down in the dumps (W3)

Down in the Dumps. - Low-spirited.

17.12.2008 to be down in the dumps

"down in the dumps" or "down in the mouth" {adj. phr.}, {informal}: Sad or discouraged; gloomy; dejected. * /The boys were certainly down in the dumps when they heard that their team had lost./

Limericks on down in the dumps

...
Word expert Charles Funk says people have been feeling "down in the dumps" for more than 400 years. Sir Thomas More used the expression in 1534. He wrote: "Our poor family ... has fallen in such dumps."

Word experts do not agree what the word "dumps" means. One expert, John Ayto, says the word "dumps" probably comes from the Scandanavian countries. The languages of Denmark and Norway both have similar words. The words mean "to fall suddenly".
...

goodlingos.com
Ye Olde English Sayings

English sayings and customs that we have grown up with and taken for granted were explained during the web page author's tour of the Anne Hathaway house in Victoria, British Columbia.

THE CLINK | BLACK MARKET | SON OF A GUN | PATENT LEATHER | DONE TO A TURN | BEAT AROUND THE BUSH | CUT THROUGH THE RED TAPE | MINDING YOUR Ps & Qs | GETTING TANKED | | GETTING BOMBED | WET YOUR WHISTLE | TUMBLER & TIPSY | SAVED BY THE BELL | THRESHOLD | CHEW THE FAT | GETTING THE SHORT END OF THE STICK | BURNING THE CANDLE AT BOTH ENDS | NOT FIT TO HOLD A CANDLE TO | GETTING THE BUM'S RUSH | GIVING SOMEONE THE COLD SHOULDER | GETTING A SQUARE MEAL | FROG IN YOUR THROAT | UPPER CRUST | EATING HUMBLE PIE | TURN THE TABLES | CLEAN YOUR PLATE BEFORE YOU HAVE DESSERT | ROOM & BOARD | RULE OF THUMB | GETTING YOUR GOAT | SAVING FACE OR LOSING FACE | MIND YOUR OWN BEESWAX | STONE COLD | BABY'S HIGH CHAIR with holes in the seat (a.k.a. "drainage chair") | SPRING CLEANING | BON(e)FIRE | SLEEP TIGHT | GET OUT OF BED ON THE WRONG SIDE | TIE THE KNOT | HONEYMOON | REASON FOR CANOPY BEDS

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• Popular fallacies... - Many people know the origin of 'The Whole Nine Yards', 'The Full Monty' and other common phrases - or do they?
• Did you know... - how many phrases relate to parts of the human body? 20? 50? More like 350. - Phrases about the human body.
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• Animal adjectives - Don't know your bovine from your ovine? Check those, and lots more, animal adjectives
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• Quotes - ... or rather, quotations. A select collection.
• Biblical - Sayings that originate in or are inspired by the Bible.
• "Euphemisms" - Tell it like it is? Not when you use "euphemisms".
• Born in the USA - Phrases about, pretaining to, or related to the USA.
• Phrases from Shakespeare: Shakespeare added more phrases to the English language than anyone else. See this list.


(E1)(L1) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/index.html
Am 16.12.2007 waren folgende englische Redewendungen aufgelistet:

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/a.html
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush | A bunch of fives | A countenance more in sorrow than in anger | A Daniel come to judgement | A diamond in the rough | A diamond is forever | A drop in the bucket | A fate worse than death | A feather in one's cap | A fish out of water | A fly in the ointment | A fool's paradise | A foot in the door | A foregone conclusion | A friend in need is a friend indeed | A good man is hard to find | A hard man is good to find | A hiding to nothing - On | A house divided against itself cannot stand | A knight in shining armour | À la carte | À la mode | À legend in one's own lifetime | A leopard cannot change its spots | A little bird told me | A little knowledge is a dangerous thing | A load of cobblers | A man after my own heart | A ministering angel shall my sister be | A nation of shopkeepers | A no-brainer | A picture paints a thousand words | A place for everything and everything in its place | A plague on both your houses | A priori | A riddle wrapped up in an enigma | | A safe pair of hands | A sea change | A sledgehammer to crack a nut | A shot in the arm | A sight for sore eyes | A sorry sight | A thing of beauty is a joy forever | | A wolf in sheep's clothing | A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle | A word in your shell-like | A1 at Lloyds | Abandon all hope ye who enter here | Abide with me | About turn | Absence makes the heart grow fonder | Absent without leave | Absolute power corrupts absolutely | Accidentally on purpose | According to Hoyle | Ace in the hole | Achilles' heel | | Across the board | Act of God | Act the giddy goat | Action man | Adam's ale | Aga saga | Against the grain | Age before beauty | Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety | Agree to disagree | Aid and abet | Aide-mémoire | Air kiss | Air quotes | Al fresco | Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio | All agog | All at sea | All fingers and thumbs | All good things come to he who waits | All present and correct | All singing, all dancing | All that glitters is not gold | All things must pass | All you can eat | Alike as two peas in a pod | Alter ego | Amber nectar | An arm and a leg | An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth | An ill wind | An offer he can't refuse | An Oxford scholar | Angry young man | Ankle biter | Annus horribilis | Apple pie order | April fool | Arm candy - see ear candy | | Ars longa, vita brevis | Arty-farty | As XXX as YYY | As alike as two peas in a pod | As bald as a coot | As black as Newgate's knocker | As brown as a berry | As busy as a bee | As cold as any stone | | As dead as a doornail | As easy as pie | As fine as frog's hair | As fit as a butcher's dog | As fit as a fiddle | As good as gold | As good luck would have it | As happy as a clam | As happy as Larry | As keen as mustard | As mad as a hatter | As mad as a march hare | As old as Methuselah | As old as the hills | As pleased as Punch | As queer as a nine bob note | As straight as a die | As white as snow | Ashes to ashes dust to dust | (Ask not) for whom the bell tolls | (H)asta la vista, baby | At loggerheads | | At one's beck and call | Auld lang syne

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/b.html
Baby blues | Baby boomer | Baby father | Back of beyond - The | | Back the field | Back to basics | Back to the drawing board | Backroom boy | Bad books | Bad egg | Bad hair day | Badgered to death | Bag and baggage | Balance of power - The | Balance of trade - The | Bald as a coot | Ball and chain | Bandy words with | | Baptism of fire | Barking mad | Barking up the wrong tree | Basket case | Bated breath | Bats in the belfry | Batten down the hatches | Battle royal | Be afraid, be very afraid | Be still, my beating heart | Beef and reef | Beam ends - On your | Beast with two backs | Beat about the bush | Beat swords into ploughshares | Beat a hasty retreat | Beat the living daylights out of someone | Beauty is in the eye of the beholder | Beauty is only skin deep | Beck and call | Bed of roses | Bee in your bonnet | Beelzebub has a devil for a sideboard | Been there, done that | Beer and skittles | Beetle-browed | Before you can say Jack Robinson | Beg the question | Behind every great man there's a great woman | Behind the eight ball | Bell, book and candle | Below the belt | Below the salt | Belt and braces | Belt up | Best bib and tucker | Best laid schemes of mice and men - The | Bet your bottom dollar | Better half | Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all | Between a rock and a hard place | Between the Devil and the deep blue sea | Between two stools | Between you, me and the bed-post | Beware of Greeks bearing gifts | Beyond our ken | Biblical phrases | Big cheese - The | Big Easy - The | | Big wig | Bill Stickers is innocent | Billy-o - Like | Billy no mates | Binge drinking | Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush - A | Birds of a feather flock together | Bite the bullet | Bite the dust | Bitter end - The | Black as Newgate's knocker | Black-on-black | Black sheep of the family | Blast from the past | Blaze a trail | Blind leading the blind - The | Bling-bling | Blonde bombshell | Blood and thunder | Blood is thicker than water | Bloody-minded | Blot on the landscape | Blow a raspberry - see raspberry tart | Blow your mind | Blow your own trumpet | | Blue-plate special | Bob's your uncle | Bodice ripper | Body surfing | Bog standard | Bolt from the blue | Bone dry | Bone idle | Bone up on | Booby prize | Booby trap | Boogie-woogie | Booze cruise | Born again | | Born within the sound of Bow Bells | Boss eyed | Bottom-up | Bought the farm | Bowled a maiden over | Box and Cox | Box-seat - in the | Brand spanking new | Brass tacks - get down to | Bread of life - The | Break a leg | Break the ice | Bricks and clicks | Broad in the beam | Brown as a berry | Brownie points | Brummagem screwdriver | Bubble and squeak | Buck stops here - The | Buckle down | Bums on seats | Bun in the oven | Bunch of fives - A | Bunny boiler | Burn the candle at both ends | Burning the midnight oil | Bury the hatchet | Bury your head in the sand | Busy as a bee | Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth | By and large | By gum | By hook or by crook | By the board | By the book | By the short hairs | By the skin of your teeth

