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The C drawer

133 phrases beginning with C.

C'est la vie A resigned acknowledgment that a disappointment or setback is simply how life goes - roughly 'that's life' or 'oh well'. It is an informal, lightly…
Cabin fever Restlessness, irritability, and low mood caused by being cooped up indoors or stuck in one place for too long, especially during a long winter or…
Call a spade a spade To speak plainly and directly, describing something exactly as it is even when the truth is blunt or unwelcome. It names frankness about awkward facts…
Call it a day To stop working for the rest of the day, judging that enough has been done - or that no more can usefully be done. It also serves for endings of any…
Call someone's bluff To challenge someone to prove they can do what they are threatening - to demand they show their cards. Calling a bluff accepts the risk that it was…
Cancel culture The practice or tendency of a large group of people withdrawing support from a public figure, company or work - 'cancelling' them - as punishment for…
Cannon fodder Soldiers regarded by their commanders as expendable raw material to be consumed by the enemy's guns; by extension, anyone used thoughtlessly to…
Cap in hand In a humble, deferential, supplicating manner, especially when asking someone for money, a job or a favour, as in 'go cap in hand to someone'. It is…
Carpe diem Seize the day: make the most of the present moment rather than trusting in or deferring to tomorrow. Used as an exclamation, a motto, or a modifier…
Carry a torch for To hold a flame for someone who does not hold one back - to love on, hopelessly and often openly, after the affair is over or before it ever began…
Carry coals to Newcastle Supply something where it is already plentiful, making the effort needless. Newcastle refers to Newcastle upon Tyne, not another city of the same…
Carry on like a pork chop Make an excessive fuss, behave foolishly or become noisily agitated. Very informal. The fuller synagogue version can sound culturally insensitive and…
Carry the can To take the blame or bear the responsibility when something goes wrong, especially on behalf of others who were equally or more at fault. It is…
Carte blanche Complete freedom or full discretionary power to act as one sees fit, almost always in the pattern of giving or being given carte blanche. The register…
Cash cow Business jargon for a product, division or asset that reliably generates more cash than it costs to maintain, its surplus typically diverted to fund…
Cast pearls before swine Offer something valuable to people who cannot or will not appreciate it. Often sounds judgmental because it likens unappreciative people to swine. Use…
Cast the first stone Be the first to accuse, condemn, or punish someone, especially when no accuser is blameless. Usually invokes hypocrisy or shared fallibility, not…
Cat got your tongue? A teasing or mildly challenging question asked when someone is unexpectedly silent or unwilling to answer.
Cat nap A very short, light spell of sleep, usually during the day, from which the sleeper wakes easily and feels refreshed. It implies dozing rather than…
Catamaran A boat or ship with two parallel hulls joined by a deck or bridge, prized for speed, stability, and deck space; used of everything from small sailing…
Catawampus Askew, out of alignment, or in a confused and irregular state. Current but regional, jocular, and semantically flexible Regional use: United States…
Catch someone's eye To attract someone's attention, usually briefly and visually. It covers two everyday situations: something you suddenly notice because it is striking…
Catch-22 A rule, situation, or dilemma in which the only solution is blocked by a circumstance inherent in the problem itself, so that every available move…
Catfishing Creating a false personal identity online, or using one, to deceive someone, most often in pursuit of a fake romantic relationship. The word names…
Caught between a rock and a hard place Facing a dilemma with no good options, stuck picking between two tough choices.
Caught flat-footed Caught off-guard or slow, not ready.
Caught in the act Nabbed doing something wrong, mid-move.
Caught in the crossfire Trapped in a conflict not your own, hit by stray shots.
Caught in the crosshairs Trapped in a tight spot or aim, pinned.
Caught napping Caught off-guard or unprepared, dozing at the wrong moment.
Caught on the back foot Taken by surprise or off balance, reeling.
Caught on the hop Caught off-guard or mid-step, surprised.
Caught red-handed To be discovered in the act of doing something wrong or illegal, with undeniable evidence of guilt, leaving no room for denial.
Caught with chaff Fooled or nabbed by a trick, taken in.
Caught with egg on your face Left looking foolish or publicly embarrassed because something you did, said, or predicted went wrong.
Caught with your hand in the cookie jar Nabbed doing something sneaky or wrong, caught red-handed.
