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IDIOMS - PAGE S

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IDIOM: (computer, literature, etc.) ___-savvy
MEANING: to have a lot of knowledge about (something)
EXAMPLE: "If you want a new computer, get some advice from Melany first. She's very computer-savvy. "


IDIOM: a scam
MEANING: a fraudulent or deceptive act or operation
EXAMPLE: A lot of the email I get involves scams to make money from other people. I just delete it all.


IDIOM: a scaredy-cat
MEANING: an unduly fearful person
EXAMPLE: Scott is a scaredy-cat. He sleeps with the light on, and he won't even go outside after dark!


IDIOM: scatterbrained (adj)
MEANING: a silly, careless, disorganized person
EXAMPLE: Maria is so scatterbrained sometimes! She lost her glasses three times today, and they were sitting right on top of her head!


IDIOM: to schmooze
MEANING: to converse idly; make relaxed, casual conversation
EXAMPLE: "At the meeting, we didn't discuss business. We just schmoozed."


IDIOM: scratch (one's) back
MEANING: to do a favor for someone
EXAMPLE: "If you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Now please get me those secret files. You can have my secretary's phone number after I get the files."


IDIOM: see a man about a horse
MEANING: a silly sentence that men say to announce that they need to go to the restroom (toilet)
EXAMPLE: Jack went to see a man about a horse. He'll be back in a minute.


IDIOM: to see eye to eye
MEANING: to have a common viewpoint
EXAMPLE: My husband and I see eye to eye on how to raise our children.


IDIOM: to see (someone) about
MEANING: to consult; to check or ask about (someone)
EXAMPLE: I'm going to see your teacher about your grades. I hope you've been studying!


IDIOM: sell (someone) down the river
MEANING: to betray the faith of
EXAMPLE: Why did you give company information to the competitor? You sold us down the river!


IDIOM: settle the score
MEANING: to get revenge; to inflict punishment by way of repayment for something
EXAMPLE: After Bill stole my girlfriend, I found a way to settle the score. I set fire to his school project!


IDIOM: Seventh Heaven
MEANING: a state of extreme joy
EXAMPLE: I love chocolate. When I went to the chocolate festival last week, I was really in seventh Heaven!
ORIGIN: from the seventh being the highest of the seven heavens of Islamic and cabalist doctrine


IDIOM: Shake a leg!
MEANING: Hurry up!
EXAMPLE: "You'd better shake a leg or you're going to be late for work!"
RELATED: Step on it!


IDIOM: Shape up or ship out!
MEANING:  to improve to a good or acceptable condition or standard of behavior
EXAMPLE: Gary needs to get his life in order. His parents told him to shape up or ship out.


IDIOM: shoot off one's mouth
MEANING: to speak hastily without consideration of the consequences
EXAMPLE: If you hadn't shot off your big mouth, we wouldn't be in trouble now!


IDIOM: shoot the breeze
MEANING: to converse idly; make relaxed, casual conversation
EXAMPLE: "At the meeting, we didn't discuss business. We just shot the breeze."


IDIOM: to shop around
MEANING: to compare prices on specific merchandise at various stores.
EXAMPLE: I want to buy a new vacuum cleaner, so I've been shopping around for one.


IDIOM: to show off
MEANING:  to display proudly;  to seek to attract attention by conspicuous behavior
EXAMPLE: When I got engaged, I couldn't wait to show off my engagement ring!
                    The boys ran, jumped, and shouted to show off for the girls.


IDIOM: to show (someone) around
MEANING: give (someone) a tour; escort (someone)
EXAMPLE: The department supervisor will show the new employees around the factory tomorrow.


IDIOM: (be) sick of
MEANING: having one's patience, tolerance, or pleasure exhausted
EXAMPLE: Mother: "I'm sick of your constant arguing, children! Now, be quiet and go to your rooms!"


IDIOM: sitting pretty
MEANING: to be in a highly favorable situation
EXAMPLE: Bill Gates and Donald Trump are sitting pretty. I wish I had half as much money as either one of them do!


IDIOM: Six of one, half dozen of the other.
MEANING: it doesn't matter - the choices are equally similar
EXAMPLE: Nicolas: "Do you want to rent a video, or go to the movies tonight?"
                          Gia: "Six of one, half dozen of the other."
                   Nicolas: "Then let's just rent a video."


IDIOM: to skip ___ (work, class, school, a meeting, etc.)
MEANING: to fail to attend or participate in
EXAMPLE: I knew there was going to be a substitute teacher today, so I skipped class.


IDIOM: to skip out
MEANING: to leave hurriedly or secretly; to depart from quickly and secretly
EXAMPLE: At the restaurant yesterday, two customers skipped out without paying their bill.
                   "Did you hear about jack? He skipped town last week!"


IDIOM: sky-high (adj)
MEANING: very expensive
EXAMPLE: Gas prices were sky-high last week, but they've come down a little.


IDIOM: sleep on it
MEANING: take a day to think about something before making a decision
EXAMPLE: "I love you very much. I'm so happy that you asked me to marry you. I'll give you my decision tomorrow, after I sleep on it. I have a lot to think about tonight."


IDIOM: smell a rat
MEANING: to have a suspicion that something is wrong with a situation
EXAMPLE: The man on the corner tried to sell me a radio for $5.00. I smelled a rat. The radio is probably stolen merchandise.


IDIOM: a snap
MEANING: something that is easy to do and presents no problems
EXAMPLE: "Making a paper airplane is a snap. Anybody can do it!"


