{"id":932,"date":"2015-11-25T16:50:07","date_gmt":"2015-11-25T16:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/?p=932"},"modified":"2015-11-25T16:50:07","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T16:50:07","slug":"body-idioms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/body-idioms\/","title":{"rendered":"Body idioms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A large number of idioms are formed with the names of body parts. Here is a list of them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best foot forward<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To put your best foot forward is to do your very best<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If you want to succeed in this interview, you have to put your best foot forward.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>First-hand<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To experience something first hand is to experience it yourself<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>She has experienced poverty first-hand.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>We are looking for someone who has first-hand knowledge of accounting procedures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Pull your hair out<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To pull your hair out is to be very worried about something<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>She has an interview tomorrow and she is pulling her hair out.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Have a free hand<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When you have a free hand you have the power to do what you want.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>She made it clear right from the beginning that she must have a free hand. (= She should be allowed to do what she wants.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Have a hand in something<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To have a hand in something is to be involved in it.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>My husband has a hand in running my website.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Have the upper hand<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To have the upper hand is to have power and control over someone or a situation.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In India upper castes still have the upper hand.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Be caught red handed<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To get caught red-handed is to get caught while doing something illegal or wrong.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He was caught red-handed while trying to cash a forged check at the bank<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>To be hand in glove<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When two people are hand in glove, they have an extremely close relationship.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The manager and his secretary work hand in glove.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Heartbroken<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When you are heartbroken you are suffering from overwhelming sorrow, grief or disappointment.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He was heartbroken when he discovered that he had failed his test.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Heartwarming<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Something that generates a feeling of happiness<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The story of the boy who saved his friends from drowning was very heartwarming.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Rap someone&#8217;s knuckles<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To rap someone\u2019s knuckles is to give them a light punishment so that they wouldn\u2019t repeat the same offence.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He got his knuckles rapped for talking too much in the class.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Break a leg<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It is a phrase used to wish someone good luck.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>So it is your debut tonight. Break a leg.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Pull someone&#8217;s leg<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To pull someone\u2019s leg is to subject him \/ her to a playful joke or hoax.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I was horrified when he told me that my new house was haunted. Later I realized that he was only pulling my leg.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Don\u2019t believe what he says. He is just pulling your leg.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Many a slip twixt cup and lip<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Used to imply that things can go wrong at any time<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>They thought that they had won the contract, but in the end the other party refused to sign the papers. There\u2019s many a slip twixt cup and lip.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>To cross someone&#8217;s mind<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A thought that comes to mind briefly<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Let me tell you what just crossed my mind.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>To have a big mouth<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Used to refer to a person who talks too much, especially about things that should be secret<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>She didn\u2019t look amused when I told her that her husband was having an affair with one of his colleagues. Me and my big mouth!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Your hands are tied<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When your hands are tied, something prevents you from doing what you would normally have the power to do.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I really want to help you, but my hands are tied.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Your heart goes out to (someone)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When your heart goes out to someone, you feel great sympathy for them.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>My heart goes out to the families of the kids who died in the accident.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Have your heart in the right place<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To have your heart in the right place is to have right intentions.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He might come across as an arrogant guy, but I\u2019m sure he has his heart in the right place.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Your heart isn&#8217;t in it<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If your heart isn&#8217;t in something you&#8217;re doing, you don&#8217;t really want to do it.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I\u2019m sure your heart isn\u2019t in it. Otherwise, you wouldn\u2019t make so many silly mistakes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>A head start<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you have a head start, you start doing something ahead of others.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He started preparing for the test months in advance and that gave him a head start.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Skeleton in the closet \/ cupboard<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When you have a skeleton in the closet, you are actually hiding a shocking secret about yourself.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Who does not have a skeleton in the closet?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Have a thick skin \/ be thick skinned<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you have a thick skin you don\u2019t get upset when people criticize you.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Most of our politicians are thick skinned.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>By the skin of your teeth<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you do something by the skin of your teeth, you only just manage to do it.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He escaped from the sinking boat by the skin of his teeth. (= He barely managed to escape.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Get your teeth into something<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To get your teeth into something is to get completely involved in it.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He did really well on the TOEFL test after he got his teeth into learning English.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Jump down someone&#8217;s throat<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To jump down someone\u2019s throat is to react angrily to something that they say or do.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You may not have liked what I said, but that doesn\u2019t mean that you\u2019ve to jump down my throat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Have a green thumb<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you have a green thumb, you are very good at gardening.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Look at her garden. Lovely, isn\u2019t it? She really has a green thumb.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Toe the line<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To toe the line is to conform to certain rules and regulations<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You will have to learn to toe the line, if you want to keep your job.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The tip of your tongue<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When something is at the tip of your tongue, it is known to you, but you just can\u2019t remember it at the moment.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Her name is on the tip of my tongue. (= I know her name, but I can\u2019t remember it now.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>A slip of the tongue<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Used to refer to something that you say which you didn\u2019t mean to say<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Be careful what you say. Just one slip of the tongue is enough to land you in trouble.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Be tongue tied<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The feeling that people experience when they can\u2019t seem to find the right words to say<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I knew I should I have said something to console her, but I was completely tongue tied.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A large number of idioms are formed with the names of body parts. Here is a list of them. Best foot forward To put your best foot forward is to do your very best&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[187],"class_list":["post-932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-idioms","tag-body-idioms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=932"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":933,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932\/revisions\/933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}