Spooky season is here and we’re covering five Halloween-themed idioms and phrases in today’s blog post. In the UK, this time of year is associated with pumpkins, trick or treating, and dressing up as ghosts, skeletons and other spooky characters. Do you celebrate Halloween where you live? What are your plans this year? Will you be dressing up as a scary character? Let us know in the comments!
Don’t forget to download your free Halloween Idioms worksheet at the bottom of the blog, and complete the activities to test your understanding of the Halloween idioms.
If you want to learn more English idioms for any occasion, you’ll love our free eBooks, Essential English Idioms and Essential Business English Idioms. These eBooks are packed with fun English idioms to boost your English language skills, and practice activities to test your understanding.
If you’re ready, let’s dive into the Halloween idioms!
1. Make (one’s) blood run cold.
When something gives you chills, or goosebumps, or when something is so shockingly gruesome or evil, we say that it makes your blood run cold.
For example: “I was listening to a true crime podcast, but I had to turn it off. Hearing the details about what the serial killer had done made my blood run cold.”
A similar idiom that we have is to make (one’s) blood boil. ‘Boil’ is the action used to describe water, or another liquid, getting so hot that it begins to bubble and turn to gas. We can use this idiom to describe when someone is extremely angry. They are absolutely furious and feel the heat of this anger in their blood.
For example: “When I found out the female employees were making less than their male counterparts, it made my blood boil.”
2. The devil is in the detail
This phrase means that while a plan at first glance might seem easy and possible, the small details of the plan can prove problematic and cause issues.
For example: “Nidia’s idea for the new marketing strategy sounds great, but we’ll have to sit down tomorrow and plan it out a bit more to see if it would be feasible. The devil is in the detail.”
3. A night owl
If you are a night owl, you are more active or productive at night. Waking up later and working later in the day works better for you. The opposite is an ‘early bird’. People who wake up early and enjoy being active in the mornings are early birds.
For example: “I’m working the breakfast shift at the moment and I’m really struggling with it. I’m not an early bird, I’m definitely more of a night owl.”
Fun fact: Did you know that a group of owls is called a parliament? You can learn more collective nouns for animals and download a worksheet in our blog post right here.
4. The final nail in the coffin.
The final nail in the coffin is the last thing which kills or puts an end to something which was almost over.
For example: The politician had been receiving a lot of public criticism about his policies for a while, but when the news came out about his extra-marital affairs it was the final nail in the coffin for his political career.
5. Skeletons in the closet
Skeletons in the closet refers to a shameful secret that could destroy a person’s reputation or public image.
For example: Despite his perfect public image, he had a shady past and some skeletons in the closet.
Practice activity
Fill in the gaps below with an idiom from the list above.
1.The popstar hired a Public Relations manager because he was hiding some ___________.
2. I do my most creative work after 6pm. I’m a ___________.
3. We are trying to organise a surprise birthday party for my sister. It’s proving to be much more work than we anticipated. ___________.
4. The plot twist in the horror movie that we watched last night was shocking. It ___________.
5. After several major setbacks on the project, an investor pulling out was ___________.
Don’t forget to download your free Halloween Idioms worksheet right here!