Idioms: Relationships & Love

All?s fair in love and war.something that you say which means behaviour that is unpleasant or not fair is acceptable during an argument or competition

We weren?t cheating, we were just playing to win. Anyway, all?s fair in love and war.

ask for someone?s hand in marriage; ask someone to marry youAfter dating his girlfriend for several years he finally asked for her hand in marriage.

attracted to (someone)feel a physical or emotional attraction to someone

I was attracted to the woman at the party from the moment that I first met her.

blind datea date where the two people have never met before

I went on a blind date in university but it did not work out very well.

break someone?s heartcause someone emotional pain

The man broke his girlfriend?s heart when he told her that he was no longer in love with her.

break upend a relationship

They broke up after dating for more than three years.

crazy about (someone)think that another person is wonderful

My cousin has been crazy about the bank manager for many months now.

cupboard love(British & Australian) love that you give in order to get something from someone.

I suspected all along it was just cupboard love, and what she really liked about him was his car.

date someonego on or have a date with someone

My sister has been dating her boyfriend for over two years now.

dig someonelike someone a lot (dig someone is not a commonly used idiom now)

She really digs the boy in her chemistry class.

double datea date where two couples get together to do something

It was a good idea to go on the double date even though everybody wanted to do something different.

dump someoneend a relationship by telling someone that you don?t want to see him or her

The woman dumped her boyfriend after they began to have many fights.

fall in love (with someone)to begin to love someone.

The movie tells the story of a country doctor who falls in love with a beautiful waitress. I was thinking about falling in love for the first time and trying to remember my first boyfriend.

fall in love (with something)to become strongly attracted to a place, activity, or thing.

We spent three weeks in Georgetown and absolutely fell in love with it. I test drove the car and I just fell in love.

fall for (someone)fall in love with someone

She always seems to fall for the wrong person and is never happy.

find Mr. Rightfind the right or perfect person

She is always hoping to find Mr. Right but so far she hasn?t had any luck.

first lovethe first person that one falls in love with

Her first love was with a boy in her high school art class.

get along with someonehave a good friendly relationship with someone

The woman gets along with her friends very well.

get back togetherreturn to a relationship or marriage after breaking up

The man got back together with his girlfriend after separating for several months last winter.

get engageddecide to marry someone

He got engaged to his wife several years before they actually got married.

get hitchedget married

My sister and her boyfriend surprised everyone by suddenly getting hitched last weekend.

get seriousa relationship becomes serious and long-term

The two students dated for several months before they began to get serious.

give someone (or something) a second chancetry to save a relationship by forgiving and welcoming the other person back

The girl?s boyfriend left her for several months but when he wanted to come back she was happy to give him a second chance.

go Dutcha date where each person pays half of the expenses

In university many of the students had little money so they often went dutch when they were on a date.

good togethertwo people who get along well with each other

They are very good together and nobody has ever seen them argue.

go out with someonego on a date or be dating someone

I have been going out with a woman from my hiking club for several months now.

go steadydate one person regularly (not so common recently but at one time used often by teenagers)

The two students have been going steady for three years now.

have a crush (on someone)have strong feelings of love for someone (often for a short time and with no results)

The young girl had a crush on her teacher in junior high school but of course it was an impossible situation.

have a thing for (someone)be attracted and care a lot about someone

She seems to have a thing for the new guy who just started to work at her company.

head over heels (in love)to be in love with someone very much, especially at the beginning of a relationship

It?s obvious that they?re head over heels in love with each other.

hit it off (with someone)get along well with someone (usually from the beginning)

I hit it off with a woman in my photography class and we have been dating for several months now.

hung up on someonebe obsessed with another person

The young woman has been hung up on a member of her tennis club for many months now.

I must/I?ll love you and leave you. (humorous) something that you say when you say goodbye to someone that you are leaving.

Well, I?m sure you?ve got work to be doing so I?ll love you and leave you.

interested in (someone)have a romantic interest in someone and possibly want to date that person

My sister has been interested in one of the students in her university biology class for many months now.

kiss and makeupbecome friends again after a fight or argument

After they have a fight the couple is always very quick to kiss and make up.

labour of love(British & Australian, American & Australian) an activity that is hard work but that you do because you enjoy it.

