English Idioms and Expressions 1

A Collection of English Idioms and

Expressions1

Let sleeping dogs lie.

Dogs can be angry

and aggressive, especially if

they are disturbed.

So if you ‘let sleeping

dogs lie’ it means that it is best not do

something that will upset

someone.

Susan knew that other staff were

stealing office supplies, but she decided

to let sleeping

dogs lie and not report it to her manager.

Full of hot air

Balloons are full of hot air - that’s why they float!

Humans are ‘full of hot air’ when they talk nonsense - that is when they say things that

are clearly exaggerations or make predictions that are clearly going to be wrong.

Voters felt that one candidate in particular was full of hot air, making promises that they did

not believe he would be able to keep.

Blur the lines

To blur the lines

is to create

confusion between one thing

and another.

Some children’s

cartoons blur the lines between

entertainment and

advertising.

Go out on a ledge

A ledge is the side of a building or structure. Being high up it can be

a risky place to be.

To go out on a ledge is to take a risk.

Steve decided to go out on a ledge and promote Sarah even though she didn’t yet have the experience that is

normally required to do the job.

Open new

doors

To open new doors is to create

new opportunities

and possibilities.

Having an office in

Shanghai will open

new doors for our

company in the Chinese

market.

Asleep at the wheel

To be ‘asleep at the wheel’ is to be not paying attention or not being in control of a situation.

With the unemployment rate increasing sharply, the opposition accused the government of being asleep at the wheel.

Blow your own horn

To blow your own horn is to

tell everyone how good you are.

Kayne West really

likes to blow his

own horn.

See the big picture

To see the big picture is to understand how one idea fits within a bigger idea.

Bob might be upset about cuts to his

department’s budget, but he has to

learn to see the big picture.

Make giant

strides

Strides is an

adjective which

describes the size of a step

when walking.

To make giant

strides is to make

great progress towards a

goal.

We have made giant

strides towards making

our startup

profitable.

Make a

splash

To make a splash is to create attention

and excitement

about something.

Emily made a

real splash with her

designs at Paris

fashion week.

Ready to test yourself?

Confusion between one thing and another

Asleep at the wheelBlow your own hornBlur the linesFull of hot airGo out on a ledge

Let sleeping dogs lieMake a splashMake great stridesOpen new doorsSee the big picture

Confusion between one thing and another

Asleep at the wheelBlow your own hornBlur the linesFull of hot airGo out on a ledge

Let sleeping dogs lieMake a splashMake great stridesOpen new doorsSee the big picture

Take a risk

Asleep at the wheelBlow your own hornBlur the linesFull of hot airGo out on a ledge

Let sleeping dogs lieMake a splashMake great stridesOpen new doorsSee the big picture

Take a risk

Asleep at the wheelBlow your own hornBlur the linesFull of hot airGo out on a ledge

Let sleeping dogs lieMake a splashMake great stridesOpen new doorsSee the big picture

Make progress

Asleep at the wheelBlow your own hornBlur the linesFull of hot airGo out on a ledge

Let sleeping dogs lieMake a splashMake great stridesOpen new doorsSee the big picture

Make progress

Asleep at the wheelBlow your own hornBlur the linesFull of hot airGo out on a ledge

Let sleeping dogs lieMake a splashMake great stridesOpen new doorsSee the big picture

Get attention

Asleep at the wheelBlow your own hornBlur the linesFull of hot airGo out on a ledge

Let sleeping dogs lieMake a splashMake great stridesOpen new doorsSee the big picture

Get attention

Asleep at the wheelBlow your own hornBlur the linesFull of hot airGo out on a ledge

Let sleeping dogs lieMake a splashMake great stridesOpen new doorsSee the big picture

Don’t take a risk

Asleep at the wheelBlow your own hornBlur the linesFull of hot airGo out on a ledge

Let sleeping dogs lieMake a splashMake great stridesOpen new doorsSee the big picture

Don’t take a risk

Asleep at the wheelBlow your own hornBlur the linesFull of hot airGo out on a ledge

Let sleeping dogs lieMake a splashMake great stridesOpen new doorsSee the big picture

Draw attention to yourself

Asleep at the wheelBlow your own hornBlur the linesFull of hot airGo out on a ledge

Let sleeping dogs lieMake a splashMake great stridesOpen new doorsSee the big picture

Draw attention to yourself

Asleep at the wheelBlow your own hornBlur the linesFull of hot airGo out on a ledge

Let sleeping dogs lieMake a splashMake great stridesOpen new doorsSee the big picture

Lose focus, don’t pay attention

Asleep at the wheelBlow your own hornBlur the linesFull of hot airGo out on a ledge

Let sleeping dogs lieMake a splashMake great stridesOpen new doorsSee the big picture

Lose focus, don’t pay attention

Asleep at the wheelBlow your own hornBlur the linesFull of hot airGo out on a ledge

Let sleeping dogs lieMake a splashMake great stridesOpen new doorsSee the big picture

Create new opportunities

Asleep at the wheelBlow your own hornBlur the linesFull of hot airGo out on a ledge

Let sleeping dogs lieMake a splashMake great stridesOpen new doorsSee the big picture

Create new opportunities

Asleep at the wheelBlow your own hornBlur the linesFull of hot airGo out on a ledge

Let sleeping dogs lieMake a splashMake great stridesOpen new doorsSee the big picture

To say unbelievable things

Asleep at the wheelBlow your own hornBlur the linesFull of hot airGo out on a ledge

Let sleeping dogs lieMake a splashMake great stridesOpen new doorsSee the big picture

To say unbelievable things

Asleep at the wheelBlow your own hornBlur the linesFull of hot airGo out on a ledge

Let sleeping dogs lieMake a splashMake great stridesOpen new doorsSee the big picture

To know how one thing fits into the whole thing

Asleep at the wheelBlow your own hornBlur the linesFull of hot airGo out on a ledge

Let sleeping dogs lieMake a splashMake great stridesOpen new doorsSee the big picture

To know how one thing fits into the whole thing

Asleep at the wheelBlow your own hornBlur the linesFull of hot airGo out on a ledge

Let sleeping dogs lieMake a splashMake great stridesOpen new doorsSee the big picture

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