ANIMAL
1. Blind as a bat 1. Unable to see well
2. Have bats in one’s belfry
BAT
1. Be like a bear with a sore
head
2. A bear hug
BEAR
1. Be the bee’s knees
2. Have a bee in one’s bonnet
3. Be (as) busy as a bee
BEE
1. Eager beaver
BEAVER
1. A birds eye view
2. A bird in the hand (is worth
two in the bush)
BIRDS
3. Albatross around/round
MEANING EXAMPLE
1. I’m as blind as a bat without my glasses.
2. To be silly and slightly crazy 2. You must really have bats in your belfry if you think
I’ll put up with that kind of stuff.
1. To be in a bad mood that causes you to 1. If his newspaper doesn’t arrive by breakfast time
treat other people badly and complain a he’s like a bear with a sore head.
lot.
2. A rough, tight embrace. 2. She handed me my pure, gave me a tight bear hug,
and shove me out the door.
1. To be excellent or of an extremely high 1. Have you tried this ice cream? It's the bee's knees, it
standard. really is.
2. To keep talking about sth again and again 2. She never stops talking about dieting – she’s got a
because you think it is very important. real bee in her bonnet about it.
3. To be moving about quickly doing many 3. She's as busy as a bee, always going to meetings and
things. organizing parties.
1. A person who is willing to work very 1. The students were buzzing and there was a long
hard. queue of eager beavers waiting for their turn.
1. A view from a very high place that allows 1. Climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower if you want a
you to see a large area. bird's eye view of Paris.
2. It’s better to be content with what you 2. Investors are focused on the bird in the hand, and
have than to risk losing everything by not looking for new opportunities very much these
seeking to get more. days.
3. Sth that you have done or are connected 3. The company that he founded in 1983 is now an
1 / 14
 one’s neck
4. A little bird told me
5. As the crow flies
6. Be (as) dead as a/the dodo
7. Be (strictly) for the birds
8. Birdbrain
9. Birds of a feather
10. Eat like a bird
11. (As) free as a bird
12. Kill two birds with one
stone
13. Leave the nest
14. Like a shag on a rock
15. One swallow doesn't make
a summer
16. Stone the crows!
17. The bird has flown
1. Take the bull by the horns
2. Like a bull in a china shop
with that keeps causing you problems
and stops you from being successful.
4. If you know who gave you the infor-
mation being discussed but don’t want
to say who it was
5. A distance is measured in a straight line
between two points or places.
6. To not be important or popular any
longer.
7. To be stupid or not important.
8. A stupid person.
9. People who are similar in character.
10. To always eat a small amount of food.
11. Completely free to do as you want.
12. To succeed in achieving two things in a
single action.
13. To move out of one's parents’ home for
the first time, most typically when going
into third-level education.
14. Completely alone.
15. Because one good thing has happened,
you can’t therefore be certain that more
good things will happen and the whole
situation will improve.
16. Used as an expression of surprise. 16. Well, stone the crows - it's five o'clock already!
17. Said when the person you are looking for 17. Once the bird has flown, it's too late to do anything
has gone away or escaped.
1. To do sth difficult in a brave and
determined way.
2. To be very careless in the way that they
move or behave.
albatross around his neck, making losses of several
hundreds of thousands a year.
4. "How did you know he was leaving?" "Oh, let's just
say a little bird told me."
5. How far is it from Cambridge to London?' 'About 50
miles as the crow flies.
6. Letter-writing is as dead as the dodo.
7. Gambling, games of chance - that sort of thing is
strictly for the birds.
8. I’m such a birdbrain. I forgot my driver’s license,
officer.
9. He'll like Tony - they're birds of a feather.
10. You eat like a bird – I don't know how you stay
healthy.
11. He's free as a bird - he can travel wherever he
chooses.
12. I killed two birds with one stone and picked the kids
up on the way to the supermarket.
13. I can't believe my little girl is getting ready to leave
the nest. I'm so proud and so sad all at once!
14. I can't believe you just got up and left me there like
a shag on a rock!
15. Okay, they won their last game but one swallow
doesn't make a summer. They're still bottom of the
league.
about it.
1. Why don't you take the bull by the horns and tell
him to leave?
2. We told her it was a delicate situation but she went
into the meeting like a bull in a china shop.
