Idiom Index: Words and Themes Beginning with ‘C’

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

Find idioms related to words beginning with the letter C.

Cake

• Cakewalk
• Icing on the Cake
• Piece of Cake
• Take the Cake

Call

• Call a Spade a Spade, to
• Call it a Day
• Call It Quits
• Call Names
• Call Someone’s Bluff
• Call the Shots
• Call to Account
• Pot Calling the Kettle Black
• Ride Shotgun

Can/Can’t (Verb)

• Can’t (or don’t) Judge a Book by Its Cover
• Can’t Stand Someone or Something
• Can’t Win For Losing
• Leopard Can’t Change Its Spots, a
• You Can’t Miss It

Can (Noun)

• Can Of Worms, Open a
• Kick the Can Down the Road
• Open a Can Of Whoop-Ass

Cap

• Cap Off
• Put On Your Thinking Cap

Cards

• Ace Up Your Sleeve, an
• Call Someone’s Bluff
• Cards Are Stacked Against
• Chip In, to
• Hold All The Aces
• Hold All the Cards
• Pass The Buck
• Put All Your Cards On the Table
• Stack the Deck

Care

• I Couldn’t Care Less
• Take Care
• TLC
• Who Cares?

Carpet

• Sweep Something Under the Rug

Carry

• Carry a Torch (for someone)
• Carry the Day

Case

• Basket Case
• Make a Federal Case Of Something

Cash

• Cash Cow
• Cash On the Barrelhead
• Cold, Hard Cash
• Strapped for Cash

Cast

• Die Is Cast, the

Cat

• Cat Got Your Tongue
• Catbird Seat, in the
• Catnap
• Copycat
• Curiosity Killed the Cat
• Fight Like Cats and Dogs
• Grin Like a Cheshire Cat
• Like Herding Cats
• Like Something The Cat Dragged In
• Look What the Cat Dragged In
• Not Enough Room to Swing a Cat
• Play Cat and Mouse
• Raining Cats And Dogs
• Scaredy-Cat
• When the Cat’s Away, the Mice Will Play

Catch

• Catch Fire
• Catch Some Rays
• Catch Your Breath
• Catch Your Death (You’ll)
• What’s the Catch?

Caught

• Caught In The Crossfire
• Caught Red-Handed
• Caught with Your Hand In The Cookie Jar
• Caught With Your Pants Down

Cause

• Rebel Without a Cause, a

Change

• Leopard Can’t Change Its Spots, a

Character Idioms

• Bad Egg
• Bless Your (His/Her) Heart
• Fair-Weather Friend
• Full Of Yourself
• Give the Shirt Off One’s Back
• Glass Half Empty and Glass Half Full
• Good Egg
• Heart of Gold, to have a
• Not Have A ______ Bone In One’s Body
• Pain in the Neck, a
• Salt of the Earth, the
• Show Your True Colors, to

Chase

• Ambulance Chaser
• Wild Goose Chase

Check

• Blank Check
• Bounce A Check
• Rain Check
• Rubber Check

Cheek

• Turn the Other Cheek

Chew

• Bite Off More Than You Can Chew

Chicken

• Chicken Out
• Nest Egg, a
• No Spring Chicken
• Rubber-Chicken Dinner
• Running Around Like a Chicken With its Head Cut Off

Chief

• Chief Cook and Bottle Washer

China

• Not For All the Tea in China

Chip/Chips

• Chip In, to
• Chip Off The Old Block
• Chip On Your Shoulder
• When the Chips are Down

Choose

• Pick and Choose

Circle

• Come Full Circle
• Vicious Circle

Class

• Head Of The Class

Clean

• Clean as a Hound’s Tooth
• Clean as a Whistle
• Clean Bill of Health
• Clean Up Your Act
• Come Clean
• Spick and Span

Clear

• Clear the Air
• Out of the Blue

Clock

• Clock In and Clock Out
• Even a Broken Clock Is Right Twice a Day

Close/Closed

• Behind Closed Doors
• Close But No Cigar
• Closed Book, a

Cloth

• Cut From the Same Cloth
• Cut Out of Whole Cloth

Clothing

• Buttonhole Someone
• Caught With Your Pants Down
• Empty Suit
• Give the Shirt Off One’s Back
• Gloves Are Off, the
• Keep Your Pants On
• Put On
• Take off Something
• Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

Cloud

• On Cloud Nine
• Silver Lining Meaning

Club

• Join the Club

Clutch

• Grasping At Straws

Coal

• Haul Someone Over the Coals

Cold

• Catch Your Death (You’ll)
• Cold Comfort
• Cold Fish
• Cold, Hard Cash
• Give Someone the Cold Shoulder
• Go Cold Turkey
• Make One’s Blood Run Cold

Color (word) Idioms

• Horse of a Different Color
• Local Color
• Show Your True Colors, to
• With Flying Colors

Colors

• Baby Blues
• Black and Blue
• Blue Blood
• Brown Nose, to

See More Colors Idioms

Comb

• Go Through (or Over) Something with a Fine-Tooth Comb

Come

• Come Apart at the Seams
• Come Clean
• Come Full Circle
• Come Hell or High Water
• Come In Handy
• Come Into Someone’s Head
• Come To A Head
• Johnny-Come-Lately
• Till the Cows Come Home
• When it Comes to Something
• When Push Comes to Shove

Comfort

• Cold Comfort

Compliment

• Backhanded Compliment
• Damn With Faint Praise

Condition

• Mint Condition, in

Contempt

• Beneath Contempt
• Familiarity Breeds Contempt

Cook

• Chief Cook and Bottle Washer
• Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth

Cookie

• Caught with Your Hand In The Cookie Jar
• That’s the Way the Cookie Crumbles

Corner

• Cut Corners
• Out of the Corner of One’s Eye

Cost

• Arm and a Leg, an

Could/Couldn’t

• Couldn’t Agree More (I, somebody)
• Eat A Horse, I could
• I Couldn’t Care Less

Count

• And Counting… Idiom
• Count Your Blessings
• Don’t Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch

Country (Idioms with Countries)

• Take French Leave

Course

• Let Nature Take It’s Course
• Par For the Course
• Run Its Course

Cover

• Can’t (or don’t) Judge a Book by Its Cover

Cow

• Cash Cow
• Holy Cow

Crack

• Crack Up
• Not All It’s Cracked Up To Be
• Tough Nut to Crack, a

Cradle

• From the Cradle to the Grave
• Rob the Cradle

Creek

• Up The Creek (Without a Paddle)

Creep

• Make One’s Skin Crawl

Cross

• Cross My (or your) Heart
• Cross Someone’s Path
• Cross the Rubicon
• Cross Your Fingers

Crow

• As the Crow Flies
• Eat Crow

Cry

• Cry Me a River
• Cry Wolf
• Crying Shame, a
• Don’t Cry Over Spilt Milk

Cup

• Not My Cup of Tea

Curry Favor

• Brown Nose, to
• Curry Favor, to
• Kiss Ass or Kiss Butt, to
• Suck Up (to someone)

Cut

• A Cut Above
• Cut And Dried
• Cut and Run
• Cut Corners
• Cut From the Same Cloth
• Cut Out of Whole Cloth
• Cut the Mustard
• Fish Or Cut Bait
• Running Around Like a Chicken With its Head Cut Off