Colloquial English Idioms

Other idioms:
Idioms describing people
She has a heart of gold - very kind, generous.
He’s very quick off the mark - he always gets things before everybody else.
She’s a bit of an odd-ball - very strange, peculiar, strange.
I was a bit slow off the mark - the job had been filled by the time.
Idioms describing feeling or mood
Joe’s as happy as the day is long - extremely content.
He had a face as long as a fiddle - looked very depressed/sad.
I could eat a horse - very hungry.
She was scared stiff - very scared.
Idioms connected with problematic situations
To take a back seat - not do anything; let others act instead.
To lay one’s cards on the table - be very open, state exactly what your position is.
This has to be done by next week - we must get our act together before it’s too late - organize ourselves to respond; informal.
The government and the unions have buried the hatchet for the time being. [made Pease/stopped fighting each other].
Idioms connected with praise and criticism
Marry is head and shoulders above the rest of the girl or She’s miles better than the other girls - used usually of people.
She’s a dab-hand at carpentry, just like her father - usually for manual skills.
She thinks she’s the cat’s whiskers/the bee’s knees - thinks she’s wonderful.
When it comes to unreliability, he really takes the biscuit - is the epitome/most striking example of some negative quality.
Idioms connected with using language
The boss always talks down to us - talks as if we were inferior.
My work-mates are always talking behind my back - saying negative things about me when I’m not there.
It was just small talk, nothing more, I promise - purely social talk, nothing serious.
It’s gone too far this time. I shall have to give him a talking to – reproach, scold him.
Idioms – miscellaneous
I’ve got that song on the brain - just can’t stop myself singing it.
He’s made quite a bit of headway with his maths lately - make progress.
We had to pay through the nose for those tickets - pay a huge amount.
Oh, he’s got a finger in every pie - is involved in many different things.