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/c.html
Call a spade a spade | Call of the wild - The | Camera cannot lie - The | Can't hold a candle to | Canteen culture | Carbon-copy | Carbon footprint | Card-sharp | Carey Street - On | Carpe diem | Cash on the nail | Cart before the horse - Put the | Carte blanche | (Ne'er) cast a clout till May be out | Catbird seat - In the | Cat's Cradle | Caught by the short hairs | Caught red-handed | Chaise lounge | Chalk and cheese | Channel surfing | Charley horse | Charm offensive | Cheap at half the price | Cherchez la femme | Chew the cud | Chick flick | Chinless wonder | Chip off the old block | Chip on his shoulder | Chit-chat | Chock-a-block | Chop and change | Chow down | Christmas box - A | Christmas card verses | Clear blue water | Climb on the bandwagon | Clod-hopper | Close, but no cigar | Close quarters | Close your eyes and think of England | Cloud cuckoo land | Clue - don't have a | Cobblers - A load of | Cock-sure | Cock a snook | Cock and bull story | Cockney rhyming slang | Cogito ergo sum | Coin a phrase | Cold as any stone | Cold comfort | Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey | Cold feet | Cold shoulder | Cold turkey | Collywobbles - The | Colour up | Come a cropper | Come on down | Come up trumps | Come what come may | Comes to the crunch - (When it) | (Coming in) on a wing and a prayer | Comparisons are odious | Compassion fatigue | Cook the books | Cop an attitude | | Cor blimey | Cordon bleu | Cost an arm and a leg | Countenance more in sorrow than in anger - A | Counting sheep | Course of true love never did run smooth - The | | Crapper - The | Crocodile tears | Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war | Curate's egg | Curiosity killed the cat | Curry favour | Customer is always right - The | Cut and run | Cut of your jib - The | Cut off your nose to spite your face | Cut the mustard | Cut to the chase

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/d.html
Dance attendance on | Daniel come to judgement | Darby and Joan | Dark horse | Darling buds of May | Date rape | Davy Jones' locker | Daylight robbery | Dead as a doornail | Dead cat bounce | Dead ringer | Designer stubble | Devil and the deep blue sea | Devil Incarnate - The | Devil take the hindmost - The | Devil to pay - The | Diamond in the rough | Diamond is forever - A | Die-hard | Die has been cast - The | Differently abled | Dirt bag | Doesn't know shit from Shinola | Dog days | Dog in the manger | Dog's bollocks | Dog's breakfast | Dog's dinner | Doldrums - in the | Done a runner | Done to a turn | Donkey's years | Don't call us, we'll call you | Don't change horses in midstream | Don't go there | Don't have a clue | Don't keep a dog and bark yourself | Don't let the bastards grind you down | Don't look a gift horse in the mouth | Don't try to teach your Grandma to suck eggs | Double Dutch | Double whammy | Down at heel | Down the pan | Down the tubes | Draw a blank | Dressed to the nines | Drink like a fish | Driving while black | Drop-dead gorgeous | Drop in the bucket - A | Dropping like flies | Drummed out of the army | Ducks and drakes | Dust up | Duvet day

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/e.html
Ear candy | Early bird catches the worm - The | Easy as pie | | Eat humble pie | Eat my hat | Eaten out of house and home | Economical with the truth | Egg on | Eighty six | Elementary my dear Watson | Elephant in the room | Elvis has left the building | End of story | Et tu, Brute | Ethnic cleansing | Even at the turning of the tide | Everybody out | Exceedingly well read | Exception that proves the rule - The | (Ex)cuse me while I kiss this guy | | Extraordinary rendition | Eye candy - see ear candy | Eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/f.html
Face that launched a thousand ships - The | Face the music | Fair and square | Fair play | Fait accompli | Faith will move mountains | Fall from grace | Fall guy | Fall off the back of a lorry | Fall on your sword | Famous for fifteen minutes | Fancy free | Fancy pants | Far be it from me | Far from the madding crowd | Farmers | Fashion victim | Fast and loose | (The) fat of the land | Fate worse than death - A | Feather in one's cap - A | Feeding frenzy | Fellow traveller | Female of the species is more deadly then the male - The | Fiddling while Rome burns | Fie, foh, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman | Field day | Fifteen minutes of fame | Fifth column | Fight the good fight | Filthy rich | Fine as frog's hair | Finger lickin good | Fingers and thumbs | First water | First World | Fish or cut bait | Fish out of water - A | Fit as a butcher's dog | Fit as a fiddle | Flash in the pan | Flat out | Flavor of the month | Flesh and blood | Floozie in the jacuzzi - The | Flotsam and jetsam | | Fly in the ointment | Fly off the handle | Fly on the wall | Foam at the mouth | Fools' gold | Fool's paradise - A | Foot in the door - A | For crying out loud | For ever and a day | For every thing there is a season | For keeps | For the birds | For whom the bell tolls | Forbidden fruit | Foregone conclusion | Forgive them for they know not what they do | Foul play | Four by two | Four corners of the earth | Frailty, thy name is woman | French phrases | Friday afternoon car | Friend in need is a friend indeed - A | Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears | Frog in the throat - A | Frog's hair- as fine as | From sea to shining sea | From strength to strength | Fruits of your loins | Fuddy-duddy | Full Monty - The | Full of piss and vinegar | Full tilt | Funny farm | Fuzzy wuzzy

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/g.html
Gad zooks (or gadzooks) | Game is afoot - The | Game is up - The | Game of two halves | Gee whiz | Generation X | Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration | Get down to brass tacks | Get off on the wrong foot | Get over it | Get the sack | Get thee behind me Satan | Get underway | Get used to it | Get your dander up | Get your goat | Giddy aunt | Giddy goat | Gild the lily | Ginned up | Ginger | Ginger up | Give a wide berth | Give up the ghost | Go and boil your head | Go berserk | Go by the board | Go by the book | Go-faster | Go haywire | Go like the clappers | Go off at half cock | Go out on a limb | Go postal | Go over like a lead balloon | Going to hell in a handbasket | Go pound sand | Go to the mattresses | God is dead | God rot them | Godfrey Daniel | GOLF - Gentlemen only, ladies forbidden | Gone Dolally | Gone for a burton | Good as gold | Good in parts | Good man is hard to find - A | Good men and true | Good riddance | Good Samaritan | Goody two-shoes | Gordon Bennett | Got my mojo working | (Take with a) grain of salt | Grand slam | Granny dumping | Grass up | Great unwashed - the | Green eyed monster | Gregory Peck | Grinning like a Cheshire cat | Gry - Words ending in | Gung ho

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/h.html
Hairy eyeball | Halcyon days | Half inch | Handbags at ten paces | Hands down | Hanky-panky | Hand over fist | Happy as a clam | Happy as Larry | Happy clappy | Happy slapping | Hard and fast | Hard cheese | Hard man is good to find - A | Hark, hark! the lark at heaven's gate sings | Harp on | Hasta la vista, baby | Have a Captain Cook | Have an axe to grind | Haven't got a clue | He who can, does; he who cannot, teaches | He will give the Devil his due | Head over heels | Heads up | Hear hear | Heard it through the grapevine | Heart's content | Heavens to Betsy | Heavens to Murgatroyd | Heavy metal | Heebie-jeebies - The | Hedge your bets | Hell in a handbasket | Hell has no fury like a woman scorned | Hell or high water | Helter-skelter | Here lies one whose name is writ in water | Het up | Hiding to nothing - On a | High, wide and handsome | High and dry | High five | High on the hog | High time | Hissy fit | History is bunk | Hit the ground running | Hit the hay | Hobson's choice | Hocus pocus | Hoi polloi | Hoist by your own petard | Hoity-toity | (Can't) hold a candle to | Hold your horses | Hooray Henry | Horse and cart | Horse feathers | Horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse - A | Horse's mouth - straight from the | Hot off the press | Hot on the heels | House divided against itself cannot stand - A | Houston, we have a problem | How are the mighty fallen | How now brown cow? | How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child | Hugger-mugger | Hung, drawn and quartered | Hunky-dory | Hush puppies

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/i.html
I bear a charmed life | I have not slept one wink | I have nothing to declare but my genius | I have nothing to offer but blood toil tears and sweat | I haven't got a clue | I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips | I spy with my little eye | I will wear my heart upon my sleeve | Identity theft | If I had my druthers | If music be the food of love, play on | If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen | Ill wind | I'll go to the foot of our stairs | I'm stumped | In a pickle | In a quandary | In a trice | In an interesting condition | In like Flynn | In my mind's eye | In someone's bad books | In stitches | In the bag | In the box-seat | In the buff | In the cart | In the catbird seat | In the club | In the doldrums | In the limelight | In the offing | In the pink | In the red | In the twinkling of an eye | In trouble | In your face | Indian giver | Indian summer | Iron hoof | Is the Pope Catholic? | Is the Pope Polish? | Is this a dagger which I see before me? | It came like a bolt from the blue | It is meat and drink to me | It never rains but it pours | It's all grist to the mill | It's better to give than to receive | It's better to light a candle than curse the darkness | It's that man again | Ivory tower

