English Idioms & Idiomatic Expressions

Busman's holiday

A busman's holiday is when you spend your free time doing the same sort of work as you do in your job.

Bust my chops

When someone says that they're not going to bust their chops, it means they are not going to work that hard or make much effort.

Busted flush

Someone or something that had great potential but ended up a useless failure is a busted flush.

Busy as a beaver

If you're as busy as a beaver, you're very busy indeed.

Busy as a bee

If you are as busy as a bee, you are very busy indeed.

Butt naked

If someone is butt naked, they have no clothes on at all, often when they can be seen.

Butt of a joke

If something or someone becomes the butt of a joke it or they are not taken seriously anymore.

Butter wouldn't melt in their mouth

If someone looks as if butter wouldn't melt in their mouth, they look very innocent.

Butterfingers

Someone who has butterfingers is clumsy and drops things.

Butterflies in your stomach

The nervous feeling before something important or stressful is known as butterflies in your stomach.

Button your lip

If you button your lip, you keep quiet and don't speak. It is also used as a way of telling someone to shut up.

Buy the farm

When somebody has bought the farm, they have died.

By a hair's breadth

If a person escapes from some danger by a hair's breadth, they only just managed to avoid it. The breadth is the thickness of a hair, so they probably feel somewhat lucky because the margin between success and what could easily have been failure was so close.

By a long chalk

(UK) If you beat somebody by a long chalk, you win easily and comfortably.

By a mile

If you miss, lose, win, etc, something by a mile, there is a considerable difference in standard oir performance between you and the others. ('By miles' is also used.)

By a whisker

If you do something by a whisker, you only just manage to do it and come very near indeed to failing.

By and large

By and large means usually or generally.

By cracky

A term used by rural folks in years past to emphasize a matter of importance or urgency. An example: 'By cracky, you need to get out there in the field with that mule and plow and finish the sod-busting before dark.'

By dint of

This means 'as a result of' or 'because of': It would be good to think he'd risen to position of Chief Executive by dint of hard work.

By heart

If you learn something by heart, you learn it word for word.

By hook or by crook

If you are prepared to do something by hook or by crook, you are willing to do anything, good or bad, to reach your goal.

By leaps and bounds

Something that happens by leaps and bounds happens very quickly in big steps.

By the back door

If something is started or introduced by the back door, then it is not done openly or by following the proper procedures.

By the book

If you do something by the book, you do it exactly as you are supposed to.

By the by

This is used as a way of introducing an incidental topic in a conversation or to say that something is irrelevant. ('By the bye' is also used.)

By the numbers

If something is done by the numbers, it is done in a mechanical manner without room for creativity.

By the same token

If someone applies the same rule to different situations, they judge them by the same token: If things go well, he's full of praise, but, by the same token, when things go wrong he gets furious.

By the seat of your pants

If you do something by the seat of your pants, you achieve something, but only by a narrow margin or do something without advance preparation.

By the skin of your teeth

If you do something by the skin of your teeth, you only just manage to do it and come very near indeed to failing.

By word of mouth

If something becomes known by word of mouth, it gets known by being talked about rather than through publicity or advertising, etc.

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