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25 February 2017 11:26

🔘hold all the aces

✔️A person who holds all the aces is in a very strong position because they have more advantages than anyone else.

🔹"Given the high unemployment figures in some countries, employers hold all the aces."

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25 February 2017 11:24

⭕️above and beyond the call of duty

☑️If a person does something which is above and beyond the call of duty, they show a greater degree of courage or effort than is usually required or expected in their job.

💥"The fire-fighter received a medal for his action which went above and beyond the call of duty."

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22 February 2017 04:37

⭕️jog your memory

☑️Meaning: If something jogs your memory, it helps you to remember something.

For example:

✳️The song really jogged my memory and I could clearly picture the scene thirty years ago when my friends and I first heard it.

✳️The police had a sketch of the suspect drawn and showed it to people in the area in the hope of jogging their memories.

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22 February 2017 04:35

🔘up for grabs

❎INFORMAL
☑️Meaning: If something is up for grabs, it's available for anyone who wants to try to get it.

For example:

💥Do you remember when all the best website URLs were still up for grabs? Anyone could get one just by being the first person to claim it.

💥There are some great prizes up for grabs in their latest competition.

🎯Origin: Possibly related to the idea of someone throwing a lot of banknotes into the air, and many people reaching up trying to grab them. As such, the banknotes are "up for grabs".

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22 February 2017 04:33

🔘under lock and key

☑️Meaning: If something is under lock and key, it is kept in a very secure place.

For example:

🔴Make sure these documents are under lock and key until we need them.

🔴Poor Josie. Her parents were very strict and they kept her under lock and key throughout her childhood, so she never learned about life's dangers.

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22 February 2017 04:30

🔘the upper crust

☑️Meaning: If you are one of the upper crust, you are a member of society's highest class.

For example:

💥If Laura was really part of the upper crust, she wouldn't need to borrow money all the time, would she?

💥Marge does a great imitation of an upper-crust "society queen". It's really funny, and her upper-crust accent is perfect.

🔴Note: If used to modify a noun or a noun phrase, a hyphen should be added, as in "upper-crust party"

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20 February 2017 22:53

⭕️beat the rap⭕️

🔹American English INFORMAL
☑️Meaning: If someone beats the rap, they avoid being found guilty of a crime.

For example:

💥Everyone knows that Jimmy the Snitch did the robbery in Green St., but he beat the rap because he's in with the cops.

💥Henry was charged with drunk driving, but his lawyer helped him beat the rap on some technical detail.

🎯Variety: This idiom is typically used in American English but may be used in other varieties of English too.

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20 February 2017 22:51

✅bear the brunt✅

☑️Meaning: If you bear the brunt of something, you suffer the worst of its impact or its effects.

For example:

✳️The driver bore the brunt of the crash because he was right at the front of the bus.

✳️The team's coach bore the brunt of the criticism because he'd selected the players who'd performed so badly.

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19 February 2017 18:53

🔘off the top of your head🔘

🔴INFORMAL
✅Meaning: If you give someone information off the top of your head, you do so from memory, without checking beforehand.

For example:

💥I can't tell you Maxine's phone number off the top of my head. I'll have to check.

💥I don't know for sure, but off the top of my head I'd say that renting a two-bedroom apartment would cost about a thousand dollars a week.

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19 February 2017 18:48

✅much ado about nothing✅

☑️Meaning: If you say something is much ado about nothing, you think it's an overreaction to something that shouldn't have caused so much trouble.

For example:

✳️Some people make a big fuss about which table they get in a restaurant, but as far as I can see it's much ado about nothing as long as the food's the same.

✳️All this nonsense about status and "losing face" is much ado about nothing as far as I'm concerned.

🎯Origin: "Much Ado about Nothing" is the title of a well-known play by William Shakespeare, and as a result the phrase has survived into modern English in its original form.

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19 February 2017 18:44

⭕️more often than not⭕️

☑️Meaning: If something happens more often than not, it happens quite often, but not all the time.

For example:

💥If I listen to BBC 3's "Late Junction" online, more often than not I'll hear some great music that I've never heard before.

💥Bob loves browsing around second-hand bookstores, and more often than not he finds something great to read.

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19 February 2017 18:41

⭕️mend your ways⭕️

☑️Meaning: If you mend your ways, you improve your behaviour and stop doing things that cause trouble.

For example:

✳️Terry had better mend his ways or Rosie will leave him forever.

✳️It took him a long time to mend his ways, but these days Jack is a good father and husband.

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19 February 2017 16:31

➡️A Bird In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush⬅️
☑️Having something that is certain is much better than taking a risk for more, because chances are you might lose everything.

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17 February 2017 20:56

Idiom 🔘to take a back seat.

Definition ☑️to allow others to take control or make decisions

Examples 💥 I'm quite happy to take a back seat and let her make all the decisions.

💥 The doctor recommended that I take a back seat until I have fully recovered from my illness

🔴Explanation If you sit in the back seat of a car, you allow someone else to drive it.

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17 February 2017 13:36

Tip of the Iceberg📕

💢If something is said to be 'the tip of the iceberg' it means that something is only a small part of a much bigger problem. The 'tip of the iceberg' is the part of a problem that can be easily observed, but not the rest of it, which is hidden.
💥Example:
✳️The problems that you see here now are just the tip of the iceberg. There are numerous disasters waiting to happen.
🎯Origin: This idiom comes from the fact that only the tip of an iceberg can be seen and the rest of the iceberg, which is much larger, is underneath the water and cannot be seen.

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25 February 2017 11:25

🔘accidentally on purpose

✅If you do something intentionally, but pretend it was an accident, you do it accidentally on purpose.

