Browse by first letter

The S drawer

169 phrases beginning with S.

Sabre rattling An ostentatious display or threat of military force made to intimidate an opponent without any real intention of fighting; by extension, any loud…
Sackcloth and ashes An outward display of deep remorse, penitence, mourning, or public self-reproach. Often humorous or exaggerated when applied to public apologies…
Saddle someone with To burden or load someone down, stuck.
Sadfishing Posting exaggerated or emotional claims about one's personal problems online in order to attract sympathy, attention or followers. A dismissive…
Safe and sound Completely out of danger and found or returned without physical injury, loss, or damage. Sound retains its old whole or uninjured sense in this…
Safe as houses Completely safe, secure, or certain of success, said especially of investments, savings, or plans that carry no apparent risk. A chiefly British…
Sail close to the wind To come very near the limit of what is lawful, moral, or acceptable; to follow a course that only just avoids breaking rules, giving offence, or…
Salad days A youthful period of inexperience, enthusiasm or carefree behaviour. Usually plural and commonly preceded by a possessive. It may be affectionate or…
Salt of the earth A genuinely good, honest person, solid and humble.
Sang-froid Calmness and composure in a dangerous, difficult, or embarrassing situation; coolness under pressure. The phrase is approving in tone, suggesting…
Saturnine Cold, gloomy, and slow to smile - temperamentally heavy, as if born under a leaden sky. It is jovial's standing antonym: where the jovial host laughs…
Save for a rainy day To put money or other resources aside for a future time of need, such as job loss, illness or emergency repairs. It frames saving as prudent insurance…
Saved by the bell Rescued at the last possible moment from defeat, danger, embarrassment, an unwanted answer, or another difficult situation. Current and informal. In…
Savoir-faire The ability to say and do the right thing in any situation; polished tact and instinctive competence in social or practical matters. It is a formal…
Say uncle Admit defeat, surrender, or ask for an ordeal to stop. Current informal expression, often associated with children's contests Regional use: United…
Scapegoat Someone made to carry the blame for the mistakes or wrongdoing of others; by extension, to 'scapegoat' a person is to punish or publicly fault them in…
Scarce as hen's teeth Extremely rare or effectively nonexistent, like teeth in an adult hen, which has a beak rather than visible teeth. Informal and emphatic. Because the…
Scarlet woman A dated, disapproving label for a woman regarded as immoral or promiscuous; in full 'the scarlet woman of Babylon', the Whore of Babylon of Revelation…
Schadenfreude Pleasure or amusement derived from someone else's misfortune, embarrassment, or failure. It fills a real gap in English, which has no single native…
Schlep Informal verb meaning to drag or haul something cumbersome, or to make a long, tedious journey oneself; as a noun it names such a trip, and in older…
Schmooze To chat in a relaxed, friendly, and persuasive way, often at parties, conferences, or work events, sometimes with an undertone of working the room for…
Schoolboy error Chiefly British and informal: a basic, elementary mistake of the sort a careless schoolboy might make - Wiktionary glosses it simply as a fundamental…
Score an own goal To put the ball into your own net and thereby score for the opposition - Farlex defines it as earning a point for the opposing team by scoring a goal…
Scot-free Without punishment, payment, injury, or other adverse consequence. The first element is scot, not Scott. It can concern harm as well as formal…
Scraping the barrel Using the last or worst options, down to dregs.
Screw the pooch Make a serious, conspicuous, or disastrous mistake. Current but crude even in euphemised form Regional use: United States military, later general…
Scuttlebutt Rumour, gossip, or unofficial chatter, especially the kind that circulates informally within an organization. Informal and now chiefly American in…
Sea legs The ability to keep one's balance and walk steadily on a moving vessel, and by extension the capacity to adjust to a new, unfamiliar, or unstable…
Sealioning A harassment tactic in which someone persistently demands evidence and answers to questions while performing politeness and sincere curiosity, wearing…
Second wind A renewed surge of energy or capacity to keep going, arriving after fatigue, flagging enthusiasm, or a stall in progress. Though it began as a…
See a man about a dog Leave while deliberately withholding the real reason, often as a euphemism for going to the toilet. Informal euphemism. The usual modern inference in…
See eye to eye To agree completely with someone; to hold the same view or opinion. It applies to people rather than things, and it is especially common in the…
See pink elephants Humorous expression for hallucinating from heavy drinking, especially the imagined sights of delirium tremens; 'he was seeing pink elephants' means he…
See red To become suddenly and extremely angry. The image is of rage so intense that it floods one's vision or judgement; the expression captures the…
See the elephant Gain a much-anticipated but often harsh or disillusioning experience. Historical and now obscure Regional use: United States, especially 19th-century…
See which way the wind blows To wait and gauge the situation, testing the drift.
