Idioms (100) from Speak-Read-Write.com.pdf

English Idioms

by Sally Jennings

www.Speak-Read-Write.com

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Idioms, Slang, Phrasal Verbs, Colloquialisms, Clichés,

and Proverbs, with Context Examples (about 100)

Expressions are alphabetized according to the first word in the expression. Spelling is American.

Pronouns have been used instead of names in almost all cases to avoid obvious ethnicity in the examples. The

English language has no room to maneuver around using either "he" or "she;" because of this, please consider that

any use of "he" could just as well be "she," and vice versa.

The language in the context examples is not intentionally aimed at any job class or occupation. Many situations

described had to be stated negatively since the particular idiom is used that way. Some idioms are used almost

exclusively to refer to one occupation.

Warning to students: many of these expressions are far too informal for formal writing. If you are not familiar

with an expression you see here, and need to know if you may use it in formal written work, ask your teacher.

Decisions about the use of idioms in formal writing are often decided on a case-by-case basis, one at a time. I have

not had time to make these decisions and mark acceptability partly because there would be 700 decisions to be

made! Besides, how can I judge what you or your teacher will find acceptable in your situation?

However, there was one type of marking I could not resist doing. Parenthesized idioms (shown like this), are worn-

out expressions. You might hear them or read them somewhere, but if you avoid using them, you just might make

the world a better place.

Square brackets [ ] enclose an expression similar in meaning to the expression before the brackets.

Suggestions for student use:

Replace some of the non-idiom words with blanks, use the structure and the idiom as it stands, and form

different sentences. This is a type of pattern practice.

How much can you guess about who might be speaking the idiom from the clues in the context? Can you

make up a story about this situation?

Can you define the idioms from the context? Do you know an equivalent expression in another language?

Some of the context is in "direct speech" form, but without quotation marks, or speaker identification. Some

of the context is in "reported speech" form. Can you identify which is which, and change the “reported

speech” forms into “direct speech” and add quotations wherever they are necessary?

Do some research into the background of some of the more interesting idioms (using the Internet or a good

dictionary).

Can you spice up the idioms by using names of people, trade names, brand names, and company names

where possible?

Can you group some of these idioms into patterns within a metaphor structure (for example "finances" and

"war," we "fight inflation.")

Compose a short story using several idioms together, perhaps part of a group using one word. For an

examples of this, see my stories " The Night Out ( with optional mp3 audio) and

" Up to Something (with

optional mp3 audio) on other pages of this web site.

This is a work in progress. After you have used it, I welcome your response at the email link above. I have

a baccalaureate degree in Arts, with a major in English (language emphasis), and extra Linguistics courses

from the University of British Columbia. English is my first language. Nevertheless, I still have a lot to learn

about English, and I would appreciate your suggestions.

100 more idioms, clich é s, slang,

phrasal verbs and Proverbs

a firebug

The firefighters suspect that the fire wasn't started by lightning, but by a firebug. They think a young

person who was seen running away just as the blaze started set the place on fire.

a free trial

We received an offer in the mail today for a six-month free trial subscription for my husband's favorite

magazine.

a lame excuse

She really didn't want to go to the party, but when she told her boyfriend why, he didn't believe the reason

she gave. He said she was just giving him a lame excuse.

a life line

The life line for the aid supplies to the disaster area cut right across their land. The aid vehicles passed by

every day on the road out front.

a lifesaver

That loan from the bank has proven to be a real lifesaver for our young business. It was there when we

needed it the most.

a lightning rod

They put up a high metal pole with a ground wire on the house roof to attract the lightning so it wouldn't hit

the other buildings on the hilltop.

a line of sight

The men approaching over the fields were directly in the observer's line of site as he watched them

through his binoculars.

a litterbug

As the girl dropped the candy wrapper on the ground, her brother reached down and picked it up. "Don't

be such a litterbug," he said.

a live-in

They aren't legally married, just living together, so she is his live-in girlfriend.

a live wire

She is awake early and very active all day --- a real live wire.

a livelihood

She made her livelihood working in the office of the local oil company. The job paid well, and had fairly

good benefits.

a living death

He remembered how gaunt she looked after the accident. She had complained that without her health,

she was experiencing a living death.

a living room

Take that cake into the front room and set it on the coffee table for the guests. That's right, into the living

room where we do our entertaining.

a living wage

The boy knew he couldn't make the same pay his father did, but the job offer promised enough money to

live on, a living wage.

a loan shark

The man came at midnight to bully his father and demand that he pay the debt immediately. The boy

hadn't realized his father went to a loan shark for money.

a lodestar

The guiding principle behind our way of life could be called a lodestar. Like the star over the pole, it shows

us where we are and which way to go.

a log boom

First the trees were cut down, limbed, and sawn into logs. Then some logs were chained into a circle,

enclosing other logs. This log boom was then taken down river to the mill.

a ragamuffin

That youngest one in the family frequently comes to school in torn clothes. He looks like a real ragamuffin.

a rule of thumb

The rule of thumb for writing parallel sentences is to use the same grammatical structure in each clause.

a skiff of snow

Since she had grown up in snow country, she didn't mind when then got a few centimeters of snow the

other day. To her, that was just a skiff of snow, nothing major.

a slow poke

The oldest girl in the group dragged behind the rest, reading as she was walking. "Come on, slow poke,"

one of her sisters yelled.

a treasure trove

The young boy looked at the huge library with joy in his eyes. He thought he had found a real treasure

trove of stories, enough to last him for years.

a trial size

When she got the mail out of the box, she found a small bottle of shampoo. The manufacturer had sent

her a trial size and a coupon for more shampoo.

a welcoming committee

You would wonder why they sent out their ferocious dog to greet the strangers in the dark. What an awful

welcoming committee that must have been.

a white lie

He didn't want to hurt her by refusing to come to the party, so he told her a little white lie. He said he had

a previous commitment for the same time as the dance.

at loggerheads

Those two groups argued their way through the town meeting. They are always at loggerheads about

something or other.

foot traffic

There was a lot of foot traffic by her door on the weekends when the beach was full. She didn't mind. She

just sat on her front porch and watched people as they passed.

happy-go-lucky

You would think she didn't have a care in the world. She seemed to be such a happy-go-lucky girl, always

singing and smiling.

in lieu of

You will have to accept another color because the supplier is out of stock. Will you take a gold one in lieu

of the blue one you ordered?

in light of

In light of the fact that you did so much homework last night, you can take the next night off. But

remember, you can't take two nights off, only one.

in recent memory

Most townspeople could not remember how long it had been since the family had lived at the old homestead.

As far as anyone knew, no one had been there in many decades, and certainly not in recent memory.

like a bolt out of the blue

His offer of marriage came on the third date, before they knew each other well, just like a bolt out of the blue.

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