Idioms and Phrases Set 3 (N–S)

Idioms and Phrases Set 3 (N–S)

This chapter continues the idiom lists from Chapters 14 and 15, moving through letters N to S. These are the idioms that show up again and again in SSC CGL, SSC CHSL, SSC MTS, RRB NTPC, RRB Group D and banking clerical/PO exams, usually as "the idiom/phrase given below means" or as an underlined portion inside a full sentence for sentence-improvement questions. Learn the meaning first, then get comfortable seeing the idiom inside a natural sentence — examiners like to twist the surrounding wording, but the figurative sense of the idiom itself stays fixed. Read each entry aloud in the example sentence at least once; idioms are remembered far better through sound and context than through rote definitions alone.

Idiom	Meaning	Example Sentence
Nail one's colours to the mast	To publicly declare one's support or opinion	The young councillor nailed her colours to the mast on the housing issue.
Neck and neck	Running exactly equal in a race or contest	The two candidates were neck and neck till the last round of counting.
Nip in the bud	To stop something at an early stage before it grows	The principal nipped the students' plan to bunk classes in the bud.
No love lost	Mutual dislike between two people	There is no love lost between the two business partners since the dispute.
Not one's cup of tea	Not something one enjoys or is good at	Public speaking is simply not my cup of tea.
Off the cuff	Without preparation, spoken spontaneously	The minister answered the tricky question off the cuff.
Off the record	Unofficial, not to be quoted publicly	The officer gave some useful information off the record.
On cloud nine	Extremely happy	She was on cloud nine after clearing the written exam.
On the fence	Undecided, not taking sides	He remained on the fence throughout the debate on the new policy.
On the spur of the moment	Suddenly, without planning	They decided to visit the hill station on the spur of the moment.
Once in a blue moon	Very rarely	He visits his native village once in a blue moon.
Out of the blue	Unexpectedly, without warning	Her resignation letter came out of the blue.
Out of the woods	Out of a difficult or dangerous situation	The patient is not yet out of the woods, say the doctors.
Over the moon	Extremely delighted	The team was over the moon after winning the championship.
Pain in the neck	An irritating or troublesome person or thing	The constant power cuts are a real pain in the neck.
Par for the course	Normal or expected, nothing unusual	Delays at government offices are par for the course.
Pass the buck	To shift blame or responsibility to someone else	The manager tried to pass the buck to his juniors after the audit failure.
Pay through the nose	To pay an excessively high price	Tourists often pay through the nose for taxis near the airport.
Piece of cake	Something very easy to do	For a trained typist, this test is a piece of cake.
Play devil's advocate	To argue the opposite side deliberately, for debate	Let me play devil's advocate and ask why the plan might fail.
Play it by ear	To improvise, decide as things happen	We have no fixed itinerary; we will play it by ear.
Poke fun at	To mock or make jokes about someone	The cartoonist loves to poke fun at politicians.
Pull someone's leg	To tease or joke with someone	Relax, I was only pulling your leg about the exam date.
Pull strings	To use personal influence to gain an advantage	He pulled strings to get his transfer approved quickly.
Pull the wool over someone's eyes	To deceive someone	The salesman tried to pull the wool over the customer's eyes.
Put all eggs in one basket	To risk everything on a single plan	Investing your entire savings in one stock is putting all eggs in one basket.
Put one's foot down	To take a firm stand, refuse to change one's decision	Father finally put his foot down and refused to fund another trip.
Rain cats and dogs	To rain very heavily	It rained cats and dogs throughout the night in Mumbai.
Raise the bar	To set a higher standard	The new topper has raised the bar for the entire batch.
Read between the lines	To understand the hidden or implied meaning	You need to read between the lines of the official statement.
Red herring	A misleading clue that distracts from the real issue	The minor scandal was a red herring to divert attention from the scam.
Red tape	Excessive bureaucratic rules and procedure	The project was delayed for months because of red tape.
Ring a bell	To sound familiar	That name does ring a bell, though I cannot place it.
Rock the boat	To disturb a stable situation unnecessarily	Everything is going smoothly, so please do not rock the boat.
Rule of thumb	A general, practical guideline based on experience	As a rule of thumb, revise each chapter within a week of reading it.
Run in the family	A trait shared by several family members	A talent for music runs in the family.
Save for a rainy day	To save money for future difficulties	My grandmother always told us to save for a rainy day.
See eye to eye	To agree completely with someone	The two directors rarely see eye to eye on marketing strategy.
Sit on the fence	To avoid taking a clear position	The senator sat on the fence during the entire controversy.
Sit tight	To wait patiently without taking action	The lawyer advised us to sit tight until the verdict was announced.
Slip through the cracks	To be overlooked or missed by a system	Several genuine applications slipped through the cracks due to poor scrutiny.
Smell a rat	To suspect something is wrong	When the accounts did not match, the auditor smelled a rat.
Spill the beans	To reveal a secret	Someone from the committee spilled the beans about the results.
Split hairs	To argue over petty, unimportant details	Let us not split hairs over the exact wording of the clause.
Stab in the back	To betray someone who trusted you	He felt stabbed in the back when his friend leaked the plan.
Steal someone's thunder	To take credit for something someone else did	The junior officer stole his boss's thunder by announcing the results early.
Stick one's neck out	To take a risk by offering an opinion or action	I will stick my neck out and say the project will fail.
Storm in a teacup	A great fuss made over a trivial matter	The office argument turned out to be a storm in a teacup.
Straight from the horse's mouth	Information from the most reliable, direct source	I heard about the merger straight from the horse's mouth.
Swallow one's pride	To act humbly, giving up one's self-respect for a purpose	He had to swallow his pride and apologise first.
Sweeten the pot	To make an offer more attractive	The company sweetened the pot with a joining bonus.

