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.


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