Idioms and Phrases

• The Alpha and Omega

  Beginning and end
• To mind one's O's and Q's


  To be accurate and precise
• To rise from the rank


  To rise to a high position
• A feather in one's cap


  An achievement to be proud of
• To cut one's coat according to one's cloth

  To live within one's means
• To grease a person's palm


  To bribe
• To keep the ball rolling

  To continue the work
• To fight tooth and nail

  To make all efforts to win
• To make an ass of oneself

  To act foolishly
• To make neither head nor tail of anything


  To be completely baffled
• Once in a blue moon

  Rarely
• To take to one's heels


  To run away
• To pay lip service to


  To pretend to be loyal
• To pay through the nose


  To pay very dearly
• To take the law into one's hand


  To have a disregard for law and order
• Between the evil and the deep sea


  To be in a dilemma
• To meet one's Waterloo


  To meet one's final defeat
• To be on the horns of a dilemma

  To be in a fix
• To look for a needle in a hay stack


  To seek what is impossible to find
• To let the cat out of the bag


  To reveal a secret
• To wash one's dirty linen in public


  To discuss dirty and scandalous matters of personal nature in the presence of an outsider
• To be ill at ease


  To be in bad terms with somebody
• To be in hornet's nest


  To be in an unpleasant situation
• Apple of discord


  Cause of dispute
• Bell the cat

  Do the most dangerous job
• Beat about the bush

  Evade the issue
• Bag and baggage

  Completely
• Come out of a bandbox


  Be excessively well dressed
• Know how many beans make five

  To be well informed, to be intelligent
• Hit below the belt

  Fight unfairly
• To kill two birds with one stone

  Achieve two aims with a single effort
• Birthday suit

  Naked
• In cold blood

  Deliberately, without heat
• Sweep in the board

  Take everything
• In the same boat


  Similarly situated; like in a predicament
• Bolt from the blue

  Unexpected calamity
• Bone of contention

  Matter of dispute
• Make no bones


  Make no objections
• It does not suit my book


  It doesn't fit my arrangements
• In good or bad books

  In or out of favor