2 / 14
 BULL 3. Be like a red rag to a bull
1. The straw that breaks the
camel’s back
CAMEL
1. Copycat
2. Curiosity killed the cat
3. Fight like cat and dog
4. Has the cat got your
tongue?
5. Let the cat out of the bag
6. Like a cat on a hot tin roof
7. Like the cat that got the
cream
CAT
8. Look like something the cat
brought/dragged in
9. No/not enough room to
swing a cat
10. Not have a cat in hell’s
chance
11. Rain cats and dogs
1. A chicken and egg situation
2. Be no spring chicken
CHICKEN
3. To be certain to produce an angry or
violent reaction.
1. The last in a series of unpleasant events
that finally makes you feel that you can’t
continue to accept a bad situation.
1. A person, esp a child, who imitates or
copies another.
2. Said to warn someone not to ask too
many questions about something.
3. To have angry arguments all the time.
4. Sth you say to someone when you are
annoyed because they will not speak.
5. To allow a secret to be known, usually
without intending to.
6. Very agitated or anxious.
7. To annoy other people by looking very
pleased with themselves.
8. To look very untidy and dirty.
9. A place or space that is very small.
10. To be completely unable to achieve
something.
11. To rain very heavily.
1. A situation in which it is impossible to say 1. It's a chicken and egg situation - I don't know
which of two things existed first and
which caused the other one.
2. To be no longer young.
3. Don't tell him you're a vegetarian - it's like a red rag
to a bull.
1. Losing my job was bad enough but having the
relationship end like that was the straw that broke
the camel's back.
1. You're just a copycat!
2. ‘Why are you going away so suddenly?' 'Curiosity
killed the cat.'
3. As kids we used to fight like cat and dog.
4. What's the matter? Has the cat got your tongue?
5. I was trying to keep the party a secret, but Mel
went and let the cat out of the bag.
6. The jury has been out since Wednesday, so he has
been like a cat on a hot tin roof here.
7. Of course Mark got a glowing report so he was
sitting there grinning like the cat that got the
cream.
8. You can't possibly go to school like that - you look
like something the cat dragged in!
9. How can you work in a small room like this? There's
not enough room to swing a cat.
10. They haven't a cat in hell's chance of getting over
the mountain in weather like this.
11. Don't forget to take your umbrella - it's raining cats
and dogs out there.
whether I was bad at the sciences because I wasn't
interested in them or not interested in them and
therefore not good at them.
2. I'm no spring chicken, so I can't stay out till 2 AM
drinking and dancing anymore.
3 / 14
 3. Don't count your chickens
before they're hatched
4. Hen night
5. Like a headless chicken
6. Play chicken
1. Have a cow
2. Kill the fatted calf
3. Till/until the cows come
COW home
1. Crocodile tears
CROCODILE
1. Be as stubborn as a mule
2. Do (all) the donkey work
3. Donkey’s years
DONKEY 4. Talk the hind leg(s) off a
donkey
1. A dog in the manger
2. A dog’s life
3. Be in the dog house
DOG 4. Dog days
3. You cannot depend on something
happening before it has happened.
4. A party for women only, usually one held
for a woman before she is married.
5. To do sth very quickly and without
thinking carefully about what you are
doing.
6. To play dangerous games in order to
discover who is the bravest.
1. To be very worried, upset, or angry about
something.
2. To have a special celebration for sb who
has been away for a long time.
3. For a very long time.
1. Tears that you cry when you are not
really sad or sorry.
1. To be very stubborn.
2. To do the hard, boring part of a job.
3. A very long time.
4. To talk without stopping for a long time.
1. Sb who keeps sth that they do not want
in order to prevent sb else from getting
it.
2. A very unhappy and unpleasant life.
3. Sb is unpopular because they have done
sth wrong.
4. The hottest days of the summer
3. When my mom heard that I was preparing my
campaign before even being nominated, she
warned me, “Don't count your chickens before
they're hatched.”
4. Barbara's having her hen night a week before the
wedding.
5. I've got so much work to do - I've been running
around like a headless chicken all week.
6. He was killed by a car after he lay in the road playing
chicken.
1. My mother had a cow when I said I was going to buy
a motorbike.
2. When Bob got back from college, his parents killed
the fatted calf and threw a great party.
3. I could sit here and argue with you till the cows
come home, but it wouldn't solve anything.
1. He came over with his crocodile tears and made my
family panic.
1. I tried to convince Jake to go to the doctor, but he's
as stubborn as a mule.
