20+ Fruit and Vegetable Idioms with Meanings and Examples

Food Item Idioms & Phrases
20+ Fruit and Vegetable Idioms with Meanings and Examples

A bad egg or a bad apple: A bad / dishonest / ill-behaved person

At first I trusted him, but soon I found he's a bad egg/apple.

Polish the apple: To win favour through flatter or praise

It may help your standing with the boss if you polish the apple.

An apple of discord: Cause of quarrel / unhappiness / trouble

The use of the bike was an apple of discord between Joe and his wife.

Apple pie order: In perfect order / very organized

Everything needs to be in apple-pie order before Grandma gets here!

Apple of one’s eye: A favourite / cherished person

He has five kids, but his only daughter is the apple of his eye.

Banana republic: A small country / state led by corrupt government

Before Castro, Cuba was considered something of a banana republic.

Second banana: Subordinate / next most important person

He always plays second banana in the basketball matches.

Cherry pick: To choose / select something very carefully

The new schools were accused of cherry-picking the best students in the area.

Couch potato: Keep seated and watching TV; no active life

She wants to date a man who love to travel and explore, not a couch potato.

Hot potato: Difficult / controversial issues or a sensitive situation

The issue of immigration became a political hot potato.

Small potatoes: Insignificant

Compared to her problems, mine seem like small potatoes.

Cry over spilt milk: Regret about something that has already happened or can’t be changed

Don't cry over spilt milk, we should be thinking about the next plan.

Egg on: To encourage someone to do something –unwise or bad

Jack is always egging me on to drive faster.

In a soup: In serious trouble / bad situation

That stunt landed her in the soup.

To buy a lemon: To buy something useless / worthless

Buying second-hand car is like buying a lemon.

Not give a fig: To be unconcerned or not interested in something

They can say what they like. I don't give a fig.

In your salad days: Youthful period of life

I met her in my salad days.

Sour grapes: Coveted but can’t obtained, hence belittled; disparagement of that which one cannot have

His remarks about the skating champion are sour grapes.

To put all eggs in one basket: To risk everything in one business

I applied to several colleges so I wasn't putting all my eggs in one basket.

To have finger in every pie: To be involved in lot of different things

A good approach to investing is to have a finger in many different pies.

To be full of beans: To talk nonsense + very active and energetic

His explanation is totally full of beans and doesn't answer questions at all.

He is certainly full of beans again after his illness.

To be in a pickle: To experience complication / troublesome situation

We're in a real pickle now because the hotel gave our room away!

 

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Comments

  1. All girls in my team are cherry-picked by my supervisor :)

    ReplyDelete

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