M

→before the mast

→on the mat

→mercurial

→midsummer madness

→Monday morning quarterback

→money for jam [old rope]

→once in a blue moon

→over the moon

N

→by a neck

→neck or nothing

→look for a needle in a haystack

→feather one's nest

→dressed (up) to the nines

→rub a person's nose in it

O

→pour oil on the waters [troubled waters]

→the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street

→olive branch

→ostrich

P

→mind [watch] one's P's [p's] and Q's [q's]

→put paid to…

→paint a person black

→have an itching [itchy] palm

→In for a penny, in for a pound.

→The penny (has) dropped.

→buy a pig in a poke

→He who pays the piper calls the tune.

→queer a person's pitch＝queer the pitch for a person

→on a plate

→pull the plug on…

→go to pot

→a pound of flesh

→keep one's powder dry

→take a powder

→kick against the pricks

→All hands to the pump(s)!

→a Pyrrhic victory

→try to put a quart into a pint pot

R

→like a red rag to a bull

→red

→in the red

→see red

→red‐eye

→red herring

→beat a retreat

→thumb a ride

→right^２

→read a person the riot act

→rise from the ashes

→sell a person down the river

→send a person up the river

→fiddle while Rome is burning

→under the rose

→a hard [long] row to hoe

→rub a person (up) the wrong way

→cross [pass] the Rubicon

S

→sadder but wiser

→put [drop] salt on the tail of…

→worth one's salt

→a good Samaritan

→sawbuck

→have a screw loose

→put [tighten] the screws on a person

→be bursting at the seams

→Search me.

→by the seat of one's pants

→sell one's life dear [dearly]

→open sesame

→lick [knock] …into shape

→One may [might] as well be hanged for a sheep as (for) a lamb.

→three sheets in [to] the wind

→when one's ship comes home [in]

→keep one's shirt on [通例命令法で]

→lose one's shirt

→put one's shirt on…

→on a shoestring

→a shot in the dark

→call the shots

→shotgun marriage

→put [set] one's shoulder to the wheel

→straight from the shoulder

→be all over bar [but] the shouting

→on the wrong side of the tracks

→sing for one's supper

→singe one's wings

→sink or swim

→skeleton at the feast

→skeleton in the closet [《英》 cupboard]

→laugh up one's sleeve

→roll up one's sleeves

→spleen

→throw in [up] the sponge

→be born with a silver spoon in one's mouth

→knock spots off a person

→win one's spurs

→back to square one

→square root

→pull out all the stops

→have a person on a string

→pull strings

→follow suit

→cut a swath through…

→All systems go!

T

→to a T

→turn the tables

→with the [one's] tail between the [one's] legs

→be all (fingers and) thumbs

→cut one's teeth on [in]…

→long in the tooth

→kick over the traces

→turn up trumps

U

→on one's uppers

V

→the villain of the piece

→visiting fireman

W

→a case of the tail wagging the dog

→on the (water) wagon

→come out in the wash

→pull one's (own) weight

→What next?

→oil the wheels

→whistle in the dark

→wet one's whistle

→sound in wind and limb

→take the wind out of a person's sails [the sails of a person]

→fight [tilt at] windmills

→clip a person's wings

→wait in the wings

→cry wolf

→a nine days' wonder

→lick one's wounds

→wring a person's neck