This
database is a comprehensive collection of all the American idioms and slang available.
American Idioms are many and varied. We hope you enjoy our collection. We are adding more all the time.
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Heaven knows
What does Heaven knows mean? | If you ask someone a question and they say this, they have no idea. |
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Some Random Idioms
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get ready
What does "get ready" mean? | to prepare yourself for something | "First I must get ready for work, then I will help you."
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crack down on (someone or something)
What does "crack down on (someone or something)" mean? | to enforce laws or rules strictly | The school principal decided to crack down on people running in the halls.
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flash
What does "flash" mean? | a sudden idea or memory. | I had a flash of inspiration this morning.
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bottom out
What does "bottom out" mean? | to reach the lowest point | The value of the company's stock has recently appeared to bottom out.
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Air your dirty laundry in public
What does "Air your dirty laundry in public" mean? | If you air your dirty laundry in public, you reveal aspects of your private life that should really remain private, by telling a secret, arguing in public, etc. |
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Bleed like a stuck pig
What does "Bleed like a stuck pig" mean? | To bleed heavily. | Handle that straight razor carefully. If you cut yourself, you will bleed like a stuck pig.
The throat of a pig set for slaughter is cut or opened with a sharp spike or knife. Because the cut severs the jugular vein, the pig bleeds rapidly. |
knock back
What does "knock back" mean? | drink rapidly |
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no great shakes
What does "no great shakes" mean? | to be mediocre, to be unimportant | The hotel was no great shakes and I wouldn`t recommend that you stay there.
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At the eleventh hour
What does "At the eleventh hour" mean? | At the very last moment. | The union negotiator went right down to the eleventh hour before accepting the company's final offer.
On a 12-hour clock (rather than the 24-hour clock used by scientists, the military, et al) the hours of 12 noon and 12 midnight seem to hold special significance. De-marking the transition from morning to afternoon and the end of the day, they are often used as deadlines (high noon, the stroke of midnight).
To come at "the eleventh hour" implies that it comes in the last hour before the deadline. The choice of "the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" as the time to end W.W.I was quite apt. |
Talk out of the back of your head
What does "Talk out of the back of your head" mean? | If someone is talking out of the back of their head, they are talking rubbish. |
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