IELTS Vocabulary
Babe In Arms: A baby being carried.
Sentence – He’s a babe in arms in financial matters.
Babe In The Woods: An innocent, naive person.
Sentence – He was like a babe in the woods when he first came to New York.
Babe Magnet: A man to whom women are attracted.
Sentence – John thinks he’s such a babe magnet now that he’s making so much money, but everyone thinks he’s just as foolish as ever.
Baby Blues: Blue eyes.
Sentence – I just had to ask for Sean’s number after I got a glimpse of his baby blues—I’d never seen such striking eyes before!
Baby Boomer: A person born in the years following World War II, when there was a temporary marked increase in the birth rate.
Sentence – Since baby boomers represent such a large percentage of the population, financial experts are concerned about the impact their retirement will have on the economy.
Babysitter Test: An evaluation of the ease of use of household appliances, especially remote control devices.
Sentence – The new smart television is radically advanced, but it also passes the babysitter test: anyone in the house can learn to use it in just a few minutes!
Back And Forth: Dialogue, negotiations.
Sentence – During the party, I went back and forth to the kitchen to get drinks for the guests.
Back at You: Same to you (used to return a greeting or insult).
Sentence – A: “I hope you have a great day!” B: “Back at you, buddy!”
Back Burner (On The): Not urgent; set aside until later.
Sentence – I know you’re eager to start on this new project, but I’m afraid it’s going on the back burner—we just don’t have the budget for it right now.
Back Forty: Remote, inaccessible land.
Sentence – I often go to the back forty of my property when I need some quiet time to think.
Back in the Day: Formerly, when I was younger, in earlier times.
Sentence – Back in the day, I used to spend my summers exploring or playing with friends. Now I’m in the office every day.
Back Of Beyond: A remote location.
Sentence – His new house is really back of beyond—it will take us hours to get there.
Back Office: Support services for a business.
Sentence – I spent so many years as part of the bank’s back office that now I’m not sure I know the appropriate way to talk to a customer.
Back on One’s Feet: Physically healthy again.
Sentence – Doctors in training are expected to endure an unbelievable amount of stress and exhaustion. Surely it is counterproductive forcing them to attend to each of their patients while they’re dead on their feet.
Back to Square One: Back to the start.
Sentence – We’ll have to go back to square one if the government pulls our funding on this project.
Back to the Drawing Board: Forced to begin something again.
Sentence – We need to go back to the drawing board on this project. I think it had some fundamental flaws from the start.
Back to the Salt Mine(s): We have to go back to work.
Sentence – I’m not excited to get back to the salt mines on Monday.
Back the Wrong Horse: To support the losing side.
Sentence – Politicians who backed the wrong horse in the election are now trying to curry favor with the winning candidate—without much success.
Backing and Filling: Delaying a decision by making small changes or arguing about small details.
Sentence – We need to back and fill the sails in order to pass through this channel.
