1. An apple of discord (a cause of quarrel) Kashmir has been an apple of discord between India and Pakistan.
2. Apple-pie order (completely arranged) To her surprise, the mother found the house on her return in apple-pie order.
3. Apple of one's eye (very beloved)
For every mother her son is the apple of her
eye.
4. Argus-eyed (jealous) Be aware of your argus-eyed friends.
5. Have an axe to grind (to have own interest to serve) When the adjudicator himself has an axe to grind in the matter, the judgement is bound to be impaired.
6. Bad blood (enmity) That the two brothers have bad blood over ancestral property is no secret.
7. A bear garden (a place of noise and
disturbance)
Our parliament turning often a bear garden
really disturbs sensitive citizens.
8. A bird's eye view (a general view)
The speaker gave a bird's eye view of the political conditions in the country.
9. Blue blood (a person belonging to a high family) It is really disturbing that even children of blue blood are committing decoity.
10. To bark up the wrong tree (to criticize a wrong person or thing) Don't bark up the wrong tree; the matter was spoiled by you yourself.
11. To bask in the sunshine (to enjoy a period of fame or fortune) The young author is basking in the sunshine of newly-found glory.
12. To bear the brunt (to suffer the bad consequence) If one does something wrong, one has to bear the brunt today or tomorrow.
13. To bear the palm (to win) The leader bore the palm easily as the opposition was divided. 14. A bolt from the blue (an unexpected
shock) The news of his failure in the examination was a bolt from the blue as he had not expected it.
15. To beat about the bush (to talk irrelevantly ie, not to the point) Don't beat about the bush, come to the matter straight.
16. To beggar description (to be beyond description) The Taj Mahal by the moonlight beggars description.
17. To bite the dust (to suffer defeat)
If you stick to truth, your enemy will have to
bite the dust.
18. To blow one's own trumpet (to boast about oneself) It's really boring to be in the company of one who always blows one's own trumpet.
19. To break the ice (to start conversation
where everybody is silent) The matter turned into a deadlock and there was no body to break the ice.
20. To bring down the house (to get a loud
applause) The immaculate performance of the artiste brought down the house.
21. To bring to book (to punish)
He was brought to book for stealing the
money.
22. To burn the candle at both ends (to work
very hard) Often the students who neglect their study year long start burning the candle at both ends during the days of examination and spoil their health.
23. A close shave (narrow escape) The motorist had a close shave when the speeding truck brush-passed the vehicle.
24. Close fisted (miser) A close fisted person always tries to compromise with even necessary spending.
25. A cock and bull story (an unbelievable and stupid gossip) A fraud tries to deceive people with a cock and bull story.
26. A cry in the wilderness (a useless effort) When the workers' appeal to settle their grievances proved a cry in the wilderness, they decided to resort to strike.
27. To call a spade a spade (to speak the truth straightforwardly) A man who calls a spade a spade is never ambiguous in his intention.
28. To call it a day (to stop the proceeding for
the day)
On looking at the incessant rainfall the
umpires have called it a day.
29. To carry the day (to win)
The team carried the day against the weak opposition very easily.
30. To cast one's net wide (to try in various fields) One who casts his net wide ends doing nothing.
31. To cast pearls before swine (to do something which people cannot understand). The scientist's exposition of his theory before the politicians was like casting pearls before swine.
32. To catch a tartar (to get an opponent who is fearsome) Initially he felt that he would win easily but shortly he realised that he had caught a tartar.
33. To chew the cud (to think deeply)
Before starting a big project you are expected
to chew the cud.
34. To come a crapper (to fail miserably) The new plan of population control launched with all the type actually came a crapper.
35. To come off age (to mature)
When the young boys come off age they realise
their mistakes.
36. To come out in flying colours (to become very successful)
The effort of the young talent came out in flying colours when he got the award.
37. To come to a head (to turn into crisis)
Bureaucrats do not shed their apathy until a
problem comes to a head.
38. To cross swords (to pick up a dispute)
Since their independence India and Pakistan
have crossed swords on Kashmir.
39. To cry over spilt milk (to repent over something that has been done and now cannot be corrected)
To think of one's mistakes done previously and feel sorry about them is like crying over spilt milk.
40. To cudgel one's brain (to think hard on
something)
The government is cudgelling its brain on how
to curb terrorism in the country.
41. To cut a sorry figure (to perform very poorly) Indian Cricket Team Management spends a lot on performance boosting but every time the team cuts a sorry figure in crunch situation.
42. To cut no ice (to fail to leave impression) The entire confidence building measures has cut no ice on tense Indo-Pak relation. 43. To cut the Gordian Knot (to solve a
difficult problem) By establishing the identity of the prime suspect the police moved decisively towards cutting the Gordian Knot of the murder mystery.
44. Dog in the manger policy (a policy which serves neither the adopter nor anybody else) Those who support or abet terrorism simply follow dog in the manger policy.
45. Dutch courage (the courage felt under intoxication) Dutch courage is needed for criminals to commit violence; they are coward otherwise.