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AMERICAN IDIOMS | ||||
Alive and kicking |
| well and healthy | - How is John? - He’s alive and kicking. | |
All over but the shouting |
| decided, concluded: finished except for a celebration | Ben got his diploma. It’s all over but the shouting. | |
All walks of life |
| all social, economic, ethnic groups | The people who came to the meeting represented all walks of life. | |
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure |
| it is easier and better to prevent something bad than to deal with the results | You should be vaccinated against the flu. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. | |
Appear as something |
| to act a certain part in a play, opera, etc | Diana appeared as Mrs Cohen in the play. | |
As a last resort |
| as the last choice | Ask them for help only as a last resort. | |
As fit as a fiddle |
| healthy, physically fit | The child is as fit as a fiddle. | |
At leisure |
| resting | When I’m at leisure I read books. | |
Babe-in-the-woods |
| a naive person; an inexperienced person | Alice is a babe-in-the-woods when it comes to dealing with teenagers. Kate is a babe-in-the woods as an actress. | |
Back to the drawing board |
| time to start over again | Bill flunked his mid-year exams. Back to the drawing board. | |
Base one's opinion on something |
| to form an opinion from something | I base my opinion on previous experience. | |
Be the teacher's pet |
| to be the teacher's favourite student | Jane is the teacher's pet. She always | |
Begin to see the light |
| to begin to understand something | Math is hard, but I'm beginning to see the light. | |
Break a leg! |
| good luck (theatrical slang; this is said to actors before a performance instead of “good luck”) | Saying “Break a leg!” before a performance is an old theatrical tradition. | |
Break new ground |
| to begin to do something which no one else has done | Dr Johnson is breaking new ground in AIDS research. | |
Bring the house down // bring down the house |
| to excite a theatrical audience to laughter, applause | The actor's joke brought the house down. | |
Brush up on something // brush up |
| to learn something; to review something | You should brush up on your English. | |
Coast-to-coast |
| from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean (in the USA); all the land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans | We made the coast-to-coast trip in eighty hours. | |
Cover a lot of ground |
| to travel over a great distance; | We can cover a lot of ground in one day. | |
Cut and dried // cut-and-dried |
| fixed; usual and uninteresting | The students were bored by the cut and dried lecture. | |
Cut corners |
| to reduce efforts, expenditures; to do things poorly, incompletely | Do the job right. Don't cut corners. | |
Cut out for something |
| well-suited for something | Tom is cut out for the medical profession. | |
Cut out to be something |
| well-suited for a particular occupation | Tom is cut out to be a doctor. | |
Down in the mouth |
| sad, depressed | Helen has been down in the mouth since the road accident. | |
Dream come true | a dream which has become real | Going to London is a dream come true. | ||
Either feast or famine | either too much of something or not enough of something | Sometimes we have much work to do, and sometimes we have nothing to do. It's feast or famine. | ||
Enlarge on something // expand on something | to make a more detailed explanation of something; to explain one's previous comments | Please, enlarge (expand) on your remarks. | ||
Equal to someone or something | the same as someone or something | Ben is equal to Brian as a tennis player. | ||
Every minute counts // every moment counts | time is very important | Work rapidly. Every minute counts. | ||
Feel fit | to feel well and healthy | I go in for sports to feel fit. | ||
Feel like a new person | to feel refreshed, renewed | Jane felt like a new person when she came back from the seaside. | ||
Feel up to something | to feel well enough to do something | I don't feel up to working today. | ||
Fight against time | to hurry to do something quickly, to meet a deadline | The students fought against time to complete the test. | ||
Fluff one's lines // blow one's lines // muff one's lines | to speak one's speech badly or forget one's lines when one is in a play | The young actress fluffed her lines in the last act. | ||
Food for thought | something to think about | This plan is food for thought. | ||
Get sick | to become ill | Don got sick with the flue. | ||
Get stars in one's eyes | to be obsessed with show business | Mary has stars in her eyes. She wants to become an actress. | ||
Get well | to become healthy again | I'm sure you'll soon get well. | ||
Go along with someone | to travel along with someone | I'll go along with Peter to London. | ||
Go in a body | to move in a group | The basketball team went in a body to talk to the coach. | ||
Have a bad effect on someone or something | to be bad for someone or something | This medicine has a bad effect on me. | ||
Have a familiar ring |
| to sound familiar | This story has a familiar ring. Have you copied it out? | |
Have a heart-to-heart talk // have a heart-to-heart | to have a sincere, intimate talk | Let's have a heart-to-heart. | ||
Hope against all hope | to have hope even when the situation appears to be hopeless | We hope against all hope that Nick will get well. | ||
In a vicious circle | in a situation in which the solution of the problem leads to a second problem, and the solution of the second problem brings back the first problem | I'm afraid, my life has got into a vicious circle. I am in a vicious circle. | ||
In full swing | in progress | The tourist season is in full swing now. | ||
In light of something | because of certain knowledge | In light of the host's rudeness, we won't come back. | ||
In the best of health | very healthy | As far as I know, Jack is in the best of health. | ||
In the lap of luxury | in luxurious surroundings | The Stevensons live in the lap of luxury. They are very rich. | ||
In the limelight // in the spotlight | at the center of attention | Most politicians spend a lot of time in the limelight. | ||
In the nick of time | just in time; just before it's too late | We reached the railway station in the nick of time. | ||
In the public eye | publicly | Elected officials find themselves in the public eye. | ||
Jump the gun | to start before the starting signal (originally used in sports contests which are started by firing a gun) | The sportsmen had to start the race again because one of them jumped the gun. | ||
Just what the doctor ordered | exactly what is required | The cake was tasty. Just what the doctor ordered. | ||
Keep abreast of something // keep abreast | to keep informed about something; keep up with the times | We should try to keep abreast by reading the journals daily. | ||
Live in an ivory tower | to be aloof from the realities of living | Professor Brown lives in an ivory tower. He doesn't know what the real world is like. | ||
Make a name for oneself // make a name | to become famous | Betty is a talented person. She can easily make a name for herself. | ||
Make up for lost time | to do much of something; to do something fast | John spent much time watching TV. Now he has to work fast. He's making up for lost time. | ||
Nine-to-five job | a job with regular, normal hours | Jack has a nine-to-five job. | ||
Not someone's cup of tea | not something one prefers | Going in for sports isn't Sally's cup of tea. | ||
On schedule | at the expected / desired time | The plane came in right on schedule. | ||
Set off for somewhere // set off // set out for somewhere // set out | to begin a journey to a place | The Smiths set off for the station early in the morning. | ||
Strike up a conversation | to start a conversation with someone | Bill struck up a conversation with a beautiful girl on the bus. | ||
Take a break // take one's break | to have a short rest period in one's work | I usually take a break at 11:30. | ||
(NTC's American Idioms Dictionary) |
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