Etymologie, Étymologie, Etymology
UK Vereinigtes Königreich (Großbritannien u. Nordirland), Royaume-Uni de Grande-Bretagne et d'Irlande du Nord, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Zitate, Citations, Quotations, Redewendungen, Expressions, Phrases
(E?)(L?) http://www.adslogans.co.uk/hof/
Advertising Slogan Hall of Fame
ADSlogans Unlimited is a unique resource for advertisers and marketers. We have built a growing database of many thousands of advertising slogans, straplines, taglines, endlines and claims in the English language.
These lines have appeared mostly in the UK and USA, during the last ten-plus years. The resource also includes many historical lines and covers all brand categories in all media.
all mouth and trousers (W3)
(E?)(L?) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?&xml=/arts/2004/05/31/boquin.xml&page=2#all
This strange expression comes from the north of England and is used, mainly by women in my experience, as a sharp-tongued and effective putdown of a certain kind of pushy, over-confident male. Proverbial expressions like this are notoriously hard to pin down: we have no idea exactly where it comes from nor when it first appeared, although it is recorded from the latter part of the 19th century onwards. However, we're fairly sure that it is a pairing of "mouth'', meaning insolence or cheekiness, with "trousers'', a pushy sexual bravado. It's a wonderful example of metonymy ("a container for the thing contained'').
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From Ambition to Youth, Health and Fitness to Technology, the "Little Oxford Dictionary of Quotations" is packed full of more than 4,000 quotations on over 250 subjects.
(E?)(L?) http://www.deproverbio.com/
Founded in January 1995 as the world's first refered electronic journal of international proverb studies, De Proverbio (Latin: About the Proverb) soon became a book publisher also, devoted to paremiology (study of proverbs) and paremiography (collection of proverbs).
Eine kluge Frage ist die Hälfte des Wissens
Prudens interrogatio quasi dimidium scientiae (W3)
Diese Erkenntnis verdanken wir dem englischen Philosophen und Staatsmann Francis Bacon (1561-1626), (De dignitate et augmentis scientiae V,3, englisch, 1605, deutsch 1783).
(E?)(L?) http://www.bartleby.com/214/1400.html
The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
Vol. 4. Prose and Poetry: Sir Thomas North to Michael Drayton.
XIV. The Beginnings of English Philosophy.
Bibliography.
FRANCIS BACON
Philosophical Works (Spedding’s arrangement)
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(E?)(L?) http://www.textlog.de/3473.html
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Bacon, Francis (lat. "Baco von Verulam"), geb. 22. Januar 1561 in London als Sohn eines hohen Beamten, studierte in Cambridge, widmete sich der Jurisprudenz, wurde Kronanwalt, Mitglied des Parlaments; 1618 wurde er Lordkanzler und "Baron von Verulam", dann "Viscount von St. Albans". Er wurde (1621) der Bestechlichkeit beschuldigt und (vom Parlament) zu einer großen Geldstrafe und zum Verlust seiner Ämter verurteilt. Vom König (Jacob) begnadigt, lebte er nur noch wissenschaftlichen Studien und starb am 9. April 1626 zu Highate bei London. Sein Charakter war, wenn auch bei weitem kein fleckenloser, doch nicht so schlimm, als es oft behauptet wurde.
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George Bernhard Shaw stellte fest: "English is the easiest language to speak badly."
englishweb
(E?)(L?) http://www.englishweb.de/
Informations- und Serviceportal rund um die englische Sprache und englischsprachige Länder.
Informationen und Datenbanken zu E-Learning, um Englisch zuhause am Computer zu lernen, zu Sprachkursen, zu Sprachreisen und Nachhilfeunterricht.
Anleitungen zum Erstellen von Geschäftsbriefen für GB und die USA; Auflistung international gebräuchlicher Job-Titel und Business-Zitate;
Anschreiben und Lebenslauf in Englisch;
Wissenswertes über englischsprachige Länder, Informationen über US-Visa/Green Card und bald auch noch Reiseangebote;
Es war ein Jubeltag für die Ägyptologie, als der englische Altertumsforscher Howard Carter 1922 die mehr als 3200 Jahre alte Ruhestätte des Pharaos Tutanchamun im Tal der Könige öffnete. Doch wenige Monate später waren fünf der Archäologen und Besucher, die das Grab betreten hatten, tot. "Der Fluch des Pharao" habe die Männer umgebracht, mutmaßten damals Zeitungsreporter. Eine glaubhafte Theorie über die Todesursache wurde erst sehr viel später publik. Demnach hieß der "Täter" Aspergillus Flavus - auf Deutsch: Gelber Gießkannenschimmelpilz. Der Theorie nach hatten die Forscher in der Grabkammer Schimmel-Sporen eingeatmet. Im Freien tummeln sich bis zu 1000 Keime in einem Kubikmeter Luft. In schimmelbefallenen Räumen können es bis zu 50 000 sein. Menschen mit schwacher Gesundheit erkranken an Atemnot, Husten, Fieber - und schlimmstenfalls sterben sie sogar.
Ich war Englischlehrer in Düsseldorf 1995 bis 2004. Ich habe eine Webseite mit circa 1000 oftgesprochene Englische Redewendungen zusammengestellt.
Die Liste ist auch in Deutsch uebersetzt.
Geschäftsenglisch - Gespräche
1000 Wörter und Redewendung die man wissen muss um Englisch in Geschäftssituationen besser sprechen zu können.
Was heißt "Preisaufschlag" auf Englisch?
Was heißt "zu Stande gekommen" auf Englisch?
Was heißt "in großem Umfang" auf Englisch?
Was heißt "im Gegensatz zu" auf Englisch?
Was heißt "auf Kosten von" auf Englisch?
Egal ob man in Meetings, Verhandlungen, oder am Telefon ist, stehen unten viele passende Redewendungen zur Verfügung.
Möchten Sie das Vokabel in dem passenden Fach geordnet sein, statt alphabetisch? Möchten Sie die Redewendungen in vollen Sätzen und auch als Teil einer Diskussion?
Möchten Sie Vokabeltests auch dabei haben?
Dann kaufen Sie das Buch / E-Buch Business Englisch Conversation von Alastair Hall.
Glossar
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Die Sammlung der englischen Redewendungen enthält zwar keine Hinweise zur Herkunft, aber ist als Ideensammlung für das Etymologie-Portal dennoch ganz interessant.
H
Head over heels (W3)
(E?)(L?) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?&xml=/arts/2004/05/31/boquin.xml&page=3#all
We are so conditioned by our knowledge of idioms that we rarely stop to think about what they really mean. This example is more than a little weird when you do so – what's so strange about having one's head over one's heels? We do, after all, spend most of our waking lives in that position.
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get on one's high horse = to become offended in an angry and arrogant way = auf eine arrogante Art, höchst beleidigt zu sein; auf dem hohen Ross
Change horses midstream = Change one's opinions in the middle of something
Horses for courses = Each person or thing being employed for the purpose for which it is best suited.
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride = If things could be obtained by wishing, poor people would not be poor. (This expression is often used to bring down to earth, someone who is not being particularly realistic)
Wild horses couldn't keep me away = Nothing could keep me away.
Horse feathers! = An exclamation of disbelief
Horse trading = Making business deals after hard and skilful bargaining
A one horse town = A very small, insignificant place
"Isms" are the things the people really say when they open their mouths and speak without first engaging their brains .
J
K
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Load of codswallop, codswallop (W3)
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/235250.html
Die Herkunft dieser engl. Redewendung für "Tand" oder "unbrauchbare Idee" ist zwar nicht bekannt, aber es gibt dennoch ein paar Geschichten dazu. Die meistzitierte besagt, dass "Hiram Codd" eine Getränkehersteller im Jahr 1870 eine Technik zur Abfüllung von Limonadeflaschen entwickelte. Dabei wurde eine Glasmurmel als Stopfen in den Flaschenhals eingeführt. Der Überdruck, der beim Schütteln der Flasche entstand, presste die Glaskugel in die Flaschenöffnung. Diese Flasche hiess entsprechend "Codd bottle".
"Wallop" ist ein Slang-Ausdruck für "Bier". Und dass einem echten Biertrinker "Codd's Beer" nicht allzusehr zusagt, kann man auch heute noch nachvollziehen.
Letztlich geht es also um eine Menge "süsses Wasser", das nun mal nicht jedem schmeckt.
phrases
Phrases Thesaurus - Phrase Finder
Phrases, Sayings, Quotes and Cliches
A Phrase a week
Meanings and Origins - English Phrases - Englische Redewendungen
Gary Martin's English Phrase Etymological Dictionary
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/
Phrases Thesaurus | Meanings and origins of phrases and sayings | Discussion Forum | A Phrase A Week | Phrase Quizzes | Contacts
Popular fallacies... - Many people know the origin of 'The Whole Nine Yards', 'The Full Monty' and other common phrases - or do they?
Did you know... - how many phrases relate to parts of the human body? 20? 50? More like 350. - Phrases about the human body.
Phrases from Shakespeare - Shakespeare added more phrases to the English language than anyone else. See phrases from Shakespeare.
Misheard song lyrics - are called Mondegreens. List some classic mishearings and see where the the name comes from.
The battle of the sexes - Do we like him more than her?
Proverbs - The wisdom of the ages, condensed in these proverbs.
Animal adjectives - Don't know your bovine from your ovine? Check those, and lots more, animal adjectives
What football is all about - Don't know? Find out.
Quotes - ... or rather, quotations. A select collection.
Biblical - Sayings that originate in or are inspired by the Bible.
Euphemisms - Tell it like it is? Not when you use euphemisms.
Born in the USA - Phrases about, pretaining to, or related to the USA.
Phrases from Shakespeare: Shakespeare added more phrases to the English language than anyone else. See this list.
Looking for the meaning or origin of a phrase or saying? Here's free access to:
A list of the meanings and origins of over 2,000 English phrases and sayings. You can either browse via our A-Z Index or scan with our search engine. Whether you want to resolve a friendly argument over how a phrase originated or whether you just enjoy words, you'll probably find something here to interest you.
A Discussion Forum where you can discuss the meanings and origins of phrases or sayings with the people who know. Use the current forum to ask a question or post a reply. There's also an archive of more than 30,000 postings that you can browse or search.
Neben vielen Listen mit Phrasen findet man auch ein Kapitel "Meanings and origins of phrases and sayings" mit Hinweisen zur Herkunft von englischen Redewendungen.
Looking for the meaning or origin of a phrase, saying or idiom? Here's free access to:
Meanings and Origins ... of over 2,000 English sayings, phrases and idioms. Look them up in the A-Z Index.
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/a.html
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush | A bunch of fives | A countenance more in sorrow than in anger | A Daniel come to judgement | A diamond in the rough | A diamond is forever | A dish fit for the gods | A drop in the bucket | A fate worse than death | A feather in one's cap | A fish out of water | A fly in the ointment | A fool's paradise | A foot in the door | A foregone conclusion | A friend in need is a friend indeed | A good man is hard to find | A hard man is good to find | A hiding to nothing - On | A house divided against itself cannot stand | A knight in shining armour | À la carte | À la mode | À legend in one's own lifetime | A leopard cannot change its spots | A little bird told me | A little knowledge is a dangerous thing | A load of cobblers | A man after my own heart | A ministering angel shall my sister be | A nation of shopkeepers | A no-brainer | A picture paints a thousand words | A place for everything and everything in its place | A plague on both your houses | A priori | A riddle wrapped up in an enigma | A rose is a rose is a rose | A safe pair of hands | A sea change | A sledgehammer to crack a nut | A shot in the arm | A sight for sore eyes | A sorry sight | A thing of beauty is a joy forever | A tinker's damn | A wolf in sheep's clothing | A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle | A word in your shell-like | A1 at Lloyds | Abandon all hope ye who enter here | Abide with me | About face | About turn | Absence makes the heart grow fonder | Absent without leave | Absolute power corrupts absolutely | Accidentally on purpose | According to Hoyle | Ace in the hole | Achilles' heel | Acid test | Across the board | Act of God | Act the giddy goat | Action man | Adam's ale | Aga saga | Against the grain | Age before beauty | Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety | Agree to disagree | Aid and abet | Aide-mémoire | Air kiss | Air quotes | Al fresco | Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio | All agog | All at sea | All fingers and thumbs | All good things come to he who waits | All present and correct | All singing, all dancing | All that glitters is not gold | All things must pass | All you can eat | Alike as two peas in a pod | Alter ego | Amber nectar | An arm and a leg | An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth | An ill wind | An offer he can't refuse | An Oxford scholar | Angry young man | Ankle biter | Annus horribilis | Apple pie order | April fool | Arm candy - see ear candy | Arms akimbo | Ars longa, vita brevis | Arty-farty | As XXX as YYY | As alike as two peas in a pod | As bald as a coot | As black as Newgate's knocker | As brown as a berry | As busy as a bee | As cold as any stone | As dead as a dodo | As dead as a doornail | As easy as pie | As fine as frog's hair | As fit as a butcher's dog | As fit as a fiddle | As good as gold | As good luck would have it | As happy as a clam | As happy as Larry | As keen as mustard | As mad as a hatter | As mad as a march hare | As old as Methuselah | As old as the hills | As pleased as Punch | As queer as a nine bob note | As straight as a die | As white as snow | Ashes to ashes dust to dust | (Ask not) for whom the bell tolls | (H)asta la vista, baby | At loggerheads | At one fell swoop | At one's beck and call | At sixes and sevens | Auld lang syne
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/b.html
Baby blues | Baby boomer | Baby father | Back of beyond - The | Back-seat driver | Back the field | Back to basics | Back to the drawing board | Backroom boy | Bad books | Bad egg | Bad hair day | Badgered to death | Bag and baggage | Baker's dozen | Balance of power - The | Balance of trade - The | Bald as a coot | Ball and chain | Bandy words with | Bang on about | Baptism of fire | Barking mad | Barking up the wrong tree | Basket case | Bated breath | Bats in the belfry | Batten down the hatches | Battle royal | Be afraid, be very afraid | Be still, my beating heart | Beef and reef | Beam ends - On your | Beast with two backs | Beat about the bush | Beat swords into ploughshares | Beat a hasty retreat | Beat the living daylights out of someone | Beauty is in the eye of the beholder | Beauty is only skin deep | Beck and call | Bed of roses | Bee in your bonnet | Beelzebub has a devil for a sideboard | Been there, done that | Beer and skittles | Bee's knees - The | Beetle-browed | Before you can say Jack Robinson | Beg the question | Behind every great man there's a great woman | Behind the eight ball | Bell, book and candle | Below the belt | Below the salt | Belt and braces | Belt up | Best bib and tucker | Best laid schemes of mice and men - The | Bet your bottom dollar | Better half | Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all | Between a rock and a hard place | Between the Devil and the deep blue sea | Between two stools | Between you, me and the bed-post | Beware of Greeks bearing gifts | Beyond our ken | Beyond the pale | Biblical phrases | Big cheese - The | Big Easy - The | Big fish in a small pond | Big wig | Bill Stickers is innocent | Billy-o - Like | Billy no mates | Binge drinking | Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush - A | Birds of a feather flock together | Bite the bullet | Bite the dust | Bitter end - The | Black as Newgate's knocker | Black-on-black | Black sheep of the family | Blast from the past | Blaze a trail | Blind leading the blind - The | Bling-bling | Blonde bombshell | Blood and thunder | Blood is thicker than water | Bloody-minded | Blot on the landscape | Blow a raspberry - see raspberry tart | Blow your mind | Blow your own trumpet | Blue blood | Blue-plate special | Bob's your uncle | Bodice ripper | Body surfing | Bog standard | Bolt from the blue | Bone dry | Bone idle | Bone up on | Booby prize | Booby trap | Boogie-woogie | Booze cruise | Born again | Born with a silver spoon in one's mouth | Born within the sound of Bow Bells | Boss eyed | Bottom-up | Bought the farm | Bowled a maiden over | Box and Cox | Box-seat - in the | Brand spanking new | Brass tacks - get down to | Bread of life - The | Break a leg | Break the ice | Bricks and clicks | Broad in the beam | Brown as a berry | Brownie points | Brummagem screwdriver | Bubble and squeak | Buck stops here - The | Buckle down | Bums on seats | Bun in the oven | Bunch of fives - A | Bunny boiler | Burn the candle at both ends | Burning the midnight oil | Bury the hatchet | Bury your head in the sand | Busy as a bee | Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth | By and large | By gum | By hook or by crook | By the board | By the book | By the short hairs | By the skin of your teeth
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/c.html
Call a spade a spade | Call of the wild - The | Camera cannot lie - The | Can't hold a candle to | Canteen culture | Carbon-copy | Carbon footprint | Card-sharp | Carey Street - On | Carpe diem | Carry coals to Newcastle | Cash on the nail | Cart before the horse - Put the | Carte blanche | (Ne'er) cast a clout till May be out | Catbird seat - In the | Catch 22 | Cat's Cradle | Caught by the short hairs | Caught red-handed | Chaise lounge | Chalk and cheese | Channel surfing | Charley horse | Charm offensive | Cheap at half the price | Cherchez la femme | Chew the cud | Chick flick | Chinless wonder | Chip off the old block | Chip on his shoulder | Chit-chat | Chock-a-block | Chop and change | Chow down | Christmas box - A | Christmas card verses | Clear blue water | Climb on the bandwagon | Clod-hopper | Close, but no cigar | Close quarters | Close your eyes and think of England | Cloud cuckoo land | Cloud nine | Clue - don't have a | Cobblers - A load of | Cock-sure | Cock a snook | Cock and bull story | Cockney rhyming slang | Cogito ergo sum | Coin a phrase | Cold as any stone | Cold comfort | Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey | Cold feet | Cold shoulder | Cold turkey | Collywobbles - The | Colour up | Come a cropper | Come on down | Come up trumps | Come what come may | Comes to the crunch - (When it) | (Coming in) on a wing and a prayer | Comparisons are odious | Compassion fatigue | Cook the books | Cool Britannia | Cop an attitude | Copper-bottomed | Cor blimey | Cordon bleu | Cost an arm and a leg | Countenance more in sorrow than in anger - A | Counting sheep | Course of true love never did run smooth - The | Crack of doom - The | Crapper - The | Crocodile tears | Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war | Curate's egg | Curiosity killed the cat | Curry favour | Customer is always right - The | Cut and run | Cut of your jib - The | Cut off your nose to spite your face | Cut the mustard | Cut to the chase
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/d.html
Dance attendance on | Daniel come to judgement | Darby and Joan | Dark horse | Darling buds of May | Date rape | Davy Jones' locker | Daylight robbery | Dead as a dodo | Dead as a doornail | Dead cat bounce | Dead ringer | Designer stubble | Devil and the deep blue sea | Devil Incarnate - The | Devil take the hindmost - The | Devil to pay - The | Diamond in the rough | Diamond is forever - A | Die-hard | Die has been cast - The | Differently abled | Dirt bag | Dish fit for the gods - A | Doesn't know shit from Shinola | Dog days | Dog in the manger | Dog's bollocks | Dog's breakfast | Dog's dinner | Doldrums - in the | Done a runner | Done to a turn | Donkey's years | Don't call us, we'll call you | Don't change horses in midstream | Don't go there | Don't have a clue | Don't keep a dog and bark yourself | Don't let the bastards grind you down | Don't look a gift horse in the mouth | Don't try to teach your Grandma to suck eggs | Double Dutch | Double whammy | Down at heel | Down the pan | Down the tubes | Draw a blank | Dressed to the nines | Drink like a fish | Driving while black | Drop-dead gorgeous | Drop in the bucket - A | Dropping like flies | Drummed out of the army | Ducks and drakes | Dust up | Duvet day
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/e.html
Ear candy | Early bird catches the worm - The | Easy as pie | Eat drink and be merry | Eat humble pie | Eat my hat | Eaten out of house and home | Economical with the truth | Egg on | Eighty six | Elementary my dear Watson | Elephant in the room | Elvis has left the building | End of story | Et tu, Brute | Ethnic cleansing | Even at the turning of the tide | Everybody out | Exceedingly well read | Exception that proves the rule - The | (Ex)cuse me while I kiss this guy | Excuse my French | Extraordinary rendition | Eye candy - see ear candy | Eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/f.html
Face that launched a thousand ships - The | Face the music | Fair and square | Fair play | Fait accompli | Faith will move mountains | Fall from grace | Fall guy | Fall off the back of a lorry | Fall on your sword | Famous for fifteen minutes | Fancy free | Fancy pants | Far be it from me | Far from the madding crowd | Farmers | Fashion victim | Fast and loose | (The) fat of the land | Fate worse than death - A | Feather in one's cap - A | Feeding frenzy | Fellow traveller | Female of the species is more deadly then the male - The | Fiddling while Rome burns | Fie, foh, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman | Field day | Fifteen minutes of fame | Fifth column | Fight the good fight | Filthy rich | Fine as frog's hair | Finger lickin good | Fingers and thumbs | First water | First World | Fish or cut bait | Fish out of water - A | Fit as a butcher's dog | Fit as a fiddle | Flash in the pan | Flat out | Flavor of the month | Flesh and blood | Floozie in the jacuzzi - The | Flotsam and jetsam | Fly by the seat of one's pants | Fly in the ointment | Fly off the handle | Fly on the wall | Foam at the mouth | Fools' gold | Fool's paradise - A | Foot in the door - A | For crying out loud | For ever and a day | For every thing there is a season | For keeps | For the birds | For whom the bell tolls | Forbidden fruit | Foregone conclusion | Forgive them for they know not what they do | Foul play | Four by two | Four corners of the earth | Frailty, thy name is woman | French phrases | Friday afternoon car | Friend in need is a friend indeed - A | Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears | Frog in the throat - A | Frog's hair- as fine as | From sea to shining sea | From strength to strength | Fruits of your loins | Fuddy-duddy | Full Monty - The | Full of piss and vinegar | Full tilt | Funny farm | Fuzzy wuzzy
