Important Idioms and Phrases starting with “B”

Idioms and Phrases

Meaning

Sentence

Back to square one

to go back to the beginning

I picked up all the leaves and branches from my lawn yesterday but there was a storm last night and now I’m back to square one.

Back on one’s feet

to be healthy again after sickness.

I couldn’t do anything for two weeks while I had the flu but now I’m back on my feet.

By hook or by Crook

At any cost /by fair or unfair mean.

I decided that I was going to get that job by hook or by crook.

Blow one's trump

self-praise

Anyone will tell you she's one of the best journalists we've got, although she'd never blow her own horn.

Beat the air

do useless effort

The candidates for office were so much alike that we thought our vote amounted to beating the air.

Bed of thorns

Full of difficulties

Life of an ill person always remains a bed of thorns.

Beat about the bush

To discuss a topic without being specific about anything

Don't beat around the bush. Just tell me where my brother is.

Bag and baggage

(with) all one’s belongings.

Tired of their tantrums, the landlady asked her tenants to vacate the house, bag and baggage, in a week’s times.

Blue eyed boy

a man who is liked and admired by somebody in authority.

She gets the charge of all the assignment except the finance, which is kept for the blue-eyed boy.

Bread and Butter

someone’s livelihood.

Teaching classic music to young boys and girls is her bread and butter.               

Bear the brunt of

take the main force, often of a criticism or unpleasant event.

When the teachers and other government employees went on a strike, they did not realize they’d have to bear the brunt of public anger when they go back to work.

Burn the candle at both the ends

exhaust someone’s energies or resources by leading a hectic life.

She has been burning the candle at both ends by doing a full-time job and preparing for her International English Language Test exams.

Bury the hatchet

make peace; end a quarrel, settle one’s differences to become friends again.

The two neighbouring countries India and Pakistan have often been advised by the world bodies to bury the hatchet for their own progress.

Bury head in the sand

refuse to think about an unpleasant situation, hoping that it will improve so that you will not have to deal with it

Parents and Principal said ragging was being ignored and accused the hostel’s warden of burying her head in the sand, in Perth city of Australia.

Blue blood

descent from nobility, aristocrat

She often tells her friends that she has blue blood flowing through her veins.

By dint of

as result of something

Mark got what he wanted by dint of requesting and threatening

Break a leg

good luck, best wishes

“Break a leg!” I shouted out to him before he rushed in for his auditions.

Born with a silver spoon in mouth

To be born to parents who are rich and have a good social rank.

He does not need this job as much as I do, he is born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

Beyond the pale

An unacceptable way to express something.

They broke up because her behaviour was simply beyond the pale.

Beat a dead horse

some action or ongoing
argument that is useless

He already told you no; don’t beat a dead horse