Seen better days Someone or something is old, worn, shabby, or in decline, and was once in far better condition. Originally said of people who had fallen from wealth…
Sell like hot cakes To sell very quickly and in large numbers because demand is fierce; applied to products, tickets, or anything scarce that buyers snap up as soon as it…
Sell someone down the river To betray someone, especially by quietly acting against their interests while pretending loyalty, leaving them in serious trouble. The betrayal is…
Send someone packing Dismiss, reject or drive someone away abruptly and decisively. Informal and forceful. In sport it commonly means eliminate from a competition…
Send someone to Coventry Deliberately ostracise someone by refusing to speak to or acknowledge them. Describes organised or collective silent treatment, not merely sending…
Separate the wheat from the chaff To tell the valuable part from the worthless part; to sort good people, ideas, or material from inferior ones when the two are mixed together and not…
Serendipity The occurrence of happy or valuable discoveries made by accident rather than by design; also the ability to find agreeable things one was not looking…
Set your teeth on edge Cause an unpleasant physical sensation in the teeth or make someone acutely irritated or uncomfortable. It can describe either a literal dental…
Shake a leg An informal call to hurry up, get out of bed, and get moving. It began as a mid-nineteenth-century American expression for dancing and only later took…
Shanghai Historically, to kidnap, trick, or drug someone into serving aboard a ship; in modern use, to coerce or trick someone into an unwelcome job, activity…
Shanks's pony Travelling on foot, especially because no vehicle or other transport is available. Informal and jocular. Apostrophe placement varies because speakers…
Sharenting The practice of parents regularly sharing photos, videos and personal details about their children on social media. Usually neutral in news usage but…
Sharp as a tack Very quick or smart, keen.
Shell out To pay money, usually reluctantly and typically an amount the payer regards as excessive or unwelcome; used with a stated sum or with for, as in…
Shipping Fandom slang for endorsing or hoping for a romantic pairing between two fictional characters or, more riskily, real people; a ship is the pairing…
Ships that pass in the night Describes people who meet only briefly by chance and then part forever, never seeing each other again; often said of a fleeting encounter that seemed…
Shipshape and Bristol fashion Neat, orderly and efficiently arranged; in excellent working condition. Approving and mildly old-fashioned. Hyphenation varies; the modern closed form…
Shoot from the hip To act or speak fast and loose, without much thought.
Shoot the breeze To chat idly or casually, passing time with aimless talk.
Shoot the messenger To blame, punish, or turn on the person who delivers unwelcome news instead of dealing with the news itself or its true cause. Almost always used in…
Shoot your mouth off To talk loudly, recklessly, or indiscreetly, especially about matters you do not fully understand or secrets you should keep. It almost always carries…
Shoot yourself in the foot To damage your own cause, position, or prospects through your own words or actions - a self-inflicted blunder that helps your rivals or opponents. It…
Short shrift Little time, attention, sympathy or consideration given to someone or something. Usually occurs with give, get or receive. The modern sense does not…
Show a leg Get out of bed, get moving, or demonstrate that you are awake. Informal and brisk. The accompanying story about sailors' wives should be labelled…
Show and tell The early-years classroom ritual - a child brings an object from home and explains it to the class - and, by extension, any occasion where something…
Show the white feather To display cowardice; to give way to fear where courage is expected, especially in a public test of nerve. Now rather dated and heard mainly in…
Show your true colours To reveal what you are really like - your genuine character, allegiance, or intentions - after keeping it hidden or presenting a different front. The…
Showstopper Originally, a song or number so well received that the applause forces the show to pause while the audience is quieted; now anything outstandingly…
Shrinkflation The practice of reducing the size, amount or volume of a product while keeping its price the same, so that consumers effectively pay more per unit…
Sick as a dog Real ill or down, laid low.
Sick as a parrot Deeply upset or disappointed, down low.
Sick as a pig Real ill or down.
Sick to death Fed up or done.
