B
Idioms beginning with "B"
Part of speech, explanation, example sentences, pronunciation
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Contents of B:
[blow taps] {v. phr.}
To sound the final bugle call of the evening in a camp or military base.
After taps is blown the boy scouts go to their bunks to sleep.
[blow the gaff] {v. phr.}
To open one's mouth to reveal a secret.
When Al cheated on his wife, his younger brother blew the gaff on him.
[blow the lid off] {v. phr.}, {informal}
Suddenly to reveal the truth about a matter that has been kept as a secret either by private persons or by some governmental agency.
The clever journalists blew the lid off the Watergate cover-up.
[blow the whistle on] {v. phr.}, {slang}
1. To inform against; betray.
The police caught one of the bank robbers, and he blew the whistle on two more.
2. To act against, stop, or tell people the secrets of (crime or lawlessness).
* /The mayor […]
[blow up] {v.}
1a. To break or destroy or to be destroyed by explosion.
He blew up the plane by means of a concealed bomb.
The fireworks factory blew up when something went wrong in an electric switch.
1b. {informal}
To explode with anger or […]
[blow up in one's face] {v. phr.}, {informal}
To fail completely and with unexpected force.
The thief's plan to rob the bank blew up in his face when a policeman stopped him.
[blue]
See:
[BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA],
[BOLT FROM THE BLUE],
[ONCE IN A BLUE MOON],
[OUT OF THE BLUE] or [OUT OF A CLEAR BLUE SKY].
[blue collar worker] {n. phr.}
A manual laborer who is probably a labor union member.
Because Jack's father is a blue collar worker, Jack was so anxious to become an intellectual.
Contrast: [WHITE COLLAR WORKER].
[blue in the face] {adj. phr.}, {informal}
Very angry or upset; excited and very emotional.
Tom argued with Bill until he was blue in the face.
Mary scolded Jane until she was blue in the face, but Jane kept on using Mary's paints.