Caught with your hand in the till Nabbed pilfering or stealing, caught cold.
Caught with your pants down Caught unexpectedly while unprepared, exposed or in an embarrassing or compromising situation. The expression is informal.
Cause célèbre A legal case or controversy that arouses intense and lasting public interest; by extension, any notorious person, event or thing. English began with…
Chain reaction A sequence of events in which each one causes or triggers the next, so the process feeds itself and accelerates - from chemistry and nuclear physics…
Chalk and cheese Of two people or things that may look superficially alike but are fundamentally different in character, quality or substance. Standard in the patterns…
Champ at the bit To show restless impatience while being held back, especially when eager to start something. The image is a horse biting and gnawing at its bit - the…
Change of heart A genuine shift in someone's feelings, attitude, or intentions, especially a reversal of an earlier position, such as becoming kinder toward a person…
Chapter and verse Precise supporting authority or full, exact details about a claim or event. Can mean exact source references or, more loosely, a complete detailed…
Charity begins at home One's first responsibility is to care for people and needs close at hand, especially family. Can defend reasonable local responsibility or excuse…
Charley horse A painful involuntary muscle cramp, particularly in the thigh or calf - Wiktionary defines it as a synonym of cramp, chiefly US, and McGraw-Hill as 'a…
Chasing rainbows Pursuing an impossible or illusory goal, wasting effort on something that can never actually be reached. Usually said with sympathy or gentle…
Chauvinism Excessive, blind devotion to one's own country, group, or cause, or a conviction that one's own group is inherently superior. The oldest sense is…
Cheap at half the price A humorous way to call something very expensive; it is also sometimes used illogically to praise a bargain. Potentially ambiguous. Publish only with…
Cheapskate A stingy person who avoids spending, tipping, or paying a fair share even when well able to; a miser. Informal and mildly contemptuous, though usually…
Cherry-pick To select only the best, easiest, or most favorable items from a larger set while passing over the rest; applied to facts, data, or evidence it…
Cheugy US slang, pronounced CHOO-ghee, for a person or style that is unfashionable in a particular way: not merely dated but trying too hard, the opposite of…
Chew the fat To chat at length in a relaxed, informal way; to pass the time in friendly, unhurried conversation. It suggests idle talk among companions rather than…
Chew the scenery Of an actor: to overact wildly, performing in an exaggerated, melodramatic style that swamps the play. By extension it describes anyone behaving in a…
Chicken feed A trivially small amount of money, far below what something is worth or what a person deserves ('They offered me chicken feed for the car'). Informal…
Chicken out To withdraw from a planned or promised course of action because of fear or loss of nerve, especially at the last minute. Informal, with a teasing or…
Children should be seen and not heard Children are expected to remain quiet and not interrupt adults. Now usually quoted critically, humorously, or as an example of authoritarian and…
Chimerical Wildly fanciful or impossible - a scheme, hope, or plan assembled from parts that cannot belong together. The word carries its monster in plain view…
Chip off the old block A person who closely resembles a parent in character, temperament, or ability, and sometimes in appearance. Usually said of a son or daughter who has…
Chip on your shoulder An ingrained sense of grievance or inferiority that makes someone defensive and quick to take offence, often seeming to invite confrontation…
Chock-a-block Packed or crowded completely full, so tightly that nothing can move or be added. It can describe physical crowding, such as a street, a train, or a…
Chortle To laugh in a breathy, gleeful, chuckling-snorting way that signals delight, often at something clever, absurd, or satisfying; as a noun, a laugh of…
Chutzpah Shameless, unshakeable audacity: the nerve to do or demand something outrageous while showing no embarrassment at all. Ranges from admiring, for bold…
Circle back In workplace speech, to return to a topic, question, or person later, after other matters have progressed or more information is available. Often used…
Clam up To stop talking or refuse to speak, especially to avoid giving information, answering questions or incriminating someone. Informal in register and…
Class clown A pupil who habitually plays the fool and plays for laughs in class - cracking jokes, pulling faces, distracting classmates. The label now travels…
Clean bill of health An official assurance, after examination, that a person is healthy or that an organization, product or plan is free of fault. Originally a shipping…
Clean the Augean stables To clear away an accumulated mass of corruption, neglect, or filth - usually in an institution - in one decisive effort. The phrase is reserved for…
Clear as a bell Perfectly clear, whether of a sound heard without distortion, a sky without haze, or an idea grasped at once. Originally about sound, it now more…
Clickbait Online content, especially a headline or thumbnail, deliberately designed to grab attention and lure readers into clicking a link, usually through…
Cloak and dagger Involving secrecy, intrigue and espionage, especially with a melodramatic or glamorous flavour borrowed from vintage spy fiction. It is almost always…
Close ranks To join together in solidarity, especially when the group or one of its members faces outside criticism, investigation, or attack. The phrase stresses…
Close, but no cigar A near success that still falls short of the goal. Current informal expression Regional use: United States, later international.
