Entry 1
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
Idioms · 38 entries
Conflict
What does "Conflict" mean?
Cockney rhyming slang for a row or argument.
A bull and cow
The United Kingdom.
A bunch of fives
The United Kingdom.
A slap on the wrist
Add fuel to the fire (or flames)
The United Kingdom - 17th century.
An axe to grind
USA, 18th century.
Be glad to see the back of
Bitch slap
USA, late 20th century.
Canteen culture
Britain, late 20th century.
Chew someone out
USA, mid 20th century.
Cop an attitude
USA, mid to late 20th century.
Drive someone up the wall
Britain, 1950s. An extension of ‘up the wall’ meaning angry.
Ethnic cleansing
USA, late 20th century.
Flip the bird
USA, mid 20th century.
Food fight
USA, mid 20th century.
If it’s not one thing, it’s another
In your face
USA, 1970s.
Joshing me
USA, 19th century.
Make a scene
Britain, early 19th century.
No dice
USA, 1920s.
On the fence
USA, 19th century.
Open warfare
Over my dead body
Britain, circa 1800. From the writings of Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Pass the buck
USA, early 20th century. Later popularised by president Harry Truman.
Pommy bashing
Britain, late 20th century.
Pull your horns in
Britain - 19th century.
Put a sock in it
Britain, early 20th century.
Queer bashing
Britain - 1970s.
Queer the pitch
Britain, 19th century.
Revenge porn
USA, late 20th century.
Shoot down in flames
Britain, 1940s. An allusion to fighter planes being shot down.
Spoiler alert
USA, 1980s.
Stab someone in the back
First seen in James Joyce’s Ulysees, 1922.
Suck it up
USA, 20th century.
Throw the towel in
USA, 1910s. The allusion is to a boxing match where throwing the towel in indicates a concession
Trouble and strife
Us versus them
Wind someone up
Britain, 20th century.
Yarn bombing
Britain, early 21st century.
Entry 2
A bunch of fives
Meaning A fist, as used in a fight.
Usage Mostly in the UK, but occasionally elsewhere too.
Example
- Punch me would you? How’d you like a bunch of fives in your eye?
Pronunciation
Entry 3
A slap on the wrist
Meaning A mild rebuke, often given when a more severe punishment might be expected.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- Those muggers should get a jail term but these days they’ll probably just get a fine and a slap on the wrist.
Pronunciation
Entry 4
Add fuel to the fire (or flames)
Meaning Make a bad situation even worse than it is.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- Going into that race riot and telling them to get back to Africa was really adding fuel to the fire.
Pronunciation
Entry 5
An axe to grind
Meaning A dispute with someone.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- Hey, I've an axe to grind with you. Didn't I hear you calling my sister a slag?
Pronunciation
Entry 6
Be glad to see the back of
Meaning Be happy when a person leaves or when an unpleasant situation is ended.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- He came for two days and stayed a month. To be honest I was glad to see the back of him when he finally left.
Pronunciation
Entry 7
Bitch slap
Meaning An open-handed slap in the face intended to be humiliating.
Usage Widely used, but mainly amongst the young.
Example
- He wasn't worth the respect of a punch. Bitch-slapping was more humiliating.
Pronunciation
Entry 8
Canteen culture
Meaning Boorish behaviour by rank and file police or soldiers.
Usage Worldwide, but more commonly in Britain than elsewhere.
Example
- The place was full of bikini pin-ups. No wonder that female recruit didn't feel comfortable in that canteen culture environment.
Pronunciation
Entry 9
Chew someone out
Meaning Verbally scold someone.
Usage Quite widely used but more so in the USA than elsewhere.
Example
- Little Jimmy ran out right in front of that car. His mother really chewed him out for that.
Pronunciation
Entry 10
Cop an attitude
Meaning Adopt an aggressive stance.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- The whole gang stood there defiantly glaring. They really copped an attitude.
Pronunciation
Entry 11
Drive someone up the wall
Meaning Irritate or annoy very much.
Usage Britain.
Example
- He wouldn't stop going on about it. He was driving me up the wall.
Pronunciation
Entry 12
Ethnic cleansing
Meaning The singling out and killing of a specific ethnic group.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- The ethnic cleansing of the Croats in the Bosnian War left the country open wide to the Serbs.
Pronunciation
Entry 13
Flip the bird
Meaning To aggressively raise your middle finger at someone as a sign of displeasure.
Usage Mostly USA.
Example
- I stopped the car a little too close when he crossed the road and he flipped the bird as a response.
Pronunciation
Entry 14
Food fight
Meaning Chaotic collective behaviour where items of food are thrown about wildly.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- It was supposed to be a quiet wedding reception but some of the girls got drunk and started a food fight. There were canapes and buns flying everywhere.
Pronunciation
Entry 15
If it's not one thing, it's another
Meaning Said after more than one thing goes wrong.
Example
- The boiler broke and now my phone is out of battery so I can't ring for help. If it's not one thing it's another...
Pronunciation
Entry 16
In your face
Meaning Aggressive confrontation.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- The police kept interrogating him. They were in his face for hours.
