100 Shakespearean Idioms Still Used Today

No.	Item	Definition
1.	A blessing in disguise	A hidden good in bad.
2.	A foregone conclusion	An outcome already decided.
3.	All that glitters	Appearances can be misleading.
4.	All’s well that ends well	A good ending justifies trouble.
5.	As good luck would have it	By fortunate chance.
6.	As luck would have it	By chance, luckily or not.
7.	Bated breath	Anxious anticipation.
8.	Be-all and end-all	The most important thing.
9.	Brave new world	A strange, new situation.
10.	Break the ice	Ease tension in a new situation.
11.	Budge an inch	Change position or opinion slightly.
12.	By the skin of your teeth	Barely succeed.
13.	Call a spade a spade	Speak plainly and directly.
14.	Cast pearls before swine	Offer value to the ungrateful.
15.	Catch-22	A no-win situation.
16.	Cold comfort	Small consolation.
17.	Come what may	No matter what happens.
18.	Cruel to be kind	Harshness meant to help.
19.	Dead as a doornail	Completely dead.
20.	Devil incarnate	A very evil person.
21.	Don’t count your chickens	Don’t assume success too early.
22.	Down in the dumps	Feeling sad.
23.	Draw the line	Set a limit.
24.	Easy come, easy go	Gained easily, lost easily.
25.	Eat humble pie	Admit you were wrong.
26.	Eaten out of house and home	Consume all someone’s food.
27.	Elbow room	Enough space to move.
28.	Every dog has its day	Everyone gets a chance.
29.	Fancy-free	Without responsibilities or attachments.
30.	Flesh and blood	A real human being.
31.	For my mind’s eye	In my imagination.
32.	For the nonce	For the present purpose.
33.	Forever and a day	A very long time.
34.	Foul play	Dishonest or criminal action.
35.	Get cold feet	Lose courage at the last moment.
36.	Give someone the cold shoulder	Ignore someone deliberately.
37.	Give the devil his due	Acknowledge an enemy’s merits.
38.	Go to the dogs	Decline badly.
39.	Good riddance	Glad someone is gone.
40.	Green-eyed monster	Jealousy.
41.	Heart of gold	A very kind nature.
42.	High time	Long overdue.
43.	Hoist with his own petard	Harmed by one’s own plan.
44.	Household words	Widely known phrases or names.
45.	In a pickle	In a difficult situation.
46.	In hot water	In trouble.
47.	In my heart of hearts	Deep down, truly.
48.	In stitches	Laughing uncontrollably.
49.	In the blink of an eye	Very quickly.
50.	It’s Greek to me	I don’t understand it.
51.	Keep an eye on	Watch carefully.
52.	Kill with kindness	Overwhelm with niceness.
53.	Laughing stock	Someone widely mocked.
54.	Lead on	Continue; go ahead.
55.	Lie low	Avoid attention.
56.	Love is blind	Love ignores faults.
57.	Make a virtue of necessity	Turn need into a positive.
58.	Melted into thin air	Disappeared completely.
59.	Method in the madness	Sense behind strange behavior.
60.	Milk of human kindness	Natural compassion.
61.	More sinned against than sinning	Wronged more than guilty.
62.	Much ado about nothing	Fuss over something trivial.
63.	Mum’s the word	Keep it secret.
64.	Naked truth	The plain, unvarnished truth.
65.	Neither rhyme nor reason	No logic or sense.
66.	Not budge an inch	Refuse to change at all.
67.	Not sleep a wink	Not sleep at all.
68.	Odd man out	The one who doesn’t fit.
69.	Off with his head	Call for harsh punishment.
70.	Once more unto the breach	Try again with courage.
71.	One fell swoop	All at once.
72.	Out of the jaws of death	Saved from near death.
73.	Over my dead body	I will never allow it.
74.	Parting is such sweet sorrow	Goodbyes are painful yet pleasant.
75.	Pound of flesh	A harsh, exact demand.
76.	Primrose path	An easy road to trouble.
77.	Quick and dead	The living and the dead.
78.	Salad days	Youthful, inexperienced time.
79.	Seen better days	Once was in better condition.
80.	Send packing	Dismiss or drive away.
81.	Set my teeth on edge	Make me very irritated.
82.	Short shrift	Little time or attention.
83.	Sick at heart	Deeply saddened.
84.	Something is rotten	Something is very wrong.
85.	Star-crossed lovers	Lovers doomed by fate.
86.	Strange bedfellows	Unlikely partners.
87.	The game is afoot	The action has begun.
88.	The lady doth protest too much	Overdenial suggests guilt.
89.	The time is out of joint	Things are disordered.
90.	The world is my oyster	I can go anywhere, do anything.
91.	There’s the rub	That’s the main problem.
92.	Too much of a good thing	Excess can be harmful.
93.	Vanish into thin air	Disappear suddenly.
94.	Wear my heart on my sleeve	Show feelings openly.
95.	What’s done is done	The past can’t be changed.
96.	What’s in a name?	Names don’t change essence.
97.	Wild-goose chase	A pointless search.
98.	Witching hour	Late night, eerie time.
99.	With bated breath	In anxious suspense.
100.	Without rhyme or reason	Without logic.