religious order
• Mother Nature: The force that controls the natural world
• Mother’s milk: Something necessary and important
• The mother of all (something): A large collection of a particular type of thing
• To keep mum: To keep quiet about something
ff
fi
fi
fl