бить баклуши
Literally to beat wooden blocks
Means to loaf around, to idle
Example Хватит бить баклуши, пора работать.
An idiom is a phrase you cannot translate word for word. Here are 16 of the most common Russian idioms, each with its literal translation, real meaning, and an example sentence, so you know what natives actually mean.
Common Russian idioms are everyday expressions whose meaning cannot be guessed from the individual words. For example, бить баклуши literally means "to beat wooden blocks" but is used to mean to loaf around, to idle. This free tool lists 16 real Russian idioms, each with its literal translation, meaning, and an example sentence.
All 16 Russian idioms, with meanings and examples.
Guess the meaning, then tap a card to check.
Idiom list verified as of July 2026.
бить баклуши
Literally to beat wooden blocks
Means to loaf around, to idle
Example Хватит бить баклуши, пора работать.
водить за нос
Literally to lead by the nose
Means to deceive or string someone along
Example Он давно водит тебя за нос.
зарубить на носу
Literally to notch it on one's nose
Means to remember something firmly
Example Заруби себе на носу: больше так не делай.
делать из мухи слона
Literally to make an elephant out of a fly
Means to make a mountain out of a molehill
Example Не преувеличивай, ты делаешь из мухи слона.
как две капли воды
Literally like two drops of water
Means as alike as two peas in a pod
Example Сёстры похожи как две капли воды.
кот наплакал
Literally the cat cried that much
Means very little, almost none
Example Денег осталось кот наплакал.
вешать лапшу на уши
Literally to hang noodles on someone's ears
Means to feed someone lies
Example Не вешай мне лапшу на уши, я знаю правду.
остаться с носом
Literally to be left with the nose
Means to be left with nothing, to be outwitted
Example Он всех обманул, а сам остался с носом.
лить как из ведра
Literally to pour as if from a bucket
Means to rain very heavily
Example Возьми зонт, дождь льёт как из ведра.
тянуть кота за хвост
Literally to pull the cat by the tail
Means to drag something out, to stall
Example Не тяни кота за хвост, говори прямо.
не в своей тарелке
Literally not in one's own plate
Means to feel out of place or uneasy
Example На той вечеринке я чувствовал себя не в своей тарелке.
спустя рукава
Literally with the sleeves let down
Means carelessly, sloppily
Example Он работает спустя рукава.
брать себя в руки
Literally to take oneself in one's hands
Means to pull oneself together
Example Возьми себя в руки и успокойся.
ни пуха ни пера
Literally neither fluff nor feather
Means good luck (said before a hard test)
Example Завтра экзамен? Ни пуха ни пера!
когда рак на горе свистнет
Literally when the crayfish whistles on the mountain
Means never, when pigs fly
Example Он вернёт долг, когда рак на горе свистнет.
держать язык за зубами
Literally to keep one's tongue behind one's teeth
Means to keep quiet, to keep a secret
Example Умей держать язык за зубами.
Idioms stick when you see them in context, not on a list. Lingo7 lets you read real Russian books with sentence-aligned translation and native-narrated audio, so you meet idioms in the wild and tap any line you do not get. Save them and review later. Free to start.
An idiom is a phrase whose meaning is fixed by convention, not built from its words. That is why a word-for-word translation fails: Бить баклуши comes out as "to beat wooden blocks", which makes no sense until you know it means to loaf around, to idle.
Learn a few at a time, not a whole list. Pick the ones you keep running into, say them out loud in a real sentence, and you will remember them far longer than by drilling flashcards.
The most reliable way to absorb idioms is to meet them in context, again and again, in things you actually read. Parallel text and audio let you catch an idiom in a real Russian sentence and check what it means without breaking your reading. That is what reading in Lingo7 is built for.
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Some of the most common Russian idioms are бить баклуши, водить за нос, зарубить на носу, делать из мухи слона. Each one means something you could not guess from the words alone, which is exactly why learners have to meet them in context. This tool lists 16 of them with their meaning and an example sentence.
In Russian, "бить баклуши" translates literally as "to beat wooden blocks", but it actually means to loaf around, to idle. You would use it like this: Хватит бить баклуши, пора работать.
Idioms are non-compositional: their meaning is fixed by convention, not built from the individual words. Бить баклуши translates literally as "to beat wooden blocks", yet it means to loaf around, to idle. Translate word for word and you get nonsense, so idioms have to be learned as whole units.
The fastest way is to meet them in context and reuse them, not to memorize a list. Learn a handful at a time, notice them while reading and listening, and try them in your own sentences. Reading real Russian with tap-to-translate, the way Lingo7 works, turns every page into idiom practice.