Idiom Meaning Example
1. Out of the blue Something that happened unexpectedly Yesterday, out of the blue, he
asked me to marry him!
2. Give someone the To give permission I was given the green light to start
green light this new project
3. Day and night Continually working without stopping I was studying day and night for
my IELTS test.
4. Learn by heart To memorise I learned all my idioms by heart.
5. Bookworm Someone who reads a lot When I was younger, I was a
bookworm, I just loved reading.
6. Brought up Raised/developed I was brought up in the country.
7. Child's play Very easy to do Learning how to play a guitar was
child's play, I could do it easily.
8. To follow in To achieve the same things that someone else did I followed in my mother's
someone's footsteps footsteps and became a teacher.
9. Practice makes To continuously improve by practising My teacher said that practice
perfect makes perfect, so I need to
practise more.
10. To have a whale To have a very fun and exciting time There is so much to do here that
of a time you are guaranteed to have a
whale of a time if you visit.
11. To be on cloud very happy and joyful I feel content with my life at the
nine moment and I am on cloud nine.
12. To be On top of feeling amazing, wonderful, ecstatic When I look at my absolute
favourite piece of art, “starry
the world night” by Vincent Van Gogh I feel
inspired and on top of the world. It
shows me true beauty and that I
believe is why art is so popular.
13. To be Over the extremely pleased and happy The trip was actually a
surprise and when my girlfriend
moon told me I was over the moon.
14. It makes my blood to make you very angry She is very selfish and arrogant.
Just hearing her voice makes my
boil blood boil.
15. To get on your someone annoys you a lot It gets on my nerves that we have
no recycling here. I am a big
nerves supporter of the environment and
we should do more to save it.
16. Burn the To stay up till late for a meaningful reason. I always wished to study abroad
midnight oil after high school? It was not easy
for me to reach here as I had to
burn the midnight oil every day.
17. A blessing in A positive thing that isn’t recognized until later I failed in the English test during
my pre-boards. It proved as a
disguise blessing in disguise to push myself
hard to achieve a distinction in my
final board exams.
18. A drop in the A small portion of something big. The budget sanctioned for
marketing the product is just a
ocean drop in the ocean. We need more
than this to increase the sales.
19. An arm and a leg Very expensive My vacation to Hawaii cost me an
arm and a leg.
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20. Bite the hand Hurt or upset someone helping you. I was teaching him English, and he
that feeds you did not inform me about his good
scores. One should not bite the
hand that feeds you.
21. Cut to the chase Leaving all the unnecessary details and getting to the point Long discussions during the
directly. meeting will only lead to a waste of
time. Let us cut to the chase.
22. Every cloud has a Believing that every bad situation has a positive side that Don’t be upset over your broken
will eventually result in something good engagement. Every cloud has a
silver lining silver lining.
23. Fixed in their Not wanting to change from the normal ways of doing My parents are very fixed in their
things ways. They never like using online
ways banking rather prefer vising the
bank.
24. Found my feet To become comfortable in what you are doing I wanted to be a doctor but ended
up being an engineer. However, I
have found my feet.
25. Go the extra Doing much more than was required when doing something My husband goes to the extra mile
to take care of me during my
mile pregnancy.
26. Pulling your Leg Teasing or Joking around Don’t take it personally. I am just
pulling your leg.
27. Don't judge a Judging someone based on their appearance is misleading. Don’t judge a book by its cover, he
is an intelligent person.
book by its
cover
28. Keep an eye on Watching someone in a careful manner He seems a little suspicious. So,
keep an eye on him.
him
29. Smell a rat Sensing something that is not right Don’t try to conceal the truth. I can
smell a rat.
30. Put all your eggs in Putting all of one’s resources into one thing Don’t put all your eggs in the
basket. Invest the money in
the basket different stocks.
31. Piece of cake Very easy Achieving high marks in science is a
piece of cake for me.
32. Driving me up the Irritating or Annoying somebody He is driving me up the wall. He
keeps on doing that.
wall
33. It’s a small world I met George in the supermarket.
Meeting someone who is close in an unexpected context.
It’s a small world.
34. Got up on the Being in a bad mood I guess he got up on the wrong
side of the bed this morning.
wrong side of the That’s why he is in a terrible state
of mind.
bed this morning
35. Fresh as a daisy Someone who is active, lively, and jovial Though my mother aged, she is
stills as fresh as a daisy.
36. Couch potato A lazy person or someone who is watching TV without My friend is a couch potato. He is
doing any work. watching TV programmes though
he has a lot of work.
37. Party Pooper A person who is not participating in fun activities or Why Sam is so sad in this function.
enjoyment. Party Pooper!
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38. Down to earth A person who is practical and realistic George is such a down to earth person. He
can offer practical solutions to problems
rather than confusing us.
