Language system B1: idioms

A good thing that seemed bad at first.

A blessing in disguise.

Join a popular trend

Jump on the bandwagon

Threatening but not willing to engage in a fight

All bark and no bite

Something common.

A time a dozen.

Stop working on something.

To call it a day.

Start over

To go back to the drawing board.

To avoid talking about what’s important.

To beat around the bush.

Being very happy

To be in cloud nine

People with similar values or ideas come together

Birds of a feather flock together.

A situation suddenly causes a lot of trouble for someone

When shit hits the fan

To sleep.

To hit the sack.

Arm and copy

Snug as a bug in a rug

Eat too excessively.

To eat like a horse

Don't judge something/someone by appearance alone

Don’t judge a book by its cover

You must begin something if you hope to finish it.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

To try hard

Bend over backwards

Going insane.

To lose your marble.

To proclaim shock, surprise or annoyance

Shiver me timbers

Good things come after bad things.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

Achieve two aims at once.

Killing two birds with one stone

To verbally scold someone

To chew someone out

Very dry (climate).

As dry as a dead dingo’s donger

The person who complains is more likely to get something

The squeaky wheel gets the grease

It’s used as a rhetoric question to highlight a unrelated or irrelevant statement or suggestion made by someone else

What’s that got to do with the price of fish?

Referring to someone who lacks basic judgement and has no common sense

A few sandwiches short of a picnic

if one makes poor decisions, then one should expect negative consequences

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes

Asking for help when it is not needed. Based on the famous fable "The Boy Who Cried Wolf."

Crying Wolf

To not put all your resources into just one possibility

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket

When a situation becomes difficult, strong people don’t give up; they work harder

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going

Caution: You will take over the bad manners from bad influences if you spent lot of time with.

If you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas.

Attempt something impossible.

To square the circle.

if you start early, you will have an advantage.

The early bird catches the worm

It's your decision.

The ball is in your court.

when something slightly unlucky has happened that could not have been prevented

That’s the way the cookie crumbles

Don’t expect a positive result before you actually see it.

Don't count your chickens before they hatch.

Someone in a difficult situation will take any way to get out of it

A drowning man will clutch at a straw.

Said in order to show that people cannot be hurt by unpleasant things that are said to them

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me.

A work stint between midnight and 8 am.

Graveyard shift

a fun social gathering under the sun

Shrimp on the barbie

Very expensive

To cost an arm and a leg

To be pregnant

To be up the puff

Referring to someone who lacks basic judgement and has no common sense

A few sandwiches short of a picnic.

Someone can break the rules in extreme circumstances

All is fair in love and war

meeting the required standard

To cut the mustard

Everything, all the way.

The whole nine yards

an employer who doesn’t pay a lot cannot be expected to find good staff

You pay peanuts, you get monkeys

A way of asking what someone is thinking

A penny for your thoughts

when someone tells their boss they need to take the day off work, but they aren't really sick.

Chuck a sickie

when people have nothing to do, they are more likely to engage in mischief or wrongdoing.

An idle brain is the devil’s workshop.

This phrase refers to the number 13 instead of 12. It originates from medieval times when bakers would add an extra loaf of bread to a batch of 12 as a safeguard against penalties for selling underweight bread. The term is now used to mean a group or set of 13.

A baker’s dozen

In good health

Fit as a fiddle.

Gaining while the sun shines.

A monkey’s wedding.

There's always a cost to doing something.

You can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs.

Used to describe food that is really taste

Finger-licking' good

I don’t care

Wouldn’t give a toss

Someone who’s not as unpleasant or frightening as they seem

His bark is worse than his bite

To describe a person that is very boring or lacking any personality

Dull as ditchwater.

When someone states the obvious.

No shit, Sherlock.

That plan won’t work.

That dog won’t hunt

To do something pointless

To go on a wild goose chase

To endure a difficult situation

To bite the bullet

To do something painless

To carry coals to Newcastle

To be in an impossible or difficult situation

Up a gum tree

To almost accomplish something but fall short at the end

Close but no cigar

Unexpected accident, unpleasant experience that turned out to have a positive impact

Blessing in disguise

To reveal a secret

To spill the beans

He’s crazy

He’s off his rocker

By a very narrow margin

By the skin of your teeth

Going something quickly by doing it in a less thorough way than you should

Cutting corners

The show has come to end – it’s over

Elvis has left the building

being too inquisitive can lead you to an unpleasant situation. Finding out an answer may in fact ruin the question for you;

Curiosity killed the cat

Being away from someone or something for a period of time makes you appreciate that person or thing more when you see them or it again

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Referring to something that is highly unlikely to ever happen.

When pigs fly

To work late into the night, often studying or completing a task.

Turn the midnight oil

Someone who doesn’t settle in one place avoids responsibilities or attachments, but may also miss out on growth

A rolling stone gathers no moss

If someone is your enemy, treat them like a friend so you can be ready if they ever try to betray you.

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer

Appearances can be deceiving, the true value lies beneath the surface.

All that glitters is not gold.

Don’t get upset.

Don’t get your knickers in a twist

To express that you think an idea or a plan is great.

The best thing since slice bread

Be quiet

Put a sock in it

Story that is unlikely to be true. Usually boastful or used as an excuse

Cock and bull story

When one is deprived of money, more crooked ideas are born

The devil dances in empty pockets

A person who is extremely zealous about performing duties and volunteering for more

An eager beaver

Someone who boats or flirt but doesn’t follow through with action.

All talk and no trousers

Used to express the ease with which a task can be achieved.

Bob's your uncle

People who are brave and who take risks are more successful than people who are doing things safely all the time.

Fortune favours the bold

Nothing is free, even the things that are free have a hidden cost.

There is no such thing as free lunch.

If you’re trying to convince someone of something, words and ideas are stronger than using physical force (common in politics)

The pen is mightier than the sword

When you are in a new place or situation, try to act like the majority of people in that place or situation.

When in Rome, do as the romans do

To fail/to go bankrupt (usually used for the latter).

To belly up