ALL PREVIOUS YEAR

IDIOMS

NEHA MALIK
?

Let’s begin…..
1. I always preferred to study
Physics and Mathematics, now
choosing Economics and
Literature for further studies is
another kettle of fish.
(a) Completely different matter
(b) Slightly different matter
(c) Completely difficult matter
(d) Doing things in a hurry
2. He criticised the participants
for sitting on the fence and not
contributing in finalising the
report.
(a) Not following the rules
(b) Taking sides
(c) Not taking a decision
(d) Showing no respect to the
Chair
3. He strained every nerve to
understand the discourse on
Philosophy.
(a) Tried hard
(b) Criticized
(c) Tried half heartedly
(d) Raised questions
4. When it comes to using
technology, she is completely at
sea.
(a) Relaxed
(b) Confused
(c) Comfortable
(d) Prepared
5. He is not a great scholar but
he has the gift of the gab.
(a) Ability to write creatively
(b) Ability to read fluently
(c) Ability to convince
(d) Ability to speak confidently
6. This car belonged to Ravi, but
recently it changed hands.
(a) Change of ownership
(b) Change of driver
(c) Change of mechanic
(d) Change of machinery
7. He turned down the new
assignment; he felt that he already
had too many irons in the fire.
(a) Having involvement in illegal
activities
(b) Having problems in
completing tasks
(c) Having financial hurdles
(d) Having multiple tasks to
complete
8. Something should be done to
stop the brain drain of Indian
scientists to other countries.
(a) Movement of professionals to
another country for higher studies
(b) Movement of professionals to
another country for better
prospect
(c) Movement of professionals to
another country for security
(d) Movement of professionals to
another country for excursion
9. I just need to take rest and
then I'll be as right as rain.
(a) To be in good mental and
physical state
(b) To be physically active
(c) To be able to recall the past
events
(d) To be able to work for long
hours
10. It is all Greek to me.
(a) Something which I don't
believe
(b) Something which I don't
accept
(c) Something which I don't
recognize
(d) Something which I don't
understand
11. Have an axe to grind
(a) to have a selfish aim or
motive
(b) a thing that causes problems
(c) an essential equipment for
work
(d) to behave arrogantly
12. Bite the bullet
(a) to be angry and unhappy
(b) to start doing something in a
very keen way
(c) to accept something
unpleasant and difficult
(d) to try to do more than you
are able to do
13. Laughing stock
(a) someone who does
something very stupid and is
made fun of
(b) to avoid conflict
(c) to laugh at someone secretly
(d) a jovial and respected person
14. Pay over the odds
(a) to get dividends for
investments
(b) to work hard to make
payments
(c) to treat someone in the bad
way
(d) to pay more for something
than it is worth
15. Play to the gallery
(a) to do something alone
(b) to say things that will make
people admire you
(c) to behave in a very annoying
way
(d) to take big risks in business
16. Be in the soup
(a) to be in trouble
(b) to be very healthy
(c) to be good at the workplace
(d) to be honest to people
17. A turn of the screw
(a) to begin to behave in a more
positive way
(b) to change people's opinions
in your favour
(c) to become unpopular
(d) an action which makes a bad
situation worse
18. A white elephant
(a) someone who is completely
good and honest
(b) something that has cost a lot
of money but has no useful
purpose
(c) a situation where you waste
time looking for something
(d) to make someone feel
anxious
19. A hot potato
(a) someone who is very angry
(b) something that is difficult to
deal with
(c) someone who is holier than
appears to be
(d) to be unable to decide
20. Apples and oranges
(a) people who are close to each
other
(b) people who argue a lot
(c) people who are different and
thus incomparable
(d) people who fight over minor
issues
21.Be out for the count
(a) Sleeping deeply
(b) Counting money carefully
(c) To count each step one takes
(d) To be very happy
22. Go by the book
(a)To buy a book of one's choice
(b) To understand the book
(c)To follow someone who reads
books
(d) To follow rules exactly
23. Double-talk
(a) Interfering while someone is
talking
(b) Speaking with double
meaning
(c) Speaking to confuse people
and avoid truth
(d) Talking repeatedly and
annoying people
24. At somebody's elbow
(a) To be dominated by
someone
(b) To be near someone in order
to help
(c) To be kept in house
(d) To make people important
25. Treading on eggshells
(a) Taking care of eggs, to save
the lives of young chicks
(b) Intending to grow very fast
(c) Making best bets in one's
trade
(d) To be careful in speech and
actions
26. Everyone and his brother
(a) An individual and all his
relatives
(b) To think about universal
brotherhood
(c) A large number of people
(d) To treat people as relatives
27. Feet of clay
(a) Very soft feet
(b) Difficulty in running
(c). Slow in actions
(d) Hidden faults
28.Feel the pinch
(a) Being hurt and wounded by
someone
(b)To remain silent on injustice
(c) Having financial problems all
of a sudden
(d) Feeling disappointment
29.The feathers fly
(a) To add more success to one's
career
(b) To fight and argue a lot
(c)To lead a carefree life
(d) To get into a romantic
relationship
30. A foregone conclusion
(a) A generous gift
(b) A confusing idea
(c) An obvious speculation
(d) An inevitable result
 31. Forty winks

