Idiom – Spill The Beans

English Idiom – Spill the beans or Spill beans

Meaning – To reveal a secret. To reveal a secret or piece of information that was previously unknown. The idiom spill the beans means to reveal information or gossip that was meant to be kept private.

You might also see English speakers shorten this expression further and request that you spill beans.

A similar expression that has gained popularity recently is spill the tea. This expression has the same meaning, but is also often used when you want somebody to reveal some interesting gossip!

Related Expressions:

• A little bird told me – Idiom
• Let the cat out of the bag – Idiom

Usage:

When could you use this idiom?

• You accidentally reveal that your friends are going to tie the knot.
• Somebody is trying to convince you to reveal a secret.
• When your colleague is desperate to tell you some gossip about a friend.
• You are trying to find out information about a person you are going on a date with!

Example:

• “I’m not going to spill the beans, so you’ll just have to wait and see!”

In The News:

Colleges spill the beans on Ofsted’s first local skills needs inspections

Discuss:

• Is there an idiom like this in your country?

What is an idiom?

An idiom is a word or phrase that is not taken literally.  An idiom is an expression that cannot be understood from the meanings of its individual words, but has a separate meaning of its own.