A live wire| Cool his heels| Bury the hatchet| Wet his whistle| Through thick and thin| Let sleeping dogs lie| Be born with silver spoon in month| A man of straw| Not to look a gift horse in the mouth| A cake walk| Back to square| Apple pie order| A closed book| A month of sundays| To drive home| To be above board| To cry wolf| On the wrong side of thirty| An axe to grind
Usages:-
A live wire
Meaning:-- a person who is lively and full of energy
Mind Tricks:-
Usages:-Word live means a living thing; not dead and wire that carry current. Word live indicates for living and wire for energy.
- He is a live wire.
- Superman is a really live wire.
Cool his heels
Meaning:-- to have to wait for somebody or something
Mind Tricks:-
Usages:-Word cool indicates longer period of time.
- He spent an hour cooling his heels in the waiting room.
- Don't cool your heels, you should go now.
Bury the hatchet
Meaning:-- to stop being unfriendly and become friends again
Mind Tricks:-
Usages:-Bury means to place something into the earth, and Hatchet means a small axe that was used at battle in past time.
- After not speaking to each other for years, the two brothers decided to bury the hatchet.
Wet (his/your/one's) whistle
Meaning:-- to have drink, take a drink
Mind Tricks:-
Usages:-Word Wet indicates looseness and whistle means to utter or to speak. When you get drunk, you would loose you voice.
- He wets his whistle in the party.
- You should wet your whistle.
Through thick and thin
Meaning:-- even when there are problems or difficulties
Mind Tricks:-
Usages:-Thick and thin indicating unevenness of something means having problems or difficulties.
- He has supported the team for over ten years through thick and thin.
- In marriage, you have to stick together through thick and thin.
Let sleeping dogs lie
Meaning:-- to avoid mentioning a subject or something that happened in the past, in order to avoid any problems or arguments
Mind Tricks:-
Usages:-Dogs may start barking if they rise. It would be better let sleeping dogs lie.
- I am not going to complain because I decided let sleeping dogs lie.
Be born with silver spoon in your mouth
Meaning:-- having rich parents
Mind Tricks:-
Usages:-Silver spoon indicates richness.
- Stars' kids born with silver spoon in his mouth.
- Most of the students at the exclusive private college were born with silver spoon in their mouths.
A man of straw
Meaning:-- a weak man and easy to defeat
Mind Tricks:-
Usages:-
Straw means stems of wheat or other grain plants that is very thin, weak and able to cut easily.
- His army looks like men of straw.
- He looks like a man of straw.
Look a gift horse in the mouth
Meaning:-- to refuse or criticize something that is given to you for nothing
- I am never on to look a gift horse in the mouth.
A cakewalk
Meaning:-- something that is extremely easy to do
- Hitting ball out of the boundary is just a cakewalk for Dhoni.
- Killing a man is just a cakewalk for the criminals.
Back to square one
Meaning:-- back to the beginning
- a return to the situation you were in at the beginning of a project, task etc. because you make not real progress.
Mind Tricks:-
Phrase "Back to square one" comes from a board game i.e. Ludo Game.
Usages:-
- Our army should back to square one.
- Negotiations have broken down and it is back to square one.
Apple pie order
Meaning:-- very well organized
- the state of being very carefully and neatly arranged
- I always put my desk in apple pie order.
A closed book
Meaning:-- a mystery
- a subject or person that you know nothing about
- Aliens are a closed book for us.
In a month of Sundays
Meaning:-- used to emphasize that something will never happen
- You won't find it, not in a month of Sundays.
- You can't pass, not in a month of Sundays.
To drive home
Meaning:-- to give special importance to someone or something
- to emphasize
Mind Tricks:-
Usages:-You would drive someone or something home because someone or something is very important.
- The teacher repeated the point three times just to drive it home.
To be above board
Meaning:-- legal and honest
- in a legal and honest way
Mind Tricks:-
Usages:-If card players keep their hands above the table (the board), other players can see what they are doing.
- If you do everything above board, you will have to pay tax on you earnings.
To cry wolf
Meaning:-- to call for help when you do not need it, with the result that when you do need it people do not believe you
- The boy who always cried wolf.
On the wrong side of 30 (40,50,60,70.....)
Meaning:-- more than 30 (40,50,60,70.....) years old
- I don't know his exact age but I should say he is the wrong side of fifty.
An axe to grind
Meaning:-- to have private reasons for being involved in something or for arguing for a particular cause
- She had no axe to grind and was only acting out of concern for their safety.
- These criticisms are commonly voiced by those who have some political axe to grind.
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