1. Spill the beans - Reveal secret deliberately or unintentionally.
2. Get the ball rolling - Start doing IT, take action.
3. Pull an all-nighter - Study or work all night wIThout getting any sleep.
4. Hot under the collar - Angry, indignant.
5. Keep one’s fingers crossed - Hope for the best.
6. Stick to one’s guns - Maintain one’s posITion, refuse to change one’s opinions, actions.
7. Have one’s hands full - Be extremely busy.
8. Close one’s eyes to something - Ignore something bad and pretend IT is not happening.
9. Do a bang-up job - Do a very good job; do very well at something.
10. Get one’s teeth into something - Deal wITh something or become involved in something wITh great energy and enthusiasm.
11. A hard nut to crack - A problem that is very difficult to solve or a person who is very difficult to understand.
A number of employees were absent last week. IT was a hard nut for the manager to crack.
12. A bad egg - Bad person, someone a person who cannot be trusted.
That sales person is a bad egg. Don’t believe anything he says.
13. On the dot - Exactly at the stated or expected time.
Don’t be late, the meeting starts at nine o’clock on the dot.
14. Put all one’s eggs in one basket - Depend for your success on a single person or plan of action.
Fund managers always tell us not to put all your eggs in one basket.
15. Have one’s eye on - To have seen something that you want and that you intend to get.
Peter had his eye on the manager posITion before I joined the company.
16. Cut corners - To do something in the easiest, quickest, or cheapest way, often harming the qualITy of your work.
We have had to cut a few corners to get your annual leave application ready on time.
17. Like a cat on hot bricks - Nervous and unable to keep still.
A: “Your boss is like a cat on hot bricks today. What’s wrong?”
B: “He has been waITing for an important phone call all day.”
18. Busy bee - Very busy or very active.
A: “I was working till midnight everyday for the past month to finish up the proposal.”
B: “You’ve been a busy bee!”
19. Get out of bed on the wrong side - In a bad mood and is easily annoyed all day.
What’s the matter wITh your boss today? Did he get out of bed on the wrong side?
20. On the rocks - Bankrupt.
The company looked to be on the rocks in 1992 but made a remarkable recovery in recent years.