Listing 27 Entries
Categories > Profession or work
 Members Get More
Sign up for free and gain access to many more idioms and slang expressions. Register now.
- Agony aunt
- An agony aunt is a newspaper columnist who gives advice to people having problems, especially personal ones.
- All in a day's work
- If something is all in a day's work, it is nothing special.
- Bad workers always blame their tools
- "A bad worker always blames their tools" -
If somebody does a job badly or loses in a game and claims that they were let down by their equipment, you can use this to imply that this was not the case.
- Baker's dozen
- A Baker's dozen is 13 rather than 12.
- Bean counter
- A bean counter is an accountant.
- Beggars can't be choosers
- This idiom means that people who are in great need must accept any help that is offered, even if it is not a complete solution to their problems.
- 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.
- Don't give up the day job
- This idiom is used a way of telling something that they do something badly.
- Game plan
- A game plan is a strategy.
- Gardening leave
- (UK) If someone is paid for a period when they are not working, either after they have given in their notice or when they are being investigated, they are on gardening leave.
- Glass ceiling
- The glass ceiling is the discrimination that prevents women and minorities from getting promoted to the highest levels of companies and organisations.
- Have your work cut out
- If you have your work cut out, you are very busy indeed.
- Just what the doctor ordered
- If something's just what the doctor ordered, it is precisely what is needed.
- New brush sweeps clean
- 'A new brush sweeps clean' means that someone with a new perspective can make great changes. However, the full version is 'a new brush sweeps clean, but an old brush knows the corners', which warns that experience is also a valuable thing. Sometimes 'broom' is used instead of 'brush'.
- Noddy work
- (UK)
Unimportant or very simple tasks are noddy work.
- Not worth a tinker's dam
- This means that something is worthless and dates back to when someone would travel around the countryside repairing things such as a kitchen pot with a hole in it. He was called a 'tinker'. His dam was used to stop the flow of soldering material being used to close the hole. Of course his 'trade' is passé, thus his dam is worth nothing.
- Number cruncher
- A number cruncher is an accountant or someone who is very good at dealing with numbers and calculations.
- On the line
- If somebody's job is on the line, they stand a very good chance of losing it.
- Pointy-heads
- Pointy-heads are supposed intellectuals or experts, but who don't really know that much.
- Poison pill
- A poison pill is a strategy designed to prevent a company from being take over.
- Pull rank
-
A person of higher position or in authority pulls rank, he or she exercises his/her authority, generally ending any discussion and ignoring other people's views.
- Speak to the organ grinder not the monkey
-
Talk to the boss not the subordinate
- Swear like a sailor
- Someone who is foul-mouthed and uses bad language all the time, swears like a sailor.
- Swear like a trooper
- Someone who is foul-mouthed and uses bad language all the time, swears like a trooper.
- Teacher's pet
- The teacher's favorite pupil is the teacher's pet, especially if disliked by the other pupils.
- Tread the boards
- When someone treads the boards, they perform on stage in a theatre.
- Work the system
-
If people work the system, they exploit the state or simialr setup to their advantage.
 Suggest an Idiom
Idioms By Country
|
 |
|
