Idioms and Phrases - English Grammar - 2

UNIT-15

IDIOMS AND PHRASES

English భాషలో Idioms and Phrases అనేవి, మన భాషలలోని వాడుక పదాలు, జాతీయాల వంటివి. అంటే, Idioms and Phrases గురించి చదివేటప్పుడు, వాటి యొక్క ప్రతి పదార్ధాన్ని కాక, వాడుక అర్ధాన్ని మాత్రమే గ్రహించాలి. ఉదాహరణకు, తెలుగులోని ‘నడుము కట్టుకొని పనిచేయాలి’ అనే జాతీయాన్ని గమనించండి. దాని అర్ధం నడుమును దేనితోనో కట్టుకోమని కాదుకదా, దానిని ‘పట్టుదలగా కష్టించి పని చేయాలి’ అనే అర్ధంలో వాడుతాము. అదే విధంగా Idioms and Phrases ఇంగ్లీషు వారి ఆచార వ్యవహారాలు, సంస్కృతులను ప్రతిబింబిస్తాయి తప్ప, ఆ పదాల అర్ధాన్ని మనకు తెలిసిన సామాన్య అర్ధంతో చూడకూడదు. అందువల్లనే, Idioms and Phrases అనే అంశం మనలో చాలామందికి కష్టంగా వుంటుంది. దానికి ప్రధాన కారణం ఏమిటంటే, మనకు వాడబడిన idioms and phrases యొక్క అసలు అర్ధం తెలియకపోవడమే.  It is essential that we should understand properly their meaning.

Some frequently used Idioms and phrases, along with their meanings and examples are given below:

