Idioms are a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words.
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2answers
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Usage of 'on the brink of'
(Talking about a chimp): "In human age, he would have been on the brink of puberty."
I was told that this sentence is odd because 'be on the brink of' is usually used for something negative: ...
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1answer
64 views
Meaning of “through all right”
What does the phrase through all right mean?
He'll see me through all right
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1answer
104 views
Is it “to play a game on someone” or “play games with someone”?
I find this expression strange because it's clearly widely used, but seems sort of "unofficial", the "official" version, meaning the one described in dictionaries and grammar books, being playing ...
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5answers
5k views
What connotation does “to fork one's repo” have?
In a recent news item, an employee was fired partly for making jokes about "big dongle" and "forking repos", which were alleged to be inappropriate sexual jokes. The employee admitted the dongle joke ...
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1answer
69 views
“Come over” and etymology of other idioms
Can someone explain the etymology of using over in expressions like come over to and go over to as in "pay a casual visit"?
Is there a source for the etymology of idiomatic expressions somewhere?
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0answers
108 views
Contradictory Idioms [closed]
I stumbled across some contradictory idioms, and it made me wonder how many idioms can be contradicted with other idioms! Some that I've collected so far:
The pen is mightier than the sword
...
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2answers
255 views
What is the meaning of 'in the ether'?
In the following sentence, what is the meaning of 'in the ether'?
Rather than calling some function in the ether and passing arguments,
we call a method on one particular object providing ...
3
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3answers
85 views
Parallelism with “in order to”
Which of the following is grammatically correct, or are they both gramatically correct?
We use this product in order to increase work efficiency and to streamline testing.
We use this product in ...
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0answers
66 views
Swapping the order in an idiomatic expression [closed]
I may have sounded general in the title but my question is very specific. Recently I was writing a poem and I needed it to rhyme this way
Some will stand to watch you go down quick
But no one ...
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2answers
157 views
Is there an idiom beginning “when a dog is cornered”?
Is there any saying in a complete sentence including “a dog which is cornered”? I have tried to find a complete one, but there seems to be no one.
Actually, what I want to know is how to explain the ...
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1answer
87 views
Origin of idiom “full of hot air”
Does anyone know the origin of idiom full of hot air. Was it created by Kipling in 19th century ? I need it for 6th grade assignment.
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1answer
96 views
What do you say when you wish someone to do well the next time they run?
A friend of mine was leaving to start running as an exercise and I said "Have a good run!". Then I found out it is an idiom with a different meaning. What is the right thing to say in that case?
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2answers
131 views
Meaning of 'I don't swing at soft balls'
In an episode of Cougar Town, I noticed one of the characters told her friend 'I don't swing at soft balls'. First I thought it was an idiom, but I couldn't find it anywhere when I started looking it ...
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4answers
118 views
What's the meaning of “I put the chic in freak”?
I am a non-native speaker of English (Polish) and I teach English as a Foreign Language in Poland. A few months ago I came across this phrase / sentence printed on the student's notebook and got ...
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1answer
102 views
What does “it’s no game” mean?
I’ve recently heard David Bowie’s song where he sings
To be insulted by these fascists
Is so degrading and it’s no game.
Is it’s no game some kind of a metaphor or a widely used idiom, or ...
4
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2answers
131 views
Is it typical native speaker usage to inconsistently use the pronoun “one” in a paragraph?
[NB: This is a re-post of a closed question that was rightly judged "off topic". It does present an interesting problem, though, so I've rewritten it and asked an on-topic usage question.]
Is it ...
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3answers
640 views
What is the meaning of “six ways from Sunday”? [closed]
This is a line from the book Test Driven Development by Kent Beck:
Fortunately, we are well rested and relaxed and unlikely to make
mistakes, which is why we will go in teeny-tiny steps, ...
2
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4answers
227 views
What's “kind of shot that horse in the face” in Easy A?
In the film, Easy A, Olive has a conversation with her parents like this:
OLIVE: What would my punishment have been otherwise?
DAD: Bed without supper, I guess.
OLIVE: But I'm already ...
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2answers
127 views
Are there any idiomatic expressions similar to “dig one's way”? [closed]
Please look at the usage in the following context:
He has spent his life as a treasure hunter, a real-life Indiana Jones who has bought, sold, traded, and dug his way to a peerless collection of ...
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1answer
100 views
Is ‘(stroll with) a spring in one’s heels” a popular English idiom?
I came across the phrase, “strolled over to a place with a spring in his heels” in Jeffery Archer’s novel, Kane & Abel, which I started to read a few months ago and still in the midway.
It appears ...
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4answers
197 views
“Yeah, no, I agree” meaning
This is a passage in the movie The Social Network at 01:14:49:
Mark says: "Yeah, that reminds me, we're gonna need more money, Wardo."
Eduardo replies: "Yeah, no, I agree. More servers, more ...
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1answer
104 views
i have a hard time understanding / with understanding
have a hard time (doing smth)
have a hard time with (smth)
In the phrase: "have a hard time understanding" was used verb "understand" in -ing form, but "understand" is state verb and don't has -ing ...
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4answers
101 views
What is the proper phrase for being in one's official limits, probably when quoting something?
While quoting something, the consideration of the fact that it does not offend the sentiments of a community or culture one belongs to. How do we ask that in one sentence e.g Did I remain in my ...
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3answers
332 views
My Thoughts Exactly [closed]
Let's say someone said something I agree with. To express approval, dictionaries say this is standard English:
My sentiments exactly.
Could I use the following as well?
My feelings ...
2
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1answer
72 views
Is “having a bowl” an idiom?