✳️"I accidentally-on-purpose erased his email address so I couldn't contact him again."

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25 February 2017 11:23

⭕️to the best of one's ability

☑️When someone does something to the best of their ability, they do it as well as they possibly can.

💥"I felt nervous all through the interview, but I replied to the best of my ability."

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22 February 2017 04:36

🔘upset the applecart

☑️Meaning: If you upset the applecart, you do something that causes trouble or upsets someone's plans.

For example:

💥The Stones upset the applecart by pulling out of the music festival. They were going to be the main act.

💥Kelly's sister really upset the applecart when she told Kelly that she'd seen her husband waiting for someone in a hotel lobby when he was supposed to be in New York.

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22 February 2017 04:34

🔘under the table

🇺🇸American English
☑️Meaning: If something is done under the table, it's done secretly, usually because it's illegal or unethical.

For example:

💥If I do any overtime, can you pay me under the table so I won't have pay tax on it.

💥If you make under-the-table payments to customs officials, you can get goods through the port without having them inspected.

🔴Note: If this idiom is used to qualify a noun or a noun phrase, hyphens must be used, as in "under-the-table payments".
🎯Origin: Probably related to the fact that if a package or an envelope is passed under a table, other people cannot easily see what's going on.

⭕️Variety: This idiom is typically used in American English but may be used in other varieties of English too.

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22 February 2017 04:32

⭕️um and ah⭕️

🇬🇧British English
☑️Meaning: If you "um and ah" you're having trouble deciding what to say, or you're having trouble telling somebody something.

For example:

✳️Stop umming and ahing and just tell me what happened!

✳️James ummed and ahed for a while, but he eventually agreed to help us get the deal.

🎯Variety: This idiom is typically used in British English but may be used in other varieties of English too.

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20 February 2017 22:55

🔘behind the times🔘

☑️Meaning: If someone is behind the times, they are old-fashioned and their ideas are out of date.

For example:

🔴How can we be a successful company if our executives are so behind the times that they don't know what people want these days?

🔴Neil is really behind the times. He doesn't even know what rap music sounds like!

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20 February 2017 22:52

✅beat around the bush | beat about the bush

☑️Meaning: If you beat around the bush, or beat about the bush, you don't say something directly, usually because you don't want to upset the person you're talking to.

For example:

💥I had trouble telling Pedro he'd lost his job. I started beating around the bush and talking about one door closing and another door opening.

💥Stop beating about the bush. Just tell me what's happened!

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20 February 2017 22:50

🔘backed into a corner🔘

☑️Meaning: If you're backed into a corner, you're in a difficult situation that will be hard to get out of.

For example:

💥When his business failed, Gerry felt he'd been backed into a corner and he didn't know what he could do.

💥Jimmy's drug addiction had backed him into a corner and his only way out was to go into rehab and kick the habit.

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19 February 2017 18:50

📚off the record📚

☑️Meaning: If you say something "off the record", you don't want it in the public record, or reported in the media.

For example:

✳️The minister has refused to speak to reporters since something he said off the record was reported in a newspaper.

✳️Most politicians realise that just saying something is "off the record" isn't enough to ensure it won't be reported.

🎯Note: 1⃣. Opposite to "on the record", which means something is said on the understanding that it will be part of the public record, and can be reported in the media.
2⃣. If used to modify a noun or a noun phrase, hyphens must be added, as in "off-the-record comments".

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19 February 2017 18:46

🔘more than meets the eye🔘

💢Meaning: You can say there's more to something than meets the eye if it's more complex, more important or more interesting than it seems at first.

For example:

✳️I'm sure there's more going on here than meets the eye. I don't think we've been told the full story.

✳️Mick might seem dull and boring when you meet him, but there's more to him than meets the eye, believe me! He's a really interesting guy.

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19 February 2017 18:42

🎯miss the point🎯

☑️Meaning: If you miss the point of something you hear or read, you don't understand what it really means.

For example:

💥I think you missed the point, so let me explain what I meant.

💥If she thinks it's losing the money that bothers me then she's missing the point. It's being treated like a fool that bothers me.

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19 February 2017 16:47

A chip on your shoulder - means you are holding a grudge
High as a kite - means you are drunk or on drugs
Sick as a dog - means you are very ill

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Learn English Idioms Language

18 February 2017 05:13

🔘set your sights on

☑️Meaning: If you set your sights on something, or set your sights on doing something, it becomes the target of your ambition or the object of your attention.

▶️For example:

✳️Stanley has set his sights on coaching Liverpool, so he'll start getting to know people who have influence in the club.

✳️Microsoft has set its sights on one of the biggest search engine companies, so I wouldn't be surprised if the company's shares go up.

🎯Note: This idiom can also be expressed as "has its sights set on", "has her sights set on", "have their sights set on", and so on.
🎯Origin: Metaphorical, and related to the fact that a person using a gun looks through the gun's sights in order to aim, and will have his sights set on the target before shooting at it.

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17 February 2017 14:34

Idiom 🔘to make a rod for your own back.

Definition ☑️to do something that causes problems for yourself

Examples
💥If she marries that loser she's just making a rod for her own back.

💥If you invite people to comment on your proposals you will just be making a rod for your own back.

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17 February 2017 07:56

🔘above board🔘

☑️Meaning: If something is above board, it's been done in a legal and honest way.

▶️For example:

✳️I'm sure the deal was completely above board as I know James well and he'd never do anything illegal or corrupt.

✳️The minister claimed all the appointments were above board and denied claims that some positions had been given to his friends.

🎯Origin: Possibly derived from card playing and the fact that card players who keep their hands above the table (or above "the board") can be seen to be playing honestly, without cheating.

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