IDIOMATIC EXPRESSION	MEANING	EXAMPLE
Abide by	(a) act according to	You must abide by your promise
	(b) submit to	Every player must abide by the referee’s decision
Add fuel to the fire	Make a person who is angry, more angry	To try to explain the matter to him in his present temper will only to add fuel to the fire
Add insult to injury	To insult a person after doing him an injury	To offer a consolation to a man whom you have deprived of his livelihood, is only adding insult to injury.
After all	(a) after so much has been said or done about it	I do not think much of your book after all
	(b) finally or in the end	So you went there, after all, i.e., after saying so much about not going
Give one-self airs, put on airs	Be affected or haughty in manner	He puts on airs to make people think him to be a man of high status
All in all	Of paramount importance	In this office, Mr. Suresh is all in all
At any rate	At all events, in any case	She may not get a rank, but she will pass the examination at any rate
At daggers drawn	In a state of enmity	The two leaders are at daggers drawn
At large	(a) free	A notorious thief is at large
	(b) fully or in detail	The Professor spoke at large on Hindu Philosophy
At logger-heads	At strife, at enmity	The two friends are now at logger heads
At one’s beck and call	Be dominated by someone	I am not your servant to be at your beck and call
At sixes and sevens	In disorder or confusion	His affairs are at sixes and sevens
Into the bargain	In addition	He failed to make any profit and lost his own money in the bargain
Beat about the bush	Not to come directly to the matter in hand	Do not beat about the bush; tell me what you want
Beside oneself	Out of one’s senses	He was beside himself with joy
Birds of a feather	Persons of the same character	Birds of a feather flock together
Blow hot and cold	Fluctuate in opinion	A person who blows hot and cold with the same breadth is not a trustworthy
Blow one’s own trumpet	Praise oneself	Our General Manager always blows his own trumpet
Be in a person’s good (bad) books	Be in favour (out of favour) with him	(i) Mr. Srinadh is so much in the officer’s good books that whatever he says goes (ii) Mr. Kumar is in the officer’s bad books, because he doest not attend his personal works
Cook accounts	To draw up false accounts	The auditors found that the accountant cooked his accounts
In cold blood	Deliberately	The dacoits murdered the watchman in cold blood
At the bottom of	The secret cause of	The former Minister is at the bottom of the land scam
Bring to light	Reveal	The investigation brought the facts into light
Burn the candle at both ends	Be extravagant	If you go on burning the candle at both ends, you will soon end up in debts
Burn one’s own fingers	Get into trouble	My father burnt his fingers while trying to help his cousin in his financial difficulties
By and by	Soon, after sometime	By and by it began to rain heavily
By the way	Incidentally	By the way, I forgot to tell you that I bought the tickets for this movie
Call in question	Express doubt about	I don’t like to have my honesty called in question
Call a spade a spade	Be frank	He calls a spade a spade and does not bother about others’ reactions
Carry coal to New Castle	To take a thing for sale to a place where it is available plentifully	Taking wool items to Kashmir for sale is like carrying coal to New castle
Catch at	Try to seize	He always catches at an opportunity that comes on his way
Pay one in the same coin	Return like for like	One who cheats others deserves to be paid in the same coin
Come home to	Touch the feeling or interest of	This new marketing idea came home to my G.M.
Cut one’s coat according to one’s cloth	Make one’s expenses proportionate to one’s income	You must cut your coat according to your cloth, to avoid financial difficulties
A dead letter	Something fallen into disuse	The anti-dowry act has become a dead letter
Play ducks and drakes with	Squander (spend, waste)	My cousin is playing ducks and drakes with the property he inherited from his father
Bit the dust, lick the dust	Be defeated	The Indian wrestler soon made the Taiwanese wrestler bite (lick) the dust
Upto the ears	Completely	My brother is upto his ears in debt
Keep (have) an eye on	Watch	Let us keep (have) an eye on the new watchman, lest he should deceive us
Fall short of	Be less than	The SSC pass percentage fell short of the expectations
A feather in one’s cap	Something to be proud of	The ATP tourney win is another feather in her cap
Feather one’s nest	Provide oneself with riches by dishonest means	The Excise Inspector had feathered his nest well before he was caught by the ACB
Find in one’s heart to do a thing	To be so cruel as to do it	I cannot find it in my heart to remove the poor clerk, though he became too old to work
Have at one’s fingers’ ends	Be thoroughly familiar with	Our Chemistry Lecturer used to have all the formulae at his fingers ends
Like a fish out of water	Out of one’s element	The girl felt like a fish out of water on the first day of her job
Make a fool of	Cause to appear ridiculous	The consultancy tried to make a fool of the unemployee by making false promises
Over head and ears	Completely	He is over head and ears in love
Take to heart	Be much troubled or grieved by	She has taken her failure in EAMCET too much to heart
Make oneself at home	Make oneself comfortable, as at one’s own home	Don’t by shy; Make yourself at home
By hook or by crook	By fair or foul means	He is trying to get the job by hook or by crook
Laugh in one’s sleeve	Laugh secretly	I was laughing in my sleeve, looking at the funny dress she wore
Leave in the lurch	Leave in difficult situation	His business partner disappeared with money and left him the lurch
Leave no stone unturned	Make every possible effort to do a thing	He left no stone unturned to get entry into the film world
See the light	Come into existence, be born	The last novel of the writer finally saw the light
Make both ends meet	arrange to make one’s means sufficient for one’s expenses	Due to increasing prices, the common man finds it difficult to make both ends meet
Beside the mark	Not to the point	The Minister’s statement on the farmers’ problem is beside the mark
Upto the mark	Coming up to the required standard	His performance in the Group Discussion is not upto the mark
By all means	Undoubtedly	You can use my mobile by all means
By no means	Not at all	He is, by no means, a suitable match for my sister
In the nick of time	Just at the right moment	The job offer arrived in the nick of time, for he is thinking of starting a business