Wink
(a) Winking forty times.
(b) Sleep disorders
(c) Long sleeping hours
(d) A short sleep during the day
 32. Life in the raw
(a) Life in its natural,
unembellished state
Key-Think about raw (b) Life at its easiest
(c) Life that is complex
(d) A daredevil's life
33. A paper tiger
(a) A person or thing that
appears threatening but is
ineffectual
(b) To threaten someone but do
not harm
(c) Environmental protection
paper work
(d) To speak to people in a
roaring voice
34. Penny-wise and pound-
foolish
(a) Wise to spend each penny
(b) Careful about small amounts
but careless about large
amounts
(c) People who don't understand
the importance of each penny
(d) Careful about large amounts
but careless about small
amounts
35. Pin back your ears
(a) To listen carefully to
something
(b) Person or organization that
pins important issues
(c) To keep yourself away from
hearing bad stuff
(d) To clean your ears with a pin
36. Turncoat
(a) Expert at altering coats
(b) Someone who deserts one
group to join another
(c) A truly dishonest person
(d) Going round and round in a
court of law
37. Say your piece
(a) Speak but don't listen
(b) Speak in a talkative manner
(c) Make your argument piece
by piece
(d) Express your opinion
38. Top-notch
(a) The highest marking on a
tree or a building
(b) Person or organization that
attracts only the top
(c) Of highest possible quality
(d) Person of integrity
39. Under the table
(a) Work under difficult
circumstances
(b) Working undercover
(c) Working under furniture
(d) Making or receiving
payments surreptitiously
40. At the drop of a hat
(a) Clumsy person who drops
hats everywhere
(b) Suddenly and without much
thought
(c) Do something without much
pressure
(d) A happy and easy going man
41. Be in eclipse
(a) Less successful
(b) Feeling happy
(c) Very successful
(d) Being defeated
42. Ways and means
(a) A technique
(b) Methods of achieving
something
(c) Norms and regulations of
doing something
(d) Improving one's way of
doing
43. Up in arms
(a) Very happy
(b) Very satisfied
(c) Very angry
(d) Feeling fine
44. Big ticket
(a) Very less
(b) Very costly
(c) Very easy
(d) Not much
45. Bolt from the blue
(a) An event or piece of news
which is unexpected
(b) Desirable event or news
(c) An event which takes place
as planned
(d) News which has been long
expected, but arrives late
46. Be a law unto yourself
(a) Behave unconventional and
unpredictable
(b) Abide by law and order
(c) Ask others to follow the law
(d) Create law and order for
others
47. Spiff up
(a) To make oneself look neat
(b) To make oneself look untidy
(c) To make oneself look
arrogant
(d) To appear on the stage as a
baboon
48. Run wild
(a) To run like a wild animal
(b) To treat anyone like a wild
creature
(c) To feel like a wild animal
(d) To grow without any control
49. Wind down
(a) To relax after a period of
activity
(b) To act furiously after a
period of silence
(c) To speak out the truth to
people
(d) To act on the ground
50. Mellow out
(a) To feel bad about other's
enjoyment
(b) To like and dislike people
concurrently
(c) To enjoy oneself without
doing much
(d) To work hard and doing
much work
51. Get the jitters
(a) Feeling anxious
(b) Feeling happy
(c) Stammering
(d) Feeling exposed
52. French leave
(a) Absent from work without
asking for permission in French
(b) Asking for permission before
leaving work
(c) Work for permission to get
leave
(d) Absent from work without
asking for permission
53. Take a stand
(a) To publicly express an
opinion about something
(b) To make a stand for one to
sit
(c) To be firm on your work
(d) To be part of the work
54. Cut and run
(a) To avoid a difficult situation
by leaving suddenly
(b) To avoid an event suddenly
(c) To meet some danger
suddenly
(d) To ask for sudden meeting
with someone
55. Cut the cord
(a) To stop needing your parents
for money
(b) To stop needing someone
else to look after you and start
acting independently
(c) To be safe on your own
(d) To be a married person
56. Cupboard love
(a) Loving someone to get
something from the person
(b) Loving the cupboards
(c) Innocent love
(d) Loving to be free of all
conditions
57. Around the corner
(a) A thing which is at the end of
the corner
(b) An event or thing which is
going to happen soon
(c) An event that corners
someone for his wrong
(d) An event that happens in the
corner of powerful place
58. With Heavy Heart
(a) With heavy weight
(b) With joy and humour
(c) With sense of shame
(d) With pain and regret
59. Cost a bomb
(a) To be very arrogant
(b) To be with rich people
(c) To be very expensive
(d) To be stingy
60. Roll your sleeves up
(a) To prepare for wrestling
(b) To prepare for hard work
(c) To make someone work for
you
(d) To work with others
