Abstract: Two moving window experiments were designed to investigate the effects of predictability and semantic bias in idiom comprehension in different contexts. Experiment one found that literal biased idioms were restrained in figurative context and figurative biased idioms were restrained in literal context. Experiment two found that low predictable idioms were restrained in figurative context and high predictable idioms were restrained in literal context. The results had denied the dead metaphor hypothesis and supported the configuration hypothesis. It was proved that the comprehension of idiom was a compositional process.

Key words: idiom, context, predictability, semantic bias