70 Home Idioms and Expressions

70 Home Idioms and Expressions 70 Home Idioms and Expressions 70 Home Idioms and Expressions By Mark Nichol 1. A man’s home is his castle: a sentiment that a man should have freedom to do what he wants in his home (originally â€Å"An Englishman’s home is his castle†) 2. A woman’s place is in the home: a largely outdated notion that a woman’s activities should be limited to child-rearing and housekeeping 3. At home: comfortable or proficient in an endeavor, matching or suitable for an environment, or competing in an athletic event at the team’s own facility rather than while visiting another team 4. Bring home: make clearly appreciated or understood (usually said of something unpleasant) 5. Bring home the bacon: earn a wage, or be successful 6. Charity begins at home: a sentiment that one should take care of family and friends before offering aid to others 7–8: Chickens will/have come home to roost: said as an admonition that actions have consequences 9. Close to home: deeply affecting one’s feelings 10. Come home: said of something (often, an unpleasant realization) becoming clear to someone 11. Come home to roost: return to cause trouble, in an analogy to chickens returning to their coop at the end of the day 12. Down-home: simple, as in something typical of traditional rural life 13–15. Drive/hammer/ram home: emphasize, often by repeating 16-17. Go big/hard, or go home: a slang expression meaning â€Å"Put effort into something, or give up trying† 18. Go home and get (one’s) beauty sleep: said jocularly of or by one who must depart early, facetiously because of the necessity of getting enough rest to avoid being considered unattractive because of sleep deprivation 19. Go home in a box: be sent home after death (box refers to a coffin) 20. Go home to mama: give up on marriage or a relationship, from the notion of returning home to live with one’s mother, with the implication of defeat and humiliation 21. Hearth and home: one’s home and family 22. Hit (one) where one lives: affect someone personally 23–24: Hit/strike home: make sense, cause awareness or acceptance of an idea 25–26. Home and dry/hosed: to have completed an activity or project (British English and Australian English, respectively) 27. Home away from home: a place one is visiting that is as comfortable and welcoming as one’s own home 28–33. Home boy/home girl/homeslice/holmes/homes/homie: a person with whom one is very close (from the notion that one grew up in the same neighborhood as that person) 34. Home free: certain of success because the most difficult phase of a task has been completed 35. Home game: an athletic event hosted by a team at its facility 36. Home ground/turf: the environment one has grown up in and is comfortable in 37. Home in on: literally or figuratively aim toward 38. Home is where (one) hangs (one’s) hat: the practical notion that one’s home is where one lives, as distinct from the sentimental notion of home 39. Home is where the heart is: a proverb conveying that one is most comfortable living where (or with whom) one wants to be 40. Home run: a successful endeavor, from an analogy with scoring a run in baseball that entitles one to safely round the bases and return to home plate 41–42. Home straight/stretch: the final phase of a difficult activity, from an analogy with the last portion of a horse race 43. Home sweet home: an expression of relief that one has returned to the comfort of home after an extended absence 44. Home truth: an unpleasant fact difficult to acknowledge or admit 45. Home, James: a passenger’s humorous exhortation to a driver to bring the passenger home swiftly (originally, â€Å"Home, James, and don’t spare the horses,† from the notion that James is a common name for a carriage driver) 46. Homesick: feeling uncomfortable about being away from home 47. Homework: practice of learning exercises; figuratively, preparation for an event or eventuality, or acquisition of practical knowledge 48. Keep the home fires burning: maintain a household in good order while one is away (perhaps at war) 49. Leave home: set out to live apart from one’s parents 50. The longest way around is the shortest way home: a proverb expressing that doing something painstakingly saves time because doing it carelessly may require that it be done over 51. Make yourself at home: a host’s exhortation to a visitor to encourage the person to feel comfortable and behave as if he or she lives there 52. Money from home: something welcome, or, in underworld slang, easily obtained money or goods (comparable to â€Å"Like taking candy from a baby†), from the notion of receiving money from one’s family when one is living or traveling abroad 53–58. Not something/anything, or nothing much, to write home about/worth writing home about: uneventful, from the notion that something that happened is not worth informing one’s family about 59. See (one) home: escort someone to his or her residence 60. Stay-at-home: said of a parent who does not work outside the home 61–62. Take (one’s) ball/toys and go home: said in figurative reference to a person petulantly abandoning an activity with necessary implements, thereby inconveniencing the remaining participants 63. Take home: retain a concept, idea, or thought conveyed at a conference or an educational event 64. The lights are on, but nobody’s home: said of an unintelligent person, from the comparison of the person’s â€Å"empty† head with a vacant house 65. There’s no place like home: a sentiment that home is the most satisfying place to be 66. Till the cows come home: an exaggeration meaning â€Å"for a long time,† from the notion of cows returning to the barn from the pasture at the end of the day 67–68. What is/who is (someone or something) when it’s (or he’s or she’s) at home?: a fanciful way of asking, â€Å"Who (or â€Å"what†) is that?† (British and Australian English) 69. Yankee go home: an expression of anti-American sentiment 70. You can’t go home again: the sentiment that once one leaves home, one is changed and conditions will not be the same Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Idioms About Legs, Feet, and Toes3 Cases of Complicated HyphenationDouble Possessive