Idiom Category: Buildings & construction

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Back to the wall: If you have your back to the wall, you are in a difficult situation with very little room for manoeuvre.
Behind closed doors: If something happens away from the public eye, it happens behind closed doors.
Bounce off the walls: If someone's bouncing off the walls, they are very excited about something.
Bridge the gap: If you bridge the gap, you make a connection where there is a great difference.
Bring the house down: Something that brings the house down is acclaimed and praised vigorously.
Burn your bridges: If you burn your bridges, you do something that makes it impossible to go back from the position you have taken.
Buy the farm: When somebody has bought the farm, they have died.
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.
Castles in the air: Plans that are impractical and will never work out are castles in the air.
Charity begins at home: This idiom means that family members are more important than anyone else, and should be the focus of a person's efforts.
Circling the drain: If someone is circling the drain, they are very near death and have little time to live. The phrase can also describe a project or plan or campaign that that is on the brink of failure.
Cross that bridge when you come to it: If you will cross that bridge when you come to it, you will deal with a problem when it arises, but not until that point
Don't throw bricks when you live in a glass house: Don't call others out on actions that you, yourself do. Don't be a hypocrite.
Drive home: The idiomatic expression 'drive home' means 'reinforce' as in 'The company offered unlimited technical support as a way to drive home the message that customer satisfaction was its highest priority.'
Drive someone up the wall: If something or someone drives you up the wall, they do something that irritates you greatly.
Feel at home: If you feel relaxed and comfortable somewhere or with someone, you feel at home.
Fence sitter: Someone that try to support both side of an argument without committing to either is a fence sitter.
Get in on the ground floor: If you get in on the ground floor, you enter a project or venture at the start before people know how successful it might be.
Get on like a house on fire: If people get on like a house on fire, they have a very close and good relationship.
Good fences make good neighbours: This means that it is better for people to mind their own business and to respect the privacy of others. ('Good fences make good neighbors' is the American English spelling.)
Good walls make good neighbours: Your relationship with your neighbours depends, among other things, on respecting one another's privacy.
Grist for the mill: Something that you can use to your advantage is grist for the mill. ('Grist to the mill' is also used.)
Have the floor: If someone has the floor, it is their turn to speak at a meeting.
Hit the ceiling: If someone hits the ceiling, they lose their temper and become very angry.
Hit the roof: If you lose your temper and get very angry, you hit the roof.
Hold the fort: If you hold the fort, you look after something or assume someone's responsibilities while they are away.
Home and hearth: 'Home and hearth' is an idiom evoking warmth and security.
Home sweet home: This is said when one is pleased to be back at one's own home.
House of cards: Something that is poorly thought out and can easily collapse or fail is a house of cards.
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen: Originally a Harry S. Truman quote, this means that if you can't take the pressure, then you should remove yourself from the situation.
Ivory tower: People who live in ivory towers are detached from the world around them.
Light at the end of the tunnel: If you can see light at the end of the tunnel, then you can see some signs of hope in the future, though things are difficult at the moment.
Mend fences: When people mend fences, they try to improve or restore relations that have been damaged by disputes or arguments.
My way or the highway: This idiom is used to say that if people don't do what you say, they will have to leave or quit the project, etc.
Nothing to write home about: Something that is not special or good is nothing to write home about.
Off the wall: Something that is off the wall is unconventional.
On the factory floor: On the factory floor means the place where things are actually produced.
On the house: If you get something for free that would normally have to be bought, especially in a bar or restaurant, it is on the house.
Paper over the cracks: If you paper over the cracks, you try to make something look or work better but only deal with superficial issues, not the real underlying problems.
People who live in glass houses should not throw stones: People should not criticize other people for faults that they have themselves.
Proclaim it from the rooftops: If something is proclaimed from the rooftops, it is made as widely known and as public as possible.
Round the houses: If you go round the houses, you do something in an inefficient way when there is a quicker, more convenient way.
Rule the roost: If someone rules the roost they are the boss. Example:There's no doubt who rules the roost in this house.
Shop floor: 'Shop floor' refers to the part of an organisation where the work is actually performed rather than just managed.
Sit on the fence: If someone sits on the fence, they try not to support either side in a dispute.
Something nasty in the woodshed: Something nasty in the woodshed means that someone as a dark secret or an unpleasant experience in their past.
Take someone to the woodshed: If someone is taken to the woodshed, they are punished for something they have done.
Take the floor: Start talking or giving a speech to a group
Talking to a brick wall: If you talk to someone and they do not listen to you, it is like talking to a brick wall.
Through the ceiling: If prices go through the ceiling, they rise very quickly.
Through the floor: If prices go, or fall, through the floor, they fall very quickly.
Up the wall: If someone goes up the wall, they get very angry.
Water over the dam: (USA) If something has happened and cannot be changed, it is water over the dam.
Water under the bridge: If something belongs to the past and isn't important or troubling any more, it is water under the bridge.
Were you born in a barn?: If someone asks you this, it means that you forgot to close the door when you came in.
Wipe the floor with: (UK) If you wipe the floor with someone, you destroy the arguments or defeat them easily.
Writing on the wall: If the writing's on the wall for something, it is doomed to fail.

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