10 English Idioms you MUST know!

hello everyone today we're going to take a look  at 10 very common English idioms that I think  

everyone should know first of all what is an  idiom? an idiom is an expression a group of words  

that has a figurative meaning the overall  meaning of an idiom usually can be understood  

from the meanings of its separate words it must  be learned as a whole idioms are very important  

in English and they are used all the time so if  you're learning English and you want to expand  

your vocabulary you want to be able to speak in  a more natural way without being too repetitive  

then idioms are the perfect solution for you  so let's take a look at 10 very common idioms

turn a blind eye to turn a blind eye  means to pretend not to notice something  

to intentionally ignore something that you  know is wrong or shouldn't happen for example  

the mayor has turned a blind eye to the  city's homelessness problem that means  

he's disregarding the problem he's ignoring it  he's not paying any attention to the problem  

intentionally he knows there's a problem  to be fixed but he turns a blind eye he  

pretends not to notice if I know it would go  this far I would have just turned a blind eye  

I'm going to pretend I didn't see anything  that's what turning a blind eye means

drive somebody up the wall if  you drive someone up the wall  

you make them extremely angry you're annoying  them you're irritating them I'm working on a  

project with jake and he's been driving me  up the wall he's getting on my nerves that's  

another way to say it to get on somebody's nerves  and it means the same thing he's annoying me he's  

irritating me I can't stand it anymore he's  driving me you could also use this idiom for  

things not just people so something could drive  you up the wall like this heat is driving me up  

the wall it's too hot I can't stand it it's  making me feel irritated to drive up the wall

bark up the wrong tree first of all what is  barking barking is the sound dogs make dogs  

bark that one but barking up the wrong  tree means trying to get something in a way  

that's just not going to work like asking someone  for a favor when that person is just not the right  

person to do you that favor i'll give you some  examples let's pretend a friend of yours asks you  

to help them with their math homework and you know  nothing about math you couldn't possibly help them  

you could say i'm sorry you're barking  up the wrong tree you're trying to get  

something from someone who can't help you it  could also mean that that person is unwilling  

to do you that favor so it doesn't necessarily  mean that that person is unable it could also  

mean that they are unwilling but in this case  in the example that i've given you it stands  

for an ability you know you're barking up the  wrong tree you could also use it more generally  

you could say for example if you think  that'll work you're barking up the wrong  

tree you're mistaken you're misdirecting  your efforts to bark up the wrong tree  

number four sit on the fence this is a fence if  you're sitting on it it means you're undecided  

it's a very simple idiom it means you're unable  or unwilling to make a decision about something or  

to commit to something you're on the fence you're  sitting on the fence for example a decision has to  

be made you cannot sit on the fence and hope it  will go away i'd like to get a tattoo but i have  

very sensitive skin so i'm sitting on the fence  about it i'm undecided i don't know what to do yet  

i'm still thinking about it i'm on the fence here  number five see eye to eye this is another very  

simple idiom if you see eye to eye with someone  it means you agree with them you share the same  

opinion about something or in general you share  the same opinions for example we're friends but  

we don't always see eye to eye we don't always  agree on everything we have different opinions  

about certain things we didn't see eye on another  way to say this is to be of the same mind which is  

pretty straightforward self-explanatory to be of  the same mind means to agree on a lot of things  

number six beat around the bush this is a bush  if you beat around it it means you avoid talking  

about what's important you don't get to the point  in the uk you could also hear to beat about the  

bush instead of around the bush it has the same  meaning don't worry it's the same thing stop  

beating around the bush and get to the point stop  talking around it you're avoiding what's important  

get to the point another way to say getting to  the point is uh getting down to the nitty-gritty  

let's get down to the nitty-gritty let's  talk about what's important so anyway stop  

beating around the bush stop talking around  it there's no point beating around the bush  

number seven by the skin of your teeth the first  thing you notice if you're not familiar with  

this idiom is that teeth don't have skin and  that's exactly part of what makes its meaning  

by the skin of your teeth means  barely only just by a very small  

narrow margin for example he escaped the police  by the skin of his teeth that means the police  

almost got him but by a very small margin he  managed to escape he barely managed to do so  

seems you've passed by the skin of your teeth  demi lovato recently released a new song that goes  

i'm alive by the skin of my teeth i even made  a tick talk about it and that's exactly what it  

means i'm alive by the skin of my teeth means i  almost died but i managed to survive i survived  

by a hair's breath that's another way to say  it by a hairs breath so by something that is  

very very small very narrow by a  hair's breath by the skin of my teeth

number eight under the weather this is  one of the first idioms that are taught  

in schools to English learners because  its meaning is very basic it's very simple  

so to be under the weather simply means to  feel slightly ill when you don't feel well  

let's pretend you're getting a cold you  start feeling a little ill you could say I  

feel a little bit under the weather today  a little under the weather, by the way,  

did you know why they say this? apparently  this idiom has a nautical origin because when  

sailors were at sea and the weather got rough  of course some of them would get seasick they  

depended on the weather so that's the explanation  if you're under the weather you don't feel well

number nine out of the blue this is one of my  favorite idioms ever i probably use it too much  

out of the blue means suddenly unexpectedly but  it's such a nice way of saying it out of the blue  

it sounds poetic but actually it's used in  everyday conversations as well one day out of the  

blue she told me she was leaving it was completely  unexpected it was sudden abruptly yeah out of the  

blue out of the blue i love it number 10 call it  a day you might have heard this idiom watching  

movies or series that are set in the workplace  that's because it's very common to say this  

idiom in that environment its meaning is that's  it that's it for today that's enough for today  

so for example after a long day at work you could  say let's call it a day okay let's call it a day  

or if it's very late you could also say let's  call it a night that's enough for tonight and so  

after this idiom let's just call it a day that's  enough idioms for today i hope you guys enjoyed  

this video and i hope you learned something new  if you did enjoy this video please give it a big  

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