be down on your luck, make your own luck, draw the short straw, break a leg!, not have a snowball's chance in hell: meanings and examples

Learn these 5 idioms from Idioms set 9. Each entry includes a definition, example sentence, pronunciation, and synonyms. Use the interactive cards above to practice them.

1. be down on your luck · idiom/bi daʊn ɔn jʊr lʌk/

   to have a period of bad luck

   Years before becoming a recognized singer, Amy was down on her luck, broke and homeless.

   Origin: Common since the 1800s — depicts fortune as something physical that one can be 'beneath' temporarily.

2. make your own luck · idiom/meɪk jʊr oʊn lʌk/

   to believe and invest in your skills rather than relying on your luck

   When asked about his views on luck, Trump preferred to speak about the importance of hard work and basically said that you make your own luck.

   Origin: A modern proverb crystallizing the older philosophical belief that fortune favors deliberate, prepared action.

3. draw the short straw · idiom/drɔ ðə ʃɔrt strɔ/

   to be unluckily chosen to do an undesirable task

   Joe drew the short straw, so after one glass of wine he had to switch to soft drinks for the rest of the night as he would drive us all home.

   Origin: From an ancient lottery — pieces of straw of unequal length were drawn to decide who got the unwanted task.

4. break a leg! · idiom/breɪk ə lɛɡ/

   Good luck!

   I'm so proud to see you grow as a dancer, from high school and through college. So go out there, and break a leg tonight. Show everyone how its done!

   Origin: Theater superstition from the 1920s — wishing 'good luck' brings bad luck, so actors say the opposite.

5. not have a snowball's chance in hell · idiom/nɑt hæv ə ˈsnoʊbɔlz tʃæns ɪn hɛl/

   to have no chance of doing something at all

   After all the things that I did to him, I do not have a snowball's chance in hell of seeing him again.

   Origin: American expression from the 1930s — a snowball would melt instantly in hell, expressing zero possibility.