100 Important Idioms And Their Meanings

Idioms play a crucial role in language and communication, allowing us to express ideas and convey messages in a colorful and concise manner. These phrases, often metaphorical in nature, have deep-rooted cultural and historical significance, and understanding them can greatly enhance our fluency in English.

In this article, we present 100 important idioms along with their meanings, providing you with a comprehensive resource to unravel the richness of the English language.

S.No.	Idiom	Meaning
1.	To add insult to injury	To intensify a person
2.	To be born with a silver	To be born in a rich family Spoon in one’s mouth
3.	A bolt from the blue	An expected disaster
4.	To blow one’s own trumpet	To boast
5.	A bone of contention	Cause of quarrel
6.	To burn one’s fingers	To suffer
7.	To beat black & blue	To beat mercilessly
8.	To cast an aspersion	To bring discredit
9.	To cry over spilt milk	To feel sorry for what has happened
10.	To cut a sorry figure	To make a poor impression
11.	To die in harness	To die while doing one’s duty
12.	To end in smoke	To fail
13.	To go to the dogs	To be ruined
14.	To hang in the balance	To remain undecided
15.	To hit the nail on the head	To do the right thing at the right time
16.	To hold water	To sound logical
17.	To live no stone unturned	To try one’s level best
18.	To live from hand to mouth	To live with great difficulty
19.	To make up one’s mind	To decide
20.	To see eye to eye with	Agree
21.	To play ducks and drakes	Waste
22.	To put the cart before the hors	To do a thing in a wrong way
23.	To have too many irons in the fire	To have too many things in hand
24.	To read b/w the lines	To try to understand the hidden meaning
25.	To turn over a new leaf	To change for the better
26.	To take the bull by horns	To face difficulties boldly
27.	To win laurels	To distinguish oneself
28.	At daggers drawn	At enmity or fighting
29.	Blake and white	Written
30.	By leaps and bounds	Very fast
31.	In cold blood	deliberately
32.	Laid up with	Confined to bed
33.	Ins and outs	Full details
34.	A black sheep	Scoundrel; a bad person
35.	A cock and bull story	An absurd tale
36.	A gala day	A day of festivity; a holiday with rejoicing
37.	A hard nut to crack	A difficult person or problem to deal with
38.	A turn coat	One who changes one’s opinion or party
39.	A fool’s paradise	In a state of happiness founded on vain hopes
40.	Beat a retreat	To retire before the enemy
41.	To be on the horns of a dilemma	To have a choice b/w two equal evils
42.	To beat about the bush	Approach a subject in a round about method
43.	Bury the hatchet	To make peace
44.	By fits and starts	Irregularly
45.	Capital punishment	Death sentence
46.	By hook or by crook	By fair or foul means
47.	Eat humble pie	To face humiliation
48.	Hit below the belt	To act unfairly
49.	In apple pie order	In perfect order
50.	Leave one in lurch	To desert in difficulty
51.	To make a clean breast of	To confess fully one’s faults
52.	To nip the evil in the bud	To destroy an evil in early stage
53.	Pick holes in another’s coat	To find fault with another
54.	Scot free	To go unpunished
55.	Smell a rat	To have a reason to suspect
56.	Through thick and thin	Through every difficulty
57.	True to one’s salt	Faithful to one’s master
58.	To turn the corner	To begin to improve
59.	With a grain of salt	To accept a statement with doubt as to its complete true
60.	Worship the rising sun	To respect one rising in power
61.	A Herculean task	An extremely difficult or dangerous task
62.	A fish out of water	In a wrong place
63.	A leap in the dark	An act of which we can’t force consequences
64.	A thorn in one’s side	A constant source of annoyance
65.	To be at one’s beck and call	Under one’s absolute control
66.	Bread and Butter	Means of subsistence
67.	Burn one’s fingers	To get into trouble
68.	Burn the candle at both ends	Use up too much energy
69.	To cut the Gordian knot	To solve the difficulty
70.	Cut and dried	Ready-made
71.	Feather one’s own nest	To make money by unfair means
72.	To fish in troubled water	To do something under very unpromising circumstance
73.	To give oneself airs	Affected manners
74.	To give the devil his due	To allow even a bad man the credit due
75.	To hang by thread	To be in a critical condition
76.	A henpecked husband	A man habitually snubbed by his wife
77.	Hush money	Money given as a bribe to hush or make one keep silent
78.	Kick up a row	Make a great noise
79.	To let the cat out of the bag	To reveal a secret
80.	Null and void	Not valid; of no effect
81.	On the spur of the moment	At once
82.	Pay one back in one’s own coin	To treat in the same way as one has been treated
83.	Put in cold storage	To forget or neglect something
84.	Pull wires	To manage the show by secret Influence
85.	Read b/w the lines	To hit at the real meaning
86.	Sit on the fence	To avoid taking sides; to remain neutral
87.	A square deal	Justice
88.	Sword of Damocles	Treating danger
89.	To take up the gauntlet	To accept the challenge
90.	To eat one’s heart out	To suffer silently, bitterly
91.	B/t the devil and the deep sea	B/w two dangers equally harmful
92.	A sweet tooth	A liking for sweetmeat
93.	A dark horse	An unknown person
94.	A bottleneck	Anything that cause delays
95.	To put one’s foot down	To show determination
96.	A wet blanket	A grumbling, depressing person
97.	To throw up the sponge	To acknowledge defeat
98.	A feather in one’s cap	Something to be proud of
99.	A red letter day	An auspicious day
100.	Bag and baggage	With all one’s belongings

100 Important Idioms And Their Meanings

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