Page 7 - IDIOMS - B
P. 7
‘B’
• Baby boomer.
A baby boomer is someone born in the years after the end of the Second World War, a period when the
population was growing very fast.
• Balls to the walls.
If you do something balls to the wall, you apply full acceleration or exertion.
• Batting a thousand.
(From baseball) it means to do something perfectly.
• Be out in left field.
To be out in left field is not know what’s going on. Taken from baseball, when youngsters assign less
capable players to the outfield where the ball is less likely to be hit by a young player. In business, one
might say, ‘Don’t ask the new manager; he’s out in left field and doesn’t know any answers yet.’
• Beat someone to the draw.
If you beat someone to the draw, you do something before they do.
• Beating a dead horse.
If someone is trying to convince people to do or feel something withoit any hope of succeeding, they’re
beating a dead horse. This is used when someone is trying to raise interest in an issue that no-one
supports anymore; beating a dead horse will not make it do any more work.
12
