100 MOST USED Business Idioms:

In this article, you will cover these topics.

A, What is an idiom?

B, History of idioms?

C, What are business idioms?

D, Why idioms are so confusing?

E, Why we use idioms?

F, Examples of idioms.

A, WHAT IS AN IDIOMS?

According to CAMBRIDGE DICTIONARY, Business idioms are defined as

• A group of words in that fixed order has a particular meaning that is different from the meaning of each word on its own.

EXAMPLE:

 To “have bitten off more than you can chew” is an idiom that meaning you have tried to do something which is too difficult for you.

• But in simple words, you can say a common word or a sentence which meaning is deferent as it was written but you can understand it easily because it randomly uses of everywhere.

FOR EXAMPLE.

IDIOMS                           

• AN APPLE OF EYE.

Meaning: (THE EXTREMELY LOVING FAVORITE PERSON)b

BEST EXAMPLE.

• She have 5 children’s but the youngest one is “an apple of her eye”.
• My grandmother loves equally to my cousins but I am “an apple of her eye”.
• I love my all pets but my cat SIMBA is “an apple of my eye”.

For more given detail will defines you the actual meaning of IDIOMS.

• One thing more I would like to add in it. Idioms meaning is too different as compare to given sentence.

See the pictures below, what They Look Like and what they actually are?

           

B, HISTORY OF IDIOMS:

The word idioms is drive form the Latin word “IDIOMA” ORFrench word “IDIOME”From Greek

“IDIOMA-MATOS” MEAN (PRIVATEPROPERTY, IDOS = OWN OR PRIVATE).

1. Some idioms are created by a writer like a few is organized by a well-known writer such as SHAKESPEARE.
2. Many idioms come from accidentally.
3. Idioms mostly used for coding that may help you to remember them.

C, WHAT IS BUSINESS IDIOMS?

STOP GETTING LOST IN TRANSLATION!

BUSINESS IDIOMS,

Learn business idioms and phrases with their meaning and examples is helpful for the business image, extension, expression.

Business English and general English is somehow common but when we talk about Business idioms it’s often used in business conversation, meeting, conferences, letters and Email also.

There are three types or idioms term used in business terms.

• FORMAL = use in the office, academic English, or legal.
• CASUAL = idioms, daily routine life, conversation, e-mail.
• INFORMAL = music, songs, jokes, folks, use for a funny quotes.

For Example!

 

“A DROP IN THE OCEAN”

Mean insufficient,

For example, the money I give to charity is “A drop in the ocean” compared to some people.

D, WHY IDIOMS IS SO CONFUSING?

Idioms don’t have direct meaning that’s why it looks so confusing but once you learn it and think from out of the box and it’s a game of mind you will enjoy to learn it

It will more complicate if you try to translate into your language because the given sentence meaning is totally opposite meaning.

D, WHY WE USE IDIOMS?

We use idioms to express yourself in different ways. Sometimes we use idioms for fun, taunting, anger, or happiness. People use the idioms in daily routine life which don’t have meaning but we understand what they are trying to convey the message. We also use idioms when conversing with friends, classmates, colleagues, and social media. They are mostly humor and difficult to figure out.

Why are they important?

Nearly 25000 idioms IN the English language!

Native speaks of English use and understands the idioms naturally or automatically.

The person who most using idioms has become adept with using and understanding idioms to considered fluent in English.

E, EXAMPLES OF BUSINESS IDIOMS:

There are a lot of types of BUSINESS idioms.

1. verb-based.

        EXAMPLE =>“take advantage of something get nowhere”

        MEANING => make no progress or have no success.

2.Prepositional phrase.

       EXAMPLE => “in the case in charge”

   MEANING => heaving the hold of command or used to say what will do something.

3. Saying / proverbs

       EXAMPLE =>“better late than never”

       MEANING => it’s good to arrive late than never.

4. Fixed phrased with two keywords joined by and or.

  EXAMPLE => “bright and early more or less”

        MEANING =>early in the morning or approximately.

5. Idiomatic phrasal verb.

        EXAMPLE =>“get through (to something) laugh something off”

        MEANING =>make contact with someone by phone or Joke with someone that is not serious.

6. Exclamation or short-spoken phrase.

        EXAMPLE => “don’t ask me “

        MEANING =>used to say that you don’t know the answer.

