Could you give us the context of these sentences? I first and second sentences are difficult to explain because they are referring to a bigger part of the story. From what I can tell, 1) means something like "We were so afraid/cowardly and weak that we could not fight" And 2) seems to be similar to a common phrase in english that goes "between a rock and a hard place," which means that a person is in a very difficult situation. 3) is a common phrase that means a person is being rude, or ignoring another. and 4) "it" I'm assuming is referring to some sort of creature or monster, like an octopus or squid? The tentacles are the long arm-like things, so in the sentence "it" is moving the arms outwards.

@Arvind Asthme: cant get you . What are you trying to say

good way

Have the nerve to do something means - the courage to do something that intimidates/scares you; Between devil and the deep blue sea means you are faced with two very difficult situations, both the choices will cause some peril; When you give a cold shoulder to someone, it means you pay no attention to that person, you ignore their presence; spreading its tentacles means expansion of any kind, it could be a conglomerate, it could be spy organization, to me the word tentacle gives a negative connotation