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/g.html
Gad zooks (or gadzooks) | Game is afoot - The | Game is up - The | Game of two halves | Gee whiz | Generation X | Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration | Get down to brass tacks | Get off on the wrong foot | Get over it | Get the sack | Get thee behind me Satan | Get underway | Get used to it | Get your dander up | Get your goat | Giddy aunt | Giddy goat | Gild the lily | Ginned up | Ginger | Ginger up | Give a wide berth | Give up the ghost | Glass ceiling | Go and boil your head | Go berserk | Go by the board | Go by the book | Go-faster | Go haywire | Go like the clappers | Go off at half cock | Go out on a limb | Go postal | Go over like a lead balloon | Going to hell in a handbasket | Go pound sand | Go to the mattresses | God is dead | God rot them | Godfrey Daniel | GOLF - Gentlemen only, ladies forbidden | Gone Dolally | Gone for a burton | Good as gold | Good in parts | Good man is hard to find - A | Good men and true | Good riddance | Good Samaritan | Goody two-shoes | Gordon Bennett | Got my mojo working | (Take with a) grain of salt | Grand slam | Granny dumping | Grass up | Great unwashed - the | Green eyed monster | Gregory Peck | Grinning like a Cheshire cat | Gry - Words ending in | Gung ho
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/h.html
Hairy eyeball | Halcyon days | Half inch | Handbags at ten paces | Hands down | Hanky-panky | Hand over fist | Happy as a clam | Happy as Larry | Happy clappy | Happy slapping | Hard and fast | Hard cheese | Hard man is good to find - A | Hark, hark! the lark at heaven's gate sings | Harp on | Hasta la vista, baby | Have a Captain Cook | Have an axe to grind | Haven't got a clue | He who can, does; he who cannot, teaches | He will give the Devil his due | Head over heels | Heads up | Hear hear | Heard it through the grapevine | Heart's content | Heavens to Betsy | Heavens to Murgatroyd | Heavy metal | Heebie-jeebies - The | Hedge your bets | Hell in a handbasket | Hell has no fury like a woman scorned | Hell or high water | Helter-skelter | Here lies one whose name is writ in water | Het up | Hiding to nothing - On a | High, wide and handsome | High and dry | High five | High on the hog | High time | Hissy fit | History is bunk | Hit the ground running | Hit the hay | Hobson's choice | Hocus pocus | Hoi polloi | Hoist by your own petard | Hoity-toity | (Can't) hold a candle to | Hold your horses | Hooray Henry | Horse and cart | Horse feathers | Horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse - A | Horse's mouth - straight from the | Hot off the press | Hot on the heels | House divided against itself cannot stand - A | Houston, we have a problem | How are the mighty fallen | How now brown cow? | How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child | Hugger-mugger | Hung, drawn and quartered | Hunky-dory | Hush puppies
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/i.html
I bear a charmed life | I have not slept one wink | I have nothing to declare but my genius | I have nothing to offer but blood toil tears and sweat | I haven't got a clue | I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips | I spy with my little eye | I will wear my heart upon my sleeve | Identity theft | If I had my druthers | If music be the food of love, play on | If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen | Ill wind | I'll go to the foot of our stairs | I'm stumped | In a pickle | In a quandary | In a trice | In an interesting condition | In like Flynn | In my mind's eye | In someone's bad books | In stitches | In the bag | In the box-seat | In the buff | In the cart | In the catbird seat | In the club | In the doldrums | In the limelight | In the offing | In the pink | In the red | In the twinkling of an eye | In trouble | In your face | Indian giver | Indian summer | Iron hoof | Is the Pope Catholic? | Is the Pope Polish? | Is this a dagger which I see before me? | It came like a bolt from the blue | It is meat and drink to me | It never rains but it pours | It's all grist to the mill | It's better to give than to receive | It's better to light a candle than curse the darkness | It's that man again | Ivory tower
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/j.html
Jack Palancing | Jack Robinson - Before you can say | Jam tomorrow | Jerry built | Jimmy Horner | Jimmy Riddle | Jobs for the boys | Join the colours | Joined at the hip | Johnny on the spot | Jot or tittle | Jump on the bandwagon | Jump the gun | Jump the shark | Just deserts | Just in time
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/k.html
Kangaroo court | Katy bar the door | Keep a wide berth | Keen as mustard | Keep body and soul together | Keep schtum | Keep a stiff upper lip | Keep the ball rolling | Keep up with the Joneses | Keep your chin up | Keep your nose to the grindstone | Keep your pecker up | Keep your powder dry | Keepy-uppy | Khyber pass | Kick the bucket | Kick your heels | Kilroy was here | King James' Version of the Bible | Kiss and tell | Kiss me Hardy | (The whole) kit and caboodle | Knee-jerk reaction | Knick-knack | Knight in shining armour | Knock back | Knock off | Knock on wood | Know the ropes | Know your onions | Know which way the wind blows | Knuckle down | Knuckle under
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/l.html
La-di-da | La dolce vita | Labour of love | Lager frenzy | Laid out in lavender | Lamb to the slaughter | Lame duck | Lardy-dardy | Lark about | Last but not least | Last straw - The | Latin Phrases | Laugh like a drain | Laughing-stock | Lay it on with a trowel | Lead balloon - Go over like a | Lead-pipe cinch | Learn the ropes | Left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing | Left in the lurch | Legend in one's own lifetime | Leopard cannot change its spots - A | Less is more | Let not the sun go down on your wrath | Let a thousand flowers bloom | Let the cat out of the bag | Let them eat cake | Let there be light | Let your hair down | Level playing field | Lick and a promise | Lick into shape | Lickety-split | Lie low | Life in the 1500s - folk etymologies | Life of Riley | Life's not all beer and skittles | Life's too short | Like a chicken with its head cut off | Like a moth to a flame | Like being savaged by a dead sheep | Like billy-o | Like the clappers | Like the Dickens | Like two peas in a pod | Little bird told me - A | Little knowledge is a dangerous thing - A | Lions led by donkeys | Live long and prosper | Living daylights | Living off the fat of the land | Living on borrowed time | Lo and behold | Load of cobblers | Load of codswallop | Loaf of bread | Local derby | Lock stock and barrel | Long in the tooth | Loose cannon | Loose lips sink ships | Lose face | Lose your marbles | Loved-up | Love that dare not speak its name - The
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/m.html
Mad as a hatter | Mad as a march hare | Magical realism | Main chance | Make a bee-line for | Make a virtue of necessity | Make haste | Make him an offer he can't refuse | Make my day | Make no bones about | Make your hair stand on end | Mal de mer | Man after my own heart - A | Man does not live by bread alone | Man's inhumanity to man | Many are called but few are chosen | Many happy returns | Marital aid | Market forces | Marry in haste, repent at leisure | May you live in interesting times | McCoy - The real | Mea culpa | Meat and drink | Meat and two veg. | Meet your Waterloo | Men in suits | Mend fences | Ménage à trois | Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water | Merry Christmas | Mexican wave | Mickey Finn | Middle of the road | Might and main | (The pen is) mightier than the sword | Mighty oaks from little acorns grow | Milk of human kindness | Minced oaths | Mind your p's and q's | Ministering angel shall my sister be - A | Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows | Misquotations | Moaning Minnie | Mondegreens | Montezuma's Revenge | Monty - The full | Moot point | Morbid obesity | More fool you | More honoured in the breach than in the observance | Morning person | Mother country | Mouth-watering | Moveable feast | Moving finger writes - The | Moving the goalposts | Much Ado about Nothing | Much of a muchness | Mud - your name is | Multitude of sins | Mumbo jumbo | Mum's the word | Music has charms to soothe the savage breast | Mutt's nuts - The | Mutt and Jeff | My bad | My better half | My cup runneth over | My giddy aunt | My husband and I | My mind's eye | My old china | My old Dutch | My salad days
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/n.html
Nail your colours to the mast | Namby-pamby | Name and shame | Name is mud | Nasty, brutish and short | Nation of shopkeepers - A | Nautical phrases | Ne'er cast a clout till May be out | Needs must | Neither a borrower nor a lender be | Neither fish nor flesh, nor good red herring | Neither here nor there | Nest-egg | Never give a sucker an even break | Never knowingly undersold | Never-never land | Never the twain shall meet | New kid on the block | Nine days' wonder | Nip and tuck | Nip in the bud | Nitty-gritty | No-brainer | No dice | No holds barred | No man is an island | No more cakes and ale? | No names: no pack-drill | No rest for the wicked | No room to swing a cat | No way, Jose | Not playing with a full deck | Not tonight Josephine | Not worth a plugged nickel | Not worth the candle | Nothing is certain but death and taxes | Nothing succeeds like success | Now is the winter of our discontent | Nul points
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/o.html
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? | O ye, of little faith | Odds bodkins | Off the record | Off with his head | Oh, they have slain the Earl of Moray and Lady Mondegreen | Okay | Okey-dokey | Old as Methuselah | Old as the hills | Old lang syne - see auld lang syne | On a hiding to nothing | On a wing and a prayer | On Carey Street | On cloud nine | On queer street | On the bubble | On the dole | On the QT | On the shoulders of giants | On the wagon | On the warpath | On with the motley | On your beam ends | On your tod | Once in a blue moon | Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more | One-hit wonder | One for the road | One over the eight | One sandwich short of a picnic | One small step for man | One stop shop | One's heart's content | Open season | (The) order of the boot | Out of sight, out of mind | Out of sorts | Out of the jaws of death | Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings | Over a barrel | Over the moon | Over the top | Overpaid, oversexed, and over here | Oxo cube
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/p.html
Paddle your own canoe | Paint the town red | Paper tiger | Pass the buck | P.D.Q. - pretty damn quick | Pearls before swine | Pears for your heirs | Peeping Tom | Peg out | Pell-mell | (The) pen is mightier than the sword | (The) penny drops | Pester power | Peter out | Physician heal thyself | Pick 'n' mix | Picture paints a thousand words - A | Picture-perfect | Pie - as easy as | Pie in the sky | Piece of cake | Piece of piss | Pig in a poke | Pigeon-chested | Pig's ear | Pig and whistle | Pin money | (Take with a) pinch of salt | Pipe down | Pipe dream | Piping hot | Place for everything and everything in its place - A | Plague on both your houses - A | Plain sailing | Plates of meat | Play by ear | Play ducks and drakes | Play fast and loose | Play it again Sam | Play the giddy goat | Play the race card | Pleased as Punch | Plugged nickel | Point Percy at the porcelain | Politically correct | Point to point | Pommy bashing | Pond life | Pony and trap | Pop goes the weasel | Pork pies | POSH - Port out, starboard home | Pot calling the kettle black - The | Pound of flesh | Pour oil on troubled waters | Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely | Power dressing | Powers that be - The | Praying at the porcelain altar | Preaching to the choir | Press into service | Prick up your ears | Prime time | Primrose path | Proof of the pudding is in the eating - The | Pull out all the stops | Pull the wool over your eyes | Pull up stakes | Pull yourself up by your bootstraps | Punch above one's weight | Push the boat out | Push the envelope | Put a damper on | Put a sock in it | Put a spanner in the works | Put on the wooden overcoat | Put on your thinking cap | Put paid to | Put the cart before the horse | Put the mockers on | Put the wood in the hole | Put up your dukes | Put your back up | Put your best foot forward | Put your nose out of joint | Pyrrhic victory
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/r.html
Rabbit and pork | Rack and ruin | Rack your brains | Rag, tag and bobtail | Raining cats and dogs | Raining stair-rods | Raise Cain | Raspberry tart | Raze to the ground | Rat arsed | Read between the lines | Read the riot act | Real McCoy | Red-handed (caught) | Red herring | Red in tooth and claw | Red letter day | Red sky at night ... | Red tape | Reduplication | Religion is the opium of the people | Rhyme nor reason | Rhyming slang | Richard of York gave battle in vain | Richard the Third | Riddle wrapped up in an enigma - A | Riding shotgun | Ring a ring o'roses, a pocketfull of posies, atishoo, atishoo, all fall down | Ring down the curtain | Ring-fencing | Ring the changes | Rinky-dink | Rise and shine | Road less travelled - The | Road apples | Road rage | Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? | Rose by any other name would smell as sweet - A | Rose is a rose is a rose | Rosie Lea | Rough diamond | Route one | Rule of thumb | Rum do | Run a mile | Run amok | Run of the mill | Run out of steam | Run the gauntlet
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/s.html
Sacred cow | Safe pair of hands - A | Safe sex | Salad days | San fairy Ann | Sandwich short of a picnic | Save face | Saved by the bell | Savoir faire | Say goodnight Gracie | Scarper | Scot free | Scott (Sir Walter - phrases coined by) | Screw your courage to the sticking place | 'Scuse me while I kiss this guy | Sea change | Sealed with a loving kiss | Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness | http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/402100.htmlSee red | Seen better days | Send packing | Senior citizen | Sent to Coventry | Separate the sheep from the goats | Set your teeth on edge | Sex and shopping | Seven-year itch | Sexton Blake | Shebang - The whole | Shaggy dog story | Shake a leg | Shakespeare (phrases and sayings of) | Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? | Shanks' mare/shanks' pony | Share and share alike | Shilly-shally | Ship shape and Bristol fashion | Shit for brains | Shiver my timbers | Shot across the bows | Shot heard 'round the world - The | Shot in the arm | Shot in the dark | Shoot through | Short shrift | Show a leg - see shake a leg | Show your mettle | Shuffle off this mortal coil | Shut your cake-hole | Sick puppy (A) | Sight for sore eyes (A) | Sir Walter Scott (phrases coined by) | Silence is golden | Sixes and sevens - At | Skid row | Skin and blister | (By the) skin of your teeth | (The) sky's the limit | Sledgehammer to crack a nut - A | Sleep like a top | Sleep tight | Sloane Ranger | Smart casual | Smoke and mirrors | So sue me | Soap-dodger | Sold down the river | Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em | Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men, have mediocrity thrust upon them | Something for the weekend sir? | Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue | Son of a gun | Sorry sight | Sound bite | Sour grapes | Space, the final frontier | Spare the rod and spoil the child | Speak of the Devil | Speak softly and carry a big stick | Special relationship | Spelling-bee | Spend a penny | Spick and span | Spill the beans | Spin doctor | Spitting image | Spruce-up | Square meal | Stand and deliver | Stand up guy | Standing on the shoulders of giants | Star-crossed lovers | Start from scratch | Stark, raving mad | Steal a march | Steal one's thunder | Sticky wicket | Stiff upper lip | Stiffen the sinews | Stone the crows | Stone's throw | Stony-hearted | Stool pigeon | Straight as a die | Straight from the horse's mouth | Strain at the leash | Stranger danger | Stuff and nonsense | Stump up | Such is life | Surf and turf | Surfing the Net/surfing the Internet/surfing the Web | Survival of the fittest | Suspension of disbelief | Swan song | Sweet Fanny Adams
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/t.html
Tail wagging the dog - The | Take a back seat | Take down a peg or two | Take the bit between your teeth | Take the cake | Take the Mickey | Take umbrage | Take with a grain of salt | Taken aback | Talk of the Devil | Talk to the hand | Talk through one's hat | Tanstaafl - (there's no such thing as a free lunch) | Tea leaf | Technicolor yawn | Teflon president | Tell it to the marines | Test your mettle - see show your mettle | That's all folks! | That's one small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind | The ants are my friends, they're blowing in the wind | The back of beyond | The balance of power | The balance of trade | The bee's knees | The best laid schemes of mice and men | The Big Easy | The bitter end | The blind leading the blind | The bread of life | The buck stops here | The call of the wild | The camera cannot lie | The collywobbles | The course of true love never did run smooth | The crack of doom | The Crapper | The customer is always right | The cut of your jib | The Devil Incarnate | The Devil take the hindmost | The Devil to pay | The die has been cast | The early bird catches the worm | The elephant in the room | The exception which proves the rule | The face that launched a thousand ships | The fat of the land | The female of the species is more deadly then the male | The floozie in the jacuzzi | The fly in the ointment | The full monty | The game is afoot | The game is up | The great unwashed | The hairy eyeball | The heebie-jeebies | The last straw | The living daylights | The love that dare not speak its name | The moving finger writes | The mutt's nuts | The pen is mightier than the sword | The pot calling the kettle black | The powers that be | The proof of the pudding is in the eating | The road less travelled | The seven-year itch | The shot heard 'round the world | The sky's the limit | The tail wagging the dog | The third degree | The triumph of hope over experience | The whole kit and caboodle | The whole nine yards | The whole shebang | The writing is on the wall | The year dot | The Yellow Peril | There are three kinds of lies... | There is no alternative | There's an R in the month | There's no such thing as a free lunch (Tanstaafl) | Thing of beauty is a joy forever - A | Things that go bump in the night | Thinking cap | Third degree - The | Third time lucky | Thorn in the flesh | Thou shalt not kill | Though this be madness, yet there is method in it | Three score and ten | Three sheets to the wind | Three strikes and you are out | Throw in the towel | Thumbs up | Thus far into the bowels of the land | Ticked off | Tickle the ivories | Tickled pink | Tie the knot | Till the cows come home | Time and tide wait for no man | Tinker's dam | Tilting at windmills | Titfer | Tits up | To a T | To be or not to be, that is the question | To boldly go where no man has gone before | To boot | To cast the first stone | To gild refined gold, to paint the lily | To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub | To the manner born | To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive | Toe the line | Toe-curling | Tomorrow is another day | Tongue in cheek | Too much of a good thing | Top dog | Top notch | Touchy-feely | Tout de suite | Tower of strength | Train surfing | Trick or treat | Trip the light fantastic | Trouble and strife | True blue | Truth will out | Tuckered out | Turn a blind eye | Turn the tables | Turn up trumps | Twelve good men and true | Twenty three skidoo | Twenty four seven | Two cents worth | Two peas in a pod
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/uv.html
underway | Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown | (The great) unwashed | (The) unkindest cut of all | Up a blind alley | Up a gum tree | Up the apples and pears | Up the duff | Up to snuff | Upset the apple-cart | Urban myth | Using a sledgehammer to crack a nut | Van surfing | Vanish into thin air | Veg out | Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things | Vice versa | Vicious circle | Vis-a-vis | Vorsprung Durch Technik
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/w.html
Walk the plank | Walter Scott (phrases coined by) | Warts and all | We are a grandmother | We are not amused | We few, we happy few, we band of brothers | We have seen better days | We know where you live | Wear the trousers | Wear your heart on your sleeve | Weasel words | Wee-wee | Well heeled | Well read | Wet behind the ears | What a piece of work is man | What are you like? | What God has joined together let no man put asunder | What part of no don't you understand? | What you see is what you get - wysiwyg | What's not to like? | What's up Doc? | When it comes to the crunch | When the shit hits the fan | Where there's muck there's brass | Whet your appetite | While you live, tell truth and shame the Devil! | Whistle and flute | White as snow | White bread | Whipping boy | White elephant | Whole kit and caboodle - The | Whole nine yards - The | Whole shebang - The | Wide berth - Keep a | Wild and woolly | Wild goose chase | Willy nilly | Win hands down | Win one for the Gipper | (On a) wing and a prayer | Wing it | Wish you were here | Woe is me | Wolf in sheep's clothing | Woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle - A | Women and children first | Word association football | Word for word | Word in your shell-like - A | Words ending in gry | Writing is on the wall - The
(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/xyz.html
Yada yada | Year dot - The | Yellow-belly | Yellow Peril | You are what you eat | You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink | You can lead a whore to culture but you can't make her think | You can't get blood out of a stone | You look as if you've been dragged through a hedge backwards | You'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent | Your money or your life | Your name is mud | You've never had it so good | Zero tolerance | Zig-zag
THE CLINK | BLACK MARKET | SON OF A GUN | PATENT LEATHER | DONE TO A TURN | BEAT AROUND THE BUSH | CUT THROUGH THE RED TAPE | MINDING YOUR Ps & Qs | GETTING TANKED | PITCHER | GETTING BOMBED | WET YOUR WHISTLE | TUMBLER & TIPSY | SAVED BY THE BELL | THRESHOLD | CHEW THE FAT | GETTING THE SHORT END OF THE STICK | BURNING THE CANDLE AT BOTH ENDS | NOT FIT TO HOLD A CANDLE TO | GETTING THE BUM'S RUSH | GIVING SOMEONE THE COLD SHOULDER | GETTING A SQUARE MEAL | FROG IN YOUR THROAT | UPPER CRUST | EATING HUMBLE PIE | TURN THE TABLES | CLEAN YOUR PLATE BEFORE YOU HAVE DESSERT | ROOM & BOARD | RULE OF THUMB | GETTING YOUR GOAT | SAVING FACE OR LOSING FACE | MIND YOUR OWN BEESWAX | STONE COLD | BABY'S HIGH CHAIR with holes in the seat (a.k.a. "drainage chair") | SPRING CLEANING | BON(e)FIRE | SLEEP TIGHT | GET OUT OF BED ON THE WRONG SIDE | TIE THE KNOT | HONEYMOON | REASON FOR CANOPY BEDS
S
signonsandiego - How strong is your knowledge of word origins?
