- ‘Jack’ phrases
- ‘Scuse me while I kiss this guy
- ‘Silly’ phrases
- 135 Phrases coined by William Shakespeare
- 23 skidoo
- 34 Phrases that people often get wrong
- 435 Phrases ‘Born in the USA’
- A rose by any other name would smell as sweet
- A bad egg
- A bad penny always turns up
- A barking dog never bites
- A bed of roses
- A bee in your bonnet
- A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
- A blot on the landscape
- A bolt from the blue
- A bun in the oven
- A bunch of fives
- A cat may look at a king
- A chain is only as strong as its weakest link
- A change is as good as a rest
- A charmed life
- A chip off the old block
- A cock and bull story
- A cock-up
- A complete shambles
- A concrete overcoat
- A countenance more in sorrow than in anger
- A country mile
- A curate’s egg
- A Daniel come to judgement
- A dark horse
- A dead ringer
- A diamond in the rough
- A diamond is forever
- A different kettle of fish
- A dish fit for the gods
- A drop in the bucket
- A dust-up
- A fate worse than death
- A feather in one’s cap
- A fish out of water
- A fish rots from the head down
- A fly in the ointment
- A fool and his money are soon parted
- A fool’s paradise
- A foot in the door
- A foregone conclusion
- A friend in need is a friend indeed
- A frog in the throat
- A game of two halves
- A golden key can open any door
- A good beginning makes a good ending
- A good hiding
- A good man is hard to find
- A hard man is good to find
- A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse
- A house divided against itself cannot stand
- A house is not a home
- A house of ill repute
- A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
- A king’s ransom
- A knight in shining armour
- A knock-back
- A la carte
- À la mode
- A labour of love
- A lady of the night
- A legend in one’s own lifetime
- A leopard cannot change its spots
- A lick and a promise
- A list of 680 English Proverbs
- A list of phrases about clothes and fashion
- A list of phrases about dates and times
- A list of phrases about peoples’ names
- A list of phrases about anger or conflict
- A list of phrases about animals
- A list of phrases about betting and luck
- A list of phrases about buildings
- A list of phrases about business and work
- A list of phrases about children
- A list of phrases about colour
- A list of phrases about comedy
- A list of phrases about country and nationality
- A list of phrases about crime and the law
- A list of phrases about death or dying
- A list of phrases about dogs
- A list of phrases about emotions and surprise
- A list of phrases about family
- A list of phrases about food and drink
- A list of phrases about horses
- A list of phrases about household items
- A list of phrases about language
- A list of phrases about medical conditions
- A list of phrases about money and wealth
- A list of phrases about music
- A list of phrases about numbers
- A list of phrases about parts of the body
- A list of phrases about pennies
- A list of phrases about politics
- A list of phrases about relationships
- A list of phrases about religion
- A list of phrases about sports and games
- A list of phrases about stupidity or nonsense
- A list of phrases about the Devil
- A list of phrases about the military and war
- A list of phrases about the natural world
- A list of phrases about the weather
- A list of phrases about theatre and entertainment
- A list of phrases about transport
- A list of phrases about travel
- A list of phrases about women
- A list of phrases related to the human body
- A list of phrases that include placenames
- A list of slogans
- A little bird told me
- A little knowledge is a dangerous thing
- A little of what you fancy does you good
- A load of cobblers
- A load of codswallop
- A man after my own heart
- A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client
- A Mexican wave
- A Mickey Finn
- A millstone around one’s neck
- A ministering angel shall my sister be
- A miss is as good as a mile
- A movable feast
- A multitude of sins
- A nation of shopkeepers
- A nation of shopkeepers
- A nest of vipers
- A nest-egg
- A no-brainer
- A nod is as good as a wink
- A norange
- A paying guest
- A penny for the guy
- A penny for your thoughts
- A penny saved is a penny earned
- A picture is worth a thousand words
- A piece of cake
- A piece of the action
- A pig in a poke
- A place for everything and everything in its place
- A plague on both your houses
- A pretty kettle of fish
- A pretty penny
- A priori
- A problem shared is a problem halved
- A red rag to a bull
- A riddle wrapped up in an enigma
- A riddle wrapped up in an enigma
- A rising tide lifts all boats
- A rolling stone gathers no moss
- A rose is a rose is a rose
- A rum do
- A safe pair of hands
- A sea change
- A shot across the bows
- A shot in the arm
- A shot in the dark
- A sight for sore eyes
- A skeleton in the closet
- A sledgehammer to crack a nut
- A sorry sight
- A square meal
- A sticky wicket
- A stitch in time saves nine
- A stone’s throw
- A thing of beauty is a joy forever
- A thorn in the flesh
- A tinker’s damn
- A tissue of lies
- A turn up for the books
- A watched pot never boils
- A whip round
- A white elephant
- A wide berth
- A wolf in sheep’s clothing
- A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle
- A woman’s place is in the home
- A word in your shell-like
- A young man’s fancy
- A1 at Lloyd’s
- Abandon all hope ye who enter here
- Abide with me
- About face
- About turn
- Above board
- Above my pay grade
- Abracadabra
- Absence makes the heart grow fonder
- Absent without leave
- Absent-minded professor
- Accident of birth
- Accidentally on purpose
- Accidents will happen
- According to Hoyle
- Ace in the hole
- Achilles’ heel
- Acid test
- Ack-ack
- Acronyms
- Across the board
- Across the pond
- Act of God
- Act the giddy goat
- Action man
- Actions speak louder than words
- Adam’s ale
- Adversity makes strange bedfellows
- After the fact
- Aga saga
- Against the clock
- Against the grain
- Age before beauty
- Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety
- Agree to disagree
- Aid and abet
- Aide-mémoire
- Air kiss
- Air quotes
- Al fresco
- Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio
- Alive and kicking
- All agog
- All and sundry
- All at sea
- All corners of the world
- All fingers and thumbs
- All hat and no cattle
- All in all
- All mouth and no trousers
- All of a sudden
- All present and correct
- All singing, all dancing
- All systems go
- All that glitters is not gold
- All the world’s a stage…
- All things come to those who wait
- All things must pass
- All things to all men
- All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
- All you can eat
- All’s fair in love and war
- All’s well that ends well
- Alter ego
- Am I my brother’s keeper?
