English Idioms & Idiomatic Expressions

Sound as a bell

If something or someone is as sound as a bell, they are very healthy or in very good condition.

Sound as a pound

(UK) if something is as sound as a pound, it is very good or reliable.

Sour grapes

When someone says something critical or negative because they are jealous, it is a case of sour grapes.

Sow the seeds

When people sow the seeds, they start something that will have a much greater impact in the future.

Sow your wild oats

If a young man sows his wild oats, he has a period of his life when he does a lot of exciting things and has a lot of sexual relationships. for e.g. He'd spent his twenties sowing his wild oats but felt that it was time to settle down.

Spanish practices

Unauthorized working methods that benefit those who follow them are Spanish practices.

Spanner in the works

(UK) If someone puts or throws a spanner in the works, they ruin a plan. In American English, 'wrench' is used instead of 'spanner'.

Spare the rod and spoil the child

This means that if you don't discipline children, they will become spoilt.

Speak of the devil!

If you are talking about someone and they happen to walk in, you can use this idiom as a way of letting them know you were talking about them.

Speak softly and carry a big stick

If you speak softly and carry a big stick, you make your case quietly but can back it up forcefully if necessary.

Speak to the organ grinder not the monkey

Talk to the boss not the subordinate

Speak volumes

If something speaks volumes, it tells us a lot about the real nature of something or someone,even though it may only be a small detail.

Speak with a forked tongue

To say one thing and mean another, to lie, to be two-faced

Speak your mind

If you speak your mind, you say what you exactly think about a subject regardless of whether others will agree with you or not.

Spend a penny

(UK) This is a euphemistic idiom meaning to go to the toilet.

Spend like a sailor

Someone who spends their money wildly spends like a sailor.

Spice of life

The spice of life is something that makes it feel worth living.

Spick and span

If a room is spick and span, it is very clean and tidy.

Spike your guns

If you spike someone's guns, you ruin their plans.

Spill the beans

If you spill the beans, you reveal a secret or confess to something.

Spin a yarn

If someone spins a yarn, they tell a story, usually a long or fanciful one.

Spinning a line

When someone spins you a line, they are trying to deceive you by lying.

Spinning a yarn

When someone spins you a yarn, they are trying to deceive you by lying.

Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak

If the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, someone lacks the willpower to change things they do because they derive too much pleasure from them.

Spirit of the law

The spirit of the law is the idea or ideas that the people who made the law wanted to have effect.

Spit blood

If someone is spitting blood, they are absolutely furious.

Spit it out

People say this when someone has something to say but is too embarrassed, shy, etc, to say it.

Spit the dummy

Reference to an infant spitting out their dummy (or pacifier) in order to cry. 'To spit the dummy' is to give up.

Spitting image

If a person is the spitting image of somebody, they look exactly alike.('Spit and image' is also used and some suggest it is a hasty pronunciation of "spirit & image", to suggest that someone completely resembles someone else. Example: He's the spirit & image of his grandfather.) 

Split hairs

If people split hairs, they concentrate on tiny and unimportant details to find fault with something.

Split the blanket

If people split the blanket, it means they get a divorce or end their relationship.

Spoil the ship for a ha'pworth of tar

(UK) If someone spoils the ship for a ha'pworth (halfpenny's worth) of tar, they spoil something completely by trying to make a small economy.

Spot on

If something is spot on, it is exactly right.

Sprat to catch a mackerel

If you use a sprat to catch a mackerel, you make a small expenditure or take a small risk in the hope of a much greater gain.

Spread the word

If you spread the word about something, you let as many people know about it as you can.

Spread yourself too thin

If you spread youself too thin, you overextend yourself and take on too many things to deal with them properly.

Spring chicken

Someone who's a spring chicken is very young, often inexperienced.

Spring to mind

If something springs to mind, it appears suddenly and unexpectedly in your thoughts.

Spur of the moment

If you do something on the spur of the moment, you do it because you felt like it at that time, without any planning or preparation.

Sputnik moment

A Sputnik moment is a point where people realise that they are threatened of challenged and have to redouble their efforts to catch up. It comes from the time when the Soviet Union launched the first satellite, the Sputnik 1, and beat the USA into space.

Square meal

A square meal is a substantial or filling meal.

Square Mile

(UK) The Square Mile is the City, the financial area of London.

Square peg in a round hole

If somebody's in a situation, organisation, etc, where they don't fit in and feel out of place, they are a square peg in a round hole.

Square the circle

When someone is squaring the circle, they are trying to do something impossible.

Squared away

Being prepared or ready for business or tasks at hand. Having the proper knowledge, skill and equipment to handle your assignment or station. 'He is a great addition to the squad; he is squared away.'

Squeaky clean

If something is squeaky clean, it is very clean indeed- spotless. If a person is squeaky clean, they have no criminal record and are not suspected of illegal or immoral activities.

Squeaky wheel gets the grease

(USA) When people say that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, they mean that the person who complains or protests the loudest attracts attention and service.

Squeeze blood out of a turnip

(USA) When people say that you can't squeeze blood out of a turnip, it means that you cannot get something from a person, especially money, that they don't have.

Stake a claim

If you stake a claim to something, you announce that it belongs to you.

Stalking horse

A stalking horse is a strategy or something used to conceal your intentions.  It is often used where someone put themselves forwards as a candidate to divide opponents or to hide the real candidate.

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