English Idioms About “Health”
Idiom: Bitter pill to swallow
Meaning: (Also swallow a bitter pill) Said about something unpleasant that must be accepted or endured.
Example: After the disappointment and defeat, to declare bankruptcy was a bitter pill to swallow for him.
English Idioms About “Religion”
Idiom: As patient as Job
Meaning: If someone is as patient as Job, they are very patient. The person who shows great endurance through all sorts of trials is said to have the patience of Job. This idiom is a simile related to the religious figure Job mentioned as a prophet in all Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. ones, his health and all his property. His struggle and his patience to understand his situation leads him to get a reward from God restoring his health, doubling his original wealth and giving him a lot of children and grandchildren. Job is presented as a good and prosperous family man who is beset with hideous and dreadful events that bereft him of his loved by
Example: If you want to work with that temperamental woman you must be as patient as Job.
English Idioms About “Food”
Idiom: Traffic jam
Meaning: A lot of vehicles causing slow traffic.
Example: We got stuck in a traffic jam for more than an hour.
English Idioms About “Animals”
Idiom: Dogs are barking
Meaning: If your dogs are barking, this means that your feet are hurting. Interesting fact: There is a brand of shoes called Hush Puppy. The connection between this brand and the expression “dogs are barking” is obvious: the shoes Hush Puppies are supposedly so comfortable and your feet won’t hurt when you wear them.
Example: My dogs are barking because I walked ten miles.
English Idioms About “Law”
Idiom: The spirit of the law
Meaning: When one obeys the spirit of the law but not the letter, one is doing what the authors of the law intended, though not necessarily adhering to the literal wording. (See also letter of the law) In one of the best known examples, The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare introduces the quibble as a plot device to save both the spirit and the letter of the law. The moneylender Shylock has made an agreement with Antonio that if he cannot repay a loan he will have a pound of flesh from him. When the debt is not repaid in time Portia at first pleads for mercy in a famous speech: “The quality of mercy is not strain’d, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.” (IV,i,185). When Shylock refuses, she finally saves Antonio by pointing out that Shylock’s agreement with him mentioned no blood, and therefore Shylock can have his pound of flesh only if he sheds no blood.
Example: A judge who adheres to the spirit of the law is concerned with the intent and purpose of the lawmaker.
English Idioms About “Travel”
Idiom: Make one’s way
Meaning: To move in a particular direction; advance in life by one’s own efforts.
Example: 1. He made his way to the police station and told all about the murder. 2. He had to make his own way in the world as his family was very poor.
English Idioms About “Animals”
Idiom: when pigs fly
Meaning: If you say when pigs fly you mean that something will never happen. This phrase is used presumably due to the unlikelihood that pigs will ever evolve wings.
Example: Sure she’ll help us clean the house — when pigs fly.