Part and parcel	An essential part	Jammu & Kashmir is a part and parcel of Indian Union
Play into the hands of	Act in a way favourable to	The police should not play into the hands of political leaders
Beside the question	Irrelevant	Whether he is willing to marry her or not is beside the question
Beyond question	Undoubted	His involvement in the crime is beyond question
Out of the question	Impossible	The two parties farming an alliance is out of the question.
Neither rhyme nor reason	Neither sound nor sense	There is neither rhyme nor reason in his argument
In the long run	Finally	She achieved  her in the long run
Out of sorts	Unwell, indisposed	We are out of sorts after our long journey
On the spot	Instantly	The company gave offer letters to the successful students on the spot
On the spur of the moment	Unpremeditatedly (without any pre plan)	Though he gave his speech on the spur of the moment, it appealed all.
Stand in the shoes of	Be in the place of	No one can stand in the shoes of Mahatma Gandhi
Stand upon ceremony	Be formal in behaviour and insist on others attending to formalities	Please make yourself at home and don’t stand upon ceremony
Strike work	Stop doing work	The employees of Nationalised Banks will strike work tomorrow
Under the Sun	On earth	Everything under the sun has a purpose
Take the air	Go for a drive,etc., to enjoy the breeze	He comes to tankbund daily to take the air
Take air	Become public	The official secret soon took air
Take to one’s heels	Flee/ run away	The thief took to his heels as soon as he saw the police
Take to task	Find fault with; rebuke	The minister took the officials to the task
Through thick and thin	Under all circumstances favourable and unfavourable	Through thick and thin, he was with me
Throw cold water on	Discourage	My brother threw cold water on my proposal to start a business
Time and tide	Time, season	Time and tide wait for no man
Turn a deaf ear to	Refuse to listen to	The minister turned a deaf ear to the requests of the poor for house sites
A good turn	An act of favour or kindness done	In a good turn, his business is gaining profits
Turn one’s back upon	Run away from, abandon	He turned his back upon me when I was in need of help
By the way	Speaking incidentally	By the way, may I know who the person in your car was?
At one’s wits’ end	Not to know how to manage	He was at his wits’ end when he saw the girl smiling at him
In a word	Briefly; to sum up	He threatened  and begged and laughed and cried by turns; in a word, he behaved as if he were out of his senses
A black sheep	A person of bad character	A defector is a black sheep
A Herculean task	A task requiring very great effort for its accomplishment	Preparing for the Mains exams within two months is a Herculean task
Crocodile tears	Pretended sorrow; hypocritical grief	Raju shed crocodile tears at Kishan’s failure in the Interview
To worship the rising sun	To pay respect to the man who is rising in power and influence	The followers of the young Minister are worshipping the rising sun
A gala day	A day of festivity	Holi is a gala day in the Indian calendar
A bed of roses	A condition of ease and comfort	A business man’s life is not a bed of roses
A jaundiced eye	A prejudiced person	Everything looks yellow to the jaundiced eye
Red tape	Officialdom, useless official formalities	The main cause of many government plans is the red tape in the system
An apple of discord	A cause of contention	The lone minister berth proved an apple of discord, for the MLAs fought with one another for it
To pour oil on troubled water	To say or do anything which soothes and calms angry passions	The prime minister’s speech threw oil on troubled waters by calling for harmony among communities
To make good	To pay as compensation, to pay in full	All her pension benefits should be made good
An iron will	An inflexible will	Nelson Mandela is a man of iron will
To smell a rat	To suspect something or to detect something wrong	Looking at the young man’s suspicious movements, the police smelt a rat and took him into custody
To make amends	To compensate for damage, injury, or insult	With a public apology, the Political party made amends for its strike call
To die in harness	To continue at one’s occupation until one’s death; to refuse to retire from active life	Jawaharlal Nehru died in harness
To read between the lines	To see the writer’s concealed meaning	You need to read between the lines to enjoy to understand the plot well
A red letter day	An auspicious or happy day	Today is a red letter day in my life as I got first rank in my exams
To stir up a nest of hornets (or) bring a hornet’s nest about one’s ears	Cause an outburst of angry feeling	The Minister stirred up a nest of hornet (or brought a hornet’s nest about his ears) by refusing to withdraw his comments on opposition leader
To hit below the belt	To strike another unfairly	To refer to the actor’s private life in a public discussion was hitting below the belt
Washing one’s dirty linen in public	To speak in public of dirty, private affairs	He washed his dirty linen in public by referring to his extramarital affairs in the interview
At the eleventh hour	At the last moment, just in time	The speaker reached the function at the eleventh hour
To end in smoke	To come to nothing	The government’s promise on continuous power supply ended in smoke
In fine	In conclusion	We have, in fine, earned good profits this year
A fool’s paradise	A state of delusion	He has been reveling in a fool’s paradise of leisure
To play the game	To do the correct thing	Do you really think that he is playing the game?
To play a double game	To do one thing openly and a different thing in secret	Political parties play double games. They talk about unity among citizens, but resort to caste politics in secret
To go to the wall	To be hard pressed or to fail	When the crush begins, the weakest go to the wall
To cut to the quick	To cause acute pain	The innocent officer is cut to the quick by baseless complaints
To be caught red-handed	To be caught in the act of committing a crime	The ACB officials caught the Vehicle Inspector red handed while he was demanding bribe
To be at home in	To be fully acquainted with	My brother is quite at home in Mathematics
A turn coat	A person who often changes his opinions	You can never depend upon his support.  He is a turncoat and will change sides at the last moment
To bury the hatchet	To make peace	The new Government of Pakistan is ready to bury the hatchet and renew talks with India