Halil İnalcık SAC-Idioms ePictionary

IDIOMS
e-PICTIONARY

A B A D A P P L E
Meaning: Someone who creates problems or
causes trouble for others
The best way to deal with bad apples is to take
them out of the group as quickly as possible.

A B I G C H E E S E
Meaning: an important person in a company or
an organization with a lot of influence
He left business school and became a big cheese
in the City.

A C O U C H P O T A T O
Meaning: a person who watches a lot
of television and does not have an active life
The first of those is health: we do not want a
nation of couch potatoes.

A G R A I N O F S A L T
Meaning: to not completely believe something
that you are told, because you think it
is unlikely to be true
You have to take everything she says with
a grain of salt, because she tends to exaggerate.

A H A R D N U T T O
C R A C K
Meaning: a problem that is
very difficult to solve or a person who is
very difficult to understand
The problem is a hard nut to crack.

A P I E C E O F C A K E
Meaning: something that is very easy to do
The exam was a piece of cake.

A S C O O L A S A
C U C U M B E R
Meaning: very calm or
very calmly, especially when this is surprising
She walked in as cool as a cucumber, as if
nothing had happened

T O B R I N G H O M E
T H E B A C O N
Meaning: to earn money for a family to live on
I can't sit around all day - someone's got to
bring home the bacon.

T O B U Y A L E M O N
Meaning: to purchase a vehicle that constantly
gives problems or stops running after you drive
it away.
We often try to save money by buying secondhand
cars but little do we realise that we are up
to Buy A Lemon.

T O C R Y O V E R S P I L T
M I L K
Meaning: to express regret about something that
has already happened or cannot be changed
Yes, we made a mistake, but there’s
no point in crying over spilt milk.

T O G O B A N A N A S
Meaning: to become very excited or angry
The crowd went bananas when the concert
began.

T O S P I L L T H E B E A N S
Meaning: to tell people secret information
So who spilled the beans about her quarrel
with David?

B I G M O U T H
Meaning: If someone is or has a big mouth, they
often say things that are meant to be kept secret
He went and opened his big mouth and told them
the whole story.

B U T T E R F L I E S
I N M Y S T O M A C H
Meaning: a feeling of being
very nervous or frightened about something
I'm meeting the new boss tonight, and I have
a bad case of butterflies in my stomach.

C O L D F E E T
Meaning: to suddenly become too frightened to
do something you had planned to do
I was going to try bungee jumping, but I got
cold feet.

T O B R E A K A L E G
Meaning: good luck
You have an exam tomorrow? Break a leg!

T O C O S T
A R M A N D L E G
Meaning: to be extremely expensive:
I'd love to buy a Porsche, but they cost
an arm and a leg

T O C R O S S Y O U R
F I N G E R S
Meaning: to hope very much that something
will happen
I'm just going to cross
my fingers and hope it works

T O G I V E A H A N D
Meaning: to give someone help
Could you give me a hand with these suitcases?

T O H A V E A S W E E T
T O O T H
Meaning: If you have a sweet tooth, you
like eating sweet foods, especially sweets and
chocolate.
I have a sweet tooth - I can't say no to cookies.

T O K E E P A N E Y E O N
Meaning: to watch someone or something
or stay informed about the person’s behavior
Keep an eye on your brother while I’m
out, please

T O K E E P
A T A R M ' S L E N G T H
Meaning: to not allow someone
to become too friendly with you
I always had the feeling she was keeping me at
arm's length.

T O K E E P C H I N U P
Meaning: to be brave and happy even though
they are in a difficult situation
Come on, chin up!
We’ve survived a lot worse than this.

T O L E A R N B Y H E A R T
Meaning: to learn something in such a way that
you can say it from memory
My father can
still recite the poems he learned by heart
at school.

ANIMAL
IDIOMS

A B I R D T O L D M E
Meaning: said if you know who gave you
the information being discussed but do
not want to say who it was
"How did you know he was leaving?" "Oh, let's
just say a little bird told me."

A B U S Y B E E
Meaning: one who is very busy and active
My mom is a real busy bee around
Christmastime.