Sick to the back teeth Fed up past full.
Signs of the times Events or trends regarded as characteristic evidence of the present period. Singular is common for one example; plural often refers to a cluster of…
Silver bullet A single, simple, seemingly magical solution to a difficult problem - the one fix that will kill it outright. Nearly always used in the negative or…
Simmer down To become calm after anger, excitement, or agitation; to settle from a boil of emotion into composure. Very often an imperative telling someone to…
Sine qua non Something absolutely indispensable; a condition without which a desired outcome is impossible, as when trust is called the bedrock of any partnership…
Sing for your supper To work, perform, or provide a service in order to earn something you want, especially a meal, hospitality, or a favour, rather than receiving it for…
Sing like a bird To spill or sing out free, all voice.
Sing like a canary To spill secrets or confess freely, chirping out everything.
Sink or swim To be left to succeed by one's own efforts or to fail with no help, rescue, or training on offer. It describes harsh make-or-break situations and…
Sit on the fence To avoid committing to either side of a dispute, contest, or decision; to remain neutral or undecided. Usually mildly critical, implying…
Sitting duck A person or thing that is an easy, helpless target for attack, criticism, or exploitation, having little or no means of defense or escape. It is…
Situationship A romantic or sexual relationship that is deliberately left undefined, with the partners unclear about the exact nature or extent of their commitment…
Six feet under Dead and buried - the standard grave-depth turned into a euphemism. The phrase manages to be blunt and indirect at once: it states the burial quite…
Six of one and half a dozen of the other Used to say that two options, explanations or parties are essentially the same, so that choosing between them, or dividing praise or blame between…
Skating on thin ice To be doing something risky that could collapse into trouble at any moment; to act in a way that courts danger, confrontation, or failure. It is often…
Skeleton in the closet A hidden secret or shameful past kept out of sight, lurking like a grim relic that could ruin a reputation if revealed.
Skeptic A person who doubts what others accept - beliefs, claims, announcements, cure-alls. The word spans the mild (show me) to the organized (the skeptic…
Skin and bones Extremely thin, so that the frame shows through the flesh; used of people or animals who are gaunt, undernourished, or emaciated. Often intensified as…
Skosh A tiny amount; a bit or smidgen, almost always used in the phrase 'a skosh' and often adverbially, as in 'move over a skosh' or 'a skosh too salty'…
Slacktivism Support for a political or social cause expressed through minimal-effort actions such as liking posts, changing a profile picture, or signing online…
Sling your hook An informal and often brusque British command telling someone to leave, go away, or remove themselves from a place or situation. Informal and…
Slip through your fingers To fail to catch, keep, or make use of someone or something, usually through inaction, hesitation, or inattention rather than deliberate choice. It is…
Slippery as an eel Impossible to pin down or hold to account: describing someone evasive, devious or adept at wriggling out of commitments, questions or blame. It…
Slogan A short, striking phrase used to promote a cause, product, team, or idea; more historically, a rallying cry or watchword of a clan or faction. The…
Slow and steady wins the race Success comes from consistent, unhurried effort rather than from bursts of speed or unreliable brilliance; a plodding but persistent approach is the…
Slush fund A reserve of money kept outside normal accounting, typically used flexibly, secretly, or for improper purposes such as bribery or hiding expenses. It…
Sly as a fox Cunning or sharp, sneaky smart.
