English Idioms & Idiomatic Expressions
Alphabetical List - B
(Idioms B page 8 : beyond one's wildest
dreams → bite the bullet)
| beyond one's wildest dreams | If
something is beyond your wildest dreams,
it is better than you imagined or hoped for. The research team received a grant from the government that was beyond their wildest dreams. |
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| beyond recall |
Something which is beyond recall is
impossible to retrieve, cancel or reverse. I'm afraid we can't recover the pictures - your camera is beyond recall. |
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| beyond redemption | If something is
beyond redemption, it is in such a poor
state that there is no hope of improvement
or recovery. With the latest scandal, his reputation is now beyond redemption. |
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| bide your time | If you bide
your time, you wait for a good
opportunity to do something. He's not hesitating, he's just biding his time, waiting for the price to drop. |
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| big cheese | This expression
refers to a person who has a lot of power
and influence in an organisation. Tom's father is a big cheese in the oil industry. |
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| big fish in a small pond | This term refers to
an important or highly-ranked person in a
small group or organisation. He could get a job with a big company but he enjoys being a big fish in a small pond. |
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| big picture | If you talk about
the big picture, you refer to the
overall situation, or the project as a whole rather than the details. While each aspect is important, try not to forget the big picture. |
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| bill of health | If a person has a
clean bill of health, they have a
report or certificate declaring that their
health is satisfactory. All candidates for the position must produce a clean bill of health. |
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| binge drinking | This term refers to
heavy drinking where large quantities of
alcohol are consumed in a short space of
time, often among young people in rowdy
groups. Binge drinking is becoming a major problem in some European countries. |
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| birds of a feather | To say that two people are birds of
a feather means that they are very
similar in many ways. No wonder they get on well. They're birds of a feather! |
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| for the birds | If you think
something is for the birds, you
consider it to be uninteresting, useless or
not to be taken seriously. As far as I'm concerned, his theory is for the birds. |
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| birthday suit | This humorous
expression means that you are wearing
nothing. The bathroom door blew open, and there I was in my birthday suit! |
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| take the biscuit | This expression
refers to something very irritating or
annoying. After waiting for an hour, we were told that there were no seats left. That really took the biscuit! |
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| bite the bullet | If you bite the
bullet, you accept something unpleasant
because you cannot avoid it. If you don't have health insurance, you have to bite the bullet and pay the hospital fees. |
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| ...back next... | |||||||||||||||||||
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| more alphabetical lists ... | |||||||||||||||||||
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X-Y-Z |