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/j.html
Jack Palancing | Jack Robinson - Before you can say | Jam tomorrow | Jerry built | Jimmy Horner | Jimmy Riddle | Jobs for the boys | Join the colours | Joined at the hip | Johnny on the spot | Jot or tittle | Jump on the bandwagon | Jump the gun | Jump the shark | Just in time

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/k.html
Kangaroo court | Katy bar the door | Keep a wide berth | Keen as mustard | Keep body and soul together | Keep schtum | Keep a stiff upper lip | Keep the ball rolling | Keep up with the Joneses | Keep your chin up | Keep your nose to the grindstone | Keep your pecker up | Keep your powder dry | Keepy-uppy | Khyber pass | Kick the bucket | Kick your heels | Kilroy was here | King James' Version of the Bible | Kiss and tell | Kiss me Hardy | (The whole) kit and caboodle | Knee-jerk reaction | Knick-knack | Knight in shining armour | Knock back | Knock off | Knock on wood | | Know your onions | Know which way the wind blows | Knuckle down | Knuckle under

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/l.html
La-di-da | La dolce vita | Labour of love | Lager frenzy | Laid out in lavender | Lamb to the slaughter | Lame duck | Lardy-dardy | Lark about | Last but not least | Last straw - The | Latin Phrases | Laugh like a drain | Laughing-stock | Lay it on with a trowel | Lead balloon - Go over like a | Lead-pipe cinch | Learn the ropes | Left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing | Left in the lurch | Legend in one's own lifetime | Leopard cannot change its spots - A | Let not the sun go down on your wrath | Let a thousand flowers bloom | Let the cat out of the bag | Let them eat cake | Let there be light | Let your hair down | Level playing field | Lick and a promise | Lick into shape | Lickety-split | | Life in the 1500s - folk etymologies | Life of Riley | Life's not all beer and skittles | Life's too short | Like a chicken with its head cut off | Like a moth to a flame | Like being savaged by a dead sheep | Like billy-o | Like the clappers | Like the Dickens | Like two peas in a pod | Little bird told me - A | Little knowledge is a dangerous thing - A | Lions led by donkeys | Live long and prosper | Living daylights | Living off the fat of the land | Living on borrowed time | | Load of cobblers | Load of codswallop | Loaf of bread | Local derby | Lock stock and barrel | Long in the tooth | Loose cannon | Loose lips sink ships | Lose face | Lose your marbles | Loved-up | Love that dare not speak its name - The

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/m.html
Mad as a hatter | Mad as a march hare | Magical realism | Main chance | Make a bee-line for | Make a virtue of necessity | Make haste | Make him an offer he can't refuse | Make my day | Make no bones about | Make your hair stand on end | Mal de mer | Man after my own heart - A | Man does not live by bread alone | Man's inhumanity to man | Many are called but few are chosen | Many happy returns | Marital aid | Market forces | Marry in haste, repent at leisure | May you live in interesting times | McCoy - The real | Mea culpa | Meat and drink | Meat and two veg. | Meet your Waterloo | Men in suits | Mend fences | Ménage à trois | Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water | Mexican wave | Mickey Finn | Middle of the road | Might and main | (The pen is) mightier than the sword | | Milk of human kindness | Minced oaths | Mind your p's and q's | Ministering angel shall my sister be - A | Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows | Misquotations | Moaning Minnie | Mondegreens | Montezuma's Revenge | Monty - The full | Moot point | Morbid obesity | More fool you | More honoured in the breach than in the observance | Morning person | Mother country | Mouth-watering | Moveable feast | Moving finger writes - The | Moving the goalposts | Much Ado about Nothing | Much of a muchness | Mud - your name is | Multitude of sins | Mumbo jumbo | Mum's the word | Music has charms to soothe the savage breast | Mutt's nuts - The | Mutt and Jeff | My bad | My better half | My cup runneth over | My giddy aunt | My husband and I | My mind's eye | My old china | My old Dutch |

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/n.html
Nail your colours to the mast | Namby-pamby | Name and shame | Name is mud | Nasty, brutish and short | Nation of shopkeepers - A | Nautical phrases | Ne'er cast a clout till May be out | Needs must | Neither a borrower nor a lender be | | Neither here nor there | Nest-egg | Never give a sucker an even break | Never knowingly undersold | Never-never land | Never the twain shall meet | New kid on the block | Nine days' wonder | Nip and tuck | Nip in the bud | No-brainer | No dice | No holds barred | No man is an island | No more cakes and ale? | No names: no pack-drill | | No room to swing a cat | No way, Jose | Not playing with a full deck | Not tonight Josephine | Not worth a plugged nickel | Not worth the candle | Nothing is certain but death and taxes | Nothing succeeds like success | Now is the winter of our discontent | Nul points

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/o.html
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? | O ye, of little faith | Odds bodkins | Off the record | Off with his head | Oh, they have slain the Earl of Moray and Lady Mondegreen | Okey-dokey | Old as Methuselah | Old as the hills | Old lang syne - see auld lang syne | On a hiding to nothing | On a wing and a prayer | On Carey Street | On queer street | On the bubble | On the dole | On the QT | On the shoulders of giants | On the wagon | On the warpath | On with the motley | On your beam ends | On your tod | | Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more | One-hit wonder | One for the road | One over the eight | One sandwich short of a picnic | One small step for man | One stop shop | One's heart's content | Open season | (The) order of the boot | Out of sight, out of mind | Out of sorts | Out of the jaws of death | Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings | Over a barrel | Over the moon | Over the top | Overpaid, oversexed, and over here | Oxo cube

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/p.html
Paddle your own canoe | Paint the town red | Paper tiger | Pass the buck | P.D.Q. - pretty damn quick | Pearls before swine | Pears for your heirs | Peeping Tom | Peg out | Pell-mell | (The) pen is mightier than the sword | (The) penny drops | Pester power | Peter out | Physician heal thyself | Pick 'n' mix | Picture paints a thousand words - A | Picture-perfect | Pie - as easy as | Pie in the sky | Piece of cake | Piece of piss | Pig in a poke | Pigeon-chested | Pig's ear | Pig and whistle | Pin money | (Take with a) pinch of salt | Pipe down | Pipe dream | Piping hot | Place for everything and everything in its place - A | Plague on both your houses - A | Plain sailing | Plates of meat | Play by ear | Play ducks and drakes | Play fast and loose | Play it again Sam | Play the giddy goat | Play the race card | Pleased as Punch | Plugged nickel | Point Percy at the porcelain | Politically correct | Point to point | Pommy bashing | Pond life | Pony and trap | Pop goes the weasel | Pork pies | POSH - Port out, starboard home | Pot calling the kettle black - The | Pound of flesh | Pour oil on troubled waters | Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely | Power dressing | Powers that be - The | Praying at the porcelain altar | Preaching to the choir | Press into service | Prick up your ears | Prime time | Proof of the pudding is in the eating - The | Pull out all the stops | Pull the wool over your eyes | Pull up stakes | | Punch above one's weight | Push the boat out | Push the envelope | Put a damper on | Put a sock in it | Put a spanner in the works | Put on the wooden overcoat | Put on your thinking cap | Put paid to | Put the cart before the horse | Put the mockers on | Put the wood in the hole | Put up your dukes | Put your back up | Put your best foot forward | Put your nose out of joint |

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/q.html
Quality time | Queer as a nine bob note | Queer Street | Queer the pitch | Quicker than lager turns to piss | Quid pro quo | Quotations

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/r.html
Rabbit and pork | Rack and ruin | Rack your brains | Rag, tag and bobtail | Raining cats and dogs | Raining stair-rods | Raise Cain | Raspberry tart | Raze to the ground | Rat arsed | Read between the lines | Read the riot act | Real McCoy | Red-handed (caught) | | Red in tooth and claw | Red letter day | Red sky at night ... | Red tape | Reduplication | Religion is the opium of the people | Rhyme nor reason | Rhyming slang | Richard of York gave battle in vain | Richard the Third | Riddle wrapped up in an enigma - A | Riding shotgun | Ring a ring o'roses, a pocketfull of posies, atishoo, atishoo, all fall down | Ring down the curtain | Ring-fencing | Ring the changes | Rinky-dink | Rise and shine | Road less travelled - The | Road apples | Road rage | | Rose by any other name would smell as sweet - A | | Rosie Lea | Rough diamond | Route one | Rule of thumb | Rum do | Run a mile | Run amok | Run of the mill | Run out of steam | Run the gauntlet

