Animal Idioms

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dog’s life

Meaning: a miserable and unpleasant life

Example: Mark's been leading a dog's life since he was fired from the job. Read more ➺


bull’s eye

Meaning: the center of a target.

Example: It can't hurt to go right for the bull's eye - there's nothing wrong with getting things right the first time. Read more ➺


fight like cat and dog

Meaning: argue jealously and violently all the time

Example: The married couple fought like cat and dog the entire time they were together. Read more ➺


play cat and mouse

Meaning: to play with or tease someone

Example: The cops do not like playing cat and mouse games with the culprits before catching them. Read more ➺


cat among the pigeons

Meaning: do or say something that causes trouble and make a lot of people angry or worried

Example: The foreigner put the cat among the pigeons when he made some sensitive comments about the people's religion. Read more ➺


the buck stops here

Meaning: The responsibility for a situation or a problem with somebody.

Example: One does not need to blame anybody else for corruption in the republic of India; the buck stops with the leaders of the government of the world's biggest democratic nation. Read more ➺


elephant in the room

Meaning: a difficult, controversial, or obvious problem that no one wants to talk about or mention because the subject is problematic, uncomfortable, or awkward

Example: When Geoff arrived at the meeting yesterday, he had a huge black eye. He gave us no explanation, and nobody dared ask him about it. So we sat there for the whole morning with this elephant in the room. Read more ➺


white elephant

Meaning: an expensive item with no use or purpose

Example: Everyone thought the Olympic stadiums would be a white elephant after the closing ceremony. Read more ➺


rabbit hole

Meaning: mentally go somewhere surreal or strange

Example: Peter is having another one of his parties on Friday. Time to go down the rabbit hole again. Read more ➺


bring owls to Athens

Meaning: something that is pointless

Example: The chancellor has a plan to increase taxes, thinking that this would improve the economy. It would bring owls to Athens. Read more ➺


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