set alarm bells ringing
Meaning: To make someone suspect that something is wrong.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “An email asking for my bank password set alarm bells ringing.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Bells long warned towns of fire or danger. The figurative sense, something that makes you suspect trouble, is modern; no first use has been traced.
Equivalents in other languages
- French: Mettre la puce à l'oreille — literally: To put the flea in the ear
More idioms — Daily Life
- throw the baby out with the bathwater — To discard something valuable while getting rid of what is unwanted.
- the pot calling the kettle black — Said when someone criticizes another person for a fault they have themselves.
- keep one's cards close to one's chest — To keep one's plans or intentions secret.
- be all the rage — To be extremely fashionable or popular for a time.
- avoid like the plague — To stay as far away as possible from someone or something.
- lay it on thick — To exaggerate, especially praise or flattery, far too much.
More English idioms
- get back on one's feet — To recover after an illness or a setback.
- not sleep a wink — To not sleep at all.
- work oneself into a lather — To become very agitated, anxious or angry.
- stake one's life on it — To be absolutely certain that something is true.
- welcome with open arms — To greet or accept someone with great warmth and enthusiasm.
- count on the fingers of one hand — To be very few in number, five or fewer.
From our tongue twisters
- Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter. — A 'b / t / tt' plosive drill that bounces between Betty, butter, and bitter.
- She sells seashells by the seashore. — The definitive 's' versus 'sh' alternation — the tongue has to switch place of articulati…
- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. — A relentless 'p' plosive drill; a peck is an old dry measure of about nine litres.