ESL Tutoring Center
A List of Common Idioms
Idiom
Keep your chin up
In hot water
On the back burner
Put your best foot forward
Hit the books
Cool as a cucumber
Piece of cake
Wade through
Butterflies in my stomach
Be in the same boat
Cost an arm and a leg
Hold your horses
Pulling someone’s leg
Spill the beans
Get off someone’s back
Turn over a new leaf
All thumbs
Example What it means
It’s hard to keep your chin up Remain cheerful in a difficult
when everything is going wrong. situation
Joey was in hot water after he In trouble
broke Mrs. Smith’s window.
I put baseball practice on the Delayed until later
back burner while I studied for
the test.
Mom always encourages me to Leave a good first impression
put my best foot forward on first
day of school.
We’re having a test tomorrow, Study
so I’m going to hit the books
tonight.
Kelly was cool as cucumber Calm, not nervous
when she told the teacher that
her dog ate her homework.
Learning to dive is a piece of Very easy
cake.
Our teacher gave us so much Work on a difficult or lengthy
homework it took me four hours task
to wade through it all!
I always get butterflies in my A nervous, fluttery feeling in the
stomach before a big game. stomach
With us both sick, we are in the Be in the same bad situation as
same boat someone else
Ta mar’s new dress cost an arm Be extremely expensive
and a leg!
“Hold your horses!” said Mom as Stop or wait
I reached for a cookie. “They are
still too hot to eat.”
When Uncle Bert said he used to Teasing someone
be a pirate, he was just pulling
my leg.
Don’t spill the beans to Dan Tell a secret
about his surprise birthday
party!
Dad won’t get off my back until I Stop nagging or reminding
take out the trash. someone about something
Cissy promised to turn over a Make a positive change in your
new leaf and keep her room behavior
clean form now on.
When it comes to sewing, I’m all Clumsy, or not very good at
thumbs. doing something
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Idiom Example What it means

Break a leg Right before I walked out on Have good luck
stage, my mother told me to
break a leg.
Get up on the wrong side of the Evan was so grumpy I knew he Be in a bad mood
bed must have gotten up on the
wrong side of the bed.
Go out on a limb I’ll go out on a limb and say that Take a chance
our team will win the
championships this year.
Tongue-tied I’m always tongue-tied when I Unable to think of something to
meet someone new. say
Turn the house upside down Angie turned the house upside Search everywhere
down, but she still couldn’t find
her library book.
In over your head I just want you to know you're Doing something that is more
not my first choice for the job, so difficult than you are able to deal
if you're in over your head, with
please tell me.
Drag one’s feet The committee is dragging its Deliberately take too much time
feet too long in terms of making to do something
a decision.

A few resource web sites:

www.eslcafe.com/idioms
www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/americanidioms/index.html
www.manythings.org/voa/words

Some of the most important ways to learn English idioms

 paying attention to English speakers’ ways of speaking
 asking English speakers what they mean when you do not understand an expression
 looking up in a dictionary or on the computer word groups you do not understand
 reading magazines and newspapers