Color idioms

BLACK AND BLUE

• Meaning: To be bruised either because of a beating or otherwise.
• Example: I am going to beat you black and blue.

CATCH SOMEONE RED-HANDED

• Meaning: To get caught doing something wrong, illegal or unlawful.
• Example: He was spying on the minister and the police caught him red-handed.

GREEN WITH ENVY 

• Meaning: To feel extremely jealous.
• Example: His expensive car made me go green with envy.

OFF COLOR 

• Meaning: A term used for someone looking weak or unwell.
• Example: He’d recovered from the attack but he still looked off color.

ONCE IN A BLUE MOON 

• Meaning: To refer to something that occurs very rarely.
• Example: I meet him only once in a blue moon.

SEE RED

• Meaning: To be extremely angry about something
• Example: After she betrayed him, he was seeing red.

TO SHOW YOUR TRUE COLORS

• Meaning: When someone shows their true colors, they reveal the kind of person they really are.
• Example: Only in times of need do friends show you their true colors.

TO PASS WITH FLYING COLORS 

• Meaning: To pass something with flying colors is to do very well.
• Example: I had thought I wouldn’t clear the exams but I passed with flying colors.

WHITEWASH

• Meaning: To whitewash something is to cover up its flaws.
• Example: The Indian government has been accused of trying to whitewash the Commonwealth games scandal.

GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY 

• Meaning: A golden opportunity represents an opportunity that is very hard to come by and rather unexpected.
• Example: The deal was a golden opportunity and anyone would have been foolish to have not signed it.