Idioms

When someone gets tricked, cheated or decieved, we say that they have been had. Being mistreated, cheated or dealt with badly, is known as being had.

This expression uses the verb to have in the sense of getting someone in one's power or at a disadvantage.

Today's cartoon is about the idiom someone's lips are sealed:

When you promise to keep something a secret you say my lips are sealed. It's something you say to let someone know that you will not tell anyone else what they have just told you.
"Don't worry, Joseph. I won't tell anyone what you told me. My lips are sealed."

February 14 is St. Valentine's Day; a day when lovers express their love for each other by giving flowers, gifts, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines").

In honour of St. Valentine's Day, here are 5 idioms which use the word heart. These are not examples of romantic idioms. The heart idioms cover a number of situations.

by heart

When you learn something by heart, you learn it exactly and from memory.

like a red rag to a bull

Definition: Something that will cause an angry or violent reaction.

This idiom is used at Upper Intermediate level.

When a fact or opinion is neither here nor there, it is not important.

Words that have the same meaning (synonyms) of neither here nor there are unimportant, inconsequential, irrelevant and immaterial.

First things, first. Here are four idioms and natural English expressions which using the word first.

first among equals

A member of a group who has more power (or is more important) than the rest, even though officially the members are all on the same level. One person is higher than the rest when they should all be the same.

"The Pope is first among equals in the Roman Catholic Church."

Today's cartoon is based on the idiom Put your heart into something:

When you put your heart into something you make a lot of effort to do something.
"He's the kind of person who puts his heart into his job."
"She wanted her company to be a success and really put her heart into it."