- Amber nectar
- An accident waiting to happen
- An Aladdin’s Cave
- An albatross around one’s neck
- An apple a day keeps the doctor away
- An arm and a leg
- An Englishman’s home is his castle
- An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
- An ill wind
- An ill-favoured thing sir, but mine own
- An Oxford scholar
- Anchors aweigh
- And shining morning face, creeping like a snail unwillingly to school
- And thereby hangs a tale
- Angry young man
- Ankle-biter
- Annus horribilis
- Another day, another dollar
- Another think coming
- Any port in a storm
- Apple pie order
- April fool
- Arms akimbo
- Ars longa, vita brevis
- Artificial intelligence
- Arty-farty
- As nice as ninepence
- As good luck would have it
- As ***** as a nine bob note
- As alike as two peas in a pod
- As bald as a coot
- As black as a Newgate’s knocker
- As bold as brass
- As brown as a berry
- As busy as a bee
- As busy as a one-armed paperhanger
- As cold as stone
- As cool as a cucumber
- As cute as a bug’s ear
- As daft as a brush
- As dead as a dodo
- As dead as a doornail
- As different as chalk and cheese
- As easy as pie
- As easy as taking candy from a baby
- As fine as frog’s hair
- As fit as a butcher’s dog
- As fit as a fiddle
- As good as gold
- As happy as a clam
- As happy as a sandboy
- As happy as Larry
- As happy as…
- As high as a kite
- As keen as mustard
- As mad as a hatter
- As mad as a March hare
- As merry as the day is long
- As old as Methuselah
- As old as the hills
- As pleased as Punch
- As pure as the driven snow
- As safe as houses
- As sick as a parrot
- As snug as a bug
- As straight as a die
- As the crow flies
- As thick as thieves
- As thick as two short planks
- As white as snow
- As you sow so shall you reap
- Asap – As soon as possible
- Ashes to ashes
- Ask a silly question and you’ll get a silly answer
- At loggerheads
- At one fell swoop
- At one’s wit’s end
- At sixes and sevens
- Attack is the best form of defence
- Augur well
- Auld Lang Syne
- Australian Phrases and Sayings
- Away with the fairies
- Baby blues
- Baby boomer
- Baby father
- Back the field
- Back to basics
- Back to square one
- Back to the drawing board
- Back-seat driver
- Backroom boy
- Backward in coming forward
- Bad hair day
- Bad money drives out good
- Bad news travels fast
- Bada-bing
- Badger to death
- Bag and baggage
- Baker’s dozen
- Bale out/bail out
- Ball and chain
- Balling the jack
- Ballpark figure
- Bang on about
- Baptism of fire
- Barking mad
- Barking up the wrong tree
- Barrel of laughs
- Basket case
- Bated breath
- Bats in the belfry
- Batten down the hatches
- Battle royal
- BBC Green Book
- Be afraid, be very afraid
- Be enthralled
- Be excused
- Be still, my beating heart
- Be yourself; everyone else is already taken
- Bean counter
- Beast with two backs
- Beat a hasty retreat
- Beat around the bush
- Beat swords into ploughshares
- Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
- Beauty is only skin deep
- Beck and call
- Beef and reef
- Beelzebub has a devil for a sideboard
- Been there, done that
- Beer goggles
- Beetle-browed
- Before you could say Jack Robinson
- Before your very eyes
- Beg the question
- Beggar belief
- Beggars can’t be choosers
- Behind every great man there’s a great woman
- Behind the eight ball
- Bell the cat
- Bell, book and candle
- Bells and whistles
- Below par
- Below the belt
- Below the salt
- Belt and braces
- Belt up
- Best bib and tucker
- Bet your bottom dollar
- Better late than never
- Better to light a candle than curse the darkness
- Between a rock and a hard place
- Between the Devil and the deep blue sea
- Between two stools
- Between you, me and the bedpost
- Beware of Greeks bearing gifts
- Beyond a shadow of a doubt
- Beyond belief
- Beyond our ken
- Beyond the pale
- Big fish in a small pond
- Big fleas have little fleas upon their back to bite ’em
- Big wig
- Bill Stickers is innocent
- Billy no-mates
- Binge drinking
- Birds of a feather flock together
- Bish-bash-bosh
- Bish-bosh
- Bite the bullet
- Bite the dust
- Bite the hand that feeds you
- Black sheep of the family
- Black-on-black
- Blast from the past
- Blaze a trail
- Bless you
- Blessed are the peacemakers
- Blind-man’s buff
- Bling-bling
- Blonde bombshell
- Blood and thunder
- Blood is thicker than water
- Blood, sweat and tears
- Bloody-minded
- Blow chunks
- Blow the gaff
- Blow your mind
- Blow your own trumpet
- Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks
- Blown to smithereens
- Blue blood
- Blue funk
- Blue-plate special
- Bob’s your uncle
- Bodice ripper
- Bog standard
- Bone dry
- Bone idle
- Bone up on
- Booby prize
- Booby trap
- Boogie-woogie
- Booze cruise
- Born again
- Born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth
- Born within the sound of Bow Bells
- Boss-eyed
- Bottle out
- Bottom drawer
- Bottom-up
- Bought the farm
- Bowl a maiden over
- Box and Cox
- Boxing Day
- Boys will be boys
- Brand spanking new
- Break a leg
- Break the ice
- Brevity is the soul of wit
- Brevity is the soul of wit
- Bricks and clicks
- Bring home the bacon
- Broad in the beam
- Bronx cheer
- Browned off
- Brownie points
- Brummagem screwdriver
- Bubble and squeak
- Bucket list
- Buckle down
- Buggins’ turn
- Build a better mousetrap
- Bums on seats
- Bunny boiler
- Burn the candle at both ends
- Burning the midnight oil
- Bury the hatchet
- Bury your head in the sand
- Business before pleasure
- But screw your courage to the sticking-place
- But, for my own part, it was Greek to me
- Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth
- Butterfingers
- By and large
- By dint of
- By gum
- By hook or by crook
- By the book
- By the short hairs
- By the skin of your teeth
- Caesar Salad
- Call a spade a spade
- Can’t be overestimated/Can’t be underestimated – which one to use?
- Canteen culture
- Canterbury pace
- Carbon copy
- Carbon footprint
- Card-sharp
- Carnal Knowledge
- Carpe diem
- Carry coals to Newcastle
- Carry the world before you
- Carte blanche
- Cash on the nail
- Cat burglar
- Cat got your tongue?
