Informal Letters: Idioms & Phrases (Examples)

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IDIOMS & PHRASES

Having fun:

§ to paint the town red

§ to be having the time of your life

§ to have a blast

§ to be over the moon

§ to have a whale of a time

Being stressed/scared/shocked/sad:

§ to be sweating buckets (stressed, scared)

§ to feel your heart skip a beat (stressed, scared, in love)

§ to have shivers run down your spine (stressed, scared)

§ to break out in a cold sweat (stressed, scared)

§ with bated breath (stressed, scared)

§ to be a bundle of nerves (stressed)

§ your heart missed a beat (shocked, scared)

§ to have butterflies in my stomach (stressed, in love)

§ to be like a cat on hot bricks (stressed, clumsy)

§ in a state of shock (shocked)

§ to freeze to the spot (shocked)

§ I couldn't believe my eyes (shocked, surprised)

§ to be under the weather (sad)

Being angry:

§ to make somebody's blood boil

§ to drive somebody crazy

§ to drive somebody up the wall

§ to go nuts

Asking for a favour/Thanking somebody:

§ "I owe you big time!"

§ "Promise I'll make it up to you!"/ "How can I make it up to you?"

Other:

§ to become an expert overnight (=to improve greatly over a short period of time)

§ better late than never

§ the best of both worlds (=most satisfying decision/best option)

§ to speak of the devil (=when somebody you've been thinking/talking about shows up)

§ once in a blue moon (=rarely)

§ to cost an arm and a leg (=really expensive)

§ a piece of cake (=really easy/simple)

§ to let the cat out of the bag (=to reveal a big secret)

§ to kill two birds with one stone (=to solve two problems at once)

§ to rub salt into somebody's wound (=to make something painful/unpleasant even worse)

§ to judge a book by its cover (=to make assumptions based on appearance/little information)

§ to hit the nail on the head (=to find out the cause-reason/to find the best solution)

§ a blessing in disguise (=something positive you weren't initially aware of)

§ to call it a day (=to end doing an activity for the day because you feel you have done enough for now)

§ bite the bullet (=to be brave and decide to do something unpleasant)

§ to get a taste of your own medicine (=to be treated the way you treat people)

§ the last straw (=the last of negative things to happen, making you lose all your patience)

§ the cherry on top (=the last detail that makes something better/perfect) (can be used ironically)

§ to put pen to paper (=to write)

§ too good to be true (=oddly/ surprisingly perfect, suspicious)

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