100 English Colour Idioms and Set Phrases

TC
1 day ago
6 min read

#	Idiom	Type	Region	Meaning	Example Sentence	Picture
1	Feel blue	Common	Both	Feel sad	I've felt blue all week.	🔵😢
2	Out of the blue	Common	Both	Unexpectedly	She called me out of the blue.	🔵⚡
3	Once in a blue moon	Common	Both	Very rarely	We eat sushi once in a blue moon.	🌙🔵
4	Blue blood	Old-fashioned	Both	Aristocratic origin	He comes from blue blood.	👑🔵
5	Blue-collar worker	Business	American	Manual worker	My dad is a blue-collar worker.	🔵👷
6	Blue ribbon	Common	American	Top quality	It won the blue-ribbon prize.	🎀🔵
7	Blue in the face	Common	Both	Exhausted from trying	I explained it until I was blue in the face.	🔵😮
8	Blue chip	Business	Both	Reliable investment	Apple is a blue-chip company.	🔵💹
9	Blue movie	Informal	American	Pornographic film	They joked about watching a blue movie.	🎬🔵
10	Blue-eyed boy/girl	Common	UK/Australia	Favourite person	She's the boss's blue-eyed girl.	👁️🔵
11	Green with envy	Common	Both	Very jealous	He was green with envy.	🟢😒
12	Green light	Common	Both	Permission	The project got the green light.	🚦🟢
13	Grass is greener	Common	Both	Others seem better off	The grass is always greener elsewhere.	🌱🏡
14	Green fingers	Common	British	Good at gardening	My grandma has green fingers.	🪴🟢
15	Green thumb	Common	American	Good at gardening	She has a green thumb.	👍🟢
16	Greenhorn	Old-fashioned	American	Inexperienced person	The greenhorn made mistakes.	🟢🤠
17	Green around the gills	Common	Both	Looking sick	You look green around the gills.	🤢🟢
18	Green-eyed monster	Literary	British	Jealousy	The green-eyed monster appeared again.	👁️🟢
19	Greenwash	Business	Both	Fake environmentalism	The company was accused of greenwashing.	🌍🟢
20	Green belt	Common	British	Protected land area	The city expanded near the green belt.	🌳🟢
21	Red flag	Common	Both	Warning sign	His behaviour was a red flag.	🚩🔴
22	See red	Common	Both	Become angry	Dad saw red immediately.	🔴😡
23	Catch someone red-handed	Common	Both	Catch during wrongdoing	The police caught him red-handed.	✋🔴
24	Paint the town red	Common	American	Celebrate wildly	We painted the town red after exams.	🏙️🔴
25	Red tape	Business	Both	Bureaucracy	Government red tape delayed us.	📄🔴
26	Red-letter day	Old-fashioned	British	Special day	Graduation was a red-letter day.	📅🔴
27	Roll out the red carpet	Common	Both	Welcome warmly	They rolled out the red carpet.	🎬🔴
28	Red-carpet treatment	Common	Both	Special treatment	Celebrities received red-carpet treatment.	⭐🔴
29	Red-eye	American	American	Overnight flight	I took a red-eye to New York.	✈️🔴
30	In the red	Business	Both	Losing money	The company is in the red.	📉🔴
31	In the black	Business	Both	Profitable	The business is finally in the black.	⚫💰
32	Black sheep	Common	Both	Problematic family member	He's the black sheep of the family.	🐑⚫
33	Black and white	Common	Both	Clear and simple	The rules are black and white.	⚫⚪
34	Black out	Common	Both	Lose consciousness	She blacked out from heat.	⚫😵
35	Black market	Common	Both	Illegal trade	They sold goods on the black market.	⚫🛒
36	Black humour	Common	British	Dark humour	He enjoys black humour.	⚫😂
37	Black ice	Common	Both	Invisible road ice	Drivers fear black ice.	⚫🧊
38	Blacklist	Business	Both	Ban list	The actor was blacklisted.	📋⚫
39	Black eye	Common	Both	Reputation damage	The scandal gave them a black eye.	👁️⚫
40	Paint a black picture	Old-fashioned	British	Describe negatively	The report painted a black picture.	🎨⚫
41	White lie	Common	Both	Harmless lie	I told a white lie.	⚪🤥
42	White as a sheet	Common	Both	Very pale	She turned white as a sheet.	⚪😨
43	Raise the white flag	Common	Both	Surrender	They raised the white flag.	🏳️⚪
44	White elephant	Common	British	Expensive useless thing	The stadium became a white elephant.	🐘⚪
45	White-knuckle ride	Common	American	Thrilling experience	The roller coaster was a white-knuckle ride.	🎢⚪
46	White-collar worker	Business	American	Office worker	She's a white-collar employee.	💼⚪
47	Whitewash	Business	Both	Cover up mistakes	They tried to whitewash the scandal.	🖌️⚪
48	White-hot	Common	Both	Extremely intense	Demand is white-hot right now.	🔥⚪
49	White Christmas	Common	Both	Snowy Christmas	We hope for a white Christmas.	❄️⚪
50	White magic	Old-fashioned	Both	Good magic	Stories often mention white magic.	✨⚪
51	Grey area	Common	Both	Unclear situation	Legally it's a grey area.	⚪⚫
52	Grey matter	Informal	British	Intelligence	Use your grey matter.	🧠⚫
