Idiom Wordplay Trivia

1. What is "an acrid tasting tablet to consume"?

From Quiz Rewritten Idioms

Answer: A bitter pill to swallow & Bitter pill to swallow

A bitter pill means that you are faced with no choice in a predicament of some sort, but just have to accept what is handed out to you, whether you like it or not. An example of this could be having an operation on your nose to remove most of it - or having your nose fall off entirely. You're still going to lose most of your nose, no matter what.

From Quiz An Idiom By Any Other Name 3

Answer: Fit as a fiddle

The earliest known written reference to this saying dates back to a 1603 work, "The Batchelars Banquet" by Thomas Dekker. In this he states of a character that "Then comes downe mistresse Nurse as fine as a farthing fiddle, in her petticoate and kertle." Today we take this expression to mean someone who is in the prime of health and ready to take on the world. However, its original meaning back then was more to do with propriety than health, as in any action being looked upon as seemly and proper.

From Quiz An Idiom By Any Other Name 2

Answer: He was barking up the wrong tree

If someone is barking up the wrong tree about anything, they are completely mistaken about something, looking in the wrong place, backing the wrong horse, or have their information completely wrong.

From Quiz An Idiom By Any Other Name

Answer: All fingers and thumbs

If someone is described as being "all fingers and thumbs", that person is usually exceptionally clumsy when handling anything, and the object tends to end up on the floor or completely broken.

From Quiz A Prayer in the Hand...

Answer: bear

"Does a bear sit in the woods?" is a common way of saying 'yes'. A similar query is "is the Pope Catholic?" This is a way of answering a question with a positive, but sometimes also used to imply that the asker of a particular question is a few brain cells short. The saying I know also has a variation to the spelling of the word 'sit' but this version works better for a family friendly site!

From Quiz Left By the Whey-Side

Answer: It's raining cats and dogs

"It's raining cats and dogs" is a phrase used to describe a heavy downpour. Etymologists, people who study the origins of words, are uncertain as to how the phrase originated. Variations of this phrase and other similar phrases have also been used, such as "It's raining pitchforks."

From Quiz A Piece of Cake

Answer: A blessing in disguise

'A blessing in disguise' is something that may not seem to be good or beneficial at first may indeed turn out to be good later. "I lost my job, but then I was offered a better job. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise."

From Quiz A Snail's Pace

Answer: A drop in the bucket

'A drop in the bucket' means a tiny bit, often insignificant, of a much larger amount. "This quiz is just a drop in the bucket on FunTrivia."

From Quiz Western Cliches Meet Eastern Translations

Answer: Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

I had always assumed 'Better to be silent.." was a Chinese proverb (I recall Master Po instructing Caine the Chinese version of "Put a sock in it, Grasshopper" several times in the "Kung Fu" television series), but most websites attribute the saying to Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln himself probably 'borrowed' the phrase from The Bible's Proverbs 17:28. The King James version of the passage states "Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding."

From Quiz Literal Idioms

Answer: lost my marbles

If you "lose your marbles", you go crazy. The clue lists different types of gaming marbles.

From Quiz Rewritten Idioms

Answer: A dime a dozen & dime a dozen

A dime a dozen means that any commodity sold in the shops is very cheap and is available anywhere to purchase at any time - such as trendy goods which are now remarkably cheap to purchase and easily found in any department store. When first introduced, however, these goods cost hundreds of dollars and were very hard to find. It could also mean that any particular commodity at all is readily on hand anywhere and doesn't cost a thing at all - such as in the Republic of Seychelles, where many fruit trees were once planted along the streets there and freely available to anyone at any time.

From Quiz An Idiom By Any Other Name

Answer: A bitter pill

Having "a bitter pill" to swallow means having to face up to doing or accepting something very unpleasant, or having been told equally disturbing news. There is nothing enjoyable at all with what you have to deal with, but it has to be accepted.

From Quiz A Prayer in the Hand...

Answer: stitch

"A stitch in time saves nine" means that if you don't deal with your problems now, they will be much bigger in the future if left alone. If you deal with things now, you'll only need a little effort to fix them!

From Quiz A Piece of Cake

Answer: It's raining cats and dogs

'Raining cats and dogs' means a heavy downpour of rain. "It's raining so hard, it's raining cats and dogs."

From Quiz A Snail's Pace

Answer: Hit the nail on the head

'Hit the nail on the head' means to do or say something exactly right. "If you think FunTrivia is a great place, you hit the nail on the head!"

From Quiz Western Cliches Meet Eastern Translations

Answer: Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

"Fools rush in.." is a quote from English poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744), and is the last line of his 1709 poem "An Essay on Criticism". Subsequent authors and poets who have used the line include Edmund Burke ("Reflections on the Revolution in France", 1790), Thomas Hardy ("The Woodlanders", 1887) and James Joyce ("Ulysses", 1922).

