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An idiom is a common word or phrase with a figurative, non-literal meaning that is understood culturally and differs from what its composite words' denotations would suggest; i.e. the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words (although some idioms do retain their literal meanings – see the example "kick the bucket" below).
The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing; The light is on but nobody is home; The longest day must have an end; The longest journey starts with a single step; The Moon is made of green cheese; The more the merrier; The more things change, the more they stay the same; The only disability in life is a bad attitude – Scott Hamilton
The fixed words of this idiom (in bold) do not form a constituent in any theory's analysis of syntactic structure because the object of the preposition (here this situation) is not part of the idiom (but rather it is an argument of the idiom). One can know that it is not part of the idiom because it is variable; for example, How do we get to ...
Dead ringer (idiom) Death and taxes (idiom) The devil is in the details; Devil's advocate; Die with your boots on; The Dog in the Manger; Don't judge a book by its cover; Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater; Down the rabbit hole; Down Under; Duck test
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Another idiom of improbability is 畑に蛤 (Hata ni hamaguri) which means "finding clams in a field". Latin – ad kalendas graecas ("to the Greek Kalends") signified indefinite postponement, since the Greek calendar had no Calends period; also cum mula peperit = "when a mule foaled".
This is a list of idioms that were recognizable to literate people in the late-19th century, and have become unfamiliar since. As the article list of idioms in the English language notes, a list of idioms can be useful, since the meaning of an idiom cannot be deduced by knowing the meaning of its constituent words. See that article for a fuller ...
The English idiom "don't judge a book by its cover", also known as "never judge a book by its cover", is a metaphorical phrase that means one should not judge the worth or value of something or someone by their outward appearance alone. For example, "That man may look very small and insignificant, but don't judge a book by its cover – he's a ...