Idioms

1) Food for thought - anything that provides mental stimulus for thinking

An idea or issue to ponder, as in That interesting suggestion of yours has given us food for thought. This metaphoric phrase, transferring the idea of digestion from the stomach to mulling something over in the mind, dates from the late 1800s, although the idea was also expressed somewhat differently at least three centuries earlier.

2) tongue-in-cheek - cleverly amusing in tone; in a bantering fashion

Ironically or as a joke, as in Was he speaking with tongue in cheek when he said Sally should run for president? This term probably alludes to the facial expression produced by poking one's tongue in one's cheek, perhaps to suppress a smile.

The term tongue-in-cheek refers to a style of humour in which things are said only half seriously, or in a subtly mocking way. To say something in a tongue-in-cheek way is to speak with irony.

3) slam dunk - (n)Something that is a sure to occur; a foregone conclusion

(v) A forceful, dramatic move, as in That indictment was a slam dunk if ever there was one. This expression is also often put as a verb, slam-dunk, meaning "make a forceful move against someone," as in This is a great chance for us to slam-dunk the opposition. The idiom comes from basketball, where it refers to a dramatic shot in which the ball is thrust into the basket from above the rim. It was transferred to other activities from about 1980 on.

4) Beating A Dead Horse

In American English, "beating a dead horse" is an idiom which is most often used as a retort used to make clear that a particular request or line of conversation is already foreclosed, mooted, or otherwise resolved. In Australian English and British English, the phrase is more usually rendered as "flogging a dead horse".

The linguistic roots of this phrase draw on an allusion to literally "whipping" or "beating" a deceased horse in order to make it get up and go. Such efforts, of course, would be utterly fruitless, as dead horses no longer move under their own power.

Likewise, when one is "beating a dead horse", one is flailing at a dead or useless idea.

5) Bedroom eyes

Someone who has a sexy look in their eyes

6) Bells and whistles

Attractive but unnecessary features; an often pejorative term often applied to features of a commercial product which are more useful in attracting customers than in performing the task which the product is designed to perform.

7) Black-hearted - Someone with evil intentions

8) Burning the midnight oil - Studying or working late into, or through, the night

9) (Open up a) can of worms
To create a situation that is hard to deal with, especially one that comes about unexpectedly and intractably. To "open a can of worms" is to get involved with something that is discomforting, hard to resolve, or not easily escaped (closing a container of worms, used as bait by fishermen, generally involves some tricky handling of the wriggling occupants)

10) Dead and buried - A settled issue. Something no longer needing consideration

11) Dark horse - A surprise candidate or competitor; someone who hides their talents or interests. From the metaphor: "He rode in as if on a dark horse in the night" or "No one saw him coming."

12) Dead as a doornail (or dodo) - Useless, very distinctly dead. A doornail is the strikeplate for most door knockers. To hold it in place, after it was driven through the door, the pointed end was bent over and buried in the door, to prevent movement. This nail was unrecoverable, so was considered dead to future reclamation, which was apparently common before modern time

13) (Having) deep pockets - Rich and/or generous

14) devil's advocate -

One who argues against a cause or position either for the sake of argument or to help determine its validity. For example, My role in the campaign is to play devil's advocate to each new policy before it's introduced to the public. This term comes from the Roman Catholic Church, where advocatus diaboli (Latin for "devil's advocate") signifies an official who is appointed to present arguments against a proposed canonization or beatification. It was transferred to wider use in the mid-1700s.

15) Dog and pony show
A presentation which aims to persuade by overwhelming the senses or appealing to fancy; generally a marketing presentation which offers little or no real informational content. May also refer to anything with more style than substance

16) Drop the ball -
Make a major mistake; often used when that mistake causes the failure or setback of a larger event

17) elephant in the room -

The problem or situation immediately obvious to all, but spoken of by none. Usually the topic in question is emotionally charged and so felt by most involved to be best ignored

The elephant in the room (also elephant in the living room, elephant in the corner, elephant on the dinner table, etc.) is an English idiom for a question or problem that very obviously stands, but which is ignored for the convenience of one or other party. It derives its symbolic meaning from the fact that an elephant would indeed be conspicuous and remarkable in a small room; thus the idiom also implies a value judgment that the issue should be discussed openly. The idiom is commonly used in addiction recovery terminology to describe the reluctance of friends and family of an addicted person to discuss the person's problem, thus aiding the person in his denial.

The idiom is also occasionally invoked as "pink elephant in the corner," possibly in reference to alcohol abuse, or for no other reason than a pink elephant is more visible than a normal elephant (not that pink elephants exist, obviously).

18) Eat crow - To suffer humiliation and/or reluctantly admit defeat

19) Fish out of water - A person in uncharted territory; in a confused state due to lack of experience with a situation

20) Hot potato -
In the common political usage the 'hot potato' represents an issue which is controversial and generally avoided. In a business setting it sometimes refers to a project or responsiblity that no one wants to assume, usually because the probability of failure is high

21) In the limelight/spotlight -
Possessing large amounts of attention. Originating from Victorian times when spotlights in theatres were used by burning quicklime

22) Iron out the difficulty
To resolve an issue. It suggests the problem is minor but is something that will need work (as in smoothing wrinkles out of cloth with an iron)

23) Killing two birds with one stone
Achieving two desirable effects with one process or action

