This post is a collection for us to learn and study idioms in English, when used appropriately, idioms can convey emotions more fully, express meaning vividly, and make the other party feel more familiar and authentic.

A

  • A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush
  • A bird of a different feather
  • A blessing in disguise
  • A code day in July
    • Something that will never happened
  • A dime a dozen
  • A dog’s breakfast
  • A fish out of water
  • A Piece of cake
    • Something very easy to do
  • A penny for your thoughts
  • A perfect storm
  • A shot in the arm
  • A silver bullet
    • A simple solution to a complicated problem
  • A snowball effect
  • A snowball’s chance in hell
    • To be very unlikely to succeed at something
  • A stone’s throw
  • A taste of own medicine
  • Act of god
  • Actions speak louder than words
  • Add fuel to the fire/flames
  • Add insult to injury
  • Against the clock
  • All roads lead to Rome
  • All wet
    • Completely mistaken
  • An arm and a leg
  • Apple-pie order
  • Apples to apples
  • Apples to oranges
  • As cold as stone
  • As cool as a cucumber
    • Very calm or very calmly, especially when this is surprising

B

  • Bad hair day
  • Back against the wall
  • Back to the drawing board
  • Baker’s dozen
  • Barking up the wrong tree
  • Beat around the bush
    • Avoid saying what you mean
  • Better late than never
  • Big fish in a small pond
  • Big wig
  • Bite off more than you can chew
  • Bite the bullet
  • Blaze a trail
  • Blood and thunder
    • A dramatic, spectacular performance
  • Blow hot and cold
  • Blow smoke
  • Blue blood
  • Blue in the face
    • Weakened or tired after trying many times
  • Blue moon
  • Break a leg
    • Good luck
  • Break ice
  • Burn the midnight oil
  • Burn your boats/bridges
  • By the ear
    • To improvise

C

  • Call of nature
  • Call it a day
    • Stop working on something
  • Call it a night
  • Cat got your tongue
  • Chase rainbows
    • To pursue unrealistic goals
  • Cloud nine
  • Cold feet
  • Crunch time
  • Cry over spilled milk
  • Cry wolf
  • Cut corners
  • Cut to the chase

D

  • Dead of winter
    • The coldest, darkest part of winter
  • Devil’s advocate
  • Don’t cry over spilt milk
  • Draw legs on a snake

E

  • Elephant in the room
  • Ear candy
  • Easy does it
    • Slow down
  • Eat like a horse
  • Everything but the kitchen sink
    • Everything that you can think of; every possible thing in a given situation
  • Eye candy

F

  • Face the music
  • Fed up
  • Free as a bird
  • Freak out
  • From scratch

G

  • Get out of hand
    • Get out of control
  • Get the ball rolling
  • Gild the lily
  • Go against the grain
  • Go down in flames
  • Go Dutch
  • Go for broke
  • Go shanghaied
  • Go with the flow
  • Good things come to those who wait
  • Greased lighting

H

  • Hang in there
    • Don’t give up
  • Has bigger fish to fry
  • Hit the books
  • Hit the sack
  • Hold your horses
    • To tell s.one to stop and consider carefully their decision or opinion about something
  • Hot potato

I

  • Icing on the cake
  • In for a penny, in for a pound
  • In hot water
  • In the bag
  • In the black
  • In the pink
  • In the red

J

  • Jump on the bandwagon

K

  • Knock it off
  • Kick the bucket
    • A euphemistic meaning ‘to die’

L

  • Let s.one off the hook
    • To not hold someone responsible for s.thing
  • Like a cakewalk
  • Look before you leap
  • Lose one’s marbles
  • Love me, love my dog

M

  • Make a long story short
    • Tell something briefly
  • Make waves
  • Miss the boat
    • It’s too late
  • My bad

N

  • Nature and/or nurture
  • No dice
  • No pain, no gain
    • You have to work for what you want
  • Not rocket science

O

  • On a roll
  • On thin ice
  • One for the road
  • One’s ass off
  • Out of blue

P

  • Pie in the sky
  • Pull a rabbit out of the hat
  • Put on your thinking cap (on)
  • Put something on ice

R

  • Raining cats and dogs
  • Rain on someone’s parade
  • Rain or shine
    • Do regularly, whatever the circumstances
  • Read the riot act
    • To reprimand someone for behaving badly, with the intention of improving that person’s behavior
  • Ring a bell
    • Sounds familiar
  • Rise and shine
  • Run a mile

S

  • Salad days
  • Sat on the fence
  • See eye to eye
  • Second wind
  • Sell like hot cakes
  • Sell yourself short
  • Shape up or ship out
  • Shoot from the hip
  • Sit tight
  • Small fish in a big pond
  • Smooth sailing
  • Snitches get stitches
  • Sock away
  • Speak of the devil
  • Spill the beans
    • To leak a secret
  • Spit into the wind
    • Wasting time on something futile
  • Strength in numbers
  • Steal s.one’s thunder
    • Upstage someone
  • Stick in the mud
  • Storm in a teacup
    • A lot of unnecessary anger and worry about a unimportant matter

T

  • Tag alone
  • Take umbrage
  • Take the fall
  • The calm before the storm
  • The devil is beating his wife
  • The icing on the cake
  • The last feather
  • The last ounce
  • The last straw
  • The lights are on, but nobody’s home
    • To describe a person who isn’t very smart
  • The Midas touch
  • The proof is in the pudding
  • Through thick and thin
  • Throw caution to the wind
  • Top dog
  • Top-notch
  • Top of one’s head
  • Turn a blind eye
    • To refuse to acknowledge a known truth
  • Turn the tables

U

  • Under dog
  • Under the weather
    • To feel ill
  • Up for

W

  • Walk on air
  • We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it
  • When pigs fly
    • Something that you think will never happen

Y

  • You can say that again
  • You have my word
  • You rock
  • Your guess is as good as mine