Idioms and Phrases For Class X - From Whole Book
Idioms
- To back out of something.
Meaning: To withdraw from an agreement.
Sentence: You gave you word that you should help. Don’t back out of it. / Once you have made an agreement, you should not try to back out of it.
- To beat about the bush.
Meaning: To go around the topic in order to avoid the point.
Sentence: Say exactly what you mean and stop beating about the bush. / If you have got bad news, don't beat about the bush come straight to the point.
- To have a bone to pick with someone.
Meaning: to have a grievance about something.
Sentence: I have a bone to pick with you. / He has a bone to pick with you.
- To break the ice
Meaning: to overcome shyness and put people at ease with one another.
Sentence: Each felt shy to talk till one of them offered tea to the other and break the ice. / Both person keep quiet, each waiting for the other to break the ice.
- To make the most of
Meaning: To take the fullest advantage of the circumstances
Sentence: He let me use his bicycle for a month so I’m going to make the most of it. / Youth is the best time of one's life so make the most of it.
- To make the both ends meet
Meaning: To be able to live within one’s income.
Sentence: I had to take up a part time job to be able to make the both ends meet. / Due to inflation, salaried people can't make both ends meet.
- To make one’s mouth water
Meaning: To cause someone to desire something intensely, especially food.
Sentence: As soon as we got the smell of food, it made our mouth water. / The sight of the food was enough to make his mouth water.
- By fits and starts
Meaning: Not steadily or regularly
Sentence: He can never hold a steady job since he works by fits and starts. / This watch works sometimes, by fits and starts.
- Day in and day out
Meaning: Daily, day after day
Sentence: I worked day in and day out, for a whole month to prepare for the exams. / I've been warning you day in and day out, that you should bring all your books to school.
- With heart and soul
Meaning: All one’s energies and interest.
Sentence: That teacher is very popular because she works with heart and soul. / It's no use having an employee who does not put heart and soul in his work. / We should serve our country with heart and soul.
- With a high hand
Meaning: Disregarding the feeling of other.
Sentence: He settled matters with a high hand and ignored the requests of all concerned. / He is most unpopular because he decides matter with a high hand.
- To have the lion’s share
Meaning: To take the biggest share of something.
Sentence: Divide the cake into equal slices and don’t have the lion’s share for yourself. / The stronger person generally gets the lion's share. /Divide the profit share equally and don’t have the lion’s share.
- To same something for rainy day
Meaning: To keep for some future necessity which may arise.
Sentence: He wasted all his savings and has save nothing for a rainy day. / Don't spend all your money. Keep something for a rainy day. / He lost all his money in gamble and didn’t save anything for a rainy day.
- To cry over spilt milk
Meaning: To grieve over something uselessly.
Sentence: He damage has been done, but instead of crying over spilt milk, do something to repair. / There's no sense in crying over a spilt milk. If the glass is broken, just buy another one. /It is useless crying over spilt milk.
- Its high time
Meaning: The moment has already come.
Sentence: The exams begin next month as its high time by now. / The movie will start in fifteen minutes so it's high time we left. / The cricket match will start in twenty minutes so it’s high time we should leave for the stadium.
- To shed crocodile tears
Meaning: to weep insincerely, or hypocritically
Sentence: They were not all sorry when he died. They just shedded crocodile tears. / Don't be deceived by that beggar's crying. They just shedded crocodile tears. / From the attitude of other countries towards Kashmir issue, it seems that it is just shedding crocodile tears.
- To feel like first out of water
Meaning: To feel out of place
Sentence: Being the only educated man in that village, I feel like a fish out of water there. / I was the only one who spoke English and felt like a fish out of water in that group. / Aslam was the only member of Women rights association and felt like a fish out of water.
- To nip in the bud
Meaning: To stop evil in the early stages
Sentence: The plot to overthrow the government was detected and nipped in the bud. /Bad behaviour in children must be nipped in the bud. / He should not prevail the bad atmosphere in the society and try, to nip in the bud of crimes.
- To turn over a new leaf
Meaning: To reform, to behave better
Sentence: The teacher pardoned the boy on the condition that he promised to turn over a new leaf. /The criminal promised the judge that he would turn over a new leaf. / The death of his parents turned over a new leaf in his life.