Cloud cuckoo land An imaginary realm of wildly impractical or deluded notions; if someone lives in cloud cuckoo land, their beliefs or plans are hopelessly unrealistic…
Clutch at straws To resort to desperate remedies or arguments that have almost no chance of working, because no real options remain. Typically said of fading hopes - a…
Cock a snook Make a derisive gesture, or openly show contempt for a person or rule. Informal and defiant. The literal gesture is also known as thumbing one's nose…
Cock of the walk A person who dominates a group or situation in a proud, strutting, overbearing way; the self-important master of a small circle. Usually said…
Cold comfort Consolation that hardly helps; slight or unwelcome encouragement offered in the face of misfortune, typically because it changes nothing about the…
Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey Extremely cold. The headphrase contains a vulgar anatomical joke. 'Brass monkey weather' is the neutral alternative. Regional use: United Kingdom and…
Cold feet A sudden loss of courage or confidence that makes someone hesitate or withdraw from a planned action.
Cold fish A person who seems unfriendly, aloof and unemotional, showing little warmth, enthusiasm or sympathy in dealings with others. Informal and judgmental…
Cold turkey The abrupt, complete cessation of an addictive habit, especially drugs, without tapering or substitute treatment; also the physical withdrawal state…
Collateral damage Harm inflicted unintentionally on people, property, or interests other than the intended target, originally of civilian deaths and destruction in…
Come a cropper To fall heavily, especially from a horse, bicycle or motorbike, or by extension to fail badly at a venture. The literal falling sense survives in…
Come from away A person who is not originally from the Atlantic Canadian place being discussed. Current regional identity term; tone depends on speaker and setting…
Come hell or high water No matter what obstacles, disasters or difficulties may arise. Used to state that something will be done or will happen regardless of any opposition…
Come into money To receive or acquire a sum of money without having worked for it, most often through an inheritance, and sometimes through a legacy, windfall, or…
Come rain or shine Whatever happens, regardless of circumstances or adversity. It began as a pledge that an event or duty would hold in any weather, and the figurative…
Come the raw prawn Attempt to deceive, impose upon or treat someone unfairly. Informal and confrontational, often used in a warning not to try a trick. Regional use…
Come what may Whatever happens; used to signal firm resolve to see a plan through regardless of obstacles or consequences. Neutral to rhetorical register, often…
Comic relief A person, remark or event that lightens a tense, serious or grim situation; in drama and narrative it names the humorous character or passage inserted…
Company man An employee whose loyalty runs to the company and its management rather than to fellow workers or his own conscience; nearly always pejorative…
Concern trolling Offering unsolicited 'friendly advice' or professed worry that is actually meant to undermine a cause, typically by a person pretending to be a…
Cook someone's goose To spoil someone's plans, ruin their chances or bring about their downfall, usually through a decisive act, mistake or revelation. Once someone's…
Cook the books To falsify or fraudulently alter an organization's financial records, typically to hide losses, inflate profits, or evade tax; by extension, to doctor…
Cool as a cucumber Calm, composed and unflustered, especially in situations that would rattle most people. It describes a person's manner under pressure rather than low…
Copper-bottomed Completely reliable, secure or trustworthy; unlikely to fail under pressure. Informal but common in business and political language. It may describe…
Copycat A person who deliberately imitates what someone else does, says, makes or wears rather than originating anything. As a modifier it describes imitation…
Core memory A deeply formative, emotionally charged memory treated as central to a person's identity, or, jokingly, any vivid flash of nostalgia. Most often met…
Corpsing Chiefly British theatrical slang for breaking into uncontrollable laughter while performing, at a moment that demands a straight face; also used…
Cost an arm and a leg To be extremely expensive; to demand an exorbitant, painful price. Informal and hyperbolic, used about purchases, bills, repairs, and fees, framing a…
Couch potato A person who spends long hours slumped in front of the television to the neglect of exercise and other activity; by extension, anyone who is…
Count sheep A conventional imagined remedy for insomnia: mentally picturing sheep jumping over a fence one by one and counting them until sleep comes. Used mostly…
Coup de grâce A decisive finishing blow: originally the death blow or shot delivered to end the suffering of someone mortally wounded, and in modern English almost…
Cream of the crop The very best members of a group or the finest examples of a kind, whether people, goods, or produce. The phrase singles out an elite subset from the…
Critical mass The minimum amount of something - people, support, adoption, evidence - needed for a process to become self-sustaining and take off on its own…
Crocodile tears A display of sorrow or sympathy that is insincere; tears or grief put on for effect by someone who does not actually feel it. The phrase usually…
Cross that bridge when you come to it To deal with a problem only when it arises, not fretting ahead.