- Cat’s Cradle
- Catch 22
- Categories of Phrases
- Caught red-handed
- Chaise lounge
- Champ at the bit
- Chance would be a fine thing
- Charity begins at home
- Charley horse
- Charm offensive
- Cheap at half the price
- Cheapskate
- Cheek by jowl
- Cherchez la femme
- Chew the cud
- Chick flick
- Children should be seen and not heard
- Chinese whispers
- Chinless wonder
- Chip on your shoulder
- Chit-chat
- Chock-a-block
- Chop and change
- Chop-chop
- Chow down
- Cleanliness is next to godliness
- Clear blue water
- Cliff-hanger
- Cloak and dagger
- Clod-hopper
- Clog up
- Close quarters
- Close your eyes and think of England
- Close, but no cigar
- Cloth ears
- Cloud-cuckoo-land
- Club sandwich
- Clutch at straws
- Coat of many colours
- Coat of many colours
- Cock a snook
- Cock-a-hoop
- Cock-sure
- Cockney Rhyming Slang
- Cogito, ergo sum
- Coin a phrase
- Cold comfort
- Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey
- Cold feet
- Cold shoulder
- Cold turkey
- Colder than a witch’s tit
- Collateral Damage
- Colour up
- Come a cropper
- Come clean
- Come on down
- Come the three corners of the world in arms
- Come to a sticky end
- Come up trumps
- Come what come may
- Common sense
- Comparisons are odious
- Compassion fatigue
- Contradictory proverbs
- Cookie cutter
- Cooking the books
- Cool Britannia
- Cop an attitude
- Copper-bottomed
- Cor blimey
- Cordon bleu
- Cotton on to
- Cotton-picking
- Counting sheep
- Country bumpkin
- Cowards may die many times before their deaths
- Crackpot
- Crime doesn’t pay
- Crinkum-crankum
- Criss-cross
- Crocodile tears
- Crop up
- Cross that bridge when you come to it
- Crown jewels
- Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war
- Curiosity killed the cat
- Curry favour
- Cut and run
- Cut of your jib
- Cut off without a penny
- Cut off your nose to spite your face
- Cut the mustard
- Cut to the chase
- Damp squib
- Dance attendance on
- Darby and Joan
- Dash to pieces
- Date rape
- Davy Jones’ locker
- Daylight robbery
- Dead cat bounce
- Dead in the water
- Delusions of grandeur
- Derring-do
- Designer stubble
- Deus ex machina
- Die-hard
- Different strokes for different folks
- Differently abled
- Dilly-dally
- Dirt bag
- Discretion is the better part of valour
- Do unto others as you would have them do to you
- Do your business
- Dock your pay
- Doesn’t know shit from Shinola
- Doff your hat
- Dog days
- Dog in the manger
- Dog’s bollocks
- Dog’s breakfast
- Dog’s dinner
- Dollars to doughnuts
- Don’t bite off more than you can chew
- Don’t burn your bridges
- Don’t call us, we’ll call you
- Don’t change horses in midstream
- Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched
- Don’t get mad, get even
- Don’t go there
- Don’t keep a dog and bark yourself
- Don’t let the bastards grind you down
- Don’t let the grass grow under your feet
- Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth
- Don’t shut the stable door after the horse has bolted
- Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater
- Don’t try to teach your Grandma to suck eggs
- Don’t wash your dirty linen in public
- Done a runner
- Done to a turn
- Donkey work
- Donkey’s years
- Doom and gloom
- Double cross
- Double Dutch
- Double Entendre
- Double standard
- Double whammy
- Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn, and cauldron bubble
- Down at heel
- Down in the dumps
- Down the pan
- Down the tubes
- Down to the wire
- Drag race
- Draw a blank
- Dreams of empire
- Dressed to the nines
- Drink like a fish
- Driving while black
- Drop-dead Gorgeous
- Dropping like flies
- Drummed out of the army
- Dumb blonde
- Dutch courage
- Duvet day
- Ear candy
- Ear-mark
- Early to bed and early to rise makes and man healthy, wealthy and wise
- East, west, home’s best
- Easy-peasy
- Eat drink and be merry
- Eat humble pie
- Eaten out of house and home
- Economical with the truth
- Eeny, meeny, miny, mo
- Eff off
- Egg on
- Eighty six
- Elbow grease
- Elementary my dear Watson
- Elevator Pitch
- Elvis has left the building
- End of story
- English phrases and sayings that derive from the Bible
- Enough is enough
- Et tu, Brute
- Ethnic cleansing
- Even a worm will turn
- Even at the turning of the tide
- Every cloud has a silver lining
- Every dog has its day
- Everybody out
- Exceedingly well read
- Excuse my French
- Extraordinary rendition
- Eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog
- Face the music
- Faff about
- Fag end
- Failing to plan is planning to fail
- Fair and square
- Fair dinkum
- Fair exchange is no robbery
- Fair play
- Fair to middling/Fair to Midland
- Fairy-tale ending
- Fait accompli
- Faith will move mountains
- Fall asleep
- Fall from grace
- Fall guy
- Fall on your sword
- Familiarity breeds contempt
- Famous last words
- Fancy free
- Fancy-pants
- Far be it from me
- Far from the madding crowd
- Farmers
- Fashion victim
- Fast
- Fast asleep
- Fathom out
- Fed up
- Feeding frenzy
- Fell off the back of a truck
- Fellow traveller
- Felt his collar
- Fend for yourself
- Fend off
- Fiddlesticks
- Fiddling while Rome burns
- Fie, fih, foh, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman
- Field day
- Fifteen minutes of fame
- Fifth column
- Fifth estate
- Fight fire with fire
- Fight the good fight
- Filthy rich
- Fine words butter no parsnips
- Finger lickin’ good
- First dibs
- First water – Of the
- First World
- Fish or cut bait
- Fits and starts
- Five o’clock shadow
- Fixer-upper
- Flash in the pan
- Flat out
- Flavor of the month
- Flesh and blood
- Flogging a dead horse
- Flotsam and jetsam
- Fly by the seat of your pants
- Fly off the handle
- Fly on the wall
- Fly-by-night
- Foam at the mouth
- Fob off
- Fool’s errand
- Fools rush in where angels fear to tread
- Fools’ gold
- For all intents and purposes
- For crying out loud
- For ever and a day
- For every thing there is a season
- For good measure
- For keeps
- For the birds
- For whom the bell tolls
- Forbidden fruit
- Forewarned is forearmed
- Forgive them for they know not what they do
- Fork out
- Forlorn hope
- Forty winks
- Foul play
- Four by two
- Four corners of the earth
- Frailty, thy name is woman
- Francis Grose
- Freezing temperatures
- French Phrases
- Friday afternoon car
- Friends with benefits
- Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears
- From pillar to post
- From sea to shining sea
- From strength to strength
- Fruit of your loins
- Fuddy-duddy
- Full of piss and vinegar
- Full tilt
- Full to the gunwales
- Funny farm
- Fuzzy wuzzy
- Gadzooks
- Gee whiz
- Gee-up
- Generation X
- Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration
- Get a word in edgeways
- Get down to brass tacks
- Get medieval
- Get off on the wrong foot
- Get off your high horse
- Get on my wick
- Get over it
- Get the pip
- Get the sack
- Get the upper hand
- Get thee behind me Satan
- Get underway
- Get used to it
- Get your dander up
- Get your goat
- Gild the lily
- Ginger
- Ginger up
- Ginned up
- Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.
