Idioms

BRAIN
1.Have something on the brain-to not be able to stop thinking or
talking about one particular thing
2.Brainstorm - a group discussion to think of ideas
3.All brawn and no brain – physically strong but not intelligent
4.Rack one's brains- try very hard to think of something or to
remember something
5.Beat one's brains out - try very hard to understand or think out
something dif cult; tire yourself out by thinking
6.Exercise one's brain - means to engage in activities or tasks that
challenge and stimulate the mind, such as solving puzzles, reading,
learning new skills, or participating in thought-provoking discussions
7.Brain drain- the situation in which large numbers of educated and
very skilled people leave their own country to live and work in
another one where pay and conditions are better
8.Have brain like a sieve - forget things very easily

EYE
1.Get an eyefull of- to see something very clearly or to see a lot or too
much of something
2.In the blink of an eye - very quickly
3.To have eyes like saucer- be looking at someone or something with
wide eyes, likely due to surprise or awe.
4.Apple of one’s eye- a person, usually a child, who is the apple of
your eye is one for whom you have great affection.
5.Easy on the eyes- pleasant to look at
6.Get a black eye means - means getting negative circumstances
because of mistakes and fault
7.Turn a blind eye- to ignore something that you know is wrong
8.To be in the public eye- to be famous and written about in
newspapers and magazines and seen on television

FOOT
1.Shoot yourself in the foot-to do something without intending to
which spoils a situation for yourself
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 2.Get cold feet - get nervous and change one’s mind about doing
something
3.Foot in mouth disease – say inappropriate/insensitive things at the
wrong time
4.Drag one's feet-think they are unnecessarily delaying a decision
which is important to you.
5.Think on your feet- solve problems quickly, improvise
6.One foot in the grave- describe someone who is very old or in very
poor health and is close to dying. It conveys the idea that the person
is so frail or sick that they are on the brink of death
7.Have two left- to ignore something that you know is wrong
8.Get one's feet wet - to become used to a new situation

HAND
1.Come in handy-to be useful for a particular purpose
2.Overplay one’s hand - fail to achieve success by having too much
con dence in one’s ability
3.Hands are full– very busy
4.Have a free hand- have permission to make your own decisions,
especially in a job
5.Get the upper hand (on someone)- to get into a stronger position
than someone else so that you are controlling a situation
6.Second hand -refers to an item that is not brand new and has been
previously owned or used by someone else
7. Have someone red-handed- to discover someone while they are
doing something bad or illegal
8.Hands down- easily

HEAD
1.Keep a cool head- to stay calm in a dif cult situation
2.Head and shoulders above - superior, better than
3.Fall head over heels-to fall down and tumble, especially in a clumsy
or violent fashion
4.Old head on young shoulders- this expression is used to refer to a
child or young person who thinks and expresses themselves like an
older more-experienced person
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 5.Laugh one's head off- to laugh long and hard, to burst out laughing
6.Keep one's head- to remain calm, composed, and rational in a
dif cult or stressful situation
7.Bury one's head in the sand- to refuse to think about unpleasant
facts, although they will have an in uence on your situation
8.To be at loggerheads - to strongly disagree with someone

LEG
1.Not to have a leg to stand on- to have no good arguments to
support your position
2.Legwork - long boring tasks that have to be done as part of a job
3.Sea legs – keep your balance and not feel sick on a moving ship
4.Pull (someone's) leg- tease them by telling them something that is
not true.
5.On (something's) last legs- something that is on its last legs is in
such bad condition that it will soon be unable to work as it should
6.Shake a leg- to hurry up or get moving quickly. It is often used
informally to encourage someone to start or speed up an action
7.Cost an arm and a leg- to be very expensive
8.Break a leg - used for wishing someone good luck, especially before
a performance

NOSE
1.Follow one’s nose-to trust your own feelings rather than obeying
rules or allowing yourself to be in uenced by other people's opinions
2.No skin off one’s nose - you don’t care if something happens or not
3.Keep one’s nose clean– stay out of trouble, behave
4.Have your nose in a book- totally concentrated on the book you are
reading
5.Have a nose for something- to have the ability to sense or nd
something, such as news, trouble, gossip, etc
6.Have one's nose in a book- to be deeply engrossed in reading a
book
7.Have a nose for smth- to be good at nding things of the stated
type
8.To be nosy - want to know about other people's private lives

TOUNG
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1.Speak with a forked tongue- to tell lies or say one thing and mean
something else
2.Mother tongue - one’s native language
3.Slip of the tongue– say something you didn’t mean to say
4.Bite sb’s tongue- stop yourself from saying what you really think
5.On the tip of my tongue- we can't remember a word or someone's
name, but we knew it for sure in the past
6.Tongue-lashing - when you scold someone severely, you give them
a tongue-lashing
7.To be silver-tongued- good at persuading people to do things
8.To put someone's nose out of joint - to offend or upset someone,
especially by getting something that that person wanted for himself or
herself