Upper Intermediate Level >> Vocabulary Worksheets >> Students get vocabulary practice with idioms related to animals and also their definitions.
Animal Idioms
Upper Intermediate
The definitions and idioms have been lined up in the table...and the answers filled in for each sentence.
| You can't teach an old dog new tricks | Someone who is too accustomed to old habits won't want to change. |
| Crocodile tears | False tears to give impression of sadness |
| Bear with a sore paw | Someone in a bad mood |
| Have a whale of a time | Have an exciting, interesting time. Enjoy oneself enormously |
| To rat on somebody | Tell a person in authority about the bad behaviour of another person |
| Cold turkey | Period of time without something you are addicted to |
| Don't count your chickens before they hatch. | Don't presume anything until it is certain |
| Hen pecked | Husband who is nagged at by his wife |
| Like a fish out of water | Someone in a strange situation they are not used to |
| Dog tired | Extremely tired. |
| A fly in the ointment | One big problem in an otherwise faultless plan |
| A bee in your bonnet | Be angry, resentful about a certain issue |
1. I don't want him crying __CROCODILE TEARS__ for me. I know he couldn't care less about me failing that exam.
2. I have been working on my thesis for 3 days without sleeping. I feel __DOG TIRED__.
3. Some people say the best way to beat a drug addiction is to have a week of __COLD TURKEY__.
4. When we went to Disneyland, we had __A WHALE OF A TIME__. We went on all the rides, met Mickey Mouse and bought loads of souvenirs too.
5. Stay away from Don today. He's like __A BEAR WITH A SORE PAW__. I don't know what could've happened.
6. Our new secretary is __A FISH OUT OF WATER__. She worked in a supermarket for ten years before and I say __YOU CAN'T TEACH OLD DOGS NEW TRICKS__.
7. Don't mention you went to Harvard to Jim. He has got a real __BEE IN HIS BONNET__ about that place!
8. You have only been for one job interview and you are already planning how to spend your first salary!! You shouldn't __COUNT YOUR CHICKENS BEFORE THEY HATCH__.
9. Everything is planned for the vacation. The visas arrived yesterday and we have booked a great hotel by the beach. The only __FLY IN THE OINTMENT__ is that there is a hurricane on its way to the island!
10. I didn't think anyone had seen me copy the test but William __RATTED ON ME__ to Professor Sykes and I got expelled.
11. That poor Mr. Dyson looks totally __HEN PECKED__ by that dragon of a wife he has. She never stops complaining about every little thing he does.
