English Idioms

To buck up  is to behave like a buck - in the sense of, a male deer - that is rutting, that is, in the midst of its mating cycle. This woul...

The backbone  is really just another word for spine . The form of this idiom is to "show" or "demonstrate" some backbon...

The spine is the set of bones that is the body's pillar of support. The human body's muscles use the spine as the foundation for al...

In politics, as in horse races, to be breathing down someone's neck is to be very close behind that person in a race.  Example: ...

One of a variety of "horse race" political idioms, front runner status means the state of being in the lead. The "race...

When you are staring down the barrel of something, you are faced with an imminent danger (one which happens soon).  This is used in a pol...

When you are "in line" to succeed someone, you are part of a line of succession determining who, and in what order, will replace a...