• white elephant
  • a posession/gift that is troublesome or difficult to maintain
• white whale
  • sth. that one can pursue with little chance of success
• touch and go
  • of a (desired) outcome: possible but very uncertain. "it was touch-and-go whether she could reach the pram before it overturned"
• roided out
  • having a very muscular physique, especially one obtained from the use of performance-enhancing drugs
• coup de grâce
  • a final blow or shot given to kill a wounded person/animal/situation
• to hedge one's bets
  • to support both sides in a competition to protect against loss
• out of sorts
  • slightly unwell, in low spirits
• shish kabobing
  • impaling
• pussyfooting around
  • act in a cautious or non-committal way
• jump the shark
  • used to argue that a creative work or entity has reached a point in which it has exhausted its core intent and is introducing new ideas that are discordant with, or an extreme exaggeration of, its original purpose
• the bee's knees
  • excellent, wonderful, cool
• to be a dead ringer
  • to look exactly like sb.
• lock, stock and barrel
  • all, total, everything
• to have a chip on one's shoulder
  • to feel inferior or as if been treated unfairly
• to go through the motions
  • to do something without making much effort to do it well (e.g. when sad)
• to tighten one's belt
  • to spend less money
• to pay through the nose
  • to pay too much
• a stitch in time saves nine
  • it's better to solve a problem right away, to stop it becoming a much bigger one
• to put one through one's paces
  • to test the ability/skill of a person/thing
• rat race
  • when eople compete with each other for power and money
• a raw deal
  • bad or unfair treatment
• to talk shop
  • to talk about your job with those you work with when not at work
• to spin a yarn
  • to tell an untrue but interesting story
• to have the ball in one's court
  • it is time for you to deal with a problem or make a decision, because other people have already done as much as they can

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• treading water
• war of attrition
• at length
• brace up
• the lapping (sound) of water
• in lieu of
• to cull the herd
• to dole out punishment
• x an y z not make
• to hit/strike pay dirt
• to get roped into sth.
• a knee-jerk reaction
• to mill about
• with false bravado
• to separate the wheat from the chaff
• to get one's hackles up
• to taper off
• to turn tail
• hot to trot for sb.
• by and by
• to phone sth. in
• to not care for sth.
• to steer clear
• to make a pass on sb.
• to call a spade a spade
• the blahs
• dog eat dog world
• a mile a minute
• to break the seal
• jump the gun
• to take after sb.
• to be in a rut
• shipshape
• all walks of life
• to egg sb. on
• to go off the deep end
• to have it in for sb.
• to add insult to injury
• to be off one's rocker
• to be at each other's throats
• nothing to write home about
• like water off a duck's back
• to make a killing
• to make do with sth.
• not up to par / subpar / below par
• to have a go
• out on a limb
• to stick one's neck out for sb.
• not to have a snowball's chance in hell
• to take the cake
• to split hairs
• no love lost between them
• a crying shame
• to take the wind out of sb.'s sails
• to be dead set on sth.
• to play it by ear
• to harp on
• to face the music
• (not) to pull one's punches
• to put a sock in it
• to a t
• to mince one's words
• that's the way the cookie crumbles
• a penny for one's thoughts
• come hell or high water
• every cloud has a silver lining
• to have the markings of...
• par for the course

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also see: favorite phrases