Everything but the kitchen sink
The idiom “everything but the kitchen sink” means “almost everything”. To help understand the phrase, imagine you are moving home. You want to take everything with you, but some things are fixed and can’t...
Author: Graham
To bowl over
“To bowl over” is a phrasal verb with two main meanings. The first meaning of “to bowl over” is to knock someone or something to the ground. Examples: Because she wasn’t looking where she...
Compound nouns
We form compound nouns by joining together two words. Sometimes we keep these words separate. Examples: coffee cup fairy tale washing machine Sometimes we hyphenate them (join them together by a hyphen). Examples:...
Countable and uncountable nouns
Nouns can be either countable or uncountable. Countable nouns can be: preceded by a (a dog), both singular and plural (dog, dogs) counted (one dog, two dogs, three dogs, thirty dogs). Examples: programme case...
Possessive nouns
The possessive (or “genitive”) case of regular singular nouns is formed by adding –‘s (an apostrophe followed by an s). Examples: Jim’s (as in Jim’s foot) Mum’s (as in Mum’s car) horse’s (as in...
Well-heeled
“Well-heeled” is an idiom that is used to describe someone who has plenty of money. It probably originates from the idea that only someone with enough money could afford to have their shoes repaired...
What does “literally” mean?
Some people get very angry when they hear or read the word “literally” used in a way that they think is wrong. So, let’s try to understand what it means and how it should...
To earn your keep
The idiom “to earn your keep” means to work in return for food and somewhere to live. It comes from the times when workers, usually on farms, were often given food and accommodation instead...
What is a “Jubilee”?
“Jubilee” is another word for “anniversary”. “Anniversary” can be used when celebrating something that happened one, two, three, four years ago and so on, but “jubilee” is normally only used when celebrating something that...
To get cold feet
When someone gets cold feet, they become too frightened to do something that they had planned to do. Examples: He was going to enter the London marathon but got cold feet. She got cold...