Heart Idioms (cont.)

(English Idioms & Sayings)

heart goes out to (someone)

- to feel great sympathy for someone
My heart goes out to the victims of the recent hurricane.

heart is dead set against (something)

- to be totally against something
My mother's heart is dead set against my plan to go to art school.

heart is in one's mouth

- to feel very nervous or frightened or have strong emotions about something
My heart was in my mouth when I saw the little boy standing on the ladder.

heart is in the right place

- to be kindhearted/sympathetic, to have good intentions (even if the results may be bad)
Although the girl makes a lot of mistakes her heart is in the right place.

heart is not in (something)

- to not really want to do what you are doing
The boy's heart was not in the swimming club so he quit the team.

heart is set against (something)

- to be totally against something
Our principal is set against expanding the music program in our school.

heart is set on (something)

- to want something very much
The little boy's heart is set on getting a dog for his birthday.

heart misses/skips a beat

- to be startled or excited from surprise/joy/fright
My heart skipped a beat when I heard my name on television.

heart stands still

- to be very frightened or worried about something
My heart stood still when the truck on the highway almost hit our car.

heart to heart

- candid, intimate
Our conversation was heart to heart and we both felt very good afterwords.

heartbeat away from (something)

- to be the next person to take over someone's position if they die
The young prince is a heartbeat away from becoming the next king of his country.

heavy heart

- a feeling of being weighed down with sorrow, a sad feeling
We left the meeting with a heavy heart when we heard that our boss would soon leave the company because of illness.

in one's heart of hearts

- to know something is true although you may not want to admit it or believe it
In my heart of hearts I knew that I would soon have to change jobs although I did not want to.

know (something) by heart

- to know something perfectly, to have memorized something
The little boy knows many stories by heart.

learn (something) by heart

- to memorize something
The children were forced to learn the poem by heart.

lose heart

- to feel discouraged because of failure, to lose the hope of success
I tried not to lose heart even though I had failed my driver`s exam for the second time.

not have the heart to do (something)

- to be unwilling to say or do something that may hurt or upset others
I did not have the heart to tell the woman that soon she may lose her job.

open one`s heart to (someone)

- to talk about one`s feelings honestly, to confide in someone
The woman suddenly opened her heart to me when I began talking to her on the bus.
pour one's heart out (to someone)

- to tell all of one's hopes/fears/feelings to someone
My friend poured her heart out to me when we went to the coffee shop last evening.

search one`s heart/soul

- to study one`s reasons and acts, to try to discover if one has been fair and honest about something
I searched my soul to try and discover why my girlfriend had left me.

set one's heart against (something)

- to turn against something, to become totally against something
From the beginning my friend set his heart against my proposal for having a birthday party for our teacher.

set one's heart on (something)

- to select something as one's goal
The young runner set his heart on winning the marathon.

sick at heart

- very sad or upset about something
The woman was sick at heart over the illness of her cat.

strike at the heart of (something)

- to do something that damages or destroys the basic idea or way of doing something that is very important to someone or to a group
The decision to change the zoning laws struck at the heart of the citizen's ideas of how they wanted to live.

Posted by Learning English through Idioms and Sayings/ Proverbs