Mixed Bag of Idioms in Wordwise Form Quiz

Answer: Beyond the black stump

"Beyond the black stump" is an Australian expression which means to be so far away from any populated centre of the country, that one's unnamed destination can only be identified by a burnt out black stump of a tree in the middle of nowhere.

Answer: Break

Theatre performers are a notoriously superstitious group of people, and tend to believe, whether they'll admit it or not, that to wish anyone "Good luck" before a performance is to doom that performance to a failure. Instead, the term "Break a leg" (being the full idiom of which "break" is the word that is a verb) wished upon anyone about to go on stage is not a case of spitefulness, but to ensure the performer and show will be successful.

Answer: All ears

If anyone is said to be all ears, or describes his or herself as such, this means that person is listening intently to what is being said. Perhaps an example of this could be anyone listening intently to a nice juicy piece of gossip.

Answer: Back to the drawing board

Back to the drawing board (usually said wth a sigh of exasperation) is a term meaning that some experiment, test or trail of anything new has not worked out the way it was intended when given a trial run, and so the designer or creator has got to return to the original concept and tweak it here and there in order to try once more.

Answer: The whole nine yards

If a person is said to go, or is planning to go, the whole nine yards in any field of endeavour, that person is prepared to follow right through to the conclusion of that task, whether successful or not. There are various theories as to the origin of this phrase.

Some believe it originated in the length of fabric needed to put together a Scotsman's kilt; some associate it with American football; it is also believed to represent the number of spars on a sailing ship - and so on.

Answer: Under

If you are planning to throw anyone under the bus - and hopefully you're not - you're planning to abandon that person or persons to their own devices after you've been involved in some dubious scheme with them, or have encouraged them to go ahead with some other dubious or questionable venture.

Answer: Piece of cake

If any given task is described as being a piece of cake, this means that it is going to be easy to carry out, or that a person who has been given something to do, which was believed to be difficult, has found it quite easy to achieve. An example could be a planned exam that students are readying themselves to sit, and which has been described as being very hard, has instead been remarkably easy to complete.

Answer: In over your head

If you're described in any venture as being in over your head, this means you've bitten off more than you can chew, and are in somewhat of a bit of bother. The task has turned out to be more than you can handle.

Answer: Together

If the order has gone out to "pull oneself together", then you need to shape up or ship out, or get your act together, or stop doing the wrong thing, or any other similar direction given to anyone who's landed in trouble and generally made a mess of things. Things need to be sorted out to get back on track once more.

Answer: Again

"You can say that again!" is a hearty endorsement, and agreement with, some remark that has just been made by someone, to which to which the intended recipient of that remark heartily agrees.