VOCABULARY - IDIOMS

any port in a storm

Meaning: An unfavorable option which might well be avoided in good times but which nevertheless looks better than the alternatives at the current time.When faced with a difficult or desperate situation, any available solution or option is acceptable, no matter how undesirable it may seem under normal circumstances.

at the wheel

Meaning: Driving; in control of a vehicle.

backseat driver

Meaning: A backseat driver is a passenger in a car who insists on giving the driver directions.

bad news travels fast

Meaning: The phrase bad news travels fast means that news about misfortune and trouble circulates quickly.

burn one's boats

Meaning: To cut oneself off from all chance of retreat; to stake everything on success.

desert a sinking ship

Meaning: The phrase desert a sinking ship means to stop being involved in a situation because failure is imminent.

drive a hard bargain

Meaning:

• To be tough and uncompromising in negotiation, aiming to get the best possible deal for yourself.
• To be very skilled at negotiating and getting favorable deals.

drive someone up the wall

Meaning: To irritate or annoy someone; to make a person very angry or bored; to infuriate.

fall off the back of a lorry

Meaning: A euphemism for something acquired illegally or stolen.

fifth wheel

Meaning: Anything superfluous or unnecessary.

find one's way around something

Meaning: If you find your way around something, you discover a way to move around it without getting lost.

flight of fancy

Meaning: If your idea is described as a flight of fancy, it is an imaginative but entirely unrealistic idea.

highways and byways

Meaning: major and minor roads.

hit the road

Meaning: To begin traveling; to leave a place; to go away.

hitch one's wagon to a star

Meaning: aspire to do something great or aim high, follow a great ambition.

in the same boat

Meaning: In the same situation; having the same problems.

itchy feet

Meaning: Feeling of a need to travel.

jump on the bandwagon

Meaning:

• Joining something because it's popular, not necessarily because you believe in it.
• Following a trend or movement, often to gain an advantage.
• Participating in something just because everyone else is doing it.

jump the lights

Meaning: To pass a set of traffic lights when they are not showing green.

live out of a suitcase

Meaning: To travel frequently or move around often, living temporarily in various places

make ones way

Meaning: To move in a particular direction; advance in life by one's own efforts.

miss the boat

Meaning: To fail to take advantage of an opportunity.

my way or the highway

Meaning: This expression is used to say that people have to do what you say; otherwise, they will have to leave or quit the project.

off the beaten track

Meaning: To a place or places not commonly visited.

off the wagon

Meaning: The phrase off the wagon is an idiomatic expression that refers to someone who no longer abstains from a habit or an addiction like alcoholic drinks.

on the wagon

Meaning: To abstain from drinking any alcoholic drink, usually in the sense of having given it up

paddle one's own canoe

Meaning: To act independently and decide your own fate; to do something by oneself.

put the cart before the horse

Meaning: To put things in the wrong order

put the pedal to the metal

Meaning: To press the gas pedal to the maximum extent; to exert maximum effort.

road rage

Meaning: Aggressive behavior exhibited by drivers in traffic, often as a result of stress.

rock the boat

Meaning: If you rock the boat, you cause problems or disturbances.

sail through something

Meaning: To pass or progress quickly and easily.

take for a ride

Meaning: To deceive or cheat.

trip the light fantastic

Meaning: To dance.

wheels fall off

Meaning: Said about something that has failed, often after a laborious, tiring process.