61. A paper tiger
(a) Person or organisation that
appears powerful, but actually is
not
(b) Person or organisation that
acts like a tiger
(c) A daredevil
(d) People who campaign for
the protection of tigers
62. Lily-livered
(a) Brave and courageous
(b) Not brave
(c) Comical
(d) Outrageous
63. Eat like a bird
(a) Eat fast
(b) Eat very little
(c) Eat a lot
(d) Pretending to be eating
64.The dog days
(a) Days celebrating dogs
(b) The bitter days
(c) The hottest days
(d)The coldest days
65. A banana republic
(a) A small or poor country with
a weak government
(b) A small or poor country
which produces banana
(c) A country which has been
occupied by a big country
(d) A country without any
government
66.The pros and cons
(a) The good and bad parts of a
situation
(b) Like and dislike of a situation
(c) A bad experience in an event
(d) A good moment of an event
67. Prime the pump
(a) To do something in order to
make something succeed
(b) To do good things to
succeed in life
(c) To do something in order to
get bad things done
(d) Asking people to do things
to make something succeed
68. The green-eyed monster
(a) Feeling of being joyous
(b) Feeling of being jealous
(c) Feeling bad about
happenings
(d) Feeling lucky about
something
69. Rise to the occasion
(a) To celebrate a success in a
difficult situation
(b) To regret a situation which
ended in failure
(c) To succeed in dealing with a
difficult situation
(d) To motivate people to
succeed in a difficult situation
70. Call it a day
(a) End of the day
(b) Completion of work
(c) Stop doing something
(d) A beautiful day
71. Dirt cheap
(a) Extremely cheap
(b) Extremely costly
(c) Very cheap person
(d) Very cheap item
72. A shrinking violet
(a) A lean person
(b) A shy person
(c) A happy person
(d) A sad person
73. Gordian knot
(a) Undoable job
(b) A difficult problem
(c) A different problem
(d) Doable job
74. Fall in a heap
(a) To be at the mercy of
someone else
(b) To be thinking about
someone
(c) To lose control of one's own
feelings
(d) To be in control of one's own
feelings
75. Have a conniption fit
(a) To be very angry
(b) To be very happy
(c) To be very sad
(d) To be a jubilant person
76. Be in seventh heaven
(a) To be extremely happy
(b) To be extremely upset
(c) To be extremely adventurous
(d) To be extremely silent
77. Hand in glove
(a) Working separately
(b) Working together
(c) Working for someone
(d) Not willing to work
78. Nip in the bud
(a) Prevent a small problem
before it becomes severe
(b) Prevent the big problems
(c) Make it severe
(d) Beating the problem
79. Like a shag on a rock
(a) Completely alone
(b) Completely idle
(c) Complete silence
(d) Complete happy
80. A pearl of wisdom
(a) An important piece of news
(b) An important person
(c) An important thing for life
(d) An important piece of advice
81. A match made in heaven
(a) a marriage that is solemnized
formally
(b) a marriage that is
unsuccessful
(c) a marriage that is likely to be
happy and successful
(d) a marriage of convenience
82. A culture vulture
(a) someone who is very keen to
experience art and literature
(b) someone who wants to
defend ancient culture
(c) someone who is ashamed of
one's own culture
(d) someone who looks at
her/his culture critically
83. A death blow
(a) to be nearly dead
(b) to be deeply afraid of death
(c) to beat someone to death
(d) an action or event which
causes something to end or fail
84. The jewel in the crown
(a) someone who has many skills
(b) something that one wants
(c) the most valuable thing in a
group of things
(d) the jewel in the crown of the
king
85. To live in a fool's paradise
(a) to live a life that is dishonest
(b) to be happy because you will
not accept how bad a situation
really is
(c) to believe that things you
want will happen
(d) to enjoy yourself by
spending a lot of money
86. A rotten apple
(a) to remove something which
is rotten
(b) one bad person in a group of
good people
(c) a loving and kind person
(d) a disorganized person with
bad habit
87. To vote with your feet
(a) to show that you do not
support something
(b) to replace something
important
(c) to change something you
must do
(d) to express a particular
opinion
88. Verbal diarrhoea
(a) to be sick
(b) to talk too much
(c) to be in a difficult situation
(d) to be a good orator
89. To sail close to the wind
(a) to pretend to be something
that you are not
(b) to be in some unpleasant
situation
(c) to be destroyed by a belief
(d) to do something that is
dangerous
90. A double entendre
(a) to look at someone or
something twice
(b) a situation in which you
cannot succeed
(c) a word which has two
meanings
(d) something that causes both
advantages and problems
91. To cut your own throat
(a) to stop doing something
