Body Part Idioms

English has many idioms that use body parts. These expressions don’t mean what they literally say!

Eye Idioms

Keep an eye on

Meaning: To watch carefully, to monitor

• Please keep an eye on the children while I’m gone.
• Can you keep an eye on my bag for a minute?
• The manager keeps an eye on the sales figures.

See eye to eye

Meaning: To agree completely

• We don’t always see eye to eye on politics.
• My boss and I finally see eye to eye on the project.
• Parents don’t always see eye to eye with their teenagers.

Turn a blind eye

Meaning: To ignore something intentionally

• The teacher turned a blind eye to the minor rule break.
• You can’t turn a blind eye to bullying.
• Management often turns a blind eye to small expenses.

Ear Idioms

Play it by ear

Meaning: To decide as you go, without a fixed plan

• We don’t have a schedule - we’ll play it by ear.
• Let’s play it by ear and see what happens.
• I didn’t prepare a speech; I’ll just play it by ear.

Be all ears

Meaning: To listen eagerly, with full attention

• Tell me what happened - I’m all ears!
• The children were all ears during the story.
• When she mentioned the surprise, he was all ears.

Go in one ear and out the other

Meaning: To be heard but immediately forgotten

• My advice goes in one ear and out the other with him.
• The lecture just went in one ear and out the other.
• Her warnings go in one ear and out the other.

Nose Idioms

Stick your nose into something

Meaning: To interfere in others’ business

• Stop sticking your nose into my affairs!
• She always sticks her nose into everyone’s business.
• Don’t stick your nose into things that don’t concern you.

Pay through the nose

Meaning: To pay an extremely high price

• We paid through the nose for concert tickets.
• They pay through the nose for their city apartment.
• You’ll pay through the nose if you book last minute.

Under someone’s nose

Meaning: Right in front of someone (often without them noticing)

• The keys were under my nose the whole time!
• The thief took it right under the guard’s nose.
• The answer was under our noses all along.

Mouth Idioms

Word of mouth

Meaning: Information passed through conversation

• The restaurant became famous by word of mouth.
• Word of mouth is the best advertising.
• I heard about this job through word of mouth.

Take the words right out of someone’s mouth

Meaning: To say exactly what someone was about to say

• That’s exactly what I was thinking! You took the words right out of my mouth!
• He took the words right out of my mouth when he suggested pizza.

Badmouth

Meaning: To speak negatively about someone

• Don’t badmouth your former employer in interviews.
• She’s always badmouthing her neighbors.
• He badmouthed his ex-wife to everyone.

Common Mistakes

Quiz