Animals
The elephant in the room (Politicians are focusing on the wrong issue and ignoring the elephant in the room, which is corruption)
A big issue or problem people try to avoid
As cool as a cucumber (She had to speak in front of hundreds of people but she was as cool as a cucumber)
To be calm & relaxed
To see eye to eye on something (My family and I don't see eye to eye on politics. We are always arguing about it)
To agree (or not) on a subject
To rain cats and dogs (We wanted to have a picnic today but it was raining cats and dogs)
Heavy rain
To dig your own grave (He dug his own grave by cheating on his exams. He was caught and expelled)
To do something that will harm yourself
To be bull-headed (Stop being so bull-headed and just call her!)
To be stubborn
To be the apple of somebody's eye (Jessica is the apple of her father's eye! He is constantly talking about how proud he is of her)
A person that is adored by someone
To get out of hand (Things got out of hand very quickly! One minute they were arguing and the next they were throwing punches at each other)
To get out of control
Under the weather (He didn't come to work today because he was feeling a bit under the weather)
To be sick
To kick the bucket (John has finally kicked the bucket at 97 years old)
To die
Fishy (I don't believe him. The whole story smells a bit fishy)
Suspicious
Cheesy (I love reading cheesy romances, because I don't have to think too hard, even though they are mostly poorly written)
Silly or predictable
Break a leg (I hope your job interview goes well. Break a leg!)
To wish good luck to somebody
Silver lining (The silver lining of his divorce was that she later on met the love of her life)
Something good that comes out of a bad situation
To dance on someone's grave (He danced on the grave of his enemies)
To celebrate a someone's death
To chicken out (He was going to ask her on a date but he chickened out on the last minute)
To decide not to do something on the last minute out of fear
To spill the beans/tea (I can't believe you spilled the beans about Jane's surprise party tomorrow!)
When you reveal a secret, something that was supposed to be privet
To give someone the cold shoulder (I thought we were friends but the last time time I saw her she gave me the cold shoulder)
To ignore someone
On cloud nine (She's been on cloud nine ever since he found out he's going to be a father)
To be extremely happy
Dead as a doornail (My new expensive laptop is dead as a doornail. I'm going to return it and ask for a refund)
Clearly dead, not working
To smell a rat (I asked my brother not to tell my parents that I sneaked out, but as soon as I got home I could smell a rat)
To suspect betrayal
To take something with a grain of salt (Take Mark's advice with a grain of salt. He's doesn't have a lot of experience in this subject)
Not to take something too seriously
To wrap your head around something (I cant wrap my head around Calculus! It's so hard!)
To (not) understand something complicated
The perfect storm (1921 was the perfect storm: famine, drought and war led to the Russian Revolution and the creation of the USSR)
When many bad things happen all at once (sometimes leading to a good outcome)
To have a skeleton in the closet (My family has a skeleton in the closet: my father had a secret family)
To have an embarrassing secret