- Give no quarter
- Give up the ghost
- Giving me gyp
- Glass ceiling
- Go and boil your head
- Go berserk
- Go by the board
- Go Doolally
- Go haywire
- Go like the clappers
- Go off at half-cock
- Go out on a limb
- Go over like a lead balloon
- Go postal
- Go pound sand
- Go the whole hog
- Go to pot
- Go to the dogs
- Go to the mattresses
- Go-faster
- God is dead
- God rest you merry gentlemen
- God rot them
- Godfrey Daniel
- Going to hell in a handbasket
- GOLF – Gentlemen only, ladies forbidden
- Gone for a burton
- Good men and true
- Good riddance
- Good Samaritan
- Goodnight Vienna
- Goody two-shoes
- Goody, goody gumdrops
- Gordon Bennett!
- Got my mojo working
- Grand slam
- Grandfather clock
- Granny dumping
- Grasp the nettle
- Grass up
- Graveyard shift
- Greased lightning
- Great balls of fire
- Great minds think alike
- Great oaks from little acorns grow
- Green-eyed monster
- Gregory Peck
- Gridlock
- Grind to a halt
- Grinning like a Cheshire cat
- Grist to the mill
- Groggy
- Grub Street
- Guinea-pig
- Gung ho
- Gussied up
- Halcyon days
- Half a loaf is better than no bread
- Half inch
- Half-hearted
- Hand over fist
- Handbags at ten paces
- Handle with kid gloves
- Hanged, drawn and quartered
- Hanky-panky
- Happily ever after
- Happy slapping
- Happy-clappy
- Harbinger of doom
- Hard and fast
- Hard cases make bad law
- Hard cheese
- Hard lines
- Hard-hearted
- Hark, hark! the lark at heaven’s gate sings
- Harp on
- Harum-scarum
- Harvest moon
- Hasta la vista
- Haste makes waste
- Hat trick
- Have a Captain Cook
- Have a dekko
- Have an axe to grind
- Have an inkling
- Have it away
- Have no truck with
- Have your guts for garters
- Have your work cut out
- He who can, does; he who cannot, teaches
- He who laughs last laughs longest
- He who sups with the devil should have a long spoon
- He will give the Devil his due
- Head over heels
- Heads up
- Heads will roll
- Hear hear
- Heard it through the grapevine
- Heart’s content
- Heavens to Betsy
- Heavens to Murgatroyd
- Heavy metal
- Hedge your bets
- Heebie-jeebies
- Hell has no fury like a woman scorned
- Hell or high water
- Hell’s bells
- Hell’s half acre
- Helter-skelter
- Hem and haw
- Here lies one whose name was writ in water
- Het up
- Hey presto
- Higgledy-piggledy
- High and dry
- High and mighty
- High five
- High jinks
- High on the hog
- High time
- High-flyer
- High, wide and handsome
- Hissy fit
- History is bunk
- Hit for six
- Hit the ground running
- Hit the hay
- Hit the nail on the head
- Hither and yon
- Hob-nob
- Hobby-horse
- Hobson’s choice
- Hocus-pocus
- Hodge-podge
- Hoi polloi
- Hoist with your own petard
- Hoity-toity
- Hokey Cokey
- Hokey-pokey
- Hold a candle
- Hold with the hare and run with the hounds
- Hold your horses
- Home and hosed
- Home is where the heart is
- Homonyms
- Honesty is the best policy
- Honey catches more flies than vinegar
- Hoochie-coochie
- Hooray Henry
- Horse and cart
- Horse feathers
- Horse-sense
- Hostage to fortune
- Hot off the press
- Hot on the heels
- Hot-blooded
- Household words
- Houston, we have a problem
- How are the mighty fallen?
- How do you do
- How now brown cow?
- How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child
- Hubble-bubble
- Hugger-mugger
- Hunky-dory
- Hunt and peck
- Hurly-burly
- Hush puppies
- I have not slept one wink
- I have nothing to declare but my genius
- I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat
- I haven’t got a clue
- I see no ships
- I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips
- I spy with my little eye
- I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
- I’ll eat my hat
- I’ll go to the foot of our stairs
- I’ll swing for you
- I’m stumped
- Identity theft
- If I had my druthers
- If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
- If music be the food of love, play on
- If the mountain will not come to Muhammad…
- If the shoe fits, wear it
- If wishes were horses, beggars would ride
- If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen
- If you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas
- Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
- In a cleft stick
- In a jiffy
- In a nutshell
- In a pickle
- In a pig’s eye
- In a quandary
- In a trice
- In an interesting condition
- In for a penny, in for a pound
- In like Flynn
- In limbo
- In reduced circumstances
- In someone’s bad books
- In spades
- In stitches
- In the bag
- In the beginning was the Word
- In the box-seat
- In the buff
- In the cart
- In the catbird seat
- In the club
- In the doghouse
- In the doldrums
- In the family way
- In the limelight
- In the nick of time
- In the offing
- In the pink
- In the red
- In the same boat
- In the sticks
- In the twinkling of an eye
- In trouble
- In your face
- Including, but not limited to
- Indian giver
- Indian summer
- Infra dig
- Innocent until proven guilty
- Inside-out
- Iron hoof
- Is the Pope Catholic?
- Is the Pope Polish?