A W H I T E E L E P H A N T
Meaning: something that has cost a lot
of money but has no useful purpose
The stadium is likely to become a white elephant
after the championships are over.

A N T S I N Y O U R P A N T S
Meaning: to not be able to keep still because you
are very excited or worried about something
The young students just can't sit still; they
must have ants in their pants.

B I G F I S H
Meaning: If you describe someone as a big fish,
you believe that they are powerful or important
in some way.
The four men arrested were described as really
big fish by the U.S.

F I S H O U T O F W A T E R
Meaning: someone who is uncomfortable in
a specific situation
felt like a fish out of water at my new school.

H O R S E F A C E
Meaning: Having a large face with lantern jaws
and large teeth.
She's got a horse face.

P I G H E A D E D
Meaning: obstinate
I am not sure whether this was courage or pigheadedness.

T O E A T
L I K E A H O R S E
Meaning: to always eat a lot of food
She's so thin, yet she eats like a horse.

T O L E T T H E C A T
O U T O F T H E B A G
Meaning: to allow a secret to be known, usually
without intending to
I was trying to keep the party a secret, but Mel
went and let the cat out of the bag.

W H E N P I G S F L Y
Meaning: used to say that one thinks that
something will never happen
The train station will be renovated when pigs fly.

HEALTH
IDIOMS

A C L E A N B I L L O F
H E A L T H
Meaning: a decision by a doctor that someone
is healthy
He's been given a clean bill of health by
the doctor.

B I T T E R P I L L T O
S W A L L O W
Meaning: something that is very unpleasant but
must be accepted
Losing to a younger player was a
bitter pill to swallow.

F R O G I N O N E ' S
T H R O A T
Meaning: to be unable to speak normally
because one's got cough and sore throat.
Even when I was little, other kids would ask if I
had a frog in my throat.

G R E E N A R O U N D T H E
G I L L S
Meaning: to look ill and pale
Some of the passengers looked kind of green around
the gills after the trip!

T O B E F U L L O F
B E A N S
Meaning: to have a lot of energy and enthusiasm
I've never known anyone be so full
of beans before breakfast.

T O G E T A B L A C K E Y E
Meaning: an area of skin around the eye that has
gone dark because it has been hit
He had a fight at school and came home with
a black eye.

T O K I C K T H E B U C K E T
Meaning: to die
Ole' Charlie kicked the bucket today, we
better prepare for his funeral.

T O R E C H A R G E T H E
B A T T E R I E S
Meaning: to rest and relax for a period of time so
that you feel energetic again
She took a trip to the South of France to
recharge her batteries

U N D E R T H E K N I F E
Meaning: to have a medical operation
More and more women are choosing to go under
the knife to improve their appearance

U N D E R T H E W E A T H E R
Meaning: If someone is or feels under the
weather, they feel ill
I'm feeling a bit under the weather - I think I'm
getting a cold.

NATURE
IDIOMS

A L A T E B L O O M E R
Meaning: someone who becomes good at
something after people usually become good at it
I'm feeling a bit under the weather - I think I'm
getting a cold.

A L L W E T
Meaning: completely wrong
We need to come up with a new ad campaign, because,
based on these negative reactions, the old one was all
wet.

B E D O F R O S E S
Meaning: an easy and happy existence
I know this place is no bed of roses, but it’s all
we can afford right now.

O V E R T H E M O O N
Meaning: to be very pleased
She was over the moon about/with her new bike.

T O C H A S E R A I N B O W S
Meaning: to try to get something that you can
never have
I try to help her be realistic and tell her that she
is just chasing rainbows.

T O H A V E G R E E N
F I N G E R S
Meaning: to be good at gardening and
making plants grow well
I'm feeling a bit under the weather - I think I'm
getting a cold.

W A T E R U N D E R T H E
B R I D G E
Meaning: problems that someone has had in the past that
they do not worry about because
they happened a long time ago and cannot now
be changed
:Yes, we did have our disagreements but that's water
under the bridge now.

IDIOMS
e-PICTIONARY