- To put into practice
Meaning: to carry out in deeds.
Sentence: Now is the time to put into practice all the good things you were taught in school. / The soldiers put into practice the training they got in military school. / We should put into practice the spirit of patriotism for our country.
- A wild goose chose
Meaning: An enterprise which will not succeed.
Sentence: The thief let the police on a wild goose chase. / The old man ran after the boy but a wild goose chase him. / The coast guards ran after the criminals in their boats on a wild goose chase.
- To end in smoke
Meaning: To have no result, to come to nothing.
Sentence:All his efforts ended in smoke. / Unless you preserve, your work will end in smoke. / The soldiers struggled hard to destroy the foe’s base but it ended in smoke.
- At a lost
Meaning: Puzzled, not knowing what to do.
Sentence: The news stunned him and he was at loss for words. / I misplaced the book and I was at a loss how to manage it. / Someone stole by Physics book and I was at a loss ho to prepare for the Physics test.
- With flying colours
Meaning: To emerge successfully from some difficult task.
Sentence: He passed his examination with flying colors. / Our team returned from the match with flying colours. / Pakistan succeeded in the 1965 war against India with flying colours.
- Odds and ends
Meaning: A collection of objects not belonging to any group of order, left over and discarded.
Sentence: I have no complete sets of text-books, only odds and ends. / That shop does not sell anything in particular. It has only odds and ends.
/ He claims that he is very fond of collecting precious stones, but his collection contains only odds and ends.
- Under one’s nose
Meaning: Immediately with reach.
Sentence: He searched all over for it, though it was lying under his nose all the time. / You don’t have to go far. It’s under your nose.
/ I looked for my English copy everywhere and it was under my nose all the time.
- To poke one’s nose into
Meaning: To meddle or interfere
Sentence: Don't poke your nose into other people's affair. / She has the bad habit of poking her nose into the matters that are not her concern.
/ According to the charter of U.N. no country is allowed to poke her nose into the personal affairs of any country.
- To kick up a row
Meaning: To make a disturbance or noise
Sentence: You need not kick up a row. Ask politely. / If you don’t kick up a row, you will not be paid attention to.
/ The young boys started kicking up a row, when Micheal Jackson began to sing.
- To wind up
Meaning: To bring to an end
Sentence: That company winding up its affair. / I’m using my last week in the country to wind up my business here.
/ The director winded up the set due to late arrival of the artist.
- In black and white
Meaning: in writing.
Sentences: I will not accept your offer until I see it in black and white. / I cannot accept Our oral complaint. It must be in writing. / The teacher rejected the student’s oral application by saying that it must be in black and white.
- To see eye to eye with someone
Meaning: to have the same opinion or to agree with.
Sentence: I don't see eye to eye with my friends specially when they ask me to stop further studies and join some service. / Management seldom to see eye to eye with labour. / The opposition saw eye to eye when the Government is passing the bill against 8th amendment.
- To turn a deaf ear to
Meaning: to pay no attention.
Sentence: Never listen to rumors. Turn a deaf ear to them. / The employee kept pleading his case but the manager refused to turned a deaf ear to it. / Pakistan has raised Kashmir issue several times in the United Nations but it had turned a deaf ear to it.
- A black sheep
Meaning: a bad character in an otherwise good group.
Sentence: All others are respectable, but he's the black sheep in the family. / Our school has produced very good citizens but there are black sheep too. / We should point at the black sheep of the society.
- To take to task
Meaning: to call to account, to blame, to rebuke.
Sentence: The boy was taken to task for coming late. / Those who are corrupt will have to be taken to task of their doings. /The manager was taken to task of his mis-dealings in the accounts of bank.
- Far and wide
Meaning: over a large area.
Sentence: We searched far and wide but couldn't find the lost child. / This tour will take you over far and wide of the country. / People from far and wide places came to see to newly born baby of the Kangaroo in the zoo.
- At large
Meaning: at liberty, or free.
Sentence: The people were afraid because the murderer was at large. / The politician is popular at large. / People at large condemned the opening of wine shops in their locality.
By Sir Abid Habib
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