VOCABULARY - IDIOMS

Race Against Time

Meaning: To rush to meet a deadline, to be forced to do something very quickly

Rain Cats And Dogs

Meaning: Rain heavily; Rain very heavily

Rain Cats and Dogs

Meaning: Rain heavily; Rain very heavily

Rain on Someone’s Parade

Meaning: Spoil someone’s plans

Raise (Someone’s) Hackles

Meaning: Make someone angry and defensive

Raise One’s Voice

Meaning: Talk loudly

Raise Red Flags

Meaning: Warn of trouble ahead

Raise the Bar

Meaning: Increase standards in a certain competition or area of endeavor

Raise the Roof

Meaning: Make a great deal of noise (said of a crowd)

Rake (Someone) Over the Coals

Meaning: To scold someone severely

Rake Over the Ashes

Meaning: Restart a settled argument; examine a failure

Rake Someone Over the Coals

Meaning: Scold severely

Rank and File

Meaning: The ordinary members of an organization

Read Between the Lines

Meaning: Perceive what is not explicitly stated

Read the Tea Leaves

Meaning: Predict the future from small signs

Rear Its Ugly Head (said of a problem or something unpleasant)

Meaning: Appear, be revealed

Rearrange the Deck Chairs on the Titanic

Meaning: Taking superficial actions while ignoring a much larger and perhaps fatal problem

Red Flag

Meaning: A warning; a sign of trouble ahead

Red Herring

Meaning: A misleading clue; something intended to mislead

Red Meat

Meaning: Political appeals designed to excite one’s core supporters; demagoguery

Red Tape

Meaning: Bureaucracy; difficult bureaucratic or governmental requirements

Red-Light District

Meaning: A neighborhood with many houses of prostitution

Reinvent the Wheel

Meaning: Devise a solution to a problem for which a solution already exists

Riding High

Meaning: Enjoying success

Right as Rain

Meaning: Absolutely correct

Right Under (One’s) Nose

Meaning: In an obvious location, yet overlooked

Right-Hand Man

Meaning: Chief assistant

Right-Hand Man

Meaning: Chief assistant

Ring a Bell

Meaning: Sound familiar

Ring a Bell

Meaning: When something seems familiar

Rob Peter to Pay Paul

Meaning: Pay off a debt with another loan; solve a problem in such a way that it leads to a new problem

Rob the Cradle

Meaning: To be sexually or romantically involved with someone who is very young

Rob the Cradle

Meaning: To be sexually or romantically involved with someone who is very young

Rock Bottom

Meaning: An absolute low point

Rock the Boat

Meaning: Cause a disruption in a group. Often used in the negative,don’t rock the boat.

Roll the Dice On

Meaning: Take a risk

Roll With the Punches

Meaning: Deal with problems by being flexible

Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day

Meaning: Complex projects take time

Rookie Mistake

Meaning: An error made by an inexperienced person

Rotten to the Core

Meaning: Entirely evil

Rub (Something) in Someone’s Face

Meaning: Humiliate someone by repeating and criticizing his or her mistake

Rub It In

Meaning: Say something that makes someone feel even worse about a mistake

Rub Someone’s Nose in (Something)

Meaning: Humiliate someone by repeating and criticizing his or her mistake

Rubber-Stamp

Meaning: Approve something without consideration, as a formality

Rule of Thumb

Meaning: A general principle or guideline, not a specific formula

Run a Tight Ship

Meaning: Manage an organization in a strict, well-regulated way

Run in the Family

Meaning: Be inherited (as a trait) by multiple members of a family; To be a common family characteristic

Run in the Family

Meaning: Be inherited (as a trait) by multiple members of a family; To be a common family characteristic

Run into a Buzz

Meaning: Saw Encounter severe and unexpected problems

Run into a Buzz

Meaning: Saw Encounter severe and unexpected problems

Run off at the Mouth

Meaning: Talk a lot about unimportant things, talk incoherently

Run on Fumes

Meaning: To be in a situation where one’s energy or resources is almost exhausted

Run Out of Steam

Meaning: Lose momentum, become tired

Run the Table

Meaning: Win every game or contest

RUN ACROSS

Meaning: - meet someone by accident - cross something while running - experience a problem you’re not expecting. - find something you weren’t looking for - pay what you owe (come across) - how you project yourself (come across)