English, baby!

food idioms

Date: Aug 13 2008

Lesson

slang(food)
be the apple of someone's eye
be someone's favourite person
She's the apple of her father's eye

be as nice as pie
be extremely nice and charming, so that you can fool
people
She can be as nice as pie, but don't trust her

eat humble pie
have to take back what you said, because you have been
proved wrong
He'll have to eat humble pie now. Serve him right - he
tried to make us all look bad

have your fingers in every pie
be involved in many different things
You can't do anything without him knowing - he has his
fingers in every pie

a piece of cake
be extremely simple
This program is a piece of cake to use

sell like hot cakes
sell quickly in large quantities
His book is selling like hot cakes

full of beans
be full of energy
You're full of beans today - it's nice to see you so
lively

beef about something
complain about something
He's always beefing about the pay

beef something up
give something extra appeal=increase in size or number
If we beef up the window display, more people might come
into the shop

be your bread and butter
be your main source of income
Although they run a taxi service, car sales are their
bread and butter

be like chalk and cheese
be completely different
I don't know why they got married - they're like chalk and cheese

cheesy
predictable and unimaginative
I don't want to see that film again - it's really cheesy

sour grapes
say something bad because you didn't get what you wanted
Don't listen to him complain - it's only sour
grapes
because you got the job and he didn't

to play gooseberry
go somewhere with a couple who would prefer to be on their own
I'd rather not come to the cinema with you two - I'd just
feel I was playing gooseberry.

a couch-potato
someone who never goes out or exercises
He watches TV all day - what a couch-potato

like butter wouldn't melt in your mouth
appear innocent
When I asked her about the missing money, she tried to
look like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth

bring home the bacon
earn money for necessary things, like food
He brings home the bacon in that family

the way the cookie crumbles
the way things are
I'm sorry I didn't get the promotion, but that's the way
the cookie crumbles

have someone eat out of your hand
have control over someone
He has her eating out of his hand - it's sad

eat someone out of house and home
eat a lot of food
Her children eat her out of house and home

eat into your savings
spend some of your savings
We can't afford a new car, unless we eat into our savings

eating for two
be pregnant and so eating more
Good news, darling. The doctor says I'm eating for two now

eat your heart out!
telling someone they should be jealous of you
I'm going on holiday to Jamaica - eat your heart out!

not your cup of tea
something that you don't like much
Football isn't my cup of tea

a square meal
a filling meal
You need a square meal after all that exercise

it smells fishy
something that is suspicious
He wants to do all the housework for you? That smells
fishy to me

small fry / small beer
something or someone unimportant
Sales last year are small fry compared to now - we're
doing really well.

roll out the barrel
prepare to have a good time
Roll out the barrel - we're celebrating our exam results

rhubarb, rhubarb
saying something completely unimportant There's that
politician again on television - rhubarb, rhubarb

english-at-home