Cross the River Styx To die - with a classical flourish. Borrowing the Greek underworld's boundary river makes death sound like travel paperwork: a ferry to catch, a coin…
Cross the Rubicon To take a step from which there is no turning back - resigning, publishing, proposing, declaring - so that everything after it follows from the…
Crossing the aisle In US politics, to negotiate with, cooperate with, or vote with the opposing party, especially against one's own leadership. The phrase comes from the…
Cruel to be kind To cause someone present pain for their eventual benefit - harsh treatment serving, in the actor's mind at least, a benevolent purpose. Usually said…
Cry over spilled milk To waste time or emotion regretting something trivial or irreversible, lamenting a loss that can't be undone instead of moving on. It conjures a…
Cry wolf To raise false alarms, calling danger too often.
Crème de la crème The very best of a group; the choicest individuals or finest examples of something. It intensifies the long-standing metaphor of cream as the richest…
Cuffing season Slang for autumn and winter, the stretch when single people are said to look for a partner to settle down with through the cold months, typically…
Cupid's arrow The classic emblem of falling in love suddenly and involuntarily. Cupid, the Roman god of desire, is imagined as a winged boy who shoots arrows that…
Curiosity killed the cat A warning that prying into things that are not your business, or poking at what should be left alone, can lead you into danger or trouble. Typically…
Curry favour Seek someone's approval or an advantage through calculated flattery or ingratiating behaviour. Usually disapproving. American English spells the noun…
Curtain call The moment at the end of a performance when the cast returns to the stage to bow and receive the audience's applause; figuratively, a final…
Curtain-raiser Literally, a short opening performance staged before the main play; figuratively, any minor event, match or announcement that serves as a preliminary…
Cushioning Maintaining flirtatious or romantic contact with people outside your main relationship, or outside the one you are pursuing, so that prospects are on…
Cut and dried Already settled, prepared or decided, often in a routine way that allows little originality or debate. Commonly used in the negative, as in not cut…
Cut and run To make a hasty departure, abandoning whatever one was doing rather than seeing it through; to flee a situation quickly. Often carries a note of…
Cut corners To do something the easiest, cheapest, or quickest way by skipping steps, skimping on materials, or ignoring rules. Nearly always critical, implying…
Cut from the same cloth Said of people who are very similar in character, values or background, as if they were made from one shared material. It is almost always a…
Cut of your jib Your characteristic appearance, manner or style, especially as the basis of a first impression. Informal and nautical in flavour. It can signal…
Cut off your nose to spite your face To act out of anger, revenge or principle in a way that harms you more than the person it is aimed at. Typically describes self-destructive…
Cut the Gordian knot To solve a hopelessly tangled problem by one bold, unconventional stroke rather than patient untangling - accepting rough justice in place of elegant…
Cut the mustard Meet the required standard or perform adequately. Current informal idiom Regional use: United States; now widespread.
Cut to the chase To skip unnecessary details and get to the main point or action quickly, often reflecting impatience with preamble or fluff. It's a directive for…
Cut to the quick To hurt or distress someone very deeply, especially in their feelings rather than their body. The image is a cut that goes past dead outer skin into…
Cynic A person who disbelieves in human sincerity - who assumes every motive is selfish, every virtue a posture. The original Cynics preached virtue through…