2. Why should I do all the donkey work while you sit
around doing nothing?
3. She's been in the same job for donkey's years.
4. He could talk the hind leg off a donkey without ever
letting you know what was in his mind.
1. Stop being such a dog in the manger and let your
sister ride your bike if you're not using it.
2. He is leading a dog's life at the moment.
3. I forgot to turn the oven off and the dinner's
ruined, so I'm really in the dog house.
4. It is August, the dog days of summer, the time of
4 / 14

5. Dog-eat-dog
6. Every dog has its day
7. Give a dog a bad name and
hang him
8. Go to the dogs
9. Let sleeping dogs lie
10. Like a dog with two tails
11. Love me, love my dog
12. Make a dog’s
breakfast/dinner
13. Put on the dog
14. Sb's bark is worse than
his/her bite
15. Sick as a dog
16. See a man about a dog
17. The hair of the dog (that bit 17. An alcoholic drink taken as a cure the
you)
18. The tail wagging the dog
5. A situation in which people will do any-
thing to be successful, even if what they
do harms other peoples.
6. Everyone is successful or happy at some
time in their life.
7. When sb has been accused of behaving
badly in the past, people often expect
them to behave like that in the future.
8. To becoming very much less successful
than it was in the past.
9. Warn sb that they shouldn’t talk about a
bad situation that most people have
forgotten about.
10. Someone is very happy about sth.
11. If sb want to be in a relationship with
you, they must be willing to accept
everything about you.
12. Sth that has been done very badly.
13. To act as if you are more important than
you are.
14. They are not as unpleasant or
frightening as they seem.
15. Vomiting a lot.
16. You do not want to say what you are
really doing, esp when going to the
toilet.
morning after an occasion when you
have drunk too much alcohol.
18. A situation where a small part is con-
trolling the whole of something.
squeezing hands during beach barbecues and back-
to-school sales.
5. They say that in the corporate world it's dog-eat-
dog.
6. There comes a time to stop, every dog has its day,
and I think I have had mine.
7. People were quick to blame local youths for the
fire. Give a dog a bad name.
8. When the factories closed, everything went to the
dogs.
9. His parents never referred to the shoplifting
incident again. I suppose they thought it best to let
sleeping dogs lie.
10. Lucy will be like a dog with two tails if she gets into
the team.
11. Most of Alice's friends didn't like her sister, but they
accepted her because Alice insisted, "Love me, love
my dog."
12. She tried to cut her hair and made a real dog's
dinner of it.
13. They really put on the dog in front of their guests.
14. Don't let her frighten you - her bark is worse than
her bite.
15. I was sick as a dog after last night's meal.
16. I've just got to see a man about a dog. I'll be back in
a minute.
17. It was early in the morning and Catherine reached
for her glass. 'Hair of the dog?' asked Lee with a
smile.
18. John was just hired yesterday, and today he's
bossing everyone around. It's a case of the tail
wagging the dog.
5 / 14
 19. Why keep a dog and bark 19. Why pay sb to work for you and then do 19. Just leave the glasses on the table - the bar staff will
yourself? the work yourself? collect them. After all, why keep a dog and bark
yourself?
20. Work like a dog 20. To work very hard. 20. He worked like a dog all day to finish the
wallpapering.
21. You can’t teach an old dog 21. It is very difficult to teach sb new skills or 21. I've been away from school for fifteen years; I can't
new tricks to change sb's habits or character. go back to college now. You can't teach an old dog
new tricks.
1. Dead duck 1. Sb or sth that is very unlikely to be 1. Thanks to the lack of market research, the project
successful, esp because of a mistake or was a dead duck right from the start.
bad judgment.
2. Get/have your ducks in a 2. To be well prepared or well organized for 2. I want to have my ducks in a row before I go in there
row sth that is going to happen. and confront them.
3. Sitting duck 3. Sb or st that is very easy for an enemy to 3. With their bullets all gone, the soldiers were sitting
shoot or attack. ducks for the enemy.
4. Take to something like a 4. To discover when you start to do sth for 4. He took to fatherhood like a duck to water.
duck to water the first time that you have a natural
DUCK
ability to do it.
5. (Like) water off a duck’s bag 5. Criticisms of or warnings to a particular 5. I've told him that he's heading for trouble, but he
person that have no effect on that doesn't listen - it's just water off a duck's back.
person.
