Idioms
Early bird gets the worm
Act early to be successful
On pens and needles
To be nervous or anxious
Don put all your eggs in one basket
Don't place all your hope, time, and effort into one area; keep your option open
Penelope had sprinted like a cheetah.
simile
Human qualities are given to nonhuman things
personification
A stitch in time saves nine
An effort to fix something now will prevent more work later
To be out of the woods
To be free from danger
To be left high and dry
To be stuck doing all the work
The car comes down the road with a bang and boom.
onomatopoeia
The written form of a sound
onomatopoeia
Birds of a feather flock together
People who are a lot alike tend to be friends.
Let the cat out of the bag
To reveal a secret
He who hesitates is lost
Don't take too long to decide.
Don't act like a Scrooge!
He studies all the time, he is a regular Einstein.
allusion
This is a phrase in common use that can not be understood by literal or ordinary meaning
idiom
Don't count your chickens before they've hatched
Do not make plans based on assumption
Do something once in a blue moon
To do something every once in awhile, not often
Icing on the cake
Something that makes a good thing even better
The deafening silence made the meeting awkward.
oxymoron
This is something which seemingly cannot be, yet it is, contradiction
oxymoron
A good conscience is a soft pillow
You will rest well if you have not done anything wrong
To add fuel to the fire
To make something worse
One today is worth two tomorrows
There is no time like the present
As she searched through the racks, each dress seemed to shudder with excitement.
personification
the use of an object, person, or idea to represent a larger, often abstract, concept, such as a red rose symbolizing love or a dove symbolizing peace.
Symbolism