Football/Soccer: whistle, ball, penalty, play, goal
Whistle
Idiom | Explanation | Example |
---|---|---|
blow the whistle on sb/sth | to report a wrongdoing | Edward blew the whistle on government spying. |
clean as a whistle | absolutely clean | I want to see your bedroom clean as a whistle when I come home. |
Ball
Idiom | Explanation | Example |
---|---|---|
start/set/get/keep the ball rolling | get something started/keep something going | OK, let's get the ball rolling. Who'd like to go first? |
be on the ball | be a competent person | The new girl is really on the ball. She finished a week's worth of work in two days! |
take the ball and run with it | taking over and further developing something that another person has started | It's up to our competition to take the ball and run with it. |
play ball | agree to do something | Asher tried to get an extension for her homework, but the teacher wouldn't play ball. |
Others
Idiom | Explanation | Example |
---|---|---|
pay the penalty/price | suffer the consequences | Colin cheated on his English exam. Now he has to pay the penalty – three weeks detention! |
play it safe | avoid taking a risk | Play it safe and take an umbrella with you. You never know, it might rain later. |
move the goalposts | change the rules (in a bad way) | I had almost finished my assignment when the teacher moved the goalposts. We had do write fifteen pages instead of ten. |
score an own goal | something that someone did to get an advantage which then becomes a disadvantage for that person | He scored an own goal when he asked for a pay rise. The company decided he was too expensive and hired someone else. |