I'm translating an article about a Student Union that was remodeled and expanded. A section is titled "Having a 'Bowl'". This part tells about the expansion- two extra bowling lines for Game Center ...
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2answers
103 views
Meaning and usage of “stuck in the craw” [closed]
Can you please explain the meaning and give some usage examples for "stuck in the craw" expression?
Just come across this expression in following sentence (a bit lengthy):
But what stuck in the ...
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1answer
134 views
“Well known to” vs. “ Well known by” [closed]
When do you use well known to vs. well known by?
He was well known to his people.
This was a fact well known by him.
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3answers
315 views
Is this contraction of 'there is' acceptable to native speakers of English?
In the Slate article, The Curse of “You May Also Like”, the following sentence has a contraction of there is that doesn't sit well with my ear for American or British English. I wonder whether any of ...
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1answer
60 views
Urge Her Against Him [closed]
For this:
google book
"With one hand on the small of her back, and another just a bit lower, he urged her against him again. The woman was melting his resolve and calling into question his ...
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1answer
179 views
What is the connection between motherhood and apple pie?
I know the idiom motherhood and apple pie is used to denote some principles with which few disagree. But what is the connection between motherhood and apple pie? I am not very familiar with American ...
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2answers
81 views
What is the meaning of “gather way” in “The idea gathered way”?
As far as I know "gather way" means "to attain headway" in navigation. So I believe this is a kind of idiom or something like that.
I just found this sentence with no context, so I don't know if you ...
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1answer
138 views
When do we use “to” as an infinitive marker? [closed]
In these two sentences:
I look forward to get.
I look forward to getting it.
Why is the first sentence incorrect? When do we use to as an infinitive marker?
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1answer
59 views
What are the origins of the phrase “operate on register[s]”?
I am curious as to whether this phrase gained wide spread usage after the incorporation of registers in computer microprocessors.
Simple example:
Morality operates on a number of registers: age, ...
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0answers
23 views
Word for person slow to share info [duplicate]
A word for a person unwilling to share information to the group, that the group wants or needs, in order to feel important
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4answers
234 views
How can I rephrase “enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot”?
Some time ago I have a read a very famous book of Allen I. Holub "Enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot" (this book on openlibrary.org). I have read it in Russian and the book was titled with ...
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2answers
483 views
Whispering “sweet nothings”
Where does the term sweet nothings come from? What is an example of a "sweet nothing"? Does the term connote sincerity or has it been hijacked to represent deceit and seduction? After all, the devil ...
2
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2answers
144 views
What is the meaning of “greasing the pan”?
In a tutorial, the instructor says:
We've greased the pan, now it's time to pour in the batter.
The tutorial is technical (IT), and has nothing to do with cooking, so what is the meaning of the ...
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2answers
290 views
What is the origin of the expression “close, but no cigar”? [closed]
It's a bizarre expression that I've always taken to describe a situation in which one has very nearly achieved their objective. Where do the roots of this expression lie?
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3answers
59 views
What are the uses for 'quick'?
Is the word quick ever used in reference to candles eg the quick of the candle? I know about the quick of the nail and obviously about the wick of a candle but I have a memory of the quick too being ...
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2answers
130 views
Is “stepmother treatment” Indian English?
When I googled stepmother treatment, I found that it was mainly used in India to refer to neglect, disregard or inattention. Most of the other non-Indian links talked about the literal treatment by ...
2
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1answer
87 views
“On Tap” in the Sense of “Coming Up”
Starting with the Fifth Edition (1936), seven generations of the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary have included (under the entry for tap) three definitions of "on tap," currently worded as ...
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2answers
70 views
Question mark with your hands [closed]
How do you call a gesture of spreading one's hands and turning them palms up to suggest a question?
As in "what did you just do, man? That was so weird that left me speechless, so I had to raise my ...
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2answers
147 views
What is the origin of the idiom “have been had”?
I know the meaning of "have been had" is "been cheated". What is the origin of this idiom? It is really special in the sense that none of the individual words in this idiom convey the meaning of ...
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1answer
132 views
Origin of “no such thing” idiomatic phrase
The risk of asking this question could be like asking the question
What is the origin of the phrase "I love you", or "I need a shower", etc
which grew out of spontaneous language use.
Anyway, I ...
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0answers
61 views
What does “pace and poise” mean? [closed]
The phrase “pace and poise” seems to be a sort of idiom, albeit I can’t find any reference of it being one in the dictionaries I can avail myself of. I have come upon the phrase in the following ...
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5answers
230 views
Idiom/saying/word request for “inappropriately complex analogy”
I'm looking for an adjective, saying or idiom for an analogy which makes the things even harder to grasp, that was supposed to make things easier to understand.
Examples:
A guy makes an analogy to ...
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3answers
122 views
What is a 'non productive' syntactic structure?
I am going through some of my old school notes about English idioms and the text describes idioms as having a non productive syntactic structure. I don't understand and couldn't find anything more ...
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5answers
365 views
Idiom request: Putting too much effort, but the return is so low that it was not worth the effort
I am looking for an idiom.
You put too much effort, but there is so little gain that it would not be worth the effort.
Update: More specifically, some guy wants to save money and gas, thus he skips ...
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1answer
348 views
What is the source of “Long time no see,” and when did it enter U.S. English?
A question from almost two years ago asked "In which countries is that “long time no see” greeting common?" The question drew a number of answers that were squarely on point, but also a couple that ...
2
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2answers
98 views
“Wash hands of” — why not “off” instead of “of”?
The phrase "wash hands of" is supposed to mean giving up or having nothing to do with something.
But why is it "of" and not "off"? Using "off" sounds more like giving it up and distancing oneself ...