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/s.html
Sacred cow | Safe pair of hands - A | Safe sex | San fairy Ann | Sandwich short of a picnic | Save face | Saved by the bell | Savoir faire | Say goodnight Gracie | Scarper | Scot free | Scott (Sir Walter - phrases coined by) | Screw your courage to the sticking place | 'Scuse me while I kiss this guy | Sea change | Sealed with a loving kiss | Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness | http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/402100.htmlSee red | Seen better days | Send packing | Senior citizen | Sent to Coventry | Separate the sheep from the goats | Set your teeth on edge | Sex and shopping | Seven-year itch | Sexton Blake | Shebang - The whole | Shaggy dog story | Shake a leg | Shakespeare (phrases and sayings of) | Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? | Shanks' mare/shanks' pony | Share and share alike | Shilly-shally | Ship shape and Bristol fashion | Shit for brains | | Shot across the bows | Shot heard 'round the world - The | Shot in the arm | Shot in the dark | Shoot through | Short shrift | Show a leg - see shake a leg | Show your mettle | Shuffle off this mortal coil | Shut your cake-hole | Sick puppy (A) | Sight for sore eyes (A) | Sir Walter Scott (phrases coined by) | Silence is golden | Skid row | Skin and blister | (By the) skin of your teeth | (The) sky's the limit | Sledgehammer to crack a nut - A | Sleep like a top | Sleep tight | Sloane Ranger | Smart casual | Smoke and mirrors | So sue me | Soap-dodger | Sold down the river | Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em | Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men, have mediocrity thrust upon them | Something for the weekend sir? | Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue | Son of a gun | Sorry sight | Sound bite | Sour grapes | Space, the final frontier | Spare the rod and spoil the child | Speak of the Devil | Speak softly and carry a big stick | Special relationship | Spelling-bee | Spend a penny | | Spill the beans | Spin doctor | Spruce-up | Square meal | Stand and deliver | Stand up guy | Standing on the shoulders of giants | Star-crossed lovers | Start from scratch | Stark, raving mad | Steal a march | Steal one's thunder | Sticky wicket | Stiff upper lip | | Stone the crows | Stone's throw | Stony-hearted | Stool pigeon | Straight as a die | Straight from the horse's mouth | Strain at the leash | Stranger danger | Stuff and nonsense | Stump up | Such is life | Surf and turf | Surfing the Net/surfing the Internet/surfing the Web | Survival of the fittest | Suspension of disbelief | Swan song | Sweet Fanny Adams

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/t.html
Tail wagging the dog - The | Take a back seat | Take down a peg or two | Take the bit between your teeth | Take the cake | Take the Mickey | Take umbrage | Take with a grain of salt | Taken aback | Talk of the Devil | Talk to the hand | Talk through one's hat | | Tea leaf | Technicolor yawn | Tell it to the marines | Test your mettle - see show your mettle | That's all folks! | That's one small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind | The ants are my friends, they're blowing in the wind | The back of beyond | The balance of power | The balance of trade | The best laid schemes of mice and men | The Big Easy | The bitter end | The blind leading the blind | The bread of life | The buck stops here | The call of the wild | The camera cannot lie | The collywobbles | The course of true love never did run smooth | | The Crapper | The customer is always right | The cut of your jib | The Devil Incarnate | The Devil take the hindmost | The Devil to pay | The die has been cast | The early bird catches the worm | The elephant in the room | The exception which proves the rule | The face that launched a thousand ships | The fat of the land | The female of the species is more deadly then the male | The floozie in the jacuzzi | The fly in the ointment | The full monty | The game is afoot | The game is up | The great unwashed | The hairy eyeball | The heebie-jeebies | The last straw | The living daylights | The love that dare not speak its name | The moving finger writes | The mutt's nuts | The pen is mightier than the sword | The pot calling the kettle black | The powers that be | The proof of the pudding is in the eating | The road less travelled | The seven-year itch | The shot heard 'round the world | The sky's the limit | The tail wagging the dog | The third degree | The triumph of hope over experience | The whole kit and caboodle | The whole nine yards | The whole shebang | The writing is on the wall | The year dot | The Yellow Peril | There are three kinds of lies... | There is no alternative | There's an R in the month | Thing of beauty is a joy forever - A | Things that go bump in the night | Thinking cap | Third degree - The | Third time lucky | Thorn in the flesh | Thou shalt not kill | Though this be madness, yet there is method in it | Three score and ten | Three sheets to the wind | Three strikes and you are out | Throw in the towel | Thumbs up | Thus far into the bowels of the land | Ticked off | Tickle the ivories | Tickled pink | Tie the knot | Till the cows come home | Time and tide wait for no man | | Tilting at windmills | Titfer | Tits up | To a T | To be or not to be, that is the question | To boldly go where no man has gone before | To boot | To cast the first stone | To gild refined gold, to paint the lily | To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub | To the manner born | To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive | Toe the line | Toe-curling | Tomorrow is another day | Tongue in cheek | Too much of a good thing | Top dog | Top notch | Touchy-feely | Tout de suite | Tower of strength | Train surfing | Trick or treat | Trip the light fantastic | Trouble and strife | True blue | Truth will out | Tuckered out | Turn a blind eye | Turn the tables | Turn up trumps | Twelve good men and true | Twenty three skidoo | Twenty four seven | Two cents worth | Two peas in a pod

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/uv.html
underway | Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown | (The great) unwashed | (The) unkindest cut of all | Up a blind alley | Up a gum tree | Up the apples and pears | Up the duff | Up to snuff | Upset the apple-cart | Urban myth | Using a sledgehammer to crack a nut | Van surfing | Vanish into thin air | Veg out | Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things | Vice versa | Vicious circle | Vis-a-vis | Vorsprung Durch Technik

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/w.html
Walk the plank | Walter Scott (phrases coined by) | | We are a grandmother | We are not amused | We few, we happy few, we band of brothers | We have seen better days | We know where you live | Wear the trousers | Wear your heart on your sleeve | Weasel words | Wee-wee | Well heeled | Well read | Wet behind the ears | What a piece of work is man | What are you like? | What God has joined together let no man put asunder | What part of no don't you understand? | What you see is what you get - wysiwyg | What's not to like? | What's up Doc? | When it comes to the crunch | When the shit hits the fan | Where there's muck there's brass | Whet your appetite | While you live, tell truth and shame the Devil! | Whistle and flute | White as snow | White bread | Whipping boy | White elephant | Whole kit and caboodle - The | Whole nine yards - The | Whole shebang - The | Wide berth - Keep a | Wild and woolly | Wild goose chase | Willy nilly | Win hands down | Win one for the Gipper | (On a) wing and a prayer | Wing it | Wish you were here | Woe is me | Wolf in sheep's clothing | Woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle - A | Women and children first | Word association football | Word for word | Word in your shell-like - A | Words ending in gry | Writing is on the wall - The

(E?)(L?) http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/xyz.html
Yada yada | Year dot - The | Yellow-belly | Yellow Peril | You are what you eat | You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink | You can lead a whore to culture but you can't make her think | You can't get blood out of a stone | You look as if you've been dragged through a hedge backwards | You'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent | Your money or your life | Your name is mud | You've never had it so good | Zig-zag