(b) to do something because
you are angry
(c) to behave in a relaxed
manner
(d) to allow someone to do
something
92. Cook the books
(a) to record false information in
the accounts of an organization
(b) to do something that spoils
someone's plan
(c) to tell a false story
(d) to be very angry
93. Change your tune
(a) to listen to good music
(b) to do things that you are not
willing to
(c) to change your opinion
completely because it will bring
you an advantage
(d) to pretend to be very
friendly
94. Blue blood
(a) to swallow poison
(b) to be overly interested in
someone
(c) to suddenly become jealous
(d) to belong to a family of the
highest social class
95. Cut the crap
(a) an impolite way of telling
someone to stop saying things
that are not true
(b) to stop needing someone
else to look after you
(c) to talk about something
important
(d) to upset someone by
criticizing them
96. He makes decision on the
fly.
(a) He decides quickly without
any seriousness.
(b) He decides with all
seriousness.
(c) He decides nonchalantly.
(d) He is unwilling to decide.
97. Follow suit
(a) Following someone's suit
(b) Suiting to someone
(c) Doing the same as someone
else has just done
(d) Doing the same kind of
mistake
98. Close shave
(a) Shaving very closely
(b) Miraculous escape
(c)Saving someone from danger
(d) Easy escape
99. At the crossroads
(a) At important point of a
decision
(b) At an important point of
journey
(c) At the important road of a
journey
(d) At an important stage or
decision
100. A pearl of wisdom
(a) A wise man
(b) An important piece of order
(c) An important piece of pearl
(d) An important piece of advice
101. A hot potato.
(a) A dish to relish when it is hot
(b) A very important person in a
gathering
(c) An issue which is disputed,
and catching the attention of
people
(d) A way of thinking what
someone is thinking
102. You snooze, you lose.
(a) Don't take it lightly
(b) Don't be over-enthusiastic
(c) Don't hesitate to do it
(d) Don't be pessimistic
103. I don't buy it.
(a) I don't believe it
(b) I have no money
(c) I summarize it
(d) I don't need it
104. My two cents.
(a) My money
(b) My opinion
(c) My decision
(d) My explanation
105. Out of the blue.
(a) Undoubtedly
(b) Unexpectedly
(c) Unbelievably
(d) Unconcerned
106. What a small world.
(a) What a coincidence
(b) What a challenging task
(c) What a narrow space
(d) What a beautiful place
107. Down the road.
(a) In future
(b) In the past
(c) At present
(d) No particular time
108. Raising eyebrows.
(a) To show surprise
(b) Criticize
(c) Support
(d) Instruct
109. Step up the plate.
(a) Take control
(b) Take a job
(c) Take a responsibility
(d) Take an opportunity
110. The Holy Grail.
(a) The pious place of worship
(b) An important object or goal
(c) A very important place
(d) Someone's destination of life
111. You scratch my back, I'll
scratch yours.
(a) Mutual favour
(b) Mutual understanding
(c) Mutual respect
(d) Mutual disliking
112. At the drop of a hat.
(a) Without any hesitation
(b) When attempt fails and it's
time to start all over
(c) To further a loss with
mockery
(d) Judging other's intentions
too much
113. Ball is in your court.
(a) Be happy at the dance/ball
room
(b) It's up to you to make the
decision
(c) A very powerful person
(d) Not speaking directly about
an issue
114. Best of both worlds.
(a) A happy person who is the
best
(b) A situation in which you can
enjoy the benefits of two
opportunities
(c) To take on a task that is way
too big
(d) Someone whom everybody
likes
115. Costs an arm and a leg.
(a) Severe punishment to
someone
(b) Too much consciousness
about one's body
(c) Two difficult alternatives
(d) Something very expensive
116. The institution decided to give
Mrs. Roy's job to her son not
because she was a social worker, but
because she had died in harness.

(a)died after retirement

(b) died before retirement
(c) died while riding a horse
(d) died for a great cause
117. Your ambition should be in
consonance with your capabilities.
(a) parallel to
(b) in accordance with
(c) in harmony with
(d) in tune with
118. I could not go up in life for
want of proper guidance.
(a) for lack of
(b) for need of

(c) for the desire of

(d) for the necessity of
119. Though he was arrogant, I
could not dispense with his
services.
(a) terminate
(b) align with
(c) claim
(d) disregard with
120. In spite of his hard work,
he was made a scapegoat for
the failure of the project.

(a) freed from any responsibility

for
(b) suspected of causing
(c) blamed without reason for
(d) was severely punished for
121. If food supply fails to keep
pace with population, civilization
will collapse.

(a) to grow along with

(b) to walk side by side
(c) to gain momentum
(d) to move at the same speed as