kens Idiom

chickens come home to roost

we cannot escape the consequences of our actions We soon discover that lies return to their owner, just as chickens come home to roost.

chickenshit

(See chicken)

count your chickens before they hatch

depend heavily on plans, spend money that you have not received "Politicians have learned not to ""count their chickens"" before the election."

don't count your chickens before they hatch

do not expect all plans to be successful, wait until you get the final results """Look at the sales I'm going to make this month - over 50!"" ""Don't count your chickens... ."""

what the dickens

where did it go? how do you explain it? What the dickens did you do to your hair? Who cut it off?

The plot thickens

Idiom(s): The plot thickens

Theme: INTEREST

Things are becoming more complicated or interesting.
• The police assumed that the woman was murdered by her ex-husband, but he has an alibi. The plot thickens.
• John is supposed to be going out with Mary, but I saw him last night with Sally. The plot thickens.

go to bed with the chickens

Idiom(s): go to bed with the chickens

Theme: EARLY

to go to bed at sundown; to go to bed very early (when the chickens do).
• Of course I get enough sleep. I go to bed with the chickens.
• Mr. Brown goes to bed with the chickens and gets up with them, too.

count one's chickens before they hatch

Idiom(s): count one's chickens before they hatch

Theme: COUNTING

to plan how to utilize good results of something before those results have occurred. (Frequently used in the negative.)
• You're way ahead of yourself Don't count your chickens before they hatch.
• You may be disappointed if you count your chickens before they hatch.

raise the dickens with

Idiom(s): raise the devil (with sb or sth) AND raise hell (with sb/sth); raise cain (with sb or sth); raise the dickens (with sb/sth)

Theme: INCITE

to act in some extreme manner; to make trouble; to behave wildly; to be very angry. (Informal. Use hell with caution.)
• John was out all night raising the devil.
• Don't come around here and raise hell with everybody.
• That cheap gas I bought really raised the dickens with my car's engine.

Don't count your chickens before they're hatched.

You must not be too confident that something will be successful.

Don't catch your chickens before they're hatched

This means that you should wait until you know whether something has produced the results you desire, rather than acting beforehand. ('Don't count your chickens until they've hatched' is an alternative.)

When the chickens come home to roost

When a person pays dearly for something bad he or she did in the past, the chickens come home to roost.

chickens come home to roost|chicken|chickens|home|

informal Words or acts come back to cause trouble for a person; something bad you said or did receives punishment; you get the punishment that you deserve. Fred's chickens finally came home to roost today. He was late so often that the teacher made him go to the principal.

Often used in a short form. Mary's selfishness will come home to roost some day.

count one's chickens before they're hatched|chicke

v. phr., informal To depend on getting a profit or gain before you have it; make plans that suppose something will happen; be too sure that something will happen. Usually used in negative sentences. When Jim said that he would be made captain of the team, John told him not to count his chickens before they were hatched. Maybe some of your customers won't pay, and then where will you be? Don't count your chickens before they're hatched.

go to bed with the chickens|bed|chickens|go|go to

v. phr., informal To go to bed early at night. On the farm John worked hard and went to bed with the chickens. Mr. Barnes goes to bed with the chickens because he has to get up at 5 A.M.

plot thickens, the

plot thickens, the
Circumstances are becoming very complex or mysterious. Today this term is often used ironically or half-humorously, as in His companion wasn't his wife or his partner—the plot thickens. Originally (1671) it described the plot of a play that was overly intricate, and by the late 1800s it was used for increasingly complex mysteries in detective stories.

More Idioms/Phrases

plea please pledge Pleistocene plenty plight Pliocene plot thickens, the plow plow back plow under pluck plug