10 English Idioms. Part 2. 1. Chicken scratch - bad handwriting. 2. Chicken feed - a small number of money. (to work for chicken feed - don't get paid for job very much) 3. Chicken - someone who's afraid to do or try something new. 4. To chicken out - to be afraid of something. (I wanted to do it, but I chickened out) 5. Waking up with the chickens - to be waking up very early. Someone who often wakes up early is called an "early bird". E.g. he is an early bird, and today he also woke up with the chickens. 6. Don't count your chickens before they hatch - this phrase means that you should't make plans based on something that hasn't happened yet. 7. Spring chicken - there was a time, when spring chickens were more expensive, because they were the youngest chickens. And the phrase "I am not a spring chicken" means, that an object isn't young anymore. 8. A piece of cake - when you say, that something was a piece of cake, you mean, it was really easy for you. 9. To feel under the weather - if you say, I am feeling under the weather, you are feeling sick or not well. 10. To cost an arm and a leg - It costs an arm and a leg - it means, that an object of discussion is too expensive. (Because your arm and your leg are really important and expensive for you personally).