stick your neck out - invite trouble:
"If you don't say anything nobody will notice. There's no need to stick your neck out."
show someone the cold shoulder - shun them/ignore them:
"I spoke to them, but they showed me the cold shoulder,"
have a chip on your shoulder - be unreasonably sensitive about something:
"He has a chip on his shoulder about his father being a dust-man."
make a clean breast of - confess:
"Rather than wait for people to find out, it'd be best to make a clean breast of it."
get something off your chest - get relief by confessing something:
"You'll feel better once you've go it off your chest. Make a clean breast of it."
give someone the elbow - break up a long-standing relationship:
"After they'd been living together for 5 years she gave him the elbow."
give someone a hand - help (not necessarily manually):
"Can I give you a hand with that?"
have the guts - this was in a previous post.
have the stomach (for) - to have the guts (!) usually for a fight (or some kind of contention):
"He could have carried on arguing, but he just didn't have the stomach for it."
And one that belonged in yesterday's post:
put someone's nose out of joint - make them feel undervalued, slighted, or insulted.
"She was the only one not to be invited, which really put her nose out of joint."
have a leg to stand on - have a valid case:
"He'll try to argue, but he hasn't got a leg to stand on"
stand on your own two feet - be independent:
"having lived at home until he was 35, he at last decided to stand on his own two feet"
put your foot in it - be undiplomatic/insensitive:
"He shouldn't have mentioned her background - he's really put his foot in it now"
have an Achilles' heel - have one (not necessarily obvious) weakness:
"Superman's Achilles' heel was his reaction to green kryptonite"
put your best foot forward - make a good start (not necessarily on a physical journey):
"She put her best foot forward by making a list of everyone she had to write to"
And another facial one:
stick (poke) your nose in - be interested in someone else's affairs:
"It's my problem - there's no need to poke your nose in"
b
Last edited by BobK; 23-Sep-2006 at 10:32.
Reason: Fix typo
'shoot yourself in the butt' (another variation of shoot yourself in the foot)
it means to unintentionally do something which spoils a situation for yourself.
with your head in the clouds - oblivious to your surroundings:
"After seeing her for the first time, he spent days with his head in the clouds"
up to your ears in - engulfed:
"They were up to their ears in e-mails." (Note: 'up to your <whatever> in' is often not idiomatic, but just exaggerates: "I was up to my knees in mud".)
keep your head above water - struggle to stay on top of a situation:
"There was so much to do, it was all I could do to keep my head above water"
keep a stiff upper lip - not to show disappointment or fear:
"In any difficulties, a Boy Scout always keeps a stiff upper lip."
keep your chin up - be determined/unbroken
"However bad things look, keep your chin up." Often, in situations that might seem to call for the imperative, the verb is dropped altogether: "Chin up."
"Get my foot in the door" This means that you want to get a job at some place or you are trying to get noticed by getting an interview or lower level job in the hopes that you'll be able to work up to a better job at that company or place. i.e, I got a job at Microsoft as a janitor to get my foot in the door.
"Get your feet wet" This means to get some experience a new venture or job, etc., i.e., I took a small part in the school play to get my feet wet as an actor.
"Put my foot in my mouth": This means you said something stupid or embarassing that made yourself look bad, and you didn't realize it until it was too late.
"He's got lead feet" Someone who drives a car too fast (as if his feet are heavy like lead pushing the gas pedal down).
Re: Body Part Idioms. 
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