He prefers to paint the house himself ? it?s a real labour of love.

love at first sightan immediate, strong attraction for someone you just met.

She took an immediate liking to him? It was love at first sight.

love childa child whose parents are not married to each other.

He allegedly has a love child in Australia from an affair with a much younger woman.

love handles(humorous) a layer of extra fat around the middle of a person?s body.

You wouldn?t want me to lose my love handles, would you?

the love of one?s life (humorous) the person that you love most in all your life.

And there I was, watching the love of my life board a plane to go to the other side of the world.

love someone/something to bits(informal) to like or to love someone or something a lot.

Clive?s the nicest person I know. I love him to bits. ?Do you like your new bike, then?? ?Oh, I love it to bits!?

love someone to deathto feel extremely strong affection for someone.

She is easy to work with, and everyone in the office loves her to death.

love-in(informal) a situation where two or more people praise each other a lot, especially when the praise is more than they deserve.

The awards ceremony, as usual, was a love-in.

leave someone for someone elseend a relationship with your partner and start a relationship with someone else

The man left his wife for his secretary but soon discovered that his life was worse than before.

made for each othertwo people who get along extremely well

Although we had some differences we got along very well together and seemed to be made for each other.

make eyes at someonelook at someone in a way that makes it clear that you like that person and find them attractive

The man became angry when he thought that his girlfriend was making eyes at someone else at the party.

make upwhen two people forgive each other after an argument or begin to see each other again after ending a relationship

The couple had a big fight at the restaurant but they quickly made up and things quickly got back to normal.

a match made in heavena couple who get along perfectly

When the two people finally got together it was a match made in heaven and everyone thought that they would stay together forever.

meet/find the right girl/guyfind the right partner, the one to marry

When she moved to Madrid she joked that she would never return home if she met the right guy.

Misery loves company.something that you say which means that people who are feeling sad usually want the people they are with to also feel sad.

On a bad day, she isn?t satisfied till the entire family is in tears. Misery loves company.

no love lostno feelings of respect, admiration, or affection.

They had a curious relationship ? there was no love lost there.

Usage notes: often used with between: There?s no love lost between Morris and his publisher.

not for love nor/or moneyif you say that you cannot or will not do something for love nor money, you mean that it is impossible to do or that you will not do it whatever happens.

It?s incredibly popular. You can?t get tickets for love nor money. He?s hopeless and unreliable. I wouldn?t give him a job for love nor money.

on the rocksa relationship or a marriage that is experiencing problems

They are experiencing many problems at the moment and their relationship appears to be on the rocks.

the one (for someone)the right partner, the one to marry

As soon as I introduced my girlfriend to my mother she said that she was probably the one for me.

one and onlythe only person that one loves

She was his one and only and he felt lost when the relationship ended.

patch up a relationshiprepair a broken relationship

Although the couple had been fighting and wanted to separate they managed to patch up their relationship and are now very happy together.

perfect coupletwo people who appear to get along perfectly

Our neighbours have always seemed to be the perfect couple.

pop the questionask someone to marry you

He put much thought into his possible wedding before he actually decided to pop the question.

puppy loveromantic love which a young person feels for someone and which usually disappears as they become older

At the time I was sure I would marry him when I grew up but of course it was just puppy love.

say ?I do?get married (during a wedding ceremony it is common to say ?I do? when you agree to marry your partner)

He loved the woman very much and was hoping that she would say ?I do? as soon as they could make the wedding arrangements.

seeing someonebe dating someone on a regular basis

The woman was not seeing anyone when she met a man who she liked at the party.

send one?s love to someoneto give a message of affection from you to someone else.

Maggie asked me to send her love to you and the boys.

set a datedecide on a date for a wedding

After thinking about marriage for a long time they have finally decided to set a date.

settle downestablish a regular routine after getting married

After dating dozens of women the young man finally decided to settle down.

split uptwo people in a relationship decide to end their relationship

My sister?s daughter and her boyfriend decided to split up after being together for seven years.

steal someone?s heartcause someone to fall in love with you

She quickly stole the heart of the man who was working beside her at her office.

take one?s vowsget married and take your wedding vows (promises)

They were taking their vows down at the county courthouse when I came for a visit.

those three little wordsthe words ?I love you?

