| Idiom |
Where Used |
Meaning |
|---|
| get along, get along with |
Global |
To cope, manage; especially, to have good relationships with others ("get along with"). Past tense: "got along". (Compare with "go along".) |
| get someone's goat |
Global |
To become irritated by something. Goats used to be put in with nervous horses to calm them down before a race, if you took away the goat the horse would become nervous |
| get to grips with |
Global |
To deal with something decisively, battle with or gain an understanding of. See also: lose one's grip/lose one's nerve; come to grips with. |
| get the sack, be sacked |
AUS, UK |
To have one's employment terminated abruptly, often for a misdeed. |
| get with the program |
USA |
Said to encourage others to figure out what is going on, or sarcastically after the obvious has been stated. |
| get one's ass in gear |
AUS, USA |
To try and motivate one self to get ready or started. Akin to "Light a fire under" someone |
| (bird in a) gilded (or golden) cage |
UK |
In a pleasant situation but suffering a loss of freedom. For example, celebrities fear they are "prisoners in gilded cages", because despite their wealth and fame, every action they make is under intense scrutiny |
| give someone the old heave-ho |
AUS, UK |
Drop him from the team, sack him. |
| give one's two cents, or "that's my two cents" |
AUS, USA |
To ask for a person's opinion, to give one's opinion |
| give 'em hell |
AUS, USA |
An encouragement to a person to give a task or opponent their best effort and ability |
| give up the ghost |
Global |
To die, expire, permanently stop functioning, or otherwise come to an end. To end all things |
| go along/go along with |
Global |
To conform or cooperate. Past tense: "went along". Compare with "get along". |
| go belly up |
Global |
To go bankrupt |
| go to the mattresses |
Global |
To go to war |
| go with the flow |
Global |
To conform or go along with whatever happens |
| go off half-cocked |
Global |
To do something, typically violent or disruptive, prematurely. From a term for premature firing of a flintlock. (incorrect) Flintlocks "safety" position was halfway between down and fully cocked. This position was used for the loading of the weapon, since the gun would not fire from this position. Soldiers would forget to completely cock the weapon, resulting in the inability to fire when desired. Thus the phrase "Don't go off half cocked!" |
| go ye forth |
AUS |
Another way of saying "Get fucked" (short for, "Go ye forth and multiply"). (Sometimes invective) |
| going to the dogs |
Global |
Becoming unkempt or chaotic, tending to a state of disorder. |
| gone for a Burton |
UK |
Dead |
| goody two shoes |
Global |
A self-righteous person who makes a deal of their virtue |
| (his/her) goose is cooked |
Global |
The person being referred to is in deep trouble with little hope of recovery |
| grab the bull by the horns |
Global |
To take on a problem head first |
| (to) grab/grasp at straws |
Global |
To make final attempts at reaching an end, especially in a moment of desperation and especially using means that otherwise would be known to be futile. Refers to a drowning person grabbing at straws floating in the water in the effort to stay afloat. If the threat of drowning wasn't so imminent, that person wouldn't bother grabbing at the straws, knowing they would be of no help |
| (the) grass is greener on the other side |
Global |
When a different situation seems better than one's own |
| (take it with a) grain of salt |
Global |
To be skeptical and cautious about whether what someone has said is true, or is the complete story |
| (to be on the) gravy train |
USA |
To be the recipient of benefits earned by colleagues, such as the agent of an athlete. |
| green as grass |
UK |
Naive, untrained, usually said of young people in a new job. |