tinyonline.co.uk
Expressions & Sayings

• A
• A1 | Abandon hope, all ye who enter here | Absence makes the heart grow fonder | According to Cocker | According to Gunter | According to Hoyle | Ace up one's sleeve | Achilles' heel/tendon | Across the board | Action stations | Adam's ale | Adam's apple | Add insult to injury | Ad hoc | Ad-lib | Affluent society, the | After due consideration | Against the grain | Age before beauty | Agony column | Aladdin's cave | Albatross round one's neck | Alive and kicking | All at sea | All good things come to an end | All hell broke loose | All in a day's work | All my eye (and Betty Martin) | All over bar the shouting | All-singing, all-dancing | All that glitters is not gold | All things to all men | All to pot/Gone to pot | Alma mater | Alpha and omega | Also-ran | Am I my brother's keeper? | American dream, the | Angry young man | Annus mirabilis | Answer to a maiden's prayer | | Anything for a quiet life | Apple of discord | Apple of one's eye | Apple-pie bed | Apple-pie order | Argus-eyed | Armed to the teeth | | Artful dodger | As every schoolboy knows | As old as Methuselah | As rich as Croesus | As sure as eggs is eggs | As the actress said to the bishop | As the bell clinks, so the fool thinks | As the crow flies | Asked/given no quarter | At a loose end | At death's door | At full blast | At loggerheads | | At the drop of a hat | At the eleventh hour | At the eleventh hour | At the end of one's tether | Augur well/ill | Aunt Sally | Axe to grind...
• B
• Back number | Back of beyond, the | Back to basics | Back to the drawing board | Back to the wall (have one's) | Backroom boys | Bad books | Badger, to | Bad hair day | Bag and baggage | Bald as a coot | Ball is in one's court, the | Balloon goes up | Ballpark figure | Balls to the wall | Banana republic | Bandy words, to | Bandy-legged | Bank on | Baptism of fire | Bark up the wrong tree | Bats in the belfry | Battle-axe | Battle royal | Be-all and end-all | Bean-feast | Bear garden | Beard the lion in his own den | Beat a (hasty) retreat | Beat about the bush | Beat hollow | Beat the rap | Beauty and the beast | Beaver away | Beck and call, at one's | Bed of roses | Bee in one's bonnet | Before the flood | Beggar description, belief, etc. | Beggars can't be choosers | Believe that all one's geese are swans | Bells and whistles | Bell the cat | Below the belt | Below the salt | Bend over backwards | Best bib and tucker | Best laid plans of mice and men | Best of British luck | Between a rock and a hard place | Between the devil and the deep blue sea | Between you, me and the gatepost | Beware Greeks bearing gifts | | Big cheese | Bigger they are, the harder they fall, the | Birds of a feather | Bite off more than one can chew | Bite the bullet | Bite the dust | Bite the hand that feeds one | Bite the hand that feeds one | Black hole of Calcutta | | Black sheep | Blaze a trail | Blaze of glory | Blind leading the blind | Blood is thicker than water | Bloody but unbowed | Blot one's copybook | Blow a raspberry | Blow hot and cold | Blow one's own trumpet | | Blows great guns | Blue-blooded | Blue-chip | Blue Ribbon | Blue-rinse brigade, the | Bob's your uncle | Bold as brass | Bolt from the blue | Bolt upright | Bone of contention | Bone up on | Boot is on the other foot, the | Born-again Christian | Born on the wrong side of the blanket | | Bottom line | Bottomless pit | Bounden duty | Box and cox | Brand name | Brand new | Brand spanking new | Brass neck | Brave new world | Bread and circuses | Break a leg | Break one's duck | Break the bank | Break the ice | Breathe/Preach fire and brimstone | Bridge too far | Bring home the bacon | Bring to heel | Broad in the beam | Broken reed | Brownie points | Buck stops here, the | Buck the system | Bucket shop | Buggin's turn | | Bum's rush | Bun-fight | Burn one's boats/bridges | Burn the candle at both ends | Burn the midnight oil | Bury the hatchet | Busman's holiday | Buy the farm | By a long chalk | By a long shot | By and by | By and large | By hook or by crook | By jingo | By Jove | By the seat of one's pants | By the skin of one's teeth...
• C
• Cack-handed | Caesar's wife must be above suspicion | Call a spade a spade | Call off all bets | Call one's bluff | Camp-follower | Carry the can | Carte blanche | Cash on the nail | Cast aspersions | Cast pearls before swine | Cast the first stone | Cat among the pigeons | Cat's-paw | Cat's pyjamas | Cat's whiskers | Catch red-handed | Catch out | Caviare to the general | Century of the common man, the | C'est la guerre | Chalk and cheese (different as) | Chalk up | Chance one's arm | Change/Swap horses in midstream | Chapter and verse | Charity begins at home | Chattering classes, the | Cheap at half the price | Cheap jack | Cheek by jowl | Cheesed off | Chew the fat | Chew the rag | Chickens will come home to roost, one's | Chinese fire drill | Chip in | Chip off the old block | Chip on one's shoulder | Chock-a-block/Chock full | Chop and change | Circle the wagons | Clapped out | Clean as a whistle | Clean bill of health | Clean slate | Clean sweep | Clean the Augean stables | Cleanliness is next to godliness | Clear the decks (for action) | Clip one's wings | Cloak-and-dagger | Clockwork orange | Close one's eyes and think of England | Cloud-cuckoo-land | Clutch at straws | Coast is clear, the | Cobbler should stick to his last, the | Cock-a-hoop | Cock a snook at (someone) | Cock and bull story | Cold as charity | Cold-blooded | Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey | Cold feet | Cold shoulder | Cold turkey | Come a cropper | Come hell or high water | Come home to roost | Come out of one's shell | Come up to scratch | | Come within an ace of | Confusion worse confounded | Cook one's goose | | Copybook | Corridors of power | Cost an arm and a leg | | Could sleep on a clothes line | Counsel of perfection | Course of true love never did run smooth, the | Cover a multitude of sins | Cover ones' ass | | Credibility gap | Criss-cross | Crocodile tears | Cross one has to bear, the | Cross the Rubicon | Cry all the way to the bank | Cry havoc | Cry wolf | Cuckoo in the nest | Cup that cheers, the | Curate's egg, like the | Curry favour | Curtain lecture | Customer is always right, the | Cut and dried | Cut and run | Cut and thrust | Cut no ice | Cut the mustard | Cut to the chase | Cut to the quick...
• D
• Damn with faint praise | Dance attendance on | Daniel come to judgement, a | Daniel in the lion's den | Darby and Joan | Dark horse | David and Goliath | Davy Jones's locker | Day of Judgement | Days are numbered, one's | Dead as a door-nail | Dead duck | Dead in the water | Dead ringer | Dead Sea fruit | Dead to the world | Dear-John letter | Derring-do | Devil to pay, the | Devil's advocate | Die-hard | Die is cast, the | Discretion is the better part of valour | Dish one's chances | Divide and rule | Do as you would be done by | Dog-days | Dog in the manger | Donkey's years | Don't look a gift-horse in the mouth | Doolally tap | Doss-house | Dot the i's and cross the t's | Double Dutch | Double quick/At the double | Double whammy | Doubting Thomas | Down at heel | Draw a blank | Draw one's horns in | Draw the line | Draw the short straw | Dreaming spires | Dressed to the nines | Drive a coach and horses through | Drop a brick | Drum up | Dunkirk spirit | Dutch courage | Dutch treat | Dutch uncle | Dyed-in-the-wool...
• E
• Eager beaver | Eagle-eyed | Ear to the ground | Ears are burning, one's | | Eat humble pie | Eat your heart out | Egg on | Elephant never forgets, an | Eleventh hour | Elvis has left the building | Elysium/Elysian Fields | =C9minence grise | Emperor's new clothes, the | Englishman's home is his castle, an | Enter the lion's den | Ethnic cleansing | Every cloud has a silver lining | Every jot at tittle | Every man jack | Exception proves the rule, the | Eye for an eye, an...
• F
• Face the music | Fag-end | Fagged out | Fair and square | Fair game | Fair to middling | Fall foul of | Fall from grace | Fall guy | Fall of man | Fall on deaf ears | Fall on stony ground | Far cry from, a | Fat is in the fire, the | Feather in one's cap | Feather one's nest | Feeding frenzy | Feet of clay | Ferret (out) | Few and far between | Fiddle while Rome burns | Field-day | Fifth column | Fight like Kilkenny cats | Fill/Fit the bill | Filthy lucre | Fingers crossed | Firing on all cylinders | First-rate | Fit as a fiddle | Flavour of the month | Flea-bite | | Flea in one's ear, (get) a | Flog a dead horse | Flotsam and jetsam | Flutter the dovecotes | Fly a kite | Fly-by-night | Fly in the face of | Fly in the ointment | Fly off the handle | Flying saucer | Fool's gold | Fool's paradise | Fools rush in where angels fear to tread | Foot the bill | | For the high jump | Forbidden fruit | Foregone conclusion | Fork out/up | Forlorn hope | Forty winks | Four-flusher | Fourth Estate, the | Fred Karno's Army | French leave | Fresh as a daisy | Fresh fields | Freudian slip | Friendly fire | From pillar to post | From the sublime to the ridiculous | Full Monty | Full of beans...
• G
