IDIOM MEANING
A drop in the ocean A very small part or
insignificant amount of
something big or whole
Actions speak louder It’s better to actually do
than words something than just talk
about it
Add fuel to the fire Whenever something is
done to make a bad
situation even worse than it
is
A penny for your When you want to know
thoughts what somebody is thinking
Ball is in It is up to somebody to
somebody’s court make the next decision or
step
Barking up the Look in the wrong place or
wrong tree accuse the wrong person
Be a good catch Be someone worth
marrying/having
Beat around the Avoid the main topic or not
bush speak directly about the
issue
Bend over Do whatever it takes to
backwards help. Willing to do anything
Bite off more than Take on a task that is too
you can chew big
EXAMPLE
A donation of 100,000
dollars is just a drop in
the ocean compared to
the millions that need to
be spent.
I am going to work for an
NGO in Africa fighting
climate change. Actions
speak louder than
words.
Don’t mention the
product delay in the
meeting. You are just
adding fuel to the fire.
Why are you staring at
the sky? A penny for
your thoughts!
I have laid out my plan.
The ball is in your court
now.
I’m not responsible for
this mess! You are
barking up the wrong
tree.
Donald is such a good
catch. I hope, he’ll
propose soon.
Don’t beat around the
bush! We can have an
open discussion here.
Our company is bending
over backwards to
satisfy our customers.
You bit off more than
you can chew. You are
 never going to finish the
presentation on time.
Blow somebody Be extremely impressed by The product demo just
away something blew me away. I’ve
never seen such a
powerful software.
By the skin of your You only just succeeded I hadn’t studied much,
teeth and nearly failed but passed the test by
the skin of my teeth.
Couldn’t care less Have a total lack of interest I couldn’t care less what
in something my new co-workers think
of me.
Cry over spilt milk Complain about a loss from There’s no way to win
the past back this customer.
Don’t cry over spilt milk.
Cry wolf Call for help when you don’t My new co-worker is
need it constantly crying wolf.
Crunch time The period of time just I’m not getting much
before a project has to be sleep these days,
completed and everyone because it’s crunch time
has to work hard at work.
Curiosity killed the Get into an unpleasant He shouldn’t have
cat situation by being inquisitive searched for the secret
files. Curiosity killed the
cat.
Cut corners Do something badly or They really cut corners
cheaply when they built this
office. The cubicles are
way too small.
Cut somebody some Give somebody a break/ You have to cut me
slack not to judge somebody some slack. I already
severely worked on the report the
whole weekend.
Cut to the chase Leave out all the In an elevator pitch you
unnecessary details and don’t have much time.
just get to the point You have to cut to the
 chase!
Dig in your heels / Refuse to compromise or My parents always
Stick to your guns change your mind wanted me to become a
lawyer, but I dug in my
heels / stuck to my guns
and started my own
travel business.
Down to the wire Something that ends at the With the deadline
last minute or last few coming up and the
seconds project not being on
track, the team worked
right down to the wire to
complete it on time.
Drive someone up To irritate or annoy very The music my co-
the wall much workers listen to at the
office is driving me up
the wall.
Get out of hand Lose control of things The meeting got out of
hand and people started
yelling at each other.
Get your head Understand something I just can’t get my head
around it around the fact that my
boss is not giving me a
raise.
Give the benefit of Believe someone’s I can’t check your results
the doubt statement, without proof anyway, so I’ll give you
the benefit of the doubt.
Go down in flames End or fail suddenly and Our company will go
spectacularly down in flames, if we
don’t take these new
startups seriously.
Hear on the Hear a rumor or I heard on the
grapevine unconfirmed story grapevine that our boss
will be leaving us soon.
Hit the books Study very hard I have to hit the books.
My final exam is coming
 up soon.
It takes two to tango Actions or communications I don’t think, she did this
need more than one person by herself. It takes two
to tango.
Judge a book by its Judge someone or I really disliked the
cover something based solely on product’s packaging. But
appearance you can’t judge a book
by its cover.
Jump on the Join a popular trend or This new software is
bandwagon activity going to disrupt the
market. We should jump
on the bandwagon.
Kill two birds with Solve two problems at once By cycling to work I kill
one stone / with one action two birds with one stone.
If saves me money and I
get to work out.
Leave no stone Do everything possible to I’ll leave no stone
unturned achieve a goal unturned until I find out
who did this.
Let the cat out of the Accidentially reveal a secret The CEO let the cat out
bag of the bag about the
company’s restructuring.
Make a long story Come to the point There’s not much time
short left. Let me make a long
story short.
Miss the boat Miss the opportunity to do I think, I have missed
something the boat. They didn’t
accept my application
anymore.
Once in a blue moon When something rarely You only achieve such
ever happens an amazing return on
your investment once in
a blue moon.
Piece of cake When something is Piece of cake, with our
extremely easy to do new software we’ll win
this customer for sure.
Pull a rabbit out of a Do something unexpected I thought there was no
hat fix to the software bug,
but our programer pulled
a rabbit our of his hat.
Pull yourself Calm down and act I understand you’ve had
together normally a bad day, but pull
yourself together and
get on with your job, will
you?
Run on fumes Continue to stay awake I really have to take a
when feeling exhausted nap now. I haven’t slept
for twenty hours and I’m
running on fumes.
Sell somebody out Snitch on someone or let I asked you to keep this
their secret out information to yourself. I
can’t believe you sold
me out!
Shoot from the hip Speak directly If you want to get on well
with your new boss, try
not to shoot from the hip
next time.
Sit on the fence Stay neutral and not take I’m sitting on the
sides fence with this one. My
team prefers solution A,
but my boss favors
solution B.
Skeleton crew The minimum number of Can you please come to
people needed to keep a the office this weekend?
service/office operating We’re operating with a
skeleton crew at the
moment.
Step up your game Start performing better If you really want to win
this competition, you’ll
have to seriously step
up your game.
When pigs fly Something will never As long as my boss
happen stays in office, I will have
 to wait for a raise till pigs
fly.
Whole nine yards Everything I’ll do whatever it takes
to make my venture a
successful one – I’ll
go the whole nine yards.
Your guess is as Have no idea, do not know We just don’t have
good as mine the answer to a question enough information.
Your guess is as good
as mine.