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Spooky Halloween Idioms You Can Use All Year
When you think of Halloween, you might imagine things like ghosts, skeletons, witches and spiders.
But the Halloween season isn't the only time we talk about these things; in fact, many of them are part of the English people use every day.
This time, we'll look at common English idioms related to the spooky topics often connected with Halloween.
Halloween Expressions to Use All Year
Skeletons in one’s closet
Someone has "skeletons in their closet" if there are things in their past that they want to keep secret.
The politician will lose the election if the public finds out about the skeletons in his closet.
Scare up
"Scare up" is a phrasal verb that means "to find" or "to get" — especially when doing it isn't easy.
When my son's friends came to our house, I had to scare up some snacks for everyone.
I managed to scare up the money to buy tickets before they sold out.
Related article: New to Phrasal Verbs? Start Here!
Come back to haunt you
Ghosts "haunt" places where they often appear. But we also use this word for things like actions in the past that return and cause problems.
The choice to use cheap building materials instead of stronger ones might come back to haunt them in the future.
Nail in the coffin
Coffins are long boxes for dead bodies that are put into the ground.
However, a "nail in the coffin" is an event or action that causes something to fail.
Jeff was already in trouble with the boss, but being late for the important meeting was the nail in the coffin.
Dig one’s own grave
Graves are holes in the ground where coffins are buried.
Someone who's "digging their own grave" is doing something that will hurt them in the future.
Mark is digging his own grave by making those big promises that he can't keep.
Want to try using these spooky idioms in a real conversation? Book a 25-minute English lesson with an Engoo tutor today!
Drop-dead gorgeous
We use "drop-dead gorgeous" to describe someone who is extremely attractive.
One of my classmates is drop-dead gorgeous; she could be a supermodel!
The graveyard shift
A graveyard is a field where the bodies of the dead are buried.
However, the "graveyard shift" is another name for the overnight shift, when workers work from late at night until early the next morning.
I'm drinking a lot of coffee now because I work the graveyard shift tonight.
Related article: Go Juice: English Slang for Coffee and Caffeine
Ghost town
"Ghost towns" are areas with no people or activity. Places like these often give people a creepy, unpleasant feeling.
When online shopping became popular, many shopping malls became ghost towns.
Make one’s blood boil
If your blood is boiling, it means you're extremely angry!
My next-door neighbor throws loud parties every night. It really makes my blood boil!
Look like you’ve seen a ghost
Someone who looks like they've seen a ghost is very surprised or very scared — or both!
What's up? You look like you've seen a ghost!
Dead ringer
A "dead ringer" is someone who looks exactly like someone else.
Wow, you're a dead ringer for my cousin. You could be twins!
Scared stiff
Something stiff is hard and unable to be bent easily. So someone who is "scared stiff" is so scared that they can't move!
We were all scared stiff when we heard the strange noises coming from upstairs.
Like a bat out of hell
Bats are the small flying animals that often appear in stories about vampires.
If something is moving "like a bat out of hell," it's moving very quickly.
When the cat saw the big dog, it ran out of the house like a bat out of hell.
Roll over in one’s grave
We use this idiom when something is so bad that it would cause a dead person to be upset.
The designers of this house would roll over in their graves if they knew how much its new owners have changed it.
Wrap-up
Remember that the expressions we've introduced here can be used any time of the year, so don't wait for Halloween to give them a try in your conversations!
If you'd like to learn more interesting and useful English idioms, check out the following posts:
