Idioms related to dogs

Do you remember? An idiom is a group of words in a fixed order that have a particular meaning that is different from the meanings of each word on its own.



There's an old English saying that says, ‘A dog is a man's best friend’. But do you know that there are idioms using the word ‘dog’? See if you have heard of these:

1. You ask someone to 'call off the dogs' when you want them to stop attacking or criticising another person.
   
   
2. If it is a 'dog-eat-dog' situation, people will do anything to be successful, even if what they do harms to other people.
   
   
3. When someone is disappointed with their lives, you can say 'every dog has its day' to encourage them - this means that everyone will be successful or happy at some time in their life.
   
   
4. You 'let sleeping dogs lie' when you don't want to talk about things which have caused problems in the past or to leave something alone if it might cause trouble.
   
   
5. You can say you have to 'see a man about a dog' when you need to leave but you don't want to tell the real reason.
   
   
6. You 'are like a dog with two tails' if, say, your favourite team won the match as you are very happy about the result.
   
   
7. If a country or organisation is 'going to the dogs', it is becoming less successful than it was in the past.
   
   
8. You can describe a situation as 'tail wagging the dog' if something important is being decided or controlled by something less important.
   
   
9. Someone 'works like a dog' if that person is working very hard.
   
   
10. You may not want to go out if it is 'raining cats and dogs' as it is raining very heavily.