- Is this a dagger which I see before me?
- It ain’t over till the fat lady sings
- It beggar’d all description
- It came like a bolt from the blue
- It is meat and drink to me
- It never rains but it pours
- It was a dark and stormy night
- It’s all one to me
- It’s better to give than to receive
- It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all
- It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all
- It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all
- It’s not rocket science
- It’s that man again
- Itty-bitty
- Ivory tower
- Jack in the box
- Jack of all trades
- Jack Palancing
- Jack tar
- Jack the lad
- Jam tomorrow
- Jeepers-creepers
- Jerry built
- Jet-black
- Jiggery-pokery
- Jimmy Horner
- Jimmy Riddle
- Jobs for the boys
- John Heywood
- Johnny on the spot
- Join the colours
- Joined at the hip
- Jot or tittle
- Jump on the bandwagon
- Jump the gun
- Jump the shark
- Just deserts
- Just in time
- Kangaroo court
- Katy bar the door
- Keel over
- Keep a stiff upper lip
- Keep at bay
- Keep body and soul together
- Keep it under your hat
- Keep shtum
- Keep the ball rolling
- Keep your chin up
- Keep your distance
- Keep your hands clean / keep your nose clean
- Keep your nose to the grindstone
- Keep your pecker up
- Keep your powder dry
- Keeping up with the Joneses
- Keepy-uppy
- Khyber pass
- Kick the bucket
- Kick your heels
- Killed in a bar when he was only three
- Kilroy was here
- Kiss and tell
- Kiss me Hardy
- Kith and kin
- Knee-jerk reaction
- Knick-knack
- Knickers in a twist
- Knock into a cocked hat
- Knock off
- Knock on wood
- Knocked up
- Know on which side your bread is buttered
- Know the ropes
- Know which way the wind blows
- Know your onions
- Knuckle down
- Knuckle under
- La dolce vita
- La-di-da
- La-la land
- Lackadaisical
- Lager frenzy
- Laid out in lavender
- Lamb to the slaughter
- Lame duck
- Land-lubber
- Lantern-jawed
- Lark about
- Last but not least
- Latin Phrases
- Laugh like a drain
- Laughing-stock
- Lay it on with a trowel
- Lead-pipe cinch
- Left in the lurch
- Less and fewer, what’s the difference?
- Less is more
- Let a thousand flowers bloom
- Let bygones be bygones
- Let not the sun go down on your wrath
- Let sleeping dogs lie
- Let the cat out of the bag
- Let them eat cake
- Let there be light
- Let your hair down
- Level playing field
- Lick into shape
- Lickety-split
- Lie low
- Life begins at forty
- Life in the 1500s – Folk Etymologies
- Life’s not all beer and skittles
- Life’s too short
- Like a chicken with its head cut off
- Like a moth to a flame
- Like being savaged by a dead sheep
- Like billy-o
- Like it or lump it
- Like the dickens
- Lily-livered
- Lions led by donkeys
- Little pitchers have big ears
- Live long and prosper
- Living off the fat of the land
- Living on borrowed time
- Lo and behold
- Loaf of bread
- Local derby
- Lock, stock and barrel
- Long in the tooth
- Long-winded
- Look before you leap
- Loose cannon
- Loose lips sink ships
- Lose face – Save face
- Lose your marbles
- Love is blind
- Love thy neighbour
- Loved-up
- Lovey-dovey
- Lunatic fringe
- Mackerel sky
- Mad dogs and Englishmen
- Magical realism
- Main chance
- Make a bee-line for
- Make a clean breast of it
- Make a rod for your own back
- Make a virtue of necessity
- Make an ass of yourself
- Make haste
- Make hay while the sun shines
- Make him an offer he can’t refuse
- Make my day
- Make no bones about
- Makes your hair stand on end
- Mal de mer
- Man does not live by bread alone
- Man’s best friend
- Man’s inhumanity to man
- Many a little makes a mickle
- Many a true word is spoken in jest
- Many are called but few are chosen
- Many happy returns
- Mare’s nest
- Marital aid
- Market forces
- Marry in haste, repent at leisure
- May you live in interesting times
- Mea culpa
- Meat and two veg.
- Meet your Waterloo
- Memory lane
- Men in suits
- Men’s evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water
- Ménage à trois
- Mend fences
- Merry Christmas
- Middle for diddle
- Middle of the road
- Might and main
- Mighty oaks from little acorns grow
- Milk of human kindness
- Minced oath
- Mind your Ps and Qs
- Mind’s ear
- Mint condition
- Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows
- Moaning Minnie
- Money for old rope
- Monstrous regiment of women
- Montezuma’s revenge
- Moot point
- Morbid obesity
- More bang for your buck
- More fool you
- More haste, less speed
- More honoured in the breach than in the observance
- Morning person
- Mother country
- Motley crew
- Mouth-watering
- Movers and shakers
- Moving the goalposts
- Much ado about nothing
- Much of a muchness
- Mull over
- Mum’s the word
- Mumbo jumbo
- Murphy’s Law
- Music has charms to soothe the savage breast
- Mutt and Jeff
- Mutton dressed as lamb
- My bad
- My better half
- My cup of tea
- My cup runneth over
- My giddy aunt
- My husband and I
- My mind’s eye
- My old china
- My old Dutch
- My way or the highway
- Nail your colours to the mast
- Namby-pamby
- Name and shame
- Nasty, brutish and short
- Nature versus nurture
- Ne’er cast a clout till May be out
- Ne’er do well
- Near the knuckle
- Necessity is the mother of invention
- Needs must
- Neither a borrower nor a lender be
- Neither here nor there
- Never give a sucker an even break
- Never knowingly undersold
- Never the twain shall meet
- Never-Never land
- Nevertheless
- New kid on the block
- Nicholas Udall
- Night owl
- Night soil
- Nine days’ wonder
- Nip and tuck
- Nip in the bud
- Nitty-gritty
- No dice
- No holds barred
- No laughing matter
- No love lost
- No man is an island
- No more cakes and ale?
