The term an arm and a leg means an extreme amount of money, tremendously expensive. Cost an arm and a leg, pay an arm and a leg, worth an arm and a leg, are all valid phrases describing the buying and selling of an article that costs the consumer a …
1 Comment
To read someone the riot act means to sternly tell them to behave well, to demand good behavior and warn them of dire consequences if they do not stop what they are doing. The term read the riot act has its origins in an actual law called the Riot Act …
Shake a leg is an idiom which means to hurry up, to get going. Shake a leg is usually used as an imperative, which is a form of grammar that is a command or request. The first use of shake a leg to mean hurry up is found in the …
Knuckle down is a phrase which means to get serious about a task, to work diligently on a task or problem. Knuckle down is a term derived from the game of marbles, it first appears in the mid-1860s in American English. One puts a knuckle to the ground to assume …
Hey! Let’s talk about that elephant in the room. Wait, what does that even mean? This common idiomatic phrase is often used in casual conversation, but you might not know its actual meaning or where it originated from. So, sit tight as I explain everything about this kooky phrase and …
You can cross a line both literally and figuratively. However, let’s talk about the metaphorical sense and how the expression “crossing the line” or “crossing a line” is used as an idiom to state when someone has just gone too far with something. Understanding contexts surrounding idioms can help you …
2 Comments
Dingo’s breakfast has recently been added to the Oxford English dictionary. Dingo’s breakfast is an Australian phrase that actually means no breakfast at all. A dingo’s breakfast originated with stories of the Australian swaggy, or transient worker, who crossed the land looking for work to pay for his next meal, …
The jig is up is a phrase which means the plot has been foiled, the deception has been seen through, the game is over. A jig is an energetic dance, but during Elizabethan times jig also came to mean a trick or a practical joke. Therefore, when the jig is …
The lion’s share is the largest part, the greatest and most desirable portion of something. The lion’s share is a common English phrase by the year 1701. The phrase comes from a fable written by Aesop, in which the lion goes hunting with three other beasts. When it’s time to …
2 Comments
Lay of the land is a phrase that figuratively or metaphorically means the current state of affairs, how something is organized. Literally, the lay of the land is the arrangement of features upon the land. One usually assesses the lay of the land in preparation for action. The idiom lay of …