When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Anidiomis aphraseor expression that largely or exclusively carries afigurative or non-literalmeaning, rather than making any literal sense. Categorized asformulaic language, an idiomatic expression\'s meaning is different from theliteralmeanings of each word inside it.[1]
Idioms occur frequently in all languages. InEnglishalone there are an estimated twenty-five thousand idiomatic expressions.[2]Some well known idioms in English are \"spill the beans\" (meaning \"reveal secret information\"), \"it\'s raining cats and dogs\" (meaning \"it\'s raining intensely\"), and \"break a leg\" (meaning \"good luck\").
Derivations
Many idiomatic expressions were meant literally in their original use, but occasionally the attribution of the literal meaning changed and the phrase itself grew away from its original roots—typically leading to afolk etymology. For instance, the phrase \"spill the beans\" (meaning to reveal a secret) is first attested in 1919, but has been said to originate from an ancient method of voting by depositing beans in jars, which could be spilled, prematurely revealing the results.[3]
Other idioms are deliberately figurative. For example,break a legis an expression commonly said to wish a person good luck just prior to their giving a performance or presentation, which apparently wishes injury on them.
