List of Idioms beginning with P | |
Pass muster | to be approved |
Pick someone to pieces | to criticize sharply |
Paper over the cracks | to try to hide something |
Put the cart before the horse | doing things in a wrong manner |
Pull up the shocks | do things in the right manner and correctly |
Parrot fashion | If you learn something parrots fashion; you learn it word for word |
Pay on the nail | If you pay on the nail, you pay promptly in cash |
Pen is mightier than the sword | The idiom 'the pen is mightier than the sword' means that words and communication are morepowerful than wars and fighting |
Pick someone's brains If | you pick someone's brains, you ask them for advice,Suggestions and information about something they know about |
Pieces of the same cake | Pieces of the same cake are things that have the sameCharacteristics or qualities |
Play fast and loose | If people play fast and loose, they behave in an irresponsible way and don't respect rules, etc. |
Poker face | Someone with a poker face doesn't show any emotion or reaction so thatPeople don't know what they are feelingTOP |
List of Idioms beginning with Q | |
Quarrel with bread and butter | Bread and butter, here, indicate the means of one's living. If a subordinate in an organization is quarrelsome or if he is not patient enough to bear the reprimand he deserves, gets angry and retorts or provokes the higherup, the top man dismisses him from the job. So, he loses the job that gave him bread and butter. Hence we say, he quarreled with bread and butter (manager or the top man) and lost his job |
Quiet as a cat | If somebody is as quiet as a cat they make as little noise as possible and try to be unnoticeable |
Quiet as a mouse | If someone's as quiet as a mouse, they make absolutely no noise |
Queer fish | A strange person is a queer fishTOP |
List of Idioms beginning with R | |
Round the twist | go crazy |
Read between the lines | read hidden meanings |
Rack and ruin If | something or someone goes to rack and ruin, they are utterly destroyed or wrecked |
Rain on your parade | If someone rains on your parade, they ruin your pleasure or your plans |
Rake someone over the coals | If you rake someone over the coals, you criticize or scold them severely |
Recipe for disaster | A recipe for disaster is a mixture of people and events that could only possibly result in trouble |
Red carpet | If you give someone the redcarpet treatment, you give them a specialWelcome to show that you think they are important |
Red herring | If something is a distraction from the real issues, it is a red herring |
Red letter day | A red letter day is a one of good luck, when something special happens to you |
Reduce to ashes | If something is reduced to ashes, it is destroyed or made useless. His infidelities reduced their relationship to ashes |
Round the houses | If you go round the houses, you do something in an inefficient way when there is a quicker, more convenient way |
Rub shoulders | If you rub shoulders with people, you meet and spend time with them,Especially when they are powerful or famous |
Run into the sand | If something runs into the sand, it fails to achieve a resultTOP |