English Idioms & Idiomatic Expressions

Quarrel with bread and butter

Bread and butter, here, indicate the means of one’s living. (That is why we say ‘he is the bread winner of the family’). If a sub-ordinate in an organisation is quarrelsome or if he is not patient enough to bear the reprimand he deserves, gets angry and retorts or provokes the higher-up, the top man dismisses him from the job. So, he loses the job that gave him bread and butter. Hence we say, he quarrelled with bread and butter (manager or the top man) and lost his job.

Quart into a pint pot

(UK) If you try to put or get a quart into a pint pot, you try to put too much in a small space. (1 quart = 2 pints)

Queen bee

The queen bee is a woman who holds the most important position in a place.

Queen of Hearts

A woman who is pre-eminent in her area is a Queen of Hearts.

Queer fish

(UK) A strange person is a queer fish.

Queer Street

If someone is in a lot of trouble, especially financial, they are in Queer Street.

Queer your pitch

If someone queers your pitch, they interfere in your affairs and spoil things.

Question of time

If something's a question of time, it's certain to happen, though we don't know exactly when.

Queue jumping

Someone who goes to the front of a queue instead of waiting is jumping the queue.

Quick as a flash

If something happens quick as a flash, it happens very fast indeed.

Quick buck

If you make some money easily, you make a quick buck.

Quick fix

A quick fix is an easy solution, especially one that will not last.

Quick off the mark

If someone is quick off the mark, they are very quick to use, start or do something new.

Quick on the draw

Someone who is quick on the draw reacts quickly to a situation.

Quick on the trigger

Someone who is quick on the trigger acts or responds quickly.

Quids in

(UK) If somebody is quids in, they stand to make a lot of money from something.

Quiet as a cat

If somebody is as quiet as a cat they make as little noise as possible and try to be unnoticeable.

Quiet as a mouse

If someone's as quiet as a mouse, they make absolutely no noise.

Quiet before the Storm

When you know that something is about to go horribly wrong, but hasn't just yet, then you are in the quiet before the storm.

Quitters never win; winners never quit

If you quit you will never get what you want, but if you keep trying you will find a way to get what you want. ('Quitters never win, winners never quit, but those who never win and never quit are idiots' is a variation accredited to Larry Kersten)

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