American Idioms

Front 1

to eat humble pie

Back 1

to admit your error and apologize

Front 2

a pig in a poke

Back 2

an item you purchase without having seen; a dissapointment

Front 3

a flash in the pan

Back 3

promising at the start but then dissapointing

Front 4

to pour oil on troubled waters

Back 4

to make peace, to calm someone down

Front 5

the sword of Democles

Back 5

any imminent danger (a king seated one of his subjects underneath a sword that was hanging by a hair, in order to teach him the dangers a king faces)

Front 6

Pyrrhic victory

Back 6

a too costly victory (King Pyrrhus defeated the Romans but his losses were extremely heavy)

Front 7

a wet blanket

Back 7

one who spoils the fun

Front 8

to beard the lion in his den

Back 8

to visit and oppose a person on his own grounds

Front 9

crocodile tears

Back 9

insincere tears (crocodiles were said to cry while eating their prey)

Front 10

to carry the day

Back 10

to win the approval of the majority

Front 11

Skid Row

Back 11

disreputable part of town, inhabited by derelicts and people "on the skid"

Front 12

to go up in smoke

Back 12

to come to no practical result (kindling smokes but it will not light a fire)

Front 13

to throw down the gauntlet

Back 13

to challenge someone (when the gauntlet, or medieval glove, was thrown down, the challenger was required to pick it up)

Front 14

feeling no pain

Back 14

drunk

Front 15

Hobson's choice

Back 15

to have no choice at all (Mr. Hobson owned a livery stable but he did not allow the customers to pick their horses)

Front 16

to rule the roost

Back 16

to be in charge, to be master (a roost is a perch where domestic birds can sleep)

Front 17

stock in trade

Back 17

the goods, tools, and other requisites of a profession

Front 18

to take down a peg

Back 18

to take the conceit out of a braggart (ship's colors used to be raised or lowered by pegs- the higher the colors, the greater the honor)

Front 19

to pass the buck

Back 19

to evade responsibility (the "buck" is a piece of buckshot passed form one poker player to another to keep track of whose turn it was to deal)

Front 20

to lionize a person

Back 20

to make a big fuss over someone (the lions at the Tower of London were considered its main attraction)