More Idioms Worth Memorising (N–S)

Idiom	Meaning	Example Sentence
Neither here nor there	Irrelevant to the matter at hand	Your opinion on his personal life is neither here nor there in this case.
On the ball	Alert and competent	The new supervisor is really on the ball with deadlines.
On thin ice	In a risky or precarious position	After the second warning, he knew he was on thin ice at work.
Play second fiddle	To take a subordinate role to someone else	He was tired of playing second fiddle to his elder brother in the firm.
Put the cart before the horse	To do things in the wrong order	Signing the deal before checking the funds is putting the cart before the horse.
Show one's true colours	To reveal one's real character, often a negative one	He showed his true colours once the money was involved.
Sit on one's hands	To fail to act when action is needed	The authorities sat on their hands while the crisis worsened.
Skate on thin ice	To take a risky course of action	Criticising the chairman openly, he was skating on thin ice.

Idioms Explained in Detail

Some idioms in this set are tested so often, and confused with such similar-sounding options, that they deserve a closer look beyond a one-line meaning.

Nip in the bud literally refers to pinching off a young flower bud before it can bloom, and the idiom keeps that sense of early, decisive action. In exam options, distractors often confuse this with simply "ending" something — but the correct sense always carries the flavour of stopping a problem while it is still small, before it can grow into something bigger. A school stopping a minor prank before it becomes a habit is a nip in the bud; punishing an already-established habit is not.

Pass the buck comes from poker, where a marker called the "buck" was passed to the next dealer. In modern usage it always implies avoiding responsibility by shifting it onto someone else, usually a subordinate or colleague, and it carries a mildly negative, critical tone. Do not confuse it with "hand over responsibility," which can be neutral; "passing the buck" specifically means dodging blame.

Read between the lines is about inferring an unstated meaning from what is written or said. Exam-setters like to pair this with "read verbatim" or "read literally" as wrong options — the correct idiom is the exact opposite of reading only the surface meaning.

Red herring and red tape are frequently mixed up because both start with "red." A red herring is a deliberate distraction from the real issue — think of a smoked fish dragged across a trail to throw hunting dogs off scent. Red tape, by contrast, refers to excessive official rules and procedural delay, drawing on the actual red ribbon once used to bind legal and government documents in Britain. Keep the images separate: herring equals distraction, tape equals bureaucracy.

Rule of thumb means a broad, practical guideline based on experience rather than exact science or law. It is not the same as "a strict rule" — a rule of thumb can be broken when circumstances demand it, which is precisely why exams use it to test whether you understand the idea of an approximate, common-sense standard.

See eye to eye means to be in full agreement, almost always used with "with someone" and frequently in the negative ("do not see eye to eye"). Students sometimes misread it as related to eyesight or attention; it is entirely about agreement of opinion.

Sit on the fence and on the fence mean the same thing — remaining neutral, refusing to choose a side in a dispute — but the exam may present either the verb form or the adjective phrase. Both should be marked correct if the meaning option says "undecided" or "neutral."