After several months of dating the young man finally said those three little words to his girlfriend.

tie the knotget married

After dating for several years the young couple suddenly decided to tie the knot.

true lovea genuine feeling of romantic love

It seemed like true love until we began to fight all of the time.

unrequited lovelove that is not returned, one-way love

The woman was in love with the president of her company but from the beginning it was a case of unrequited love.

walk down the aisle togetherget married (in this case in a Christian church where many weddings take place and where the bride walks down the aisle to the altar)

They get along very well and they have finally decided to walk down the aisle and begin their life together.

walk out onabandon your partner and end a relationship

The man walked out on his wife and their small baby and nobody knew the reason why.

whisper sweet nothings in someone?s earromantic, intimate talk

The movie was rather romantic and most of the scenes had the actor whispering sweet nothings in the ear of the actress.

Love Quotes

Love doesn?t make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.

Franklin P. Jones

At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.

Plato

Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.

Robert Frost

If you have it [Love], you don?t need to have anything else, and if you don?t have it, it doesn?t matter much what else you have.

Sir James M. Barrie

Love is a friendship set to music.

E. Joseph Cossman

Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination.

Voltaire

Like the measles, love is most dangerous when it comes late in life.

Lord Byron

Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

This is my commandment, that ye love one another.

Jesus, John 15:12

Love is patient, love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking.

It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

I Corinthians 13:4-8

Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs. Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers? eyes. Being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers? tears. What is it else? A madness most discreet, a choking gall and a preserving sweet.

William Shakespeare

Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.

Eric Fromm

I never knew how to worship until I knew how to love.

Henry Ward Beecher

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.

Aristotle

We can only learn to love by loving.

Iris Murdoch

If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. And if they don?t, they never were.

Kahlil Gibran

Love is not altogether a delirium, yet it has many points in common therewith.

Thomas Carlyle

If I love you, what business is it of yours?

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The sweetest joy, the wildest woe is love.

Pearl Bailey

Loving people live in a loving world. Hostile people live in a hostile world. Same world.

Wayne Dyer

Falling in love consists merely in uncorking the imagination and bottling the common-sense.

Helen Rowland

Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit.

Peter Ustinov

Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Love one another and you will be happy. It?s as simple and as difficult as that.

Michael Leunig

You don?t love a woman because she is beautiful, but she is beautiful because you love her.

Anonymous

He loves but little who can say and count in words, how much he loves.

Dante Alighieri

Everyone admits that love is wonderful and necessary, yet no one agrees on just what it is.

Diane Ackerman

Love is a given, hatred is acquired.

Doug Horton

Love is much like a wild rose, beautiful and calm, but willing to draw blood in its defense.

Mark Overby

May you live as long as you wish and love as long as you live.

Robert A. Heinlein,

Time Enough for Love

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

Mother Teresa

A friend is someone who knows all about you, and loves you just the same.

Proverb

We?ve got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can?t just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it?s going to get on by itself. You?ve got to keep watering it. You?ve got to really look after it and nurture it.

John Lennon

HUMOUR

I know that somewhere in the Universe exists my perfect soulmate ? but looking for her is much more difficult than just staying at home and ordering another pizza.

Alf Whit

I was nauseous and tingly all over. I was either in love or I had smallpox.

Woody Allen

Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.

Henry Louis Mencken

Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love.

Albert Einstein

There is a place you can touch a woman that will drive her crazy. Her heart.

Melanie Griffith, Milk Money

I recently read that love is entirely a matter of chemistry. That must be why my wife treats me like toxic waste.

David Bissonette

Happiness is the china shop; love is the bull.

H. L. Mencken

What the world really needs is more love and less paper work.

Pearl Bailey

You can?t buy love, but you can pay heavily for it.

Henny Youngman

True love comes quietly, without banners or flashing lights. If you hear bells, get your ears checked.

Erich Segal

You can?t put a price tag on love, but you can on all its accessories.

Melanie Clark

Love: Two minds without a single thought.

Philip Barry

Three things can?t be hidden: coughing, poverty, and love.

Yiddish proverb

We cannot really love anybody without whom we never laugh.

Alice Reppler

Date: 2016-06-12; view: 140