Friday, August 2, 2019

Book of Idioms, Episode 24

TO TREAT SOMEONE WITH KID GLOVES is to handle that person cautiously or gently. Often the idiom is used in the sense of not offending a powerful person. Jakarta Post: <>


LAND ON YOUR FEET: to recover after a setback. This may be literal—we say that when cats fall, they always land on their feet. But the expression can be used for any setback, not just for a physical fall. Detroit Free Press headline: <>


LET IT ALL HANG OUT: talk in an uninhibited manner. "Sure, all of us enjoy poking fun at our loquacious, irrepressible, unpredictable vice president. Unlike most high-level pols [politicians], and certainly unlike anyone else in this administration, Joe [Biden] likes to let it all hang out."—Michelle Cottle, Daily Beast news site


HORSE TRADING: vote swapping among groups in a legislative body, political negotiations. Agence France Presse: << Pakistani party leader Makhdoom Shahabuddin] was the consensus choice following more than 24 hours of crisis talks and intense horse trading between Zardari and members of his fractious ruling coalition.>>


IN FULL SWING: fully underway, happening now. Jakarta Globe: <>


To MOVE THE GOALPOSTS is to change the rules or the goal in the middle of a negotiation. This probably comes from American football, but I think it's used in Britain now too. CBS News: <> (To "spike the football," by the way, is to bounce the football hard as a way of rejoicing over a touchdown or a victory.)


WET BEHIND THE EARS: inexperienced. Sunday Herald (Scotland): <>


THE UPPER HAND: an advantage, a dominant position. Reuters: <>


To GIVE SOMEONE A HAND has two meanings:
1) to assist someone (for this you can also say "lend a hand"), and
2) applaud.
Example: Our English teacher, Mr Devid give the weak students a hand.

➤ 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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