CURRY FAVOR: appease, try to appeal to. Oregonian newspaper: <>
THROW DOWN THE GAUNTLET: issue a challenge, do something to challenge another person or organization. From medieval combat, where a knight might throw down a gauntlet, a type of armored glove, to challenge another knight to fight. Jakarta Globe: <>
TOP-OF-THE-LINE: most expensive or luxurious (of a group of products). Apple's top-of-the-line laptop, the 15-inch MacBook Pro with high-resolution display, sells fo $2,200.
LIGHTNING ROD: something or someone that attracts something. Literally a lightning rod is a metal post that you put up to attract lightning and keep it from hitting a building. But idiomatically, the term is used as a metaphor. Jakarta Globe: <>
And one more: to DODGE THE BULLET (or dodge a bullet) is to escape from a bad situation. Wow, we sold too many tickets for the concert! But a few people didn't show up, so we dodged the bullet.
HEADS WILL ROLL: people will be fired. Evening Standard (London): <>
A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME: This is a way of saying that you don't want to reveal the source of something you have heard.
A: Hey, I heard that you and Dave are going out Saturday night!
B: What?! Who told you that?
A: Oh, a little bird told me.
BUTTERFLIES IN MY STOMACH: a nervous feeling. A friend in graduate school posts: "My advisor just sent me an e-mail at 3:36 a.m. I get butterflies in my stomach whenever I get a message from this overachiever." (An "overachiever" is a very ambitious person who works very hard, maybe too hard.)
BREAD AND BUTTER: regular source of profit or money. Detroit News: <>
TIP ONE'S HAND: to reveal what one is thinking, or what one already possesses. This expression comes from the game of poker. Vancouver Province newspaper: <<[Hockey defenseman] Cam Barker wouldn't tip his hand but dropped a hint Wednesday that [he might accept a professional tryout with the Vancouver Canucks].>>
Note that our recent idiom "take a hint/drop a hint" is also included in this sentence!
➤ 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
THROW DOWN THE GAUNTLET: issue a challenge, do something to challenge another person or organization. From medieval combat, where a knight might throw down a gauntlet, a type of armored glove, to challenge another knight to fight. Jakarta Globe: <
TOP-OF-THE-LINE: most expensive or luxurious (of a group of products). Apple's top-of-the-line laptop, the 15-inch MacBook Pro with high-resolution display, sells fo $2,200.
LIGHTNING ROD: something or someone that attracts something. Literally a lightning rod is a metal post that you put up to attract lightning and keep it from hitting a building. But idiomatically, the term is used as a metaphor. Jakarta Globe: <
And one more: to DODGE THE BULLET (or dodge a bullet) is to escape from a bad situation. Wow, we sold too many tickets for the concert! But a few people didn't show up, so we dodged the bullet.
HEADS WILL ROLL: people will be fired. Evening Standard (London): <
A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME: This is a way of saying that you don't want to reveal the source of something you have heard.
A: Hey, I heard that you and Dave are going out Saturday night!
B: What?! Who told you that?
A: Oh, a little bird told me.
BUTTERFLIES IN MY STOMACH: a nervous feeling. A friend in graduate school posts: "My advisor just sent me an e-mail at 3:36 a.m. I get butterflies in my stomach whenever I get a message from this overachiever." (An "overachiever" is a very ambitious person who works very hard, maybe too hard.)
BREAD AND BUTTER: regular source of profit or money. Detroit News: <
TIP ONE'S HAND: to reveal what one is thinking, or what one already possesses. This expression comes from the game of poker. Vancouver Province newspaper: <<[Hockey defenseman] Cam Barker wouldn't tip his hand but dropped a hint Wednesday that [he might accept a professional tryout with the Vancouver Canucks].>>
Note that our recent idiom "take a hint/drop a hint" is also included in this sentence!
➤ 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
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