Question

Determine the meaning of the highlighted Idioms. Choose the best answer.
Mr. Johnson was very particular about the arrangement of his classroom, so the thing he hated most was when his students
caused a ruckus with their wild "horseplay".
A) Mr. Johnson hated when his students pretended to be animals.
B) Mr. Johnson hated when his students played sports.
C) Mr. Johnson hated when his students wrestled around with each other
D) Mr. Johnson hated when his students made animal noises.

Answer 1

Here, the meaning for the idiom is that, Mr.Johnson hated when his students wrestled around with each other(C).

Answer 2

The correct answer is C) Mr. Johnson hated when his students wrestled around with each other.

The word horseplay’ came from horses. In very literal terms, it suggests strength and roughness, much like horses. Now, however, it has nothing to do with horses. Therefore, here it means rough playing, including pushing, pulling, tugging, wrestling and fooling around in general.  

In this case, options A and D can be eliminated straight away since they refer to animals.

Option B can be safely eliminated because horseplay is not a disciplined activity as a sport is (with its rules and regulations).

Therefore, option C) is the right answer.