Idiom is a linguistic term for a set phrase or expression with a figurative meaning. As a rule, itโs pretty difficult to guess the meaning of an idiom from the literal definitions of its individual words, which can make them a bit difficult to learn. If youโre an English language learner, youโve probably encountered this problem: even when you know all the words within an idiom, translating them literally gets you nowhere, as the resulting translation usually doesnโt make any sense.
Rather than approaching idioms as a problem to be solved, try to see them as a kind of language shortcuts: they typically carry a lot of meaning beyond the literal words. Learning them is important, as they are broadly and commonly used by native speakers: youโll often encounter them in both spoken and written language. Using them will make your speech sound more natural.
The topic of this post are weather idioms, i.e. idioms with meteorological terms as key words. As youโll see, they are all used metaphorically to describe human moods and experiences; some may be rather logical, others not so! Also, be aware that there are hundreds of weather idioms in the English language, so this is just a very small sample of the most common ones.
As usual on this blog, at the end of this post youโll find a link to a simple quiz where you can practice these same idioms a bit more. It might help you remember them more easily.
TO BE/FEEL UNDER THE WEATHER
I didnโt go to the party last night, I was feeling under the weather.
- to feel slightly ill or sick (usually temporarily)
TO WEATHER THE STORM
Our company had a difficult year, but we managed to weather the storm.
- to deal with a difficult situation without too much harm or damage
TO BE ON CLOUD NINE
I finally got my dream job, Iโm on cloud nine!
- to be extremely happy
A STORM IN A TEACUP
Do you remember that huge argument they had last week? It turned out be a storm in a teacup.
- a small problem that is exaggerated and treated as if it were very serious
TO TAKE A RAIN CHECK
Thank you so much for the offer, but can I take a rain check?
- to politely decline an offer or invitation for now, while remaining open to accepting it at a later time
TO STEAL [SOMEONEโS] THUNDER
Mark told everyone about his new job, but his sister stole his thunder by announcing her engagement.
- to take attention away from another person; to take spotlight
TO RAIN ON [SOMEONEโS] PARADE
Iโm in such good mood today, I won’t let anyone rain on my parade!
- to spoil someoneโs plans or good mood
TO PUT [SOMETHING] ON ICE
The manager has put the new project on ice due to lack of funding.
- to postpone, to put on hold
TO BE SNOWED UNDER
I havenโt had any free time lately, Iโve been snowed under with work.
- to be extremely busy and overwhelmed
TO BREAK THE ICE
People often use small talk to break the ice.
- to say or do something to make people (often total strangers) feel more relaxed and comfortable
Now you can do the online quiz. And if you want to learn more weather idioms, have a look at the list of suggested resources below.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
10 Weather Idioms in British English
100 Weather Idioms and Expressions
NOTES
Iโm a freelance language tutor (English, Latin, Classical Greek), researcher, and a literary scholar currently based in Belgrade, Serbia.
If you wish to receive new content from my blog – as soon as itโs published – please enter your email address in the subscribe box below.
To support my work, you can send me a donation via PayPal. It would be greatly appreciated!
COVER IMAGE CREDIT
Photo by Daniel Lerman via Unsplash.
Discover more from grammaticus
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
grammaticus 