| Idiom | Meaning | Example Sentence |
| (on) cloud nine | extremely happy | Andrea was on cloud nine when she
bought her new car. |
| dig deep | look hard for information | I had to dig deep to find my old report
cards. |
| dirt cheap | very inexpensive | The clothes at the thrift shop are dirt
cheap. |
| down to earth | natural or real (personality) | Lucile is really down to earth for a
woman with so much money. |
| fair-weather friend | a person who is only a friend in good
times | I can't talk to Nancy about my boyfriend
problems. She's only a fair-weather friend. |
| a field day | a very enjoyable time | The kids had a field day at the water
slide park. |
| go downhill | get progressively worse | My grades started going downhill when I
got a part-time job. |
| go with the flow | continue in the same way as others | Nobody trained me at work. I just went with
the flow. |
| hit the hay | go to sleep | I'm exhausted. I think I'll hit the hay
early tonight. |
| hit the road | leave | It's getting late. We had better hit the
road. |
| keep one's head above
water | have just enough money to live | It's hard to keep my head above water
with all of these medical bills. |
| know which way the wind
blows | know how things will turn out | Who knows which way the wind will blow?
I just hope Jesse gets one of the jobs he's applied for. |
| make a mountain out of a
molehill | make a small problem seem big | The car only got a tiny dent. You're making
a mountain out of a molehill. |
| out of the woods | clear of danger | The doctor said my heart is doing better, but
I'm not out of the woods yet. |
| over the hill | past middle age | I knew I was over the hill when I
started needing glasses to read. |
| rain on someone else's
parade | ruin somebody else's happiness | Whenever I had a dance recital, my older
brother always rained on my parade. |
| stick-in-the-mud | a loner or person who won't join in | They didn't bother inviting Charles to the
party because he's alway a stick-in-the-mud. |
| (as) quick as
lightning | very fast | Wow! Your shower was as quick as
lightning. |
| the tip of the iceberg |
a small part of a large problem | The lost tickets were just the tip of the
iceberg. |
| take a raincheck | accept at a later date | I'd love to go out for dinner, but can I take
a raincheck? |
| under the weather | ill | I was feeling under the weather so I
went back to bed. |
| up the creek | in trouble | If my Dad finds out I had a party I'll be
up the creek. |
| win by a landslide | win by a lot of points | The skiier in the green coat won by a
landslide. |
| (get) wind of
something | overhear something about someone or something
(often gossip) | My Dad has a new girlfriend. I got wind of
it over dinner tonight. |