Learning Idiom &Slang with pictures

[marjan17 4150]

Be all ears

 

 

 

Meaning:

 

 

Be very interested in what someone is about to say.

If you are all ears, you are eager and ready to listen to what someone is going to say.

Example:

 

Now tell us all about your adventures in Africa last summer. I'm all ears

 

When the president started his speech, he found everyone listening, all ears.

 

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[marjan17 4150]

Be as blind as a bat

 

 

 

Meaning:

 

Be unable to see well or unable to see at all

If someone is as blind as a bat, he/she cannot see well or cannot see at all because of his/her very bad eyesight.

Example:

A: Can you read the first paragraph on page 115 for me?

B: Sorry, I forgot to bring my glasses. I'm as blind as a bat without them.

 

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[marjan17 4150]

Beat it

 

Meaning:

Go away immediately.

 

If you say "Beat it" to someone, you tell him/her to leave quickly because he/she is annoying. This is an impolite command.

 

Example:

 

I guess we should beat it before she comes back.

 

"This is not your place. Beat it!" (This is not a polite way to ask someone to leave.)

 

 

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[marjan17 4150]

The Bottom Line

Meaning:

 

The most important factor in a situation or a decision to consider.

If you say the bottom line is xxxx, you mean xxxx is the most important or critical fact you want others to consider.

 

 

Note: The original meaning of the bottom line is the final line of an accounting report of a company or an organization.

That line shows how much money the company/organization has earned or lost during a particular period of time.

 

 

Example:

 

After a long heated discussion, the manager finally said, " The bottom line is, we have a limited budget and simply can't continue this project any longer."

 

I've heard enough of your excuses. What's the bottom line?

 

 

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[marjan17 4150]

(Have / Get) Butterflies in someone's stomach

 

Meaning:

 

Very nervous or excited before doing something important such as giving a speech and taking a test.

 

If you have butterflies in your stomach, you are very nervous and/or excited about something you are going to do soon.

 

 

Example:

 

He always gets butterflies in his stomach before taking a test.

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[marjan17 4150]

Bring the house down

 

(Bring down the house)

 

Meaning:

 

Make people (audience) excited, laugh, or enjoy a lot while performing or making a speech

 

If you, your performance, or your speech brings the house down,

your performance or speech is so good that the audience enjoys it a lot,

becomes excited, applauds (clap their hands), or laughs a lot.

Example:

 

Sarah is a musical genius. Her performances always bring the house down.

 

The Prime Minister brought the house down when he made his monumental speech in 1965.

He's a very poor actor. Instead of bringing down the house, he always empties it.

 

 

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[marjan17 4150]

Bug someone

 

Meaning:

 

Bother someone

 

If someone/something bugs you, he/she/it annoys you.

 

Example:

 

That's enough! Stop bugging me. Don't ask me anymore.

 

He's always talking too loud in the office. It really bugs us.

 

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[marjan17 4150]

Can't make head nor tail (out) of something / someone

 

Meaning:

Not be able to understand

 

If you can't make head nor tail (out) of something or someone,

you can't understand it/him/her at all.

Example:

 

Could you show me how to use this machine?

I can't make head nor tail out of the instructions in the manual.

 

Bob is a very strange guy. Everything he says and does is very strange.

I cannot make head nor tail of him.

 

 

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[marjan17 4150]

Catch someone's eye

 

Meaning:

 

Attract someone and make him/her look at something.

 

If someone or something catches your eye, you look because of interest.

 

Example:

While driving on the freeway, an interesting billboard caught my eye.

 

Suddenly something flying in the sky caught his eye. It was a big bird he had never seen before.

 

 

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این تصویر تغییر اندازه داده شده است. برای مشاهده تصویر در اندازه واقعی 500x355 اینجا را کلیک کنید

[marjan17 4150]

Be chicken

 

Meaning:

 

Coward.

If you are chicken, you are not brave enough to do something.

 

Example:

"Why won't you dive in? Are you chicken? (Don't be chicken!)"

 

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[marjan17 4150]

Get (have) cold feet

Meaning:

 

Suddenly become (be) very nervous about doing something that you were going to do.

