Thirty Idioms about Food
In English, we love comparing one thing to another. We love analogies. As a result, over the years, the English language has become chock-full of idioms. An idiom is a combination of words which has a figurative meaning separate from the actual definitions of the words used. There are an estimated 25,000 idioms in the English language, and this year we’ve been looking at their meanings on the blog. Today’s idioms are all about food. If a friend has ever confused you by suddenly talking about cups of tea when you’ve asked them if they fancy watching a Twilight film, this post’s for you!
- a bad apple/egg – a bad influence/someone who brings trouble
- a couch potato – an idle person
- a hard nut to crack – a difficult person to understand/a difficult problem to solve
- a piece of cake – easy
- a smart cookie – a clever person
- big cheese – an important person
- bread and butter – the necessities
- doesn’t cut the mustard – doesn’t meet the required standard
- food for thought – worth considering
- gone pear-shaped – gone unexpectedly wrong
- in a nutshell – simply put
- in a pickle – in trouble/mess
- like chalk and cheese – opposites
- like two peas in a pod – very similar
- not my cup of tea – not the type of thing I usually enjoy
- selling like hot cakes – selling quickly and in large quantities
- the apple of my eye – the person I adore
- the cream of the crop – the best
- the icing on the cake – something positive that happens in an already very good situation but sometimes something quite bad that happens in an already very bad situation
- to be handed something on a (silver) platter – to acquire something easily, usually without any effort on the receiver’s part
- to bring home the bacon – to earn the income
- to butter someone up – to flatter someone in the hopes of receiving special treatment
- to cry over spilt milk – to get upset over something that has already happened and cannot be changed
- to eat humble pie – to apologise and accept humiliation
- to egg someone on – to urge someone to do something foolish
- to go bananas/to go nuts – to lose control as a result of being extremely excited/annoyed
- to have a bun in the oven – to be pregnant
- to spill the beans – to reveal (usually secret) information
- to take something with a pinch of salt – to accept that a piece of information is probably exaggerated
- you can’t have your cake and eat it (too) – you can’t have something ‘both ways’/you can’t have the best of both worlds/you can’t have the two mutually exclusive things you desire at once
If you’ve found this post useful, why not check out our other articles on idioms:
Fifty Animal Idioms and What They Mean
Fifty Atmosphere and Weather Idioms and What They Mean – Part One and Part Two
Thirty Sports Idioms to Help You Through the Summer
Three Everyday Idioms and their Terrifying Origins
Two Idioms That Originate in America
Have a good week!
30 Jul 2014
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