Book of Idioms, Episode 6

"First and foremost" is a quick way of saying, "what follows is first, and most important, of a list."
Example: "Some argue that the current Euro economic crisis is, first and foremost, a crisis caused by excess government debt, and not primarily a banking crisis." In strict grammar, the "and foremost" part is redundant, but people use it to place heavier emphasis on something.

A person's "next of kin" is that person's closest living relative.
Example: A wife would be listed as a husband's next of kin. Should the husband die or be seriously injured in a car accident, his wife would be the first to be notified by authorities. ...More broadly, your "kin" are members of your nuclear or extended family; kin and kinfolk are terms used in older times for members of clans.
To be "off sick" is to be absent from work due specifically to illness. That is, to be "off work" because of being sick.
Ex.: "Didn't you hear? Don is off sick." This means Don is ill and, for that reason, did not come to work or left from work to go home. Knowing short idioms like these is critical for English comprehension tests; the above example is from a sample  question.

To be "off work" is to be absent from a job. The reason is irrelevant.
Ex.: "Jim is off work today." Jim is not at his job today.

In terms of things like opinion polling, to "tank" is to have a dramatic drop in support.
Example: "Herman Cain Dominates Florida GOP Straw Poll, Bachmann Tanks" In this example, Michelle Bachmann, who won a similar poll only several weeks ago, came in with extremely low support (1.5%). This is "tanking" support. It is reaching the bottom of the barrel, tank, or other container.

When something is in "a gray area," it is not clearly in one category or another, but seems to share some of the traits of both. To link, or to connect, something in a gray area with a clearly defined category can be misleading.
Example: Some English expressions are not clearly idioms, but can also be confusing without an explanation. These expressions are in a gray area.

A "train of thought" is a series of related thoughts, just as the cars of a train are connected to each other in sequence.
Example: "His train of thought led him to conclude he had been mistaken."

A "domino effect" is a process by which one event leads to a long sequence of secondary events, like a long row of dominoes falling over once the first one has been tipped into the second, which falls into the third, etc.
Ex.: German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Greece exiting the Euro would unleash "domino effects" and should be avoided at all costs.

"In the middle of the night" (or shorter: "the middle of night") is a loosely defined time between sunset and dawn. It implies "close to midnight or later, but before pre-dawn light begins."
Example: "Missing B.C. boy returned to home in middle of night" (news headline).

To "do the deed" is to commit an action. This idiom is often used in crime contexts.
Example, in past tense: Referring to a recent jewelry store robbery, "Cops say a trio of robbers did the deed yesterday".

someone's word is law
- to say that everyone always obeys a particular person, even when this does not seem reasonable
* Coleman was a strict disciplinarian whose word was law with the players.

"All bark and no bite" refers to small dogs having a habit of barking aggressively at larger dogs they cannot hope to defeat in a fight. Or, in other words, it refers to bluffing.
Example: "Max threatened to resign again. He's all bark and no bite. If he's going to do it, he should just do it already!" This implies Max is "all talk and no action."

To "make a killing" is an old English expression for making a lot of money, to the point that something seems criminal about it (in spite of it being completely 100% legal).
Example: "Lawyers to make a killing off Lansley's NHS reforms" (News headline. NHS = (the UK's) National Health Service)

When police "name" a suspect, this is not like a mother and father naming a newborn baby. It means to * identify * the suspect (suspected criminal). I'm not sure how frequently this is used in American English, but it is very, very common in British English (and dialects drawing heavily upon it for formal speech, like Canadian English).

Sometimes, an English expression literally does not have a proper dictionary meaning.
Example: Bee's knees, cat's pajamas, cat's whiskers.

"Bee's knees!" This doesn't "mean" anything. It's just used as pure slang, as if it did have a meaning. It is taking the place of much cruder and ruder expletives.

You took the words (right) out of my mouth
- said when someone describe something in exactly the way you were going to
* "My God, how can she wear that in public?" "You took the words right out of my mouth."

Do someone a good turn
-to do something that helps another person
*Although Carter's nightclub has met with opposition, he is conceived that he is doing the town a good turn.

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

➤ Idioms about Animals

➤ Idioms of Expression

➤ Idioms on Food

➤ Idiomatic Expressions

➤ Origin of Idioms

➤ Proverbs

➤ Idioms on Situation

➤ Idioms on Temperature