English Idioms & Idiomatic Expressions
Alphabetical List - T
(Idioms T, page 2 : take the law → take the
rough)
| take the law into your own hands | If, instead of calling the police, you
act personally against someone who has done
something wrong, you take the law into
your own hands. Instead of calling the police, he took the law into his own hands and confronted the youth who had stolen his son's scooter. |
| take leave of your senses | To say to someone
'have you taken leave of your senses?'
means that you think their behaviour is
crazy. You're going skiing in this blizzard? Have you taken leave of your senses? |
| take one's life into one's hands | To say that someone
is taking their life in their hands
means that they are taking the risk of being
killed. If you drive home on this icy road, you'll be taking your life in your hands. |
| take a load off one's mind | If something
takes a load (or weight)
off someone's mind, it brings great
relief because a problem has been solved. When the company closed down, finding a new job took a load off Tom's mind. |
| take matters into your own hands | If you take
matters into your hands, you take
action yourself rather than waiting for
others to intervene. When Susan saw the lack of progress, she decided to take matters into her own hands. |
| take the mickey out of | If you take the
mickey out of someone, you tease them
or make fun of their behaviour, sometimes in
an unkind way. Jessica's dad is always taking the mickey out of her about the time she spends styling her hair. |
| take your mind off | If an activity
takes your mind off something that is
worrying you, it helps you to stop thinking
about it for a while. Sarah was worrying about the result of the test so Tom took her to the cinema to take her mind off it. |
| take it upon yourself | If you take
something upon yourself, you do it
without asking for permission or agreement. My colleague took it upon herself to redecorate the office during my absence. |
| take a nosedive | If something
takes a nosedive, it drops or decreases
in value very rapidly. The stock market took a nosedive when the property market began to weaken. |
| take pains | If you take
pains to do something, you try very
hard or make a special effort to do it as
well as possible. Great pains were taken to ensure the security of the athletes. |
| take the plunge | If you take the
plunge, you finally decide to venture
into something you really want to do, in the
spite of the risks involved. Mark and Emily finally took the plunge and opened a guesthouse. |
| take a rain check | To say that you
take a rain check
means that you cannot accept an
invitation or offer now, but you will be
happy to accept it later. Do you mind if I take a rain check on that lunch invitation? I'm going to be away all week. |
| take the rap | If you take the
rap, you accept blame or punishment for
something, even if you are not responsible. The whole class had to the take the rap for the disorder. |
| take the rough with the smooth | If you take the
rough with the smooth, you accept what
is unpleasant or difficult as well as what
is pleasant or easy. Life isn't always easy; you have to learn to take the rough with the smooth. |
| ...back next... | |
alphabetical lists T ...
| T1 | T2 | T3 | T4 | T5 | T6 | T7 | T8 | T9 | T10 | T11 | T12 | T13 | T14 | T15 |
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X-Y-Z |