F

Face like thunder
If someone has a face like thunder, they are clearly very angry or upset about something.
Face the music
If you have to face the music, you have to accept the negative consequences of something you have done wrong.
Face value
If you take something at face value, you accept the appearance rather than looking deeper into the matter.
Facts of life
When someone is taught the facts of life, they learn about sex and reproduction.
Fair and square
If someone wins something fair and square, they follow the rules and win conclusively.
Fair crack of the whip
If everybody has a fair crack of the whip, they all have equal opportunities to do something.
Fair shake of the whip
If everybody has a fair shake of the whip, they all have equal opportunities to do something.
Fairweather friend
A fairweather friend is the type who is always there when times are good but forgets about you when things get difficult or problems crop up.
Fall off the back of a lorry
If someone tries to sell you something that has fallen of the back of a lorry, they are trying to sell you stolen goods.
Fall off the turnip truck
If someone has just fallen off the turnip truck, they are uninformed, naive and gullible. (Often used in the negative)
Fall on your sword
If someone falls on their sword, they resign or accept the consequences of some wrongdoing.
Familiarity breeds contempt
This means that the more you know something or someone, the more you start to find faults and dislike things about it or them.
Fast and furious
Things that happen fast and furious happen very quickly without stopping or pausing.
Fat chance!
This idiom is a way of telling someone they have no chance.
Fat head
A fat head is a dull, stupid person.
Fat hits the fire
When the fat hits the fire, trouble breaks out.
Fat of the land
Living off the fat of the land means having the best of everything in life.
Fate worse than death
Describing something as a fate worse than death is a fairly common way of implying that it is unpleasant.
Feather in your cap
A success or achievement that may help you in the future is a feather in your cap.
Fed up to the back teeth
When you are extremely irritated and fed up with something or someone, you are fed up to the back teeth.
Feel at home
If you feel relaxed and comfortable somewhere or with someone, you feel at home.
Feel free
If you ask for permission to do something and are told to feel free, the other person means that there is absolutely no problem.
Feel the pinch
If someone is short of money or feeling restricted in some other way, they are feeling the pinch.
Feeling blue
If you feel blue, you are feeling unwell, mainly associated with depression or unhappiness.
Feet on the ground
A practical and realistic person has their feet on the ground.
Fiddle while Rome burns
If people are fiddling while Rome burns, they are wasting their time on futile things while problems threaten to destroy them.
Fifth columnist
A fifth columnist is a member of a subversive organisation who tries to help an enemy invade.
Fifth wheel
A fifth wheel is something unnecessary or useless.
Fighting chance
If you have a fighting chance, you have a reasonable possibility of success.
Fine tuning
Small adjustments to improve something or to get it working are called fine tuning.
Fine words butter no parsnips
This idiom means that it’s easy to talk, but talk is not action.
Finger in the pie
If you have a finger in the pie, you have an interest in something.
Fingers and thumbs
If you are all fingers and thumbs, you are being clumsy and not very skilled with your hands.
Fire away
If you want to ask someone a question and they tell you to fire away, they mean that you are free to ask what you want.
Fire on all cylinders
If something is firing on all cylinders, it is going as well as it could.
First come, first served
This means there will be no preferential treatment and a service will be provided to those that arrive first.
First out of the gate
When someone is first out of the gate, they are the first to do something that others are trying to do.
First port of call
The first place you stop to do something is your first port of call.
Fish out of water
If you are placed in a situation that is completely new to you and confuses you, you are like a fish out of water.
Fishy
If there is something fishy about someone or something, there is something suspicious; a feeling that there is something wrong, though it isn’t clear what it is.
Fit as a fiddle
If you are fit as a fiddle, you are in perfect health.
Fit for a king
If something is fit for a king, it is of the very highest quality or standard.
Fit of pique
If someone reacts badly because his pride is hurt, this is a fit of pique.
Fit the bill
If something fits the bill, it is what is required for the task.
Flash in the pan
If something is a flash in the pan, it is very noticeable but doesn’t last long, like most singers, who are very successful for a while, then forgotten.
Flat out
If you work flat out, you work as hard and fast as you possibly can.
Fleet of foot
If someone is fleet of foot, they are very quick.
Flesh and blood
Your flesh and blood are your blood relatives, especially your immediate family.
Flogging a dead horse
If someone is trying to convince people to do or feel something without any hope of succeeding, they’re flogging a dead horse. This is used when someone is trying to raise interest in an issue that no-one supports anymore; beating a dead horse will not make it do any more work.
Flowery speech
Flowery speech is full of lovely words, but may well lack substance.
Fly off the handle
If someone flies off the handle, they get very angry.
Fly on the wall
If you are able to see and hear events as they happen, you are a fly on the wall.
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread
This idiom is used where people who are inexperienced or lack knowledge do something that more informed people would avoid.
Football’s a game of two halves
If something’s a game of two halves, it means that it’s possible for someone’s fortunes or luck to change and the person who’s winning could end up a loser.
For a song
If you buy or sell something for a song, it is very cheap.
For donkey’s years
If people have done something, usually without much if any change, for an awfully long time, they can be said to have done it for donkey’s years.
For kicks
If you do something for kicks, or just for kicks, you do it purely for fun or thrills.
For my money
This idiom means ‘in my opinion’.
For the time being
For the time being indicates that an action or state will continue into the future, but is temporary. I’m sharing the accommodation for the time being.
Forbidden fruit
Something enjoyable that is illegal or immoral is forbidden fruit.
Foregone conclusion
If the result of, say, a cricket match is a foregone conclusion, then the result is obvious before the game has even begun.
Forest for the trees
If someone can’t see the forest for the trees, they get so caught up in small details that they fail to understand the bigger picture.
Foul play
If the police suspect foul play, they think a crime was committed.
Fourth estate
This is an idiomatic way of describing the media, especially the newspapers.
Freudian Slip
If someone makes a Freudian slip, they accidentally use the wrong word, but in doing so reveal what they are really thinking rather than what they think the other person wants to hear.
From Missouri
If someone is from Missouri, then they require clear proof before they will believe something.
From pillar to post
If something is going from pillar to post, it is moving around in a meaningless way, from one disaster to another.
From rags to riches
Someone who starts life very poor and makes a fortune goes from rags to riches.
From scratch
This idiom means ‘from the beginning’.
From soup to nuts
If you do something from soup to nuts, you do it from the beginning right to the very end.
From the horse’s mouth
If you hear something from the horse’s mouth, you hear it directly from the person concerned or responsible.
From the sublime to the ridiculous
If something declines considerably in quality or importance, it is said to have gone from the sublime to the ridiculous.
From the word go
From the word go means from the very beginning of something.
Full Monty
If something is the Full Monty, it is the real thing, not reduced in any way.
Full of the joys of spring
If you are full of the joys of spring, you are very happy and full of energy.
Full swing
If a something is in full swing, it is going or doing well.
Fullness of time
If something happens in the fullness of time, it will happen when the time is right and appropriate.