1. Eagle eye 1. Notice everything, even very small details 1. We sat down and started the exam under the eagle
eye of the teacher.
2. Legal eagle 2. A lawyer, especially one who is keen and 2. And as if the company didn't have enough lawyers
astute. already, Rambus is currently advertising for yet
more legal eagles here.
EAGLE
1. An elephant in the room 1. An obvious problem or difficult situation 1. We all sat sipping our tea quietly; no one wanting to
that people do not want to talk about. bring up the elephant in the room about Joel's
expulsion from college.
2. Have a memory like an 2. To be able to remember things easily and 2. 'I remember where I first saw her - it was at Tim
elephant for a long period of time. Fisher's party about ten years ago.' 'Yes, you're right
- you've got a memory like an elephant!'
3. White elephant 3. Sth that has cost a lot of money but has 3. Those antique vases Aunt Mary gave me are white
ELEPHANT
no useful purpose. elephants. They're ugly and I have no place to put

6 / 14

1. Be a big fish in a small pond 1. To have a lot of influence only over a
2. Be another/a different
kettle of fish
3. Be as slippery as an eel
4. Be like a fish out of water
5. Be neither fish nor fowl
6. Drink like a fish
FISH 7. Have bigger/other fish to
fry
8. Red herring
9. Smell fish
10. There are plenty more fish
in the sea
1. Drop like flies
2. Fly in the ointment
3. Fly on the wall
FLY
4. No flies on sb
small area.
2. To be completely different from sth or
sb else that has been talked about.
3. Sb that cannot be trusted.
4. To be uncomfortable in a specific
situation.
5. Like one thing in some ways and like
another thing in other ways.
6. To drink too much alcohol.
7. To have sth more important to do.
8. A fact, idea, or subject that takes
people's attention away from the central
point being considered.
9. It causes you to think that sb is being
dishonest.
10. There are many other people with whom 10. “Oh and I suppose you will tell me next that there
you may have a successful relationship
in the future.
1. a) People are dying or falling down in
large numbers.
b) To stop doing an activity in large
numbers.
2. A single thing or person that is spoiling a
situation that could have been very
positive or enjoyable.
3. You would like to hear what will be said
or see what will happen while not being
noticed.
4. Sb is intelligent and able to think quickly.
them.
1. As the manager of a local company, he enjoys being
a big fish in a small pond.
2. Having knowledge is one thing but being able to
communicate it to others is another kettle of fish.
3. You'd be mad to go into business with him. He's as
slippery as an eel.
4. All the other children in the school had rich, middle-
class parents, and she was beginning to feel like a
fish out of water.
5. The hovercraft has always suffered from the fact
that it is neither fish nor fowl.
6. Jeff really drank like a fish at the party on Saturday.
7. I couldn't spend a lot of time on the problem – I had
other fish to fry.
8. The police investigated many clues, but they were
all red herrings.
9. Webbers's account of what he was doing that
evening smells a bit fishy to me.
are plenty more fish in the sea” yelled Giles.
1. a) The heat was overwhelming and people were
dropping like flies.
b) There used to be over 20 of us in our aerobics
class but they're dropping like flies.
2. I'm looking forward to Sunday, the only fly in the
ointment being the fact that I'll have to sit next to
my mother-in-law.
3. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when those two get
home!
4. The minute she heard the business was for sale she
was on the phone making an offer. There are no
7 / 14

5. Wouldn’t hurt a fly
1. Have a frog in your throat
FROG
1. Act/play the goat
2. Get somebody’s goat
GOAT
1. Cook s.o.’s goose
2. Kill the goose that lays the
golden eggs
3. What’s sauce for the goose
is sauce for the gander
GOOSE 4. Wild-goose chase
1. Back the wrong horse
2. Close/shut the barn/stable
door after the horse has
bolted
3. Come/get (down) off your
HORSE high horse
4. Dark horse
5. To be gentle and would not do anything
to injure or offend anyone.
1. To have difficulty in speaking because
your throat feels dry and you want to
cough.
1. To behave in a silly way.
2. To annoy sb very much.
1. To do sth that spoils s.o.'s plans and
prevents them from succeeding.
2. To destroy sth that makes a lot of money
for you.
3. If one person is allowed to do sth or to
behave in a particular way, then another
person must be allowed to do that thing
or behave in that way, too.
4. A useless or hopeless search, esp
because sth does not exist or can’t be
found.
