Receive with open arms means to welcome whole heartedly and unconditionally.

COMMON IDIOMS:

A

A Picture Paints a Thousand Words

A Doubting Thomas

A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand

A Leopard Can’t Change His Spots

Absent Without Leave

All Your Base Are Belong To Us

America

Apple of My Eye

B

Back Seat Driver

Back To Basics

Back To Square One

Bad Hair Day

Baker’s Dozen

Ball and Chain

Balls to the Wall

Barking

Beeswax

Big Apple

Blackmail

Blind leading the blind

Blue Moon

Blue Sky

Brass Monkey

Break A Leg

Brownie Points

Buckaroo

Bullpen

C

Carry her over the threshold

Catch-22

Caught With Your Pants Down

Charley Horse

Chip on his Shoulder

Chow Down

Clear Blue Water

Close but no Cigar

Cock and bull story

Cold War

Copasetic

Crackerjack

Cup Of Joe

Cut to the Chase

Cute as a Bug’s Ear

Cyber

D

Dead Ringer

Deadline

Devil’s Advocate

Diamond in the Rough

Dirt Poor

Dog Days

Don’t look a Gift Horse in the Mouth

Don’t try to teach your Grandma to suck eggs

Doozy

Dope

Double Whammy

Doughboy

Drag Race

Drink like a fish

Dropping like flies

Dry Run

E

Eat Drink and Be Merry

Eighty Six

Elvis has left the building

End of story

Ethnic Cleansing

Eureka

Excuse my French

F

Face the Music

Feeding Frenzy

Field Day

Finger lickin’ good

Flea Market

Flesh and Blood

Flip The Bird

Fly on the wall

Foam at the Mouth

Fools Gold

French Kiss

Full Monty

Funny Farm

G

Get out of the wrong side of bed

Getting Down To Brass Tacks

Gilding the Lily

Go out on a limb

Go The Extra Mile

Good Samaritan

Got my mojo working

Graveyard Shift

Green Room

Gung Ho

H

Handwriting on the wall

Hat Trick

Have an axe to grind

Heavy Metal

Hell in a Handbasket

High Five

High on the hog

Hit the Hay

Hit The Nail on the Head

Hocus Pocus

Hold your horses

Honeymoon

Houston we have a problem

I

I Wash My Hands Of It

I’ll Have His Head On A Platter

In Like Flynn

In the bag

In the buff

In your face

It came like a bolt from the blue

Ivy League

J

Jaywalk

Jinx

Joshing Me

K

Keep body and soul together

Keep your chin up

Kick The Bucket

Kilroy was here

Kitty-corner

Knee jerk reaction

Knock on wood

Knock Someone Down A Peg

Know the ropes

Know which way the wind blows

L

Last but not least

Let The Dog See The Rabbit

Level playing field

Like a chicken with its head cut off

Live By The Sword, Die By The Sword

Lollygag

Long in the Tooth

Loose Cannon

Lose your rag

Lynch

M

Mad As A Hatter

Make no bones about

Mayday

Mayhem

Mexican Wave

Money is the Root of All Evil

Muck and Brass

Mum’s the word

Mumbo Jumbo

Murphy’s Law

My Brother’s Keeper

N

Nerd

Nest Egg

New kid on the block

New York Minute

No Dice

No Room to Swing a Cat

Not Playing With a Full Deck

Nothing is certain but death and taxes

O

Off The Cuff

Off the Record

OK

On a wing and a prayer

On the dole

On the Fritz

One for the road

One over the eight

Over the Top

P

P’s and Q’s

Paddle Your Own Canoe

Pass The Buck

Pedal to the metal

Peeping Tom

Pick up your ears

Pie in the Sky

Pig in a Poke

Piggyback

Pin Money

Pipe Down

Play by ear

Posh

Prick Up Your Ears

Pull out all the stops

Pull the plug

Pull the Wool Over His Eyes

Push the Envelope

Put a sock in it

Put on your thinking cap

Put your best foot forward

Q

Quality Time

Queer Street

Queer the pitch

Quiz

R

Rain Cats and Dogs

Raincheck

Raise Cain

Red Herring

Redhanded

Redneck

Ring Fencing

Rise and Shine

Rule of thumb

Run out of steam

S

Sabotage

Sacred Cow

Safe Sex

Saved by the bell

Scapegoat

Shake a leg

Shot in the dark

Sitting in a Catbird Seat

Sitting Shotgun

Skid Row

Skin of your teeth

Sleep Tight

Son of a gun

Sour Grapes

Southpaw

Spare The Rod, Spoil the Child

Spitting Image

Straight From The Horse’s Mouth

Strike a deal

Stumped

T

Thats all Folks!

The Truth Will Set You Free

The Wave

The Whole Nine Yards

There’s more than one way to skin a cat

Third times a charm

Third World

Three Dog Night

Three Sheets to the Wind

Three strikes and you are out

Tie the knot

Til the cows come home

To Everything There Is A Season

To Make A Long Story Short

Tongue In Cheek

Top Drawer

Top Notch

Turn A Blind Eye

Twenty three skidoo

U

Uncle Sam

Under the Weather

Up a blind alley

Up the Apples and Pears

Use Your Loaf

V

Vampire

Van Gogh’s ear for music

W

Wag the Dog

Wearing the pants

Well Heeled

Wet Behind The Ears

Where there’s muck there’s brass

White Bread

Who Let The Cat Out Of The Bag

Whole nine yards

Wild and Woolly

Windy City

Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing

Word for Word

Word in your shell-like

X

X marks the spot

Y

Yankee

You are what you eat

You Can’t Take it With You

Your name is mud

Z

Zero Tolerance

Zigger Zigger

You can click on the link below and it will explain all of them. Just click the idiom you want:

http://www.idiomsite.com/

Open Arms Meaning

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Receive with open arms – what does it mean?
This is an idiom right? Wikipedia says Colloquialism but i couldn't find much on that!

By the way is there a place where i can get a list of common idioms 10-12 years olds probably be tested on….

I tried searching but in vain :(.

Can’t add much to Miss Kitty’s answer! :o) But FYI-BTW: a colloquialism means a word or phrase used in a particular region or area and not in others. E.g. (for example), a Southern United States colloquialism for feeling stuffed after a meal is “full as a blooded tick.” Yuck, but you get the idea. Wikipedia is not always the best source. Colloquialism and idiom are NOT synonymous. “To receive with open arms” is an expression not indigenous to any one particular area, and therefore not a colloquialism; but it IS an idiom. Also BTW – “receive with open arms” is a metaphor. It doesn’t mean you literally want to hug someone. Example: “The knitting group’s gift of hand-made socks was received with open arms by the homeless shelter.”

To receive with open arms, means to gladly accept something.

All the other answers so far are good, but nobody has mentioned why the arms are open. When you receive someone with open arms it means you want to hug them. Like when I get home from work my gf runs to me with open arms, so she can put them around me and give me a hug. It means she’s glad to see me, eager to welcome me home.

Hi, It means you are always welcome no matter what.. A very nice phrase.. Lol

poppy1