英语成语俗语

英语成语俗语

1.be down in the dumps

depressed, miserable. Yvonne has been in the dumps ever since her brother went to Canada. Dump is a cognate of Dutch dompen to quench, extinguish, and English ‘damp’

2.cook one’s goose

to destroy one’s opponent’s chances by some dramatic coup.

That’s cooked his goose once and for all. He’ll never survive the scandal.

3.drive a hard bargain

to come to an agreement on one’s own terms without making any worthwhile concessions.

You drive a hard bargain, but I suppose I’ll have to accept your offer.

4.keep a level head/ to keep one’s head

to remain calm and sensible.

反：to lose one’s head – to lose one’s power of reasoning, to get into a panic.

When the boat sprang a leak, Susan completely lost her head and began to scream hysterically.

5.slip one’s mind

to forget, usually as a result of carelessness rather than a defective memory.

It quite slipped my mind that Maureen was coming to tea today.

6.up the creek without a paddle

In a difficult situation with no means of rectifying it

7.bark up the wrong tree

to accuse or blame the wrong person.

Alison couldn’t have stolen your watch. She was out all day. You are barking up the wrong tree.

8.cool one’s heel/ to kick one’s heels

to be kept waiting a long time.

I had to kick my heels outside his office for an hour.

9.swallow one’s pride

to submit humbly, to accept a humiliation.

You made a mistake resigning in a temper like that. You had better swallow your pride and ask the boss to take you back.

10.w ait on sb. hand and food

to serve somebody with complete dedication

I was waited on hand and foot; I only had to ring a bell and a servant

came to my room in a few seconds.

11.b ite/snap someone’s head off / to snap off/ bite off someone’s head

to speak sharply to someone, to snub or correct curtly.

You needn’t snap my head off. How was I to know?

12.g et/let sb. off the hook

to release someone from an obligation, promise or admission of guilt.

Now you have accepted Jackson’s apology, you have let him off the hook.

13.h ave/get cold feet (about sth.)

to feel afraid to commit oneself to a decision or action which may prove risky or dangerous.

Simon is getting cold feet about advancing you the money, now that your firm is in difficulities.

14.b eat sb. At his/ their won game

to complete successfully with someone in his own specialized field. Heinrich Schliemann, the discoverer of the ancient city of Troy, had had not training in archaeology, but he beat the experts at their own game. 15.make no bones about sth.

To speak very frankly, without holding any thing back.

I’ll make no bones about it: my father was from a working-class family.

16.s teal one’s thunder