| 1 |
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush |
Having something for certain is better than the possibility of getting something better |
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| 2 |
A bird's eye view |
The appearance of something seen from above |
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| 3 |
A cat nap |
A short sleep, during the day |
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| 4 |
A cold fish |
Someone who doesn't show how they feel |
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| 5 |
A cuckoo in the nest |
Someone who is part of a group but is different and often disliked, or a problem that grows quickly and crowds out everything else |
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| 6 |
A dark horse |
A person who is secretive and often does something surprising |
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| 7 |
A dead duck |
A failure |
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| 8 |
A different kettle of fish |
A different matter or issue |
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| 9 |
A dog and pony show |
A show or other event that has been organized in order to get people's support or to persuade them to buy something |
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| 10 |
A fat cat |
Someone who is very rich and powerful |
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| 11 |
Ants in one's pants |
Unable to sit still or remain calm out of nervousness or excitement |
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| 12 |
A scaredy-cat |
Someone who is frightened for no reason |
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| 13 |
A shaggy dog story |
A joke or story that's obviously not true or has a silly ending |
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| 14 |
A wolf in sheep's clothing |
Someone who is dangerous, but pretends to be harmless |
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| 15 |
Bark worse than bite |
Used to describe someone who makes threats but never carries them out |
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| 16 |
Barking up the wrong tree |
The government was barking up the wrong tree with their proposal to sell off the UK's forests. To make the wrong choice, or ask the wrong person |
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| 17 |
Birds of a feather flock together |
People who have similar characters or similar interests will often choose to spend time together |
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| 18 |
Bull in a china shop |
A person with no tact who upsets others or upsets plans |
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| 19 |
Cash cow |
A good way to make money |
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| 20 |
Cat nap |
A short sleep |
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| 21 |
Chicken out |
To decide not to do something out of fear (usually just before) |
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| 22 |
Copy cat |
A person who does the same thing as someone else |
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| 23 |
Eager beaver |
A pearson who is excited about doing certain work |
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| 24 |
Even a blind squirrel can find a nut once in a while |
Sometimes people can be correct just by being lucky |
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| 25 |
Get the lion's share |
Get the greatest percentage |
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| 26 |
Gone to the dogs |
Used when someone or somewhere becomes less successful than it was |
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| 27 |
Has the cat got your tongue |
Said when someone isn't saying anything |
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| 28 |
Hold your horses |
Wait and be patient |
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| 29 |
It's raining cats and dogs |
It's raining very heavily |
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| 30 |
Kangaroo court |
A self-appointed group that decides what to do to someone who is supposed to have done wrong |
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| 31 |
Kill two birds with one stone |
Get two things done at once |
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| 32 |
Let sleeping dogs lie |
Leave something alone if it might cause trouble |
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| 33 |
Like a fish out of water |
To be uncomfortable in a particular situation |
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| 34 |
Living in cloud cuckoo land |
Used to describe someone who has ideas or plans that are completely unrealistic |
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| 35 |
Look what the cat's dragged in |
An insulting way of saying that someone has just arrived and they don't look good |
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| 36 |
Monkey see, monkey do |
Silly / unintelligent people tend to copy each other's actions |
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| 37 |
Mutton dressed (up) as lamb |
To describe a woman who is dressed in a style that is more suitable for a much younger woman |
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| 38 |
Not enough room to swing a cat |
Used to describe a place that is very small |
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| 39 |
Raining cats and dogs |
Raining heavily |
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| 40 |
Rat race |
Fierce, competitive struggle for power, position |
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| 41 |
Sraight from the horse's mouth. |
To hear something interesting from someone actually involved |
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| 42 |
Something is fishy |
Used when something is suspicious |
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| 43 |
Talk the hind leg off a donkey |
To talk a lot |
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| 44 |
(the) birds and the bees |
Sex education |
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| 45 |
The cat's whiskers |
When someone thinks they're better than everyone else |
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| 46 |
The early bird catches the worm |
If you do something in a timely manner you will succeed |
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| 47 |
The elephant in the room |
A problem or situation that everyone knows about but no one mentions |
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| 48 |
The worm has turned |
When a usually meek person or group of people becomes angry |
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| 49 |
To badger someone |
To pester someone into doing something |
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| 50 |
To be a chicken or To be chicken or to be chicken livered |
Someone who is cowardly |
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| 51 |
To be a fly on the wall |
To want to be somewhere secretly, so you can overhear what is said |
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| 52 |
To be as sly as a fox |
To be sneakily clever |
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| 53 |
To be dog-eared |
If something is dog-eared, it is in bad condition |
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| 54 |
To be dog tired |
To be exhausted |
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| 55 |
To be like a bear with a sore head |
To be in a bad mood |
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| 56 |
To be like a bull in a china shop |
To be clumsy |
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| 57 |
To be like a cat on a hot tin roof |
To be nervous and unable to keep still |
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| 58 |
To be like a dog with two tails |
To be very happy |
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| 59 |
To be like a rabbit in the headlights |
To be so frightened or surprised that you cannot move or think |
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| 60 |
To close (shut) the stable door after the horse has bolted |
To try to fix something after the problem has occurred |
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| 61 |
To cry wolf |
To raise a false alarm about something |
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| 62 |
To eat like a horse |
To eat a lot |
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| 63 |
To have ants in your pants |
To be unable to keep still because you are very excited or worried about something |
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| 64 |
To have a bee in your bonnet |
To be obsessed about something |
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| 65 |
To have bigger fish to fry |
To have more important things to do |
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| 66 |
To have a tiger by the tail |
To have become associated with something powerful and potentially dangerous |
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| 67 |
To get someone's goat |
To upset someone |
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| 68 |
To kill two birds with one stone |
To solve two problems with a single action |
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| 69 |
To let the cat out of the bag |
To reveal a secret |
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| 70 |
To look like the cat that got the cream |
To look very pleased and a bit smug about something |
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| 71 |
To not give a hoot |
To not care |
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| 72 |
To not give a monkey's |
Used to express lack of concern or interest |
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| 73 |
To put a cat among the pigeons |
To cause trouble |
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| 74 |
To pull a rabbit out of the hat |
To surprise everyone by suddenly doing something clever |
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| 75 |
To talk turkey |
To speak frankly and openly |
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| 76 |
To open a can of worms |
To do something that exposes a very difficult issue or set of problems |
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| 77 |
Water off a duck's back |
Said when someone doesn't let things upset them |
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| 78 |
What's sauce for the goose, (is sauce for the gander) |
If you think something is acceptable for one person, it should also be acceptable for another person |
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| 79 |
Wouldn't say boo to a goose |
Describes someone who is very nervous |
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