ESL Blogs

These idioms are from book of 101 american idioms

1. String Someone Along
Liz had high hopes of marrying Dean. When he ran off with another woman, she realized that he was just stringing her along. She had felt very strongly about him and was really hurt to see that he was deceiving her and had no intentions of ever marrying her. (To give someone false hopes).

2. Leave Someone High and Dry
Say, Jill. I thought that John was going to help you do the dishes tonight. So did I. But he left me high and dry.
Where did he go?
Well, he got a call from some of his pals at work to go bowling, and he left me alone to do all this work without any help at all! (to leave you alone and without any help).

3. Spill the Beans
Did you know that Harry was going to take Kathy on a Caribbean cruise?
Yes, I did. He was planning on surprising her with the tickets for their anniversary, but someone spilled the beans.
What a shame! That was supposed to have been a surprise.
Yes, it's too bad that someone told her about the trip beforehand and ruined Harry's surprise. That's OK. Her enthusiasm was not dampened in the least! (To reveal a secret).

4. Bite the Dust
Andy did exceptionally well in all of the track events, but he bit the dust in the high jump competition. Much to the disappointment of his fans, he went down in defeat, losing to a competitor from the visiting team. (to fail, die, or stop existing).

5. Cough Up
Say, Greg. Did you finally get that computer that you wanted so much?
Not yet. I needed to raise a couple of hundred dollars more. Is it going to take you a while to raise the money?
It would have taken me forever, but dad said he'd cough up the money I need since I'm going to be using the computer for my school work.
Maybe it was difficult for your dad to give you the money but then, he knows that it's for a good cause. (to give money to pay for something, especially when you would prefer not to).