Idiom of the Day

Photo is copyright Liz Bedore, featured on her Tumblr portfolio. (Image used with permission from the artist.)

Idiom of the Day
I am starting something new.  I will try to post a new idiom every day.  In the Idiom of the Day post, I will try to include:

• a definition
• images and context to explain the meaning better
• example sentences
• links to fun and useful websites related to the topic

What is an idiom?
An idiom is a phrase (more than one word together) with a figurative meaning.  I usually explain to my students that if you translate each word in an idiom to another language, it won't make sense.  

Most students know silly idioms like: It's raining cats and dogs! (This means: the weather is bad, and the rain is heavy.)

From Bingmanson's photostream on Flickr.com.

If you translate each word from this idiom into another language, it won't make sense to a native speaker.

• In Spanish: Está lloviendo los gatos y perros!
• In French: Il pleut les chats et chiens!

There is probably an expression (or idiom) for "heavy rain" in your native language.  If you translate each word into English, it probably won't make sense to an English speaker.

Why should I study idioms?
Idioms are frequently used, and difficult for students to learn on their own.  Idioms are difficult to study, because most dictionaries don't have idioms.  You can research each word, but the phrase together has one meaning.

How do teachers decide which idioms to teach?
This Idiom of the Day project is inspired by the research and articles of Liu Dilin and Lynn E. Grant.  (See the bottom of this page for article citations and links to the articles online.)  

I will be using the idioms in the list below.  These idioms are the most frequently used idioms in 

• Spoken American Academic (college and university) English
• Spoken American Professional English
• Spoken American Media (the news) English.

I want this to be useful for non-American students as well.  We will begin with Grant's list.  Grant compared the results of Dilin's study, with British usage.  The first 66 words in the list represent idioms frequently used in American and British English.

These idioms are useful for students in academic (university) and professional settings.

Where are idioms used most?
You will most often hear idioms in conversation, or on the news.  You will most often read idioms in literature.

Be an Idiom Scientist!
Scientists observe the world to understand it better.  

A scientist researching fuels for NASA, from Great Images In NASA (public doman).

Have you seen idioms in advertisements, stories, movies, music, or the news?  Share it with us, and be a published Idiom Scientist. 


The Idiom List
I will be adding more to this list.  This first list includes idioms commonly used by both American and British speakers. This list was compiled by Lynn E. Grant (more info at the bottom).  I will not be going in order.  I will add links to the posts as I go.

1. make sure 
2. come to mind
3. in other words
4. in the eyes of / in somebody’s eyes 
5. make sense
6. have / keep in mind
7. keep, bear in mind 
8. ballpark (figure, estimate, etc) 
9. on the other hand 
10. keep an/one’s eye on 
11. back and forth 
12. draw the line 
13. make a difference
14. be over one’s head 
15. have / play a part / role in 
16. get / have a handle 
17. all of a sudden
18. in good / bad shape 
19. be open to ideas 
20. make fun of
21. take steps 
22. in line with
23. more or less 
24. (a) level playing field 
25. be / keep in touch with
26. call something into question 
27. bottom line
28. come out of the closet
29. the big picture
30. full-fledged / fully fledged 
31. come into play
32. get a handle on
33. down the line 
34. goes to show 
35. flip a coin, flip side of a/the same coin / toss a coin
36. on the same page
37. on (the right) track 
38. ring a bell 
39. knee-jerk 
40. split hairs
41. hand in hand
42. take (make/have) a stab at it 
43. right (straight) off the bat 
44. take my/someone’s word for it 
45. chicken-and-egg (question) 
46. draw a/the line between
47. get a grasp of 
48. on target 
49. get to the bottom of things 
50. thumbs up 
51. go off on a tangent 
52. fall in love 
53. hand-waving 
54. out the door 
55. in a nutshell 
56. rule(s) of thumb 
57. ivory tower 
58. take (something) at face value 
59. litmus test 
60. beat to death 
61. play devil’s advocate 
62. put the heat on 
63. shift gears 
64. a ballpark (idea / guess) 
65. thinking on my feet 

Research Sources

1) The Most Frequently Used Spoken American English Idioms: A Corpus Analysis and Its Implications, by DILIN LIU; Oklahoma City University; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States. Published in TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Winter, 2003), pp. 671-700

2) In a Manner of Speaking: Assessing Frequent Spoken Figurative Idioms to Assist ESL/EFL Teachers, by Lynn E. Grant; published in System: An International Journal of Educational Technology and Applied Linguistics, v35 n2 p169-181 Jun 2007, a peer reviewed publication.