Wenn wir heute sagen "Der Rest ist Schweigen" bzw. "The rest is silence", dann drücken wir so auch unsere Ratlosigkeit aus bzw. unser Unvermögen zu einer schwierigen Sache etwas zu sagen oder zu tun.
A1 | Abandon hope, all ye who enter here | Absence makes the heart grow fonder | According to Cocker | According to Gunter | According to Hoyle | Ace up one's sleeve | Achilles' heel/tendon | Acid test | Across the board | Action stations | Adam's ale | Adam's apple | Add insult to injury | Ad hoc | Ad-lib | Affluent society, the | After due consideration | Against the grain | Age before beauty | Agony column | Aladdin's cave | Albatross round one's neck | Alive and kicking | All and sundry | All at sea | All good things come to an end | All hell broke loose | All in a day's work | All my eye (and Betty Martin) | All over bar the shouting | All-singing, all-dancing | All that glitters is not gold | All things to all men | All to pot/Gone to pot | Alma mater | Alpha and omega | Also-ran | Am I my brother's keeper? | American dream, the | Angry young man | Annus mirabilis | Answer to a maiden's prayer | Any Tom, Dick or Harry | Anything for a quiet life | Apple of discord | Apple of one's eye | Apple-pie bed | Apple-pie order | Argus-eyed | Armed to the teeth | Arms akimbo | Artful dodger | As every schoolboy knows | As old as Methuselah | As rich as Croesus | As sure as eggs is eggs | As the actress said to the bishop | As the bell clinks, so the fool thinks | As the crow flies | Asked/given no quarter | At a loose end | At death's door | At full blast | At loggerheads | At one fell swoop | At one fell swoop | At sixes and sevens | At the drop of a hat | At the eleventh hour | At the eleventh hour | At the end of one's tether | Augur well/ill | Aunt Sally | Axe to grind...
B
Back number | Back of beyond, the | Back to basics | Back to the drawing board | Back to the wall (have one's) | Backroom boys | Bad books | Badger, to | Bad hair day | Bag and baggage | Baker's dozen | Bald as a coot | Ball is in one's court, the | Balloon goes up | Ballpark figure | Balls to the wall | Banana republic | Bandy words, to | Bandy-legged | Bank on | Baptism of fire | Bark up the wrong tree | Bats in the belfry | Battle-axe | Battle royal | Be-all and end-all | Bean-feast | Bear garden | Beard the lion in his own den | Beat a (hasty) retreat | Beat about the bush | Beat hollow | Beat the rap | Beauty and the beast | Beaver away | Beck and call, at one's | Bed of roses | Bee in one's bonnet | Bee's knees, the | Before the flood | Beggar description, belief, etc. | Beggars can't be choosers | Believe that all one's geese are swans | Bells and whistles | Bell the cat | Below the belt | Below the salt | Bend over backwards | Best bib and tucker | Best laid plans of mice and men | Best of British luck | Between a rock and a hard place | Between the devil and the deep blue sea | Between you, me and the gatepost | Beware Greeks bearing gifts | Beyond the pale | Big Apple, the | Big Brother (is watching you) | Big cheese | Bigger they are, the harder they fall, the | Birds of a feather | Bite off more than one can chew | Bite the bullet | Bite the dust | Bite the hand that feeds one | Bite the hand that feeds one | Black hole of Calcutta | Blackball, to | Black sheep | Blaze a trail | Blaze of glory | Blind leading the blind | Blood is thicker than water | Bloody but unbowed | Blot one's copybook | Blow a raspberry | Blow hot and cold | Blow one's own trumpet | Blow the gaff | Blows great guns | Blue-blooded | Blue-chip | Blue Ribbon | Blue-rinse brigade, the | Bob's your uncle | Bold as brass | Bolt from the blue | Bolt upright | Bone of contention | Bone up on | Boot is on the other foot, the | Born-again Christian | Born on the wrong side of the blanket | Born with a silver spoon in one's mouth | Bottom line | Bottomless pit | Bounden duty | Box and cox | Brand name | Brand new | Brand spanking new | Brass neck | Brave new world | Bread and circuses | Break a leg | Break one's duck | Break the bank | Break the ice | Breathe/Preach fire and brimstone | Bridge too far | Bring home the bacon | Bring to heel | Broad in the beam | Broken reed | Brownie points | Buck stops here, the | Buck the system | Bucket shop | Buggin's turn | Bulldog breed | Bum's rush | Bun-fight | Burn one's boats/bridges | Burn the candle at both ends | Burn the midnight oil | Bury the hatchet | Busman's holiday | Buy the farm | By a long chalk | By a long shot | By and by | By and large | By hook or by crook | By jingo | By Jove | By the seat of one's pants | By the skin of one's teeth...
C
Cack-handed | Cadmean victory | Caesar's wife must be above suspicion | Call a spade a spade | Call off all bets | Call one's bluff | Camp-follower | Carry coals to Newcastle | Carry the can | Carte blanche | Cash on the nail | Cast aspersions | Cast pearls before swine | Cast the first stone | Cat among the pigeons | Cat's-paw | Cat's pyjamas | Cat's whiskers | Catch-22 | Catch red-handed | Catch out | Caviare to the general | Century of the common man, the | C'est la guerre | Chalk and cheese (different as) | Chalk up | Chance one's arm | Change/Swap horses in midstream | Chapter and verse | Charity begins at home | Chattering classes, the | Cheap at half the price | Cheap jack | Cheek by jowl | Cheesed off | Chew the fat | Chew the rag | Chickens will come home to roost, one's | Chinese fire drill | Chip in | Chip off the old block | Chip on one's shoulder | Chock-a-block/Chock full | Chop and change | Circle the wagons | Clapped out | Clean as a whistle | Clean bill of health | Clean slate | Clean sweep | Clean the Augean stables | Cleanliness is next to godliness | Clear the decks (for action) | Clip one's wings | Cloak-and-dagger | Clockwork orange | Close one's eyes and think of England | Cloud-cuckoo-land | Clutch at straws | Coast is clear, the | Cobbler should stick to his last, the | Cock-a-hoop | Cock a snook at (someone) | Cock and bull story | Cold as charity | Cold-blooded | Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey | Cold feet | Cold shoulder | Cold turkey | Come a cropper | Come hell or high water | Come home to roost | Come out of one's shell | Come up to scratch | Come up trumps | Come within an ace of | Confusion worse confounded | Cook one's goose | Copper-bottomed | Copybook | Corridors of power | Cost an arm and a leg | Cotton on | Could sleep on a clothes line | Counsel of perfection | Course of true love never did run smooth, the | Cover a multitude of sins | Cover ones' ass | Crack of doom | Credibility gap | Criss-cross | Crocodile tears | Cross one has to bear, the | Cross the Rubicon | Cry all the way to the bank | Cry havoc | Cry wolf | Cuckoo in the nest | Cup that cheers, the | Curate's egg, like the | Curry favour | Curtain lecture | Customer is always right, the | Cut and dried | Cut and run | Cut and thrust | Cut no ice | Cut the mustard | Cut to the chase | Cut to the quick...
D
Damn with faint praise | Dance attendance on | Daniel come to judgement, a | Daniel in the lion's den | Darby and Joan | Dark horse | David and Goliath | Davy Jones's locker | Day of Judgement | Days are numbered, one's | Dead as a dodo | Dead as a door-nail | Dead duck | Dead in the water | Dead ringer | Dead Sea fruit | Dead to the world | Dear-John letter | Derring-do | Devil to pay, the | Devil's advocate | Die-hard | Die is cast, the | Discretion is the better part of valour | Dish one's chances | Divide and rule | Do as you would be done by | Dog-days | Dog in the manger | Dog's life | Donkey's years | Don't look a gift-horse in the mouth | Doolally tap | Doss-house | Dot the i's and cross the t's | Double Dutch | Double quick/At the double | Double whammy | Doubting Thomas | Down at heel | Down in the dumps | Draw a blank | Draw one's horns in | Draw the line | Draw the short straw | Dreaming spires | Dressed to the nines | Drive a coach and horses through | Drop a brick | Drum up | Dunkirk spirit | Dutch courage | Dutch treat | Dutch uncle | Dyed-in-the-wool...
E
Eager beaver | Eagle-eyed | Ear to the ground | Ears are burning, one's | Eat, drink and be merry | Eat humble pie | Eat your heart out | Egg on | Elephant never forgets, an | Eleventh hour | Elvis has left the building | Elysium/Elysian Fields | =C9minence grise | Emperor's new clothes, the | Englishman's home is his castle, an | Enter the lion's den | Ethnic cleansing | Every cloud has a silver lining | Every jot at tittle | Every man jack | Exception proves the rule, the | Eye for an eye, an...
F
Face the music | Fag-end | Fagged out | Fair and square | Fair game | Fair to middling | Fall foul of | Fall from grace | Fall guy | Fall of man | Fall on deaf ears | Fall on stony ground | Far cry from, a | Fat is in the fire, the | Feather in one's cap | Feather one's nest | Feeding frenzy | Feet of clay | Ferret (out) | Few and far between | Fiddle while Rome burns | Field-day | Fifth column | Fight like Kilkenny cats | Fill/Fit the bill | Filthy lucre | Fingers crossed | Firing on all cylinders | First-rate | Fit as a fiddle | Flavour of the month | Flea-bite | Flea market | Flea in one's ear, (get) a | Flog a dead horse | Flotsam and jetsam | Flutter the dovecotes | Fly a kite | Fly-by-night | Fly in the face of | Fly in the ointment | Fly off the handle | Flying saucer | Fool's gold | Fool's paradise | Fools rush in where angels fear to tread | Foot the bill | Footloose and fancy free | For the high jump | Forbidden fruit | Foregone conclusion | Fork out/up | Forlorn hope | Forty winks | Four-flusher | Fourth Estate, the | Fred Karno's Army | French leave | Fresh as a daisy | Fresh fields | Freudian slip | Friendly fire | From pillar to post | From the sublime to the ridiculous | Full Monty | Full of beans...
G
Game for | Game is up, the | Game not worth the candle, a | Game plan | Garbage in garbage out | Get down to brass tacks | Get down to the nitty-gritty | Get it in the neck | Get one's back up | Get one's dander up | Get one's goat | Get out of bed on the wrong side | Get/Give the bird | Get the bit between one's teeth | Get the sack... | Gift of the gab | Gild the lily | Gilt-edged | Gird up one's loins | Give a dog a bad name | Give a wide berth | Give one a break | Give one's right arm for | Give the thumbs up/down | Give up the ghost | Gives one the willies | Gnashing of teeth | Go AWOL | Go back to the drawing-board | Go bald-headed | Go berserk | Go by the board | Go Dutch | Go for broke | Go great guns | Go haywire | Go off half-cocked | Go/Put through the hoop | Go to hell in a handbasket | Go to the wall | Go west | Golden age | Golden calf | Gone for a Burton | Gone to pot | Gone to the dogs | Good books | Good/Bad/Lucky break | Good innings (have a) | Good riddance to bad rubbish | Good Samaritan | Good wine needs no bush | Goody two-shoes | Gordian knot | Gordon Bennett | Grand Guignol | Grand Poo-Bah, the | Grasp the nettle | Grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, the | Grass roots, the | Grass widow | Gravy train | Great I am, the | Great Scott! | Great unwashed, the | Great white hope | Green-eyed monster | Green with envy | Grin like a Cheshire cat | Grind the faces of the poor | Grist to the mill | Grub Street | Guinea-pig | Gung-ho...
H
Hack-work | Hack writer | Hail-fellow-well-met | Hail from | Hair of the dog | Hair-raising | Halcyon days | Half-seas-over | Ham actor | Hamlet without the prince | Hammer and tongs | Hand over fist | Hang by a thread | Hang in the balance | Hang fire | Hang on like/for grim death | Hang out | Hangdog look | Hanged, drawn and quartered | Hanky-panky | Happy as a sandboy | Happy as Larry | Hard and fast | Hard-boiled | Hard lines | Hard up | Hark back (to) | Hat trick | Hatchet job | Hatchet man | Haul over the coals | Have a bone to pick with someone | Have a few tricks up one's sleeve | Have a nice day | Have one's chips | Have one's work cut out for one | Have the ball at one's feet | He who laughs last laughs longest | He who pays the piper calls the tune | Head in the sand | Head on a platter/plate | Head over heels | Heap coals of fire (on someone's head) | Heath Robinson | Hell for leather | Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned | Hewers of wood (and drawers of water) | Hide a multitude of sins | Hide one's light under a bushel | High and dry | High dudgeon | High jinks | Hit and run | Hit/knock for six | Hitch one's wagon to a star | Hobson's choice | Hocus-pocus | Hoi polloi | Hoist by one's own petard | Hold forth | Hold the fort | Hold the purse-strings | Holier-than-thou | Holy Grail | Holy of holies, the | Home straight/stretch | Home sweet home | Hook, line and sinker, (swallow) | Hop the twig | Hope springs eternal (in the human breast) | How the other half lives | Hue and cry | Hydra-headed...