7. Noun phrases.

        EXAMPLE =>“a piece of cake “

        MEANING =>a thing that’s easy to do.

 Now, what is the meaning of these Business idioms?

1	What is The Meaning of “A foot in the door” Business Idiom	Engaged with business organizations. The field of business that gives you success.	I always wanted to work in the fashion industry but it took 2 years to get “a foot in the door”
2	What is The Meaning of “cash cow” Business Idiom	A business that always makes a profit and provides money for the rest of the business	This product of the company is a” cash cow”
3	What is the meaning of  “too many chiefs, not enough Indians”	Too many bosses at workplaces and give different instructions at the same time.	I can’t work at such a place where “too many chiefs not enough for Indians”
4	What is The Meaning of  “key to success” Business Idiom	The tips for bright future	Education is the main” key to success”
5	What is The Meaning of  “a slice of pie”	A portion of something, for example, cash, benefits, and so forth.	The association made enormous advantages and the workers need a cut of the pie.
6	What is The Meaning of  “go belly up”	A year prior the business went gut up after arrangements continued falling.	“Go belly up: to miss the mark completely.
7	What is The Meaning of “Golden handshake” Business Idiom	The giant total money that is given to somebody when they end their job or retire.	Some companies have a” golden handshake “policies compare to others.
8	What is The Meaning of “grease someone’s palm”	Give some money in order to persuade them to achieve something corrupt or dishonest.	There is rumors that the company had “grease someone’s palm” to achieve the contract.
9	What is The Meaning of “hold the fort”	Commitment for something or care while others are away or out.	While the director is out of the work I will” hold the fort”.
10	What is The Meaning of “keep head over the water”	To deal with difficult situations, especially one in which you have cash related issues and essentially make sense of how to preserver.	The business is awful. I don’t have the foggiest idea how much longer we’ll be able to “keep our head above water”.
11	What is The Meaning of “red tape” Business Idiom	Officially rules that image seems difficult than necessary and prevent from being one quick.	You need to encounter never-ending “red tape” to start up a new project.
12	What is The Meaning of “sell ice to Eskimos” Business Idiom	Force the customer to purchase the unnecessary product.	The salesman is talking sweetly so, he could “sell ice to Eskimos”.
13	What is The Meaning of “sleeping partner” Business Idiom	A person who has a set of money into their associated filed but who’s not connected with running it.	I and my husband has started saloon but my husband is a “sleeping partner “for me.
14	What is The  Meaning of “a dead duck” Business idiom	A course of action, an event, tour, etc. that has been canceled due to some reason, and then it will not such as important to discuss.	The adventure was a ”Dead Duck“ from the earlier starting point on account of a nonappearance of financing.
15	What is The Meaning of  “walking paper” Business Idiom	The letter or notice pardoning somebody from an occupation.	The company will give her a “walking paper” tomorrow.
16	What is The  Meaning of “cut the corner”	To accomplished something the most straightforward and snappiest way.	“cut the corner” in case study ll give you good results.
17	What is The Meaning of  “it’s not rocket science”	Something which is not so difficult or complicated.	Math’s question is not a “rocket science” for me.
18	What is The Meaning of  “get the ball rolling”	Taking action, start something or The beginning.	Step by step instructions utilize it “get the ball rolling” with the2020 conjecture.
19	What is The Meaning of  “up to speed”	To be comfortable with current data.	We start with the new team this week everyone will help them to “speed up” the work.
20	What is The Meaning of  “on the back burner”	Less importance, no need, low priority.	Police put the case “on the back burner “and start investigating the new case.
21	What is the meaning of “back to the drawing board” Business Idiom	to begin again after an arrangement or thought was not fruitful	The customer denied accepting the map of the house so now its “back to the drawing board”
22	What is the meaning of  “for the long haul”	Long duration	The new business pitch will be hard work, but we are in it “for the long haul”.
23	What is the meaning of  “burn the midnight oil” Business idiom	Work more than normally	The successful person is burning the midnight oil” to become their business high rank.
24	What is the meaning of “charge of pace”	Doing different tasks either then done normally routine.	Fieldwork are nice “change of pace” than regular routine work.
25	What is the meaning of “thing out of the box”	Think openly, consider new ideas.	Stop thinking your pervious job status “think out of the box”.
26	What is the meaning of “on the same page” Business Idiom	Have Mutual comprehension with others.	As the eyes of boss, we all employees’ is “on the same page”
27	What is the meaning of  “out on a limb”	At risk, doing something risky and don’t tell anyone.	He went “out on a limb” to protect my unconventional strategy.
28	What is the meaning of “Safe bet”	Something is sudden happen	It’s a safe bet that computer processor speed will more than triple within the next 10 years.
