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THIS week we learn some more idioms that have their root in the word heart: Have the heart to do something: be unkind enough to do something. (Often used in the negative.) My daughter was really looking forward to the school picnic. I don’t have the heart to tell her that it has been cancelled. In one’s heart of hearts: deep inside, in one’s innermost thoughts and feelings. He says that he won’t mind if he doesn’t get the foreign assignment, but I know that in his heart of hearts he really wants it. Lose heart: become discouraged. Don’t lose heart; I am sure you will win the award next year. To one’s heart’s content: as much or as long as one wishes. During discount sales, I shop to my heart’s content. Take heart: start to feel more hopeful and confident. Relatives of those on board the aircraft that crashed today have taken heart from reports that not all lives have been lost. Take something to heart: be greatly affected, upset, influenced by something e.g. a disappointment, a failure, criticism. He had pinned a lot of hope on his latest movie. No wonder he has taken the adverse reviews to heart. One’s heart goes out to someone: one feels sympathy for someone. My heart goes out to the children whose parents were killed in the riots. One’s heart skips a beat: one feels so excited or frightened that one’s heart beats faster. My heart skipped a beat when I saw my favourite film star in flesh and blood for the first time. Pour one’s heart out: tell someone one’s secret feeling and worries, usually because one feels a strong need to talk about them. I could tell that she was lonely from the way she poured her heart out to me even though we had met after ten years. (Reference: Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms) |
