Г

гадать на чайной гуще - to read the tea-leaves: “I am not a person to read the tea leaves. I prefer to go and see with my own eyes.”

 

гадкий утенок - an ugly duckling: “Marian has grown into a beautiful girl out of ugly duckling she used to be.

 

генеральное сражение - a pitched battle: a battle in which large forces on both sides are committed

 

Геркулесов труд - Hercules’ labour: “That’s, too, is on the list of Hercules’ labour.”

 

глава семьи - the head of the family: usually the father

 

гладить по головке - to give (someone) a pat on the back: “The child who is patted on the back for doing a lesson well is pleased and ought to be.”

 

глаз наметан - a trained eye: “Dave has a trained eye for such kind of stuff.”

 

глаза на мокром месте - easily moved to tears: “She has been easily moved to tears over the last several years.”

 

глазом не моргнув - without batting an eye / without blinking an eye: “I won’t bat an eye, if I have to shoot you.” / “Yet everyone knew that if something needed to be taken of, Ricky could take care of it himself without blinking an eye.”

 

глубокой ночью - in the dead of night: “There were at least a hundred good reasons she shouldn’t be in a cemetery in the dead of night.”

 

гнаться за двумя зайцами - to run after two hares

 

гнуть спину (хребет) - to break one’s back: “Father has broken his back trying to keep this business going, but all in vain.”

 

говорить без обиняков - to talk turkey: “When I meet hem we usually talk turkey, because we have mush to discuss.”

 

говорить на ветер (впустую) - to whistle in the wind: “You might just whistle in the wind as talk to Henry.”

 

говорить на одном языке - to talk the same language: “We have both been running English language school for the last twenty years. We talk the same language.”

 

говорить по делу - to talk shop: “As we have only several minutes before the meeting starts, let’s talk shop.”

 

голова в голову - neck and neck: absolutely level.

 

голова на плечах -  a head on one’s shoulders: “I always listen to his judgments for he has a head on his shoulders.”

 

головоломка - brain twister

голубая кровь - blue blood/blue blooded: of the nobility or aristocracy

 

голубь мира - the dove of peace: the dove has been a symbol of peace from the time immemorial. It was the dove which brought a message from God to Noah in the ark at the height of the flood

 

Гордиев узел - the Gordian knot: a great difficulty, an almost insoluble problem

 

горе тому - woe betide you: “Woe betide you if you miss your interview. You won’t get another chance.

 

город-призрак - a ghost town: a town that is no larger inhabited

 

горькая пилюля - a bitter pill: “It was a bitter pill for him to shallow when he discovered that his wife didn’t love him any more.”

 

господин/хозяин своего слова - a man of his word: “I am sure we can trust him. He is a man of his word.”

 

готов сквозь землю провалиться - to sink through the floor: “When she asked me in front of all the guests why I had been expelled from school, I was so embarrassed I could have sunk through the floor.”

 

грести деньги лопатой - to take in the money: “His new business is raking the money in with the new product

 

гром среди ясного неба - a bolt from the blue: “The news about their marriage came like a bolt from the blue.”

 

грош цена - not worth two cents / not worth an old song: “His proposal is not worth an old song.” / “All this fuss isn’t worth two cents.”

 

гроша медного (ломаного) не стоит - см. грош цена

 

гусиная кожа - goose flesh/skin/pimples: “And then she closed her eye, hugged herself as goose flesh raised the heirs all over the body.”