The phrase forms peculiar to a particular author; as, written in his own idiom.
a phrase or expression producing meaning beyond the sum of the words.
an expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up, i.e. cannot be translated literally.
A phrase, statement, or expression the meaning of which is not obvious from a literal interpretation. Examples include "with a grain of salt," and "born with a silver spoon in one's mouth."
4,5,8,9,10 A combination of words that is not strictly in accordance with grammatical rules and often possesses a meaning other than its grammatical or logical one (e.g., an easy test might be described as a piece of cake).
An expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual grammatical rules of a language or from the usual meanings of its constituent elements, such as kick the bucket meaning "to die".
a relatively frozen phrase corresponding to a logical predicate or proposition, ¶8-1-2. Many i. are not syntactically analyzable and not active in grammatical paraphrase. Some i. allow a limited flexibility in lexical selection and certain grammatical alterations.
an expression that does not mean what it literally says; e.g., all thumbs; eat like a bird
A fixed expression (within a language) whose meaning cannot be deduced from its elements: put up a fight; to mean well.
The language of a particular nation or region; or a mode of expression peculiar to a nation or region. An expression characteristic of a particular language which is not logically or grammatically explicable.
a sequence of words which functions semantically as a unit and with an unpredictable meaning (e.g. kick the bucket, meaning die). This is generally accompanied by a degree of syntactic restriction.
a customary phrase or usage that does not make literal sense or follow strict rules.
a collection of words, which together means something different than its component parts
a colloquialism, a peculiar manner of speaking, or an expression with a meaning that cannot be understood from the words alone
a combination of two (or more) words whose combined meaning is not as predicted by the general rules - e
a combination of words that has a meaning which cannot be understood by simply knowing the meaning of each individual word
a common, everyday phrase or expression or saying whose meaning cannot be understood by the individual words or elements
a construction limited to only one or two lexical instantiations
a conventionalized expression whose meaning cannot be determined from the meaning of its parts
a conventional phrase whose meaning is not derived straightforwardly from the meaning of the words and constructions of which it is composed
a familiar phrase that means something other than what it says
a figure of emphasis, and is the use of a word or words that is peculiar to itself in that it has a meaning that cannot be derived from the literal meaning of the word or words
a figure of speech that expresses an idea in a way that is unique to the language in question
a fixed group of words with a special different meaning from the meanings of the separate words
a fixed phrase which is only meaningful as a whole
a group of words in a certain order that together have a
a group of words or a phrase
a group of words that has a different meaning than the meaning which the individual words suggest
a group of words which, as a whole, has a different meaning from the meaning of the individual words it contains
a group of words which have a different meaning when used together from the one they would have if you took the meaning of each word individually
a group of words which, when used together, has a different meaning from the one which the individual words have
a group of words whose meaning can not be derived from the application of the rules of grammar and the meaning of its individual components
a group of words whose meaning is different from the individual meanings of the words in the group
a multiword construction that www
a multiword expression that cannot be properly understood if not recognized as a complex lexical unit
an accepted phrase having a meaning other than the literal
an expression consisting of two or more words having a meaning that cannot be deduced from the meanings of its constituent parts
an expression having a meaning that cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its component words
an expression in a language which cannot be understood even though you know the meaning of each individual word in the language
an expression, often slang, often very colorful, that has a non-literal meaning
an expression or saying that becomes part of popular culture
an expression that cannot be understood simply from the meanings of the individual words of which it is composed
an expression that does not mean exactly what it sounds like
an expression that has a meaning apart from the meanings of its individual words
an expression used that seems strange or foreign to certain people because the expression itself is unique to another group of people
an expression which cannot be understood by analyzing the individual words or elements that make it up, and which are peculiar to a particular culture
an expression which is not meant literally and whose meaning cannot be deduced from knowledge of the individual words
an expression whose meaning can't be derived simply by hearing it, such as 'Kick the bucket
an expression whose meaning is not compositional-that is, whose meaning does not follow from the meaning of the individual words of which it is compose
an expression whose overall figurative meaning cannot be derived from the meaning of its individual parts
an expression whose words do not mean what they say
an expression who's meaning can not be understood from the meaning of the individual words
an expression with its own grammatical structure
a number of words which when taken together have a different meaning from the meaning of each individual word
a phrase or expression that has a different meaning from the meaning of its separate words
a phrase or expression whose meaning cannot be understood from the ordinary meanings of the words
a phrase or turn of speech that has taken on a special cultural meaning beyond the meanings of just the words that make up the phrase
a phrase that has a definition other than its literal meaning
a phrase that has a meaning different from the meanings of its parts
a phrase that says one thing but actually means something quite different
a phrase, the meaning of which is not clear from the ordinary meanings of the words, and thus a literal translation is unhelpful
a phrase understood by many people in a specific culture or subculture, and that phrase has a different meaning from the meaning it appears to have
a phrase where the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words, which can make them hard for ESL students and learners to understand
a phrase which has a different meaning from the meaning of its separate parts
a phrase whose meaning comes from standard usage rather than from its individual words
a phrase whose meaning is different from the meanings of each of its words considered separately
a phrase with a special meaning
a saying or phrase which, through common usage, has acquired a meaning different from its literal meaning
a sort of template or generic method of expressing an idea
a special kind of phrase, whose meaning is not easily understandable, even if you understand all the words in the phrase
a speech form, or an expression of a given language, that is peculiar to itself grammatically, or cannot be understood from the meanings of its individual elements
a syntactic unit which manifests lexical integrity
a word or phrase that in common usage has a different meaning to the literal meaning of the words
a word or phrase that is peculiar to certain speakers of a language or that has meaning to certain native speakers beyond the actual words themselves
a word or phrase that says one thing but means another
A phrase or expression that means something different from what the words actually say. An idiom is usually understandable to a particular group of people (e.g. using over his head for doesn't understand).