• Game for | Game is up, the | Game not worth the candle, a | Game plan | Garbage in garbage out | Get down to brass tacks | | Get it in the neck | Get one's back up | Get one's dander up | Get one's goat | Get out of bed on the wrong side | Get/Give the bird | Get the bit between one's teeth | Get the sack... | Gift of the gab | Gild the lily | Gilt-edged | Gird up one's loins | Give a dog a bad name | Give a wide berth | Give one a break | Give one's right arm for | Give the thumbs up/down | Give up the ghost | Gives one the willies | Gnashing of teeth | Go AWOL | Go back to the drawing-board | Go bald-headed | Go berserk | Go by the board | Go Dutch | Go for broke | Go great guns | Go haywire | Go off half-cocked | Go/Put through the hoop | Go to hell in a handbasket | Go to the wall | Go west | Golden age | Golden calf | Gone for a Burton | Gone to pot | Gone to the dogs | Good books | Good/Bad/Lucky break | Good innings (have a) | Good riddance to bad rubbish | Good Samaritan | Good wine needs no bush | Goody two-shoes | Gordian knot | Gordon Bennett | Grand Guignol | Grand Poo-Bah, the | Grasp the nettle | Grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, the | Grass roots, the | Grass widow | Gravy train | Great I am, the | Great Scott! | Great unwashed, the | Great white hope | Green-eyed monster | Green with envy | Grin like a Cheshire cat | Grind the faces of the poor | Grist to the mill | Grub Street | Guinea-pig | Gung-ho...
• H
• Hack-work | Hack writer | Hail-fellow-well-met | Hail from | Hair of the dog | Hair-raising | Halcyon days | Half-seas-over | Ham actor | | Hammer and tongs | Hand over fist | Hang by a thread | Hang in the balance | Hang fire | Hang on like/for grim death | Hang out | Hangdog look | Hanged, drawn and quartered | Hanky-panky | Happy as a sandboy | Happy as Larry | Hard and fast | Hard-boiled | Hard lines | Hard up | Hark back (to) | Hat trick | Hatchet job | Hatchet man | Haul over the coals | Have a bone to pick with someone | Have a few tricks up one's sleeve | Have one's chips | Have one's work cut out for one | Have the ball at one's feet | He who laughs last laughs longest | He who pays the piper calls the tune | Head in the sand | Head on a platter/plate | Head over heels | Heap coals of fire (on someone's head) | Heath Robinson | Hell for leather | Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned | Hewers of wood (and drawers of water) | Hide a multitude of sins | Hide one's light under a bushel | High and dry | High dudgeon | High jinks | Hit and run | Hit/knock for six | Hitch one's wagon to a star | Hobson's choice | Hocus-pocus | Hoi polloi | Hoist by one's own petard | Hold forth | Hold the fort | Hold the purse-strings | Holier-than-thou | Holy Grail | Holy of holies, the | Home straight/stretch | Home sweet home | Hook, line and sinker, (swallow) | Hop the twig | Hope springs eternal (in the human breast) | How the other half lives | Hue and cry | Hydra-headed...
• I
• If the cap fits | Idol with feet of clay | Ignorance is bliss | Ill-gotten gains | Ill-starred | In a cleft stick | In a nutshell | In a pickle | In bad odour | In clink | In cold blood | In extremis | In fine fettle | In like Flynn | In limbo | | In one's black books | In one's heart of heart | In one's true colours | In purdah | In the bag | In the cart | In the doghouse | In the doldrums | In the lap of the gods | In the limelight | In the melting pot | In the offing | In the pink | In the pipeline | In the red | In the swim | In the twinkling of an eye | Indian giver | Indian Summer | Iron curtain | Iron fist/hand in the velvet glove | It takes all sorts to make a world | It's all Greek to me | It's an ill wind | It's not over until the fat lady sings | Ivory tower...
• J
• Jack of all trades | Jam today | Janus-like | Jekyll and Hyde | Jerry-built | Job's comforter | John Bull | John Doe | Journey's end | Jump on the bandwagon | Jump the gun...
• K
• Kangaroo court | Keep at bay | Keep mum | Keep one's pecker up | Keep one's powder dry | Keep posted | Keep the wolf from the door | Keep up with the Joneses | Keep your shirt on | Kick against the pricks | Kick one's heels | Kick over the traces | Kick the bucket | Kick up a shindy | Kill the fatted calf | Kill the goose that lays the golden egg | Kilroy was here | Kingdom come | Kiss of death | Kiss the Blarney Stone | | Knight in shining armour | Knock into a cocked hat | Knock spots off | Knock the gilt off the gingerbread | Know how many beans make five | Know one's beans | Know/Learn the ropes | Knuckle under/down | Kowtow to...
• L
• La-di-da | Lady Bountiful | Laissez-faire | Lamb to the slaughter | Lame duck | Land of Nod | Lark (about) | Last ditch (effort) | Last laugh, (the) | Last/Final straw | Laugh up one's sleeve | Law is an ass, the | Law of the jungle | Law unto oneself | Lay it on with a trowel | Lead by the nose | Lead on, Macduff | Lead up the garden path | Leading question | Leap in the dark | Leave in the lurch | Leave no stone unturned | Leopard can't change his spots, a | Let the cat out of the bag | Let the dead bury their dead | Level best | Lick and a promise | Lick into shape | Like a cat on hot bricks | Like a house on fire | Like billy-o(h)/billio | Like Caesar's wife | Like the Marie Céleste | Like Topsy | Lily-livered | Lion's share | Lip service | Lips are sealed, one's | Little bird told me, a | Live off the fat of the land | Live the life of Riley | Live to fight another day | Load of cobblers, a | Load of codswallop, a | Load the dice against (someone) | Lock, stock and barrel | Long in the tooth | Long shot | Long time no see | Look as though one has stepped out of a bandbox | Look to one's laurels | Loose cannon | Lose one's bottle | Lose one's rag | Lotus-eater | Lynch law...
• M
• Mad as a hatter | Mad as a March hare | Maddening crowd | Made of sterner stuff | Mailed fist | Make a beeline for | Make a hash of | Make a mountain out of a molehill | Make a pig's ear of | Make assurance doubly sure | Make bricks without straw | Make do and mend | Make ends meet | Make hay while the sun shines | Make no bones about | Make one's blood boil | Make one's hackles rise | Make one's hair stand on end | Make short shrift of | Make the fur fly | Make the grade | Man of straw | Man of the world | Man on the Clapham omnibus, the | Manna from heaven | Man's inhumanity to man | Mare's nest | Mark, learn and inwardly digest | Mark/Brand of Cain | Mata Hari | Matinée idol | Mealy-mouthed | Meet one's Waterloo | Mend fences | Mentioned in dispatches | Method in one's madness | Mickey mouse | Midas touch | Middle of the road | Midsummer madness | Might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb | Milk and honey | Milk of human kindness | Millstone round one's neck | Mind one's p's and q's | Miss is as good as a mile, a | Miss the bus | Moaning Minnie | Molotov cocktail | Moment of truth | Money is the root of all evil | Moot point, a | More honoured in the breach than the observance | More sinned against than sinning | More than one string to one's bow | Mountain will not come to Mohammed, if the | Movable feast | Mrs Grundy | Much of a muchness | Mumbo-jumbo | Mum's the word |...
• N
• Nail one's colours to the mast | Namby-pamby | Name is mud, one's | Navel gazing | Near the knuckle | Neck and neck | Neck of the woods | Neck or nothing | Needle in a haystack | Neither rhyme nor reason | Nelson touch | Nest-egg | New broom | New Jerusalem | Nine day's wonder | Nineteen to the dozen | Nip in the bud | No flies on ... | No great shakes | No holds barred | No love lost | No-man's-land | No names, no pack-drill | No news is good news | No one can serve two masters | No respecter of persons | No strings attached | Nod is as good as a wink, a | Nodding acquaintance | Nose to the grindstone | Nosey parker | Not a cat in hell's chance | Not a dog's chance | Not a patch on | Not a sausage | Not as black as one is painted | Not care/give a rap | Not cricket | Not enough room to swing a cat | Not fit to hold a candle to | Not on your nellie | Not one's pigeon | Not set the Thames on fire | Not to be sneezed at | Not to mince matters/one's words | Not worth a plugged nickel | | Notch up (a score, etc.) | Nudge, nudge, wink, wink | Number is up, one's...
• O
• Odour of sanctity | Oedipus complex | Of the first water | Off beam | Off one's own bat | Off the beaten track | Off the cuff | Old Adam, the | Old bat | Old Bill, the | Old-boy network | Old chestnut | Old Spanish custom, an | Old warhorse | Old wive's tale | Olive branch | On a shoestring | On a sticky wicket | On a wing and a prayer | On one's beam-ends | On one's high horse | On/Riding one's hobbyhorse | On one's tod | On one's uppers | On tenterhooks | On the ball | On the breadline | On the cards | On the grapevine | | On the nail | On the right/wrong tack | On the side of angels | On the slate | On the spur of the moment | On the stocks | On the wagon | On the warpath | On tick | One man's meat is another man's poison | One over the eight | One swallow does not make a summer | Original sin | Ostrich-like | Other irons in the fire | Ours is not to reason why | Out for the count | Out-Herod Herod | Out of the ark | Out of the blue | Out of the frying pan into the fire | Out of the running | Out on a limb | Over a barrel | Over-egg the pudding | Over the moon | Over the top | Own goal (score an)...
• P
