Idioms Beginning with J

Here, you will  find idioms that start with the letter J.

A B C D E F G H I
J K L M N O P Q R
S T U V W X Y Z

Examples of Idioms Beginning With J

Jack of All Trades: someone with many different skills, especially in carpentry, plumbing, electricity, mechanics, etc.; someone who dabbles in many different occupations.

Jack Up, to: to jack up something means to raise it or increase it.

Jig Is Up, the: the jig is up is used to mean that the deception or scheme has been exposed and is over. It is an often tongue-in-cheek way of saying “it’s over; I’m caught.”

Johnny On The Spot: a person who is always available and willing to do whatever needs to be done. He or she is always in the right place when they are needed and great in an emergency. Someone who is the right person in the right place.

Johnny-Come-Lately: Johnny-come-lately is meant to express disapproval. A johnny-come-lately is a person who joins something after it has already started and is more successful than warranted or expresses knowledge or expertise that their limited experience does not warrant. It usually refers to an undeserving newcomer or a novice who is arrogant, i.e., an ‘upstart.’

Join the Club: we say “join the club’ to someone when they tell us they are in a certain unfortunate situation that we are already in ourselves. It is also used to tell someone we feel the same as they do after they tell us how they feel about something.

Jump At Something (chance, offer, opportunity): tojump at something, such as a chance, offer, or opportunity, it is to quickly take advantage of it; to not hesitate to avail oneself of an opportunity; to enthusiastically seize an offer or opportunity.

Jump In With Both Feet: to become involved with something very quickly, enthusiastically, and completely. To commit completely to something without carefully thinking about the situation beforehand.

Jump on the Bandwagon: to get involved in something or support something that has recently become popular; to do something because it is trending and fashionable; in terms of business, to do something because it is likely to be profitable owing to its current popularity; to join a cause or a movement.

Jump the Shark: 1. When a television series reaches a point where it includes unlikely, ridiculous or far-fetched events in a desperate attempt to stay entertaining or maintain novelty. 2. To do something ridiculous or questionable out of desperation to get attention or remain popular.

Jump Through Hoops: to do just about anything to please someone or to achieve an objective; to have to go through a very elaborate and complicated set of steps to get what you want; to do a lot of different things that seem overly difficult and unnecessary in order to achieve something; to satisfy demanding bureaucratic requirements or ‘red tape.’

Jump to Conclusions: to quickly form an opinion before learning or considering all the facts; to judge something before having all the facts; to form an opinion about something before you have all the information or have considered all the evidence; to make a decision before considering all the pros and cons; to guess the facts of a situation based on inadequate information.

Just Fell Off the Turnip Truck: Someone who just fell off the turnip truck is naive, gullible, inexperienced, easily fooled, ignorant, unsophisticated, etc. This chiefly rural idiom is often given as fall off the turnip truck but it is most often used in the past tense and preceded by ‘just’. It is often used in the negative as a way of expressing that a person is not foolish, naive, or gullible, as in “I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck, you know.” An equivalent expression is “I wasn’t born yesterday.”