Meaning: Following a dead end path; Being totally wrong about something you believed to be true.
When using dogs in a foxhunt, the dogs would sometimes corner the fox in a tree and then proceed to bark up at the fox. Barking up the wrong tree, where there is no fox, is a pointless exercise.
This expression is mainly used in Britain. It is often used immediately after a set of simple instructions and roughly means the same as '... and it's as simple as that!'
A couple of weeks ago, I made the mistake of mentioning to a health-nut friend of mine that, with summer well on its way, I might possibly, perhaps, just maybe...
"Don't be unhappy that your boyfriend broke up with you - every cloud has a silver lining". What does this idiom mean?
Every cloud has a silver lining means that you should never feel hopeless because difficult times always lead to better days. Difficult times are like dark clouds that pass overhead and block the sun.
John Stuart Mill was a member of British Parliament between 1865 and 1868. He is perhaps most famous for his controversial essay titled ‘On Liberty’, in which he says...
'Don't drink too much tonight, you were three sheets to the wind last weekend.'
This expression is used to describe someone who is drunk to the point of being unable to stand up straight. The ‘sheets’ here refer to the sails of a windmill rather than bed linen. Windmill operators used to add or remove the number of sails according to the strength of the wind.
Coming from a teacher, it may sound strange to hear me admit that, when it comes to grammar, I just don’t have that much time for it!
This is a large question mark, isn't it?
Question tags are often used in spoken English. A rising intonation is used to show that the question is real, whereas a falling intonation shows that the speaker just wants confirmation from the person being spoken to.