IDIOM: snow job
MEANING: an intensive effort at persuasion or deception
EXAMPLE: Some salesmen are quite good at giving customers a snow job when they want to make a sale.


IDIOM: song and dance / song and dance routine
MEANING: a long and often familiar statement or explanation that is usually not true or pertinent
EXAMPLE: The student gave the teacher a long song and dance about why his project wasn't finished.


IDIOM: sooner or later
MEANING: eventually
EXAMPLE: Nell Carter is severely overweight. Sooner or later, she's going to have a heart attack.


IDIOM: a sore loser
MEANING: a person who gets angry, or irritated because of losing (a game, a contest, etc.)
EXAMPLE: Stop being a sore loser, Chuck! The other team simply played better than we did.


IDIOM: sort of / sorta
MEANING: a little bit; rather; more or less; somewhat
EXAMPLE: "I'm sort of hungry. Maybe I'll make a sandwich." "I'm sorta hungry too."
RELATED: kind of / kinda


IDIOM: so-so
MEANING: fair; not particularly good
EXAMPLE: Carla: "How's your chemistry class?"
                    Diana: "It's so-so. It's not the best class I've ever had."


IDIOM: a sourpuss
MEANING: a a habitually irritable or complaining person
EXAMPLE: Old Jack is really a sourpuss. I think he's only happy when he's complaining about something!


IDIOM: to spend ___ (time, money, energy)
MEANING: to expend or waste wealth, strength, or time, etc.
EXAMPLE: Luke spent a lot of time and energy on his project.


IDIOM: spill the beans
MEANING: to divulge secret or hidden information
EXAMPLE: Frank spilled the beans about the surprise birthday party. Now Genna knows all about it.


IDIOM: spine-chilling (adj) / spine-tingling
MEANING: alarmingly or eerily frightening
EXAMPLE: The Monkey's Paw is a spine-chilling story. Have you read it?


IDIOM: to splurge
MEANING: to indulge oneself extravagantly
EXAMPLE: I needed a new blanket, but I decided to splurge on myself and I bought a whole new bedroom set with matching sheets, curtains, a rug and some pillows too. I shouldn't have spent so much money, but it was so pretty that I couldn't resist.


IDIOM: spread (oneself) too thin
MEANING: trying to do too much
EXAMPLE: Lena joined the chess club, the photography club, and the dance company. Plus, she has a part-time job, and she goes to school. I think she's spreading herself too thin.


IDIOM: to spruce up
MEANING: to make (one) neat or smart in appearance
EXAMPLE: "Our house needs to be spruced up soon. It's looking a little too messy."
                   "Oh, look at you! You've spruced yourself up nicely! You look great!"


IDIOM: to start out
MEANING: to begin (a project, journey, process, etc)
EXAMPLE: Selena started out singing in Spanish, but soon she began performing in English too.


IDIOM: state-of-the-art (adj)
MEANING: using the latest technology
EXAMPLE: "Our new factory has state-of-the-art processing equipment."


IDIOM: Step on it!
MEANING: Hurry up!
EXAMPLE: "You'd better step on it or you're going to be late for work!"
RELATED: shake a leg


IDIOM: stick one's neck out
MEANING: to make oneself vulnerable by taking a risk
EXAMPLE: When a boy first tells a girl that he likes her, he is sticking his neck out. The girl might just laugh in his face. That would be so embarrassing!


IDIOM: stick to one's guns
MEANING: to maintain one's position especially in face of opposition
EXAMPLE: Even when it was clear that Peter was losing the debate, he stuck by his guns and kept arguing.


IDIOM: a stick-in-the-mud
MEANING: one who is slow, old-fashioned, or unprogressive
EXAMPLE: Our director is a real stick-in-the-mud. He won't install computers in the office because he thinks that typewriters are sufficient to work with.


IDIOM: a stone's throw
MEANING: a short distance
EXAMPLE: The dragon lives within a stone's throw of the village.


IDIOM: straight from the horse's mouth
MEANING: to get information directly from the source.
EXAMPLE: I know it's true - I heard it straight from the horse's mouth.


IDIOM: the straw that broke the camel's back
MEANING: the last trangression; the final act that makes someone do something drastic
EXAMPLE: When Gary was caught taking drugs for the third time, his parents said it was the straw that broke the camel's back. Gary had to go into a drug treatment facility, or move out of his family's house forever.


IDIOM: the last straw / the final straw
MEANING: the last trangression; the final act that makes someone do something drastic
EXAMPLE: When Gary was caught taking drugs for the third time, his parents said it was the final straw. Gary had to go into a drug treatment facility, or move out of his family's house forever.


IDIOM: string someone along
MEANING: to keep someone waiting for something - especially a decision, or the status of a relationship
EXAMPLE: "Is Luke going to Marry Laura?"
                   "No, he's just stringing her along. He has no plans to get married any time soon."


IDIOM: stuffed shirt
MEANING: a smug, conceited, pompous person often with an inflexibly conservative or reactionary attitude
EXAMPLE: The old politician was such a stuffed shirt that he voted NO on all the new laws, even when his advisors told him it would be good for the country to vote YES.


IDIOM: a sweet tooth
MEANING: a craving or fondness for sweet food
EXAMPLE: People who love chocolate have a sweet tooth. Do you have a sweet tooth?


IDIOM: a swelled head
MEANING: an exaggerated opinion of oneself
EXAMPLE: After Albert passed his test, he got a swelled head. If he tells me again how smart he is, I'm going to scream!


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