Idioms for Feeling Rotten

to feel a bit off

Tip: lit. 'feel so-there' — the very Swedish understatement for not great

to be off form

Tip: lit. 'not be in form'

to have a heavy head

Tip: lit. 'be heavy in the head'

to catch a cold

Tip: lit. 'pull a cold onto oneself'

to overdo it and pay for it

Tip: lit. 'take the curves too wide'

to rush around like mad

Tip: lit. 'run like a snowstorm'

to grit your teeth and push through

Tip: lit. 'bite together'

to put on a brave face

Tip: lit. 'put up a facade'

to imagine you're ill

Tip: lit. 'be imagination-sick'

to make a fuss about nothing

Tip: lit. 'make a hen out of a feather'

to worry about the worst case

Tip: lit. 'paint the devil on the wall'

to be flattened by illness

Tip: lit. 'become completely decked'

to be dead tired

Tip: lit. 'death-tired'

to feel completely worn out

Tip: lit. 'be completely finished'

to be completely done in

Tip: lit. 'be completely driven'

to be on your last legs

Tip: lit. 'walk on one's knees'

to be running out of energy

Tip: lit. 'the strength dwindles'

to have a pounding headache

Tip: lit. 'it pounds in the head'

to feel dizzy

Tip: lit. 'it spins in the head'

to be burning up

Tip: lit. 'glow with fever'

to shiver

Tip: lit. 'to shiver' — one word, very physical

to ache all over

Tip: lit. 'ache in the whole body'

to be very pale

Tip: lit. 'white as a sheet'

to look grey

Tip: lit. 'be grey in the face'

to be hoarse as a crow

Tip: lit. 'hoarse as a crow'

to be all blocked up

Tip: lit. 'be blocked in the nose'

food won't go down

Tip: lit. 'the food doesn't want to go down'

to see stars

Tip: lit. the same

to be woozy

Tip: lit. 'be dazed'

to be completely thrown

Tip: lit. 'be completely stumped'

to be in a bad way

Tip: lit. 'be in wretched condition'

to be at rock bottom

Tip: lit. 'be at the bottom'

to be worried sick

Tip: lit. 'be ill with worry'

to take it easy for a while

Tip: lit. 'take it calm for a while'

to sleep round the clock

Tip: lit. 'sleep the day-and-night around'

to sweat it out

Tip: lit. 'sweat it out'

to be nervous before an appointment

Tip: lit. 'have butterflies in the stomach'

to wait forever in a queue

Tip: lit. 'stand and stamp in the queue'

to be next in line

Tip: lit. 'stand on turn'

it costs a fortune

Tip: lit. 'it costs the shirt'

to be broke after paying

Tip: lit. 'be skint'

things finally start to improve

Tip: lit. 'it loosens'

things are looking up

Tip: lit. 'it is brightening'

to turn the corner

Tip: lit. 'it has turned'

to perk up again

Tip: lit. 'quicken to'

to feel like a new person

Tip: lit. 'feel like a new human'

everything is back to normal

Tip: lit. 'everything is like itself again'