From Quiz Literal Idioms

Answer: the last straw

Figuratively, "the last straw" refers to the last provocation you'll put up with. It's the last little thing that "breaks the camel's back". Literally, it's the last hollow tube for drinking your drink.

From Quiz Rewritten Idioms

Answer: An ace in the hole & Ace in the hole

An ace in the hole means that someone has a hidden advantage in some argument or debate or struggle for supremacy, one that hasn't been revealed yet, but when done so, demolishes the competition. An example of this could be two parties in competition to buy the same house, but when one party has to drop out of the bidding when the reserve price is reached, the other triumphantly produces the winning bid by producing a secret nest egg they have kept in reserve.

From Quiz An Idiom By Any Other Name

Answer: An ace in the hole

Having "an ace in the hole" means having some hitherto unrevealed advantage in any given situation that hasn't as yet been played, but has been kept on standby to produce at the most advantageous time. An example of this could be a small stash of money that you have been squirreling away for emergencies, or a skill you haven't yet disclosed, or even a useful ally yet not brought into an endeavour of some kind.

From Quiz A Prayer in the Hand...

Answer: silence

"Silence is golden" - anyone with children will understand this one! Although the saying actually refers to keeping your thoughts to yourself, especially in a situation where keeping quiet is in preference to speaking up.

From Quiz A Piece of Cake

Answer: Let the cat out of the bag

'Let the cat out of the bag' means to tell a secret that shouldn't have been told. "John told Susie about her surprise party. He really let the cat out of the bag."

From Quiz A Snail's Pace

Answer: Great minds think alike

'Great minds think alike' means intelligent people imagine the same ideas at the same time. It's often a way of complimenting one another when two people have the same thought at the same time. The first quiz author said, "The editors on FunTrivia are the best." Another quiz author replied, "I was just thinking that, too." The first author added, "Great minds think alike!"

From Quiz Western Cliches Meet Eastern Translations

Answer: Just a few fries short of a Happy Meal.

Other 'subtle' American cliches questioning someone's intelligence or mental stability include: "A few sandwiches short of a picnic", "One taco short of a combination plate", "Not the brightest bulb in the box" and "The lights are on but there's nobody home".

From Quiz Literal Idioms

Answer: a dime a dozen

Items that are extremely common are said to be a dime a dozen.

From Quiz Rewritten Idioms

Answer: Achilles heel

If someone appears to be invincible in every area of the human condition, and seemingly unable to be defeated, but has one small area of weakness that can bring that person undone, he or she is described as having an Achilles heel. Achilles is the leading protagonist in "The Iliad", a work by the famous Ancient Greek author, Homer. An example of someone with an Achilles heel could be the famous golfer, Tiger Woods. Seemingly unable to be beaten, the golden boy of the media and the golfing profession was revealed to have betrayed his wife on multiple occasions with a rather large number of women. When the news broke, he lost assorted sponsorships, lost his golfing form (going from number one to dropping below the top 500 players in the world by May 2016), his wife divorced him, and his reputation was damaged irreparably.

From Quiz An Idiom By Any Other Name 3

Answer: Kicked the bucket

To kick the bucket means that someone has died, and hopefully peacefully at that. The origin of the saying has a rather darker meaning that dates back at least to Grose's "Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue" which was published in 1785. Though still to do with death, it was believed by then to refer to dying by hanging, when a bucket on which one stood was kicked out from under that person. However an older interpretation is that a bucket was an old word that meant a beam or a yoke, upon which animals about to be slaughtered were hung up by their legs. In their struggles to escape, the poor creatures often kicked the device from which they dangled.

From Quiz An Idiom By Any Other Name 2

Answer: Burn the midnight oil

To burn the midnight oil is to stay up very late working on whatever project you have to get stuck into or complete. This is a term relating to work, but at a push it could also means staying up till all hours having a good time, or reading a book etc.

From Quiz An Idiom By Any Other Name

Answer: An apple of discord

"An apple of discord" is some person, situation, or thing that is causing trouble, or dissent or difficulty in some way, usually on an ongoing basis. This idiom tends more to refer to a person, such as someone who is always complaining about one's cooking. Or someone who always wants to do the opposite of everyone else, or always has a negative comment, and so on.

From Quiz A Prayer in the Hand...

Answer: blood

"Blood is thicker than water" is a German proverb referring to the bonds of family and kinship being stronger than those of friends. This may not seem the case when you are young but life experience can certainly show that your annoying little sister is now there for you whenever you need her - no matter what.

From Quiz Left By the Whey-Side

Answer: It's icing on the cake!

The "icing (or frosting) on the cake" denotes something that makes a good situation even better. Having cake is good by itself, but having cake with icing is even better.

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Last Updated Nov 16 2024 5:51 AM

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