I
If the cap fits | Idol with feet of clay | Ignorance is bliss | Ill-gotten gains | Ill-starred | In a cleft stick | In a nutshell | In a pickle | In bad odour | In clink | In cold blood | In extremis | In fine fettle | In like Flynn | In limbo | In lumber | In one's black books | In one's heart of heart | In one's true colours | In purdah | In the bag | In the cart | In the doghouse | In the doldrums | In the lap of the gods | In the limelight | In the melting pot | In the offing | In the pink | In the pipeline | In the red | In the swim | In the twinkling of an eye | Indian giver | Indian Summer | Iron curtain | Iron fist/hand in the velvet glove | It takes all sorts to make a world | It's all Greek to me | It's an ill wind | It's not over until the fat lady sings | Ivory tower...
J
Jack of all trades | Jam today | Janus-like | Jekyll and Hyde | Jerry-built | Job's comforter | John Bull | John Doe | Journey's end | Jump on the bandwagon | Jump the gun...
K
Kangaroo court | Keep at bay | Keep mum | Keep one's pecker up | Keep one's powder dry | Keep posted | Keep the wolf from the door | Keep up with the Joneses | Keep your shirt on | Kick against the pricks | Kick one's heels | Kick over the traces | Kick the bucket | Kick up a shindy | Kill the fatted calf | Kill the goose that lays the golden egg | Kilroy was here | Kingdom come | Kiss of death | Kiss the Blarney Stone | Kith and kin | Knight in shining armour | Knock into a cocked hat | Knock spots off | Knock the gilt off the gingerbread | Know how many beans make five | Know one's beans | Know/Learn the ropes | Knuckle under/down | Kowtow to...
L
La-di-da | Lady Bountiful | Laissez-faire | Lamb to the slaughter | Lame duck | Land of Nod | Lark (about) | Last ditch (effort) | Last laugh, (the) | Last/Final straw | Last trump | Laugh up one's sleeve | Law is an ass, the | Law of the jungle | Law unto oneself | Lay it on with a trowel | Lead by the nose | Lead on, Macduff | Lead up the garden path | Leading question | Leap in the dark | Leave in the lurch | Leave no stone unturned | Leopard can't change his spots, a | Let the cat out of the bag | Let the dead bury their dead | Level best | Lick and a promise | Lick into shape | Like a cat on hot bricks | Like a house on fire | Like billy-o(h)/billio | Like Caesar's wife | Like the Marie C=E9leste | Like Topsy | Lily-livered | Lion's share | Lip service | Lips are sealed, one's | Little bird told me, a | Live off the fat of the land | Live the life of Riley | Live to fight another day | Load of cobblers, a | Load of codswallop, a | Load the dice against (someone) | Lock, stock and barrel | Long in the tooth | Long shot | Long time no see | Look as though one has stepped out of a bandbox | Look to one's laurels | Loose cannon | Lose one's bottle | Lose one's rag | Lotus-eater | Lynch law...
M
Mad as a hatter | Mad as a March hare | Maddening crowd | Made of sterner stuff | Mailed fist | Make a beeline for | Make a hash of | Make a mountain out of a molehill | Make a pig's ear of | Make assurance doubly sure | Make bricks without straw | Make do and mend | Make ends meet | Make hay while the sun shines | Make no bones about | Make one's blood boil | Make one's hackles rise | Make one's hair stand on end | Make short shrift of | Make the fur fly | Make the grade | Man of straw | Man of the world | Man on the Clapham omnibus, the | Manna from heaven | Man's inhumanity to man | Mare's nest | Mark, learn and inwardly digest | Mark/Brand of Cain | Mata Hari | Matin=E9e idol | Mealy-mouthed | Meet one's Waterloo | Mend fences | Mentioned in dispatches | Method in one's madness | Mickey mouse | Midas touch | Middle of the road | Midsummer madness | Might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb | Milk and honey | Milk of human kindness | Millstone round one's neck | Mind one's p's and q's | Miss is as good as a mile, a | Miss the bus | Moaning Minnie | Molotov cocktail | Moment of truth | Money is the root of all evil | Moot point, a | More honoured in the breach than the observance | More sinned against than sinning | More than one string to one's bow | Mountain will not come to Mohammed, if the | Movable feast | Mrs Grundy | Much of a muchness | Mumbo-jumbo | Mum's the word | Murphy's Law...
N
Nail one's colours to the mast | Namby-pamby | Name is mud, one's | Navel gazing | Near the knuckle | Neck and neck | Neck of the woods | Neck or nothing | Needle in a haystack | Neither rhyme nor reason | Nelson touch | Nest-egg | New broom | New Jerusalem | Nine day's wonder | Nineteen to the dozen | Nip in the bud | No flies on ... | No great shakes | No holds barred | No love lost | No-man's-land | No names, no pack-drill | No news is good news | No one can serve two masters | No respecter of persons | No strings attached | Nod is as good as a wink, a | Nodding acquaintance | Nose to the grindstone | Nosey parker | Not a cat in hell's chance | Not a dog's chance | Not a patch on | Not a sausage | Not as black as one is painted | Not care/give a rap | Not cricket | Not enough room to swing a cat | Not fit to hold a candle to | Not on your nellie | Not one's pigeon | Not set the Thames on fire | Not to be sneezed at | Not to mince matters/one's words | Not worth a plugged nickel | Not worth a tinker's damn/cuss | Notch up (a score, etc.) | Nudge, nudge, wink, wink | Number is up, one's...
O
Odour of sanctity | Oedipus complex | Of the first water | Off beam | Off one's own bat | Off the beaten track | Off the cuff | Old Adam, the | Old bat | Old Bill, the | Old-boy network | Old chestnut | Old Spanish custom, an | Old warhorse | Old wive's tale | Olive branch | On a shoestring | On a sticky wicket | On a wing and a prayer | On cloud nine | On one's beam-ends | On one's high horse | On/Riding one's hobbyhorse | On one's tod | On one's uppers | On tenterhooks | On the ball | On the breadline | On the cards | On the grapevine | On the horns of a dilemma | On the nail | On the right/wrong tack | On the side of angels | On the slate | On the spur of the moment | On the stocks | On the wagon | On the warpath | On tick | Once in a blue moon | One man's meat is another man's poison | One over the eight | One swallow does not make a summer | Open sesame | Original sin | Ostrich-like | Other irons in the fire | Ours is not to reason why | Out for the count | Out-Herod Herod | Out of the ark | Out of the blue | Out of the frying pan into the fire | Out of the running | Out on a limb | Over a barrel | Over-egg the pudding | Over the moon | Over the top | Own goal (score an)...
P
Paddle one's own canoe | Paint the town red | Painted Jezebel | Palm off | Pan out | Pandora's box | Paper tiger | Par for the course | Pardon my French | Parkinson's law | Part and parcel of | Parthian shot | Parting of the ways | Parting shot | Pass muster | Pass round the hat | Pass the buck | Past master | Pastures new | Patience of Job | Pay on the nail | Pay through the nose | Pear-shaped | Pearly gates | Pecking order | Peeping Tom | Peg away | Peg out | Pell-mell | Penny has dropped, the | Philosopher's stone | Phoenix from the ashes | Picture paints a thousand words, a | Pidgin English... | Pie in the sky | Pig in the poke | Pigeon-hole | Piggy in the middle | Pin money | Pine away | Pipe down | Pipe dream | Piping hot | Pitched battle | Place in the sun | Plain as a pikestaff | Plain sailing | Play ball | Play by ear | Play ducks and drakes with | Play fast and loose | Play havoc | Play one's ace | Play one's cards close to one's chest | Play possum | Play second fiddle | Play the fool | Play to the gallery | Pleased as Punch | Ploughman's lunch | Plumb the depths | Poetic justice | Poetic licence | Point-blank | Poisoned chalice | Poker-faced | Politically correct | Pontius Pilate | Pooh-Bah | Pooh-pooh | Possession is nine points of the law | Post-haste | Pot calling the kettle black, the | Pound of flesh | Pour cold water on | Pour oil on troubled waters | Power corrupts, (all) | Powers that be | Press-gang | Pretty/Fine kettle of fish | Pride goes before a fall | Prima donna | Primrose path | Prodigal son | Promised Land | Pros and cons | Pull one's chestnuts out of the fire | Pull one's leg | Pull one's weight | Pull out all the stops | Pull strings | Pull the wool over one's eyes | Pull one's finger out | Purple patch/passage | Push the boat out | Push the envelope | Pussyfoot around | Put a sock in it | Put a spoke in one's wheel | Put on ice | Put on one's thinking cap | Put on the back burner | Put on the slate | Put one's back up | Put one's foot in it | Put one's oar in | Put one's shoulder to the wheel | Put paid to | Put the cart before the horse | Put the dampers on | Put the kibosh on | Put the screws on | Put through the mill | Pyrrhic victory...
Q
Queer one's pitch | Queer Street, in...
R
Rack and ruin | Rack one's brains | Radio ham | Rain cats and dogs | Raise Cain | Rank and file | Rap one's knuckles | Rat race | Rats leave a sinking ship | Read between the lines | Read the riot act | Real McCoy, the | Red herring | Red letter day | Red rag to a bull | Red tape | Rest on one's laurels | Revenons à nos moutons | Rich as Croesus | Ride roughshod over | Rift in the lute | Right as ninepence | Right-hand man | Ring a bell | Ring the changes | Ring true/Have the ring of truth | Rip van Winkle | Rise to the bait | Road to Damascus | Rob Peter to pay Paul | Robin Hood | Rome was not built in a day | Root and branch | Rope in | Roses all the way | Rough-and-tumble | Round-robin | Round the bend | Rub it in | Rub salt in the wound | Rub up the wrong way | Rule of thumb | Rule the roost | Rule with a rod of iron | Run amok | Run for one's money (have a [good]) | Run of the mill | Run the gamut | Run the gauntlet | Run to earth...
S
Sacred cow | Sadder but/and wiser | Safe pair of hands | Sail close to the wind | Sail under false colours | Salad days | Salt away | Salt of the earth, the | Sands of time (running out) | Save for a rainy day | Save one's bacon | Saved by the bell | Saving grace | Scarlet woman | Score a duck | Scot-free | Scotch mist | Scrape the (bottom of the) barrel | Scylla and Charybdis | Sea-change | Sea-lawyer | Seal of approval | Seal one's fate | Seamy side | Second nature | Second string | See a man about a dog | See the big picture | See the error of one's ways | See the light | Sell down the river | Sell one's birthright for a mess of pottage | Send to Coventry | Separate the sheep from the goats | Separate the wheat from the chaff | Sere and yellow, the | Set off on the right/wrong foot | Set the seal on | Settle a score | Settle one's hash | Seven years' bad luck | Seventh heaven | Shake a stick at | Shake the dust off one's feet | Shanks's pony | Shape of things to come, the | Sheet anchor | Shell out | Shell-shocked | Shilly-shally | Ships that pass in the night | Shipshape and Bristol fashion | Short shrift | Shot across the bows, a/in the arm/dark, a | Shoot one's bolt | Show a leg | Show the white feather | Sick as a parrot | Sign the pledge | Silly Billy | Silly season, the | Sir Galahad | Siren voices/song | Sisyphean task | Sixty-four-thousand-dollar-question, the | Skeleton at the feast | Skeleton in the cupboard | Skid Row, on | Slap up meal | Sleep like a top | Sleep tight | Sling one's hook | Slough of despond | Slush fund | Small beer | Smart Alec | Smell a rat | Smoking gun | Snake/Viper in one's bosom | Snake in the grass | Snug as a bug in a rug, as | So near and yet so far | Soap opera | Sodom and Gomorrah | Soft pedal | Soft soap | Sold a pup | Sold for a song | Son of a gun | Sour grapes | Sow one's wild oats | Sow the dragon's teeth | Spanish Inquisition | Spare the rod and spoil the child | Speak of the devil | Sphinx-like | Spick and span | Spike somebody's guns | Spill the beans | Spin doctor | Spirit is willing, the | Spitting image | Splice the mainbrace | Spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar | Square meal | Squeaky clean | Stalking horse | Stamping ground | Start from scratch | Start the ball rolling | Start with a clean slate | Steal a march on | Steal someone's thunder | Sterling qualities | Stick in the mud | Stick one's neck out | Stick to one's guns | Stiff upper lip | Still small voice | Sting in the tail | Stony broke | Stool pigeon | Storm in a teacup | Straight and narrow | Straight from the horse's mouth | Straight from the shoulder | Straight-laced | Strain at a gnat | Straw poll | Straw in the wind | Straw that broke the camel's back | Streets paved with gold | Strike while the iron is hot | String along | Stuffed shirt | Stumbling block | Stump up | Suffer fools gladly | Survival of the fittest | Swallow the bait | Swan-song | Sweep the board | Sweet Fanny Adams/Sweet FA | Sweetness and light | Swing the lead | Swings and roundabouts | Sword of Damocles...
T
Tabloid journalism | Take a back seat | Take a dekko | Take a leaf from/out of someone's book | Take a rain-check | Take a rise out of someone | Take aback | Take an early bath | Take down a peg | Take (someone) for a ride | Take one's hat off to someone | Take one's hook | Take pains | Take pot-luck | Take the bit between one's teeth | Take the bull by the horns | Take the cake/biscuit | Take the gilt off the gingerbread | Take the mickey | Take the rap | Take the wind out of one's sails | Take time by the forelock | Take to task | Take to the cleaners | Take umbrage | Take under one's wing | Take up the gauntlet | Take with a pinch of salt | Taken for a ride | Talk gibberish | Talk the hind legs off a donkey | Talk turkey | Tall-poppy syndrome | Tammany Hall | Tarred with the same brush | Teach one's grandmother to suck eggs | Tell it to the Marines | That's (just) the ticket | That's your pigeon | There but for the grace of God (go I) | Thereby hangs a tale | There's more than one way to skin a cat | There's no place like home | There's no such thing as a free lunch | There's nothing new under the sun | There's the rub | They also serve who only stand and wait | Thick as thieves | Thin end of the wedge | Third degree | Third world | Thirty pieces of silver | Thorn in the flesh | Thrash out | Three Rs, the | Three score and ten | Three sheets to the wind | Throw down the gauntlet | Throw in the towel/Throw up the sponge | Throw one's hat in the ring | Throw the book at | Thumbs up/down | Tie the knot | Tie up the loose ends | Tilt at windmills | Time immemorial | Tit for tat | Tittle-tattle | To a T | To boot | To the bitter end | To the manner born | To the nth degree | Toe-rag | Toe the line | Tongue in cheek | Tooth and nail | Top brass | Top drawer | Touch and go | Touch wood | Tower of Babel | Tower of strength | Trim one's sails | Trip the light fantastic | Trojan horse | Trump card | Trump one's ace | Turn a blind eye | Turn over a new leaf | Turn the other cheek | Turn the tables | Turn turtle | Turn-up for the books, a | Tweedledum and Tweedledee | Twinkling of an eye | Two bites at the (same) cherry | Two-faced...
U
Ugly duckling | Unacceptable face of | Uncle Sam | Uncle Tom | Under the aegis of | Under the auspices of | Under the weather | Unkindest cut of all | Until the cows come home | Unvarnished truth | Up a gum-tree | Up one's sleeve | Up the pole | Up the spout | Up to scratch | Up to the ears | Up to the mark | Upset the apple-cart...
V
Vaulting ambition | Vested interest | Vexed question | Vicar of Bray | Vicious circle | Viper in one's bosom | Voice crying in the wilderness...
W
Wages of sin | Walked over one's grave, someone has just | Walls have ears, the | Walter Mitty | Warm the cockles of one's heart | Warning shot | Warp and woof | Warts and all | Wash one's dirty linen in public | Wash one's hands of | Weakest to the wall | Weapon of mass destruction | Wear one's heart on one's sleeve | Wearing/in sackcloth and ashes | Weasel words | Well-heeled | Welsh Rabbit | Wet behind the ears | Wet blanket | What the dickens | Wheel has come full circle, the | Wheeler-dealer | Wheels within wheels | When one's ship comes home | When the chips are down | Whip round | Whipping boy | Whistle for it/for the wind | White elephant | White Knight | White lie | Whited sepulchre | Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel? | Whole caboodle, the | Whole new ball-game | Whole nine yards, the | Wide of the mark | Widow's peak | Widow's weeds | Wild-goose chase | Will o' the wisp | Willy-nilly | Win at a canter | Win hands down | Win one's spurs | Wind of change | Winter of discontent | Wipe the slate clean | Wisdom/Judgement of Solomon | With a straight bat | With bated breath | With flying colours | With knobs on | Within an ace of | Wolf in sheep's clothing | Wooden horse | Wooden spoon | Wool-gathering | Work like a Trojan | World is one's oyster, the | Worth one's salt | Would not say boo to a goose | Would not touch with a barge-pole | Writing is on the wall, the | Wrong side of the tracks...
usingenglish - Dictionary of English Idioms & Idiomatic Expressions
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/
An "idiom" is a phrase where the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words, which can make idioms hard for ESL students and learners to understand. Here, we provide a dictionary of 2,979 English idiomatic expressions with definitions.
