Cast your mind back

Let us take up the idioms that start with ‘C’
Call a spade a spade
A person who calls a spade a spade is one speaks frankly and makes little or no attempt to conceal their opinions or to spare the feelings of their audience.

Call the shots
If you call the shots, you are in charge and tell people what to do.

Can of worms
If an action can create serious problems, it is opening a can of worms.

Can’t hold a candle
If something can’t hold a candle to something else, it is much worse.

Card up your sleeve
If you have a card up your sleeve, you have a surprise plan or idea that you are keeping back until the time is right.

Carpetbagger
A carpetbagger is an opportunist without any scruples or ethics, or a politician who wants to represent a place they have no connection with.

Carrot and stick
If someone offers a carrot and stick, they offer an incentive to do something combined with the threat of punishment.

Carry the can
If you carry the can, you take the blame for something, even though you didn’t do it or are only partly at fault.

Cash in your chips
If you cash in your chips, you sell something to get what profit you can because you think its value is going to fall. It can also mean ‘to die’.

Cast doubt on
If you make other people not sure about a matter, then you have cast doubt on it.

Cast your mind back
If somebody tells you to cast your mind back on something, they want you to think about something that happened in the past, but which you might not remember very well, and to try to remember as much as possible.

Castles in the air
Plans that are impractical and will never work out are castles in the air.

Cat among the pigeons
If something or someone puts, or sets or lets, the cat among the pigeons, they create a disturbance and cause trouble.

Cat got your tongue?
If someone asks if the cat has got your tongue, they want to know why you are not speaking when they think you should.

Cat nap
If you have a short sleep during the day, you are cat napping.

Cat’s pajamas
(USA) Something that is the cat’s pajamas is excellent.

Cat’s whiskers
Something excellent is the cat’s whiskers.

Catch as catch can
This means that people should try to get something any way they can.

Chalk and cheese
Things, or people, that are like chalk and cheese are very different and have nothing in common.

Change horses in midstream
If people change horses in midstream, they change plans or leaders when they are in the middle of something, even though it may be very risky to do so.

Change of heart
If you change the way you think or feel about something, you have a change of heart.

Change tack
If you change tack, you use a different method for dealing with something.

Change your tune
If someone changes their ideas or the way they talk about them, they change their tune.

Charity begins at home
This idiom means that family members are more important than anyone else, and should be the focus of a person’s efforts.

Chase rainbows
If someone chases rainbows, they try to do something that they will never achieve.

Cheap as chips
(UK) If something is very inexpensive, it is as cheap as chips.

Cheap at half the price
If something’s cheap at half the price, it’s very cheap indeed.

Cheap shot
A cheap shot is an unprincipled criticism.

Cheek by jowl
If things or people are cheek by jowl, they are very close together.

Cherry pick
If people cherry pick, they choose things that support their position, while ignoring things that contradict it.

Chew the cud
If you chew the cud, you think carefully about something.

Chew the fat
If you chew the fat with someone, you talk at leisure with them.

Chickenfeed
If something is small or unimportant, especially money, it is chickenfeed.

Chinese walls
Chinese walls are regulatory information barriers that aim to stop the flow of information that could be misused, especially in financial corporations.

Chinese whispers
(UK) When a story is told from person to person, especially if it is gossip or scandal, it inevitably gets distorted and exaggerated. This process is called Chinese whispers.

Chip off the old block
If someone is a chip off the old block, they closely resemble one or both of the parents in character.

Cigarette paper
If you cannot get or put a cigarette paper between people, they are so closely bonded that nothing will separate them or their positions on issues.

Clean as a whistle
If something is as clean as a whistle, it is extremely clean, spotless. It can also be used to mean ‘completely’, though this meaning is less common nowadays.

Clean bill of health
If something or someone has a clean bill of health, then there’s nothing wrong; everything’s fine.

Clean slate
If you start something with a clean slate, then nothing bad from your past is taken into account.

Clear as mud
-If something is as clear as mud, then it is very confusing and unclear.

Cliffhanger
-If something like a sports match or an election is a cliffhanger, then the result is so close that it cannot be predicted and will only be known at the very end.

Close but no cigar
(USA) If you are close but no cigar, you are close to success, but have not got there.

Close call
If the result of something is a close call, it is almost impossible to distinguish between the parties involved and to say who has won or whatever.

Close the stable door after the horse has bolted
If people try to fix something after the problem has occurred, they are trying to close the stable door after the horse has bolted. ‘Close the barn door after the horse has bolted’ is alternative, often used in American English.

Close to your heart
If something is close to your heart, you care a lot about it. (‘Dear to your heart’ is an alternative.)

Closed book to me
If a subject is a closed book to you, it is something that you don’t understand or know anything about.

Cloud cuckoo land
If someone has ideas or plans that are completely unrealistic, they are living on cloud cuckoo land.

Cloud nine
If you are on cloud nine, you are extremely happy. (‘Cloud seven’ is a less common alternative)

Cloud on the horizon
IA problem or difficulty that is predictable, or seems likely to arise in the future, is called a cloud on the horizon.
IThey are happily married and for the moment there appear to be no clouds on

Clutch at straws
If someone is in serious trouble and tries anything to help them, even though their chances of success are probably nil, they are clutching at straws.

Clutch play
If an activity is referred to as a clutch play, it means that the activity was the key to the success or failure of the venture. For instance, a clutch play in a baseball game may be striking out a batter with the bases loaded.