Idioms

-- Above board (without concealment or deception; honest)

He is an honest person and does everything above board.

 

-- Age before beauty

He always opens the door for the elder because he believes in age before beauty.

 

-- AKA (as known as)

Notebook computer, AKA laptop, is not as expensive as before.

 

-- All your eggs in one basket

Mike puts all his savings in stocks. His mom thinks that he should diversify his investments and not put all his eggs in one basket.

 

-- An axe to grind

We were very angry with my brother because he dropped out of school.  He had an axe to grind saying that school is not his thing.

 

-- A nail biter

He missed the dinner for watch the nail-biting football game.

Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller movie called, Rear Window, is such a nail biter that everyone sits at the edge of his seat throughout the whole movie.

 

-- A steal

It is really a steal that he bought the 20" Flat panel TV at $50.

A brand new Sony 20” flat screen TV normally goes for $300.  My friend bought one 3 months ago and is now moving to another country.  So I got it from him for $50.  So it is really a steal.

 

-- At loggerheads

My brother dropped school by himself. That puts him at loggerheads with my parents.

 

-- A friend indeed is a friend in need.

I helped him on many occasions but he never once lifted a finger to help me. A friend indeed is a friend in need. With friends like him, who needs any enemies?

 

-- If I have a friend like you, who needs any enemies?

I gave her a lot of gifts, but she told others that I am a very cheap person. So I told her directly, “ If I have a friend like you, who needs any enemies?”

 

-- Bare your soul

It is not easy to bare his soul since his private life is very personal and complicated.

 

-- Basket case

After dropping out of school, he couldn't find any job. His life is now a basket case, drifting through life on his parents support.

 

-- Bear it

He was mistreated often, but he learned to bear it instead of fighting back and making things worse.

 

-- Bend over backwards

When Mike was very sick in the hospital, he could not support his family. His neighbor next door took on another job and worked overtime to make extra money to help Mike during this period.  Mike was very appreciative and grateful that his neighbor would bend over backwards to help a neighbor in need.

 

-- Best of both worlds

He wanted a job that would pay well and give him a lot of free time.  He wants to work hard and play hard at the same time so that he can reap the benefits of both worlds.

 

-- Boo-boo

He made a boo-boo not checking the direction, so it took him extra one hour to get there.

 

-- Break the bank

Don't break the bank to buy an expensive car now. You have to save something for rainy days (in case you lose your job).

 

-- Breath of fresh air

After the one month vacation, he seems have a breath of fresh air.

We have heard all of the ideas of your staff and none of it was feasible.  We need a breath of fresh air from someone outside the company.

 

-- Butter up

To attract more tourists, the hotel manager decides to butter up their costumers by a promotion of half price.

His room was not clean and smelly, so the hotel manager moved him to a suite and gave him a free night stay to butter him up.

He made his mother-in-law mad, so he took her out to dinner to butter her up.

 

-- Cave in

Mike caved in pursuing his Ph. D at the age of 40.

The management caved in to extravagant union demands because they were afraid of a strike in the middle of busy shopping season.

 

-- Charley horse

After sit in front of the computer for 5 hours without any rest, he got charley horse.

You should try to frequently exercise your legs in a long plane ride to avoid getting a charley horse.

 

-- Chicken comes home to roost

To collect more funds for the research, they brag a lot about the future benefit it will bring. Hope it will work as expected. Otherwise, chicken comes home to roost. They have to face the investors in the end.

 

If you use baby sitters to raise your child, the child may grow up with a lot of habits he learned from the baby sitter.  The chicken will come home to roost if you neglect your responsibility in raising the child yourself.

 

-- Chip on his shoulder 

He has a chip on his shoulder because he feels that everyone in the world owes him a living.

 

-- Cool your heel

Martha Stewart had to cool her heels for 5 months for lying to the government about her stock dealings.

 

-- Copycat

He does not have any imagination of his own because he is a copycat.

 

-- Cream of the crop

He is among the cream of the crop in his class.

 

-- Cross someone

Be careful if you cross your boss.  If he finds out, you are dead meat.

 

-- Cut my teeth on

I cut my teeth on driving in the streets of Beijing, so I should have no problem driving in New Jersey.

I cut my teeth on learning English and made a huge progress.

 

-- Cut to the chase

We don’t have time to go into the details, so let’s cut to the chase.

Do give me the run around, just cut to the chase and tell me the bottom line.

 

--Fly by night

We will go to visit other places first and go back to the street fair because it is not fly by night.

 

-- Going around circles

I can never get a straight answer out of him; he just keeps going around circles.

 

-- Half hearted

He dated her half-heartedly for four years. She should have really broken up with him sooner because there was no commitment on his part.

 

--Helter-skelter

There was no time to pack the luggage. He jammed his cloths in the suitcase in a helter-skelter fashion and ran for the airport.

 

-- Knight in shining armor

Someone was about to rob me in the alley, but a cop who came after the thugs like a knight in shining armor saved me. 

 

-- Lovesick

He got lovesick and can’t focus on study.

 

--One-night stand

He likes one-night stand relationship because he can’t take anything seriously. 

The tickets of the concert are sold out since it is only a one-night stand show.

 

-- Prince charming

He is my prince charming because he has all the traits I am looking for in a man.

 

-- Ride the wave

If you do not want declare your position on the issue, just ride the wave in the meeting.

 

-- Shoo-in

Mike, the assistant coach, is a shoo-in for John's position as a coach when John moves on.

 

-- Skinny dip

There is an exclusive beach area where skinny-dipping is allowed.

 

-- Slippery slope

If nothing can stop the bleeding, he will be in a slippery slope that he life is in risk.

Before entering the slippery slope of matrimony, you should find out everything you need to know about the person you want to marry.

Terri Schiavo, the 41-year-old woman with a permanent brain damage is in a vegetated state, is being killed by removing food and water from her body.  She is being killed because her quality of life is gone according to some people.  Other people believe that she should be given the right to live.  So the issue is at what point we say the quality of life is not acceptable.  We must be careful going down that slippery slope of deciding who should live and at what quality of life level.

 

-- Square peg in a round hole

Those two guys didn’t click at all; it was like putting a square peg into a round hole.

 

-- Topsy-turvy

We enjoyed a quite retirement life until our grandchildren came to stay with us for the summer, turning our ordered life topsy-turvy.

 

 -- Win the battle, lose the war

US won the battle in Faluja, but we may lose the war if this spurs all the Muslims to join the fight against us.  If so, we won the battle, but lost the war.