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Results tagged with idioms
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user 273295
Idioms are a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words. Use [idiom-requests] if you are searching for an idiom with a particular meaning.
-2
votes
Alternative to "skin in the game"
no chum in the water (chum attracts sharks)
no honey for the flies (you catch more flies with honey)
no nest eggs for the chickens (nest eggs make hens lay more eggs)
no bait on the hook (to lure fis …
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1
vote
Accepted
With all due respect to
Can you use the phrase 'with all due respect' and then follow it up with a name? Take this example:
With all due respect to Charlotte Brontë, I thought Jane Eyre was terrible.
I have never heard anyo …
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8
votes
Is there a single word meaning figuratively 'separate wheat from chaff' (good from bad), abo...
Our professor refines the curriculum so well that we are able to appreciate its finer points.
Refined (adj.) 1570s, "subtle;" 1580s, "elegant;" 1590s, "purified," past-participle adjective from ref …
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1
vote
Accepted
Formal equivalent / synonym for the phrase/idiom "winging it"
One team member on the project was, for lack of a better word, winging it.
The team member was possibly unprepared:
adjective: made or done without previous thought or preparation
"an obvi …
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1
vote
Bring down the hammer definition/meaning/etymology
Source: English Idioms by James Main Dixon, a professor of English literature …
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-1
votes
What is the term for an argumentative style that relies on immediately extrapolating or thre...
Belligerence:
Senior politicians use incredibly belligerent rhetoric that presents protest as a crime.
Also, in many relationships power struggles develop wherein one or both parties attempt to …
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2
votes
Origin of “I don’t buy it”
I am referring to the idiomatic expression “I don’t buy it” meaning I don’t think it is true.
The earliest relevant example of similar usage I ran across on google books was this tidbit from Buds …
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1
vote
Origin of "walking on eggshells"?
George Pickering Burnham (1814-1902)
c.1855:
CHAPTER XXII.
TRUE HISTORY OF "FANNY FERN."
I WAS riding through Brookline, Mass., one fine afternoon, on my round-about way home from a …
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6
votes
Other ways to say 'take your time' / 'whenever you can' / 'no rush'?
Here is a letter: read it at your leisure.
From A New and Complete Concordance Or Verbal Index to Words, Phrases, & Passages ... ~ By John Bartlett
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1
vote
Is there a non-vulgar version of "pulled it out of their ass"?
1.There is no way John's projections for next year's sales are accurate. He materialized them.
When Mrs. Bell fell ill, the Bell Witch caused a bunch of grapes to materialize out of thin air f …
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3
votes
Word/expression for someone who doesn't reciprocate favors?
Fair-weather friend (noun) A person who stops being a friend in times of difficulty.
(Oxford Dictionaries)
I have helped Peter a lot when he had issues, but he stiffs me when I am going throug …
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2
votes
How (in-)formal is it to say to "become/get hooked on/by something"? Are there differences i...
Even Oxford dictionary seems to agree that hooked in that context is woefully informal, even slangy. I'm sure Urban Dictionary had a field day with it. Your intent seems to be striving for some formal …
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0
votes
Is there an idiom for people who boast too much?
grandiose
1 : characterized by affectation of grandeur or splendor or by absurd exaggeration Example: They did not believe his grandiose claims.
That fellow is grandiose; he told everyone he di …
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