Idioms in the News - 1,000 Phrases, Real Examples

Every entry starts with examples, which give you a much better understanding than definitions alone. And there are entertaining notes on the origin and history of the phrases.
The author, Peter Bengelsdorf, is a former newspaper editor and executive. Idioms in the News was inspired by students in his English classes, and by the word "hunker," which no one ever uses except in the phrase "hunker down."