Colour idioms

Here are some idioms and expressions which use colours:

black

black and white

When something is black and white it is very clear to understand and decide if you think it is good or bad.

'This is a black and white situation. You are either with us or against us.'

a black sheep

To be a black sheep means that you are considered as an embarrassment to the rest of the group.

'When I got my nose pierced I became the black sheep of my family.'

blue

to be feeling blue

To feel a little depressed or sad.

'The bad weather is making me feel a little blue.'

out of the blue

Something which happens out of the blue is a surprise. It means that we were not expecting it to happen.

'I haven't seen them for years and then they call me out of the blue.'

brown

to be browned off

To be browned off means that you are annoyed by something or someone.

'My colleague is really browning me off. He's so lazy.'

green

to be green

Being green means that you have no experience.

'You can tell that he's never worked as a waiter before. He seems green. He doesn't know what he is doing.'

to be green with envy

This simply means that you are very envious

'I was green with envy when I saw my neighbour's new car!'

pink

to be in the pink

We are in the pink when we are in good health or in a perfect condition.

'I've been in the pink since I started going to the gym.'

to be tickled pink

To be tickled pink means that you are very happy about something.

'We were tickled pink to hear that she's having a baby.'

red

to paint the town red

To paint the town red means to go out and have a great time.

'There's nothing better than going out and painting the town red after a hard week at work.'

to see red

We are seeing red when we are very angry about something.

'My father was seeing red when I crashed his car!

white

a white elephant

A white elephant refers to something that is useless and very expensive to keep.

'He pays a lot of money on rent for his restaurant, but he has very few customers. It's a white elephant.'

a white lie

A white lie is a very small lie that we tell so that we do not cause any trouble.

'A told my wife a white lie. I said that her new hairstyle is nice, but I don't really like it.'

yellow

to be yellow

You are yellow when you are too scared to do something. To have no courage.

'Tina was too yellow to go on the roller-coaster!'

Link: Animal Idioms

• She's the ___ sheep in her family.
  
  white
  green
  black
  red
  
  
• They were ___ with envy when they heard about my great new job.
  
  blue
  green
  pink
  yellow
  
  
• I think it is ok to tell ___ lies sometimes.
  
  yellow
  black
  brown
  white
  
  
• He sees ___ every time his team loses.
  
  white
  yellow
  red
  black
  
  
• She was feeling ___ after she failed her exam.
  
  pink
  green
  red
  blue
  
  
• I had no idea you were coming. You came right out of the ___.
  
  green
  pink
  red
  blue
  
  
• Do not call me ___! I was not scared at all!
  
  red
  yellow
  blue
  green