Idioms and Phrases in English

 

Idioms and Phrases in English

Most Important Idioms for All Exams

Idioms and Phrases is the most important topic for almost all exams like SSC CGL , State PSC and WBCS. It should be read very well even for CBSE , ICSE and Board exams. Today we will learn very useful Idioms and Phrases in English.

Idioms and Phrases

It is important for us to understand the concept and the correct usage of idiom and phrases. 

Idioms are a collection of words or phrases which have a figurative meaning that is generally well established and known. 

Idioms	English Meaning
ABC	Basic Knowledge
Above board	Beyond doubt
Acid Test	A through Test
A fish out of water	Uncomfortable
All and sundry	Everyone
All ears	Listening with great attention
All but	Nearly
All out	Determine
Apple of one’s eye	Intimately dear
As to	With regard to
At loggerheads	Always disagreeing
At a loss	Puzzled
At the beck and call	Servile
As a matter of fact	Truly Speaking
At bay	Cornered
Apple of discord	A subject of quarrel
At sea	Perplexed
Achilles’ heel	Weak point
A rat race	Completion
At a stretch	Continuously
At daggers drawn	In better enmity
At large	Independent
Idioms	English Meaning
Bad blood	Enmity
Bad patch	Difficult time
Beggar description	Beyond description
Bee in the bonnet	Eccentric
Big gun	Important Person
Black sheep	Worthless
Blue birth	Noble birth
Bolt from the blue	Unexpected Mishap
Break the ice	End the silence
Bring to book	Punish
Burn the midnight oil	Work hard
By leaps and bounds	At great speed
Between the lines	Closely
By far	Undoubtedly
Burry the hatchet	Solve the quarrel.
Bag and Baggage	Belongings
Bed of roses	Easy path
Bread and butter	Earnings
Bid fair	Show indications of
By nature	Naturally
Burnt to light	Reveal
Build castle in the air	Indulge in fanciful idea
Idioms	English Meaning
Catch at a straw	Desperate for survival
Cats and dogs	Torrentially
Couch Potato	Lazy man
Crocodile tears	Feigning sorrow
Cock and bull story	Totally improbable tale
Come to terms	Resolve differences
Chip of the old block	Worthy son of a worthy father
Carry the day	To win
Call a spade a spade	To speak the truth on face
Dark house	Unknown person
Day in, day out	Everyday
Die in harness	Die while in service
Down to earth	Practical
Double game	Hypocrisy
Dead of night	Midnight
Die hard	Fight till last moment
End in smoke	Become useless
Eyewash	Untrue promises
Ever and anon	Frequently
Eye for an eye	To revenge
Face the music	Face old situation
Fair and square	Just
Idioms	English Meaning
Fight sigh of	Avoid
Flesh and blood	Human being
Fresh blood	Young energetic man
Fair play	Honesty
French leave	Unauthorised leave of absence
Fish out of water	Uneasy condition
Gala day	A day of enjoyment
Gift of the gab	Eloquence
Good Samaritan	A good neighbour
Grey matter	Intelligent
Get by heart	Memorise
Golden means	Mid -way
Half – baked	Not well planed
Hats off to	Have admiration
Heart and soul	Earnestly
Hold water	Passed the time
Hue and cry	Confused noise
Hang fire	Postpone decision
In lieu of	Instead of
In spite of	Despite
In vogue	Prevalent
Ins and out	Every detail
Iron fist	Firmly
Ivory tower	Imaginary world
In black and white	In writing
In a dilemma	In a fix
In defence of	In support of
In defiance of	In spite of
In a hurry	Hastily
In fine	In conclusion
In front of	Before
Jot or little	The least
Join issue with	Differ with
King’s ransom	A lot of money
Kith and kin	Relatives
Keep the wolf from the door	Avoid want
Lame excuse	Bad excuse
Lion’s share	Main share
Leading light	Main inspiration
Lock horn	Argue with each other
Live fast	Live dissolutely
Long and short	In brief
Look sharp	Hurry up
Maiden speech	First performance
Man of straw	Worthless fellow
Man of letters	Scholar
Man of words	Steadfast
Make good	Compensate for
Milk and honey	Plenty
Nail biting	Extremely exciting
Nip in the bird	Destroy at the beginning
Nip in the air	Cold weather
Nook and corner	Everywhere
Null and void	Invalid
Narrow escape	Close shave
Of late	Recently
On the eve of	Just before
On the wane	Diminishing
On and off	Occasionally
Once in a blue moon	Rarely
Out and out	Totally
Off hand	Without preparation
Of the first water	High rated
On a par	Similar
Palmy days	Time of prosperity
Point blank	Direct
Pros and cons	Every aspect
Rags to riches	From poverty to wealth
Rank and file	Common people
Red tape	Official formality
Red carpet	Warm welcome
Red letter day	Date of an important event
Salt of the earth	Good man
See eye to eye	Agree
Small fry	People of little importance
Sharp practice	Cheat
Stand by	Support
Stand in	Opposing force
Square deal	Big goodbye