Smell a rat means to sense that something is wrong or suspicious, well before any proof exists. It is close in feel to "have a hunch," but specifically implies suspecting foul play or deception, not just any hunch about the future.

Spill the beans and let the cat out of the bag (covered in Chapter 15) are near-synonyms — both mean revealing a secret — but "spill the beans" leans toward revealing information carelessly or under pressure, while "let the cat out of the bag" often implies an accidental slip. Exams rarely test the fine distinction between the two, but knowing both helps you recognise either as correct when "reveal a secret" is the target meaning.

Steal someone's thunder originates from an eighteenth-century playwright whose thunder-sound-effect invention was copied by a rival theatre company staging his own play. The idiom keeps this sense of someone else taking credit or attention for your idea or achievement — not simply "outperforming" someone in general, but specifically taking away the recognition that was due to another person.

Storm in a teacup (the British version) and "tempest in a teapot" (the American version) both mean a lot of fuss and excitement over something unimportant. If you see either wording in an exam, treat them as equivalent.

On cloud nine and over the moon both describe extreme happiness, and either can be substituted for the other in an exam's correct-meaning option. Neither idiom, despite the sky imagery, has anything to do with weather or actual clouds — a distractor claiming the phrase means "confused" or "distracted" is always wrong.

Off the record is used almost exclusively in the context of statements, interviews, and official communication; it means information given informally, with the understanding that it will not be officially quoted or published. Do not confuse it with "off the cuff," which is about speaking without preparation rather than about confidentiality — a person can speak off the cuff and still be fully on the record.

Par for the course borrows from golf, where "par" is the expected number of strokes for a hole. The idiom therefore means something entirely typical or expected, not unusually good or bad — a subtle point, because many students assume "par" automatically means "average" in a negative sense. In fact the tone is neutral: delays being par for the course simply means delays are the norm, not a special failure.

Pay through the nose means to pay far more than something is worth, usually due to a lack of choice or poor bargaining position. It is always about money and always implies the price was excessive or exploitative, unlike "cost a fortune," which can be used more neutrally about genuinely expensive items.

Piece of cake is one of the most common "easy task" idioms in exam papers, alongside "child's play" and "a walk in the park" from earlier chapters. All three are interchangeable in meaning, so if the correct option reads "very easy," any one of these idioms in the question stem should be matched to it.

Play devil's advocate means to deliberately argue a position one does not personally hold, purely to test an argument or provoke discussion. It is not the same as being contrary or difficult for its own sake — the phrase implies a constructive, temporary role taken on for the sake of debate.

Pull the wool over someone's eyes means to deceive or trick someone, usually by hiding the truth rather than by outright lying. It pairs naturally with "hoodwink" and "bamboozle" as single-word substitutes, both of which appear as correct synonyms in vocabulary sections of these exams.

Rock the boat means to disturb an otherwise stable or peaceful situation, usually by raising an objection or making a change that others would rather avoid. It is most often used in the negative imperative — "don't rock the boat" — as a caution against stirring up unnecessary trouble.

Run in the family describes a trait, skill, illness, or tendency that appears repeatedly across generations of the same family. It applies equally to positive traits (a talent for music) and negative ones (a tendency toward high blood pressure), so do not assume the idiom is automatically praising the trait in question.

Sweeten the pot means to add extra value or incentive to an existing offer to make it more appealing, most often used in business, negotiation, and deal-making contexts. It is closely related to "sweeten the deal," which exams treat as an acceptable variant with an identical meaning.

One-Word Equivalents for Selected Idioms

Several idioms in this set map neatly onto a single-word synonym, and examiners sometimes test the same concept both ways within the same paper — once as an idiom question and once as a synonym question. Recognising the link between the two strengthens both skills at once.

Idiom	Nearest One-Word Equivalent
Pull the wool over someone's eyes	Hoodwink / Deceive
Smell a rat	Suspect
Spill the beans	Divulge / Disclose
Nip in the bud	Curb / Forestall
Pass the buck	Shirk (responsibility)
Piece of cake	Effortless
Stab in the back	Betray
Poke fun at	Ridicule / Mock
Read between the lines	Infer
Split hairs	Quibble