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/a.html
~ A ~ | 168 Idioms Beginning With 'A' (17.01.2009)
A bit much | A chain is no stronger than its weakest link | A day late and a dollar short | A fool and his money are soon parted | A fool at 40 is a fool forever | A hitch in your giddy-up | A lick and a promise | A little bird told me | A little learning is a dangerous thing | A long row to hoe | A lost ball in the high weeds | A OK | A penny for your thoughts | A penny saved is a penny earned | A picture is worth a thousand words | A poor man's something | A pretty penny | A problem shared is a problem halved | A rising tide lifts all boats | A rolling stone gathers no moss | A slice off a cut loaf is never missed | A steal | A still tongue keeps a wise head | A watched pot never boils | A1 | Abide by a decision | Abject lesson | About as useful as a chocolate teapot | About face | Above par | Absence makes the heart grow fonder | Accident waiting to happen | Ace in the hole | Ace up your sleeve | Achilles' heel | Acid test | Across the board | Across the ditch | Across the pond | Act of God | Act of war | Actions speak louder than words | Adam's apple | Add fuel to the fire | Add insult to injury | After your own heart | Against the clock | Against the grain | Age before beauty | Agony aunt | Ahead of the pack | Ahead of time | Air your dirty laundry in public | Albatross around your neck | Alike as two peas | Alive and kicking | All along | All and sundry | All bark and no bite | All bets are off | All dressed up and nowhere to go | All ears | All eyes on me | All fingers and thumbs | All hat, no cattle | All heart | All hell broke loose | All in a day's work | All in your head | All mod cons | All mouth and trousers | All my eye and Peggy Martin | All of the above | All over bar the shouting | All over the map | All over the place | All over the shop | All over the show | All roads lead to Rome | All set | All sixes | All skin and bone | All square | All talk and no trousers | All that glitters is not gold | All the rage | All the tea in China | All your eggs in one basket | All's fair in love and war | All's well that ends well | All-singing, all-dancing | Alter ego | Always a bridesmaid, never a bride | Ambulance chaser | Amen | An apple a day keeps the doctor away | An old flame | An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure | And all that jazz | Angry as a bear | Angry as a bull | Answers on a postcard | Ants in your pants | Any port in a storm | Any Tom, Dick or Harry | Apple of your eye | Apple pie order | Apples and oranges | Apples for apples | Apron strings | Argue the toss | Arm and a leg | Armchair critic | Armed to the teeth | Around the clock | Arrow in the quiver | As a rule | As cold as ice | As cold as stone | As good as new | As mad as a hatter | As mad as a wrongly shot hog | As much use as a chocolate fire-guard | As much use as a chocolate teapot | As much use as a handbrake on a canoe | As neat as a new pin | As one man | As the actress said to the bishop | As the crow flies | As you sow, so shall you reap | Asleep at the switch | Asleep at the wheel | At a drop of a dime | At a loose end | At a loss | At a snail's pace | At arm's length | At cross purposes | At daggers drawn | At death's door | At each other's throats | At full tilt | At large | At loggerheads | At loose ends | At odds | At sea | At the bottom of the totem pole | At the coalface | At the drop of a hat | At the end of the day | At the end of your rope | At the end of your tether | At the fore | At the top of my lungs | At the top of the list | At the top of your lungs | At the top of your voice | At your wit's end | At your wits' end | Average Joe | Avowed intent | Away with the fairies | Awe inspiring | AWOL | Axe to grind
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/b.html
~ B ~ | 286 Idioms Beginning With 'B' (17.01.2009)
Babe in arms | Babe in the woods | Baby boomer | Back burner | Back foot | Back number | Back the wrong horse | Back to back | Back to the drawing board | Back to the salt mine | Back to the wall | Backseat driver | Bad Apple | Bad blood | Bad egg | Bad hair day | Bad mouth | Bad shape | Bad taste in your mouth | Bad workers always blame their tools | Bag of bones | Bag of nerves | Baker's dozen | Bald as a coot | Ball is in your court | Ballpark figure | Balls to the walls | Banana republic | Banana skin | Bandit territory | Baptism of fire | Bar fly | Bare your heart | Barefaced liar | Bark is worse than their bite | Barking up the wrong tree | Barkus is willing | Barrack-room lawyer | Barrel of laughs | Basket case | Bat an eyelid | Bated breath | Batten down the hatches | Battle of nerves | Be all ears | Be careful what you wish for | Be on the pig's back | Be out in force | Be out in left field | Be that as it may | Be true blue | Be up the spout | Bean counter | Bear fruit | Bear market | Bear the brunt | Beard the lion in his own den | Beat about the bush | Beat someone to the draw | Beat swords into ploughshares | Beat the daylights out of someone | Beat the rap | Beat to the punch | Beat your brains out | Beating a dead horse | Beauty is in the eye of the beholder | Beauty is only skin deep | Beck and call | Bedroom eyes | Bee in your bonnet | Beeline for | Been in the wars | Been there, done that | Beer and skittles | Bee's Knees | Before the ink is dry | Before you can say Jack Robinson | Beg the question | Beggars can't be choosers | Behind bars | Behind closed doors | Behind someone's back | Behind the eight ball | Behind the times | Believe in the hereafter | Bells and whistles | Bells on | Belly up | Below par | Below the belt | Belt and braces | Belt and suspenders | Bend over backwards | Bend someone's ear | Benjamin of the family | Beside the point | Beside themselves | Beside yourself | Best of a bad bunch | Best of both worlds | Best thing since sliced bread | Bet your bottom dollar | Better half | Better late than never | Better safe than sorry | Better than a kick in the teeth | Better than a stick in the eye | Better the devil you know | Between a rock and a hard place | Between the devil and the deep blue sea | Between you and me and the cat's whiskers | Beyond a shadow of a doubt | Beyond belief | Beyond our ken | Beyond the black stump | Beyond the pale | Big bucks | Big cheese | Big Easy | Big fish | Big fish in a small pond | Big girl's blouse | Big hitter | Big nose | Big picture | Big time | Bigger fish to fry | Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush | Bird-brain | Birds and the bees | Bird's eye view | Birds of a feather flock together | Birthday suit | Bit between your teeth | Bit part | Bit player | Bite off more than you can chew | Bite someone's head off | Bite the bullet | Bite the dust | Bite your lip | Bite your tongue | Bits and bobs | Bitter end | Bitter pill to swallow | Black and blue | Black and white | Black as Newgate's knocker | Black hole | Black sheep | Blackball | Blank cheque | Bleeding edge | Bleeding heart | Bless your pointy little head | Blessing in disguise | Blind acceptance | Blind as a bat | Blind leading the blind | Blind-sided | Blink of an eye | Blood and thunder | Blood from a turnip | Blood is thicker than water | Blood is worth bottling | Blood out of a stone | Blood, sweat and tears | Blow a gasket | Blow by blow | Blow hot and cold | Blow me down | Blow off steam | Blow out of the water | Blow smoke | Blow the cobwebs away | Blow the whistle | Blow your mind | Blow your own horn | Blow your own trumpet | Blow your stack | Blow your top | Blue blood | Blue-eyed boy | Bob's your uncle | Body politic | Bold as brass | Bolt from the blue | Bone of contention | Bone to pick | Boot is on the other foot | Born to the purple | Born with a silver spoon in your mouth | Both ends meet | Bottom line | Bounce ideas | Bounce off the walls | Bouquet of orchids | Box and dice | Box clever | Boxing and coxing | Boys in blue | Brain surgery | Brass monkey | Brass neck | Brass tacks | Bread and butter | Breadwinner | Break a leg | Break even | Break ground | Break the back of the beast | Break the ice | Break your duck | Break your heart | Breathe down your neck | Breathe life into | Breathe your last | Bridge the gap | Bright and breezy | Bright as a button | Brighten up the day | Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed | Bring a knife to a gunfight | Bring home the bacon | Bring on board | Bring someone to book | Bring someone to heel | Bring the house down | Bring to the table | Broad church | Broad strokes | Broke as a joke and it ain't funny | Broken record | Brown nose | Browned off | Brownie points | Brush under the carpet | Buggles' turn | Bull in a China shop | Bull market | Bull session | Bull-headed | Bums on seats | Bun in the oven | Bundle of nerves | Bur under my saddle | Burn rubber | Burn the candle at both ends | Burn the midnight oil | Burn your bridges | Burn your fingers | Burning question | Burst at the seams | Bury the hatchet | Bury your head in the sand | Busman's holiday | Bust my chops | Busted flush | Busy as a beaver | Busy as a bee
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/c.html
~ C ~ | 207 Idioms Beginning With 'C' (17.01.2009)
Cake's not worth the candle | Calf lick | Call a spade a spade | Call it a day | Call on the carpet | Call the dogs off | Call the shots | Call the tune | Calm before the storm | Can of worms | Canary in a coal mine | Can't dance and it's too wet to plow | Can't do it for toffee | Can't hack it | Can't hold a candle | Can't see the forest for its trees | Card up your sleeve | Carpetbagger | Carrot and stick | Carry the can | Carry the day | Case by case | Case in point | Cash cow | Cash in your chips | Cast a long shadow | Cast aspersion | Cast doubt on | Cast iron stomach | Cast pearls before swine | Cast sheep's eyes at | Cast your mind back | Cast your net widely | Casting vote | Castles in the air | Cat among the pigeons | Cat and dog life | Cat burglar | Cat fur and kitty britches | Cat got your tongue? | Cat nap | Catch as catch can | Catch hell | Catch some z's | Catch someone red-handed | Catch-22 | Cat's lick | Cat's pajamas | Cat's whiskers | Chalk and cheese | Champ at the bit | Champagne taste on a beer budget | Change horses in midstream | Change of heart | Change tack | Change your tune | Chaps my ass | Chapter and verse | Charity begins at home | Chase rainbows | Chase your tail | Cheap as chips | Cheap at half the price | Cheap shot | Cheat death | Cheek by jowl | Cherry pick | Chew on a bone | Chew the cud | Chew the fat | Chickenfeed | Child's play | Chinese walls | Chinese whispers | Chip off the old block | Chip on your shoulder | Chop and change | Cigarette paper | Circle the wagons | Circling the drain | Class act | Clean as a whistle | Clean bill of health | Clean break | Clean hands | Clean sheet | Clean sweep | Clean your clock | Clear as a bell | Clear as mud | Cliffhanger | Climb on the bandwagon | Climb the greasy pole | Cling to hope | Close at hand | Close but no cigar | Close call | Close shave | Close the stable door after the horse has bolted | Close to your heart | Closed book to me | Cloth ears | Cloud cuckoo land | Cloud nine | Cloud of suspicion | Cloud on the horizon | Clutch at straws | Clutch play | Coals to Newcastle | Coast is clear | Cock a snook | Cock and bull story | Cock in the henhouse | Cock of the walk | Cold day in hell | Cold feet | Cold fish | Cold light of day | Cold shoulder | Cold sweat | Cold turkey | Colder than a witches tit | Collateral damage | Collect dust | Color bar | Come a cropper | Come clean | Come hell or high water | Come of age | Come on hard | Come on the heels of | Come out in the wash | Come out of the woodwork | Come out of your shell | Come rain or shine | Come to a head | Come to bear | Come to call | Come to grips | Come to heel | Come up roses | Come up smelling of roses | Come up trumps | Come what may | Come with the territory | Comes with the territory | Comfort zone | Connect the dots | Constitution of an ox | Cook someone's goose | Cook the books | Cook up a storm | Cool as a cat | Cool your heels | Coon's age | Corner a market | Couch potato | Could eat a horse | Couldn't give two hoots | Count sheep | Count your blessings | Country mile | Cover all the bases | Crack a nut with a sledgehammer | Crash a party | Cream of the crop | Cream rises to the top | Creature comforts | Crème de la crème | Crocodile tears | Crooked as a dog's hind leg | Cross swords | Cross that bridge when you come to it | Cross to bear | Crossing the Rubicon | Crunch time | Cry wolf | Cry your eyes out | Cry-baby | Cuckoo in the nest | Cupboard love | Curate's egg | Curiosity killed the cat | Curry favour | Curve ball | Cut a long story short | Cut a rug | Cut above | Cut and dried | Cut and run | Cut corners | Cut down the tall poppies | Cut it fine | Cut off your nose to spite your face | Cut someone some slack | Cut the Gordian knot | Cut the mustard | Cut to the chase | Cut to the quick | Cut your coat according to your cloth | Cut your losses | Cut your teeth on | Cute as a bug | Cuts no ice | Cutting edge
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/d.html
~ D ~ | 160 Idioms Beginning With 'D' (17.01.2009)
Daft as a brush | Damp squib | Dancing on someone's grave | Dark horse | Davey Jones' locker | Day in the sun | Daylight robbery | Days are numbered | Dead air | Dead and buried | Dead as a dodo | Dead as a doornail | Dead duck | Dead even | Dead from the neck up | Dead heat | Dead in the water | Dead level best | Dead man walking | Dead meat | Dead men's shoes | Dead right | Dead to the world | Dead wrong | Deaf as a post | Dear John letter | Death of a thousand cuts | Death warmed up | Decorate the mahogany | Deep pockets | Deep pockets but short arms | Deer in the headlights | Deliver the goods | Demon weed | Derring-do | Devil finds work for idle hands | Devil is in the detail | Devil may care | Devil's advocate | Diamond in the rough | Die is cast | Different kettle of fish | Different ropes for different folks | Different strokes for different folks | Dig way down deep | Dig your heels in | Dime a dozen | Dine on ashes | Dinosaur | Dip your toes in the water | Dirty dog | Discerning eye | Discretion is the better part of valour | Dish the dirt | Do a Devon Loch | Do a Lord Lucan | Do a runner | Do as you would be done by | Do the needful | Do the running | Do their dirty work | Dodge the bullet | Dog and pony show | Dog days | Dog eat dog | Dog in the manger | Dog tired | Dog-eared | Doggy bag | Dog's dinner | Dog's life | Dog-whistle politics | Doldrums | Dollars for doughnuts | Done to death | Donkey work | Donkey's years | Don't bite the hand that feeds | Don't catch your chickens before they're hatched | Don't cry over spilt milk | Don't give up the day job | Don't hold your breath | Don't judge a book by the cover | Don't know whether to wind a watch or bark at the moon | Don't look a gift horse in the mouth | Don't mention the war | Don't push my buttons! | Don't shoot the messenger | Don't stand there with curlers in your hair | Don't sweat the small stuff | Don't take any wooden nickels | Don't throw bricks when you live in a glass house | Don't trouble trouble until trouble troubles you | Don't upset the applecart | Don't wash your dirty laundry in public | Doormat | Do's and don't's | Dot all the i's and cross all the t's | Double Dutch | Double take | Double whammy | Double-edged sword | Doubting Thomas | Down and out | Down at heel | Down for the count | Down in the doldrums | Down in the dumps | Down in the mouth | Down the drain | Down the hatch | Down the pan | Down the tubes | Down to the wire | Down-to-earth | Drag your feet | Drag your heels | Draw a blank | Draw a line in the sand | Draw a long bow | Draw the line | Draw the shortest straw | Dress someone down | Dress to kill | Dressed to the nines | Drink like a fish | Drive a wedge | Drive home | Drive someone up the wall | Drive you spare | Driven by a motor | Drop a bombshell | Drop a dime | Drop in the bucket | Drop in the ocean | Drop into your lap | Drop like flies | Drop someone a line | Drop the ball | Dropped like a hot cake | Drown your sorrows | Drunk as a lord | Drunker than a peach orchard boar | Dry as a bone | Dry as snuff | Dry run | Dry spell | Duck soup | Duck to water | Ducks in a row | Dull as ditchwater | Dumb as a rock | Dunkirk spirit | Dutch auction | Dutch courage | Dutch treat | Dutch uncle | Dutch wife | Dwell on the past | Dyed-in-the-wool
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/e.html
~ E ~ | 55 Idioms Beginning With 'E' (17.01.2009)
Each to their own | Eager beaver | Eagle eyes | Early bath | Early bird catches the worm | Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy wealthy and wise | Earn a living | Easier said than done | Easy as ABC | Easy as beans | Easy as pie | Easy come, easy go | Easy peasy | Eat crow | Eat humble pie | Eat like a bird | Eat like a horse | Eat like a pig | Eat my hat | Eat someone alive | Eat your heart out | Eat your words | Economical with the truth | Egg on your face | Elbow grease | Elbow room | Elephant in the room | Eleventh hour | Empty vessels make the most noise | End in smoke | Etched in stone | Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while | Even a broken clock is right twice a day | Even keel | Even Stevens | Even the dogs in the street know | Every ass likes to hear himself bray | Every cloud has a silver lining | Every dog has its day | Every man and his dog | Every man for himself | Every man has his price | Every man jack | Every nook and cranny | Every Tom, Dick and Harry | Every trick in the book | Everybody and their uncle | Everything but the kitchen sink | Exception that proves the rule | Explore all avenues | Eye candy | Eye for an eye | Eye- wash | Eye-opener | Eyes are bigger than one's stomach
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/f.html
~ F ~ | 144 Idioms Beginning With 'F' (17.01.2009)
Face like thunder | Face only a mother could love | Face the music | Face value | Face your demons | Facts of life | Failure is the mother of success | Faint heart never won fair lady | Fair and square | Fair crack of the whip | Fair shake of the whip | Fair thee well | Fairweather friend | Fall by the wayside | Fall from grace | Fall off the back of a lorry | Fall off the turnip truck | Fall off the wagon | Fall on our feet | Fall on your sword | Familiarity breeds contempt | Famous last words | Fast and furious | Fat cat | Fat chance! | Fat head | Fat hits the fire | Fat of the land | Fate worse than death | Feast today, famine tomorrow | Feather in your cap | Feather your own nest | Feathers fly | Fed up to the back teeth | Feel at home | Feel free | Feel like a million | Feel the pinch | Feeling blue | Feet of clay | Feet on the ground | Fence sitter | Few and far between | Fiddle while Rome burns | Fifth columnist | Fifth wheel | Fight an uphill battle | Fight tooth and nail | Fighting chance | Find your feet | Fine and dandy | Fine tuning | Fine words butter no parsnips | Finger in the pie | Fingers and thumbs | Fire away | Fire in the hole! | Fire on all cylinders | First come, first served | First out of the gate | First port of call | Fish in troubled waters | Fish or cut bait | Fish out of water | Fishy | Fit as a fiddle | Fit for a king | Fit like a glove | Fit of pique | Fit the bill | Fit to be tied | Five o'clock shadow | Flash in the pan | Flat as a pancake | Flat out | Fleet of foot | Flesh and blood | Flogging a dead horse | Flowery speech | Fly by the seat of one's pants | Fly in the ointment | Fly off the handle | Fly on the wall | Fly the coop | Fly the flag | Foam at the mouth | Follow your nose | Food for thought | Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me | Fools rush in where angels fear to tread | Foot in mouth | Foot in the door | Foot the bill | Football's a game of two halves | For a song | For donkey's years | For England | For kicks | For my money | For Pete's sake | For the birds | For the love of Pete | For the time being | Forbidden fruit | Foregone conclusion | Forest for the trees | Fortune knocks once at every man's door | Foul play | Four corners of the earth | Four-eyes | Four-square behind | Fourth estate | Free rein | Free-for-all | French leave | Fresh from the oven | Freudian Slip | Friendly footing | Frog in my throat | From a different angle | From Missouri | From pillar to post | From rags to riches | From scratch | From soup to nuts | From the bottom of your heart | From the get-go | From the horse's mouth | From the sublime to the ridiculous | From the word go | Full as a tick | Full bore | Full circle | Full Monty | Full of beans | Full of hot air | Full of oneself | Full of piss and vinegar | Full of the joys of spring | Full swing | Full throttle | Fullness of time | Fur coat and no knickers | Fuzzy thinking
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/g.html
~ G ~ | 168 Idioms Beginning With 'G' (17.01.2009)
