Seven Spooky Idioms

Spooky season is officially here! This weekend in the UK we are busy carving pumpkins, creating costumes, and choosing the best scary movies to watch 🎃👻👀

So now is a great time to learn our top 7 halloween-related idioms and give your English vocabulary a boost. (Don't worry though, you can use these phrases any time of year!) Read on to find out more...

1. Drop dead gorgeous

If you describe someone as drop-dead gorgeous, you mean that they are so beautiful that everyone will notice them.

I think Naomi Campbell is a drop dead gorgeous model!

2. Skeleton in the closet

This refers to an embarrassing or shameful secret that a person wants to keep hidden.

Most families have one or two skeletons in the closet.

4. Dig your own grave

When you do something that could cause you harm, we say you are digging your own grave.

She dug her own grave when she made fun of the boss.

3. Like a bat out of hell

This idiom describes moving extremely fast or wildly, often when you're running away from something.

He drove away from the crime scene like a bat out of hell.

5. Stab someone in the back

If you say that someone has stabbed you in the back, you mean that they have done something to hurt or betray you, when you thought that you could trust them.

A lot of people in this business think they have to stab each other in the back to succeed.

7. Ghost town

A ghost town is a town or city that used to be busy in the past, but has now been abandoned. Few or no people live there any more.

Many of the old mining communities are ghost towns now.

6. Over my dead body

You can use this phrase when you want to say you will do everything you can to stop something from happening.

My daughter will ride a motorbike over my dead body!

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We hope you enjoyed learning these 'spooktacular' idioms! Which ones will you try to use next in your own speaking and writing? Let us know in the comments.

And if you're ready to take your English to the next level, check out our online evening classes - only £20 per week!

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Happy Halloween from all of us here at Brighter English 👋🏼