sink through the floor

Idioms  

1. Suffer extreme embarrassment, as in When she called our name on the list of those who owed dues, I sank through the floor. This hyperbolic term dates from the early 1900s.

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Example Sentences

Recalled Eleanor, "I wanted to sink through the floor in shame."

From Time Magazine Archive

Commander Fitz turned her attention to me, and I wished I could sink through the floor.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

I should sink through the floor for very shame!

From The White Gauntlet by Reid, Mayne

"As for me," put in Briggs with dignity, "I felt as if I was going to sink through the floor, I was that ashamed!"

From That Little Beggar by Hall, E. King

But he put the question weakly, and he might just as well have said, "I know what you mean, and I would pay a million pounds or so in order to sink through the floor."

From Buried Alive: a Tale of These Days by Bennett, Arnold