American Idiomatic Expressions
This online dictionary of idioms and phrases is based on original book by A. Makkai, M.T. Boatner and J.E. Gates — "A Dictionary of American Idioms".
Please, use the alphabetical links of the left menu or at the page bottom to access the dictionary, or choose from the "Categories" below.
If you are interested in particular idiom — then simply type-in the idiom you are looking for directly into the "Find on sky-net-eye.com - Your web-reference!" form on the top-right.
Note: avoid very short words. The "Full-text" option will ignore short words (3 letters or less). Otherwise, please use the "Exact" option in case you want to find an idiom having the words less than 4 letters long.
More than 8000 idiomatic words and phrases of American English
(an extraction from the Original Idiom Dictionary)
"This revised, updated, and expanded edition defines more than 8000 idiomatic words and phrases of American English.
Each alphabetical entry has a grammatical explanation and an example sentence. The dictionary, which includes a preface in nine different languages, is a tool to help increase fluency in English for students, business travelers, and leisure travelers.
The dictionary may also be used by native-born Americans who are sometimes confused by colloquial phrases (many of them regional in nature) not readily found in ordinary dictionaries and by non-native Americans whose mother tongue is not English.
The dictionary's preface explains what an idiom is, what kinds of idioms there are, and how they work, and provides instructions on how to use the dictionary.
The ordering of information in the dictionary includes the parts of the sentence, explanations, examples, and cross-references in alphabetical order on every pertinent page."
Tagging
Below you can see the Categories which group available idioms under thematic defined by a Tag. However the grouping is still not perfect, so you are welcome to propose your Categories using the form. Then we will review and aprove those as appropriate. Categories: Baseball God Marriage Romance Sports TV anger assertion behave blame blood bother business call career cars catch children clothes confidence convince danger death delight desire disappointment disaster doubt drugs embarrassment emphasis encourage exclamation experience eye fear feelings fire friends fruits hang happiness hate hold human human dignity hurt if only job kick life love medical military money mood movie music naughty nose offensive peace pleasure polite proverbs relation rude sex shame sleeve sorrow street study success tongue travel trouble used by children work youth
Latest discussions (10 total 19) :: American Idiomsadmin 2007-05-23 11:12:17
Hi All,
I am thinking about the way to split the idioms into different labels (or tags) for quick access from this page. Currently provided labels are only for test/evaluate purpose.
I will appreciate if you provide here your feedback with the ideas and suggestions on the best way to classify and provide the labels. What labels would be useful for the idioms classification?
The proper classification will help you to speed up searching on a particular topic (aka label), since the link will provide the whole group of the idioms marked by this label.
Cheers! Reply
Alfred 2008-09-06 22:50:13
Probably, it would be more nicer to display all results for each letters in just one page, so it'll be seen at one glance. A table-like format html page would be suitable. Replyadmin 2008-09-08 16:10:05
Hi, Alfred. Thank you for your suggestion.
We had to split into pages for only one reason — in many cases on this site there will be thousands of headlines on the same page and the page may load very long or fail to load at all. Replyjenette 2010-07-04 03:49:25
yah you're right
it will be easy for us to browse it Replyadmin 2010-07-05 08:42:53
Jenette,
there is now a link that allows browsing all the idioms (starting with some letter) on the same page.
Have a look at the page navigator bar — there is "All records" link. Reply
Matthew Tran 2008-09-19 18:07:35
Dear Sirs,
I have trouble in using your on-line dictionary of American idioms:
How can I go right to the idiom I want to refer?
Do I have to move by about 100 of increments of 25 (??) before reaching the idiom I want to see?
Please advise.
Matthew Tran Replyadmin 2008-09-22 00:58:34
Hi Matthew,
the fastest way to get right to the idiom you need is to type-in the idiom into the search form of the site.
The best mode to use is "Rel", which means the search should bring the most relevant links. The shortcoming of this mode is that it omits any word which has less than 4 letters.
The other way is by using the "Exact" mode. However, in this case the seach is limited exactly to the patterns in the texts matching to the whole string you have typed.
One more way to search is by using regular expressions ("Regex" mode). Let's say you are looking for an idiom which begins with "call it". To find all such idioms just enter a regular expression "^call it" and turn the "regex" mode on. Then submit the form — you will get very presise results. Another example — "call$" — will bring all the idioms with "call" at the end. ReplyRolph W Artieda 2009-09-24 20:32:40
Thanks to admin 2008—029—22:00:58:34 addressing to MAtthew it opens new ways to achieve a way to better express yourself; Idm still learning but there must have been a "typo" where an R is missing when you use search for the 3rd time. Got yah!! sense of humour... thatds all, Replyadmin 2009-09-24 23:30:07
Hey Rolph,
you can also try the "Google way" search.
Cheers
PS: not sure if I got you abt the "typo" :) ReplyJean Emilio 2010-04-21 00:01:47
I want to know some american idioms translate in french Reply
angeline gallego 2010-01-18 08:12:41
hi? its very great!!!:} Reply
hassna 2010-06-21 18:12:48
hi can u help me with more grammer about idiomatic expressions please Reply
Freddy Venus 2010-07-07 12:52:30
The corn husks on Tuesday flow nervously in the bay of the fountain spirits. Replymichael vince 2010-08-12 07:40:28
just asking you? how to make a good idiomatic expression?.... Reply
jenniel 2010-11-03 13:23:03
im asking you? give me 3 examples of idiom. it says in my assignment give 3 examples of idiom give its meaning and use in a sentence.... Reply
daivid 2010-11-08 09:37:05
this ls not good Reply
Keith Arches 2010-12-09 13:21:45
whoa Reply
ximera 2010-12-12 19:25:25
boys and girls, help me please
HOW CAN I DOWNLOAD THIS DICTIONARY??? Replywendell t 2011-04-16 16:11:25
how can i download the dictionary Reply
sriyalatha 2011-01-11 08:19:01
please give me meaning and example "over the moon" Reply
sriyalatha 2011-01-11 08:49:36
please give me meaning and example. "let your hair down. Replysriyalatha 2011-01-11 09:46:10
This is very good.But where is my answers? Replyalex 2014-08-15 03:55:17
when you think you can do somrthing that is impossible for you to do.(over the moon) Replyeng 2011-01-11 11:30:12
try searhing for "hair". The idiom is listed on this site "let one's hair down". Replyalex 2014-08-15 04:00:37
(Let Your Hair Down) Don´t be so serious or up tight. Reply
eslam 2011-01-27 00:39:41
hey sir actually iam from egy and i wanna ask u for something if u apply me please (stop talking ur head off) what is it means thx :D Replyadmin 2011-01-27 01:52:30
Eslam, please see talk smb's head off Reply
jhevelyn 2011-01-28 13:17:13
please give me an example of idiomatic expression? Reply
dona bless 2011-01-29 12:10:29
more idiomatic expressions please..i and my classmates badly need it..I'm hoping for it.. Reply
Abigael Ayerdi 2011-02-10 09:35:49
hi there...just wanna greet you there,i\'m going to report later about american pie and i wonder about how unique americans speak...and i figure that its all about the idiomatic expressions that they love to use...i\'m a filipina,that\'s why im not really accustom to all of the idioms...and you site was very helful.i\'m having a blast surfing.... Reply
reynalyn robredillo 2011-10-19 17:08:23
i need 100 idiomatic expression their meaning and examples for my english project..... Reply
Lilly 2013-11-22 08:06:40
I am researching on idioms from different parts of the world, and most interesting idioms are generated in America, its cool. Reply
alex 2014-08-15 04:03:50
Hope I helped you. Reply