1. To support a person or thing that fails.
2. To be so late in taking action to prevent
sth bad happening that the bad event
has already happened.
3. To stop talking as if you were better or
more clever than other people.
4. A person who keeps their interests and
flies on her.
5. Damian just isn't the violent type. He wouldn't hurt
a fly.
1. I had a frog in my throat, and I had to clear my
throat several times before I could answer.
1. Insecure and lonely, he resorted to acting the goat
to get people's attention.
2. That sort of attitude really gets my goat.
1. Just tell her we can't - that'll cook her goose.
2. If you sell your shares now, you could be killing the
goose that lays the golden egg.
3. Jane: You're overweight; you should get more
exercise. Alan: But I don't really have time to
exercise. Jane: When I was overweight, you told me
to exercise; what's sauce for the goose is sauce for
the gander.
4. After two hours spent wandering in the snow, I
realized we were on a wild-goose chase.
1. In all his years as a book publisher, he rarely backed
the wrong horse.
2. It isn't worth replacing the oil filter on the engine
now—you can't close the barn door after the horse
has bolted.
3. It's time you came down off your high horse and
admitted you were wrong.
4. Anna's such a dark horse - I had no idea she'd
8 / 14

5. Eat like a horse
6. Flog a dead horse
7. Hold your horses
8. Horses for courses
9. Not look a gift horse in the
mouth
10. One-horse town
11. Put the cart before the
horse
12. (Straight) from the horse's
mouth
13. You can lead a horse to the
water but you can’t make
him drink
1. A hornet’s nest
2. Be knee-high to a
grasshopper
3. Have butterflies (in your
stomach)
INSECTS 4. Have ants in your pants
5. Like moths to a flame
ideas secret, especially sb who has a
surprising ability or skill.
5. To always eat a lot of food.
6. To waste effort on sth when there is no
chance of succeeding.
7. To stop and consider carefully your
decision or opinion about sth.
8. It is important to choose suitable people
for particular activities because
everyone has different skills.
9. Said to advise sb not to refuse sth good
that is being offered.
10. A town that is small and not important.
11. To do things in the wrong order.
12. From the person who has direct
personal knowledge of it.
13. You can make it easy for sb to do sth,
but you cannot force them to do it.
1. A situation or subject which causes a lot
of people to become angry and upset.
2. To be very small or young.
3. To feel very nervous, usually about sth
you are going to do.
4. To not be able to keep still because you
are very excited or worried about sth.
5. People try to be near sb who seems very
attractive or very interesting.
published a novel.
5. She's so thin, yet she eats like a horse.
6. He keeps trying to get it published but I think he's
flogging a dead horse.
7. Just hold your horses, Bill! Let's think about this for
a moment.
8. Ah well, horses for courses. Just because a plumber
can mend your washing machine, it doesn't follow
that he can mend your car as well.
9. Okay, it's not the job of your dreams but it pays
good money. I'd be inclined not to look a gift horse
in the mouth if I were you.
10. I refuse to spend a whole week in that one-horse
town!
11. Deciding what to wear before you've even been
invited to the party is rather putting the cart before
the horse, isn't it?
12. Are you sure she's leaving? Definitely, I heard it
straight from the horse's mouth.
13. Jill: I told Katy about all the jobs that are available
at our company, but she hasn't applied for any of
them. Jane: You can lead a horse to water, but you
can't make him drink.
1. His remarks on the role of women have stirred up a
hornet's nest amongst feminists.
2. I haven't been on a bouncy castle since I was knee-
high to a grasshopper.
3. I had terrible butterflies in my stomach before I gave
that talk in Venice.
4. I always get ants in my pants before a test.
5. I never understood why people flocked around him
like moths to a flame.
9 / 14
 1. Mutton dressed as lamb
2. Like a lamb to the slaughter
LAMB
1. A leopard can't/doesn't
change its spots
LEOPARD
1. The lion’s share
2. The lion’s den
3. Beard the lion (in his/her
den)
LION
1. Brass monkey weather
2. I'll be a monkey's uncle!
3. Not give a monkey's
4. Make a monkey out of sb
5. Monkey around
MONKEY
6. Monkey business
1. Like lemmings
2. Play cat and mouse
MOUSE
3. While the cat's away, the
1. An older woman who is dressed in a style
that’s more suitable for a younger
woman.
2. As a helpless victim.
1. A person's character, esp if it is bad, will
not change, even if they pretend that it
will.