29	What is the meaning of “Same boat”	the same difficult situation as someone else	None of us has any money left, so we’re all in the same boat.
30	What is the meaning of “jump the gun” Business Idiom	Do things before time or on time.	Next, the do the work hard instead of “jumping the gun”.
31	What is the meaning of  “24/7”	“24/7” mean 24 hours a day, seven days a week.	Dispatching service is open 24/7.
32	What is the meaning of  “ASAP”	As soon as possible	Send me e-mail ASAP.
33	What is the meaning of “Shoot something down”	To reject something (e.g. an idea or a proposal)	You shouldn’t shoot down your co-worker’s ideas during a brainstorming session.
34	What is the meaning of “At steak” Business Idioms	At risk, difficult.	Due to lockdown all businesses “at steak”.
35	What is the meaning of  “behind the scene”	Do something behind someone back. Something is not the same as it looks.	The business is not successful in one day there is a lot of “behind the scene” for developing the business.
36	What is the meaning of “big picture”	All Efforts with a particular situation is called “big screen”	Every business need a lot of effort struggle so you will see the business in “big picture”
37	What is the meaning of “The elephant in the room” Business Idiom	An issue that no one wants to discuss. Big problem.	We should talk about pending issues related to the business but no one wants to talk about “the elephant in the room”
38	What is the meaning of “Fifty-fifty”	50/50 means equally divide.	Some business partners divide the company profit “fifty-fifty”.
39	What is The Meaning of “in a nutshell”	To the point. Describe in a few words, conclusion.	“In a nutshell” this book is how to motivate to your employees.
40	What is the meaning of “Long shot” Business Idiom	The thing that has low probability to happen.	Lottery winning is a “long shot” but millions of people purchase them.
41	What is the meaning of  “Time’s up”	Deadline. Fixed time of something or someone.	Prepare the presentation and present it before “time‘s up”
42	What is the meaning of  “deadline”	The limited-time that has been decided.	Pay the bills before given “deadline”
43	What is The Meaning of “Twist someone’s arm”	To force someone to do something that he or she won’t want to do.	My boss thought the budget was a little high, so I had to “twist his arm” to get him to agree to it.
44	What is the meaning of  “Up in the air” Business idiom	Something is undecided or unplanned	Our international business tour is still up in the air.
45	What is the meaning of “nine to five”	The office normally decided job time is 9to5 because many offices start to off time is 9am to 5pm.	It’s quite difficult for the woman to spend “nine to five “in office specially the mother’s woman.
46	What is the meaning of “Upper hand” Business Idiom	To have more power than anyone else and so have control	Due to my experience, I had the upper hand in the argument.
47	What is the meaning of  “Word of mouth”	Spread something from one person to another. gossips	One of the most helpful Business strategy “word of mouth” for the growth of the business.
48	What is the meaning of “throw in the towel”	Accepting the mistake of failure.	After received his feedback he is ready to “throw in towel”
49	What is the meaning of “raise the bar”	To increase the expectation or desires.	New Technology has to Raise the Bar for Advancement
50	What is The Meaning of “win-win situation”	Chances the things will happen or not.	This match has a “win-win situation”.
51	What is the meaning of  “miss the mark”	Fail to complete the target	Rewrite your assignment since you ”miss the mark” the time
52	What is The Meaning of “Stay on your toes” Business Idiom	To remains alert	“Stay on your toes” before the before boss call you’re for your presentation.
53	What is the meaning of “back to square one” Business Idiom	Starting over from the standards.	If u lose your project amount it will be “back to square one”.
54	What is the meaning of “touch base”	Contact with someone.	I tried “touch base” with you for the whole night.
55	What is the meaning of  “safe bet”	Something that’s surely happening.	It “save bet” that our business will more be developed in 2years.
56	What is The Meaning of “the second option”	Chance. Make some extra Plan its first one will not be successful then apply the second.	If the boss doesn’t like my presentation then I have a “second option” then go to the CEO.
57	What is the meaning of “see eye to eye”	Agree with another person	I don’t “see eye to eye” but I love their honesty.
58	What is the meaning of “small talk”	agree	The employee’s made “small talk” about Weekends in front of the conference room while waiting.
59	What is the meaning of “the bottom line”	The important part, summary	This Product is interesting but “the bottom line” is not a profitable Product.
60	What is the meaning of “Call the shots”	The main decision, important	Unfortunately! it’s a customer choice until the “call the shot”
61	What is the meaning of “slack off”	Laziness	The “slack off” employees have never bright futures they can’t grow their careers.
62	What is the meaning of “by the book”	Something was done by following the rules and law.	A successful businessman follow “by the book “
63	What is the meaning of “peel the onion”	To see something one layer at a time.	Let’s “peel the onion” to solve the issue where we messed up.
