| waiting in the wings meaning: waiting and ready to take over or act if needed; waiting and ready to take over a job once the current person leaves 1. They don’t need to worry too much: even if the boss leaves, they have Dave waiting in the wings, ready to take over. |
| wake-up call meaning: an event that makes a person realise they have been completely wrong about something 1. I used to think everything in this city was perfect, but the walk through the ghetto was a real wake-up call. |
| walk a fine line meaning: to have to be very careful in how you act because you are very close to annoying people 1. “At the moment she is happy, but I am walking a fine line with her husband: I think he is getting more annoyed with how much time she is spending at the office.” |
| a walk in the park meaning: something that is very easy 1. The physics test was difficult, but the chemistry one was a walk in the park. |
| walk on eggshells meaning: have to act very carefully, because someone may get angry 1. Every day I am around her I feel I am walking on eggshells; I feel she will kill me whenever I even make a suggestion. |
| walking encyclopedia meaning: a person who seems to know everything 1. They won the pub quiz mostly thanks to Phil, who is a walking encyclopedia on all things trivia. |
| walking on air \ meaning: to be so happy that you are in a good mood all the time 1. When Dave came back from his date with Anna, he was walking on air, with a big stupid smile on his face and singing an annoying tune. |
| war of words meaning: a major disagreement, in which one person publically says an opinion, and the another person publically says an opinion 1. The film star and the journalist have been involved in a war of words since the bad review: first the journalist was ‘a talentless hack’, and then the actor a ‘wooden plank’. Now the journalist has been called ‘a leech’. |
| on the warpath meaning: someone is very angry and actively looking for revenge or action 1. “Watch out, Mr. Jones is on the warpath. I’d stay away from the office for a while.” |
| (get) (your) wires crossed meaning: to misunderstand someone’s message, getting the meaning completely wrong 1. Dave turned up for a meeting, only to find nobody else was there. Somewhere in all the emails he had got his wires crossed. 2. “I’m sorry, it seems I’ve got my wires crossed. I thought when you said you were going you were quitting the company, not getting promoted.” |