Important English Idioms with Meanings and Examples
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.
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.
