Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Idioms List
1. A fair crack of the whip The same chance as other people to do something
2. To hold something in leash To restrain
3. To wrangle over an ass’s shadow To quarrels over trifles
4. To play fast and loose To hurt some body’s feelings /to play
tricks
5. All agog Restless
6. to give up the ghost To die
7. To snap one’s fingers To be anxious
8. A pipe dream An impractical plan
9. To stand to one’s guns To perseverance when hardships press
10. To loose one’s head To become confused and over exited
11. By the skin of one’s teeth Only just
12. To throw one’s glove To give a challenge
13. To be in abeyance In suspense
14. A chip off the old block Characteristics of one’s ancestors
15. To take people by storm To captive tem unexpectedly
16. To throw up the sponge To surrender or give up the contest
17. Harp on To keep on talking
18. To catch somebody on the hop to To catch somebody of guard
19. To spell the beans To reveal secret information
20. To bring one’s egg to a bad To fail in one’s plan because one goes to
market the wrong people for help
21. To get cold feet To be afraid
22. To take a leap in the dark To do a hazardous thing without any idea
of the result
23. To give get/give the bird To send away
24. To be at daggers drawn To be bitter enemy
25. To save one’s face to evade disgrace
26. To spilt hours To indulge in over-refined arguments
27. A lady’s man A lover of woman company
28. Will o’ the wisp Anything which eludes or deceives
29. To get into scrape To find oneself in an awkward
predicament
30. To fly off the handle To lose one’s temper
64. Get down to brass tracks Begin to talk in plain, straight forward
terms
65. Spick and span Neat and clean
66. To take the wind out of another’s To anticipate another and to gain
sails advantage over him
67. To carry the coal to Newcastle To do unnecessary things
68. To turn the cover To pass the crisis
69. A sop to Cerberus Ransom to an enemy
70. To hit the nail on the head To guess right
71. A baker’s dozen Thirteen
72. To run amuck To run about in frenzy
73. To look down one’s nose at To regard with half-hidden displeasure or
contempt
74. Hard pressed In difficulties
75. To be at one’s finger’s end To be completely conversant with
76. To pull strings To exert hidden influence
77. A green horn An inexperienced man
78. To look sharp To be quick
79. To pour oil in troubled water To calm a quarrel with soothing words
80. To play on a fiddle To be busy over trifles
81. To mind one’s P’s and Q’s To be careful one one’s mind
82. To oil the knocker To tip the office boy
83. To cut the crackle To stop talking and start
84. To cool one’s heels To be kept watching for sometime
85. By the rule of thumb By practical experience which is rather
rough
86. A fool’s errand A useless undertaking
87. To put somebody in his place To make him humble
88. To talk shop To talk about business or professional
affairs
89. To keep one’s head above eater To keep out of debt
90. To live fast To lead a life of dissipation
91. To hold a brief for To defend someone
92. To pay off old scores To harm someone because they have
harmed you in the past
93. To take a leaf out of somebody’s To take him as a model
book
94. To set he Thames on fire To try to do the impossible
95. To cast the pearl before a swine To offer someone a thing which he cannot
appreciate
96. To bear the palm To win
97. To change the colour To shift the allegations to
98. To cut the Gordian knot to be victorious
99. To have one’s heart in one’s To be deeply depressed
boots
100. To strike one’s colours To surrender
101. To cry wolf To raise a false alarm
102. To give one’s ears To listen carefully
103. To hang up one’s hat To make oneself comfortable in another
person’s home
104. To get the hang of thing To understand the meaning of it
105. To make a shot To make a guess
106. A man of weight A man of importance
107. Pell-mell In hurried disorder
108. To put one on one’s mettle To rouse one to do one’s best
109. To ride hell for leather To ride with furious speed
110. To speak daggers To speak to a person with hostility
111. Be in the mire Be in difficulties
112. To give a rap on the knuckles To rebuke
113. Sum and substance Summary
114. A drug in the market Commodities no in demand
115. Mealy-mouthed Cunning
116. Moot point A debatable point
117. Give a wide berth Keep away from
118. Brought to light Disclose
119. Fits and stars Irregularly
120. High and low Everywhere
121. Intends and purposes Practically
122. Rest on my laurels Be complacent
123. Clinched the issue Decided
124. Call a spade a spade Be outspoken in language
125. Point-blank Pointedly
126. Neck out Invite trouble unnecessarily
127. Green eyes Jealous
128. Bird’s eye view General view
Phrases
1. Bear away Won
2. Bear down Overpower
3. Bear with Tolerate
4. Bear hard Press heavily
5. Bear out Confirm
6. Bear up Keep up spirits
7. Break froth Come out suddenly
8. Break through Fail to keep
9. Break with Cease to be friendly with
10. Call at Visit
11. Call to Address loudly
12. Call for Demand for
13. Call up Recollect
14. Call over Recite in order
15. Called on Paid a brief visit
16. Called out challenge to fight
17. Called off Divert attention
18. Take away Remove
19. Take for Misunderstand
20. Taken to Resorted to
21. Take after Resembles
22. Take up with Be friendly with
23. Take down Record
24. Taken in Deceived
25. Take in Comprehend
26. Take in Admit
27. Taken with Pleased with
28. Took on Undertook
29. Struck dumb Astonished
1. I would like to see Ramu do his own work for a change instead of always
back–seat driving.
