Idioms and Phrases part 4

The fat end	The last part
A laughing stock	Looking ridiculous
Ad hock	For the special purpose
Bon voyage	A good journey for you
De, jure	Rightful , legal
Stave off	Prevent
Awkward silence	Embarrassing silence
Globetrotters	Travellers around the world
The thin end of the wedge	The beginning of further concessions
Tarred with same brush	Posses the same defects
To steal a march	Outshine
Go broke	Become penniless
Set great store	Values greatly
Touch and go	Risky
Give A piece of mind	Scold
Breath down the neck	Watch all actions closely
Egg is egg	Quite certainly
Kick the bucket	To die
A brown study	Absorbed in reading
Fight shy	Avoid form a feeling of mistrust
Damp squib	An utter failure
Steer clear of	Avoid
Brought to book	To punish
Pay by one’s nose	Pay dearly
In the dumps	In low spirits
Beat neck and crop	Completely
Hard nose	Tough and aggressive
In a real fix	In a difficult situation
In one’s elements	Feel relax and confident
Cold blood	Unfeelingly
Weigh the anchor	Prepare to sail again
To rise like a phoenix	To start afresh from a low position
To have cold feet	To be reluctant
Come cap in the hand	Very humble
Man of straw	Insignificant
At a low key	At reducing
At stake	In danger
To break the duck	To begin
A big shot	Important person

To put the cat among the pigeons	To be placed in a wrong situation
Cut the Gordian knot	To perform the difficult task
To gain the ground	To become more general
Through thick and thin	Under any circumstances
To kick up a row	To make great noise and fuss
To be at the end of one’s tether	To have no resources left
Odds and ends	Various article
To shoot a line one’s success	To exaggerate about
To feather one’s nest	To provide money even dishonestly
To black ball	Prevent from doing something
To be in the black(Of one’s money)	To be in credit
To make no bones about something	To do or say a thing openly if it is unpleasant
To foot the bill	To make payment
Cut no ice	To make no effect
Once and for all	Foe ever
Hole and corner policy	Improper policy
far and away	Certainly
Face value	Superficially
Bring home	To emphasise
To lead one by the nose	To cause to follow blindly
One’s cup of tea	What one likes and can do well
To have the floor	To make speech
The cock of the walk	The most dominant person in a group
A cuckoo in the nest	A child whose parentage is doubtful and may therefore not belong by blood to the family
Feet of clay	To be weak or cowardly
A pig in poke	And article which was brought without previous inspection and which turns out to be worth less than what one paid for it.
A Skelton in the cupboard	A past event which is kept secret by a family/ something embarrassing or shameful
To scream blue murder	Make a great deal of noise and object vehemently
To run in the same groove	Advance in harmony
To lead others up the garden	To deceive others
To cut both ends	To argue in support of both sides of the issue
All the same	Nevertheless , but yet
Cut and dried	Settled , decided
Null and void	Invalid , without legal effect

Rough and ready	Not exact , only approximate
Short and sweet	Brisk , without delay
Clock and dagger	Like a spy
Run-of- the mill	An average, an average , ordinary unexciting
An armchair job	A regular job which is considered easy and well-paid
Backstairs gossip	Gossip among servants
A close fisted man	A mean or stingy man
A curtain lecture	The scolding of a husband by his wife in private
Elbow room	Room on opportunity to move and act freely
Forty winks	Short sleep
An ivory tower	A place or state of life that is out of touch with people and reality
A latchkey child	A child who returns from school etc. To and empty house because both parents working
Soft soap	Flattery
The bill of fare	The menu
An eye on the main chance	Looks after his won welfare
Esprit de corps	Unity
Make a wry face	Show disappointment
For a consideration	Paid to do something
To give currency to	To pay much attention to
Blue blood	An aristocrat
At one’s wit’s end	To be completely confused
To hold a candle to	To be nearly as good as someone in his/her absence
Black sheep	An unworthy person
Out and out	Absolutely
Not to mince matters	To speak our frankly
To play with	Fool
Rainy days	Unlucky times
To fly off the handle	To get into a rage and lose self-control
The alpha and the omega	The beginning and the end
End in smoke	To give no practical result
Mincing manners	Not to speak plainly
Hanky –panky	Jugglery
Hot head	The fighter
Have a go	Make an attempt

Mince one’s words	Choose term carefully
Be in the mire	Be in difficulties
Let on	Reveal
To get along	To manage to
Make too much of	Overestimate
Lay bare	Expose
Stem from	Originate
On the nod	On credit
To take a occasion	To rake advantage of and opportunity
Take it ill	Too be offended
Extinct and obsolete	As dead as a dodo
In a delicate state	Hanging in balance
In abeyance	In suspension
With might and main	With full vigour
In a jam	In trouble
To get at	Reach
On the wane	Growing less
At a loss	To be puzzled
At all events	Positively
As a rule	Usually
At sixes and sevens	In disorder
All the same	Yet
To egg on	To urge on
To drive at	To employ
To keep the ball rolling	To maintain progress
To knock the bottom out	To make a scheme
To bear a grudge	To have a better felling
By virtue of	On account of
To beat hollow	To defeat completely
To the backbone	Thoroughly /in detail
A cat’s paw	To make somebody a tool
To come of age	To be major
To cry over a spilt milk	To reach a crisis
Fits and stars	Irregularly
Damocles’ sword	An impending danger
Cast down	Depressed
To go without saying	Clear
In the nick of time	Just in the time
Jack of all trades	A person supposed to know everything but

master of none
To leas astray	To misguide
To leap in the dark	Careless action
A man of means	A rich man
Off hand	Without preparation
Neck or nothing	With the use of everything
To pay the piper	To bear the cost
A rolling stone	One who is never constant to one’s work
To stir a finger	To make the best effort
To sow the dragon’s teeth	To do something
Street Arabs	Homeless and parentless children
To turn one’s head	To be proud
To and fro	Backwards and forwards
To while away	To pass in amusement
To win the palm	To win the prize
To wild up	To bring to an end
Wait upon	To serve
Wear and tear	Decrease in value due to constant use
Judas kiss	False love
Black ox	Misfortune
Donkey’s year	After a long time
An old flame	Sweat heart
To see pink elephants	To show courage
Blind alley	Unprofitable action
The heels of Achilles	The weak point in a person
Kangaroo court	Unofficial court
Lump in the throat	A highly emotional state
Fabien policy	Policy of cautions persistence
A fly in the ointment	A problem in a situation
Mother wit	Common sense
A grass widow	A women whose husband is temporarily away from her
To make a pile	To make a fortune
A nig-nog	A fool
Kiss the rod	Accept the punishment
Itsy bitsy	Very small
In the nick of time	Just in time
In lieu of	In place of
In embryo	In under developing stage