Tuesday, October 16, 2018

A new batch of Idiomatic Expressions (which has COLD words)


The time has come to feel wintry chill in the North hemisphere. Even in this State where Summer never seems to go, it has started to feel chilly. With a decade in the Midwest town in my life, the memory of shoveling the snow from our driveway will always be fresh enough to give me goosebumps. Why don’t we brace ourselves to survive the upcoming winter and brush up on some interesting English idioms that have “cold” words that are or are not related to cold weather. (source from https://www.kaplaninternational.com/blog/winter-idioms-vocabulary-english-lesson)



   1.   to put ….. on ice: to stop (doing) something or to postpone/ delay acting on something

   2.   the snowball effect: when something small keeps growing in importance or significance

   3.   to weather the storm: to survive a difficult situation/ to find one’s way out of troubles

   4.   pure as the driven snow: absolutely virtuous or chaste; unsullied by sin or immoral behavior

   5.   the lull before the storm: a quiet time or calm before a busy or difficult time

   6.   brass-monkey (weather): (noun = adjective) very chilly/ brutally cold (weather)

   7.   be snowed under: to be very busy

   8.   a storm in a teacup:  a lot of fuss over something small

   9.   a snowball's chance: very little chance (as much chance as a snowball has in hell)/ not have any possibility

   10.  to get cold feet: to suddenly become too scared to do something planned   



Let us practice the above expressions in sentences below!
   1.     There’s a ________________ chance that Peter would lace up his shoes for a morning workout. He hates getting out of bed, especially in the seasons when we have a _________________________ weather.

   2.   The singer had always been viewed as a very innocent and pure girl-next-door for years. People were stunned to learn that she was not as __________________________________.

   3.   Dan thinks he’d better put his rehearsal for the concert _____________________ today. He feels too exhausted to deal with the rigor of daily practice for hours now.

   4.   Joshua has recently been fired, but he’ll be able to ______________________ the storm with his severance pay.

   5.   Nike’s brave decision to hire Colin Kaepernick for ad campaign had a ________________________ effect in Sports business industry.

   6.   Jenn is _______________________________ at work day and night these days. She owes it to herself to go on some retreat even for a few days.

   7.   What if a princess-to-be got _______________________ right before her Royal wedding?!

   8.   Having a tavern built near our residential area would not be a matter of _______________________________, because most parents in this area are totally against the idea of seeing drunkards around.

   9.   The weeks right before Summer break is a _______________________ before the storm. Once the kids are out of school, moms need to cope with super busy days.


Answer Keys
1.   snowball’s, brass monkey
2.   pure as a driven snow
3.   on ice
4.   weather
5.   snowball
6.   snowed under
7.   cold feet
8.   a storm in a teacup
9.   lull


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