Idioms/Phrases asked in SSC exams -3

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

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

A live wire 

Meaning:-

• a person who is lively and full of energy

Mind Tricks:-

Word live means a living thing; not dead and wire that carry current. Word live indicates for living and wire for energy.

Usages:-

1. He is a live wire.
2. Superman is a really live wire.

Cool his heels  

Meaning:-

• to have to wait for somebody or something

Mind Tricks:-

Word cool indicates longer period of time.

Usages:-

1. He spent an hour cooling his heels in the waiting room.
2. Don't cool your heels, you should go now.

Bury the hatchet    

Meaning:-

• to stop being unfriendly and become friends again

Mind Tricks:-

Bury means to place something into the earth, and Hatchet means a small axe that was used at battle in past time.    

Usages:-

1. 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:-

 Word Wet indicates looseness and whistle means to utter or to speak. When you get drunk, you would loose you voice.

Usages:-

1. He wets his whistle in the party.
2. You should wet your whistle.

Through thick and thin  

Meaning:-

• even when there are problems or difficulties

Mind Tricks:-

Thick and thin indicating unevenness of something means having problems or difficulties.

Usages:-

1. He has supported the team for over ten years through thick and thin.
2. 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:-

Dogs may start barking if they rise. It would be better let sleeping dogs lie.

Usages:-

1. 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:-

Silver spoon indicates richness.

Usages:-

1. Stars' kids born with silver spoon in his mouth.
2. 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:-

Straw means stems of wheat or other grain plants that is very thin, weak and able to cut easily.

Usages:-

1. His army looks like men of straw.
2. 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

Usages:-

1. I am never on to look a gift horse in the mouth.

A cakewalk   

Meaning:-

• something that is extremely easy to do

Usages:-

1. Hitting ball out of the boundary is just a cakewalk for Dhoni.
2. 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:-

1. Our army should back to square one.
2. 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

Usages:-

1. I always put my desk in apple pie order.

A closed book 

Meaning:-

• a mystery
• a subject or person that you know nothing about

Usages:-

1. Aliens are a closed book for us.

In a month of Sundays

Meaning:-

• used to emphasize that something will never happen

Usages:-

1. You won't find it, not in a month of Sundays.
2. 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:-

You would drive someone or something home because someone or something is very important.

Usages:-

1. 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:-

If card players keep their hands above the table (the board), other players can see what they are doing.

Usages:-

1. 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

Usages:-

1. 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

Usages:-

1. 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

Usages:-

1. She had no axe to grind and was only acting out of concern for their safety.
2. These criticisms are commonly voiced by those who have some political axe to grind.

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