Small potatoes Trivial, insignificant or hardly worth consideration, especially of sums of money, achievements or problems ('that is small potatoes next to the…
Smart aleck Someone irritatingly smug about being clever or knowledgeable. Current informal and mildly insulting Regional use: United States, with early Western…
Smart cookie A clever, shrewd or quick-witted person, especially one with practical sense rather than book learning ('She is a smart cookie - she will spot that…
Smell a rat To begin to suspect that something is wrong or dishonest; to sense trickery or foul play from small clues before having any proof. The suspicion is…
Smithereens Small broken fragments; tiny pieces of something shattered or blown apart. It survives almost only in the phrases 'blown to smithereens', 'smashed to…
Smitten Struck suddenly and helplessly by love or by enthusiasm - and the word freely admits that the blow was landed before any defence was possible. One is…
Smoke and mirrors Deceptive presentation - obscuring an unwelcome truth or dressing up an empty scheme with showmanship, misleading figures, or irrelevant display…
Snake oil A fraudulent or worthless remedy, and by extension any product, scheme or claim sold with false promises; a snake-oil salesman is someone who…
Snowball effect A process in which something small grows steadily larger and more consequential under its own momentum, each increase making the next easier. Usually…
Snowed under Overwhelmed by too much work, correspondence, orders or other demands; swamped. Almost always used predicatively about people, and it stresses sheer…
Snuff it A colloquial, chiefly British euphemism meaning to die. The it is a placeholder, as in kick the bucket or pop one's clogs, and the tone is wry or…
Socratic Taught, examined, or demolished by patient questioning - the method that proves you do not know what you thought you knew. A Socratic question is one…
Soft day, thank God A mild, damp or lightly rainy day, acknowledged with gratitude or dry humour. Regional and often wry rather than devout. It can sound stereotyped when…
Soft launch In dating and social media slang, to hint at a new relationship online without officially confirming it, for example posting a photo of a partner's…
Son of a gun A friendly, usually affectionate label for a mischievous or roguish person, or an exclamation of surprise, admiration or mock reproach. In American…
Sour grapes Pretended disdain for something you wanted but could not get; dismissing a goal as worthless only after failing to reach it. It is almost always an…
Sow wild oats To spend a period of one's youth on frivolous, immoderate, or dissolute pursuits, with the implication that this is a phase to be got through before…
Sowing dragon's teeth To take an action whose fruit is armed men - to plant, often with the best intentions, the seeds of future war or conflict. The classic use is…
Spare the rod and spoil the child The traditional claim that a child will be badly formed without firm correction or discipline. Historically associated with corporal punishment and…
Spartan Austere, disciplined, and uncomplaining - by choice or necessity. Applied to conditions (a spartan bedsit) or to people (a spartan traveller), the…
Spend a penny Use the toilet, especially to urinate. Historically associated particularly with women's pay cubicles because men's urinals were often free. Regional…
Spick and span Exceptionally neat, clean and fresh-looking, with everything in an orderly and polished condition. Usually complimentary and somewhat informal. It now…
Spiel A long, fluent, often rehearsed speech meant to persuade or sell: a pitch or patter delivered with more glibness than substance. Informal and mildly…
Spill the beans Reveal secret or previously hidden information, often indiscreetly or sooner than intended.
Spill the tea To share gossip, secrets or the real story behind a situation; 'the tea' means the juicy information itself. Often used as an imperative inviting…
Spin a yarn To tell a long story, usually an entertaining, exaggerated or far-fetched one - often one the teller has embellished along the way. Typically takes an…
Spin doctor A political press officer or media adviser whose job is to shape how journalists interpret events, putting the most favourable twist on bad news for…
Spit and image A person who looks strikingly like another person, especially a close relative. Informal and normally used of physical resemblance. Spit and image can…
Splice the mainbrace Issue or take a celebratory alcoholic drink, especially under naval authority. Naval and celebratory. Historically it authorized a ration rather than…
Split hairs To make unnecessarily fine or petty distinctions in an argument or discussion, quibbling over details so small that settling them changes nothing…
Sportswashing The use of hosting, sponsoring, or promoting sport to burnish a tarnished reputation or deflect attention from human-rights abuses and other…
Square peg in a round hole Someone - or something - badly suited to their position, a misfit forced into a role that their shape will never match. The image carries the…
Square the circle To try an impossible task, seeking what can't be.
