cool as a cucumber
Meaning: Very calm, especially under pressure.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “She walked into the exam cool as a cucumber.”
Category: Food & Drink
Origin: Cucumbers stay cool inside even on hot days. The comparison is found from the 18th century; John Gay used "cool as a cucumber" in a 1732 poem.
Equivalents in other languages
- Swedish: ha is i magen — literally: to have ice in the belly
More idioms — Food & Drink
- too many cooks spoil the broth — When too many people work on something, the result is worse.
- toss one's cookies — To vomit.
- manna from heaven — Something good that arrives unexpectedly just when it is needed.
- cook the books — To falsify figures, especially accounts.
- like chalk and cheese — Completely different, though perhaps similar at first glance.
- teach your grandmother to suck eggs — To give advice to someone who knows far more than you.
More English idioms
- in broad daylight — Openly, during the day, when anyone could see.
- not my circus, not my monkeys — It's not my problem, so I'm staying out of it.
- give someone what for — To scold or punish someone severely.
- like talking to a brick wall — Speaking to someone who does not listen or respond.
- have a thing for someone — To be attracted to someone.
- a vicious circle — A situation where one problem causes another, which makes the first worse.
From our untranslatable words
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