One can never have enough of spicy English Idioms. So here is the second part for the list of idioms.
Idiom | Meaning | Sentence |
Bat an eyelid | To not show any shock or surprise | With both the eurozone and US in economic doldrums,aid from these sources have dried up; hence African nations do not bat an eyelid while accepting Chinese aid,which comes with strings attached. |
Strings attached | Special demands or constrains | |
At the crack of dawn | Very early in the morning | He used to get up at the crack of the dawn to study for his exams. |
An apple of discord | The root cause of a fight | The ancestral property was the apple of discord between the two brothers. |
Fall off the back of a lorry | Something that is very cheap or acquired in a dishonest way or stolen. | This laptop is very cheap. Did it fall of the back of a lorry? |
Get an earful | To have a lot to listen,often used for criticism and unwanted suggestions | Modi got an earful for remark that Bangladesh PM is fighting terror ‘despite being a woman’. |
On a knife edge | In a difficult situation and worried about future | Talks between Nitish and Lalu appears to be on a knife’s edge. |
To cut corners | When something is done badly to save money | If a company tries to cut corners on quality, it risks losing customers. |
Let the cat out of the bag | To reveal information that was previously concealed | He let the cat out of the bag and told us about his girlfriend. |
An eagle’s eye | If someone has an eagle’s eye, he/she has very accurate vision | My father has an eagle’s eye– he saw the small dent on the rear of the car. |
A left handed compliment | a remark which seems approving but which is also negative | The senator said that her opponent was quite competent for someone so inexperienced; you hear nothing but left-handed compliments in these debates |
Wax and wane | to increase and then decrease, as the phases of the moon. | Voter sentiment about the tax proposal waxes and wanes with each passing day. |
Turn the other cheek | to ignore abuse or an insult | When she yelled at him, he turned the other cheek. |
Carve a niche | To create one’s own style or position | Actor R Madhavan has managed to carve a niche for himself both in the Southern film industry and Bollywood |
Bone of contention | Point of argument | The question of a fence between the houses has become quite a bone of contention between the neighbors. |
Spill the beans | to give away a secret or a surprise. | There is a surprise party for Heidi on Wednesday. Please don’t spill the beans. Paul already spilled the beans about Heidi’s party. |