| 1. Past master | (an expert) He is a past master in befooling the people by his oily tongue. |
| 2. Palmy days | (prosperous, affluent days) We still remember the palmy days of our life when we had nothing much to do and still got everything to fulfil our needs. |
| 3. Part and parcel | (inseparable part) Every Indian citizen living in India must regard himself ns part and parcel of a larger whole. |
| 4. Pass the buck | (to blame each other) Political parties pass the buck on to one another for failure on economic front. |
| 5. Pay off old scores | (to take revenge) The way he is treating his younger brother makes it quite obvious that he is paying off old scores. |
| 6. Pay through one’s nose | (to pay dearly) A hapless customer has to pay through his nose when there is shortage of goods in the market. |
| 7. Pay lip service | (pretend to regard) Most of the political parties pay lip service to the plight of the poor. |
| 8. Pay one back in the same coin | (tit for tat) We should not hesitate in paying China and Pakistan back in their own coins. |
| 9. Pin money | (allowance given to housewife for personal use) She is frugal and saves even out of pin money. |
| 10. Pell mell | (great confusion) After the thieves had ransacked the house, everything was pell mell. |
| 11. Play fast and loose | (repeatedly change one’s attitude) No one can trust Rohan as he is used to playing fast and loose with his friends. |
| 12. Play second fiddle to | (to play a subordinate part) A self respecting man can never play second fiddle to anyone. |
| 13. Play truant | (to be absent from duty without permission) It is a very bad habit of the employees to play truant from office. |
| 14. Play to the gallery | (to gain cheap popularity) The speeches of our leaders are not sincere; they are intended to play to the gallery. |
| 15. Play ducks and drakes | (to squander money) After the death of his father he got into heavy debt by playing ducks and drakes with money. |
| 16. Play foul | (to do something wrong) Don’t play foul with your well – wishers. |
| 17. Plough the sands | (futile labour) He cannot make money because he appears to be ploughing the sands. |
| 18. Pour oil on troubled waters | (to pacify the matters) The two good friends exchanged hot words but the intervention of their teacher poured oil on troubled waters. |
| 19. Pull a long face | (to look sad) Seema pulled a long face when she was scolded by her teacher for her carelssness. |
| 20. Pull one’s socks up | (work hard) You must pull your socks up to get over financial problems. |
| 21. Pull strings | (to exercise influence secretly) He managed his promotion by pulling strings. |
| 22. Put heads together | (consult seriously) Our leaders should put their heads together to solve national problems. |
| 23. Put a spoke in a wheel | (to obstruct) He would not like me to succeed; so he always put a spoke in a wheel. |
| 24. Put the cart before the horse | (to do wrong thing first) Our leaders put the cart before the horse by neglecting villages in the name of industrial progress. |
| 25. Pros and cons | (for and against a thing) We must always consider the pros and cons of any new project that we take in hand. |
| 26. Pyrrhic victory | (victory at a high cost) Greek victory over Trojans proved to be pyrrhic victory. |
| 27. Pick holes | (to find fault with) He is always picking holes in every project. |