All Idioms
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Meaning: A small sign or hint that something is about to happen.
Example: The empty tables on a Friday night were a straw in the wind that the restaurant's busy season was fading. Read more ➺
Meaning: To stand your ground and refuse to back down.
Example: The small town bid defiance to the new tax and simply refused to collect it. Read more ➺
Meaning: Stay ready and hold back your resources until the right moment.
Example: House prices still looked high, so Mike decided to keep your powder dry and wait for a better opening. Read more ➺
Meaning: Something that is partly good and partly bad.
Example: The concert was a curate's egg — the band sounded great, but the sound system kept cutting out. Read more ➺
Meaning: When one piece of bad luck shows up, a whole pile of it usually follows.
Example: Mike lost his job on Monday, the landlord hiked the rent on Wednesday, and the car died on Friday. It never rains but it pours. Read more ➺
Meaning: Take a person's name off an official list so they are no longer allowed to work in that job.
Example: After the inquiry, the board voted to strike off the surgeon, and he lost the right to practice. Read more ➺
Meaning: Stuck doing the same things over and over until life starts to feel dull and stuck.
Example: After ten years at the same desk doing the same work, Mike admitted he was in a rut and began looking for something new. Read more ➺
Meaning: Stuck with the duty to pay, deliver, or take the blame.
Example: After his partner skipped town, Mike was on the hook for every dollar of the loan. Read more ➺
Meaning: Reply with the same kind of action or treatment, often as payback.
Example: Sarah mocked Mike in the meeting, and he answered in kind with a sharp remark of his own. Read more ➺
Meaning: Having inside information that most people have not been told.
Example: Only a handful of people at the company were in the know about the surprise merger. Read more ➺
