Entry 1
Country house hotel
Meaning An upmarket hotel located in a revamped rural mansion.
Example
- We wanted to go somewhere special for our anniversary and Jim booked us into a lovely country house hotel in the Cotswolds.
Pronunciation
Idioms · 8 entries
Building
What does "Building" mean?
An upmarket hotel located in a revamped rural mansion.
Country house hotel
Elvis has left the building
USA, late 20th century.
Flea market
Britain, early 20th century.
Funny farm
Glass ceiling
America, 20th century.
Man cave
USA, late 20th century.
No room to swing a cat
Britain, 17th century. Not, as is often believed, derived from the use of the cat o’ nine tails.
Shovel ready
USA, late 20th century.
Entry 2
Elvis has left the building
Meaning The primary performer has left. There's no point waiting around.
Usage Worldwide, but more common in the USA than elsewhere.
Example
- Go away. We're closed. It's all over. Nothing to see here. Elvis has left the building. Do I need to go on?
Pronunciation
Entry 3
Flea market
Meaning A market used to buy and sell inexpensive goods. The kind of place that might sell carpets infested with fleas.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- I need some cheap costume jewelry for the school play. Maybe the flea market would be the place.
Pronunciation
Entry 4
Funny farm
Meaning A mental hospital.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- Sadly, Jack was so psychotic they had to take him to the funny farm.
Pronunciation
Entry 5
Glass ceiling
Meaning An unacknowledged or unseen discriminatory barrier that prevents women and minorities from rising to positions of power.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- I've more experience, better qualifications and work harder than my male co-workers, yet I still don't get promoted and no one tells me why. I guess that's what they call the glass ceiling.
Pronunciation
Entry 6
Man cave
Meaning A shed or some other retreat that men decorate in the way they choose (with or without their male friends) and use to relax in traditional male pursuits.
Usage Worldwide. A fairly recent coinage but spreading rapidly around the world.
Example
- After I retired Sheila was getting so fed up with me being around the house that she made me turn the outhouse into a man cave. Now the guys come round each afternoon to play cards and watch tv and I've made a sculpture out of beer cans.
Pronunciation
Entry 7
No room to swing a cat
Meaning An awkward or confined space.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- This hotels room is supposed to be for two people! Hardly, there's not room to swing a cat in here.
Pronunciation
Entry 8
Shovel ready
Meaning A building project in which all the preliminaries have been arranged.
Usage Mostly USA and Britain.
Example
- Planning consent is done. The site is cleared. The project is shovel ready.
Pronunciation