As long as your arm

As long as your arm :


Out of the ark

Extremely old-fashioned

The ark referred to is the biblical Noah's ark (Genesis 6-7) in which Noah endeavoured to save his family and two of every kind of animal from the Flood.



A call to arms

A call to make ready for confrontation



Cost an arm and a leg

Be extremely expensive – informal



Give an arm and a leg for

Pay a high price for



Keep someone at arm's length = Keep something at arm's length

Avoid intimacy or close contact with someone or something



The long arm of coincidence

The far-reaching power of coincidence



The long arm of the law = The strong arm of the law

The police seen as a far-reaching or intimidating power



As long as your arm

Very long – informal



Put the arm on

Attempt to force or coerce someone to do something - North American informal



Up in arms about

Protesting angrily about something

1994 - Asian Times - A lack of checks and balances or legal redress for workers have trade unions up in arms.



With open arms

With great affection or enthusiasm



Would give your right arm for

Be willing to pay a high price for

Greatly desire to have or do – Informal



An armchair critic = armchair traveller = armchair politician

A person who knows about a subject only by reading or hearing about it and criticizes without active experience or first-hand knowledge

The phrase armchair critic is first recorded in 1896, but the concept was around at least a decade earlier

In 1886 Joseph Chamberlain sneered at opponents as armchair politicians. Another common variant is armchair traveller, meaning someone who travels in their imagination only.



Armed at all points

Prepared in every particular



Armed to the teeth

Carrying a lot of weapons

Heavily equipped



Up to your armpits

Deeply involved in a particular unpleasant situation or enterprise - chiefly US



You and whose army?

Used to express disbelief in someone's ability to carry out a threat - informal



Have been around

Have a lot of varied experience of the world especially a lot of sexual experience – informal



An arrow in the quiver

One of a number of resources or strategies that can be drawn on or followed



Arrow of time arrow = Arrow of time times arrow

The direction of travel from past to future in time considered as a physical dimension



A straight arrow

An honest or genuine person - North American

As long as your arm :

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