• Paddle one's own canoe | Paint the town red | Painted Jezebel | Palm off | Pan out | Pandora's box | Paper tiger | Par for the course | | Parkinson's law | Part and parcel of | Parthian shot | Parting of the ways | Parting shot | Pass muster | Pass round the hat | Pass the buck | Past master | Pastures new | Patience of Job | Pay on the nail | Pay through the nose | Pear-shaped | Pearly gates | Pecking order | Peeping Tom | Peg away | Peg out | Pell-mell | Penny has dropped, the | Philosopher's stone | Phoenix from the ashes | Picture paints a thousand words, a | Pidgin English... | Pie in the sky | Pig in the poke | Pigeon-hole | Piggy in the middle | Pin money | Pine away | Pipe down | Pipe dream | Piping hot | Pitched battle | Place in the sun | Plain as a pikestaff | Plain sailing | Play ball | Play by ear | Play ducks and drakes with | Play fast and loose | Play havoc | Play one's ace | Play one's cards close to one's chest | Play possum | Play second fiddle | Play the fool | Play to the gallery | Pleased as Punch | Ploughman's lunch | Plumb the depths | Poetic justice | Poetic licence | Point-blank | Poisoned chalice | Poker-faced | Politically correct | Pontius Pilate | Pooh-Bah | Pooh-pooh | Possession is nine points of the law | Post-haste | Pot calling the kettle black, the | Pound of flesh | Pour cold water on | Pour oil on troubled waters | Power corrupts, (all) | Powers that be | Press-gang | Pretty/Fine kettle of fish | Pride goes before a fall | Prima donna | Prodigal son | Promised Land | Pros and cons | Pull one's chestnuts out of the fire | Pull one's leg | Pull one's weight | Pull out all the stops | Pull strings | Pull the wool over one's eyes | Pull one's finger out | Purple patch/passage | Push the boat out | Push the envelope | Pussyfoot around | Put a sock in it | Put a spoke in one's wheel | Put on ice | Put on one's thinking cap | Put on the back burner | Put on the slate | Put one's back up | Put one's foot in it | Put one's oar in | Put one's shoulder to the wheel | Put paid to | Put the cart before the horse | Put the dampers on | | Put the screws on | Put through the mill |
• Q
• Queer one's pitch | Queer Street, in...
• R
• Rack and ruin | Rack one's brains | Radio ham | Rain cats and dogs | Raise Cain | Rank and file | Rap one's knuckles | Rat race | Rats leave a sinking ship | Read between the lines | Read the riot act | Real McCoy, the | | Red letter day | Red rag to a bull | Red tape | Rest on one's laurels | Revenons à nos moutons | Rich as Croesus | Ride roughshod over | Rift in the lute | Right as ninepence | Right-hand man | Ring a bell | Ring the changes | Ring true/Have the ring of truth | Rip van Winkle | Rise to the bait | Road to Damascus | Rob Peter to pay Paul | Robin Hood | Rome was not built in a day | Root and branch | Rope in | Roses all the way | Rough-and-tumble | Round-robin | Round the bend | Rub it in | Rub salt in the wound | Rub up the wrong way | Rule of thumb | Rule the roost | Rule with a rod of iron | Run amok | Run for one's money (have a [good]) | Run of the mill | Run the gamut | Run the gauntlet | Run to earth...
• S
• Sacred cow | Sadder but/and wiser | Safe pair of hands | Sail close to the wind | Sail under false colours | Salt away | Salt of the earth, the | Sands of time (running out) | Save for a rainy day | Save one's bacon | Saved by the bell | Saving grace | Scarlet woman | Score a duck | Scot-free | Scotch mist | Scrape the (bottom of the) barrel | Scylla and Charybdis | Sea-change | Sea-lawyer | Seal of approval | Seal one's fate | Seamy side | Second nature | Second string | See a man about a dog | See the big picture | See the error of one's ways | See the light | Sell down the river | Sell one's birthright for a mess of pottage | Send to Coventry | Separate the sheep from the goats | Separate the wheat from the chaff | Sere and yellow, the | Set off on the right/wrong foot | Set the seal on | Settle a score | Settle one's hash | Seven years' bad luck | Seventh heaven | Shake a stick at | Shake the dust off one's feet | Shanks's pony | Shape of things to come, the | Sheet anchor | Shell out | Shell-shocked | Shilly-shally | Ships that pass in the night | Shipshape and Bristol fashion | Short shrift | Shot across the bows, a/in the arm/dark, a | Shoot one's bolt | Show a leg | Show the white feather | Sick as a parrot | Sign the pledge | Silly Billy | Silly season, the | Sir Galahad | Siren voices/song | Sisyphean task | Skeleton at the feast | Skeleton in the cupboard | Skid Row, on | Slap up meal | Sleep like a top | Sleep tight | Sling one's hook | Slough of despond | Slush fund | Small beer | Smart Alec | Smell a rat | Smoking gun | Snake/Viper in one's bosom | Snake in the grass | Snug as a bug in a rug, as | So near and yet so far | Soap opera | Sodom and Gomorrah | Soft pedal | Soft soap | Sold a pup | Sold for a song | Son of a gun | Sour grapes | Sow one's wild oats | Sow the dragon's teeth | Spanish Inquisition | Spare the rod and spoil the child | Speak of the devil | Sphinx-like | | Spike somebody's guns | Spill the beans | Spin doctor | Spirit is willing, the | Splice the mainbrace | Spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar | Square meal | Squeaky clean | Stamping ground | Start from scratch | Start the ball rolling | Start with a clean slate | Steal a march on | Steal someone's thunder | Sterling qualities | Stick in the mud | Stick one's neck out | Stick to one's guns | Stiff upper lip | Still small voice | Sting in the tail | Stony broke | Stool pigeon | Storm in a teacup | Straight and narrow | Straight from the horse's mouth | Straight from the shoulder | Straight-laced | Strain at a gnat | Straw poll | Straw in the wind | Straw that broke the camel's back | Streets paved with gold | Strike while the iron is hot | String along | Stuffed shirt | Stumbling block | Stump up | Suffer fools gladly | Survival of the fittest | Swallow the bait | Swan-song | Sweep the board | Sweet Fanny Adams/Sweet FA | Sweetness and light | Swing the lead | Swings and roundabouts | Sword of Damocles...
• T
• Tabloid journalism | Take a back seat | Take a dekko | Take a leaf from/out of someone's book | Take a rain-check | Take a rise out of someone | Take aback | Take an early bath | Take down a peg | Take (someone) for a ride | Take one's hat off to someone | Take one's hook | Take pains | Take pot-luck | Take the bit between one's teeth | Take the bull by the horns | Take the cake/biscuit | Take the gilt off the gingerbread | Take the mickey | Take the rap | Take the wind out of one's sails | Take time by the forelock | Take to task | Take to the cleaners | Take umbrage | Take under one's wing | Take up the gauntlet | Take with a pinch of salt | Taken for a ride | Talk gibberish | Talk the hind legs off a donkey | Talk turkey | Tall-poppy syndrome | Tammany Hall | Tarred with the same brush | Teach one's grandmother to suck eggs | Tell it to the Marines | That's (just) the ticket | That's your pigeon | There but for the grace of God (go I) | Thereby hangs a tale | There's more than one way to skin a cat | There's no place like home | There's no such thing as a free lunch | There's nothing new under the sun | There's the rub | They also serve who only stand and wait | Thick as thieves | Thin end of the wedge | Third degree | Thirty pieces of silver | Thorn in the flesh | Thrash out | Three Rs, the | Three score and ten | Three sheets to the wind | Throw down the gauntlet | Throw in the towel/Throw up the sponge | Throw one's hat in the ring | Throw the book at | Thumbs up/down | Tie the knot | Tie up the loose ends | Tilt at windmills | Time immemorial | Tit for tat | Tittle-tattle | To a T | To boot | To the bitter end | To the manner born | To the nth degree | Toe-rag | Toe the line | Tongue in cheek | Tooth and nail | Top brass | Top drawer | Touch and go | Touch wood | Tower of Babel | Tower of strength | Trim one's sails | Trip the light fantastic | Trojan horse | Turn a blind eye | Turn over a new leaf | Turn the other cheek | Turn the tables | Turn turtle | Turn-up for the books, a | Tweedledum and Tweedledee | Twinkling of an eye | Two bites at the (same) cherry | Two-faced...
• U
• Ugly duckling | Unacceptable face of | Uncle Sam | Uncle Tom | Under the aegis of | Under the auspices of | Under the weather | Unkindest cut of all | Until the cows come home | Unvarnished truth | Up a gum-tree | Up one's sleeve | Up the pole | Up the spout | Up to scratch | Up to the ears | Up to the mark | Upset the apple-cart...
• V
• Vaulting ambition | Vested interest | Vexed question | Vicar of Bray | Vicious circle | Viper in one's bosom | Voice crying in the wilderness...
• W
• Wages of sin | Walked over one's grave, someone has just | Walls have ears, the | Walter Mitty | Warm the cockles of one's heart | Warning shot | Warp and woof | | Wash one's hands of | Weakest to the wall | Weapon of mass destruction | Wear one's heart on one's sleeve | Wearing/in sackcloth and ashes | Weasel words | Well-heeled | Welsh Rabbit | Wet behind the ears | Wet blanket | What the dickens | Wheel has come full circle, the | Wheeler-dealer | Wheels within wheels | When one's ship comes home | When the chips are down | Whip round | Whipping boy | Whistle for it/for the wind | White elephant | White Knight | White lie | Whited sepulchre | Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel? | Whole caboodle, the | Whole new ball-game | Whole nine yards, the | Wide of the mark | Widow's peak | Widow's weeds | Wild-goose chase | Will o' the wisp | Win at a canter | Win hands down | Win one's spurs | Wind of change | Winter of discontent | Wipe the slate clean | Wisdom/Judgement of Solomon | With a straight bat | With bated breath | | With knobs on | Within an ace of | Wolf in sheep's clothing | Wooden horse | | Wool-gathering | Work like a Trojan | World is one's oyster, the | Worth one's salt | Would not say boo to a goose | | Writing is on the wall, the | Wrong side of the tracks...
• X
• X marks the spot...
• Y
• Yellow press | Young Turk...
• Z
• (None known).........

