Phrases

Phrases
A 1st charge	A priority
A black sheep	A part disreputable member of the group
A bolt from the blue	An unexpected event
A bolt from the blue	Something unexpected and unpleasant
A close shave	Narrow escape
A fair weather friend	A favorable friend
A feather in his cap	A achievement of which he can be proud
A fit as a fiddle	Extremely healthy
A lame duck	A person who is in trouble
A mare’s nest	A rumor
A piece of cake	A task that can be achieved very easily
A red letter day	An important day
A skeleton in one’s cupboard	Something embarrassing kept as a secret
A snake in the grass	A secret enemy
A sore point with	Something which hurt
A square deal	A fair bargain
A storm in a tea cup	Excitement over something trivial, Commotion over a trivial matter
A wild goose chase	Futile search, hopeless search
Above board	open
All at sea	Puzzled
An eyewash	Deception
An olive branch	An offer of peace
An open book	One that held no secret
At an arm’s length	At a safe distance
At sixes and sevens	In disagreement
At snail’s pace	To do things very slowly
At stake	In danger
At the 11th hour	At the very last moment
Bad blood	Angry feeling
Be in the eye of the storm	Steal the show
Bear the palm	Pre-eminent
Bears sway	Exercise authority
Beat off	Escape
Bed of roses	Full of joy
Best of ones oars	Do something in exited way
Black and blue	Severely
Blow over	Pass off
Blowing its own trumpets’	Self praise
Blue eyed boys	Favourites
Bone to pick	Cause of quarrel
Brought up	Introduced for discussion
Burnt his boat	Left no means of retreat
By fits and starts	Irregular
By leaps and bounds	Rapidly
By leaps and bounds	Rapidly
Cannot hold a candle to	Cannot be compared to
Carry out	Execute
Check by jowl	Very near
Close fisted person	A misery person
Cock and bull stories	Unbelievable stories
Cock and bull story	An unbelievable tale
Cold comfort	Slight satisfaction
Cope with	Handle
Crocodile tears	Pretended sorrow
Crossed sward	Disagreed
Curry favour	Flatter , ingratiating itself with
Cut him off, without a shilling	Disinherited
Cut no ice with me	Had no influence on me
Dealt in a severe below	To hit or strike severely
Devil’s advocate	One who is against religion
Die in harness	Die will still working
Die in harness	Still in service
Do not hold water	Do not fulfill the requirements
Dragging your enemies through mud	Disturbing
Drew on his fancy	Used his imagination
Dropping names	Talking informally
Easy going	Indolent
Ended in a fiasco	Was an utter failure
Fair and square	Honest
Fair weather friend	One who deserts you difficulties
Fed up	Annoyed
Fee for all	Uncontrollable situation
Fell back	Turned back
Fell into line	Become orderly
Fell through	Failed
Fits and starts	Not regular
Flogging a dead horse	Wasting time in use less effort
Fly  a kite	Test public opinion
Foar in the mouth	To be furious
Fought to the bitter end	Carried on a contest regardless of the consequences
Gave the game away	Gave out the secret
Gift of the gab	Talent for speaking
Give in	Yield ,surrender
Give the game away	Give out the secret
Go hot and cold	Sudden feeling of fear and anxiety
Go into overdrive	Start working very hard
Go throw fire and water	Under go any risk
Going places	Going abroad
Good Samaritan	A hopeful person
Got the sack	Was dismissed
Got the sack	Was dismissed from
Grain of salt	Believe only part of something
Green thumb	To have a natural interest in gardening
Hale and hearty	Healthy and sound
Hard and fast	Strict
Hard and fast rule	Rule that cannt be broken or modified
Has too many irons on the fire	Is engaged in too many enterprises at the same time
Have the last laugh	To be the victorious at the end of the argument
Heads will role	Transfer will take place
Helter-skelter	In disorderly haste
Herculean task	A work requiring very great effort
High and dry	Neglected
Hit upon a new	To be find something by chance
Hit wit’s end	Confused
Hobson’s choice	No real choice at all
