idiom

strike while the iron is hot

take advantage of an unusual opportunity (die Gunst der Stunde nutzen)

Mitt Romney won Florida's winner-take-all primary. Newt Gingrich lost. How? Simple. It came down to two things: big promises and bad rapping. Our special report on Election 2012 gives you the full story in words and videos.

Idioms with "mouth"

Let's look at idioms that contain the word "mouth". There are quite a lot of these in English, and you can use them in lots of everyday situations.

put two and two together

use known facts to determine what is happening (sich etw. zusammenreimen)

kick butt

(US) succeed or win overwhelmingly (klar siegen)

Spotlight plus 2/2012

This month in our exercise booklet, Spotlight plus: "much" and "many", future-time phrases, cars and driving, writing formal reports, and more. Practice makes perfect! Practise with plus!

put sth. on the back burner

give sth. low priority (etw. auf die lange Bank schieben)

It's not over till the fat lady sings.

There is more to come. (Es ist noch nicht aller Tage Abend.)

get one's act together

organize one's behaviour so as to be more responsible or efficient (sich am Riemen reißen)

A street cleaner sweeps an area in front of shops in Minsk, Belarus. Photo: Jan Stuermann

A clean sweep

A street cleaner sweeps an area in front of shops in Minsk, Belarus. Our title, "A clean sweep", is a play on words. This woman is certainly making sure that the pavement is clean by sweeping it. But "a clean sweep" is also a useful idiom. Find out what it means.

Login

Spotlight jetzt testen!
Die aktuelle Zeitschrift kommt kostenlos zu Ihnen nach Hause.

Free newsletter

CASIO EX-Word EW-G6100C

Die neuen elektronischen Wörterbücher der EX-Word-Serie überzeugen durch logisch strukturierte Inhalte bewährter Partner wie PONS, Oxford und Duden.