IdiomBody & Senses
English
Englishput something on the back burner
Meaning: To decrease the amount of energy spent on some activity; to delay or postpone action on some activity.
Example: “We've put the kitchen remodel on the back burner until next year.”
Equivalents in other languages
German: etwas auf die lange Bank schieben Literally: To push something onto the long bench
Russian: отложить в долгий ящик (otlozhit' v dolgiy yashchik) Literally: To set aside in a long drawer
Origin: The expression on the back burner comes from cooking on a standard stove, which has four burners, two in front and two in back. The burners in front are used for immediate cooking, while the ones in back are often used for simmering or keeping things warm. To move something to the front burner means to make some project highest priority.
More English idioms
- poker face An expressionless face; a face that reveals nothing of one's feelings or thoughts.
- put one's best foot forward To try to make the best possible impression.
- put one's finger on it To identify or understand something properly.
- put one's foot down To be firm and unyielding about something.
- put one's money where one's mouth is To back up one's words with money or action.
- rack one's brain To search through one's mind intensively; to try very hard to think of something.
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Words that look familiar in another language but mean something else entirely.
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