I gave him a piece of my mind	Advise him
I impressed upon	Convinced
I m done for	Done=ruin
In a good book of	In favour with
In a trice	In a short period
In bad odour	Target of others anger
In cold blood	Deliberately
In high spirits	Full of hope and enthusiasm
In the long run	Ultimately
In the throes of	In the grip of
In tight corner	Ina difficult situation
Ina tight corner	In a difficult situation
Ins and outs	Full details
Jumped out of my skin	Was in panic
Keep under wraps	Secret
Kith and kin	Relatives
Lay out	Spend
Laying off of	Dismissal from jobs of
Lead somebody to the altar	To marry somebody
Leaps and bounds	Very rapidly
Let her hair down that night	Really enjoy
Let the cat of the bag	To disclose the secret
Let the cat out of the bag	Told her about it unintentionally
Like a phoenix	With a new life
Lock, stock and barrel	Completely
Look down upon	Hate intensely
Made a clean breast of	Confessed
Made amends for	Repented for
Made ducks and drakes	Squandered, wasted
Made my flesh creep	Frightened me
Made no bones out	Did not have hesitation in
Maiden speech	1st speech
Make a wry face	Show disappointment
Mend his ways	Improve his habits
Movers and shakers	Peoples who things get done
Nineteen to the dozen	Too much
No love lost b/w	Not on good terms
Nook and corner	Everywhere
Null and void	Invalid
Odds and ends	Remaining goods, scattered things, nonsense
Of no avail	Useless
Of no avail	Unsuccessful
Of one mind	Unanimous
Off and on	Occasionally
On the cuff	On credit
On the level	Equally rich
On the sly	Secretly
On the verge of	On the brink of
Once  in blue moon	Rarely
Once in blue moon	Rarely
Only burns a hole in his pocket	Gets spent quickly
Out and out	Totally
Out of thin air	Appear suddenly
Out of thin air	Appear suddenly
Paid a back handed compliment	Made an ambiguous statement praise
Paid them back In the same coin	Got the taste of one’s own medicine
Pay Through his nose	Pay on his extremely high price
Play second fiddle	Cannot play a subordinate role
Played havoc	Caused destruction
Plough a lonely furrow	Work singlehandedly
Pocket and insult	Bear insult without protest
Pore over	Go through
Pours cold water on	Disapproves of
Price yourself out of the market	Become too expensive for customer
Pros and cons	For and against, consider all facts
Put his foot down	Asserted his authority
Put on air’s	Behave as if they are better than they really are
Put up	Endure
Put up with	Tolerate
Puts a spoke in my wheel	Puts an obstacle
Puts other out of countenance	To make one uncomfortable
Putting your own shoulder to the wheels	Doing something by engaging oneself
Rank and file	Common people
Read for the bars	Studied to become a barrister
Reading b/w the lines	Understanding the sense rather than the actual word , find more meaning than the words appear to express
Rest on their laurels	To be complacent
Rub up	To revise one’s knowledge of a subject
Run down	Criticize
Run into	Incurred
Run riot	Acted without restraint
Sailing other down the river	To betray other
Set the record straight	Giver a correct record
Set their face against	Apposed strongly
Sharp practices	Intelligent decisions
Shift for themselves	Move house on their own
Shook in their shoes	Trembled with fear
Sing froid	Composure
Sitting on the fence	b/w two opinion
Sitting on the fence	Hesitating which side to take
Smell a rat	To have reason to suspect
Sowing wild oats	Irresponsible pleasure seeking in young age
Spilling the beans	Revealing the information indiscreetly
Stand still	Complete halt
Stand-offish	Angry
Struck a chill to the heart	Aroused fear
Take exception to	Object to
Take for granted	To accept readily
Take thee at the world	Truly believe you
Taken the wind out of my sails	Made my words or actions ineffective
Takes after	Pesembles
Taking her for a ride	Trying to trick her
Taking through his hat	Taking nonsense
Tall turkey	Get to the point
The Achilles’ heels	Weak point
