B Idioms (back Idioms)

(English Idioms & Sayings)
bad blood (between people)

- unpleasant feelings between people
There was much bad blood between the three brothers.

bad-mouth (someone or something)

- to say bad things about someone or something
The supervisor has the habit of bad-mouthing her boss.

bag of tricks

- a collection of special techniques or methods
The teacher has a bag of tricks to keep her students occupied.

bail out (of something)

- to abandon a situation, to jump out of an airplane
The plan to buy a summer home with our friends was becoming too expensive so we decided to bail out.

bail (someone) out

- to pay a sum of money that allows someone to get out of jail while waiting for a trial
The singer had to pay much money to bail himself out of prison.

bail (someone or something) out

- to help or rescue someone or something
The government decided to bail out the troubled bank.

balance the books

- to check that all the money in a business is accounted for
The accountant spent several days trying to balance the books of his company.

ball of fire

- an active and energetic person
The woman is a ball of fire and is always busy doing something.

bang/beat one's head against the wall

- to try to do something that is hopeless
I am banging my head against the wall when I try to ask my boss for something.

bank on (someone or something)

- to be sure of someone or something, to count on someone or something
You can bank on my sister to help you.

baptism of fire

- a first experience of something (often difficult or unpleasant)
We went through a baptism of fire when we had to learn how to operate the small business.

bargain for (something)

- to anticipate something, to take something into account
The difficulty of the job was more than I had bargained for.

bargain on (something)

- to plan or expect something
We did not bargain on having heavy rain during our summer birthday party.

barge in on (someone or something)

- to interrupt someone or something, to intrude on someone or something
My sister often barges in on me when I am with my friends.

bark is worse than one`s bite

- someone is not as bad as they sound
"Don`t worry if the boss gets angry - his bark is worse than his bite."

bark up the wrong tree

- to make a wrong assumption about something
The police are barking up the wrong tree in their investigation of the criminal.

base one's opinion on (something)

- to form an opinion from something
I based my opinion on the man's previous work and decided not to give him a job.

batten down the hatches

- to prepare for difficult times, to close the hatches in a boat before a storm
A big storm was coming so we decided to batten down the hatches and stay home.

bawl out (someone)

- to scold someone loudly
The woman bawled out her child in the supermarket.

Posted by Learning English through Idioms and Sayings