white-collar worker
Meaning: An office worker.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Category: Daily Life
Origin: The expression describes the color of the collar (and therefore the business shirt) worn by office workers. A manual laborer would not wear a white shirt because it would get dirty very quickly and be hard to keep clean.
More idioms — Daily Life
- white lie — A minor, polite, or harmless lie.
- whitewash — To conceal something bad; to make something look better than it really is.
- the whole kit and caboodle — The entire amount; the whole lot.
- go the whole nine yards — The entire amount; (to go) all out.
- wing it — To improvise; to do something without planning or preparation.
- wipe the slate clean — To set a situation right or erase something bad.
More English idioms
- yellow — Cowardly.
- yellow journalism — Journalism that is exaggerated or unnecessarily sensational.
- with flying colors — Triumphantly; victoriously.
- come from the wrong side of the tracks — The poor part of town.
- The last straw that broke the camel's back — The final small burden that causes a total collapse.
- To have a frog in your throat — To have difficulty speaking due to hoarseness.
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