What do these idioms mean?

Question

skin of my teeth
rained cats and dogs
snuffed out
sized up the danger
piece of my mind

i know one of them isn't an idiom, but don't know which one!

Answer 1

I avoided the car-wreck by the skin of my teeth----I avoided the car-wreck narrowly...i.e. I almost got in the wreck, but I didn't.

It was raining cats and dogs.---It was raining heavily.

I snuffed out my feeling of anger because I realized they were unbased....i.e. I quelled my feeling of anger. Also this one can be used literally, I snuffed out the candle...i.e. put it out.

I sized up the danger and took necessary action.----I made a decision regarding all possible dangers and took necessary action.

I gave that rude salesman a piece of my mind!---I told the salesman in a very unhappy and assertive way exactly why I was angry with him.

"Sized up the danger" is my best guess on which one isn't the idiom...it is either that one or "snuffed out."

Here are some more for you;
The test was a piece of cake!!! (It was easy.)
I am feeling blue. (I am sad.)
I got the task done in a snap. (I got it done quickly and easily.)
Shut up! (A rude way of telling someone to stop talking.)

Answer 2

NOUN:

A speech form or an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elements, as in keep tabs on.

The specific grammatical, syntactic, and structural character of a given language.

Regional speech or dialect.

A specialized vocabulary used by a group of people; jargon: legal idiom.

A style or manner of expression peculiar to a given people: "Also important is the uneasiness I've always felt at cutting myself off from my idiom, the American habits of speech and jest and reaction, all of them entirely different from the local variety" (S.J. Perelman).

A style of artistic expression characteristic of a particular individual, school, period, or medium: the idiom of the French impressionists; the punk rock idiom.


that's all i got....could be 'sized up the danger'

Answer 3

Snuffed out is not the idiom.

An idiom occurs when there is nothing in the words or arrangement of words that gives any indication of it's literal meaning.

In other words when someone claims to "give you a piece of my mind" there's nothing about the phrase that is literally or even metaphorically true--If you've never heard the phrase before you are unlikely to know what it means, even if you speak English.

Snuffed out is a straight metaphor--the action of snuffing out a candle being used to describe the abrupt ending of something.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

the skin of one`s teeth
Means by a narrow margin, barely
We were able to catch the train by the skin of our teeth

"Rain Cats and Dogs" I have this explanation. In old England when peoples cats and dogs died they would simply through them into the gutter or alley with the garbage. If a strong enough rain came through it would flood the gutters and alleys to the point where all the dead cats and dogs would begin to float down the streets. Therefore very harsh rains were associated with cats and dogs.
This phrase's origin is unknown. Possible explainations include: The archaic French catdoupe is a waterfall or cataract, lightning and thunder sounds like that of a cat/dog fight, cats had a big influence on the weather, and the sky dog Odin was attended to by wolves according to Norse Mythology.
Another theory is that in old England, they had hay roofs on their houses and the cats and dogs would sleep on the roof. When it rained, the roofs got slippery and the cats and dogs would slide off of the roofs. There for it was "Raining Cats and Dogs"
"Raining cats and dogs" came from the middle ages, when houses had thatched roofs. To keep warm lots of animals would hide in the roofs when it was raining and sometimes fell through the flimsy roofs on to the streets below.
"Rain Cats and Dogs" stems from the Norse Mythology. Cats were believed to represent the wind and dogs represented rain. Different animals represented different weather and natural phenomenon

snuffed out
Something was put to an end . The bomber triggered his explosion and snuffed out the lives of 167 innocent people in that building. Before he could reach the top in his career, a scandal almost snuffed it out.
Etymology: based on the literal meaning of snuff out (= to stop a flame from burning)

Size up the danger is to try to form an opinion of someone, to assess a situation
It took me some time to size up the candidate before deciding to give him a job

Piece of my mind means my criticism of what you did for example If my son stayed out all night, I'd give him a piece of my mind.

Answer 5

Idioms are the form of expressions peculiar to a language.

Answer 6

surely u know what these mean.