Women have a great power and influence because they have the greatest influence over the development of children- the hand that rocks the cradle.
('The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world' is the full form.)
This phrase occurs in the official records of meetings or deliberations of various government bodies. If a proposal or motion is laid on the table, it is essentially a euphemism, meaning that "nothing further will be done in this matter" or "we are not going to do anything about this" or "we refuse the petition".
Living together out of wedlock. "They are living over the brush" originates from a form of marriage when a couple held hands and jumped over a besom to signal their commitment to each other, because they couldn't have a church marriage.
If somebody can't retain things for long in his or her memory and quickly forgets, he or she has a memory like a sieve. A sieve has lots of tiny holes in it to let liquids out while keeping the solids inside.
When you are called to the bosses office (since supposedly, they are the only ones who have carpet) and its definitely not for a good reason, i.e., you are in trouble, something has not gone according to plan and either maybe you are responsible and/or have some explaining to do.