Game on | Game plan | Garbage fee | Garbage in, garbage out | Gardening leave | Gather pace | Gather steam | Get a grip | Get a handle on | Get a sheepskin | Get along famously | Get away scot-free | Get away with murder | Get back on the horse that bucked you | Get in on the act | Get in on the ground floor | Get it in the neck | Get it off your chest | Get my drift | Get off the ground | Get on like a house on fire | Get on your nerves | Get on your soapbox | Get out of bed on the wrong side | Get the axe | Get the ball rolling | Get the green light | Get the monkey off your back | Get the nod | Get the picture | Get the show on the road | Get to grips | Get up and go | Get wind of | Get your ducks in a row | Get your feathers in a bunch | Get your feet wet | Get your goat | Get your hands dirty | Get your head around something | Get your teeth into | Get your wires crossed | Ghost of a chance | Ghostly presence | Gift of the gab | Gild the lily | Gilded cage | Girl Friday | Give a big hand | Give a dog a bad name | Give and take | Give as good as you get | Give it some stick | Give me a hand | Give me five | Give someone a leg up | Give someone a piece of your mind | Give someone a run for their money | Give someone enough rope | Give someone stick | Give someone the runaround | Give the nod | Give up the ghost | Give your eye teeth | Given the day that's in it | Glass ceiling | Glory hound | Gloves are off | Glutton for punishment | Gnaw your vitals | Go against the grain | Go awry | Go bananas | Go blue | Go bust | Go by the board | Go by the boards | Go down like a cup of cold sick | Go down like a lead balloon | Go down swinging | Go down without a fight | Go Dutch | Go fly a kite | Go for broke | Go for the jugular | Go fry an egg | Go hand in hand | Go nuts | Go off on a tangent | Go over like a lead balloon | Go overboard | Go pear-shaped | Go play in traffic | Go round in circles | Go south | Go spare | Go tell it to birds | Go the distance | Go the extra mile | Go the whole hog | Go through the motions | Go to seed | Go to the wire | Go to your head | Go under the hammer | Go west | Go with the flow | Going concern | Going Jesse | Going overboard | Golden handshake | Golden rule | Golden touch | Gone fishing | Gone for a burton | Gone pear-shaped | Gone to pot | Gone to the dogs | Good antennae | Good as gold | Good egg | Good fences make good neighbours | Good hand | Good Samaritan | Good shape | Good spell | Good time | Good to go | Good walls make good neighbours | Goody two-shoes | Go-to guy | Grab the bulls by its horns | Grain of salt | Grasp the nettle | Grass may be greener on the other side but it's just as hard to mow | Grass roots | Grass widow | Graveyard shift | Gravy train | Grease monkey | Grease someone's palm | Grease the skids | Greased lightning | Great guns | Great Scott | Great unwashed | Great white hope | Greek to me | Green around the gills | Green fingers | Green light | Green thumb | Green with envy | Green-eyed monster | Greenhorn | Grey area | Grey Cardinal | Grey cells | Grey matter | Grey pound | Grey suits | Grin and bear it | Grin like a Cheshire cat | Grinds my gear | Grist for the mill | Guinea-pig | Gunboat diplomacy | Gung ho
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/h.html
~ H ~ | 169 Idioms Beginning With 'H' (17.01.2009)
Hail-fellow-well-met | Hair of the dog | Hairy at the heel | Hale and hearty | Half a loaf is better than no bread | Half a mind | Half-baked | Hammer and tongs | Hand in glove | Hand in hand | Hand that rocks the cradle | Hand to mouth | Hands down | Handwriting like chicken scratch | Hang by a thread | Hang in the balance | Hang out to dry | Hangdog expression | Hanged for a sheep as a lamb | Happy medium | Happy-go-lucky | Hard as nails | Hard by | Hard cheese | Hard of hearing | Hard on someone's heels | Hard sell | Hard to come by | Hard up | Haste makes waste | Hat trick | Hatchet job | Have a ball | Have a bash | Have a blast | Have a crack | Have a go | Have a heart | Have a ripper | Have a trick up your sleeve | Have no truck with | Have the floor | Have the guts | Have your cake and eat it too | Have your collar felt | Have your fill | Have your lunch handed to you | Have your moments | Have your tail up | Have your work cut out | Having a gas | Hay is for horses | He that travels far knows much | He who hesitates is lost | Head for the hills | Head is in the clouds | Head is mince | Head nor tail | Head on a spike | Head on the block | Head over heels in love | Head south | Heads will roll | Headstrong | Healthy as a horse | Heap coals on someone's head | Hear a pin drop | Hear on the grapevine | Heart in the right place | Heart in your boots | Heart in your mouth | Heart isn't in it | Heart misses a beat | Heart of glass | Heart of gold | Heart of steel | Heart-to-heart | Heaven knows | Heavenly bodies | Heavy-handed | Hedge your bets | Hell for leather | Hell in a handcart | Herding cats | Here today, gone tomorrow | Hide nor hair | Hiding to nothing | High and dry | High and low | High and mighty | High as a kite | High on the hog | High-handed | Highway robbery | High-wire act | Himalayan blunder | Hindsight is twenty-twenty | Hit a nerve | Hit and miss | Hit me with your best shot | Hit rock bottom | Hit rough weather | Hit the airwaves | Hit the books | Hit the bull's-eye | Hit the ceiling | Hit the fan | Hit the ground running | Hit the hay | Hit the mark | Hit the nail on the head | Hit the road | Hit the roof | Hit the sack | Hive of worker bees | Hobson's choice | Hoist with your own petard | Hold all the aces | Hold the baby | Hold the bag | Hold the fort | Hold the torch | Hold water | Hold your horses | Hold your own | Hold your tongue | Holier-than-thou | Hollow leg | Hollow victory | Holy smoke! | Home and hearth | Home is where you lay your hat | Home stretch | Home sweet home | Home, James | Honest truth | Honor among thieves | Honours are even | Hook, line, and sinker | Hop, skip, and a jump | Hope against hope | Hope in hell | Hornets' nest | Horns of a dilemma | Horse of a different color | Horse trading | Horses for courses | Hostile takeover | Hot air | Hot as blue blazes | Hot as Hades | Hot button | Hot foot | Hot ticket | Hot to trot | Hot under the collar | Hot water | Hot-blooded | Hot-headed | Hour of need | House of cards | How come | How do you like them apples | How long is a piece of string | How's tricks? | Hue and cry | Hung the moon | Hungry as a bear | Hunky Dory
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/i.html
~ I ~ | 133 Idioms Beginning With 'I' (17.01.2009)
I hereby give notice of my intention | I may be daft, but I'm not stupid | I should cocoa | Icing on the cake | Idle hands are the devil's handiwork | If at first you don't succeed try try again | If I had a nickel for every time | If it ain't broke, don't fix it | If Mohammed won't come to the mountain, the mountain must come to Mohammed | If the cap fits, wear it | If wishes were horses, beggars would ride | If you are given lemons make lemonade | If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen | If you fly with the crows, you get shot with the crows | If you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas | If you lie down with the Devil, you will wake up in hell | If you will | If you'll pardon my French | Ill at ease | I'll cross that road when I come to it | I'll eat my hat | Ill-gotten gains | In a cleft stick | In a fix | In a flash | In a fog | In a heartbeat | In a jam | In a jiffy | In a nutshell | In a pickle | In a rut | In a tick | In a tight spot | In all honesty | In an instant | In another's shoes | In apple-pie order | In broad daylight | In cahoots | In cold blood | In dire straits | In donkey's years | In dribs and drabs | In droves | In for a penny, in for a pound | In full swing | In high gear | In high spirits | In his cups | In hot water | In light of | In like Flynn | In my bad books | In my book | In my good books | In one ear and out the other | In over your head | In perfect form | In rude health | In so many words | In someone's pocket | In spades | In stitches | In tandem | In that vein | In the bag | In the ballpark | In the black | In the cards | In the catbird seat | In the clear | In the clink | In the club | In the dock | In the doghouse | In the driver's seat | In the face of | In the family way | In the flesh | In the gravy | In the hole | In the hot seat | In the know | In the lap of luxury | In the long run | In the loop | In the lurch | In the making | In the offing | In the pink | In the pipeline | In the red | In the saddle | In the same boat | In the short run | In the soup | In the swim | In the swing | In the tall cotton | In the twinkling of an eye | In the zone | In turn | In two minds | In your blood | In your element | In your face | In your sights | Indian file | Indian giver | Indian summer | Ins and outs | Into each life some rain must fall | Into thin air | Iron fist | Irons in the fire | Is Saul also among the prophets? | It cost an arm and a leg | It cost the earth | It never rains but it pours | It takes a village to raise a child | It takes two to tango | Itch to | Itchy feet | It's an ill wind that blows no good | It's no use crying over spilt milk | It's not the size of the dog in fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog | It's not the size of the man in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the man | I've got a bone to pick with you | I've got your number | Ivory tower
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/j.html
~ J ~ | 39 Idioms Beginning With 'J' (17.01.2009)
Jack Frost | Jack the Lad | Jack-of-all-trades | Jam on your face | Jam tomorrow | Jane Doe | Jekyll and Hyde | Jersey justice | Jet set | Jet-black | Job's comforter | Jobs for the boys | Jockey for position | Jog my memory | John Doe | John Q Public | Johnny on the spot | Johnny-come-lately | Joined at the hip | Judge, jury and executioner | Juggle frogs | Jump down someone's throat | Jump on the bandwagon | Jump the gun | Jump the shark | Jump through hoops | Jump to a conclusion | Jumping Judas! | Jungle out there | Jury's out | Just around the corner | Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined | Just coming up to | Just deserts | Just for the heck of it | Just for the record | Just in the nick of time | Just off the boat | Just what the doctor ordered
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/k.html
~ K ~ | 71 Idioms Beginning With 'K' (17.01.2009)
Kangaroo court | Keen as mustard | Keep abreast | Keep at bay | Keep body and soul together | Keep in touch | Keep it on the Q T | Keep it under your hat | Keep mum | Keep posted | Keep someone at arm's length | Keep someone on their toes | Keep the wolf at bay | Keep up with the Joneses | Keep your chin up | Keep your cool | Keep your ear to the ground | Keep your eye on the ball | Keep your eye on the prize | Keep your eyes peeled | Keep your fingers crossed | Keep your hair on | Keep your head | Keep your head above water | Keep your nose clean | Keep your nose to the grindstone | Keep your options open | Keep your pecker up | Keep your powder dry | Keep your shirt on! | Keep your wig on! | Kettle of fish | Kick a habit | Kick away the ladder | Kick in the teeth | Kick something into the long grass | Kick the ballistics | Kick the bucket | Kick up your heels | Kick your heels | Kicked to touch | Kid gloves | Kill the goose that lays the golden egg | Kill two birds with one stone | Kindred spirit | King of the castle | King's ransom | Kiss and tell | Kiss of death | Kiss something goodbye | Kissing cousin | Kitchen-sink | Kith and kin | Knee-jerk reaction | Knickers in a twist | Knight in shining armour | Knit your brows | Knock 'em dead | Knock on wood | Knock something on the head | Knock the pins from under someone | Knock your block off | Knock your socks off | Know a hawk from a handsaw | Know full well | Know the ropes | Know where all the bodies are buried | Know which side one's bread is buttered on | Know which way the wind blows | Know your onions | Know your place
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/l.html
~ L ~ | 130 Idioms Beginning With 'L' (17.01.2009)
Labor of love | Labour of love | Lame duck | Land of nod | Landslide victory | Lap dog | Lap of the gods | Larger than life | Last hurrah | Last laugh | Last straw | Last-ditch | Laugh a minute | Laugh to see a pudding crawl | Laugh up your sleeve | Laughing stock | Laughter is the best medicine | Law unto yourself | Lay down the law | Lead someone up the garden path | Lead with the chin | Lean and mean | Learn the ropes | Leave no stone unturned | Leave well alone | Left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing | Left in the dark | Left to your own devices | Left-handed compliment | Legend in your own lunchtime | Lend an ear | Leopard can't change its spots | Lesser of two evils | Let alone | Let bygones be bygones | Let sleeping dogs lie | Let the best be the enemy of the good | Let the cat out of the bag | Let the chips fall where they may | Let the devil take the hindmost | Let the genie out of the bottle | Let the grass grow round your feet | Let your guard down | Let your hair down | Let's call it a day | Letter of the law | Level playing field | Lie like a rug | Lie low | Lie through your teeth | Life and limb | Life is just a bowl of cherries | Light at the end of the tunnel | Light bulb moment | Light on your feet | Light years ahead | Lightning rod | Like a bat out of hell | Like a beached whale | Like a bear with a sore head | Like a bull at a gate | Like a cat on hot bricks | Like a cat that got the cream | Like a duck to water | Like a fish needs a bicycle | Like a fish out of water | Like a hawk | Like a headless chicken | Like a kid in a candy store | Like a moth to a flame | Like a rat deserting a sinking ship | Like Chinese arithmetic | Like clockwork | Like father, like son | Like giving a donkey strawberries | Like it or lump it | Like lambs to the slaughter | Like no one's business | Like peas in a pod | Like pulling teeth | Like taking candy from a baby | Like the back of your hand | Like the clappers | Like there's no tomorrow | Like two peas in a pod | Like watching sausage getting made | Like white on rice | Like wildfire | Lily-livered | Lines of communication | Lion's share | Lip service | Little pitchers have big ears | Little strokes fell great oaks | Live high off the hog | Live wire | Lo and behold | Loan shark | Lock and load | Lock horns | Lock the stable door after the horse has bolted | Lock, stock and barrel | Long face | Long in the tooth | Long shot | Long time no hear | Long time no see | Look after number 1 | Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves | Look before you leap | Look on the bright side | Look out for number one | Look what the cat dragged in | Loose cannon | Loose lips sink ships | Lord love a duck | Lord willing and the creek don't rise | Lose face | Lose the plot | Lose your bottle | Lose your lunch | Lose your marbles | Lose your shirt | Love is blind | Lower than a snake's belly | Lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut | Lower the bar | Lower your sights | Low-hanging fruit | Luck of the draw
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/m.html
~ M ~ | 139 Idioms Beginning With 'M' (17.01.2009)
Mad as a badger | Mad as a bag of hammers | Mad as a cut snake | Mad as a hornet | Mad as a March hare | Made in the shade | Made of money | Mailed fist | Major league | Make a better fist | Make a clean breast | Make a killing | Make a meal | Make a mint | Make a monkey of someone | Make a mountain out of a molehill | Make a pig's ear | Make a pitch | Make a request | Make a song and dance | Make a virtue out of necessity | Make an enquiry | Make bets in a burning house | Make ends meet | Make hay | Make headway | Make money hand over fist | Make my day | Make no bones about it | Make or break | Make out like a bandit | Make waves | Make your blood boil | Make your flesh crawl | Make your hair stand on end | Make your toes curl | Make yourself scarce | Man Friday | Man in the street | Man of his word | Man of letters | Man of means | Man of parts | Man of straw | Man of the cloth | Man on the Clapham omnibus | Man proposes, God disposes | Man upstairs | Man's best friend | Man's man | Many a slip twixt cup and lip | Many hands make light work | Many happy returns | Many moons ago | March to the beat of your own drum | Mark my words | Mark someone's card | Marked man | Matter of life and death | Mealy-mouthed | Meat and drink | Meat and potatoes | Meet someone halfway | Meet your expectations | Meet your Maker | Meet your match | Megaphone diplomacy | Melt your heart | Melting pot | Memory like a sieve | Memory like an elephant | Mend fences | Mess with a bull, you get the horns | Method in his madness | Mexican standoff | Mickey Mouse | Midas touch | Middle of nowhere | Might and main | Mighty oaks from little acorns grow | Millstone round your neck | Mince words | Mind over matter | Mind the gap | Mind your own beeswax | Mind Your P's and Q's | Mind your P's and Q's | Mint condition | Misery guts | Miss is as good as a mile | Miss the boat | Mom and pop | Monday morning quarterback | Money burns a hole in your pocket | Money doesn`t grow on trees | Money for jam | Money for old rope | Money laundering | Money makes many things | Money talks | Money to burn | Monkey business | Monkey see, monkey do | Moot point | Moral fibre | Moral high ground | More front than Brighton | More haste, less speed | More heat than light | More holes than Swiss cheese | More than meets the eye | More than one string to their bow | More than one way to skin a cat | More than you can shake a stick at | Mountain to climb | Move heaven and earth | Move mountains | Move the goalposts | Mover and shaker | Much ado about nothing | Muck or nettles | Mud in the fire | Mud in your eye | Muddy the waters | Mud-slinging | Mummy's boy | Mum's the word | Murder will out | Murky waters | Music to my ears | Mutton dressed as lamb | My dogs are barking | My eye | My foot! | My hands are full | My hands are tied | My heart bleeds | My heart goes out to someone | My way or the highway
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/n.html
~ N ~ | 93 Idioms Beginning With 'N' (17.01.2009)
Nail in the coffin | Nail-biter | Nature abhors a vacuum | Nature of the beast | Neck and neck | Neck of the woods | Need no introduction | Needle in a haystack | Neither fish nor fowl | Neither here nor there | Neither use nor ornament | Nerves of steel | Nervous Nellie | Nest egg | Never a rose without the prick | Never darken my door again | New blood | New brush sweeps clean | New kid on the block | New lease of life | New man | New sheriff in town | New York minute | Newfangled | Nice as pie | Nick of time | Nickel tour | Night owl | Ninth circle of hell | Nip and tuck | Nip at the bit | Nip it in the bud | Nitty gritty | No bed of roses | No can do | No go | No good deed goes unpunished | No great shakes | No harm, no foul | No holds barred | No ifs or buts | No laughing matter | No love lost | No pain, no gain | No quarter | No question | No questions asked | No skin off my nose | No smoke without fire | No spine | No spring chicken | No strings attached | No time for | No time like the present | No time to lose | No two ways about it | No use to man or beast | Noddy work | Nod's as good as a wink | None so blind as those who will not see | Nose in the air | Nosy parker | Not a snowball's chance in hell | Not all there | Not bat an eye | Not born yesterday | Not cricket | Not enough room to swing a cat | Not give a fig | Not give a monkey's | Not have the heart | Not have two pennies to rub together | Not hurt a fly | Not know beans about | Not know you are born | Not much cop | Not my cup of tea | Not on my watch | Not our bag | Not the only pebble on the beach | Not to be sneezed at | Not wash | Not worth a red cent | Not worth a tinker's dam | Notch on your belt | Nothing to crow about | Nothing to write home about | Nothing ventured, nothing gained | Now and then | Null and void | Number cruncher | Nuts and bolts | Nutty as a fruitcake
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/o.html
~ O ~ | 139 Idioms Beginning With 'O' (17.01.2009)
Object lesson | Odds and ends | Off colour | Off the beaten track | Off the chart | Off the cuff | Off the grid | Off the hook | Off the mark | Off the rails | Off the record | Off the scale | Off the shelf | Off the top of your head | Off the track | Off the wall | Off your chump | Off your rocker | Off-hand | Oh, my goodness! | Old chestnut | Old flames die hard | Old friends and old wine are best | Old hat | Old wive's tale | Oldest trick in the book | Olive branch | On a fishing expedition | On a roll | On a silver platter | On all fours | On Carey Street | On good terms | On hold | On ice | On pins and needles | On tenterhooks | On the ball | On the blink | On the blower | On the carpet | On the case | On the cheap | On the dot | On the factory floor | On the fiddle | On the flip side | On the fly | On the game | On the ground | On the hoof | On the house | On the lam | On the level | On the line | On the make | On the map | On the never-never | On the nod | On the nod | On the nod | On the nose | On the rebound | On the right foot | On the ropes | On the run | On the same page | On the same wavelength | On the shelf | On the skids | On the sly | On the stump | On the take | On the tip of your tongue | On the trot | On the up and up | On the wagon | On the wallaby track | On top of the world | On your high horse | On your last legs | On your soapbox | On your tod | On your toes | Once bitten, twice shy | Once in a blue moon | One bad apple | One fell swoop | One for the road | One good turn deserves another | One hand washes the other | One man's loss is another man's gain | One man's meat is another man's poison | One man's trash is another man's treasure | One over the eight | One swallow does not make a summer | One-man band | One-off | One-trick pony | Oops a daisy | Open all hours | Open book | Open old sores | Open old wounds | Opening a can of worms | Opportunity knocks but once | Other fish to fry | Other side of the coin | Out and about | Out in the sticks | Out like a light | Out of hand | Out of my league | Out of pocket | Out of sight, out of mind | Out of sorts | Out of the blue | Out of the box | Out of the frying pan, into the fire | Out of the gate running | Out of the left field | Out of the mouths of babes | Out of the woods | Out of this world | Out of your hair | Out of your mind | Out of your own pocket | Out on a limb | Out to lunch | Out-and-out | Over a barrel | Over and over | Over my dead body | Over the counter | Over the hill | Over the moon | Over the top | Over your head | Over-egg the pudding
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/p.html
~ P ~ | 169 Idioms Beginning With 'P' (17.01.2009)
