all told	in total and including everyone or everything; used for time, money and when you are counting
to be all for sth / to be all in favour of sth	to totally agree with / support
(when) all of a sudden	(when) suddenly
to count yourself lucky	to consider yourself lucky
sth doesn’t count	sth is not valid
to count for	to be regarded as important or valuable
at the end of the day	(inf.) the most important thing is / what you must remember is
let’s call it a day	let’s stop working (used after you have done a lot of work)
to have a field day	to have the opportunity to criticise and write a lot about sth
to be due back	to be expected to return
in due course	at some time in the future, when the time is right
It’s just as well	it is a good thing (or a lucky thing) that
only just	very nearly did not happen | only recently
to be just about to do sth	will do sth in the next few seconds
to put you in mind of sth	to remind you of sth
sth crosses your mind	to have a particular thought
no one in their right mind would	only a crazy person would...
first thing	before you do anything else
to have a real thing about	to have an obsession about
to make a big thing out of sth	(inf.) to exaggerate the importance of sth
to treat an illness	to try and cure an illness
to treat sb like dirt	to treat sb very badly
to treat sb to sth	to buy or pay for sth special for sb because you know that they will really enjoy it
way too	used to emphasise ‘too’
to go out of your way to do sth	to make a special effort to do sth for sb, even if it is inconvenient for you
the wrong way round	opposite to how it should be
to board	to live and sleep at a school during term time (used for students)
a board meeting	a meeting of the directors of a company
to go by the board	to be abandoned because it is no longer practicable
to be hard to come by	to be difficult to get or find
to feel hard done by	to feel that you have been unfairly treated
(to come) hard on the heels of sth	to happen soon after sth happens
in a matter of seconds	very quickly
(it) is no easy matter (to do sth)	it is difficult to do sth
there’s sth the matter with	there’s sth wrong with
to come to one’s office	(formal) to find out about sth
to hand in your notice	to resign from your job
at such short notice	with little advance warning so that you are probably unprepared for it
to be plain sailing	to be easy and uncomplicated to do
to make it plain that	to make it very obvious/clear that
plain English	English that is clear and easy to understand
It’s got to the point where	it has reached a stage where
to be on the point of doing sth	to be going to do sth in the next few minutes/hours
what’s the point of doing sth	used when you think that sth is not worth doing
right away	immediately
it is only right that	it is only fair and correct that
it serves sb right	sb deserves the bad thing that has happened to them
to follow suit	to do the same or to act in the same way
suit yourself	do sth just because you are determined to, even though I find it wrong
to suit sb down to the ground	to be perfect for sb
a tip	a place that is very untidy and messy
to leave a tip	to leave money for a waiter in a restaurant after you have paid the bill
to tip sb to do / be sth	to predict that sb will do or be sth
stiff competition	difficult / severe competition
to be scared stiff	to be very scared
to have (got) a stiff neck	when the muscles in your neck hurt when you try to move
don’t get me wrong	don’t misunderstand me
to get on the wrong side of sb	to annoy sb so that they dislike you