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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).
Below is an alphabetical list of widely used and repeated proverbial phrases. If known, their origins are noted. A proverbial phrase or expression is a type of conventional saying similar to a proverb and transmitted by oral tradition.
Fonzie (Henry Winkler) on water skis, in a scene from the 1977 Happy Days episode "Hollywood, Part 3", after jumping over a sharkThe idiom "jumping the shark" or to "jump the shark" means that a creative work or entity has evolved and reached a point in which it has exhausted its core intent and is introducing new ideas that are discordant with or an extreme exaggeration (caricature) of its ...
Glossary of English-language idioms derived from baseball; Bed of roses; Belling the Cat; Best friends forever; Between Scylla and Charybdis; Bill matter; Birds of a feather flock together; Black sheep; Blessing in disguise; Blood, toil, tears and sweat; Born in the purple; The Boy Who Cried Wolf; Bread and butter (superstition) Break a leg ...
Pages in category "American English idioms" The following 39 pages are in this category, out of 39 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. 0–9.
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 American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms stated that "have a nice day" first came into being in 1920, and the phrase and its variants became widely used after the 1950s. [ 4 ] [ note 1 ] According to Safire, Carol Reed of WCBS-TV spread the phrase in the New York metropolitan area in 1964 by closing her weather reports with "have a happy day ...
Pages in category "British English idioms" The following 20 pages are in this category, out of 20 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. A.