- No names, no pack-drill
- No rest for the wicked
- No room to swing a cat
- No way, Jose
- Nosy parker
- Not a dicky-bird
- Not by a long chalk
- Not by a long shot
- Not for all the tea in China
- Not playing with a full deck
- Not tonight Joséphine
- Not worth a plugged nickel
- Not worth the candle
- Nothing is certain but death and taxes
- Nothing succeeds like success
- Nothing ventured, nothing gained
- Now is the winter of our discontent
- Nul points
- O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
- O ye, of little faith
- Odds bodkins
- Off his own bat
- Off the record
- Off with his head
- Oh, my stars and garters
- Oh, that way madness lies
- Oh, they have slain the Earl of Moray and Lady Mondegreen
- Okay
- Okey-dokey
- Old chestnut
- Old codger
- Old fogey
- Old hat
- Old soldiers never die
- Olive the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names
- On a hiding to nothing
- On a wing and a prayer
- On Carey Street
- On cloud nine
- On tenterhooks
- On the ball
- On the bubble
- On the button
- On the dole
- On the fiddle
- On the nose
- On the pig’s back
- On the QT
- On the side of the angels
- On the wagon
- On the warpath
- On with the motley
- On your beam ends
- On your tod
- Once bitten, twice shy
- Once in a blue moon
- Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more
- One foot in the grave
- One for the road
- One good turn deserves another
- One hand washes the other
- One man’s meat is another man’s poison
- One over the eight
- One sandwich short of a picnic
- One stop shop
- One swallow doesn’t make a summer
- One-hit wonder
- Oompa Loompa
- Open season
- Out of kilter
- Out of sight
- Out of sight, out of mind
- Out of sorts
- Out of the frying pan into the fire
- Out of the jaws of death
- Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings
- Over a barrel
- Over the moon
- Over the top
- Over-egg the pudding
- Oversexed, overpaid and over here
- Oxo cube
- P. D. Q.
- Paddle your own canoe
- Paint the town red
- Panic stations
- Paper tiger
- Parting shot
- Pass away
- Pass muster
- Pass over to the other side
- Pass the buck
- Pearls before swine
- Pears for your heirs
- Pecking order
- Peeping Tom
- Peg out
- Pell-mell
- Pennies from heaven
- Penny dreadful
- Penny wise and pound foolish
- Penny-pinching
- Pester power
- Peter out
- Petty cash
- Phrases and sayings that have a nautical origin
- Phrases and Sayings that you can use on Christmas Cards
- Phrases coined by Shakespeare – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- Phrases coined by Shakespeare – As You Like It
- Phrases coined by Shakespeare – Hamlet
- Phrases coined by Shakespeare – Macbeth
- Phrases coined by Shakespeare – The Tempest
- Phrases coined by Sir Walter Scott
- Physician, heal thyself
- Pick ‘n’ mix
- Picture-perfect
- Pie in the sky
- Piece-of-piss
- Pig and whistle
- Pig’s ear
- Pigeon-chested
- Piggy-wiggy
- Piggyback
- Pigs might fly / When pigs fly
- Pin money
- Pip-pip
- Pipe down
- Pipe dream
- Piping hot
- Pitch dark
- Plain sailing
- Plates of meat
- Play by ear
- Play ducks and drakes
- Play fast and loose
- Play gooseberry
- Play it again Sam
- Play second fiddle
- Play the race card
- Plug-ugly
- Poetic justice
- Point Percy at the porcelain
- Point to point
- Point-and-click
- Point-blank range
- Politically correct
- Pommy-bashing
- Pomp and circumstance
- Pond life
- Pony and trap
- Pony up
- Pop goes the weasel
- Pop your clogs
- Popular fallacies – the coffin quartet
- Pork pies
- POSH – Port out, starboard home
- Pound of flesh
- Pour oil on troubled waters
- Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely
- Power dressing
- Praying at the porcelain altar
- Preaching to the choir
- Prepositional phrases
- Preposterous
- Preposterous phrases
- Press into service
- Presto chango
- Prick up your ears
- Pride comes before a fall
- Prime time
- Primrose path
- Private parts
- Procrastination is the thief of time
- Proverbs from the Bible
- Pull out all the stops
- Pull the wool over your eyes
- Pull up stakes
- Pull your finger out
- Pull your horns in
- Pull yourself up by your bootstraps
- Pulling one’s leg
- Punch above one’s weight
- Purple patch
- Push the boat out
- Push the envelope
- Put a damper on
- Put a sock in it
- Put on the wooden overcoat
- Put on your thinking cap
- Put paid to
- Put the cart before the horse
- Put the mockers on
- Put the wood in the hole
- Put to sleep
- Put up your dukes
- Put your back up
- Put your best foot forward
- Put your nose out of joint
- Put your oar in
- Put your shoulder to the wheel
- Pyrrhic victory
- Quality time
- Quantum leap
- Queer Street
- Queer the pitch
- Quicker than lager turns to piss
- Quid pro quo
- Quotations
- Rabbit and pork
- Rack and ruin
- Rack your brains
- Rag-and-bone man
- Rag, tag and bobtail
- Raining cats and dogs
- Raining stair-rods
- Raise Cain
- Rank and file
- Raspberry tart
- Rat-arsed
- Raze to the ground
- Razzle-dazzle
- Read between the lines
- Read the riot act
- Rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic
- Red herring
- Red in tooth and claw
- Red sky at night
- Red tape
- Red-letter day
- Reduplicated Phrases
- Religion is the opium of the people
- Rest on your laurels
- Revenge is a dish best served cold
- Rhyme nor reason
- Richard of York gave battle in vain
- Richard the Third
- Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross
- Riding shotgun
- Riff-raff
- Ring a ring o’roses, a pocketful of posies, atishoo, atishoo, all fall down
- Ring down the curtain
- Ring the changes
- Ring-fencing
- Rings a bell
- Rinky-dink
- Rise and shine
- Road apples
- Road rage
- Rob Peter to pay Paul
- Rock and roll
- Roly-poly
- Rome wasn’t built in a day
- Rootin’ tootin’
- Rosie Lee
- Round Robin
- Route one
- Rule of thumb
- Rumpy-pumpy
- Run a mile
- Run amok
- Run of the mill
- Run out of steam
- Run rings around
- Run the gauntlet
- Sacred cow
- Safe sex
- Sailing close to the wind
- Salad days
- San fairy Ann
- Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything
- Save one’s bacon
- Saved by the bell
- Savoir faire
- Say cheese
- Say goodnight Gracie
- Sayings and phrases about March
- Sayings that start with the letter A
- Sayings that start with the letter B
- Sayings that start with the letter C
- Sayings that start with the letter D
- Sayings that start with the letter E
- Sayings that start with the letter F
- Sayings that start with the letter G
- Sayings that start with the letter H
- Sayings that start with the letter I
- Sayings that start with the letter J
- Sayings that start with the letter K
- Sayings that start with the letter L