Packed like sardines | Paddle your own canoe | Pain in the neck | Paint the town red | Paint yourself into a corner | Painted Jezebel | Pandora's box | Paper over the cracks | Paper tiger | Par for the course | Parrot fashion | Part and parcel | Pass muster | Pass the buck | Pass the hat | Pass the time of day | Pastoral care | Patience of Job | Pay on the nail | Pay the piper | Pay through the nose | Pay your dues | Pecking order | Peeping Tom | Pen is mightier than the sword | Penny ante | Penny pincher | Penny wise, pound foolish | People who live in glass houses should not throw stones | Pep talk | Perfidious Albion | Perish the thought | Pet peeve | Photo finish | Pick up the tab | Pick-up game | Picture perfect | Pie in the sky | Piece of cake | Pieces of the same cake | Pig in a poke | Pigs might fly | Pin down with a label | Pin money | Pinch of salt | Pink pound | Pink slip | Pipe dream | Piping hot | Place in the sun | Plain as a pikestaff | Plain as the nose on your face | Plain Jane | Plain sailing | Plan B | Plastic smile | Play by ear | Play fast and loose | Play for keeps | Play for time | Play hard to get | Play hardball | Play havoc | Play hooky | Play into someone's hands | Play it by ear | Play out of your skin | Play possum | Play second fiddle | Play the field | Play the fool | Play with fire | Playing to the gallery | Please revert | Pleased as punch | Poacher turned gamekeeper | Poetry in motion | Point the finger | Pointy-heads | Poison pill | Polish the apples | Polishing peanuts | Politically correct | Poor as a church mouse | Pop the question | Pop your clogs | Pork barrel | Pot calling the kettle black | Pound of flesh | Pour oil on troubled waters | Powder your nose | Powers that be | Practical joke | Practise what you preach | Preaching to the choir | Presence of mind | Press the flesh | Pressed for time | Prick up your ears | Prim and proper | Primrose path | Prince charming | Problem is thirty | Proclaim it from the rooftops | Prodigal son | Proof of the pudding is in the eating | Pros and cons | Proud as a peacock | Pull a rabbit out of your hat | Pull in the reins | Pull no punches | Pull out all the stops | Pull out of the fire | Pull rank | Pull someone's leg | Pull strings | Pull the fat from the fire | Pull the other one, it's got brass bells on | Pull the trigger | Pull the wool over someone's eyes | Pull up your socks | Pull your chain | Pull your finger out! | Pull your punches | Pull your weight | Pull yourself up by your bootstraps | Punching bag | Puppy love | Pup's chance | Push comes to shove | Push the envelope | Pushing up the daisies | Put a bug in your ear | Put a cork in it! | Put a sock in it | Put all your eggs in one basket | Put it on the cuff | Put lipstick on a pig | Put more green into something | Put on airs | Put or get someone's back up | Put some dirt on it | Put some mustard on it! | Put somebody's nose out of joint | Put someone on a pedestal | Put someone out to pasture | Put that in your pipe and smoke it | Put the carriage before the horse | Put the kybosh on | Put the pedal to the metal | Put to the sword | Put two and two together | Put up or shut up | Put you in mind | Put you in the picture | Put your best foot forward | Put your cards on the table | Put your foot down | Put your foot in it | Put your foot in your mouth | Put your hand on your heart | Put your heads together | Put your money where your mouth is | Put your shoulder to the wheel | Put your thumb on the scales | Put yourself in someone's shoes | Putting the cart before the horse | Pyrrhic victory
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/q.html
~ Q ~ | 19 Idioms Beginning With 'Q' (17.01.2009)
Quarrel with bread and butter | Quart into a pint pot | Queen bee | Queen of Hearts | Queer fish | Queer Street | Queer your pitch | Question of time | Queue jumping | Quick as a flash | Quick buck | Quick fix | Quick off the mark | Quick on the trigger | Quids in | Quiet as a cat | Quiet as a mouse | Quiet before the Storm | Quitters never win; winners never quit
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/r.html
~ R ~ | 109 Idioms Beginning With 'R' (17.01.2009)
Rack and ruin | Rack your brain | Ragged blue line | Rags to riches | Rain on your parade | Raining cats and dogs | Rainy day | Raise Cain | Raise eyebrows | Rake over old coals | Rake someone over the coals | Rank and file | Rat race | Rather you than me | Raw deal | Read between the lines | Read from the same page | Read someone the riot act | Real deal | Real McCoy | Real plum | Real trouper | Rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic | Recharge your batteries | Recipe for disaster | Red carpet | Red herring | Red letter day | Red light district | Red mist | Red rag to a bull | Red tape | Reds under the bed | Reduce to ashes | Reinvent the wheel | Renaissance man | Rest is gravy | Rest on your laurels | Revenge is sweet | Rewrite history | Rhyme or reason | Rice missionary | Rich as Croesus | Rich man's family | Ride for a fall | Ride high | Ride roughshod | Ride shotgun | Ride with the tide | Right as rain | Right out of the blocks | Right royal | Right up my alley | Right up your street | Ring a bell | Ringside seat | Rip van Winkle | Rise and shine | Rise from the ashes | Road to Damascus | Rob Peter to pay Paul | Rock the boat | Rocket science | Roll out the red carpet | Roll with the punches | Roll your eyes | Rolling in money | Rolling in the aisles | Rome was not built in a day | Root hog or die poor | Rooted to the spot | Rose-colored glasses | Rose-tinted glasses | Rough and ready | Rough around the edges | Rough diamond | Rough edges | Rough end of the stick | Rough-hewn | Round the bend | Round the houses | Rub shoulders | Rub someone up the wrong way | Rudderless ship | Rue the day | Ruffle a few feathers | Rule of thumb | Rule the roost | Run a mile | Run amok | Run around the bush | Run before you can walk | Run circles around someone | Run into the sand | Run it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes | Run off your feet | Run out of gas | Run rings around someone | Run something into the ground | Run the gauntlet | Run the show | Run to ground | Run your mouth off | Run-of-the-mill | Running on empty | Running on fumes | Runs in the family | Russian roulette | Rusty needle
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/s.html
~ S ~ | 294 Idioms Beginning With 'S' (17.01.2009)
Sacred cow | Safe and sound | Safe as houses | Safe bet | Safe pair of hands | Safety in numbers | Saigon moment | Sail close to the wind | Sail under false colours | Salad days | Salt in a wound | Salt of the earth | Salty dog | Same old, same old | Save face | Save someone's bacon | Save your skin | Saved by the bell | Saving grace | Say uncle | Say when | Saying is one thing; doing is another | Say-so | Scales fall from your eyes | Scare the daylights out of someone | Scarlet woman | Scattered to the four winds | Scent blood | Schoolyard pick | Scot free | Scotch Mist | Scraping the barrel | Scream blue murder | Screw loose | Screwed if you do, screwed if you don't | Sea legs | Seamy side | Searching question | Second thoughts | Second wind | See eye to eye | See red | See the elephant | See the light | See which way the cat jumps | See you anon | See you later | See you on the big drum | Seed money | Seeing is believing | Seen better days | Sell down the river | Sell like hot cakes | Sell like hotcakes | Sell your birthright for a mess of pottage | Sell your soul | Send someone packing | Send someone to Coventry | Separate the sheep from the goats | Separate the wheat from the chaff | Serve time | Serve your country | Set in stone | Set the Thames on fire | Set the wheels in motion | Set your sights on | Seven sheets to the wind | Seventh heaven | Shades of meaning | Shaggy dog story | Shake a leg | Shanks's pony | Shape up or ship out | Sharp as a tack | Sharpen your pencil | Shed light | She'll be apples | Shifting sands | Shilly-shally | Ship came in | Shipshape and Bristol fashion | Shoe is on the other foot | Shoestring | Shoot down in flames | Shoot from the hip | Shoot the breeze | Shoot your wad | Shoot yourself in the foot | Shooting fish in a barrel | Shop floor | Short end of the stick | Short horse soon curried | Short shrift | Short-change | Shot across the bow | Shot in the dark | Shotgun marriage | Show me the money | Show someone a clean pair of heels | Show someone the ropes | Show your true colors | Shrinking violet | Sick and tired | Sick as a dog | Sick as a parrot | Sick to death | Sight for sore eyes | Sight to behold | Signed, sealed and delivered | Silence is golden | Silly season | Silver bullet | Silver screen | Silver surfer | Since time immemorial | Sing for your supper | Sing from the same hymn sheet | Sing like a canary | Sink or swim | Sit on the fence | Sit pretty | Sit well with | Sitting duck | Six feet under | Six of one and half-a-dozen of the other | Sixes and sevens | Sixty-four-thousand-dollar-question | Skate on thin ice | Skeleton in the closet | Skin and bones | Skin in the game | Skin someone alive | Skunkworks | Sky is the limit | Slap leather | Slap on the wrist | Sleep like a baby | Sleep like a log | Sleep well- don't let the bedbugs bite | Sleight of hand | Slim chance | Sling your hook | Slip of the tongue | Slip through one's fingers | Slippery customer | Slippery slope | Slough of despond | Slow and steady wins the race | Slow boat to China | Slow but sure | Slower than molasses going uphill in January | Slowly, slowly catchy monkey | Sly as a fox | Smack in the face | Small beer | Small dog, tall weeds | Small fry | Small-time | Smart Alec | Smart as a whip | Smarty pants | Smell a rat | Smoke and mirrors | Smoke like a chimney | Smoke the peace pipe | Smokestack industry | Smoking gun | Smooth as a baby's bottom | Smooth sailing | Snake in the grass | Snake oil | Snake oil salesperson | Snug as a bug in a rug | So it goes | So on and so forth | Sod's law | Soft soap someone | Some other time | Something nasty in the woodshed | Sound as a bell | Sound as a pound | Sour grapes | Sow the seeds | Sow your wild oats | Spanish practices | Spanner in the works | Spare the rod and spoil the child | Speak of the devil! | Speak to the organ grinder not the monkey | Speak volumes | Speak with a forked tongue | Spend a penny | Spend like a sailor | Spice of life | Spick and span | Spill the beans | Spin a yarn | Spinning a line | Spinning a yarn | Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak | Spirit of the law | Spit blood | Spit it out | Spit the dummy | Spitting image | Split hairs | Split the blanket | Spoil the ship for a ha'pworth of tar | Spot on | Sprat to catch a mackerel | Spring to mind | Spur of the moment | Sputnik moment | Square meal | Square Mile | Square peg in a round hole | Square the circle | Squared away | Squeaky clean | Squeaky wheel gets the grease | Squeeze blood out of a turnip | Stalking horse | Stand in good stead | Stars and stripes | Stars in your eyes | Start from scratch | State of the art | Status quo | Steal a march | Steal someone's thunder | Steer clear of | Stem the tide | Step on it | Step on someone's toes | Step up to the plate | Stew in your own juices | Stick in your craw | Stick out like a sore thumb | Stick to your guns | Stick your neck out | Sticking point | Stick-in-the-mud | Sticky end | Sticky fingers | Sticky wicket | Stiff as a poker | Stiff upper lip | Stiff-necked | Still in the game | Still waters run deep | Stir the blood | Stitch in time saves nine | Stone dead | Stone deaf | Stone's throw | Stool pigeon | Stop cold | Storm in a teacup | Straight face | Straight from the shoulder | Strain every nerve | Strange at the best of times | Straw man | Straw poll | Straw that broke the camel's back | Streets ahead | Strike a chord | Strike while the iron is hot | Stroll down memory lane | Strong as an ox | Stubborn as a mule | Stuffed to the gills | Succeed in the clutch | Suck hind teat | Sunday driver | Sure as eggs is eggs | Sure-fire | Swansong | Swear like a sailor | Swear like a trooper | Sweat blood | Sweat like a pig | Sweep off your feet | Sweep things under the carpet | Sweet as a gumdrop | Sweet tooth | Swim against the tide | Swim with the fishes | Swim with the tide | Swimmingly | Swing the lead | Swinging door | Swings and roundabouts
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/t.html
~ T ~ | 234 Idioms Beginning With 'T' (17.01.2009)
Tables are turned | Tackle an issue | Take a hike | Take a leaf out of someone's book | Take a nosedive | Take a punch | Take a raincheck | Take a straw poll | Take by the scruff of the neck | Take for a test drive | Take for granted | Take forty winks | Take guts | Take it in your stride | Take it on the chin | Take no prisoners | Take sand to the beach | Take someone down a peg | Take someone for a ride | Take someone to task | Take someone to the woodshed | Take someone under your wing | Take stock | Take the biscuit | Take the bull by its horns | Take the chair | Take the fall | Take the fifth | Take the flak | Take the floor | Take the heat | Take the Mickey | Take the plunge | Take the rough with the smooth | Take to your heels | Take up the torch | Take your breath away | Take your eye off the ball | Take your hat off | Take your hat off to somebody | Taken as read | Tale of the tape | Talk a blue streak | Talk a glass eye to sleep | Talk is cheap | Talk nineteen to the dozen | Talk of the town | Talk out of the back of your head | Talk out of your hat | Talk shop | Talk the hind legs off a donkey | Talk turkey | Talking to a brick wall | Tall drink of water | Tall order | Tall story | Tally ho! | Tar baby | Tar with the same brush | Taste blood | Taste of your own medicine | Teach your grandmother to suck eggs | Teacher's pet | Tear your hair out | Tears before bedtime | Teeny-weeny | Teething problems | Tell them where the dog died | Tempest in a teapot | Tempt providence | Ten a penny | Test the waters | That and 50 cents will buy you a cup of coffee | That dog won't hunt | That makes two of us | That ship has sailed | That's all she wrote | The apple does not fall far from the tree | The ball's in your court | The be all and end all | The bigger they are, the harder they fall | The common weal | The grass is always greener | The line forms on the right | The more the merrier | The Mountie always gets his man | The penny dropped | The plot thickens | The rough and tumble | The sands of time | The short straw | The sun might rise in the west | The whole shooting match | The world and his wife | Their bark is worse than their bite | There are many ways to skin a cat | There's never a road without a turning | There's no such thing as a free lunch | There's the rub | Thick and fast | Thick as mince | Thick as thieves | Thick-skinned | Thin as a rake | Thin blue line | Thin end of the wedge | Thin line | Think outside the box | Think the world of | Thin-skinned | Third degree | Third rail | Third time's the charm | Thorn in your side | Those who live by the sword die by the sword | Three sheets in the wind | Three sheets to the wind | Thrilled to bits | Through gritted teeth | Through the ceiling | Through the floor | Through thick and thin | Throw a curve | Throw a monkey wrench into the works | Throw a sickie | Throw caution to the wind | Throw down the gauntlet | Throw in the towel | Throw pearls to the pigs | Throw someone a bone | Throw someone a line | Throw someone in at the deep end | Throw someone to the wolves | Throw someone under the bus | Throw the baby out with the bath water | Throw the book at someone | Throw your hat in the ring | Throw your toys out of the pram | Throw your weight around | Thumb your nose at | Thumbs down & thumbs up | Tickle your fancy | Tickled pink | Tidy desk, tidy mind | Tie the knot | Tied to your mother's apron strings | Tight rein | Tight ship | Tighten your belt | Till the cows come home | Till the pips squeak | Till you're blue in the face | Tilt at windmills | Time and again | Time and tide wait for no man | Time does sail | Time flies | Time is on my side | Time of your life | Time-honoured practice | Tip of the iceberg | Tipping point | Tired and emotional | Tit for tat | To a fault | To a man | To a T | To all intents and purposes | To be as thick as two bricks | To be dog cheap | To err is human, to forgive divine | To have the courage of your convictions | To little avail | To the end of time | Toe the line | Tomorrow's another day | Tongue in cheek | Too big for your boots | Too big for your britches | Too many chiefs and not enough Indians | Too many cooks spoil the broth | Too many irons in the fire | Toot you own horn | Top dog | Top notch | Touch and go | Touch base | Touch wood | Touch-and-go | Tough as old boots | Tough luck | Tough nut to crack | Tough row to hoe | Trade barbs | Trail your coat | Train of thought | Tread on someone's toes | Tread the boards | Tread water | Tried and tested | True blue | True colours | Trump card | Truth will out | Tug at the heartstrings | Turf war | Turn a blind eye | Turn a deaf ear | Turn a new leaf | Turn something on its head | Turn the corner | Turn the crack | Turn the other cheek | Turn the tables | Turn turtle | Turn up like a bad penny | Turn up one's toes to the daisies | Turn water into wine | Turn your nose up | Turn-up for the books | Twenty-four seven | Twinkling of an eye | Twist someone's arm | Twisting in the wind | Two cents | Two heads are better than one | Two left feet | Two peas in a pod | Two sides of the same coin | Two-edged sword | Two-faced
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/u.html
~ U ~ | 46 Idioms Beginning With 'U' (17.01.2009)
Ugly as a stick | Ugly duckling | Uncalled for | Uncharted waters | Uncle Sam | Under a cloud | Under a flag of convenience | Under false colours | Under fire | Under lock and key | Under someone's heel | Under the radar | Under the table | Under the weather | Under the wire | Under your belt | Under your breath | Under your nose | Under your skin | Under your thumb | Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown | Unwavering loyalty | Up a gum tree | Up a river without a paddle | Up for grabs | Up in the air | Up sticks | Up the ante | Up the creek | Up the duff | Up the spout | Up the stick | Up the wall | Up the wooden hill | Up to scratch | Up to snuff | Up to speed | Up to the eyes | Up to the neck | Up to your eyes | Up to your neck | Up with the lark | Upper crust | Upper hand | Upset the apple cart | U-turn
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/w.html
~ W ~ | 143 Idioms Beginning With 'W' (17.01.2009)
Wag the dog | Wait for a raindrop in the drought | Waiting in the wings | Wake up and smell the coffee | Wake-up call | Walk a fine line | Walk a mile in my shoes | Walk a tightrope | Walk in the park | Walk on eggshells | Walk the green mile | Walk the plank | Walking encyclopedia | Walking on air | Walking on broken glass | Walking time-bomb | Wallflower | War chest | War of words | Warm and fuzzy | Warm the cockles of your heart | Warpath | Warts and all | Wash your hands of something | Waste not, want not | Waste of skin | Watch grass grow | Watch your six | Watching paint dry | Water off a duck's back | Water over the dam | Water under the bridge | Watering hole | Watery grave | Weak at the knees | Wear sackcloth and ashes | Wear your heart on your sleeve | Weather a storm | Wedge politics | Weight off your shoulders | Well-heeled | Well-oiled | Well-oiled machine | Were you born in a barn? | Wet behind the ears | Wet blanket | Wet your whistle | Whale of a time | What can sorry do? | What can you expect from a hog but a grunt? | What does that have to do with the price of tea in China? | What goes around comes around | What goes around, comes around | What will be will be | Whatever floats your boat | What's cooking? | What's good for the goose is good for the gander | What's up? | What's your poison? | What's your take on that? | Wheels fall off | When hell freezes over | When in Rome, do as the Romans do | When it rains, it pours | When pigs fly | When the chickens come home to roost | Where the rubber meets the road | Where there's a will, there's a way | Where there's smoke, there's fire | Whet your appetite | Which came first the chicken or the egg? | While the cat's away, the mouse will play | Whistle for it | Whistle-stop tour | Whistling Dixie | Whistling in the dark | Whistling past the graveyard | White as a sheet | White as snow | White elephant | White feather | White lie | White-bread | Who wears the pants? | Who wears the trousers? | Who will ring the bell? | Whole ball of wax | Whole kit and caboodle | Whole new ball game | Whole nine yards | Whole shebang | Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free | Why keep a dog and bark yourself? | Wide berth | Wide of the mark | Wild goose chase | Will never fly | Will-o'-the-wisp | Win by a nose | Window dressing | Window to the soul | Wing and a prayer | Winner takes all | Wipe the floor with | Wipe the smile of someone's face | With a heavy hand | With child | With flying colours (colors) | With friends like that, who needs enemies? | Wither on the vine | Within a whisker | Without a hitch | Woe betide you | Woe is me | Wolf in sheep's clothing | Wood for the trees | Word of mouth | Word of the law | Words fail me | Work like a charm | Work like a dog | Work the system | Work your fingers to the bone | Work your socks off | Work your tail off | World at your feet | World is your oyster | Worm information | Worm's eye view | Worse for wear | Worse things happen at sea | Worth a shot | Worth your salt | Wouldn't touch it with a bargepole | Wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole | Wrap yourself in the flag | Wrench in the works | Writ large | Writing on the wall | Written all over your face | Written in stone | Wrong end of the stick | Wrong foot
(E?)(L1) http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/y.html
~ Y ~ | 36 Idioms Beginning With 'Y' (17.01.2009)
Yah boo sucks | Yank my chain | Yellow press | Yellow streak | Yellow-bellied | Yen | Yes-man | Yesterday's man or Yesterday's woman | You are what you eat | You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar | You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family | You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink | You can say that again | You can't fight City Hall | You can't have cake and the topping, too | You can't have your cake and eat it | You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear | You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs | You can't take it with you | You can't unring a bell | You could have knocked me down with a feather | You do not get a dog and bark yourself | You get what you pay for | You reap what you sow | You said it! | You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours | You what? | Young blood | Young Turk | Your belly button is bigger than your stomach | Your call | Your name is mud | Your sins will find you out | You're toast | You've got rocks in your head | You've made your bed- you'll have to lie in it
(E?)(L?) http://pie.usna.edu/
(E?)(L?) http://www.hti.umich.edu/micase/
(E?)(L?) http://americannationalcorpus.org/
(E?)(L?) http://kwicfinder.com/BNC/
While still under development, PIE already offers much to both linguists and students, and additional features will increase its scope in the future.
