6 Animal Idioms with their Meanings

idioms-with-animals

 

Animal Idioms With their Meaning

Idioms are a wonderful way to study the English language and sound more natural and fluent in conversation.  Also, these idioms are playful, creative, and they make learning language more exciting.

To let the cat out of the bag means to reveal a secret.
For example, “Jessica let the cat out of the bag and told everyone about the surprise birthday party.”😼

An elephant in the room is something that is everybody knows about, but nobody wants to talk about.🐘For example, “The fact that sam was caught for theft was the elephant in the room at all of the family dinners.”

To be a chicken can mean to be scared of things. 🐓To “chicken out” means to be too scared to do something and to back out. For example, “Sam is such a chicken.  Last week he chickened out and didn’t go into the cave with us.”

To stop something cold turkey is to abruptly quit doing something. For example, “Suzy quit smoking cold turkey.” 🦃

A person who wouldn’t hurt a fly is a harmless person.🪰For example, “Jennifer wouldn’t hurt a fly. She’s so sweet.”

A rat is a person who is considered sneaky and who might tell others about someone’s mistakes or wrongdoings.🐀To rat someone out is to tell on them or tell the teacher/ authorities about what they did wrong.  For example, “Jim ratted me out and told the teacher that I stole his pencil.”

Your turn! What other animal idioms have you heard? Do you work like a dog? Are you a night owl or an early bird? Do you watch people like a hawk? Have you ever felt like a fish out of water? How do you kill two birds with one stone? Write down your favorite idioms in the comments.

 

Animal Idioms with their Meanings

Take this quiz to test your knowledge of the animal idioms.🐓