- Sayings that start with the letter M
- Sayings that start with the letter N
- Sayings that start with the letter O
- Sayings that start with the letter P
- Sayings that start with the letter Q
- Sayings that start with the letter R
- Sayings that start with the letter S
- Sayings that start with the letter T
- Sayings that start with the letter U
- Sayings that start with the letter W
- Sayings that start with the letter X, Y or Z
- Scapegoat
- Scarper
- Scot free
- Scraping the barrel
- Screw your courage to the sticking place
- Sealed with a loving kiss
- Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
- Second-guess
- Security blanket
- See a man about a dog
- See a pin and pick it up, all the day you’ll have good luck
- See red
- Seek and you shall find
- Seen better days
- Selling like hot cakes
- Send packing
- Senior citizen
- Sent to Coventry
- Separate the sheep from the goats
- Set one’s cap at
- Set one’s teeth on edge
- Sex and shopping
- Sexton Blake
- Shaggy dog story
- Shake a leg
- Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
- Shanks’ mare
- Share and share alike
- Shilly-shally
- Ship-shape and Bristol fashion
- Shit for brains
- Shiver my timbers
- Shoddy
- Shoot through
- Short shrift
- Show a leg
- Show your mettle
- Shrinking violet
- Shuffle off this mortal coil
- Shut your cake-hole
- Siamese twins
- Sick puppy
- Silence is golden
- Silver bullet
- Sitting pretty
- Six ways to Sunday
- Skid row
- Skin and blister
- Sleep like a top
- Sleep on a clothesline
- Sleep tight
- Sleep with
- Sloane Ranger
- Slush fund
- Smart casual
- Smoke and mirrors
- Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep
- So sue me
- Soap-dodger
- Sold down the river
- Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ’em
- Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men, have mediocrity thrust upon them
- Someone is walking over my grave
- Something for the weekend sir?
- Something is rotten in the state of Denmark
- Something nasty in the woodshed
- Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue
- Son of a bitch
- Son of a gun
- Sound bite
- Sour grapes
- Space: the final frontier
- Spare the rod and spoil the child
- Speak of the Devil
- Speak softly and carry a big stick
- Special relationship
- Spelling-bee
- Spend a penny
- Spend more time with my family
- Spick and span
- Spill the beans
- Spin doctor
- Spitting feathers
- Spitting image
- Spoonerisms
- Spring forward, fall back
- Spruce-up
- Squeaky bum time
- Stand and deliver
- Stand-up guy
- Standing on the shoulders of giants
- Star-crossed lovers
- Stark, raving mad
- Start from scratch
- Starter For Ten
- Steal a march
- Steal one’s thunder
- Step up to the plate
- Stick in the mud
- Sticks and stones may break my bones
- Stiffen the sinews
- Stinking rich
- Stone the crows
- Stony-hearted
- Stool pigeon
- Straight from the horse’s mouth
- Strain at the leash
- Strait and narrow
- Strait-laced
- Stranger danger
- Strike while the iron is hot
- Stuck fast
- Stuff and nonsense
- Stump up
- Such is life
- Such stuff as dreams are made on
- Super-duper
- Surf and turf
- Surfing
- Survival of the fittest
- Suspension of disbelief
- Swan song
- Sweet Fanny Adams
- Swing the lead
- Take a back seat
- Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves
- Take down a peg or two
- Take potluck
- Take the bit between your teeth
- Take the cake
- Take the gilt off the gingerbread
- Take the Mickey
- Take umbrage
- Take with a grain of salt
- Taken aback
- Taken for a ride
- Talk through one’s hat
- Talk to the hand (’cause the face ain’t listening)
- Tall story
- Tattoo Phrases
- Tawdry
- Tea leaf – A
- Technicolor yawn
- Teensy-weensy
- Tell it to the marines
- Tell me about it
- Tempest in a teapot
- That’s all folks!
- That’s all she wrote
- That’s one small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind
- The exception that proves the rule
- The (most) unkindest cut of all
- The ants are my friends, they’re blowing in the wind
- The apple never falls far from the tree
- The apple of my eye
- The back of beyond
- The balance of power
- The balance of trade
- The bane of one’s life
- The be all and end all
- The bee’s knees
- The belle of the ball
- The best laid schemes of mice and men
- The Big Apple
- The big cheese
- The Big Easy
- The birds and the bees
- The bitter end
- The blind leading the blind
- The bowels of the earth
- The bread of life
- The buck stops here
- The call of nature
- The call of the wild
- The camera cannot lie
- The Canting Crew
- The cat’s pajamas
- The chickens come home to roost
- The child is father to the man
- The collywobbles
- The course of true love never did run smooth
- The crack of doom
- The crapper
- The customer is always right
- The dark side
- The darkest hour
- The darkest hour is just before the dawn
- The darling buds of May
- The Devil has all the best tunes
- The Devil incarnate
- The devil is in the details
- The devil makes work for idle hands to do
- The Devil take the hindmost
- The devil to pay
- The devil’s advocate
- The die has been cast
- The early bird catches the worm
- The elephant in the room
- The emperor’s new clothes
- The empire on which the sun never sets
- The ends of the earth
- The face that launched a thousand ships
- The fat is in the fire
- The female of the species is more deadly than the male
- The floozie in the jacuzzi
- The Full Monty
- The game is afoot
- The game is up
- The girl with colitis goes by
- The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence
- The great unwashed
- The hair of the dog
- The hairy eyeball
- The Ides of March
- The jury is still out
- The land of Nod
- The last straw (that broke the camel’s back)
- The law is an ass
- The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing
- The life of Riley
- The living daylights
- The long arm of the law
- The love of money is the root of all evil
- The love that dare not speak its name
- The Mad Maid’s Song, by Robert Herrick
- The many way to pronounce ‘ough’
- The more the merrier
- The moving finger writes
- The mutt’s nuts
- The Nonsense Nine – the most popular examples of folk etymology
- The order of the boot
- The pen is mightier than the sword
- The penny drops
- The pits
- The pot calling the kettle black
- The powers that be
- The proof of the pudding
- The quality of mercy is not strained
- The Queen’s English
- The quick and the dead
- The Real McCoy
- The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated
- The rich get richer and the poor get poorer
- The road less travelled
- The road less travelled
- The road to hell is paved with good intentions
