Getting Warmer, The Suffix, -ish, Coming To A Head, Hitting the Books

Getting Warmer
When someone is playing a guessing game, the person asking the question might say, "You're getting warmer." This means, a guess is getting closer and closer to the answer.

Example: Paul: "Guess how many pennies I'm holding."
Jason: "Uh... five."
Paul: "Wrong."
Jason: "Uhhh, okay. Nine."
Paul: "Getting warmer."
Jason: "Eleven!"
Paul: "Still warm."
Jason: "Ten?"
Paul: "Yes, I'm holding ten pennies."

This type of idiom is used for other kinds of "games" as well.

Conversely, "getting colder" means getting further away from the correct answer.


The Suffix, -ish
When used as a suffix, the modern colloquial idiom -ish indicates, "approximately".

Example: Dave: "So when should I pick you up to go to the movie?" Melissa: "Eight-ish. It only starts at 8:30."

In this example, the meaning is "sometime around eight o'clock". It can be 8:05, even 8:10; Melissa lives only a few minutes' drive away from the movie theater. Dave does not need to arrive "on the dot" (exactly at 8:00 PM). However, he should still arrive at a time relatively close to 8:00.

This could also be written "8-ish"; it is not likely to ever be accepted in formal written English. It is colloquial, and widely understood by native speakers (at least in North America), and should always be used appropriately to indicate an inexact, approximate quantity.



Coming To A Head
When things are "coming to a head," a confrontation or point of crisis is being reached, usually after a long period of build-up.

Example: "Canada Post's urban workers could go on strike late Thursday night if the Crown corporation declines to accept its latest offer, as seven months of heated negotiations between the two sides appears ready to come to a head."

That is, at the time this story was written, the two sides had not "sealed the deal" (reached an agreement successfully); rather, a strike has been called, and Canada's postal workers were set to go on strike within days.



Hitting the Books
To "hit the books" is to devote yourself to study. This is as opposed to hitting the hay (going to sleep).

Example: "We need to study for our Physics test. We'd better hit the books for a while."

Bonus Example: "I'm going to hit the books for an hour; then I'm going to hit the hay."

➤ 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