Idioms to do with emotions

Idioms to do with emotions

1. Feeling happy

be as pleased as Punch – to be very happy about something

Punch is a character in a traditional children's entertainment who is always happy and excited.

be in seventh heaven – to be extremely happy

To be in seventh heaven comes from the Jewish system of belief that there were seven heavens in ascending order of excellence. (The Muslims have a similar belief.)

be on cloud nine

be on top of the world

be over the moon - to be extremely pleased about something

be thrilled to bits/pieces - to be extremely pleased

be in high spirits – to be happy, excited and energetic

be as happy as the day is long - extremely content (satisfied), glad, delighted, very cheerful

keep one’s chin up – be optimistic in the face of difficulty; happy despite bad things;

1. Feeling sad/fed up

o be as miserable as sin - unhappy or depressed; wretched

o be downhearted - low in spirit; depressed

o be browned-off = be cheesed off - greatly annoyed; out of patience; exasperated

o have a long face = have a face as long as a fiddle – look very sad/depressed

o look down in the dumps – look sad/depressed

o be in a black mood – in a bad mood/temper

o be like a bear with a sore head – extremely irritable

o feel like bursting into tears – on the verge of crying

o have a lump in one’s throat

o be dejected – in low spirits/depressed

o feel blue, down or low

o lose heart - to stop believing that you can succeed; to lose one's courage or confidence

1. Fear/fright/shock

Ø be in a cold sweat - very frightened or worried

Ø be scared to death - extremely frightened

Ø be rooted to the spot - unable to move because of fear or surprise

Ø be terrified/scared stiff, petrified - extremely frightened

Ø not to turn a hair - petrified

Ø go as white as a sheet – turn pale

Ø be shaking in your shoes - to tremble with fear

Ø be scared out of your wits - frightened (almost) to the point of madness

Ø jump out of your skin - to react strongly to shock or surprise

Ø be panic stricken – overcome with panic, terrified

Ø have goose pimples/bumps

Ø make your hair stand on end/stand up on the back of your neck / curl – terrify, scare

Ø freeze someone’s blood

Ø it makes your flesh creep

Ø it takes your breath away - puts into a state of shock or awe

Ø frighten/scare the hell out of someone; frighten/scare the pants off someone; frighten/scare the (living) daylights out of someone; scare the wits out of someone -to frighten someone badly, suddenly or both.

Ø put the wind up someone - to frighten or alarm, to make someone feel anxious about their situation

1. Feeling worried/anxious/nervous

ü be keyed up about something

ü be on tenterhooks - anxiously waiting for news about someone or something; in a state of uneasiness, suspense, or anxiety.

Etymology: based on the literal meaning of tenterhook (a hook that holds cloth that is stretched to dry), suggesting that someone's emotions are tightly stretched like a piece of cloth held by tenterhooks

ü have something on one’s mind – be worried about something; to be thinking continually of something (a problem, a worry)

ü like a cat on a hot tin roof/on hot bricks - in an uneasy or agitated state (взволнованный, возбужденный)

ü be a nervous wreck – a person suffering from emotional exhaustion due to stress (развалина)

ü a nerve-racking/ nerve-wracking experience - very distressing and exhausting

ü tremble like a leaf

ü be tongue-tied - speechless, especially with embarrassment or shyness

ü dry up - to stop talking or speaking out of nervousness

ü have butterflies in your stomach – a nervous feeling in one’s stomach

ü be in a flap

1. Feeling confused/uncertain

v be at sixes and sevens - to be confused or badly organized

v be out of one’s depth - knowing very little about a subject; involved in something that is beyond one's capabilities

v be (all) at sea - completely confused

v not know if/whether you’re coming or going - to be unable to think clearly and decide what to do because you have so many things to deal with

v be in/of two minds - to be unable to decide about something (often + whether) I was in two minds whether or not to come this morning. (often + about) Residents are of two minds about new traffic restrictions in the area.

v sit on the fence - not to take sides in a dispute; not to make a clear choice between two possibilities

v have qualms about – to feel uncertain about whether one is doing right

v have second thoughts about - change your opinion or start to have doubts about it; to consider changing a decision you have already made

v have mixed feelings about - to be both pleased and not pleased about something at the same time

1. Feeling angry

§ be hopping mad – be very angry

§ go off at the deep end - to become so angry or upset that you cannot control your emotions and start shouting at someone

§ be hot under the collar – be very angry

§ go spare – to become very angry

§ blow your top – to become very angry

§ see red – to become very angry

§ fly off the handle - to lose one's temper; to react in a very angry way to something someone says or does; fly into a rage

§ do your nut – become extremely angry

1. Feeling quarrelsome/unfriendly

· avoid someone like the plague - to ignore or keep away from someone or something

· cut someone down to size - to criticize someone who you think is too confident in order to make them feel less confident or less proud

· have a go at someone - to attack someone verbally

· tear someone off a strip/tear a strip off somebody - to speak angrily to someone because they have done something wrong

· bite someone’s head off - to respond to a comment in an angry or reproachful way; to speak sharply and with great anger to someone

1. Surprise/ disbelief

– That's/There's one for the books!; That's/There's a turn-up for the books! - something that you say when something strange or surprising happens

– be gobsmacked - astounded; astonished

– not believe one’s eyes – not to believe what one is seeing; to be shocked or dumbfounded at what one is seeing

– You could have knocked me down with a feather! – something that you say in order to emphasize how surprised you were when something happened

– come out of a/the clear blue sky; come out of the blue - suddenly; without warning

– take/catch someone by surprise - to startle or surprise someone; to do something unexpected

– Words fail me! - something that you say when you are so surprised or shocked by something that you do not know what to say about it

– be at a loss for words - unable to think of something to say out of surprise

– be taken aback by – confused or surprised by something unexpected

to have kittens - to get extremely upset. My mother pretty near had kittens when she found out I got fired. Calm down. Don't have kittens.

- to become very worried or upset about something. She nearly had kittens when I said I was going to buy a motorbike.

For anyone to confess 'nearly to have had kittens' is a dramatic way of admitting how anxious and scared he had been. It is just a metaphor, and no one would dream of taking it literally. Yet the phrase itself goes back to times when women were really worried that, instead of giving birth to a child, they would bring forth kittens.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-05