2. He proved to be quite a wet blanket at the party for he spoke to no one and
morosely sat by himself.
3. The ship was about to weigh anchor when the storm came.
4. Debu had a chequered career since I first knew him as a clerk in the local
bank.
5. Women should be paid the same as men when they do the same job, for
surely, what is sauce for gander is sauce for the goose.
6. The two women are so jealous that at the drop of a hat they start insulting
each other.
Directions for question 9 to 11: Fill up the blanks with appropriate word
(idiom/colloquial) given in the options.
9. Mark is always eager to argue about how this business should be run. He seems
to have a real _________ on his shoulder about it.
(1) Head
(2) Score
(3) Chip
(4) Bluebird
10. Vishnu thought the last problem on the test was a real __________. It was much
harder and more complex than any of the previous problems.
(1) Doozy
(2) Whooper
(3) Carp
(4) Snafu
11. I used to be kind of a _______ when I was little, but I lost most of the weight in
my teenage years.
(1) Runt
(2) Beanpole
(3) Doughboy
(4) Punk
Direction for questions 12 and 13: Identify the option which gives the correct
meaning of
the Idiom/Phrase given below:
Directions for questions 14 and 15: Fill in the blanks with the word or phrase that
completes the idiom correctly in the given sentences.
(1) from
(2) of
(3) into
(4) out of
Directions for questions 16 – 21: Choose the correct meaning of the following
idioms.
16. If someone said, "You are the bomb!" she or he probably would be
telling you:
(1) Light.
(2) Indecisive and irresponsible.
(3) Someone who loves flying.
(4) Someone who flies kites.
20. “Throw the baby out with the bath water” means,
Instructions for question 22 – 23: Select the most appropriate meaning of the
underlined idiomatic phrase:
22. I was supposed to give a speech to my English class, but I got cold feet and I
didn’t go.
23. Take care of what u say! You will have to eat your words!
Instructions for question 24: Match the following idiomatic references to parts
of the human anatomy
DIRECTIONS for questions 25 and 26: Choose the correct alternatives for the
following idioms.
1. re-incarnate
2. cause trouble
3. bring up
4. look after
26. Go to seed
1. harvesting
2. planting
3. become unfit and run down
4. financial ruin
27. A shortfall in supplies would knock the bottom out of the engineering industry.
What does "knock the bottom out of" stand for?
1. Make it baseless
2. Shake its foundation
3. Cause it to collapse
4. None of the above
28. ________ when, after waiting for hours, we were told the tickets were sold out.
29. They all stared ______ as the door of the dilapidated house swung open.
4. a bone of contention
30. But at a time when business values are falling, stakeholders tend not to take
kindly to at a knock-down price.
31. The kids were all coming to the pool. The pool attracted kids like ______
1. Dots
2. Stripes
3. Colour
4. None of the above
Answer Key
1) 2
2) 2
3) 3
4) 1
5) 2
6) 1
7) 1
8) 2
9) 3
10) 1
11) 3
12) 4
13) 1
14) 2
15) 4
16) 3
17) 2
18) 2
19) 3
20) 2
21) 4
22) 3
23) 2
24) 3
25) 2
26) 3
27) 2
28) 3
29) 3
30) 3
31) 4
32) 1
33) 3
34) 2
35) 1
36) 4