Idioms - Add Fuel to the Fire, All Ears & Apple of your Eye Meaning in English

Add Fuel to the Fire

“I was already angry with you, and when you forgot to pick me up, that really added fuel to the fire”.
Meaning: to make a bad situation worse; to do or say something that causes more trouble, makes someone angrier.
Origin: Thousands of years ago the famous Roman historian Livy used this expression. If you pour water on a fire, it goes out. But if you put fuel (like coal or wood) on a fire, you make it burn hotter and brighter. If “fire” represents any kind of trouble, then anything you do to make that trouble worse is “fuel”. A similar expression is “fan the flames”.

All Ears

“You said you had something important to tell me. I’m all ears!”

Meaning: eager to listen; sharply attentive; curious
Origin: The ear is the organ by which a person hears. So, if we figuratively say that you’re “all ears,” it means that at that moment you’re keenly listening to whatever is being said. It’s as if no other part of your body mattered except your ears. This idiom is about three
centuries old.


Apple of your Eye

“Kareem is the apple of my eye”.

Meaning: a person/thing that is greatly loved/treasured/ adored.
Origin: This saying is used in the Bible. Ancient people thought that the pupil of the eye was solid and shaped like an apple. The pupil (“apple of the eye”) was precious because without it, you couldn’t see.