IDIOM: to call it a day
MEANING: to finish work for the day
EXAMPLE: “I’m tired. Let’s call it a day.”
IDIOM: to call it quits
MEANING: to finish work for the day
EXAMPLE: “I’m tired. Let’s call it quits.”
IDIOM: can’t make heads or tails of something
MEANING: can’t understand something at all; find something confusing and illogical
EXAMPLE: Dee-Dee can’t make heads or tails of her assignment. She should ask the teacher for help.
IDIOM: to catch forty winks
MEANING: to sleep for a while; take a nap
EXAMPLE: “You look like you’re tired. Why don’t you catch forty winks?”
IDIOM: to catch (one’s) eye
MEANING: to attract (one’s) attention/interest
EXAMPLE: Pretty colours always catch my eye when I go shopping.
IDIOM: to catch some Zs / to catch a few Zs
MEANING: to sleep for a while; take a nap
EXAMPLE: “You look like you’re tired. Why don’t you catch some Zs?”
ORIGIN: In cartoons, when people sleep, it shows them with line of Zs coming from their mouths.
IDIOM: to change one’s mind
MEANING: to decide to do something different from what was decided earlier
EXAMPLE: Amy: “I thought you wanted pizza for dinner. Why are you eating a hamburger?”
Eva: “I changed my mind.”
IDIOM: (be) chicken (adj. or n)
MEANING: afraid; cowardly
EXAMPLE: Leo won’t ride the roller coaster. He’s chicken / a chicken.
IDIOM: chow (n)
MEANING: food
EXAMPLE: “How’s the chow at that restaurant? Is it good?”
IDIOM: to chow down
MEANING: to eat
EXAMPLE: “I’m ready to chow down! What time is dinner?”
RELATED: to grab a bite
IDIOM: a cinch
MEANING: very easy
EXAMPLE: The exam was a cinch. All of the students scored high.
IDIOM: cool
MEANING: good, special, wonderful, terrific
EXAMPLE: English-Zone.Com is a cool place to learn idioms.
IDIOM: Cool it!
MEANING: Stop it!
EXAMPLE: “Cool it! If you complain again, we’re going to go back home!”
RELATED: Cut it out!
IDIOM: cost (one) an arm and a leg
MEANING: to cost a lot; be very expensive
EXAMPLE: The university tuition in California costs an arm and a leg! It’s far too expensive!
RELATED: a bundle (n)
IDIOM: couch potato
MEANING: someone who spends too much time watching TV
EXAMPLE: My brother is a big couch potato. He needs to turn off the TV and get more exercise!
IDIOM: cram
MEANING: try to learn a lot of information very quickly
EXAMPLE: Many students cram the night before a test, but forget the information right after the test.
IDIOM: crash course (n)
MEANING: a short course to learn a lot of information in a very short time
EXAMPLE: Nora wants to take a crash course in cooking because she’s going to have a dinner party.
IDIOM: Cut it out!
MEANING: stop doing something that’s annoying to me
EXAMPLE: Those students are making too much noise. They’d better cut it out!
