100 English Expressions – & Idioms –76 to 100 – B2 English.
Comprehension Exercise
100 most useful idioms with meanings and examples, B2 English
Stand ones ground.
Maintaining your position.
The other teams offense was incredibly aggressive but our defense stood their
ground.
Carry the torch for.
Having strong feelings for someone who can not be yours.
Suzan carried a torch for him for years after they broke up.
Close to home.
A comment which is true and makes you uncomfortable is close to home.
My patients lung cancer diagnosis is close to home for me because my uncle
recently died of the same thing.
Cut to the quick.
Hurting someone deeply or offending them.
I can’t even look at her right now that hurtful remark cut me right to the quick.
Cork up something.
Failing to express your emotions.
She did not let her grief pour out when her father passed away it’s not good for
her to cork up her feelings.
Bee in one’s bonnet.
Carrying an idea which constantly occupies your thoughts.
It seems that Mike still has a bee in his bonnet over the criticism he got in
the staff meeting.
Fish out of water.
Feeling uncomfortable in unfamiliar surroundings.
Marie was like a fish out of water when she assumed a manager position at the
company where she had worked as a clerk for so long.
Reduce to tears.
Getting into tears because of someone’s behavior.
He scolded her so much that she was reduced to tears by the end of the
meeting.
In the bag.
Refers to a situation when you are sure that success is sure.
Don’t start to think we’ve got this game in the bag gentlemen I’ve seen teams
make bigger comebacks than this so we can’t let up.
Blow up in face.
Refers to a situation when a plan or project suddenly fails.
Mike was trying to sabotage my campaign but the plan blew up in his face when I
overheard him talking about it.
Cut one’s own throat.
Doing something that will cause your own failure.
You cut your own throat when you told them to leave how are you going to
manage alone.
Cook someone’s goose.
Spoil other person’s chances of success.
He thinks he’ll get away with stealing my idea but I’m going to cook his goose.
Come up roses.
Successful end results even though there may be some initial hiccups.
It looked like the negotiations might break down at any stage but everything
came up roses in the end.
Chance ones arm.
Deciding to do something even though the chances of success are very little.
I think he is chancing his arm by dumping his life savings into yet
another bizarre money-making scheme.
Cake not worth the candle.
Refers to something in which result versus efforts are two less
worked very hard to organize the party but very few guests walked in the cake
wasn’t worth the candle.
Bottom fell out.
Refers to a situation when a plan or project fails.
The Bottom fell out of the market and I lost a lot of money.
Place in the Sun.
Finding a place in the Sun refers to a position which provides you all the
success and happiness you want in your life.
Your place in the Sun will be assured when you win this match so please do
your best.
Sink or swim.
Fail or succeed.
In such a competitive business it’s always sink or swim for new companies
looking to enter the market.
Champagne on a beer budget.
Wanting expensive things that you cannot afford.
My best friend always buys things out of her budget she has developed a taste for
champagne on beer budget.
Top dog.
Very successful group company person country etc.
You’ll only get a truthful answer if you manage to talk to one of the top dogs.
Keep up appearances.
Maintaining an outward show of prosperity or well-being while hiding
your difficulties.
She tried very hard to keep up appearances as she fell further and
further into credit-card debt.
Wooden spoon.
Imaginary prize for the last person in a race.
My friends won a wooden spoon at the Fashion Show.
Have the world by its tail.
Very successful person who can choose from a lot of opportunities.
Samantha landed her dream job after finishing at the top of her class
in college she has the world by the tail.
Live beyond means.
Spending more money than you can afford.
They’ve been living beyond their means for some time now but they’re too proud
to move out of that giant house or give up their expensive cars.
Live in an ivory tower.
Living a lifestyle that saves you from the real-world problems.
If you didn’t spend so much time in your ivory tower you’d know what people
really think.
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