A special combination of words particular to a given language, but not amenable to transliteration. Some words change meaning when combined.
A set phrase (eg a trancas y barrancas). The syntax and semantics of idioms is often idiosyncratic, and idioms are hence most appropriately viewed as linguistic units in their own right.
an expression with a meaning other than the literal meaning of the word
An expression whose meaning cannot be derived from its constituent elements. An example might be "to kick the bucket", meaning "to die."
An idiom is a word or phrase whose meaning cannot be understood by the meaning of its constituents. Example:“Butterfly†is neither a type of “butter†nor a kind of “flyâ€â€œWhat is up?†is a common greeting
A phrase, construction, or expression that is understood in a given language. This expression has a meaning that differs from typical syntactic patterns or that differs from the literal meaning of its parts taken together. Some examples of idiomatic expressions would include, "to kick the bucket" means "to die," or "to throw in the towel" means "to give up" or "to stop"
An expression used by native speakers of a language that should never be literally translated. For example: It was raining cats and dogs. (means it was raining a lot!)
a sequence of words which forms a whole unit of meaning
A word construction or verbal expression closely associated with a given language. For example, in colloquial English the construction "how come" can be used instead of "why" to introduce a question. Similarly, "a piece of cake" is sometimes used to describe a task that is easily done.
A phrase which is unique to a certain language which makes no sense when translated literally but will be understood by native speakers. For example, "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" or "it's raining cats and dogs."
a saying whose meaning is based on an abstract concept that goes beyond the literal interpretation of the words (e.g., "You're walking on thin ice!")
A phrase whose meaning cannot be understood from the literal meaning of the words in it
An expression of a given language that cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its words, as in 'keep tabs on'.
A group of words that are used together, in which the meaning of the whole word group is different from the meaning of each individual word, e.g. She felt under the weather means that she felt ill.
1. An expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements, as kick the bucket, hang one's head, etc., or from the general grammatical tules of a language, as the table round for the round table, and which is not a constituent of a larger expression of like characteristics. 2. A language, dialect, or style of speaking peculiar to a people. 3. A construction or expression of one language whose parts correspond to elements in another language but whose total structure or meaning is not matched in the same way in the second language. 4. The peculiar character or genius of a language.
refers to a grammatical construction unique to a certain people, region, or class that cannot be translated literally into another language. (e.g., "To be on thin ice", "To pull someone's leg") Illustration
is a group of words that, taken as a whole, has a meaning different from that of the sum of the individual words: You’re driving me up the wall
common wording that may have a different sense than normal.
a phrase or expression that is (usually) not taken literally. For example, "Don't let the cat out of the bag" means to not tell something one knows, to keep silent.
this term is used to refer to a group of words that has a special (or non-literal) meaning, e.g. 'to pull your weight' = to do your fair share of the work like everyone else
an expression that does not mean what it literally says, as to have the upper hand has nothing to do with hands. Note: Idioms are peculiar to a given language and usually cannot be translated literally. For this reason, languages especially rich in idioms, as English, French, German, and Russian, are difficult to translate. adj. idiomatic.
A phrase which has a meaning apparently unconnected with the individual words that make it up. E.g. to come a cropper
A use of words peculiar to a particular language.
Idiom is an expression (i.e. term or phrase) whose meaning cannot be deduced from the literal definitions and the arrangement of its parts, but refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only through conventional use. In linguistics, idioms are widely assumed to be figures of speech that contradict the principle of compositionality, however some debate has recently arisen on this subject.