1. The largest part or most of sth.
2. A dangerous or threatening place or
situation.
3. To visit an important person in order to
tell or ask them sth unpleasant.
1. Extremely cold weather.
2. Used to show you are very surprised.
3. You do not care about it at all.
4. To make someone appear stupid.
5. To behave in a silly and annoying way.
6. Behaviour that is not acceptable or is
dishonest.
1. In a silly way, without thinking, and in
large numbers.
2. To try to defeat sb by tricking that person 2. The 32-year-old singer spent a large proportion of
into making a mistake so that you have
an advantage over them.
3. When the person who is in charge of a
1. Do you think this dress is too young-looking for me?
- I don't want to look like mutton dressed as lamb.
2. I didn't know what I was doing, but I thought I did
and I was like a lamb to the slaughter because of it.
1. I doubt very much that marriage will change Chris
for the better. A leopard doesn't change its spots.
1. The lion's share of the museum's budget goes on
special exhibitions.
2. I felt like I was walking into the lion's den when I
went in front of the board for my annual review.
3. I spent a week trying to reach Mr. Smith by phone,
but today I walked straight into his office and
bearded the lion in his den.
1. It's brass monkey weather today, isn't it!
2. Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle. I never thought Bill
would remarry.
3. She couldn't give a monkey's if everyone's talking
about her.
4. He thinks he can make a monkey out of me, but he’s
got another think coming!
5. The children were bored and started monkeying
around.
6. The teacher suspected that there had been some
monkey business going on while she was out of the
room.
1. People rushed like lemmings to invest in the
company.
the week playing cat and mouse with the press.
3. When the teacher left for a few minutes, the
10 / 14
 mice will play
4. (as) Quiet as a mouse
1. Night owl
OWL
1. The world is sb's oyster
OYSTER
1. Sick as a parrot
2. Parrot-fashion
PARROT
1. Be not sb’s pigeon
2. Put/set the cat among the
pigeons
PIGEON
1. A pig in a poke
2. A pigsty
3. Cast pearls before swine
PIG
4. Make a pig's ear of
place is not there, and the people there
behave badly.
4. To make absolutely no noise.
1. A person who likes to stay up late at
night.
1. You can do what you want or go where
you want.
1. Very disappointed.
2. To learn or repeat the exact words,
usually without understanding them.
1. To not be sb's responsibility.
2. To say or do sth that causes trouble or
makes a lot of people very angry.
1. Sth that you buy or accept without first
seeing it or finding out if it is good.
2. A dirty or messy place.
3. To offer sth valuable or good to sb who
does not know its value.
4. To do sth badly, wrongly, or awkwardly.
children nearly wrecked the classroom. While the
cat's away, the mice will play.
4. You'd better be as quiet as a mouse while Grandma
takes her nap so you won't wake her up.
1. My roommate is a night owl and usually reads until
5:00 A.M.
1. You're young and healthy and you have no
commitments - the world is your oyster.
1. He was sick as a parrot when his team lost the
match.
2. When I went to Sunday school, we had to recite
passages from the Bible parrot-fashion.
1. Transport? That's not my pigeon - ask Danny.
2. Tell them all they've got to work on Saturday. That
should set the cat among the pigeons.
1. For most people, buying an air ticket is buying a pig
in a poke.
2. Your bedroom's a pigsty!
3. I'm afraid you're casting pearls before swine with
your good advice - he won't listen.
4. He's made a real pig's ear of that bookcase he was
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 something
5. Make a pig of yourself
6. Piggy in the middle
7. Pigs might fly
8. You can't make a silk purse
out of a sow's ear
1. Play possum
POSSUM
1. Be like a deer/rabbit caught
in the headlights
2. Pull a rabbit out of the hat
RABBIT
1. Rat on someone
2. Smell a rat
3. A pack rat
4. Look like a drowned rat
RAT
5. To eat too much.
6. Sb who is in a difficult situation between
two other people who are arguing.
7. Said when you think that there is no
chance at all of something happening.
8. You cannot make a good quality product
using bad quality materials.
1. To pretend to be dead or sleeping so that
sb will not annoy or attack you.
1. To be so frightened or surprised that you
cannot move or think.
2. To do sth unexpected that suddenly
improves a bad situation.
1. To not be loyal to sb, esp by giving away
secret information about them.
2. To recognize that sth is not as it appears
to be or that sth dishonest is happening.
