Idioms · 68 entries

Animals

What does "Animals" mean?

It’s better to have a lesser but certain advantage than the possibility of a greater one that may come to nothing.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

The United Kingdom.

A bull and cow

The United Kingdom.

A fish out of water

The United Kingdom - 17th century.

A fly in the ointment

The Bible.

A fly on the wall

USA.

A leopard can’t change his spots

Biblical.

A little bird told me

Biblical.

A pig in a poke

The United Kingdom. An old expression that exists in various forms in many languages.

A red rag to a bull

The United Kingdom. An allusion to bullfighting, where the bull is provoked by a waved cloth.

A wolf in sheep’s clothing

Aesop.

Ain’t my first rodeo

All bark and no bite

Britain, as a variant of ‘his bark is worse than his bite’, which is of early 19th century origin.

Alley cat

USA, 20th century.

As high as a kite

1. Britain - 17th century. It probably refers to Red Kites, birds that were common in the UK in the 17th century, rather than children’s kites. 2. USA.

Barking up the wrong tree

Britain, 19th century.

Big fish in a small pond

USA, late 19th century.

Brass monkey weather

The UK and USA in the early 20th century.

Cat got your tongue?

America, 19th century.

Charley horse

USA, late 19th century.

Cloud cuckoo-land

‘Cloud cuckoo-land’ derives from a comment made by was coined by the 4th century BC Greek playwright Aristophanes in the whimsical and extravagant play The Birds. First used in English in the 1820s, in the United Kingdom.

Cock and bull story

Britain, 17th century, although the precise source is unknown.

Cry wolf

From the ‘Shepherd Boy who cried Wolf’ story in Aesop’s Fables, translated into English in the 17th century.

Curiosity killed the cat

USA, late 19th century. Probably deriving from a much older British phrase - ‘care killed the cat’.

Dog and bone

Britain.

Dog days of summer

Britain, 14th century, deriving ultimately from ancient Rome.

Don’t count your chickens before they hatch

Britain, 16th century proverb.

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth

Britain, 16th century proverb.

Donkey’s years

Britain.

Drink like a fish

Britain, 17th century.

Dropping like flies

USA, early 20th century.

Elephant’s trunk

Britain.

Factory farming

USA, mid-20th century.

Flea market

Britain, early 20th century.

Flea pit

Britain, mid 20th century.

Flog a dead horse

Britain, 17th century.

Full of bull

USA, 20th century.

Gee gee

Britain.

Gnat’s bollock

Britain, 20th century.

Go ape shit

Originally USA (as ‘go ape’). Britain, 1950s (as ‘go ape shit’). Derived from the habit of apes of throwing faeces at adversaries when agitated.

Hair of the dog

England, 16th century.

High on the hog

USA, 20th century.

Hold your horses

USA, 19th century.

Jump the shark

USA, 1977. Deriving from the American TV series Happy Days.

Keep at bay

Britain, 14th century.

Kill two birds with one stone

Britain, 17th century. Found in the writings of Thomas Hobbes.

Lame duck

Britain - 18th century.

Let sleeping dogs lie

Britain. 19th century but much earlier as a similarly-worded proverb.

Let the cat out of the bag

Britain, 18th century.

Like a chicken with its head cut off

USA, late 19th century.

Little fish in a big pond

USA, early 20th century.

No room to swing a cat

Britain, 17th century. Not, as is often believed, derived from the use of the cat o’ nine tails.

No spring chicken

USA, 20th century. Young chickens are considered more tasty to eat than those slaughtered later in the year.

Pig out

USA, late 20th century.

Pigs might fly

Britain, 17th century.

Prick up your ears

Britain, 16th century.

Rabbit and pork

Britain.

Raining cats and dogs

Silver fox

Smell a rat

Britain, 16th century.

Smell something fishy

Britain, 19th century. Deriving from an allusion to things that are ‘as slippery as a fish’.

Sparrow fart

Britain, 19th century. Originally an example of rural slang.

Straight from the horses mouth

Uncertain origin, probably 20th century USA.

The bull in the bowler hat

The glorious twelfth

The tail wagging the dog

USA, 1870s.

White elephant

Britain, late 19th century.

You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink

Britain, 12th century. One of the oldest proverbs in the English language

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks

Britain, 16th century proverb. One of the oldest proverbs in English.

Entry 1

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

Meaning It’s better to have a lesser but certain advantage than the possibility of a greater one that may come to nothing.

Usage One of the most widely used proverbs throughout the English-speaking world.

Example

The questions in the final round looked hard so we opted out of the big prize and took the smaller $2,000 second prize. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush you know.

Pronunciation

Entry 2

A bull and cow

Meaning Cockney rhyming slang for a row or argument.

Usage Mostly in the UK, but occasionally elsewhere too.

Example

They were shouting and screaming at each other - a real bull and cow.

Pronunciation

Entry 3

A fish out of water

Meaning Someone in an unfamiliar circumstance.