Idioms and Phrases Questions and Answers

Answer: D

To smell a rat means to suspect some foul play.

The idiom comes from a dog or cat that smells a rat it cannot see: it senses that something hidden is wrong. In the sentence the speaker suspects that the fire was not an accident but deliberate.

'Detect a bad smell' is the literal reading the idiom is built to trap. 'To misunderstand something' and 'to ignore' are unrelated; the idiom is about growing suspicion, not confusion or indifference.

Answer: C

'Round the clock' means throughout day and night.

The phrase describes something that goes on continuously for all twenty-four hours, as the hands of a clock go all the way round. Workers 'working round the clock' work in shifts day and night without a break.

Sunrise to sunset is only the daytime and sunset to sunrise only the night, so each covers half of what the phrase means. That rules out 'None of these' as well.

Answer: B

The answer is feeling sick.

Under the weather is an idiom meaning slightly unwell or out of sorts. That is why the speaker is staying at home.

Feeling well is the opposite of the idiom. Fine weather takes the word weather literally, which is the trap the item sets; the phrase says nothing about the weather itself. Since feeling sick matches, 'None of these' is wrong.

Answer: C

The answer is front seat in a car.

To ride shotgun (printed here as shot gun) is informal English for sitting in the front passenger seat, beside the driver. The phrase comes from the guard who rode beside the driver of a stagecoach carrying a shotgun.

The back seat and the middle seat are other places in a car and are not what the idiom means. Since one option matches, 'None of these' is wrong.

Answer: A

The answer is more difficult than it sounds.

The idiom is easier said than done (the paper prints none, a misprint for done). It means that something is simple to talk about but hard to actually do, which is why the speaker cannot simply retire a wealthy man.

Easy than it sounds reverses the meaning and is ungrammatical as well (it would need easier). Regular meeting has no connection with the idiom, and since one option matches, 'None of these' is wrong.

Answer: C

The answer is throughout the day and night.

Twenty-four seven (24/7) means twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, that is, all the time. A store open twenty-four seven never closes.

Throughout the day and throughout the night each cover only half of the clock, so each is narrower than the expression. Since one option matches, 'None of these' is wrong.

Answer: B

To be in hot water means to be facing a difficult situation, usually trouble one has brought on oneself.

For example, He is in hot water with his boss for missing the deadline. The image is of being uncomfortably placed in water too hot to bear.

The other options read the words literally: a warm bath, a hot coat or spicy food. An idiom's meaning cannot be worked out from its separate words, and none of these literal readings is what the phrase means.

Answer: B

To take a rain check means to postpone or reschedule an activity, to decline an offer now while suggesting it be taken up later.

The phrase comes from the ticket stub given to spectators at an American baseball game called off because of rain, which let them attend a later game. So I'll take a rain check on dinner means 'not today, but another time'.

It does not mean getting a refund, checking the weather forecast, or giving up an activity altogether; the idea of doing it later is the essential part.

Answer: B

To catch a tartar means to deal with a person who is more than one's match: to take on someone who turns out to be far stronger or more formidable than expected.

The image is of a soldier who seizes a Tartar warrior only to find he cannot overpower his captive. For example, The bully thought the new boy would be easy prey, but he caught a tartar.

Option D differs from the key only in printing watch for match, which makes it meaningless. Trapping a criminal with difficulty and meeting with disaster are not what the idiom describes.

Answer: C

To make a clean breast of something means to disclose something openly: to confess fully and frankly, especially something one has been hiding.

For example, He decided to make a clean breast of his mistakes before the committee. The 'breast' is the seat of feelings and secrets, cleared by confession.

It has nothing to do with gaining prominence or praising oneself, and 'to destroy before it blooms' is the meaning of a different idiom, to nip in the bud.