| A | B |
|---|
| Head in the clouds | -absentminded; daydreaming; lost in thought |
| Hide or hair | -not a single sign or trace of someone or something that is gone, lost, missing, or hiding |
| In the nick of time | -just at the exact right time; almost too late but still soon enough; at the precise moment required |
| Jump (Go) off the deep end | -to act emotionally without carefully thinking about the end result; to become deeply involved before you’re ready to |
| Keep you’re ear to the ground | -know what’s going on; pay attention and be well informed |
| Leave no stone unturned | -to make all possible efforts to carry out a task or search for someone or something |
| Leave someone holding the bag | -to force someone take blame when it should be shared |
| Midas touch | -to make a lot of money at whatever you do |
| Mince words | -not to come right to the point; to be less than 100% honest; to use mild or vague words so as not to offend or hurt someone |
| No skin off your nose | -of totally no concern to you whatsoever; it doesn’t matter to you one way or the other |
| No spring chicken | -not young anymore |
| On the fritz | -broken; out of order; not working |
| Open a can of worms | -to cause trouble, to set unpleasant events in motion |
| Play it by ear | -to figure out what you’re going to do as you go along instead of beforehand |
| Rose colored glasses | -a positive outlook on life; an attitude of cheerful optimism; seeing everything in a lovely, pleasant light |
| Set your teeth on edge | -to cause annoyance or discomfort to someone |
| Show your true colors | -to reveal what you are really like |
| Take with a grain of salt | -to not believe completely; to be doubtful |
| Throw in the towel | -to give up; to admit that you’re defeated; to quit |
| Wet behind the ears | -young, inexperienced, and immature |
| Wet blanket | -a person who spoils other people’s fun by being depressed, dull, sour, nagging, or humorless |
| Whole kit and caboodle | -everything; nothing left out; the whole lot |
| At the drop of a hat | -right away; at once; without delay; willing at any moment |
| Bells and whistles | -impressive accessories, especially flashy, high-technology features and frills, which may sometimes be more decorative than necessary |
| Blue blood | -of high or noble birth; an aristocrat; from the upper class of society |
| Champ at the bit | -to be impatient to start; to be ready and enthusiastic to do something |
| Chew the fat | -to have a friendly, informal talk; to chat in a relaxed way |
| Drop in the bucket | -a very small, insignificant amount |
| Dutch treat ( to go Dutch) | -each person pays for his or her own food and entertainment |
| Elbow grease | -hard, energetic manual labor |
| Eleventh Hour | -at the latest possible time, just before the absolute deadline |
| Flash in the pan | -a temporary success which yields no long-term results; a person who fails to live up to earlier potential |
| Fly in the ointment | -a small annoyance that spoils an otherwise pleasant situation |
| Gild the lily | -to spoil something that is already beautiful by adding something extra or not needed |
| Go against the grain | -to say or do something in an unconventional way that annoys people; to anger person by going against his/her wishes or feelings |
| Hit below the belt | -to use unfair tactics or be unsportsmanlike |
| Just deserts | -the punishment a person deserves |
| Left out in the cold | -to not tell someone something; to exclude someone from a place or activity |
| Let the chips fall where they may | -to do the right thing, as you see it, whatever the consequences might be |
| Mind over matter | -the power of your mind is stronger than the body |
| Mind your p’s and q’s | -to be extremely exact; be careful not to say or do anything wrong; mind your manners |
| Nose out of joint | -angry, jealous, or annoyed at someone |
| On tenterhooks | -uncertain, anxious, very tense; in a painful suspense about how something will turn out |
| Other side of the coin | -opposite side or point of view |
| Pot calling the kettle black | -the person criticizing another person’s faults is guilty of the same faults himself or herself |
| Pull no punches | -to hit as hard as possible; to attack with full force; to be perfectly honest; to not hold back |
| Red herring | -something deliberately misleading to divert your attention from the main subject; something irrelevant that confuses an issue |
| Red-letter day | -a day remembered as especially happy and significant |
| Snake in the grass | -an unfaithful, untrustworthy, underhanded, and deceitful person; a traitor |
| Throw the book at someone | -to punish severely for breaking rules or the law; to give the maximum penalty |
