Lesson
Apple of her/his eyeMEANING: someone or something that one likes a lot
EXAMPLE: the little girl is the apple of her grandfather抯 eye.
Bad egg
MEANING: a bad person, bum
EXAMPLE: That man is a bad egg so you should try and avoid him if you can.
Big cheese
MEANING: an important person, a leader
EXAMPLE: He is a big cheese in his company so you should be very nice to him.
Bread and butter
MEANING: basic needs of life (food, shelter, clothing)
EXAMPLE: The voters are worried about bread and butter issues like jobs and taxes.
Bring home the bacon
MEANING: earn your family抯 living
EXAMPLE: Recently he has been working very hard trying to bring home the bacon. He has no time to do anything else.
Butter up
MEANING: flatter someone to try to get their favour or friendship
EXAMPLE: He spends most of his free time trying to butter up his boss so that he won抰 have to work so hard.
Carrot and stick
MEANING: promising to reward or punish someone at the same time
EXAMPLE: The government took a carrot and stick approach to the people who were illegally protesting against the construction of the dam.
Cool as a cucumber
MEANING: calm, not nervous or anxious
EXAMPLE: He is always as cool as a cucumber and never worries about anything.
Couch potato
MEANING: a very lazy person
EXAMPLE: He is a real couch potato and just sits around watching TV and staying indoors all day.
Cream of the crop
MEANING: best of a group, the top choice
EXAMPLE: The company is well-known as a good place to work and is always able to hire the cream of the crop of university graduates.
Cry over spilt milk
MEANING: cry or complain about something that has already happened
EXAMPLE: Don抰 cry over spilt milk. The past is past and you can抰 do anything to change it.
cup of tea
MEANING: something one enjoys or does well
EXAMPLE: Going to art galleries is not my cup of tea so I think that I will stay home this evening and not go with you.
Eat crow
MEANING: admit one is mistaken or defeated, take back a mistaken statement
EXAMPLE: I was forced to eat crow and had to apologize for the mistake that I made about the restructuring of our company.
eat dirt
MEANING: act humble, accept another抯 insult or bad treatment
EXAMPLE: We made him eat dirt after he accused us of lying about the salary cut.
eat humble pie
MEANING: be humbled, admit one抯 error and apologize
EXAMPLE: Our boss was forced to eat humble pie after everyone realized that he had made the wrong budget estimate for next year.
Eat one抯 cake and have it too
MEANING: use or spend something and still keep it
EXAMPLE:
He refuses to give up anything and always wants to eat his cake and have it too.
Eat one抯 words
MEANING: take back something one has said; admit something is not true
EXAMPLE:
I told my boss that I would be leaving but later I had to eat my words and tell him that I wanted to stay.
Egg on
MEANING: urge someone on
EXAMPLE: Many people at the soccer game were egged on by the drunken fans.
