Dictionary of English Idioms and Idiomatic Expressions

Dictionary of English Idioms and Idiomatic Expressions is a work published by Dorking School of English, Bangkok Thailand. The book is a wonderful collection of idioms and idiomatic expressions that are frequently used in the English language. The book can be a great aid for those learners of English who want to learn idioms and idiomatic phrases in English.

However, before you move to save this book to your system for learning English idioms, let’s spare some time to discuss what English idioms are, why you need to learn them and how to learn and use them in your everyday conversations. Here’s all you need to know about English idioms and idiomatic phrases.

Let’s begin with the question:

What is an idiom in English?

An English idiom is a short phrase or group of words that offers a metaphorical or figurative meaning. Idioms in English contain a group of words. The group of words collectively expresses a figurative (non literal meaning) meaning which is different from the meaning of the individual meaning that the group consists of.

10 Examples of English Idioms

to sit on the fence
to pull someone’s leg
to rain cats and dogs
to talk around the bush
once in a blue moon
to kill two birds with one stone
break a leg
to kick the bucket
to hit the sack
a piece of cake

Characteristics of English Idioms

Learning anything pointwise focusing on its characteristics is a helpful way for understanding it fully. Therefore, we provide you with all the facts and figures or characteristics of English idioms and idiomatic expressions:

A group of words: English idioms often contain a group of words. In other words, we can say that idioms or idiomatic expressions in English are phrases containing few words. However, the idioms are a special kind of phrases in English, and not the same as other phrases like prepositional phrases.
Figurative meaning: Figurative of a word or phrase is a meaning which is other than the literal or dictionary meaning of a word or phrase. For instance, “once in a blue moon” has a special meaning “rarely” wich is other than the original or literal meaning of each word containing in the phrase.
Rooted in various fields: One of the most interesting facts about English idioms is that they are rooted in various fields or related to different walks of life. For instance, idioms are related to fruits, animals, peoples, science and technology, common experiences, emotions and feelings.
Known to a certain community: English idioms are particular to a specific community of language users. That is, when we talk about English idioms, it means that the idioms are particularly known to the English people or the users of the English language. However, they can be learned and used with labor.
Individual word has literal meaning: In fact 1, we have verified that English idioms are groups of words or consisting few words. These words containing in the group have a special feature which is that they express literal meanings. Note that they, in the group, express a figurative meaning only.

Why Care about Idioms in English?

Grammars of English help you put together the words in the correct order so that others can understand you; vocabulary helps you express your message to others; pronunciation ensures the intelligibility or understanding of your speech. Similarly, idioms in English should give some benefit. Here are the reasons why you need to learn idioms in English:

Naturality in speech: There’s a great difference between the speech of a native speaker and that of a non native speaker of English. This difference is often rooted in the words, phrases or structures they use in their conversations. The second language speakers of English use bookish English, whereas the natives use the natural conversations replete with idiomatic expressions. Thus, using idioms in your speech brings naturality to it.
Connection with others: When you use idioms or idiomatic expressions in your English conversations, you use the tool which helps you connect with the languages users easily. This is because you use the mouth words of the community of English language users which creates a bond between you and the person you’re speaking with.
Special effect in speech: One of the most hidden features or characteristics of English idioms is that they create a special effect in your speech which can’t be otherwise produced. That is, using the words carrying literal meaning can’t produce the impact which can be created by using the idiomatic expressions.

7 Tips to Learn Idioms in English

When learning anything, you should not be dependent on a single way of learning. You need to try all the possible ways of learning. There are several ways of learning English idioms. Below are the 7 most common ways to learn idioms in English without any difficulty:

Talk to native speakers
Use hard copies
Use online resources
Memorize them by grouping
Listen to native speakers
Make a habit of using them
Write idiomatic expressions

Idioms in English with Meanings

Here are 10 most common English idioms with their meanings:

to sit on the fence means “to not decide anything”
to pull someone’s leg means “to make fun of someone”
to rain cats and dogs means “to rain heavily”
to talk about the bush means “to talk around”
once in a blue moon means “rarely”
to kill two birds with one stone “to do two things with a single effort”
break a leg means “to say good luck”
to kick the bucket means “to die”
to hit the sack means “to go to bed”
a piece of cake means “very easy”

Conclusion: Dictionary of English Idioms and Idiomatic Expressions

To summarize what has been stated in this post, English idioms are the short phrases which express figurative meanings, produce a special effect in meaning and are particular to a certain community of language users. Learning English idioms is essential for three reasons: naturality in speech, connection with others and special effect in meaing. To learn idioms and idiomatic expressions, you can follow the 7 methods mentioned in the post.