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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Take someone down a peg What does Take someone down a peg mean?
If someone is taken down a peg (or taken down a peg or two), they lose status in the eyes of others because of something they have done wrong or badly.
One can see the inevitable result of circumstances.
We are having a downsizing and the writing is on the wall: we'll all be cut loose. From the Book of Daniel in the Bible's Old Testament. Belshazzar, the king of Israel, had stolen from the temple in Jerusalem. At a party where wine was being consumed, the fingers of a man's hand appeared and wrote on the wall. The interpretation of the writing was that the King's days were numbered. He had been weighed on the scales and found deficient and his kingdom was divided and given to the Medes and Persians. That same night, Belshazzar was killed.