 

If you get cold feet, you become afraid to do something that you planned to do or agreed to do.

 

Example:

to get cold feet before their wedding.

It's normal for young people

He agreed to go bungee jumping with his friends, but he got cold feet when they arrived at the jump.

 

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[marjan17 4150]

Cook Someone's Goose

 

Meaning:

 

Get someone in trouble. Keep someone from succeeding.

 

If you cook someone's goose, you get him/her into trouble or prevent him/her from succeeding at something.

 

 

 

Example:

 

Ted stayed up late yesterday at a party and missed an important meeting in the morning.

He told his boss he was sick, but one of his colleagues cooked his goose. She saw him dancing at the party last night.

 

When the president made a wrong decision about the country's economic policy, his political goose was cooked.

 

 

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[marjan17 4150]

Couch potato

 

Meaning:

 

A person who spends a lot of idle time sitting and watching television.

 

If a person is a couch potato, he/she is not active and spends most of his/her time sitting and watching TV.

He/she doesn't do anything productive.

 

 

 

Example:

 

School children don't play outside as much as before. Many of them are overweight couch potatoes.

 

Don't be a couch potato! You're just wasting your time.

 

 

 

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[marjan17 4150]

Don't let the grass grow under your feet.

(Not let the grass grow under someone's feet)

 

Meaning:

 

Act now without any delay.

If you say "Don't let the grass grow under your feet" to someone, you tell him/her not to waste time and to do something immediately.

 

If someone doesn't let the grass grow under his/her feet, he/she does something right now without waiting.

 

Example:

 

Now that you know what to do, act right away. Don't let the grass grow under your feet.

 

A: Do you think the manager's already started to do something to solve the problem?

B: I believe so. He's the kind of guy who doesn't let the grass grow under his feet.

 

 

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[marjan17 4150]

Be down in the dumps

 

Meaning:

 

Be very sad and depressed.

If you are down in the dumps, you feel very sad and miserable. You don't have much interest in life.

 

Example:

 

Mary has been down in the dumps since her mother's death.

 

He looks a bit down in the dumps these days. Let's cheer him up.

 

She failed her exam and is down in the dumps.

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[marjan17 4150]

Drive someone up the wall

 

Meaning:

 

1. Annoy or irritate someone very much.

2. Put someone into an extreme position or situation. (= force someone up the wall)

 

If someone or something drives you up the wall, he/she/it annoys you very much or

pushes you to an awkward or extreme position.

 

 

Example:

 

The heat in this apartment drives me up the wall!

 

The company didn't fix the problem until the government forced it up the wall.

 

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[marjan17 4150]

Eat out

Meaning:

 

Eat a meal in a restaurant.

If you eat out, you go out and eat a meal in a restaurant instead of eating at home.

 

Example:

eat out?

I don't want to cook tonight. Why don't we

He is a single student and eats out a lot.

 

 

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[marjan17 4150]

Easy as pie / As easy as pie

 

Meaning:

 

Very easy.

If something is (as) easy as pie, it is very easy to do.

Example:

 

The midterm should be easy as pie if you prepare well.

 

Baking great bread is as easy as pie with this brand-new breadmaker.

 

 

 

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[marjan17 4150]

Eat one's words

 

Meaning:

 

Admit that what you said was wrong.

If you eat your words, you admit that the statements or predictions you made were wrong.

Example:

 

 

Tom said Nancy would never succeed in her business, but after seeing her business grow, he had to eat his words.

 

I taught a grammar rule in my ESL class, and one of my students said I was wrong. After I checked it in dictionaries and asked other teachers, I found she was right. I had to eat my words in the next class.

 

 

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[marjan17 4150]

Pull someone's leg

 

Meaning:

 

Tease someone by saying something shocking as a joke.

If you pull someone's leg, you tell him/her something that is not true as a joke.

Example:

 

She said she found $1 million in the park, but I think she was just pulling my leg.

Don't worry. I won't tell it to anyone. I was just pulling your leg. (It was a joke.)

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