Stag and doe A ticketed party held to raise money for an engaged couple's wedding. Current regional social-custom term Regional use: Canada, predominantly Ontario…
Stage fright Acute nervousness before or during a performance, speech or any task carried out in front of others; performance anxiety in everyday dress. Used well…
Stan An extremely devoted fan of a celebrity, franchise, or fictional character; also a verb meaning to admire or support with that intensity. Originally…
Star-crossed lovers Two people in love whom fate, circumstance or opposing forces seem determined to thwart, typically with a doomed or tragic outcome. Literary-romantic…
Status quo The existing state of affairs: how things currently stand, especially in politics, institutions, or relationships. It nearly always appears with 'the'…
Steady as she goes An instruction or commitment to continue exactly as at present, keeping the current course, pace, or policy without sudden change. Often said to…
Steady the ship To restore calm, order, or confidence to a shaky organisation, team, or situation; to stabilise matters after a crisis or period of turmoil. It casts…
Steal someone's thunder To take credit for someone else's idea or success, or to overshadow their moment by preempting it with your own, often with a sense of unfairness or…
Steal the scene To attract more attention or praise than anyone or anything else at an event, especially unexpectedly or from a minor role; used of performers…
Steelman The strongest, most charitable version of an opponent's argument, reconstructed before responding to it. To 'steel man' a position is to actively…
Stem the tide To halt or slow the advance of something harmful that keeps growing and spreading, such as violence, debt, rumours or job losses. The thing being…
Stentorian Loud, powerful, booming - said of voices built for crowds and emergencies. By extension it describes anything addressed to a whole room at once: the…
Step into someone's shoes To take over another person's role, duties, or position, especially by directly succeeding them; also used more broadly for putting yourself in…
Step up to the plate To take your turn at responsibility - to come forward and do the job that needs doing, especially when others have hung back. The phrase carries the…
Stew in your own juice To be left to suffer the unpleasant consequences of your own actions without help, comfort, or intervention from anyone else; usually said of someone…
Stick to your guns To hold firmly to a position, opinion or course of action despite pressure, criticism or creeping doubt; to refuse to be talked out of what you…
Stick your neck out To take a bold risk or chance, exposed.
Stiff upper lip Deliberate emotional restraint in the face of distress or adversity: to keep a stiff upper lip is to stay calm, resolute, and undemonstrative rather…
Still waters run deep A quiet or reserved person may have substantial intelligence, feeling, or complexity beneath the surface. Now usually approving, though older examples…
Stir up a hornets' nest To provoke an outburst of anger, criticism or trouble, usually by raising a controversial subject or disturbing a settled state of affairs. A hornet's…
Stoic A person who endures pain, loss, or tedium without complaint - unflinching, ungroaning, dry-eyed. As an adjective it describes both the person and the…
Stool pigeon An informer, especially one working for the police against other offenders. Dated but understood in crime contexts Regional use: United States, later…
Straight from the horse's mouth Directly from the original, authoritative, or best-informed source.
Straight man In comedy, the performer who stays serious and unflappable, asking questions and feeding lines so that a partner can get the laughs; by extension…
Straight-A student A student, chiefly in the US grading system, who receives the letter grade A - the highest mark - in every subject, or does so consistently…
Strange bedfellows An unlikely, surprising or uneasy pairing of people, groups or ideas, often created by necessity or shared interest. Often used in political…
Strapped for cash Short of money; unable to afford what you need or want at the moment. Informal, and usually about a temporary squeeze rather than lasting poverty…
Straw man A misrepresentation of an opponent's argument, invented so it can be easily attacked and defeated. Instead of engaging with what was actually said…
Strike it rich To become rich suddenly, usually through luck, a windfall, or a lucky find rather than steady saving. Informal; applied to prospectors, investors…
Strike out In baseball, for a batter to be retired after three strikes, as Wiktionary defines the sport sense; by extension, to fail at something, to come away…
Strike while the iron is hot To act decisively at the moment conditions are most favourable instead of hesitating and letting the opportunity cool. Almost always advice or…
Suffer fools gladly Tolerate foolish, incompetent, or irritating people patiently, without showing open annoyance. Most often appears in the negative to describe an…
Sunsetting The deliberate, announced phasing-out of a product, service, or feature, typically with a published timeline running through end of sale, end of…
Swan song A final performance, appearance or piece of work, produced at or just before retirement or the end of a career; occasionally of something completed…
Sweep someone off their feet To charm or overwhelm someone so completely that they fall suddenly and deeply in love; by extension, to carry anyone away with sudden enthusiasm or…
Sweet as Excellent, acceptable, agreed or all right. Informal. Sweet-as with a hyphen may be used before a noun, while the unhyphenated phrase commonly stands…
Sweet tooth A strong liking or weakness for sugary foods and drinks. Someone with a sweet tooth craves sweets, chocolate, and desserts, and the phrase can also…
Sweetheart deal An arrangement, usually struck in secret, that gives unusually favourable terms to one side at the expense of others who ought to have been protected…
Swing the lead Avoid work or duty by pretending to be ill, incapable or busier than one is. Disapproving. It alleges deliberate shirking, so it can be unfair or…
Swings and roundabouts A situation in which gains and losses even out, an advantage in one respect being offset by a disadvantage in another, so that overall nothing much is…