The ant came in the stream to	To drink at it
The ant repaid the dove by	Biting the hunter
The cold shoulder	To abuse
The dove dropped a leaf into the water to	Save the ant
The dove was in danger b’coz	A hunter was about to shoot it
The green-eyed monster	Jealous
The man in the street	The ordinary man
The order of the day	A common practice
The primrose path	The pursuit of pleasure
The upper crust	People of highest social position
The word ‘aim’ in this passage means	To point a gun at something or someone
Threw down the glove	Gave a challenge
Through thick and thin	Under all conditions
To be above board	To be honest in way b/s deaf
To be all at sea	Lost and confused
To be always at his beck and call	His disposal
To be at one’s wits end	To be sorerly perplexed
To be biased against	Prejudice
To be in the lime light	The center of attraction
To be on the horn’s of a dilemma	To be in a fix
To be the question	To be discussed
To be under a cloud	To be in disgrace
To beat a retreat	To withdraw
To beat about the bush	Approach the matter in a round about way
To bell the cat	To take lead in danger
To bide their time	To wait patiently
To bite the dust
To break the ice	To break the painful silence
To call a spade to spade	To be frank and truthful
To catch up with	To come to their level
To cool one’s heels	To go for holiday
To cry wolf	To give false alarm
To cut the Gordian knot	To solve a difficult problem
To cut to the chase	To get directly go to the point
To draw on his fancies	Use his imagination
To drive home	A private end to serve
To drive someone up the wall	To irritate and annoy very much
To eat humble pie	To live in a manner modest, To have to apologies
To end in smoke	To ruin oneself, to come to nothing
To face the music	To bear the consequences, get reprimanded
To fight tooth and nail	To oppose resolutely
To give a piece of mind	To reprimand
To give the devil his due	To stand in the way of devil
To go the whole hog	To do the completely
To grease the palm	To bribe
To have an axe to grind	A private and to serve
To have something up one’s sleeves	Have a secret plan
To hit below the belt	To fight
To hit the nail right on the head	To do the right thing
To keep the pot boiling	To earn enough money to live
To keep up	To be on par
To keeps ones temper	To be in a good mood
To leave no stone unturned	To do onces best
To lose ones marbles	Go crazy
To make a dear breast of	To destroy before it blossoms
To make both ends meet	To live within one’s income
To make hey while the sun shines	Making the best use of a favourable situation
To mince matters	To confuse issues
To pick holes	To criticize someone
To plat to the gallery	To try to be sensational
To pour oil on troubled water	Appease a turbulent situation
To pull one’s legs	To make fool of
To run one down	To disparage someone
To see one’s face	Appear
To smell a rat	To suspect foul dealings
To spoke in the wheel	To spoil  the plan
To stove off	Postpone
To strike gold	To find a valuable line of argument or information
To take into account	To consider
To take someone to task	To scold someone
To take to one’s heels	To run away
To throw dust in someone’s eye	To deceive
To turn a deaf year	To ignore what someone is saying , disregard
Toe the line	Obey orders
Token strike	Sort strike held as a warning
Tom, dick and herry	Anybody
Took to his heels	Run away
Turn an honest penny	Make a legitimate living
Turn an honesty penny	Make a legitimate living
Turned down	Rejected
Turned his head	Made him vain
Turning the table	Exactly reversing the position
Turns up her nose at	Despises
Under a cloud	Under suspicion
Under duress	Under compulsion
Wash dirty linen in public	Make person quarrels public
Went a long way	Helped considerably
Went to the winds	Dissipated
White elephant	A Costly but useless possession
With a grain of salt	To listen to something with considerable doubt
With open arms	Warmly
Within a stone’s throw	Very near to