List-17
1.Bad form
Meaning: –bad manners
Use:-To curse is bad form.
2. Bag and baggage
Meaning: –with all one’s belongings
Use:-He has shifted from Ludhiana to Phagwara with bag and baggage.
3. To keep the ball rolling
Meaning: –Â to keep things going on
Use:-Don’t stop the fun; keep the ball rolling.
4. To bandy words
Meaning: –Â to wrangle or exchange arguments
Use:-Â You should not bandy words with your seniors.
5. Baptism of fire
Meaning: –a soldier’s first experience of actual war
Use:-He faced his baptism of fire in the Kargil sector.
6. To call to the bar
Meaning: –to admit as a barrister
Use:-Kulwant was called to the bar last year.
7. Barricade’s feast
Meaning: –imaginary benefits
Use:-Bannicide’s feast has no charm for me.
8. Off one’s own bat
Meaning: –on one’s own initiative
Use:- I’ll succeed in life off my own bat.
9. To bear down on
Meaning: –to sail in the direction of
Use:-The angry mob was bearing down on the culprit.
10. To lose one’s bearings
Meaning: –to be uncertain of one’s position
Use:-He is sure to lose his bearings when confronted with corrupt police.
11. To beat about the bush
Meaning: –to talk in a roundabout manner
Use:-Come to point; don’t beat about the bush.
12. To be a dead beat
Meaning: –worn out by fatigue
Use:-After a long journey, I am dead beat.
13. Bed and board
Meaning: –lodgings and food
Use:-You will be provided with bed and board at our expenses.
14. As you make your bed, so you must lie on it
Meaning: –you will have to bear the consequences of your own mistakes or misdeeds
Use:-You will have to suffer for your sins for as you make your bed, so you must lie on it.
15. To take to one’s bed
Meaning: –to have to be confined to bed as a result of sickness
Use:-Due to overwork, he took to his bed.
16. To have a bee in one’s bonnet
Meaning: –to be cranky
Use:-He is a mechanic but wants to buy a Roll Royce car. He must be having a bee in his bonnet
17. Bee-line
Meaning: –the shortest distance between two places
Use:-There is no bee-line to success. You must work hard for it.
18. To go a-begging
Meaning: –to be sold very cheaply because no one cares to buy
Use:-Soon after the summer season fans go a begging.
19. Behind one’s back
Meaning: –without one’s knowledge
Use:-My son started learning music behind my back.
20. Behind the scenes
Meaning: –in private; out of sight
Use:-Most of the politicians do evil things behind the scenes.
Download the above Idiom List in PDF (Printable)