Beran, Margret
Hitting the Nail on the Head
3000 Redensarten Deutsch-Englisch

Hawker, Sara
The Real McCoy
The True Stories Behind Our Everyday Phrases
mad as a hatter, Mad Hatter

Synopsis
English is incredibly rich in colourful phrases and expressions. But, why do we say "mad as a hatter", "know your onions", and "put on the Ritz"? This entertaining book elucidates the question of why we say the things we say. Indeed, many of the expressions we use in daily conversation have interesting and unexpected origins.

Well into the 19th century "hatters" - people employed making hats - were literally sent "mad" by the mercury used in the production process, hence the "Mad Hatter" in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", and hence the phrase ("mad as a hatter") we still use today.

From "black sheep" to "chancing your arm", "The Real McCoy" gives the fascinating stories behind hundreds of the most interesting idioms in English. Each phrase has been thoroughly researched to uncover its origins and the way it has been used in the past. The book is written in a friendly and approachable style, and includes additional information in ten double-page panels focusing on idioms linked by a common theme, such as phrases coined by Shakespeare, nautical phrases, or phrases with a Biblical origin. The book contains specially commissioned cartoons to illustrate the idioms, and, coupled with the fresh, contemporary design, they make this book a delight to browse. "The Real McCoy" is the perfect gift for everyone interested in the quirky side of the English language.

Kreisel, Uwe (Autor)
Tabbert, Pamela Ann (Autor)
Flüssiges Englisch
Mit Redensarten zu mehr Eloquenz

"Do you speak English?" - "My English makes me nobody after!" Es ist schon traurig, wenn sich herausstellt, dass das so mühsam erworbene Schulenglisch vorne und hinten nicht ausreicht, um sich mit einem Muttersprachler mehr als bestenfalls notdürftig verständigen zu können. Natürlich bilden die Beherrschung der Grammatik sowie umfangreiche Vokabelkenntnisse auch weiterhin die Basis für jede erfolgreiche Kommunikation. Doch allzu oft reicht auch das nicht, um sich selbst in alltäglichen Situationen einigermaßen niveauvoll in der fremden Sprache zu unterhalten. Uwe Kreisel und Pamela Ann Tabbert treten mit dem Versprechen an, dass die Verständigung mit Engländern und Amerikanern nach der Lektüre ihres Buches keine Probleme mehr bereiten wird.

Erst das "Verstehen und Gebrauchen bildhafter Idiome", so die Autoren, ermögliche es, "sich in einer Fremdsprache frei zu bewegen." Diesem Ansatz folgend präsentieren sie die wichtigsten englischen Redensarten und Wendungen aus acht verschiedenen Alltagsbereichen: Tierwelt, Speis' und Trank, Körper, Geld, Natur, Zeit, Utensilien und Werkzeuge sowie Vermischtes. Mit einer interessanten Mischung aus Übung und Unterweisung verhilft dieser pfiffige Ratgeber wirklich schnell zu verblüffenden Lernerfolgen. Ein äußerst übersichtlich gestalteter Lösungsteil gestattet es dem Leser in Sekundenschnelle, den Stand seiner Bemühungen um ein eloquentes Englisch zu überprüfen. Löblich auch die ausführliche und alphabetisch geordnete Sammlung von etwa tausend Redewendungen im zweiten Teil des Buches, mit deren Hilfe man das Gelernte leicht wieder auffrischen und verfestigen kann.

Flüssiges Englisch ist ein erfrischend anderer Sprachtrainer, mit dessen Hilfe es in der Tat möglich sein sollte, schon in kurzer Zeit locker und unbefangen mit der englischen Sprache umzugehen. Das Konzept ist bestechend und funktioniert natürlich auch mit anderen Sprachen. Ebenso empfehlenswert wie der hier besprochene sind deshalb auch die in gleicher Ausstattung vorliegenden Bände für Spanisch, Italienisch und Französisch.

Christoph Reudenbach

Kurzbeschreibung

Die Verständigung mit Engländern und Amerikanern klappt mühelos, wenn Sie "Flüssiges Englisch" intus haben. Denn erst mit dem Verstehen und Gebrauchen bildhafter Idiome beginnt man, sich in der Fremdsprache frei zu bewegen. Das vorliegende Buch präsentiert die wichtigsten Redensarten und Wendungen gleich dreifach: im Kontext griffiger Dialoge und unterhaltsamer Kurzgeschichten, in lockeren Übungen zum Aneignen und systematisch verzeichnet zum gezielten Nachschlagen.

Kuiper, Koenraad
Yearbook of Phraseology 2010

11 tables
Sprachen: Englisch, Französisch, Deutsch
Werktyp: Jahrbuch

Mieder, Wolfgang (Hrsg.)
English Expressions

135 S.
ISBN: 978-3-15-009288-0

Redensarten und Vergleiche sind im Englischen sehr verbreitet, sie zu beherrschen ist für den Fremdsprachenlerner wichtig. In dieser Sammlung werden über 1000 Beispiele präsentiert und kommentiert - von "to be alive and kicking" bis "to work like a dog".

Morris, William
Moris, Mary (Hg.)
Asimov, Isaac (Designer)
Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins

Anyone interested in the English language will be fascinated by - and then obsessed with - this dictionary that reads like an erudite gossip column for the city of words.

Kurzbeschreibung
The first Edition of the "Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins" detailed the fascinating and little known stories behind thousands of words and phrases that we use every day. In this new edition, William and Mary Morris update and expand their classic work to keep pace with our ever changing language. New entries include:

• "New trends": "crack", "glitch", "greenmail", "Harrier attack airplanes"
• "Foreign terms": "falafel", "geisha", "jihad", "paparazzi"
• "People": "batman", "dead end kid", "Dutch uncle", "hatchet man", "Young Turks"
• "Given names": "Chester", "Edith", "Jennifer" and others
• "Food": "Adam and Eve on a raft", "alligator pear", "grapefruit", "Harriet Lane"
• "Sports": "box score", "cheese champions", "full court press"
• "and many more"

Throughout the Morris' s present the histories of intriguing expressions in an eminently entertaining and readable fashion.

Moston, Terry
Quinault, R. J.
Langenscheidts 1000 englische Redensarten

Kurzbeschreibung
Redewendungen verleihen einer Unterhaltung Lebendigkeit. Der Titel "1000 englische Redensarten" von Langenscheidt enthält viele idiomatische Wendungen und moderne Satzbeispiele mit Angabe der jeweiligen Sprachebene (idiom, slang oder colloquial). Die Redensarten sind nach Hauptbegriffen alphabetisch geordnet. Im Anhang befindet sich ein Verzeichnis sämtlicher Schlüsselwörter, um das Auffinden der Redewendungen zu erleichtern.

Rees, Nigel
A Word in your Shell-Like
6,000 Curious & Everyday Phrases Explained

An entertaining guide to the wonderful world of phrases—new and old, familiar and unfamiliar. Unravel the meaning, origin, and usage of 6,000 phrases—from books, films, idioms, "euphemisms", and clichés to nicknames, slogans, and quotations. For example: Who was originally "sold down the river?" Why is an exact likeness "the spitting image?" Who originally coined the term "compassion fatigue?" The author should put a "feather in his cap" for compiling this delightfully informative guide—it's a must for anyone who likes to dabble in our language's rich heritage.