Idioms & Phrases – Part 1
Important Idioms & Phrases for Competitive Exams
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To know how many beans make five
To be well informed, to be intelligent
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Hit below the belt
Fight unfairly
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To kill two birds with one stone
Achieve two aims with a single effort
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Birthday suit
Naked
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In cold blood
Deliberately, without heat
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Sweep in the board
Take everything
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In the same boat
Similarly situated; like in a predicament
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Bolt from the blue
Unexpected calamity
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Bone of contention
Matter of dispute
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Make no bones
Make no objections
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It does not suit my book
It doesn’t fit my arrangements
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In good or bad books
In or out of favour
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Draw the long bow
Exaggerate
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Two strings to bow
Possessing a second way of attaining one’s object
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In the wrong box
Out of one’s proper place
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Break new ground
Venture into an untried field
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Make a clean breast
Confess, own up
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Wear the breeches
Domination of the husband by the wife
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Bring down the house
Receive rapturous applause
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Bear the brunt
Endure the greater part of a stress or burden
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Take the bull by the horns
Attack danger boldly
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Burning the candle at both ends
Trying to do two opposite and exhausting things at the same time
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Take the cake
Carry off the honours
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Not worth the candle
Not worth the expense involved
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To feather one’s nest
To care for self interest
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To go against the grain
To work against one’s liking
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A thorn in flesh
A cause of continual trouble
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A bird’s eye view
A general view
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To cut no ice
To have no effect
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To come off with flying colours
To achieve distinction
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A bird in hand is worth two in the bush
One certainty is worth more than two prospective advantages
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To enjoy the lion’s share
To enjoy the major part
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Sweat of one’s brow
Hard labour
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To put one’s shoulder to the wheel
To help oneself
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To have a jaundiced eye
To be prejudiced
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To go with the tide
To do as others do
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To read between lines
To understand the hidden meaning of the writer
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To wake up a sleeping dog
To disturb some person or condition capable of causing trouble
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To see eye to eye
To agree
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To carry coal to Newcastle
To do something that is unnecessary
