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IDIOMS - PAGE S |
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IDIOM: (computer, literature, etc.) ___-savvy
MEANING: to have a lot of knowledge about
(something)
EXAMPLE: "If you want a new computer, get
some advice from Melany first. She's very computer-savvy. "
IDIOM: a scam
MEANING: a fraudulent or deceptive act or operation
EXAMPLE: A lot of the email I get involves scams to make money from other people. I just delete it all.
IDIOM: a scaredy-cat
MEANING: an unduly fearful person
EXAMPLE: Scott is a scaredy-cat. He sleeps with the light on, and he won't even go outside after dark!
IDIOM: scatterbrained (adj)
MEANING: a silly, careless, disorganized person
EXAMPLE: Maria is so scatterbrained sometimes!
She lost her glasses three times today, and they were sitting right on
top of her head!
IDIOM: to schmooze
MEANING: to converse idly; make relaxed,
casual conversation
EXAMPLE: "At the meeting, we didn't discuss
business. We just schmoozed."
IDIOM: scratch (one's) back
MEANING: to do a favor for someone
EXAMPLE: "If you scratch my back, I'll scratch
yours. Now please get me those secret files. You can have my secretary's
phone number after I get the files."
IDIOM: see a man about a horse
MEANING: a silly sentence that men say to
announce that they need to go to the restroom (toilet)
EXAMPLE: Jack went to see a man about a
horse. He'll be back in a minute.
IDIOM: to see eye to eye
MEANING: to have a common viewpoint
EXAMPLE: My husband and I see eye to eye
on how to raise our children.
IDIOM: to see (someone) about
MEANING: to consult; to check or ask about
(someone)
EXAMPLE: I'm going to see your teacher about
your grades. I hope you've been studying!
IDIOM: sell (someone) down the river
MEANING: to betray the faith of
EXAMPLE: Why did you give company information
to the competitor? You sold us down the river!
IDIOM: settle the score
MEANING: to get revenge; to inflict punishment
by way of repayment for something
EXAMPLE: After Bill stole my girlfriend,
I found a way to settle the score. I set fire to his school project!
IDIOM: Seventh Heaven
MEANING: a state of extreme joy
EXAMPLE: I love chocolate. When I went to
the chocolate festival last week, I was really in seventh Heaven!
ORIGIN: from the seventh being the highest
of the seven heavens of Islamic and cabalist doctrine
IDIOM: Shake a leg!
MEANING: Hurry up!
EXAMPLE: "You'd better shake a leg or you're
going to be late for work!"
RELATED: Step on it!
IDIOM: Shape up or ship out!
MEANING: to improve to a good or acceptable
condition or standard of behavior
EXAMPLE: Gary needs to get his life in order.
His parents told him to shape up or ship out.
IDIOM: shoot off one's mouth
MEANING: to speak hastily without consideration
of the consequences
EXAMPLE: If you hadn't shot off your big
mouth, we wouldn't be in trouble now!
IDIOM: shoot the breeze
MEANING: to converse idly; make relaxed,
casual conversation
EXAMPLE: "At the meeting, we didn't discuss
business. We just shot the breeze."
IDIOM: to shop around
MEANING: to compare prices on specific merchandise
at various stores.
EXAMPLE: I want to buy a new vacuum cleaner,
so I've been shopping around for one.
IDIOM: to show off
MEANING: to display proudly;
to seek to attract attention by conspicuous behavior
EXAMPLE: When I got engaged, I couldn't
wait to show off my engagement ring!
The boys ran, jumped, and shouted to show off for the girls.
IDIOM: to show (someone) around
MEANING: give (someone) a tour; escort (someone)
EXAMPLE: The department supervisor will
show the new employees around the factory tomorrow.
IDIOM: (be) sick of
MEANING: having one's patience, tolerance,
or pleasure exhausted
EXAMPLE: Mother: "I'm sick of your constant
arguing, children! Now, be quiet and go to your rooms!"
IDIOM: sitting pretty
MEANING: to be in a highly favorable situation
EXAMPLE: Bill Gates and Donald Trump are
sitting pretty. I wish I had half as much money as either one of them do!
IDIOM: Six of one, half dozen of the other.
MEANING: it doesn't matter - the choices
are equally similar
EXAMPLE: Nicolas: "Do you want to rent a
video, or go to the movies tonight?"
Gia: "Six of one, half dozen of the other."
Nicolas: "Then let's just rent a video."
IDIOM: to skip ___ (work, class, school,
a meeting, etc.)
MEANING: to fail to attend or participate
in
EXAMPLE: I knew there was going to be a
substitute teacher today, so I skipped class.
IDIOM: to skip out
MEANING: to leave hurriedly or secretly;
to depart from quickly and secretly
EXAMPLE: At the restaurant yesterday, two
customers skipped out without paying their bill.
"Did you hear about jack? He skipped town last week!"
IDIOM: sky-high (adj)
MEANING: very expensive
EXAMPLE: Gas prices were sky-high last week,
but they've come down a little.
IDIOM: sleep on it
MEANING: take a day to think about something
before making a decision
EXAMPLE: "I love you very much. I'm so happy
that you asked me to marry you. I'll give you my decision tomorrow, after
I sleep on it. I have a lot to think about tonight."
IDIOM: smell a rat
MEANING: to have a suspicion that something
is wrong with a situation
EXAMPLE: The man on the corner tried to
sell me a radio for $5.00. I smelled a rat. The radio is probably stolen
merchandise.
IDIOM: a snap
MEANING: something that is easy to do and
presents no problems
EXAMPLE: "Making a paper airplane is a snap.
Anybody can do it!"