Pronunciation
Entry 17
Joshing me
Meaning Tricking me.
Usage Mostly USA.
Example
- I know you didn't box with Mike Tyson. Stop joshing me.
Pronunciation
Entry 18
Make a scene
Meaning Cause a disturbance.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- I know your ex-wife is here with her lover but don't make a scene, that will just make you feel worse.
Pronunciation
Entry 19
No dice
Meaning A refusal to accept a proposition.
Usage Worldwide. but more common in the USA than elsewhere.
Example
- You want me to work all weekend for no extra pay? Sorry, no dice.
Pronunciation
Entry 20
On the fence
Meaning Unwilling to give one's view about which side you support.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- Increase taxes or reduce spending. Who knows? I'm sitting on the fence on that one.
Pronunciation
Entry 21
Open warfare
Meaning Engaged in active fighting or dispute.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- The folks across the street have taken to hurling abuse whenever they see us, and we are giving it back - it's open warfare.
Pronunciation
Entry 22
Over my dead body
Meaning Said when you absolutely refuse to allow something to happen.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- He bullied me at school and now you want to promote him. Over my dead body!
Pronunciation
Entry 23
Pass the buck
Meaning Avoid responsibility by giving it to someone else.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- The government has been in power for six years now but every time there's a crisis they pass the buck and blame the previous administration.
Pronunciation
Entry 24
Pommy bashing
Meaning Australian slang term for physical or verbal attacks on the English.
Usage Mostly Britain and Australia.
Example
- As Londoners, we never felt comfortable on our trip to Sydney. Every day we were subject to pommie bashing.
Pronunciation
Entry 25
Pull your horns in
Meaning Become less ambitious; curb your enthusiasm.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- The team came bottom of the league last year and now has no money. They'll have to pull their horns in when making bids for new players.
Pronunciation
Entry 26
Put a sock in it
Meaning An instruction to a noisy person or a group to be quiet.
Usage Worldwide, but considered rather old-fashioned.
Example
- Hey, you kids, put a sock in it - I can't hear myself think in here.
Pronunciation
Entry 27
Queer bashing
Meaning Making an unprovoked physical or verbal attack on homosexuals.
Usage Worldwide, but more common in Britain than elsewhere.
Example
- Since the skinheads have moved out of the area and it's become more cosmopolitan there has been a marked reduction in the instances of queer-bashing.
Pronunciation
Entry 28
Queer the pitch
Meaning Ruin a plan or undertaking.
Usage Widely used, but mostly among the older generation.
Example
- That scrapyard opening next to Julies bridal shop has really queered her pitch.
Pronunciation
Entry 29
Revenge porn
Meaning The malicious posting of sexual images online to harm the reputation of an ex partner.
Usage Worldwide, but not amongst the older generations.
Example
- After she ended it he posted some really nasty pictures of her from when they were together. No other words for it than revenge porn.
Pronunciation
Entry 30
Shoot down in flames
Meaning Destroy an argument or theory.
Usage Worldwide, although rather old-fashioned.
Example
- They sent their perpetual motion ideas to the Royal Society. Of course, it was all nonsense and they were shot down in flames.
Pronunciation
Entry 31
Spoiler alert
Meaning Said, or printed, as a warning that the following will give away the ending or important plot development of a drama.
Usage Worldwide, mostly by the young.
Example
- I've just been to see Shakespeare's Othello. Spoiler alert - Othello dies.
Pronunciation
Entry 32
Stab someone in the back
Meaning Hurt someone who was close to us by betraying them secretly and breaking their trust.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- All my friends promised to vote for me but when the election came and I got no votes I knew I'd been stabbed in the back.
Pronunciation
Entry 33
Suck it up
Meaning Accept a bad situation.
Usage More common in the USA than elsewhere, but spreading Worldwide.
Example
- Listen Jedd, it's over, Janine will never be coming back. Suck it up and move on.
Pronunciation
Entry 34
Throw the towel in
Meaning Give up, especially to avoid further punishment when facing certain defeat.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- AltaVista tried to hang on and compete with Google, but eventually they just couldn't compete and were forced to throw the towel in.
Pronunciation
Entry 35
Trouble and strife
Meaning Cockney rhyming slang for wife.
Usage Mostly Britain.
Example
- Twenty years we've been married now, the trouble and strife and myself.
Pronunciation
Entry 36
Us versus them
Meaning Denoting the enmity between two opposing groups.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- There's no way we will be negotiating over this deal. Its us versus them and let the best will.
Pronunciation
Entry 37
Wind someone up
Meaning Deliberately draw attention to something with the intention of causing trouble.
Usage Mostly Britain.
Example
- There was no need to point out that the girl who dumped him was in the next room. That was only going to wind him up.
Pronunciation
Entry 38
Yarn bombing
Meaning The adorning of public buildings with knitted or crocheted material - either for fun or to make a political point.
Usage Initially mostly Britain but quickly spreading to others countries.
Example
- We wanted to draw attention to the trees that the council planned to cut down so we got the local guerrilla knitters to yarn bomb them for us.
Pronunciation