53	Grey-haired	Common	Both	Older/experienced	The grey-haired professor spoke wisely.	👴⚫
54	Grey market	Business	Both	Unofficial trade	Goods entered through the grey market.	🛒⚫
55	Golden opportunity	Common	Both	Excellent chance	This job is a golden opportunity.	🟡🚪
56	Silence is golden	Common	Both	Silence is valuable	Sometimes silence is golden.	🤫🟡
57	Golden handshake	Business	British	Big leaving payment	The CEO got a golden handshake.	🤝🟡
58	Golden parachute	Business	American	Huge executive payout	Executives received golden parachutes.	🪂🟡
59	Golden boy	Common	American	Favoured successful man	He's the company's golden boy.	🟡👦
60	Golden years	Common	Both	Retirement years	They travel during their golden years.	👴🟡
61	Born with a silver spoon	Common	Both	Born rich	She was born with a silver spoon.	🥄⚪
62	Silver lining	Common	Both	Positive side	Every cloud has a silver lining.	☁️⚪
63	Silver-tongued	Old-fashioned	Both	Persuasive speaker	The lawyer was silver-tongued.	👅⚪
64	Silver screen	Common	American	Film industry	She dreamed of the silver screen.	🎬⚪
65	Tickled pink	Common	British	Very pleased	Grandma was tickled pink.	🌸😊
66	Pink slip	Business	American	Dismissal notice	He got a pink slip yesterday.	📄🌸
67	In the pink	Old-fashioned	British	Very healthy	My grandfather is in the pink.	🌸💪
68	Pink elephant	Informal	American	Hallucination	The drunk man saw pink elephants.	🐘🌸
69	Pink-collar job	Business	American	Traditionally female job	Nursing is often called a pink-collar job.	🌸💼
70	Pinkie promise	Informal	American	Serious promise	We made a pinkie promise.	🤙🌸
71	Yellow-bellied	Informal	American	Cowardly	Don't be yellow-bellied.	🟡😨
72	Yellow streak	Informal	American	Cowardice	He has a yellow streak.	🟡➡️
73	Yellow journalism	Business	American	Sensationalist news	The paper used yellow journalism.	📰🟡
74	Yellow press	Common	British	Sensationalist newspapers	The yellow press exaggerated it.	📰🟡
75	Mellow yellow	Informal	American	Relaxed mood	We spent a mellow yellow afternoon.	🟡😌
76	Purple patch	Common	British	Successful period	The striker is in a purple patch.	🟣⭐
77	Purple prose	Literary	Both	Overly decorative writing	The novel contains purple prose.	📚🟣
78	Purple with rage	Common	Both	Extremely angry	He was purple with rage.	🟣😡
79	Born to the purple	Old-fashioned	British	Born noble	The prince was born to the purple.	👑🟣
80	Brown-nose	Informal	American	Flatter excessively	Stop brown-nosing the boss.	🤎👃
81	Browned off	Informal	British	Annoyed	I'm really browned off today.	🤎😒
82	Brown study	Old-fashioned	British	Deep thought	She sat in a brown study.	🤎🤔
83	Brown bag it	Informal	American	Bring your own lunch	I brown-bag it to work.	🥪🤎
84	Brownie points	Informal	American	Imaginary approval points	He earned brownie points at home.	🤎⭐
85	True colours	Common	British	Real personality	He showed his true colours.	🎨🌈
86	Flying colours	Common	Both	Great success	She passed with flying colours.	🚩🌈
87	Off-colour	Common	British	Slightly ill	I'm feeling off-colour.	🌈🤒
88	Local colour	Literary	Both	Local atmosphere	The market adds local colour.	🏘️🎨
89	Lend colour to	Old-fashioned	Both	Make believable	The evidence lent colour to rumours.	🎨📄
90	Sail under false colours	Old-fashioned	British	Pretend identity	The spy sailed under false colours.	🚢🏳️
91	Colour outside the lines	Informal	American	Think creatively	Great artists colour outside the lines.	🎨🖍️
92	Rose-coloured glasses	Common	Both	Overly optimistic view	She sees life through rose-coloured glasses.	🌹👓
93	Scarlet woman	Old-fashioned	British	Immoral woman	The tabloids called her a scarlet woman.	❤️👠
94	Scarlet fever	Common	Both	Disease / excitement metaphor	News spread like scarlet fever.	🌡️❤️
95	Dyed in the wool	Common	British	Strongly committed	He's a dyed-in-the-wool conservative.	🧶🎨
96	Tarred with the same brush	Common	British	Judged similarly	They were tarred with the same brush.	🖌️⚫
97	Colour-blind	Common	Both	Unbiased about race	The policy aims to be colour-blind.	🌈👁️
98	Show one's true colours	Common	Both	Reveal character	Stress showed his true colours.	🎨😮
99	Rainbow coalition	Business/Politics	American	Diverse alliance	The movement formed a rainbow coalition.	🌈🤝
100	Rainbow nation	Common	South African English	Multicultural country	South Africa is called the rainbow nation.	🌈🌍

100 English Colour Idioms and Set Phrases

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