PIE incorporates a database of all 1-6-grams (phrases 1-6 "words" long) with part-of-speech (POS) codes occurring three or more times in the 100-million-word British National Corpus (BNC). One can explore English phraseology either through lists of forms and their frequencies or by searching for specific forms or collocations, e.g. 2-grams of the pattern "ADJ work", to find the most frequent adjectives describing work.
PIE also offers a phrase pattern discovery tool, "phrase-frames": sets of variants of an n-gram identical except for one word (wildcard symbol *). The most frequent and productive 4-frame is "the * of the", with variants such "as the end of the", "the rest of the", "the top of the", "the nature of the".
Over the next year PIE will add:
Click on an n-gram in the query results to see concordances from the BNC
POS-grams and POS-frames for studying the relative productivity of phrase structures
Filtering by text type (domain, genre, target audience) for contrastive studies
Query by regular expression (currently only wildcards are supported)
In addition, when POS-tagging of the Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English (MICASE) is complete, a similar database will be created with those data. Finally, when a substantial portion of the American National Corpus (ANC) has been released, a third parallel database will be built. Together these databases will permit comparative studies of phraseology in the principal variants of English.
Please note:
"Unfiltered" queries which match very large datasets can take several minutes to complete. Please be patient; read the tutorials and FAQ to focus your queries.
Users who cannot access the above site may use http://kwicfinder.com/BNC/ (please let me know so we can investigate)
Acknowledgements
Above all I am grateful to Michael Stubbs of the University of Trier for detailed suggestions and ongoing discussions that led to the creation and refinement of this site; even the "easy as pie" to remember acronym goes back to him. His research assistants contributed as well: Isabel Barth implemented the original phrase-frame generator and Katrin Ungeheuer offered valuable comments on organization and user-interface for query by text-type. Finally Lou Burnard of the BNC Consortium and David Lee of MICASE granted essential permissions and provided useful feedback on the site.
(A: Bill Fletcher, ADSL)
V
W
w-akten
Englische Redewendungen
(E1)(L1) http://www.w-akten.de/worte.phtml
Auf den Seiten "Englische Redewendungen" findet man - vorwiegend "Übersetzungen" in deutsche Entsprechungen - aber auch einige interessante Hinweise zu deren Herkunft.
Am 27.08.2005 waren folgende Redewendungen versammelt:
(E?)(L?) http://www.w-akten.de/redenglisch.phtml
Falling from grace | Nerd | How do you do | tip | to water down | to set a fox to keep the geese | drag queen | job | armchair generals | to face Morton's fork | cotton wool | to bite the dust | to have a crush on someone | at sixes and sevens | a ploughman's lunch | the rat race | to eat like a horse | fruit machine | the three R's | all chiefs and no indians | the hard shoulder | a baker's dozen | carrying coals to Newcastle | my home is my castle | a raw deal | pipe-dream | willy-nilly | Jerry-build | rough diamond | Hobson's choice | hooker | gizmo | shu ismo | triple-witching | jerries oder krauts | to be on cloud nine | rookie | to learn by heart | snob | daylight robbery | Davy Jones' locker | tin god | to face the music | the band begins to play | to take the French leave | I take my hook | that takes the biscuit | not for the life of me! | to be as fresh as a daisy | to see how the wind blows | to put a hat on a hen | to be wrong in the garret | to drive the porcelain bus | to temper the wind to the shorn lamb | to teach your grandma to suck eggs | all is gas and gaiters | by hook or by crook | the whole nine yards | the real McCoy! | dead man's hand | Örtlichkeiten | Town : Ein Ort mit Kirche | City: Ein Ort mit Kathedrale | you are pulling my leg | waiting 'til the cows come home | it's raining cats and dogs | you're welcome | it's not my cup of tea | I wouldn't wish that on a snake | there ain't no such thing as a free lunch | rosewood | handy | one-copy-countries | bookkeeper | must not | eventually | backdraft | indian summer | ain't | white tie | black tie | casual | fuzzy dice | show-host | buy the farm | penny, nickel, dime, quarter | dead presidents | chick flick | blue moon | moonshine | dead as a dodo | OK | Dollar | to paint the town (red) | fancy dan | drop dead | almost | Tinseltown | mindless vacation | sickie | thunderbox | henpecked husband | french letter | dutch courage | repo-man | the icing on the cake | to hit the hay | busker | butter-finger | Jeep | booze | greenback | to be dressed to kill | to kick the bucket | cop | M.A.S.H. | He'll take a long walk on a short pier | fair weather friend | red-eye-flight | to go belly up | the Black Maria | fortune favors fools | He's one can short of a sixpack. | going, going, gone | Ready, set, go! | yellow press | like a bat out of hell | shotgun shack | shotgun wedding | three-dog-night | to be mad as a hatter | IOU | Hobo | Tod | Sucking on daisy roots | Smooth as a stucco bathtub | Who peed in your cornflakes this morning? | She could start a fight in an empty house | I've seen more hair on a coconut | The shiny area isn't baldness. That's the solar panel on a sex machine. (mein Favorit) | Tighter than a frog's ass and that's watertight | She squeezes a nickel until the beaver shits (nickel = 5 cent, Biber auf der einen Seite des Nickels) | Machismo | Back when men were men, and sheep were nervous | It's a cake of lies with bullshit icing
X
Y
Z
Bücher zur Kategorie:
Etymologie, Étymologie, Etymology
UK Vereinigtes Königreich (Großbritannien u. Nordirland), Royaume-Uni de Grande-Bretagne et d'Irlande du Nord, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Zitate, Citations, Quotations, Redewendungen, Expressions, Phrases
Kurzbeschreibung:
In der Kürze liegt die Würze! Sprichwörter, richtig eingesetzt, helfen, eine Aussage treffend und elegant zu bekräftigen. - Auf ein Sprichwort!- versammelt über dreihundert der gebräuchlichsten Sprichwörter mit ihren Entsprechungen in Englisch und Französisch. Oft werden in den verschiedenen Sprachen die gleichen Gedanken mit völlig unterschiedlichen Wörtern und Bildern ausgedrückt - ein besonderer Reiz für jeden, der in Fremdsprachen nicht nur ein Vehikel zur nüchternen Verständigung sieht.
D
E
F
G
George, Norman (Autor)
Die perfekten englischen Zitate
Von Jane Austen bis Oscar Wilde
Kurzbeschreibung
Über 1.000 Zitate / Zweisprachige Ausgabe: Englisch-Deutsch / Leichte Handhabung / Deutsches und Englisches Schlagwortregister
An der gegenwärtigen Weltsprache Nr. 1- Englisch - kommt kaum jemand vorbei, der um Verständigung bemüht ist, sei es privat oder beruflich. Sie ist gut zu erlernen, hat eine einfache grammatikalische Struktur und die Kompaktheit der Aussagen in ihr lassen Sentenzen entstehen, die sich leicht einprägen und oft auch nicht mehr vergessen werden.Die meisterhaften Zitate und Redewendungen aus Schriftstellerhand, aus Politiker - und Künstlermund sind in diesem Buch festgehalten sei es George Washington mit It s better to be alone than in bad company, dessen Aussage sich sowohl in der Übertragung auf das Private als auch auf den Beruf beziehen lassen kann, oder George Bernard Shaw, der mit jedem abrechnet, egal ob dieser uns beim Kaffee oder im Schulzimmer belehren will: He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.Das Register ermöglicht die Suche entweder nach dem Stichwort oder dem Autor der Leser kann sich aber auch einfach treiben lassen, nach dem Zitat von Nadine Gordimer "Truth isn't always beauty, but the hunger for it is".
Über den Autor
Norman George, geb. 1961 in London, studierte in Birmingham und Cambridge Germanistik und klassische Philologie; anschließend er war einige Jahre als Lehrer in Durham tätig. Seit 1996 lebt und arbeitet er als freier Publizist in London.
Götz, Dieter - Collins Cobuild - Englische Idioms von A - Z
The Cobuild Series from the Bank of English
Kurzbeschreibung
Mit ca. 4.400 Idioms und über 8.500 Beispielen aus der "Bank of English". Neben den Erläuterungen zu den einzelnen Einträgen und Erklärungen der Hintergründe der Idioms sowie den Hinweisen auf Sprechabsichten finden Sie zusätzlich Angaben zur Häufigkeit der verwendeten Idioms.
Gulland, Daphne M.
Langenscheidts Bildliche Redewendungen
Kurzbeschreibung
Bildliche Vergleiche, nach Sachgebieten geordnet
Übersetzungen und Andwendungsbeispiele aus Zeitungen und Erzählliteratur erleichtern das Lernen
Witzige Illustrationen helfen beim Einprägen der englischen Wendungen
Extra: Alphabetisches Register ermöglicht schnelles Nachschlagen.
H
Hawker, Sara - The Real McCoy - The True Stories Behind Our Everyday Phrases
mad as a hatter, Mad Hatter
Synopsis
English is incredibly rich in colourful phrases and expressions. But, why do we say "mad as a hatter", "know your onions", and "put on the Ritz"? This entertaining book elucidates the question of why we say the things we say. Indeed, many of the expressions we use in daily conversation have interesting and unexpected origins.
Well into the 19th century "hatters" - people employed making hats - were literally sent "mad" by the mercury used in the production process, hence the "Mad Hatter" in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", and hence the phrase ("mad as a hatter") we still use today.
From "black sheep" to "chancing your arm", "The Real McCoy" gives the fascinating stories behind hundreds of the most interesting idioms in English. Each phrase has been thoroughly researched to uncover its origins and the way it has been used in the past. The book is written in a friendly and approachable style, and includes additional information in ten double-page panels focusing on idioms linked by a common theme, such as phrases coined by Shakespeare, nautical phrases, or phrases with a Biblical origin. The book contains specially commissioned cartoons to illustrate the idioms, and, coupled with the fresh, contemporary design, they make this book a delight to browse. "The Real McCoy" is the perfect gift for everyone interested in the quirky side of the English language.
I
J
K
L
M
Morris, William / Moris, Mary (Hg.) / Asimov, Isaac (Designer)
Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins
Amazon.com
Anyone interested in the English language will be fascinated by - and then obsessed with - this dictionary that reads like an erudite gossip column for the city of words.
Kurzbeschreibung
The first Edition of the "Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins" detailed the fascinating and little known stories behind thousands of words and phrases that we use every day. In this new edition, William and Mary Morris update and expand their classic work to keep pace with our ever changing language. New entries include:
"New trends": "crack", "glitch", "greenmail", "Harrier attack airplanes"
Kurzbeschreibung
Redewendungen verleihen einer Unterhaltung Lebendigkeit. Der Titel "1000 englische Redensarten" von Langenscheidt enthält viele idiomatische Wendungen und moderne Satzbeispiele mit Angabe der jeweiligen Sprachebene (idiom, slang oder colloquial). Die Redensarten sind nach Hauptbegriffen alphabetisch geordnet. Im Anhang befindet sich ein Verzeichnis sämtlicher Schlüsselwörter, um das Auffinden der Redewendungen zu erleichtern.
N
O
P
Q
R
S
Sampson, Rodney / Smith, Colin
And now for something completely different
Wer gelegentlich englische Zeitungen liest, oder wer schon einmal zeitgenössische britische Unterhaltungsliteratur gelesen hat, kennt wohl das Phänomen: Man versteht einen Absatz Wort für Wort, keine unbekannte Vokabel darin, aber der Sinn des Ganzen bleibt nebulös. Auch ein Wörterbuch mit vielen idiomatischen Wendungen hilft nicht weiter. Klar ist nur: Hier wird auf irgend etwas angespielt, das jeder Engländer kennt. Auf irgendeine historische Person, eine literarische oder Filmfigur, ein Zitat, das in keinem Zitatenlexikon verzeichnet ist, usw. usw... Manches erkennt man zufällig; wer den Pu-Bären kennt, kann immerhin die "heffalump trap" umkurven -- aber weiß man dann auch, dass und warum sich hinter einem "Harry" der typische Sportreporter verbirgt? Dass der "Essex man" die britische Version unseres Mantafahrers ist und für gewöhnlich Kevin heißt? Dass mit "Gorbals" eine Art Klein-Chicago gemeint ist? Und worauf spielt an, wer einen Satz mit "My husband and I" beginnt? Jeder der vielen Einträge eine neue Offenbarung über die Alltagskultur der Insel.
Rodney Sampson und Colin Smith haben mit "And now for something completely different" ein nützliches kleines Wörterbuch von gediegenem Unterhaltungswert herausgegeben; das Monty-Python-Zitat im Titel gibt die Richtung vor. Sicher, einige Einträge braucht's nicht unbedingt; einen "Sherlock Holmes" oder "Jack the Ripper" etwa hätte man auch ohne Hilfe entschlüsseln können. Aber das meiste kennt man eben nicht. Nützlich sind auch die Anhänge "Geographical and social markers", "Numbers" und "Linguistic play".
Dadurch, dass die Herausgeber jeden Eintrag kurz erläutern, ggf. auch auf die Entstehung der jeweiligen Phrase eingehen, hält man hier nicht nur ein Wörterbuch in Händen, sondern auch eine Art linguistische Landeskunde.
Sellner, Alfred
Englisch im Alltag
Floskeln, Redewendungen, Sprichwörter, Zitate, Formeln, Phrasen
Amazon.com
New Yorker founding editor Harold Ross, according to this book's preface, is said to have asked writer James Thurber once, with bewilderment, "Is Moby Dick the man or the whale?" Well, even Homer nods (Horace). But, Harold! Thou shouldst be living at this hour (Wordsworth). Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Allusions is a Big Rock Candy Mountain (American folk song) for anyone who feels amid the alien corn (Keats) when it comes to understanding allusions everyone else seems to grok (Heinlein). Thanks to the blood, sweat, and tears (Churchill) of authors Elizabeth Webber and Mike Feinsilber--compiling this allusional Rosetta stone must have taken a Herculean, nay Brobdingnagian (Swift) effort--we can come in from the cold (popularized by le Carré) of the dark night of the soul (St. John of the Cross) and dine out on (G. Gordon Liddy and others) these allusions for years to come.
Jane Steinberg
...