64	What is the meaning of “punch a puppy”	Unpleasant, unwanted	This company is really “punch a puppy” when they fired their 20 employees.
65	What is the meaning of “blue-sky thinking” Business Idiom	Feasible ideas in this world	The ECO of the company “blue-think sky” result unexpectedly.
66	What is the meaning of “fortnight” Business Idiom	2week duration	He’s worked day and night for a “fortnight” to end up the project.
67	What is the meaning of  “Helicopter view”	General idea of what is happening here.	Boss came in office and want the “helicopter view” of all the work.
68	What is the Meaning of “thought shower” Business Idiom	Bunch of ideas	We need a “though shower” to come weekend party with new ideas
69	What is the meaning of  “close of play”	End of working days	We finish the project by “close of play”
70	What is the meaning of  “in the red”	debt	If a Company loses its customer the business will be “in the red” for months.
71	What is the meaning of “learning cave”	Gaining experience’s, new skills	New members of a company have a “learning cave”
72	What is the meaning of “Take the bull by the horns”	To direct confront a difficult situation in a brave and determined way.	My employee constantly delayed projects, so I “took the bull by the horns” and fired them.
73	What is the meaning of “Stand one’s ground”	Not changeable opinion	They tried to cut my TADA but I “stood my ground”
74	What is the meaning of “Talk someone into something”	Forcing someone not to do something	I was reluctant to redesign our website, but my employees talked me into it.
75	What is the meaning of “rock the boat”	Disturbing the situation	The employees work well until unless new hire may  “rock the boat”
76	What is the meaning of “to be in hot water”	In trouble. Difficult condition	My boss “to be in hot water” after the Cheque bounce.
77	What is the meaning of “low hanging fruit”	Easy work to do	Customers who buy the first something they are “low hanging fruit” for their product.
78	What is the meaning of “all hand on deck”	Work hard	“All hand on deck” we have to complete the task before over competitors get the proposal.
79	What is the meaning of “know the ropes” Business idioms	Information, knowledge	Boenish’s taking over that reporter’s job don’t worry about her she already “know the ropes”
80	What is The Meaning of “hot potatoes”	The controversial object that no one wants to talk about it.	The office boss and her sectary affair is a ‘hot potatoes” nowadays in office.
81	What is The Meaning of “Cool as a cucumber” Business Idiom	Extremely cool, relaxed minded	This employee is “cool as a cucumber” before their presentation starts.
82	What is the meaning of “call it a day”	Stop working on something	After 5 pm employees should “call a day” and go home.
83	What is the meaning of “move the needle”	Make a difference	Sometimes employees did their hard-worked but failed to “move the needle”
84	What is the meaning of “A full plate”	Work to do with dealing problems	The company accountant had “a full plate” completing the income tax form by the deadline.
85	What is the meaning of “bad egg”	Worthless, trustless, disloyal	Every company has good employees as well as “bad eggs“ too.
86	What is the meaning of “blank check”	In control, totally freedom.	The billions of CEO founded the project with a “blank check”
87	What is the meaning of “on the ball”	Alarming, be alert, awareness	New peon in the office is working out well. He’s really “on the bell”
88	What is the meaning of “shooting the breeze”	Do something Without purpose.	Boss spend all night in the office just “shooting the breeze”.
89	What is the meaning of “hit and ground running”	Need to start a new assignment	Our team needs to “hit the ground running” with this project.
90	What is the meaning of “get the bugs out”	Mistake find out, solve the issue	I send my laptop to the IT department to “get the bugs out”
91	What is the meaning of bet your bottom dollar	Bet all one has on something	I would “bet your bottom dollar” that the accounting manager will be late again today.
92	What is the meaning of “to be in the dark”	uninformed	The business profit is confidential, so some employees “in the dark”
93	What is the meaning of “glass ceiling” Business Idiom	A metaphorical barrier preventing advancement to a higher position.	There is no room for growth here because as I think this is “glass ceiling“
94	What is the meaning of  “fine print”	Explanation of the project that is usually overlooked.	Always read “fine print” before joining the company.
95	What is the meaning of “blank check”	In control, totally freedom.	The billions of CEO founded the project with a “blank check”
96	What is the meaning of “on the ball”	Alarming, be alert, awareness	New peon in the office is working out well. He’s really “on the bell”
97	What is the meaning of “shooting the breeze”	Do something Without purpose.	Boss spend all night in the office just “shooting the breeze”.
98	What is the meaning of “hit and ground running”	Need to start new assignment	Our team need to “hit the ground running” with this project.
99	What is the meaning of “Sky is the Limit”	Limitless Work	When Doing a Research in Technology then “Sky is the Limit”
100	What is the meaning of “bet your bottom dollar”	Bet all one has on something	I would “bet your bottom dollar” that the accounting manager will be late again today.

