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Idiom – derived from the Greek word ‘idioma’ – denotes peculiarity.

Idioms refer to the usual way in which the words of a particular language are joined together to express a thought. It is usually an accepted phrase, construction, or expression contrary to the usual patterns of the language or having a meaning different from the literal.

The list could be endless. Here, I have chosen some of them to be shared with you with a specific theme in mind, i.e, Animals. There are many idioms and phrases we come across in daily life usage, though some of them seem to fail in making meaning to our sense of interpretation.

Let us look at a few of them and their meaningful usage in sentences.

1. Change horses in midstream – to make new plans or choose a new leader in an activity that has already begun.

Many of the government projects fail to take off on time due to frequent change of horses in midstream.

2. Cast pearls before swine – to bestow something on someone who will not be thankful for it nor care about it.

Helping selfish people with money is like casting pearls before swine.

3. a cock and bull story – a silly story made up by someone which is not anyway true.

Shyam made up a cock and bull story when questioned on why he was late to school.

4. to pull wool over one’s eyes – to hoodwink, to mislead or confuse by trickery, dupe someone.

Manish managed to pull wool over his mother’s eye before he escaped from home to go to the theatre.

5. on a wing and a prayer – with only the slightest hope of succeeding.

Rajat was at wits’ end, on a wing and prayer mode, while persuading his adamant brother to go for higher studies.

6. flog a dead horse – to continue fighting a battle that has been won; to continue to argue a point that has been settled.

Renuka and her mother in law often keep flogging a dead horse even for trivial issues.

7. a can or worms – an old problem, a controversial issue.

The acute power drought in Tamilnadu has made the discussions about the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant into a can of worms.

8. hold one’s horse – to wait, to be patrent.

It is often noticed that those people who have learnt to hold their horse are the ones who turn out to be most successful in life.

9. hit the bull’s eye -  to reach or focus on the maiml point of something.

After a heated discussion, the manager was able to that the bull’s eye on their latest marketing strategy.

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