20 Best and common English idioms and phrases with their meaning

 

Here we are sharing 20 best idioms and phrases which is very helpful in competitive exams and this posted by Career Galaxy

 

Let's take a look at some of the important Idioms & Phrases asked in the English section.

 

1. Be a chicken

• Meaning: Be a coward.

• Example: Don't be a chicken. Talk to her about your love for her

 

2. A little bird told me

• Meaning: Said when you don't want reveal the source of your information.

• Example: A little bird told me about your birthday.

 

3. As gentle as a lamb

• Meaning: Said about kind, innocent, mild-mannered people.

• Example: She is as gentle as a lamb. That's why everybody likes her.

 

4. Back the wrong horse

• Meaning: to support someone or something that later cannot be successful.

• Example: Don't back the wrong horse! You know he cannot win the elections.

 

5. Be a cold fish

• Meaning: be a person who is distant and unfeeling

• Example: He rarely talks to his colleagues. He's a cold fish.

 

6. Be like a fish out of water

• Meaning: to feel uncomfortable in a situation

• Example: After her divorce, she was like a fish out of water

 

7. Beat a dead horse

• Meaning: (Also flog a dead horse.) To persist or continue far beyond any purpose, interest or reason.

• Example: If you continue talking about something that cannot be changed, you are beating a dead horse.

 

8. Call off the dogs

• Meaning: said when you want someone to stop criticizing you

• Example: Please, call off the dogs. I apologize for what I have done.

 

9. Big fish in a small pond

• Meaning: One who has achieved a high rank or is highly esteemed, but only in a small, relatively unimportant, or little known location or organization. •


• Example: Dr. Jones could get a professorship at an Ivy League university, but he enjoys being a big fish in a small pond too much to ever leave Hannover College.

 

10. Cash cow

• Meaning: someone or something which is a dependable source of appreciable amounts of money; a moneymaker.

• Example: The type writers production which had been their cash cow for so many years witnessed a collapse of sales.

 

11. A mare’s nest 

• Meaning: a false invention

• Example: the involvement of teachers in the scheme proved to be a mare’s nest.

 

12. At odds

• Meaning: in dispute

• Example: The members of the group were at odds over the selection procedure.

 

13. No love lost

• Meaning: intense dislike

• Example: There is no love lost between the two neighbours.

 

14. Rub one the wrong way

• Meaning: annoy

• Example: If you rub him the wrong way, he is bound to react.

 

15. Turn the corner

• Meaning: pass the crisis

• Example: The doctor says that the patient has turned the corner.

 

16. Sow wild oats

• Meaning: irresponsible pleasure seeking

• Example: After sowing his wild oats Ram has decided to stick to the straight and narrow path in future.

 

17. With a high hand

• Meaning: oppressively

• Example: He was a king who ruled his subjects with a high hand.

 

18. A good turn

• Meaning: an act of kindness

• Example: He did me a good turn by recommending me for the post of Vice – president.

 

19. A moot point 

• Meaning: undecided

• Example: The question of abolition of property is still a moot point.

 

20. Hole and corner

• Meaning: secret

• Example: I don't want any more hole-in-the-corner deals, from now all our business will be done in the open.