IDIOM: snow job
MEANING: an intensive effort at persuasion
or deception
EXAMPLE: Some salesmen are quite good at
giving customers a snow job when they want to make a sale.
IDIOM: song and dance / song and dance routine
MEANING: a long and often familiar statement
or explanation that is usually not true or pertinent
EXAMPLE: The student gave the teacher a
long song and dance about why his project wasn't finished.
IDIOM: sooner or later
MEANING: eventually
EXAMPLE: Nell Carter is severely overweight.
Sooner or later, she's going to have a heart attack.
IDIOM: a sore loser
MEANING: a person who gets angry, or irritated
because of losing (a game, a contest, etc.)
EXAMPLE: Stop being a sore loser, Chuck!
The other team simply played better than we did.
IDIOM: sort of / sorta
MEANING: a little bit; rather; more or less;
somewhat
EXAMPLE: "I'm sort of hungry. Maybe I'll
make a sandwich." "I'm sorta hungry too."
RELATED: kind of / kinda
IDIOM: so-so
MEANING: fair; not particularly good
EXAMPLE: Carla: "How's your chemistry class?"
Diana: "It's so-so. It's not the best class I've ever had."
IDIOM: a sourpuss
MEANING: a a habitually irritable or complaining
person
EXAMPLE: Old Jack is really a sourpuss.
I think he's only happy when he's complaining about something!
IDIOM: to spend ___ (time, money, energy)
MEANING: to expend or waste wealth, strength,
or time, etc.
EXAMPLE: Luke spent a lot of time and energy
on his project.
IDIOM: spill the beans
MEANING: to divulge secret or hidden information
EXAMPLE: Frank spilled the beans about the
surprise birthday party. Now Genna knows all about it.
IDIOM: spine-chilling (adj) / spine-tingling
MEANING: alarmingly or eerily frightening
EXAMPLE: The Monkey's
Paw is a spine-chilling story. Have you read it?
IDIOM: to splurge
MEANING: to indulge oneself extravagantly
EXAMPLE: I needed a new blanket, but I decided
to splurge on myself and I bought a whole new bedroom set with matching
sheets, curtains, a rug and some pillows too. I shouldn't have spent so
much money, but it was so pretty that I couldn't resist.
IDIOM: spread (oneself) too thin
MEANING: trying to do too much
EXAMPLE: Lena joined the chess club, the
photography club, and the dance company. Plus, she has a part-time job,
and she goes to school. I think she's spreading herself too thin.
IDIOM: to spruce up
MEANING: to make (one) neat or smart in
appearance
EXAMPLE: "Our house needs to be spruced
up soon. It's looking a little too messy."
"Oh, look at you! You've spruced yourself up nicely! You look great!"
IDIOM: to start out
MEANING: to begin (a project, journey, process,
etc)
EXAMPLE: Selena started out singing in Spanish,
but soon she began performing in English too.
IDIOM: state-of-the-art (adj)
MEANING: using the latest technology
EXAMPLE: "Our new factory has state-of-the-art
processing equipment."
IDIOM: Step on it!
MEANING: Hurry up!
EXAMPLE: "You'd better step on it or you're
going to be late for work!"
RELATED: shake a leg
IDIOM: stick one's neck out
MEANING: to make oneself vulnerable by taking
a risk
EXAMPLE: When a boy first tells a girl that
he likes her, he is sticking his neck out. The girl might just laugh in
his face. That would be so embarrassing!
IDIOM: stick to one's guns
MEANING: to maintain one's position especially
in face of opposition
EXAMPLE: Even when it was clear that Peter
was losing the debate, he stuck by his guns and kept arguing.
IDIOM: a stick-in-the-mud
MEANING: one who is slow, old-fashioned,
or unprogressive
EXAMPLE: Our director is a real stick-in-the-mud.
He won't install computers in the office because he thinks that typewriters
are sufficient to work with.
IDIOM: a stone's throw
MEANING: a short distance
EXAMPLE: The dragon lives within a stone's
throw of the village.
IDIOM: straight from the horse's mouth
MEANING: to get information directly from
the source.
EXAMPLE: I know it's true - I heard it straight
from the horse's mouth.
IDIOM: the straw that broke
the camel's back
MEANING: the last trangression; the final
act that makes someone do something drastic
EXAMPLE: When Gary was caught taking drugs
for the third time, his parents said it was the straw that broke the camel's
back. Gary had to go into a drug treatment facility, or move out of his
family's house forever.
IDIOM: the last straw / the
final straw
MEANING: the last trangression; the final
act that makes someone do something drastic
EXAMPLE: When Gary was caught taking drugs
for the third time, his parents said it was the final straw. Gary had to
go into a drug treatment facility, or move out of his family's house forever.
IDIOM: string someone along
MEANING: to keep someone waiting for something
- especially a decision, or the status of a relationship
EXAMPLE: "Is Luke going to Marry Laura?"
"No, he's just stringing her along. He has no plans to get married any
time soon."
IDIOM: stuffed shirt
MEANING: a smug, conceited, pompous person
often with an inflexibly conservative or reactionary attitude
EXAMPLE: The old politician was such a stuffed
shirt that he voted NO on all the new laws, even when his advisors told
him it would be good for the country to vote YES.
IDIOM: a sweet tooth
MEANING: a craving or fondness for sweet
food
EXAMPLE: People who love chocolate have
a sweet tooth. Do you have a sweet tooth?
IDIOM: a swelled head
MEANING: an exaggerated opinion of oneself
EXAMPLE: After Albert passed his test, he
got a swelled head. If he tells me again how smart he is, I'm going to
scream!
COMING SOON:
sling mud
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