3. Sb who collects things that they do not
need.
4. To be very wet, esp because you have
been in heavy rain.
supposed to be making.
5. They made complete pigs of themselves at the
dinner.
6. It's awful. They argue the whole time and I always
end up as piggy in the middle.
7. "I'll have finished it by tomorrow." "And pigs might
fly!"
8. To make chairs that'll last, you need good strong
pieces of wood. You can't make a silk purse out of a
sow's ear.
1. I don't think he's really asleep. He's playing possum.
1. Each time they asked him a question he was like a
deer caught in the headlights.
2. The governor pulled a rabbit out of a hat by putting
together a budget without increasing taxes.
1. John ratted on me, and I got in trouble.
2. He's been working late with her every night this
week - I smell a rat!
3. For me there could be nothing worse than living
with a pack rat.
4. I had to cycle home in the rain and came in looking
like a drowned rat.
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 1. Black sheep 1. A person who is regarded as a disgrace or 1. He's the black sheep of the family.
failure by his family or peer group.
2. Count sheep 2. Count imaginary sheep jumping over a
fence one by one in an attempt to send
oneself to sleep.
SHEEP
1. At a snail’s pace 1. Extremely slowly.
2. Bring sb out of their shell 2. Sb cause you to become more interested
in other people and more willing to talk
and take part in social activities.
3. Come out of your shell 3. To become more interested in other
people and more willing to talk and take
part in social activities.
SNAIL
4. Crawl/go/retreat/retire into 4. To become less interested in other
your shell people and less willing to talk and take
part in social activities.
5. Snail mail 5. Letters or messages that are not sent by
email, but in the post.
1. Snake its way 1. Sth that moves or is arranged in a
twisting way.
2. Snake in the grass 2. A sneaky and despised person.
SNAKE
1. Swansong 1. A person's last piece of work,
achievement, or performance.
SWAN
2. Whenever I go to bed with a racing mind, I make
myself count sheep until I drift off to sleep.
1. The roads were full of traffic and we were travelling
at a snail's pace for two hours.
2. We tried to bring Greg out of his shell, but he is very
shy.
3. Derek has really come out of his shell since he
started working here.
4. The more they tried to get her to talk about her
experiences, the further she retreated back into her
shell.
5. We agreed the deal online, but we'll have to wait for
snail mail to get the paperwork.
1. A long queue had formed, snaking its way
downstairs and out into the street.
2. How could I ever have trusted that snake in the
grass?
1. This weekend's game was his swansong as the
team's captain.
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 1. Paper tiger 1. Something that appears dangerous but is 1. The Soviet Union was suddenly revealed as a paper
not. tiger.

TIGER
1. Talk turkey 1. To discuss sth honestly and directly. 1. OK, let's talk turkey - you're broke and you don't
have work. What are you going to do?
2. Go cold turkey 2. To suddenly and completely stop doing 2. Finally she went cold turkey on a 23-year smoking
sth, esp a bad habit. habit and hasn't smoked since.
3. Like turkeys voting for 3. To choose to accept a situation which will 3. Teachers agreeing to even larger class sizes would
Christmas have very bad results for them. be like turkeys voting for Christmas.
TURKEY
1. Turn turtle 1. To turn upside down. 1. We lost all our diving gear when the boat turned
turtle just off the shore.

TURTLE
1. Keep the wolf from the 1. To have just enough money to be able to
door eat and live.
2. A wolf in sheep’s clothing 2. A person with a pleasant and friendly
appearance that hides the fact that they
are evil.
3. Cry wolf 3. To ask for help when you do not need it.
WOLF
1. Can of worms 1. A situation that causes a lot of problems
for you when you start to deal with it.
2. The early bird catches the 2. If you want to be successful you should
worm do sth immediately.
3. The worm has turned 3. When sb who has always been weak and
obedient starts to behave more
WORM confidently or take control of a situation.
1. As a student, he took an evening job to keep the
wolf from the door.
2. The financial advisor we hired turned out to be a
wolf in sheep's clothing who stole from the people
he promised to help.
3. If you cry wolf too often, people will stop believing
you.
1. Corruption is a serious problem, but nobody has yet
been willing to open up that can of worms.
2. If you see a job that interests you, apply as soon as
possible. The early bird catches the worm.
3. Yesterday, she just came in and told him to stop
bossing her around. The worm has turned!

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