Geography & Weather Idioms

image credits: 9teen87's Postcards @ FlickR

We have already blogged about idioms. If you still remember, "an idiom is a combination of words that has a meaning that is different from the meanings of the individual words themselves". 

Today we are going to focus on Geography/Weather topics, which are almost an obsession for British people, especially the latter. But is there any special reason for that? To tell the truth, we don't know but the fact is that the weather is extremely unpredictable and wet in the British Isles, that's why 70% of the British check the weather forecast at least once a day and use the idiom "It's raining cats and dogs" so often!

Idiom	Meaning	Example
(on) cloud nine	extremely happy	Andrea was on cloud nine when she bought her new car.
dig deep	look hard for information	I had to dig deep to find my old report cards.
dirt cheap	very inexpensive	The clothes at the thrift shop are dirt cheap.
down to earth	natural or real (personality)	Lucile is really down to earth for a woman with so much money.
fair-weather friend	a person who is only a friend in good times	I can't talk to Nancy about my boyfriend problems. She's only a fair-weather friend.
a field day	a very enjoyable time	The kids had a field day at the water slide park.
go downhill	get progressively worse	My grades started going downhill when I got a part-time job.
go with the flow	continue in the same way as others	Nobody trained me at work. I just went with the flow.
hit the hay	go to sleep	I'm exhausted. I think I'll hit the hay early tonight.
hit the road	leave	It's getting late. We had better hit the road.
keep one's head above water	have just enough money to live	It's hard to keep my head above water with all of these medical bills.
know which way the wind blows	know how things will turn out	Who knows which way the wind will blow? I just hope Jesse gets one of the jobs he's applied for.
make a mountain out of a molehill	make a small problem seem big	The car only got a tiny dent. You're making a mountain out of a molehill.
out of the woods	clear of danger	The doctor said my heart is doing better, but I'm not out of the woods yet.
over the hill	past middle age	I knew I was over the hill when I started needing glasses to read.
rain on someone else's parade	ruin somebody else's happiness	Whenever I had a dance recital, my older brother always rained on my parade.
stick-in-the-mud	a loner or person who won't join in	They didn't bother inviting Charles to the party because he's alway a stick-in-the-mud.
(as) quick as lightning	very fast	Wow! Your shower was as quick as lightning.
the tip of the iceberg	a small part of a large problem	The lost tickets were just the tip of the iceberg.
take a raincheck	accept at a later date	I'd love to go out for dinner, but can I take a raincheck?
under the weather	ill	I was feeling under the weather so I went back to bed.
up the creek	in trouble	If my Dad finds out I had a party I'll be up the creek.
win by a landslide	win by a lot of points	The skiier in the green coat won by a landslide.
(get) wind of something	overhear something about someone or something (often gossip)	My Dad has a new girlfriend. I got wind of it over dinner tonight.

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