AYS ARE NUMBERED: If your days are numbered, that means you are going to die soon. The idiom is also used for physical things or abstract entities: The central bank has been trying to stimulate the economy for several years, but the days of that policy are numbered. Bangkok Post: <>
THE MAIN DRAG: the most important street in a town, or a part of town. This expression is North American (I think). Detroit Free Press: <>
Since we had LEARN THE ROPES yesterday, here's another rope idiom from reader Tomas Patarcic: ON THE ROPES, almost defeated. This idiom comes from boxing. From a news report on American immigration reform: <
MONEY TALKS: wealth and financial incentives influence people's decision-making. The Age (Australia): <
The reason is an old truism: money talks. Capitalism is a unifying global language—the pursuit of profit and the relentless search for new markets.>>
TO KNOW A PLACE LIKE THE BACK OF ONE'S HAND: to be very familiar with that place. China Post: <>
CALLED ON THE CARPET: held accountable, asked to explain wrongdoing. New York Daily News: <>
BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE: following the wrong path in an enterprise, making an incorrect assumption.
New York Times CEO, quoted in Bloomberg Businessweek: <
What’s interesting, though, was that initial widespread skepticism: “It won’t work. It’s mad. They’re barking up the wrong tree.”>>
THROW A WRENCH INTO (or throw a monkey wrench into): to make something fail, to try to disrupt something. Oregonian (Portland): <
And this could throw a wrench in Metro’s plan to connect the gaps in the Westside Trail. In the latest master plan developed by the regional planning agency, the $30 million, multi-use trail would stretch 25 miles north-south, from the Willamette River near Forest Park to the Tualatin River at Tigard and King City. >>
HEADS WILL ROLL: people will be fired (or, in the U.S., CANNED). All our jobs are safe for now, but I'll tell you this—if profits don't improve next quarter, heads will roll.
RED TAPE: difficult bureaucratic obstacles. Jakarta Post: <
Having sliced the procedure from around five months to a mere 26 days during his tenure as mayor in Surakarta, Central Java, Jokowi says he is optimistic the same could be applied here.>>
If something DOES NOT PASS THE SMELL TEST or FAILS THE SMELL TEST (the expression is generally used in the negative), it seems illegitimate or fraudulent. Mostly North American, but here's an example from the Dhaka Tribune: <>
➤ Read more idioms and phrases, English grammar and vocabulary at Basic English Grammar And Vocabulary .You might also like ⏬
➤ Book of Idioms
➤ Idioms about Animals
➤ Idioms of Expression
➤ Idioms on Food
➤ Idiomatic Expressions
➤ Origin of Idioms
➤ Proverbs
➤ Idioms on Situation
➤ Idioms on Temperature
THE MAIN DRAG: the most important street in a town, or a part of town. This expression is North American (I think). Detroit Free Press: <
Since we had LEARN THE ROPES yesterday, here's another rope idiom from reader Tomas Patarcic: ON THE ROPES, almost defeated. This idiom comes from boxing. From a news report on American immigration reform: <
MONEY TALKS: wealth and financial incentives influence people's decision-making. The Age (Australia): <
The reason is an old truism: money talks. Capitalism is a unifying global language—the pursuit of profit and the relentless search for new markets.>>
TO KNOW A PLACE LIKE THE BACK OF ONE'S HAND: to be very familiar with that place. China Post: <>
CALLED ON THE CARPET: held accountable, asked to explain wrongdoing. New York Daily News: <
BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE: following the wrong path in an enterprise, making an incorrect assumption.
New York Times CEO, quoted in Bloomberg Businessweek: <
What’s interesting, though, was that initial widespread skepticism: “It won’t work. It’s mad. They’re barking up the wrong tree.”>>
THROW A WRENCH INTO (or throw a monkey wrench into): to make something fail, to try to disrupt something. Oregonian (Portland): <
And this could throw a wrench in Metro’s plan to connect the gaps in the Westside Trail. In the latest master plan developed by the regional planning agency, the $30 million, multi-use trail would stretch 25 miles north-south, from the Willamette River near Forest Park to the Tualatin River at Tigard and King City. >>
HEADS WILL ROLL: people will be fired (or, in the U.S., CANNED). All our jobs are safe for now, but I'll tell you this—if profits don't improve next quarter, heads will roll.
RED TAPE: difficult bureaucratic obstacles. Jakarta Post: <
Having sliced the procedure from around five months to a mere 26 days during his tenure as mayor in Surakarta, Central Java, Jokowi says he is optimistic the same could be applied here.>>
If something DOES NOT PASS THE SMELL TEST or FAILS THE SMELL TEST (the expression is generally used in the negative), it seems illegitimate or fraudulent. Mostly North American, but here's an example from the Dhaka Tribune: <
➤ Read more idioms and phrases, English grammar and vocabulary at Basic English Grammar And Vocabulary .You might also like ⏬
➤ Book of Idioms
➤ Idioms about Animals
➤ Idioms of Expression
➤ Idioms on Food
➤ Idiomatic Expressions
➤ Origin of Idioms
➤ Proverbs
➤ Idioms on Situation
➤ Idioms on Temperature
No comments:
Post a Comment