Idioms 10

1. BLINK OF AN EYE: If something happens in the blink of an eye, it happens nearly instantaneously with hardly any time to notice it.

  • The pickpocket disappeared in the blink of an eye.
  • In the blink of an eye the ugly frog was transformed into a handsome prince.
  • There was a big explosion and in a blink of an eye the whole building was gone.
  • If the prison guards don’t pay attention, the prisoners will escape in a blink of an eye.

If my dog is not tied, it will go out of the house in a blink of an eye.

2. MAKES YOUR BLOOD BOIL: If something makes your blood boil, it makes you really angry.

  • His condescending attitude made my blood boil.
  • Whenever i see garbage on the road. It makes my blood boil.
  • When I see youngsters wasting their time. It makes my blood boil.
  • Corruption in politics makes my blood boil.
  • It makes my blood boil to see the amount of food wasted around here.

3. MAKES YOUR BLOOD RUN COLD: If something makes your blood run cold, it  shocks or scares you a lot.

  • The look in the prisoner’s eyes made my blood run cold.
  • When I heard about the plane crash, It made my blood run cold.
  • Don’t look at me like that, it makes my blood run cold.
  • If I read horror stories at night, I get so scared that my blood runs cold.
  • Whenever I think of that scary night, my blood runs cold.

4. BLOW A FUSE: If you blow a fuse, you suddenly lose your temper and become very angry.

  • Charlie blew a fuse yesterday when he discovered that his I pod had been stolen.
  • Don’t argue with me please, I am about to blow a fuse.
  • When I told him that I am demoting him. He blew a fuse and left.
  • He has a tendency to blow a fuse instead of handling the situation in a mature way.
  • There is no need to blow a fuse over such a small thing.

5. BLOW OUT OF PROPORTION: If you exaggerate the importance of something, you blow it out of proportion.

  • The importance of the event was blown out of proportion by the media.
  • The policeman blew it out of proportion. I was only going 5 km over the speed limit not 20.
  • Don’t blow this out of proportion, he didn’t wreck the car on purpose.
  • That’s ridiculous, we just had a small disagreement. You are blowing the incident out of proportion.
  • I know that you are feeling sick but don’t blow it out of proportion. You are not going to die.

6. BLOW THE WHISTLE: If you report an illegal or socially harmful activity to the authorities, and give information about the people responsible for it, you blow the whistle or you are a whistle blower.

  • He refused to blow the whistle on his boss as he had the fear of losing his job.
  • The citizens group blew the whistle on the street gangs by calling the police.
  • The bank fired her for blowing the whistle on the bank’s mismanagement of the accounts.
  • He blew the whistle on the corruption that was going on in his department.
  • There was no evidence but she knew about the wrongdoings of her husband. So, she blew the whistle on him.

7. OUT OF THE BLUE: If something happens out of the blue. It happens very unexpectedly.

  • I had nearly given up hope when out of the blue I was offered a job.
  • Out of the blue my parents decided to buy me a new car for my birthday. I am so happy.
  • Our company lost a lot of money out of the blue because of the global financial crisis.
  • I hate it when out of the blue things start going wrong.
  • My uncle came to visit us out of the blue.  

8. IN THE SAME BOAT: If two or more parties are in the same boat they are in the same unpleasant or difficult situation.

  • When the factory closed down, all the workers found themselves in the same boat.
  • You can’t borrow my car as we are in the same boat. My car is also at the repair shop.
  • If I lose my job, I’ll be in the same boat as every unemployed person.
  • Stop complaining, we have to find a way out of this mess. We are all in the same boat.
  • I can’t pay for the lunch today, as I don’t have any cash. We are in the same boat.

9. THE MIND BOGGLES: It is used as a reaction to something you find amazing or difficult to understand.

  • She crossed the Atlantic alone. Can you imagine? The mind boggles.
  • He has so many records in cricket that it boggles the mind.
  • It just boggles my mind to think of how many people have a hard time to make ends meet.
  • The thought of what you can do with all that money boggles the mind.
  • The immense size of the house boggles my mind.

10. IN SOMEONE’S BAD BOOKS OR GOOD BOOKS: If you are in someone’s good or bad books means that you have their approval or disapproval.

  • I’m in my wife’s bad books at the moment because I forgot our wedding anniversary.
  • I’m in my manager’s good books right now because I agreed to work this weekend.
  • My sister is in my parents’ good books because she did really well in her final exams.
  • He is in his boss’s’ good books because he comes late to office.
  • I am in my teacher’s bad books because I didn’t do my home work.