101	What is the Meaning of “Big picture”	Everything that is involved in a particular situation	Working on all these details, we have lost sight of the big picture.
102	What is the meaning of “By the book”	To do things exactly according to the rules or the law	We told our auditors that we do everything by the book.
103	What is the meaning “Corner “the market	To dominate a particular market	Amazon more or less corners the online retailing market.
104	What is the meaning “Cut-throat” Business Idiom	Very intense, aggressive, and merciless competition	Competition in the food retailing business is cut-throat.
105	What is the meaning “Easy come, easy go”	Something gained easily is also lost easily	I lost 500 Euros in a poker game last night, but that’s life – easy come, easy go.
106	What is the meaning “Game plan”	A strategy or plan for achieving success	What is our game plan for dealing with our new competitor?
107	What is the meaning “Get down to business”	Stop making small talk and start talking about serious business topics	Now that everyone’s here, let’s get down to business and start with the presentation.
108	What is the meaning “Get something off the ground”	To start something (e.g. a project or a business)	Now that we have finished the planning phase, we’re eager the get the project off the ground.
109	What is the meaning “Go down the drain”	Something is wasted or lost	All our efforts in entering this new market went down the drain.
110	What is the meaning “Go the extra mile”	To do more than what people expect	To give our customers the best shopping experience, we go the extra mile.
111	What is the meaning “Hands are tied”	Not being free to behave in the way that you would like	I’d love to help you, but my hands are tied.
112	What is the meaning “In a nutshell”	Using as few words as possible	In a nutshell, we will run out of cash in three months’ time.
113	What is the meaning “In full swing”	At a stage when the level of activity is at its highest	The construction of our new production site is in full swing now.
114	What is the meaning “In the driver’s seat”	To be in charge or in control of a situation	Being offered the position of managing director, I’ll soon be in the driver’s seat.
115	What is the meaning “Keep one’s eye on the ball”	To give something one’s full attention and to not lose focus	We should not diversify our product offering too much, but rather keep our eyes on the ball.
116	What is the meaning “Learn the ropes”	Learn the basics of something (e.g. a job)	I’m learning the ropes in my new position.
117	“Long shot”	Something that has a very low probability of happening	Winning the lottery is a long shot.
118	What is the meaning “No-brainer”	Something that is really obvious or easy	Making money working for an investment bank is a no-brainer.
119	What is the meaning “No strings attached”	Something is given without involving special demands or limits	They will let you try the product for free with no strings attached.
120	What is the meaning “Not going to fly”	Something isn’t expected to work out	This product is definitely not going to fly.
121	What is the meaning “Ducks in a Row”	To do things in order	For a Plan to work accordingly One must have his “Ducks in a Row”
122	What is the meaning “Out in the open”	Something that is public knowledge and not secret anymore	Our financials our out in the open anyway.
123	What is the meaning “Put all one’s eggs in one basket”	To rely on only one thing to bring success	It’s not smart to invest in American tech stocks only and put all one’s eggs in one basket.
124	What is the meaning “Put the cart before the horse” Business Idioms	To do or think about things in the wrong order	Trying to find an investor without having a business plan is like putting the cart before the horse.