Idioms of "foot"

[Cycnbj]

hello, friends!

I am a english teacher from china.
could you please help find some idioms about "foot".

thank you!

[Torsten]

Hi and welcome to english-test.net -- as for foot idioms, you can foot the bill, that means, you pay or settle the bill.
Regards,
Torsten
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[Conchita]

Questions about idioms are among my favourites! Here are a few more ‘foot’ idioms:

Put your foot down: to insist/to be firm:
I put my foot down and told him he must be home by 10 o’clock.

Put your foot in it: to do or say something tactless.

Put your best foot forward: to try hard.

The boot/shoe is on the other foot: the situation is now the opposite of what it was, especially because someone who was weak now has power.

Get a/your foot in the door: to enter a business or organization at a low level, but with a chance of being more successful in the future:
Making contacts can help you get a foot in the door when it comes to getting a job.

Have a foot in both camps: to be connected to two groups with opposing interests.

Have one foot in the grave (humorous): to be very old and near death.

My foot (informal): used to mean that you do not believe what another person has just told you:
"He says his car isn't working." "Not working my foot. He's just too lazy to come."

Get off on the right/wrong foot: to make a successful/unsuccessful start in something.

Not put a foot wrong: to not make any mistakes.

Shoot yourself in the foot: to unintentionally do something which spoils a situation for yourself.

Catch somebody on the wrong foot: If something catches you on the wrong foot, you are not prepared for it:
I hadn't expected the question and it caught me on the wrong foot.

[Tamara]

Hi

wait on someone hand and foot: to do everything for another person.
You should do some of the work around here instead of being waited on hand and foot all the time.
Usage notes: often used as a negative remark about someone thought of as unwilling to work

to set / put / have one's foot on the neck of smb. - enslave, subjugate

to know (to get, to find, to have, to take) the length of smb.'s foot = get smb.'s measure: to understand what someone or something is like and to know how to deal with them.

to put one's feet up : do nothing, idle, have a loaf

not touch something with a ten-foot pole: to not want to become involved with something.
If I were you, I wouldn't touch that job with a ten-foot pole.
Usage notes: often used as a warning

to put one's best foot forward: to make/create the best impression (on, upon) smb.

There are also lots of idioms with ‘feet’.
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[Fan Of Arabian Horses]

Hi all!

I?m a bit anxious that Torsten?s first idea concerning ?foot idioms? was to foot the bills. I wonder what bills. As this site is supposed to be for free. Or would you like to require a fee from the users of this site?

Sorry Torsten, I?m kidding only!

Nevertheless, interesting topic!

Michael

[Cycnbj]

oh! so many idioms about " foot", very interesting!
recently I read a short essay ,one line "I ground my teeth. I was not Pygmalion;I was Frankenstein........
I can not understand this sentence.can you explain it to me? As native speaker ,you can help me a lot.thank you!

[Haihao]

Hi,

I am also very interested in those idioms with 'foot' but still having a few unsolved problems with some of them.

1. Put one's best foot forward

Does it have multiple meanings? (try hard, make the best impression, do one's level best...) Or is there a main one and others are derivational? By the way, an interesting thing with it is, 'put one's better foot' would be more theoretically acceptable when it applys to human beings. (sorry, just curious and for fun)

2. Put one's foot in the mouth

What is the picture of this one? I couldn't come up with an idea for its literal expression but since the meaning is somewhere around 'say something wrong (unsmart)' I am wondering if the 'foot' means 'a wrong step'?

Could you help me with them? Thank you.

haihao

[Alan]

Hi,

I like your comment about 'better foot'. The expression 'put your best foot forward' suggests to me primarily the idea of doing the best that you can in a situation by making an effort and showing to everyone that you can achieve what you want. It's often used as an encouragement to another person by recommending that they do this.

The other expression is more usually called simply 'foot in mouth' to describe awkward expressions that don't really make sense or cause embarrassment. There is an organisation called The Plain English Campaign that aims to improve the standard of written/spoken English, particularly in official documents and speeches. Each year they give awards (Foot in Mouth awards) to people they consider have expressed themselves badly. A classic example is this:

Former United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld received an award for comments in a press briefing.

[Haihao]

Hi Alan,

Many thanks again. The quote was really interesting. By the way, I have run into another sentence today I am not quite clear about: 'For a while there I was just able to keep my head above water.'

1. Does the 'there' in it mean 'in that place' or something else?
2. Does the 'water' refer to danger of drowning so the idiom has its meaning of 'a narrow escape from some danger'?

Thank you in advance.

haihao