24) Knock on wood/Touch wood
Knock on (or touch) unfinished wood to avert the bad luck evoked by making a confident statement (example: "I haven't been sick in twenty years, knock on wood.") By 'knocking on wood', the speaker hopes to prevent their remarkable good health from suddenly ending because they've bragged about it. The custom comes from the hope of evoking the care of spirits that live in trees (druids)

25) Let the cat out of the bag
Reveal a big secret, often unintentionally

26) Mind one's Ps and Qs

To be very careful and/or to behave correctly. It is tied to the fact that the lowercase letters "p" and "q" mirror each other. This is a term from typesetters in the printing industry. In the days of lead type, letters were set individually into a page, and they were placed one by one, upside down. They were pulled from a typecase, in which each letter had a designated space to reside. Problems came when pages were being taken apart and letters put away. If someone was in a hurry or was not paying attention to what he was doing, he could end up with p's and q's in the wrong slots in the typecase, which he wouldn't notice until the next time he was putting together a page, when he would unknowingly pick out the wrong letter. (This could also happen with b's and d's, but as they are more common than q's, typesetters were more accustomed to finding them, and they were mixed up less often.) Hence, pay attention to what you're doing now, so that you don't give yourself problems later on. In England this phrase is also associated with "p'ease" and "'k you" baby talk for 'Please' and 'Thank you', hence "Mind your P's and Q's" is sometimes used to mean "Remember to say 'Please' and 'Thank you.'"


27) (There is) more than one way to kill (or skin) a cat

Something can be achieved in several different ways. Often used upon the realization that one attempted method has failed or is about to fail (e.g. "This method has failed, but there's more than one way to skin a cat!")

28) No-brainer - A problem that is especially easy to solve, if not outright obvious

29) On the fence - Undecided between two options; vacillation between two ideas or choices

30) Only the tip of the iceberg -

A situation which is more complex than it first seems. Only a small fraction of an iceberg is visible above the surface

31) Over the moon -very happy

32) Penny pinching -
Being frugal with one's money, avoiding unnecessary expenses (can also mean stingy)

33) Piece of cake - Something done very easy

34) To piss on one's own feet -
To try to accomplish something beneficial to yourself but hurting yourself in the process so much that the original action is rendered worthless. (e.g. "There's no way I could have stolen Bill's TV because I was at home doing heroin that whole night.") Similar in meaning to 'shoot oneself in the foot'

35) To spit/piss into the wind -
To continue with an ineffective action, usually against the natural flow of things, when it is clear that said action will have no useful result. An exercise in futility

36) Rake it in -
To make a high profit or earning a high salary (example: She's raking it in on that new line of products). Humorous exaggeration which suggests the quantity of money is so great that it must be handled with yard implements

37) (Read/in) between the lines -
Inferring additional information or nuances not explicitly stated, perhaps revealing a hidden agenda or true motive. The lines here refers to lines of printed text

38) Read my lips: _____

Used to emphasize the statement or promise which immediately follows, often with slight aggression or beligerence. Example: George H.W. Bush's famous 1988 promise "Read my lips: No new taxes", meaning he absolutely would not raise taxes

39) Red Herring - A false clue or issue intended to lead one astray or a fallacious argument

40) Red tape - Bureaucratic obstacles to a desired result. Derived from the Civil War-era practice of binding records and files with red tape

41) Right under your nose
Something so obvious that it is easily overlooked

42) Sawbones - A physician, especially a surgeon

43) Six ways to (or from) Sunday -
In every possible manner; by every imaginable method

44) To spin a yarn - To tell a story, especially a long one with distorted truths or exaggerations

45) Speak of the devil (and he shall appear) -
Said aloud when someone who was being discussed in conversation enters the area of those conversing; from the belief that uttering the name of a demon could serve to summon it

46) Squaring the circle - Trying to do something which is impossible

47) Stick (or stuck) in the mud-

An old-fashioned idea or concept, or someone who moves or adapts slowly. Also used to describe a person who does not want to participate in activities suggested by one or more people

48) Stiff-necked - Stubborn. This is an example of metonymy. A stubborn person frequently does not turn his head to listen and appears stiff in the neck. Thus having a stiff neck and not turning both imply stubbornness; by the rule of metonymy, 'stiff necked' means stubborn

49) The cat's out of the bag - A secret or hidden thing has been discovered

50) This is not your father's ____
Despite similarities, there is a fundamental difference between the past and the present subject; usually implying a favorable updating. From an ad campaign for Oldsmobile in the 1980s

51) Under the weather - Feeling ill

52) Wake up on the wrong side of the bed -

Be very grumpy. Usually used in response to discovering someone is very grumpy. "Whoa! Looks like you woke up on the wrong side of the bed today!"

53) The whole nine yards
The entire amount, everything. Frequently "Going the whole nine yards" to indicate completion to surfeit, sparing nothing, or employing procedures reserved for only the most important events. The etymology is ambiguous, with explanations ranging from the 9 yard machine gun belts used in some WWII military aircraft to an older use of 9 yards in the textile industry for ceremonious saris, normal saris comprising only 6 yards, dating back to English introduction to Indian tailoring in the 18th century. Another explanation is that the term is a sarcastic reference to American football, where ten yards is the length of a first down. With running nine yards being no real achievement, to say that someone ran 'the whole nine yards' would be to say that they almost achieved something. Like many words with ambiguous etymology, this phrase may have more than one derivation

54) Wrong end of the stick
Getting the wrong idea about something

55)