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. |