- The root of the matter
- The rub of the green
- The salt of the earth
- The seven-year itch
- The shoemaker always wears the worst shoes
- The short end of the stick
- The shot heard ’round the world
- The sky’s the limit
- The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
- The smallest room in the house
- The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak
- The spirit of the staircase
- The status quo
- The tail wagging the dog
- The third degree
- The toast of the town
- The triumph of hope over experience
- The usual suspects
- The wages of sin is death
- The whole ‘whole nine yards’ enchilada
- The whole kit and caboodle
- The whole nine yards
- The whole shebang
- The writing is on the wall
- The wrong side of the blanket
- The year dot
- The Yellow Peril
- There are three kinds of lies…
- There but for the grace of God, go I
- There is more than one way to skin a cat
- There is no alternative
- There is no such thing as bad publicity
- There is one born every minute
- There’s a bathroom on the right
- There’s an R in the month
- There’s method in my madness
- There’s no fool like an old fool
- There’s no place like home
- There’s no such thing as a free lunch
- There’s one law for the rich and another law for the poor
- Thereby hangs a tale
- Thick and fast
- Things that go bump in the night
- Think outside the box
- Think outside the box
- Third time lucky
- This is the short and the long of it
- This is very midsummer madness
- This precious stone set in the silver sea, this sceptered isle
- Thou shalt not kill
- Though this be madness, yet there is method in it
- Three score and ten
- Three sheets to the wind
- Three strikes and you are out
- Through thick and thin
- Throw a spanner in the works
- Throw good money after bad
- Throw in the towel
- Throw your hat into the ring
- Thumbs up
- Tic-tac-toe
- Ticked off
- Tickety-boo
- Tickle the ivories
- Tickled pink
- Tide over
- Tie the knot
- Till the cows come home
- Tilting at windmills
- Time and tide wait for no man
- Time’s wingèd chariot
- Tired and emotional
- Tit for tat
- Tits-up
- To a T
- To bandy words
- To be, or not to be, that is the question
- To beat the band
- To boldly go where no man has gone before
- To boot
- To cast the first stone
- To catch a crab
- To err is human; to forgive, divine
- To kowtow to
- To mince words
- To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub
- To the manner born
- To the nth degree
- To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive
- Toe the line
- Toe-curling
- Toffee-nosed
- Tom, Dick and Harry
- Tommy Atkins
- Tomorrow is another day
- Tongue in cheek
- Too big for your breeches
- Too many cooks spoil the broth
- Too much of a good thing
- Toodle-oo
- Toodle-pip
- Tooth and nail
- Top dog
- Top drawer
- Top notch
- Topsy-turvy
- Touch and go
- Touchy-feely
- Tout de suite
- Tower of strength
- Trick or treat?
- Trip the light fantastic
- Trouble and strife
- True blue
- Truth is stranger than fiction
- Truth will out
- Tuckered out
- Tudor Phrases and Sayings By Gary Martin
- Turkeys voting for Christmas
- Turn a blind eye
- Turn of phrase
- Turn the tables
- Turn up trumps
- Twelve good men and true
- Twenty four seven
- Two cents’ worth
- Two heads are better than one
- Under the auspices of
- Under the greenwood tree
- Under the thumb
- Under wraps
- Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown
- Union Jack
- Up a blind alley
- Up a gum tree
- Up in arms
- Up shit creek without a paddle
- Up the ante
- Up the apples and pears
- Up the duff
- Up the pole
- Up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire
- Up to snuff
- Upper crust
- Ups-a-daisy
- Upset the apple-cart
- Upside down
- Upside-down
- Urban myth
- Valentine’s Day Poems and Sayings
- Vanish into thin air
- Veg out
- Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things
- Vice versa
- Vicious circle
- Vis-à-vis
- Visit the ladies’ room
- Vorsprung Durch Technik
- Vorsprung Durch Technik
- Vote with their feet
- Walk free
- Walk the plank
- Walk the walk
- Walkie-talkie
- Warts and all
- Watching brief
- Wax poetic
- We are a grandmother
- We are not amused
- We few, we happy few, we band of brothers
- We know where you live
- Wear the trousers
- Wear your heart on your sleeve
- Weasel words
- Wee-wee
- Well endowed
- Well hung
- Well-heeled
- Wet behind the ears
- Wet blanket
- What a palaver
- What a piece of work is man
- What are Eponyms?
- What are euphemisms?
- What are Mondegreens?
- What are Similes?
- What are you like?
- What football is all about
- What God has joined together let no man put asunder
- What part of no don’t you understand?
- What the dickens
- What you see is what you get (wysiwyg)
- What’s not to like?
- What’s up Doc?
- When in Rome, do as the Romans do
- When it comes to the crunch
- When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions
- When the going gets tough, the tough get going
- When the shit hits the fan
- Where the bee sucks, there suck I
- Where there’s muck there’s brass
- Whet your appetite
- Which is which
- While you live, tell truth and shame the Devil!
- Whipper snapper
- Whipping boy
- Whistle and flute
- Whistle down the wind
- Whistle-blower
- White bread
- Who wooed in haste, and means to wed at leisure
- Why does bread always fall butter side down?
- Wild and woolly
- Wild goose chase
- Willy-nilly
- Win hands down
- Win one for the Gipper
- Wing it
- Winter draws on
- Wish you were here
- With bells on
- With child
- Without let or hindrance
- Without so much as a by your leave
- Woe betide you
- Woe is me
- Women and children first
- Word Association Football
- Word for word
- Words ending in gry
- Words invented by William Shakespeare
- Worse for wear
- Worth one’s salt
- Wotcher
- Wouldn’t touch with a barge-pole
- Wreak havoc
- Yada yada
- Yellow-belly
- You are what you eat
- You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink
- You can lead a horticulture but you can’t make her think
- You can’t get blood out of a stone
- You can’t have your cake and eat it
- You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear
- You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs
- You can’t see the wood for the trees
- You can’t teach an old dog new tricks
- You look as if you’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards
- You’ll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent
- You’ve never had it so good
- Young turk
- Your days are numbered
- Your name is mud
- Zero tolerance
- Zig-zag
2,500 English Phrases and Sayings – each one explained
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