Twenty of American Idioms

 

Reedited by Guyun Duxian
Republished on Feb. 26, 2008

 

1. get rolling - start to be active
eg. let's get rolling!

 

2. no sweat - easily done or handled; a task that is easy or simple
eg. - Will you carry those boxes out to the garage?
- No sweat, boss.

 

3. snowed under - have too much work to do
eg. I want to leave work on time today, but I can't because I'm snowed under.

 

4. worth one's salt - competent or adept
eg.Any doctor worth his salt should be able to correctly diagnose the illness.

 

4, middle-of-the-road - having a centrist attitude or philosophy; not extreme, especially politically.
eg. A typical middle of the road compromise is to leave the problem as it is.

 

5. stack up
1. To measure up or equal
eg. Their gift doesn't stack up against his.
2. To make sense; add up
eg.Her report just doesn't stack up.

 

6. give someone the runaround - to delay, dodge, or frustrate (someone), especially by providing useless information or directions .
eg. They gave me the runaround when I called. I got a full tour of the facility by phone, but no answer to my question.

 

7. to hare off - walk without a certain direction
eg. Plans are just there to stop you haring off in the wrong direction, but the important thing is to hare off. You'll soon see which way you need to go.

 

7. to ape somebody - to imitate another
eg. These days, everybody is trying to ape somebody else.

 

8. ferret out - search and discover through persistent investigation
eg. She ferreted out the truth

 

9. to hog sth - to take more than your share, not let anyone else have any/not allow others to use the thing that you are hogging.
eg. He was greedy as a pig to hog the cake.

 

10. to horse around/about - to play or fiddle; to clown; to do nothing of importance or consequence.
eg. Can we quit horsing around and get some work done?

 

11. to hound somebody - to persistantly follow someone
eg. It doesn't do me any good to hound somebody or follow them and make them angry at me.

 

12. to rat on somebody - to inform on somebody else, especially to the police or
breaks a friends trust and tells their secrets
eg. If you want to rat on somebody, make sure you have the facts or it will come back on you.

 

13. to squirrel something away - to save it or store it
eg. Some people will buy this product to squirrel it away into a collection

 

14. to wolf something down - to eat as quickly as a wolf does (狼吞虎咽)
eg. I wolfed down that sandwich so quickly.

 

15. stars in one's eye - someone who has stars in their eyes is very excited and hopeful about the future and imagines they are going to be very successful and famous.
eg. She was a girl with stars in her eyes and dreams of becoming famous.

 

16. put somebody on a pedestal - canonize somebody as saint
eg. It's a typical media paradigm: put somebody on a pedestal and then kick it away.

 

17. lay it on thick - to make an emotion or experience seem more important or serious than it really is.
eg. He'd injured his hand slightly but he was laying it on a bit thick about how painful it was.

 

18. know where one stands - know the situation
eg. One should know where one stands; be clear about what one has and what he doesn't.

 

19. no strings attached - without conditions or obligations; without a catch.
eg. For a friend, I'll help out for free, no strings attached.

 

20. have a corner on - have a share of
eg. We do not think we have a corner on the best products.