Idiom: a figurative expression or phrase that cannot usually be understood from the individual words it is made up of. Originally, many idioms had a literal meaning, lost or forgotten after years of use. There are thousands of idioms in any language, and the English language is said to have over 25,000 idiomatic expressions. Native speakers are able to recognize and understand idioms easily, but they can be quite a challenge for language learners. Here's the first post in a series aimed at shedding light on some of the best-known idioms in the English language.