Some Colloquial Idiom [常用英语习语]
1. low on the totem pole
Meaning: the least important or lowest-ranking person of a group
Example: I’d like to not have to work weekends but I’m low on the totem pole.
2. tiptoe around it
Meaning: to avoid confronting or engaging with a troublesome or undesirable person, problem, situation, issue, etc.
Example: They are still a little upset about losing the grant so try to tiptoe around it.
3. sleep on it
Meaning: think over, delay making a decision on something until the following day so as to have more time to consider it.
Example: Let me sleep on it and I’ll get you an answer tomorrow
4. let sleeping dogs life
Meaning: avoid interfering in a situation that is currently causing no problems but might do so as a result of such interference.
Example: Let’s not bring it up again and let sleeping dogs lie.
5. night owl
Meaning: a person who is habitually active or wakeful at night
Example: I don’t think she minds working late, she seems to be a night owl
6. burn the candle at both ends
Meaning: go to bed late and get up early, especially to get work done
Example: In order to get this done by Friday we are going to need to burn the candle at both ends.
7. get up on the wrong side of the bed
Meaning: start the day in a bad temper
Example: I just got yelled at for no reason. I think the boss got up on the wrong side of the bed
8. lose sleep over/about sth
Meaning: worry about something
Example: Anyone could have made that mistake, it is nothing to lose sleep over
9. sleeping giant
Meaning: one that has great but unrealized or newly emerging power.
Example: It has been a while since they have done anything important, but we should still be carefull. They are a sleeping giant.
10. pipe dream
Meaning: an unattainable or fanciful hope or scheme
Example: It’s a pipe dream if you think we are going to get a Nobel Prize for this project
11. sight for sore eyes
Meaning: someone or something you are glad to see
Example: You with that box of donuts is a sight for sore eyes.
12. eat up
Meaning: something, or someone who uses up or consumes resources, especially at a rapid pace
Example: The clients really ate up the proposal.
13. drink it in
Meaning: to stop and look at or listen to something in order to enjoy it
Example: Tomorrow is going to be the first really warm day of spring, take some time to drink it in.
14. eat one’s heart out
Meaning: suffer from excessive longing for someone or something unattainable
Example: We had the best presentation, so the other bidders can eat their hearts out.
15. eat my hat
Meaning: something will not happen or cannot be true
Example: If she has figured out room-temperature superconductivity, I will eat my hat.
16. meat of the matter
Meaning: the most important, basic, or fundamental essence or element(s) of an issue, problem, or matter at hand
Example: Now that we know the background, I’d like to discuss the meat of the matter.
17. lemon
Meaning: a motor vehicle or machine with many mechanical problems
Example: This is computer is a total lemon. Since I got it, I think IT has had it more than I have.
18. take candy from a baby
Meaning: doing something unfair or shameful because it is so easy to do, and is often used to describe an action that is sneaky or underhanded
Example: Acquiring that start-up will be like taking candy from a baby.
19. take with a grain of salt
Meaning: accept it while maintaining a degree of scepticism about its truth
Example: These are only preliminary results so take them with a grain of salt.
20. worth one’s salt
Meaning: good or competent at the job or profession specified
Example: She has proven that under pressure she is worth her salt.
21. go bananas
Meaning: going crazy, becoming insane, also mean to go wild with anger, or to erupt with enthusiasm with accompanying cheering
Example: When we heard that we got the account, the whole office went bananas.
22. low hanging fruit
Meaning: a thing or person that can be won, obtained, or persuaded with little effort
Example: No one has tried to apply mathematics to this problem yet so there is a lot of low hanging fruit.
23. in a pickle
Meaning: in a difficult position, or have a problem to which no easy answer can be found
Example: I made the budget assuming that we were going to get the grant so now we are in a pickle.
24. half baked
Meaning: not fully thought through, lacking a sound basis
Example: He needs to think things through and not keep offering up these half baked ideas.
25. bite off more than you can chew
Meaning: try to do something that is too difficult for you
Example: That seems like a lot to cover in a short period of time. Do you think you are biting off more than you can chew.
26. biting the hand that feeds you
Meaning: act badly towards the person who is helping or has helped you
Example: He should have included his professor in his publication instead of biting the band that feeds him
27. eat crow
Meaning: be humiliated by having to admit one’s defeats or mistakes
Example: He tried to argue with the professor and is now eating crow
28. food for thought
Meaning: something that warrants serious consideration
Example: The presestation gave me some food for thought.
29. egg someone on
Meaning: to encourage someone to do something, especially something socially unacceptable, something criminal or something dangerous
Example: It is bad enough that he argues with everyone for no reason, I wish you wouldn’t egg him on.
30. walk on eggshells
Meaning: be extremely cautious about one’s words or actions
Example: Since our lab lost that grant everyone has been walking on eggshells around the director.
31. chew the fat
Meaning: chat in a leisurely way, especially at length
Example: We talk about work a lot but never really get the chance to chew the fat.
32. Smell fishy
Meaning: something about a person or situation arouses suspicion
Example: The data seems consistent, but something still smells fishy.
33. bread amd butter
Meaning: a person’s livelihood or main source of income, typically as earned by routine work
Example: We do a lot of work in the futures markets, but bond trading is still our bread and butter
34. spill the beans
Meaning: reveal secret information unintentionally or indiscreetly.
Example: I told her it was going to be a surprise party, but she still spilled the beans.
35. catch a break
Meaning: to obtain or receive a convenient, beneficial, and/or lucky opportunity or to have a some good luck
Example: I finally caught a break when a big Hollywood producer asked me to audition for a part in the movie.
36. for the record
Meaning: so that the true facts about something are clear or known, especially publicly or officially.
Example: (1) For the record, it was she who approached me about such a deal, not the other way around. (2) I’ve always been clear on my position, but, just for the record, let me state that I unequivocally denounce such policies.
37. tell me about it
Meaning: used informally to say that one understands what someone is talking about because one has had the same or a similar experience
Example: “A: Something is wrong with that computer.” “B: Yeah, tell me about it. I can never get it to work properly.”
38. on the radar/on one’s radar
Meaning: considered by one as important or noteworthy; within the spectrum of one’s awareness, attention, or consideration.
Example: (1) If you want this issue on people’s radar, you have to frame it as something that will impact their wallets. (2) There are always going to be bands who suddenly appear on the radar screen, only to fade into obscurity just as quickly.
39. put one at (one’s) ease
Meaning: to calm, comfort, or reassure one; to make one comfortable or relaxed
Example: (1) She usually tells a little joke to put you at your ease. (2) Please do something to put me at ease.
40. goof off/goof-off
Meaning: goof off: to avoid doing any work, goof-off: one who evades work or responsibility
Example: The teacher told them to stop goofing off and get back to work.
41. count on sth/sb
Meaning: (1) To rely on someone or something. (2) To expect or anticipate something.
Example: (1) We can count on Bill to get the job done. (2) We are counting on a great vacation this summer.