Idioms & Phrases: Idioms and Phrasal Verbs with Their Meanings
This page gives the most useful idioms and phrasal verbs with their meanings and examples, how to memorise them, and tricks for identifying their meaning in the exam.
- Class 6-10 vocabulary level
- 11 min read
The Difference Between an Idiom and a Phrasal Verb
An idiom is a group of words whose meaning cannot be worked out from the meanings of its individual words. 'A cock and bull story' has nothing to do with a cock or a bull; it means a made-up, unbelievable story. Likewise, 'blow one's own trumpet' doesn't mean literally playing a trumpet — it means praising oneself.
A phrasal verb is formed from a verb plus an adverb or preposition (particle) attached to it — look + into = look into (to investigate). The moment the particle changes, the meaning changes: look after (to take care of), look for (to search for), look up to (to respect). Many phrasal verbs have two or three meanings, so always check the sentence's context.
In grammar, a phrase is a group of words that does not form a complete clause with a subject and verb. In the title 'Idioms and phrases', 'phrase' usually refers to such idiomatic expressions, like 'in the nick of time' or 'by leaps and bounds'.
Phrasal Verbs: One Verb, Many Meanings
| Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| look after | to take care of | She looks after her old parents. |
| look into | to investigate | The officer is looking into the murder mystery. |
| look for | to search for | I am looking for my keys. |
| look up to / look down upon | to respect / to look down on | Children look up to their teachers. |
| look forward to | to await eagerly | We look forward to the holidays. |
| set up | to establish | He set up a school in his village. |
| set upon | to attack suddenly and violently | The robbers set upon the defenceless travellers. |
| set in | (of weather, illness, or usually an unpleasant situation) to begin and settle in | The rainy season has set in. |
| set out / set off | to start a journey | They set out for Pushkar at dawn. |
| bear with | to be patient, to put up with | Please bear with me for a minute. |
| bear out | to confirm | The report bears out his statement. |
| bear up | to keep up one's courage in difficulty | She bore up well after the loss. |
| bear down | to suppress, to overcome | The bold leader bore down all opposition. |
| put off / put up with | to postpone / to tolerate | The meeting was put off. I can't put up with noise. |
| give up / give in | to quit / to surrender | He gave up smoking. The enemy finally gave in. |
| take after | to resemble (an older family member) | Riya takes after her grandmother. |
| call off | to cancel | The match was called off due to rain. |
| break out | (of war, fire, an epidemic) to start suddenly | A fire broke out in the market. |
| run out of | to use up completely | We have run out of milk. |
| come across | to meet or find by chance | I came across an old photograph. |
| turn down | to refuse | He turned down the offer. |
| carry out | to complete, to put into effect | The students carried out the experiment. |
Phrasal verbs built on base verbs like look, set and bear are easily confused with each other; memorise them in groups.
Important Idioms with Their Meanings
| Idiom | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| a cock and bull story | a made-up, unbelievable story | Nobody believed his cock and bull story about the lost homework. |
| blow one's own trumpet | to praise oneself | A good worker need not blow his own trumpet. |
| in the nick of time | just at the right moment, at the last moment | The doctor arrived in the nick of time. |
| play someone false | to betray | His own partner played him false. |
| a bolt from the blue | sudden (usually bad) news | The news of the accident came as a bolt from the blue. |
| at sixes and sevens | in a state of confusion/disorder | After the party the house was at sixes and sevens. |
| beat about the bush | to avoid the real point, to speak evasively | Stop beating about the bush and tell me the truth. |
| burn the midnight oil | to study/work late into the night | She burnt the midnight oil before the exam. |
| once in a blue moon | very rarely | He visits us once in a blue moon. |
| a white elephant | an expensive but useless thing | The unused stadium became a white elephant. |
| the apple of one's eye | someone very dear | The little girl is the apple of her father's eye. |
| an apple of discord | the cause/root of a quarrel | The land became an apple of discord between the brothers. |
| hit the nail on the head | to say exactly the right thing | You hit the nail on the head with that answer. |
| leave no stone unturned | to make every possible effort | The police left no stone unturned to find the child. |
| by leaps and bounds | very rapidly | The town has grown by leaps and bounds. |
| smell a rat | to suspect something is wrong | When he refused to show the bill, I smelt a rat. |
| a red-letter day | a memorable, special day | Result day was a red-letter day for her. |
| a wet blanket | someone who dampens others' enthusiasm | Don't be a wet blanket at the picnic. |
| break the ice | to ease a tense or awkward start to a conversation | The teacher told a joke to break the ice. |
| take to one's heels | to run away | The thief took to his heels on seeing the police. |
| in black and white | in writing | Please give me the promise in black and white. |
| face the music | to accept the consequences of one's actions | He broke the rule and had to face the music. |
| red tape | unnecessary official formality and delay | Red tape delayed the project. |
| Achilles' heel | someone's weak point | Spelling is his Achilles' heel. |
How to Identify the Meaning in the Exam
First rule — treat any option with a literal meaning with suspicion first. For 'Blowing his own trumpet', an option like 'Playing his trumpet' is almost always a trap, because an idiom's meaning is figurative.
Second rule — read the idiom in its sentence context. If the sentence has a negative sense (No one believed his …), the meaning will also be negative (an unreal story), not positive (a real story). For a phrasal verb question, look at the relationship between subject and object: an officer and a mystery → investigate (look into); robbers and defenceless travellers → attack (set upon); a leader and opposition → suppress (bear down).
Third rule — where possible, compare the idiom to an equivalent Hindi idiom, but don't translate word for word. 'Take to one's heels' ≈ 'nau do gyaarah ho jaana' (to vanish/flee); 'blow one's own trumpet' ≈ 'apne munh miyan mitthu banna' (to sing one's own praises); 'an apple of discord' ≈ the root of a quarrel.
Memory Trick
Connect phrasal verbs to the feel of their particle: 'into' = going deep inside (look into = to investigate thoroughly), 'upon' = pouncing on top of (set upon = to attack), 'down' = pressing down (bear down = to suppress opposition), 'out' = outward/to completion (carry out, bear out = to bring the truth out, to confirm). This doesn't apply to every word, but it gets you to the right answer in most of the exam's options.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 'a cock and bull story' mean?+
A made-up, unbelievable story (an unreal or unbelievable story).
What is the difference between 'look into' and 'look after'?+
'Look into' = to investigate (The police are looking into the case); 'look after' = to take care of (She looks after her baby).
What does 'in the nick of time' mean?+
Just at the right moment, at the last moment. For example: He caught the bus in the nick of time.
What is the best way to memorise idioms?+
Instead of memorising a list by rote, read each idiom with a sentence and a short story, connect it to an equivalent Hindi idiom, and memorise phrasal verbs in groups by their base verb (look, set, bear, put).