50 Important Idioms and Phrases
1. At sixes and seven – In disorder or confusion
2. Lose head – Panic
3. Take to task – To criticize severely/ to punish
4. Sit in judgement – To pass judgement(or comment on someone ) especially when you have no authority
5. Leave in the lurch – To desert someone
6. Cry over spilt milk – Cry over irreparable loss
7. Bad blood – Active enmity
8. Close shave – A narrow escape
9. Grease palms – To bribe someone
10. Carrot and stick – Reward and punishment policy
11. To cut teeth – To gain experience of something for the first time
12. Cut no ice – Had no influence
13. Close the book - Stop working on something
14. In fits and starts - Irregularly
15. Bird’s eye view – An overview
16. Run in the same groove – Clash with each other
17. Keep your head – Remain calm
18. Pull strings – Use personal influence
19. Pot luck dinner – Dinner where somebody brings something to eat
20. To hit below the belt – To attack unfairly
21. All at sea - Puzzled
22. Sought after – Wanted by many people because it’s of good quality or difficult to find/Pursued by
23. Build castle in the air - Daydreaming
24. On the spur of the moment – To act suddenly, without planning
25. To have something up one’s sleeve – To have a secret plan
26. A red letter day – An important or joyful occasion in one’s life
27. To explore every avenue – To try every opportunity
28. At one’s beck and call – Ready to follow orders/ To be dominated by someone
29. By fair or foul means – In honest or dishonest way
30. Status quo – As it is/ unchanged position
31. To burn candle at both ends – To be extravagant/ Spend without any worry
32. To hit the jackpot – To make money quickly
33. To bring to light – to reveal
34. At the eleventh hour – At the last possible moment
35. Go scot-free – To escape without punishment
36. To shed crocodile tears – To pretend grief
37. To look down one’s nose – To regard with contempt
38. To miss the bus – To miss an opportunity
39. A white elephant – Costly and troublesome possession, with much use to its owner
40. To call spade a spade – To be frank
41. To fight tooth and nail – To fight heroically, in very determined way
42. Birds of same feather – Persons of same character
43. Take exception – To object over something
44. High handed – Using authority in an unreasonable way, overbearing
45. Too fond of one’s own voice – To like talking without wanting to listen to other people/Very selfish
46. By leaps and bounds – Rapidly
47. An open book – Straight forward and honest dealings
48. Fall short – Fail to meet expectation/ have no effect
49. Heart to heart talk – Frank talk
50. Give the game away – Give out the secret(unintentionally)