Common Confusions and Look-Alike Idioms

Idiom Pair	How They Differ
Pull someone's leg / Pull strings	"Pull someone's leg" means to tease playfully; "pull strings" means to use influence or connections to get something done. They share only the verb "pull."
On the fence / On the ball	"On the fence" means undecided; "on the ball" means alert and competent. Easy to confuse in a hurried reading because both start with "on the."
Out of the blue / Once in a blue moon	"Out of the blue" means unexpectedly; "once in a blue moon" means very rarely. Both use the word "blue," but one is about surprise and the other about frequency.
Red herring / Red tape	A red herring misleads or distracts; red tape refers to bureaucratic delay and paperwork.
Sit tight / Sit on the fence	"Sit tight" means wait patiently without acting; "sit on the fence" means avoid choosing a side. Both involve sitting, but the meanings are unrelated.
Steal someone's thunder / Rain on someone's parade	Stealing thunder means taking credit that belonged to someone else; raining on someone's parade (from Chapter 15) means spoiling their happy moment or plans.

Extra Practice Sentences (Fill in the Blank)

Try identifying the correct idiom for each blank before checking the meaning list above. This kind of active recall, where you supply the idiom rather than just read its meaning, mirrors how SSC and RRB sentence-completion questions are actually framed.

• After the accident, doctors said the patient was finally ______ (out of danger).
• He never admits his mistakes; he always tries to ______ (blame someone else).
• The rumour about the merger turned out to be completely false — a case of someone ______ (creating a false distraction).
• She got the scholarship ______ (very rarely does this happen) — it was the first time in ten years.
• The committee members finally agreed to ______ (stop arguing over minor points) and approve the budget.
• The clerk warned us that without the right documents, our file could ______ (be missed by the system).
• Even though everyone advised caution, he decided to ______ (take a risk) and invest in the new venture.
• The two rivals have ______ (a history of mutual dislike) since their college days.
• I could tell from her tone that she wanted to ______ (reveal something secret) but was holding back.
• The negotiators had to ______ (make the offer more attractive) before the union agreed to the new contract.

How These Are Tested

SSC and RRB papers usually present the idiom in a boxed phrase and ask you to choose its correct meaning from four close options, or they underline the idiom inside a full sentence. The trap options are almost always literal translations of the words rather than the true idiomatic sense — for example, "rain cats and dogs" will have a distractor about pets falling from the sky, and "smell a rat" will have a distractor about a bad odour in a room. Always ask yourself: does this option describe the figurative meaning, or does it just restate the individual words? Banking exams also use idioms inside cloze passages and para-jumbles, so practising the idiom within a full sentence, not just as an isolated phrase on a flashcard, pays off during the actual test. A second common trap is pairing the right idiom with a meaning that belongs to a different, similar-sounding idiom from the same set — this is why the "Common Confusions" table above is worth revisiting a day or two before your exam, once the individual meanings are already familiar.

Revision Strategy for This Set

With roughly sixty idioms in this chapter alone, cramming them all in one sitting rarely works. A better approach is to group them by the emotion or situation they describe — happiness (on cloud nine, over the moon), risk (stick one's neck out, skate on thin ice, on thin ice), deception (pull the wool over someone's eyes, smell a rat, red herring), and indecision (sit on the fence, on the fence) — and revise one group at a time across several short sessions. Writing your own example sentence for each idiom, using people or situations from your own life, cements the meaning far more effectively than simply re-reading the table. In the final week before your exam, cover the meaning column and test yourself using only the idiom and the example sentence; this mirrors the actual exam format more closely than testing from the meaning alone.

Quick Test Yourself

1. What does "nip in the bud" mean?
   Answer: To stop something at an early stage before it develops further.
2. Fill in the blank: The two runners finished the race ______.
   Answer: neck and neck (running exactly level with each other)
3. What does "pass the buck" mean?
   Answer: To shift blame or responsibility onto someone else.
4. Choose the correct meaning of "storm in a teacup."
   Answer: A great fuss made over a trivial matter.
5. What is the meaning of "read between the lines"?
   Answer: To understand a hidden or implied meaning that is not directly stated.
6. "He decided to go on the trip ______." Which idiom fits — "on the spur of the moment" or "once in a blue moon"?
   Answer: on the spur of the moment (suddenly, without prior planning)
7. What does "spill the beans" mean?
   Answer: To reveal a secret.
8. Explain "put all eggs in one basket."
   Answer: To risk everything on a single plan or option instead of diversifying.
9. What is meant by "red tape"?
   Answer: Excessive, rigid bureaucratic rules and procedures that cause delay.
10. What does "swallow one's pride" mean?
    Answer: To set aside one's self-respect or ego in order to do something necessary, such as apologising.