Book of Idioms, Episode 17

BULLISH ON: optimistic about. This comes from stock market terminology but is now more widely used. You can also say bearish on, pessimistic about, but that's less common. Jakarta Globe: <<A senior US official said that the United States was open to providing election support but added that problems during the last vote in 2009 were technical in nature and not seen as an effort to rig the outcome.>>


DOWN IN THE DUMPS: depressed, melancholy.
To LICK ONE'S WOUNDS is to try to recover from a defeat or misfortune (from the fact that animals who are hurt often lick their wounds). Detroit Free Press: Detroit is heading into one of those ... stretches when we confound the world’s expectations about a bedraggled city, down in the dumps, licking its wounds.


ROB PETER TO PAY PAUL: to borrow money in order to pay a bill or meet a financial obligation. Forbes: <<When ... mature, established firms ... struggle in this regard it doesn’t bode well for the local Main Street business owners who have been forced to rob Peter to pay Paul over the last few years. Less-than-perfect credit and a mediocre track record don’t impress many bankers.>>


KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED: be alert for something, watch carefully for something. Another common way to say this is "be on the lookout." ITV News, Britain: <<Dog walkers, cyclists and fishermen are being urged to keep their eyes peeled in a Derbyshire beauty spot after a number of swans were found dead in the area.>>


If something HAS LEGS, it is persistent or durable. You use this idiom for a phenomenon. Wall Street Journal: <<Stock-market bears argue that much of the recent record-breaking rally has been fueled by the Federal Reserve’s easing-money policies. But Mr. Masters isn’t worried about a paring back of the Fed’s $85-billion-a-month bond-buying program. “The economic recovery can continue and still has legs,” he said....>>

TO BE CAUGHT OFF GUARD is to fail to anticipate something. Also we can say to catch someone off guard, to surprise someone, to do something the person wasn't expecting.
Example: [The Bank of Indonesia] caught off guard by recent rupiah decline.
Bank Indonesia (BI) deputy governor Mirza Adityaswara has said the rupiah exchange rate, which currently stands at below Rp 11,500 per US dollar, had been more volatile than expected.


WHERE THERE'S SMOKE, THERE'S FIRE: if there are a lot of rumors, there's probably some truth behind them; if something looks wrong, it probably is. A proverb (a common saying) and an idiom (an expression in which words are used in a nonliteral or unusual way). Florida International University student media: <<We might be on the verge of witnessing the end of an era here at FIU.
Chatter has begun to spread about the possibility of women’s basketball Head Coach Cindy Russo retiring at the end of this year.
I have no idea whether these rumors have any merit, but you know what they say, “where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”>>


And, since we had the bottom of the barrel, let's add its antonym, CREME DE LA CREME. This comes from French but is used in English; it's often spelled with accent marks: crème de la crème. Literally this means "cream of the cream," but idiomatically it means the best of the best. Al-Bawaba (Abu Dhabi): << Abu Dhabi Film Festival 2013 kicks off with the crème de la crème of international cinema. It is a star-struck week for Abu Dhabi with the best of international and Arab movie talent descending upon the capital for the 7th edition of the Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF), which is on till November 2nd.>>

Star-struck, I might add, means dazzled by the presence of celebrities.


BLOW SMOKE: give misleading or exaggerated information. Jakarta Globe: <<In 2007, at an OIC Health Minsters’ summit in Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia stated its willingness to recognize that tobacco poses one of the greatest threats to health. The country joined an effort to call upon OIC member states to introduce stronger tobacco control legislation.

Diplomats have noted Indonesia’s eagerness to project itself as a leader in international forums, but say the country’s reputation will suffer if, rather than taking action and responsibility on basic agreements, the government is instead seen as merely blowing smoke.>>


SUCK IT UP: endure hardship. As far as I can see, this is more common in the U.S. and Australia than in the UK.
From the Dear Prudence advice column on Slate.com: <<Dear Prudie,
Every year my husband and I have the same argument. My husband loves scary movies and wants to watch one each year on Halloween after we put the kids to bed. Scary movies just aren't for me. When I watch them, I feel anxious and terrified. I have nightmares and end up spending the next week afraid to be alone in the house. He thinks I should suck it up. He says he doesn’t care for romantic comedies, but he watches them with me. He doesn’t understand there’s a difference between sitting through a movie that may not be your favorite, and subjecting yourself to a frightening and disturbing experience. I've suggested that he watch his favorite scary movies alone while I do something in another room, but he says that’s no fun. Who's right?
—Not So Happy Halloween>>

➤ Read more idioms and phrases, English grammar and vocabulary at Basic English Grammar And Vocabulary . You might also like ⏬

➤ Book of Idioms

➤ Idioms about Animals

➤ Idioms of Expression

➤ Idioms on Food

➤ Idiomatic Expressions

➤ Origin of Idioms

➤ Proverbs

➤ Idioms on Situation

➤ Idioms on Temperature